This would be my 1st time at a track so I'm trying to figure out everything I'd need.

Brakes: Would Porterfield R4S + upgraded brake fluid be alright to get me through both days?

Tires: My stock tires will probably have 8k miles on them. Will they be destroyed after 2 track days?

I'll have a full face helmet but is there anything else I should wear like driving gloves or driving shoes?

Anything else I'm forgetting? Is the Expo a good place for a rookie to get started? I've been to 1 auto-x last year and I don't know if I'm ready for a road course yet but I don't want to miss the Expo if the next one in the midwest isn't for another 3 years (if at all).

 

For a 2-day event, it's a good idea to bring an extra set of pads. Keep in mind that you have to drive the same car home!

They should be ok. Worse case scenario is to switch the front and rear tires after the first day of event.

Please don't have an impression that the EXPO is a race between the ITR owners!! Just hop into your car and drive. Don't worry about how fast you're going and how fast others are going.

 

fluid... ATE super Blue or the like will suffice.

pads... R4 or Panther pads (or track dedicated ones) would be your best bet. Keep the stock units in safe shape for the drive home

tires... if you drive your car in a sane fashion... they will be fine. At 8K miles they will be out of the "tall tread block" phase... and ready for some use.

gloves and shoes... nice if you have them... but your money is better spent on pads and fluid

Bring water/food general stuff for auto-X... tarp to cover stuff/tools/torque wrench/chair/extra fluids/etc.

Will
-who is saving $$$ for the expo.

 

Yes, but you can also go with stock pads and fluid. Since you've never been on a racetrack before, it's unlikely that you will be encountering heat problems with your brakes. Fresh fluid is always a good idea, though.

Regarding the pads, yes it's a good idea to bring spares (of any kind) - if you don't, there will probably be one or two other ITR's there one of whom might have an extra set you can buy in a pinch.

That depends on how much tread you have left on them.

For your first track event, you probably won't be squealing the tires all the way around the track... which means they'll wear at the same rate as they do for you on the street. Once you get a lot of experience, tires might wear 3-4 times as fast on the track as they do on the street. That sounds like a lot of wear - except keep in mind that you'll get at most 200 miles on the track over the course of the two days, so even that would only be equivalent to driving 800 miles on the street.

Absolutely! You'll be at an event where all the cars are ITR's. You'll be able to compare notes with other ITR drivers. And the instructors will all be familiar with the ITR and how it drives. You won't hear, "Are you sure you want to rev that high?" GingerMan is a very, very safe track, too, so in the unlikely event you push yourself so hard that you happen to drive off the track, there isn't a lot to hit. (I am NOT recommending that you push yourself; it's best to start by holding back, and gradually work your way up to driving a little bit faster each run session than the previous one.)

Click here for the section of the NSX FAQ on preparing for the track and what to bring. It's pretty darn good.

 

LOL that's exactly right!!
When I was at Road America, my instructor had a Porsche 928. He told me not to rev so high because it would cause damage to the engine. He told me when to shift based on the engine sound (BEFORE the vtec kicked in!) because of the high revving sound scared him!!

Until he rode with me for more sessions then he finally realized that the Honda engine is different from his Porsche V8 engine.....

 

I did the Expo last year as my first time out with just a couple or three autocrosses under my belt.

If you have plenty of pad left, the stock pads will do you fine. You may notice just a little brake fade after the second straight but nothing serious. Stock fluid should be fine as well.

I ran the event on stock Potenzas (had Kumho 712s for street use, and was using the Potenzas for autocross learning and whatnot). The Potenzas were hard and pretty much useless after the event for any more auto-crosses. Just be aware that I also had a few autocrosses on those tires beforehand, so they had been heat cycled numerous times already.

Bottom line - Make sure you have your own helmet, they may be a bit hard to come by out at the track and you don't want to miss any sessions over not being able to find one (besides, you don't want to put one on your head bathed in some one elses cooties do you?). If you are planning on autocrossing much, you may as well have your own helmet anyways. As for the rest, just show up with the willingness to learn and have fun. We aren't out there to race (though an NSX glued on your butt through the sweeper at ButtonWillow is a little intimidating) just to have fun and learn more about our cars. So long as you keep an eye on your mirrors and let people by in the passing zones you'll do just fine.

I have never had more fun driving than at the first Expo.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

I plan on purchasing my own helmet soon with my tax return. Also I'll probably go ahead and get in on the Porterfield groupbuy so I'll run R4S pads at the Expo and my stockers will be backup. I'll be mailling the check for the Expo soon.