Well I'm happy to report that Saturday went well, being my first time taking the NSX to the track. It's a stock 94 5-speed with 107k miles and I performed a few maintenance items to bring it back on schedule before taking it out.
-Kumho ecsta XS tires in stock 215/245 size
-new ATE brake fluid
-new Amsoil synthetic motor oil
-new Honda manual transmission fluid
-STMPO front brake ducts
-STMPO oil pan baffle
-Carbotech AX6 (panther) brake pads
The car performed flawlessly. Me, not so much, but this was not only my first time in this car, but first time at Buttonwillow (configuration #13 CW). Previously I've driven at Thunderhill and Infineon in my MR2. Anyways my lines were pretty sloppy in the morning sessions, and the tires were squirming a bit more than I was used to. Towards the end of the day I had to bleed out a lot of air before I was able to get the tires to feel planted. I initially started out with the stock recommended cold pressures of 33f/40r, and I didn't have a pyrometer so I was kind of stabbing in the dark, but coming back into the pits after my 2nd session I had hot pressures of 40f/48r. I bled them down to 31f/38r before going out on my next session, and that worked pretty well for me. The tires were quite grippy overall, so no complaints there.
The brakes were superb. The Carbotechs and the ATE fluid absorbed all my abuse and never faded. The pads were up to full bite after 2 - 3 turns and were consistent for the 20 minute session. Still plenty of material left, definitely happy there.
My driving inputs need work. I thought I was being pretty smooth until I looked at some of the video afterwards, and I can see that I need to work on smoothing out my steering in particular. I was also tensing up a bit after a few minutes out on track, and I found my footwork to get sloppy after a few laps. I wasn't staying planted in the seat very well, despite doing the push-the-seat-back-tension-seat-belt-push-the-seat-forward thing. It would hold me tight for a lap or two then slowly loosen up and I would find myself bracing myself from sliding around with my left knee on the door (I did wear a knee pad). Also I didn't keep my right heel planted in a consistent spot, after awhile I would notice it kind of wandering around if I lost focus.
Performance-wise, the car was representing well. Obviously this was not a competition event but I was passing most drivers in my run group, including a new Z06 Vette (not sure why), Porsche Boxster, WRX sti, a gaggle of civics/integras, and a tough S2000 that was on r-comps. Actually the only driver that I pointed by was skillfully driving his 350Z.
So much to process, but I can't wait to get out there and do it again. I'll get some videos up in a couple of days so you guys can hopefully give me some constructive criticisms and areas to focus on for next time.
