Track car builds

Our local track, Rocky Mountain Motorsports (RMM) is an execrating, tight and technical race track. You will often see the Lakeview team out there putting in laps in one of the shop track cars! At Lakeview Automotive, one of Calgary's leading performance shops we pride our selves on our team's track experience and ability to make a car go faster around a circuit. Trust our team to help you shave time of your lap safely by upgrading your track car! 

Building a track car

The Lakeview race-car-o-meter

Above is the Lakeview Automotive race-car-o-meter it is very important to refer to it as we build or upgrade your car to suit track use.

On the left would be a factory spec daily driver, easy to use, comfortable and components have longer lasting life cycles. On the right is a full blown racer, non road legal, harsh and prioritizes shear performance and speed over anything else. In many ways, how you choose to upgrade your car will cause trade offs that will peg your car more to the right or left. If its your only car, or enjoy driving out to the mountains on the weekends you should shoot to keep it some where in the middle or the the left of the scale. 

Start with reliability

We take a pass the finish line first and foremost approach at Lakeview Automotive. Confidence in your car is a track day's number one currency, and reliability plays a big part in you being more confident. A track car must be mechanically sound, and all components must be in good working order before going faster. A breakdown on the track can be dangerous and costly. As stated above, we do a thorough pre track inspection, if parts are worn replace or upgrade. Insure that all fluids are fresh and can cope with higher temps that track use will cause, we use a verity of performance fluids, Motul being our go to.   

Brakes

Most of the time to be had around track is made up around the corners. Braking is a big component to circuit racing. Having the confidence in your braking system right before a corner is key to enjoying your track day and making up time by carrying more speed before the corner and braking later. Brake components are one of those parts that change where your car sits on the Lakeview Automotive race-car-o-meter the more stopping power you require the more of a race compound your brake set up will be and less street-able you car will become. It is important to note that on track inspired brake upgrades we are working on heat management caused by higher duty cycles of the braking system than improving clamping power.

Brake fluid Dot 4

First and Foremost we begin with Dot4 brake Fluid, we supply Motul RBF600. It is the single most important item that is often overlooked. Brake fluid is hydroscopic meaning it absorbs water and overtime it absorbs enough of it. When subject to heat from track use old wet brake fluid could boil and cause vapor lock, not the kind of thing you want to deal with right before a corner and a barrier. Brake fluid on a track car should be changed regularly and with Dot 4 fluid that has a higher boiling point both wet and dry.       

Brake Pads

Brake pads will change where you car sits on the Lakeview Automotive race-car-o-meter. On the left side is an entry performance HAWK pad that will be very street-able ie works when cold, doesn't produce very much dust or noise and can take some track use, however, will fade sooner after prolonged track use (more heat). On the right, will be HAWK race compound pads which will offer superior performance and manage more heat and track use, however, not very steet-able as they need heat to operate. Where you want to be on the Lakeview Automotive race-car-o-meter depicts what pad we supply and install for you, however, at the very least go with an entry level performance pad.

Brake Rotors

A higher friction performance pad is going to be better suited with quality perfromance rotor. Performance rotors can come vented, dimpled or drilled to dissipate heat and use better quality materials to prevent warping or cracking from prolonged track use. We supply and install many brands of perfromance rotors including AP Racing, Willwood, DBA, Brembo and more.

Braided Brake Lines

Brake lines are also an item that is overlooked on a track car. Standard brake lines often experience bulging when exposed to heavy track use because the pressure in the system is very high under such conditions. This bulging often causes pedal to feel spongy and in extreme circumstances can cause a burst in the line, meaning no brakes! A set of braided braided supplied and installed by us will improve feel and protect from line failures

Big Brake Kits

For reasons that only a physics textbook can explain, bigger brakes (caliper, pad, rotor) will not make you stop faster, they will help resist fade caused by heat in the system over prolonged track use. On serious setups that see heavy track use, we may suggest a big brake kit to battle brake fade.

Brake Cooling

As we mentioned a few times now, heat management is critical to your braking system on the track. A strategy avid track goers employ is brake ducting. A series of vents and ducts that channel cold air to your calipers and rotors to help reduce temperatures.  

Performance Tires and Track / Competition Tires

All the effort put into making a car perform gets translated to the track surface via tires. To a track car, they are of the up most importance, and just like most topics we cover on tracking the Lakeview Automotive race-car-o-meter comes into play when it comes to tires. On the left you have tame all season tires made for the daily commute, they last long, are quiet, work in the dry, wet, or snow. However, they will not grip well around track corners and wont manage heat well. On the extreme right, you have soft R comp race slicks, non street legal, soft contact compound, hard sidewalls, made for high temps, don't last long and will dry grip like a cat on velcro. We will ask you a few questions about your track experience and how you intend to use your car before we suggest a tire set up for you. Let's go through a few tires we might suggest. Lakeview Automotive is a major tire supplier and can supply, mount, and balance just about any tire on the market 

Performance tires

We're going to start with performance tires which will start at the Orange peg on the Lakeview Automotive race-car-o-meter, and with in the performance tire category there are four categories to choose from, yes tires are a big subject and variants are vast! With each variant and the more to the right of the race-car-o-meter we get, we generally will lose more day to day usability (ride quality, noise, and longevity) in favour of dry pavement grip.

Ultra High Performance Summer Tires

A little more aggressive than your average perfromance tires found on OEM, however, still more of a day to day tire. At this level you would need to think twice about going through British Columbia in early spring months, as these tires don't handle cold temperatures very well and may become twitchy. This tire will gain you enough grip on the track to be enjoyable. Examples of these tires are; FIRESTONE FIREHAWK INDY 500, TOYO PROXES SPORT, BRIDGESTONE POTENZA S005

MAX PERFORMANCE SUMMER TIRES

This category best suits the daily driven car that will see 3-4 track days a year and driving to and from the track events. These tires offer superior grip over the last category and can handle wet track conditions best, in terms of the race-car-o-meter, we are this selection sits on the amber peg. Our favourite picks from this category are; MICHELIN PILOT SPORT 4S, GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 SUPERCAR, CONTINENTAL SPORT CONTACT 7

EXTREME PERFORMANCE SUMMER TIRES

We now sit on the red peg of the Lakeview Automotive race-car-o-meter. The extreme selection sits on the edge with harder sidewalls that allow for better steering feel and even softer tread compound. This selection of tires offers exceptional dry grip, however, is lacking than the last selection in wet traction. A set of these tires on your car means business, however, they don't come cheap, wear out fast, and lack in terms of noise and driving comfort. Our top picks for this segment; MICHILEN PILOT SPORT CUP2, GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 SUPERCAR 3,

Track Only Tires

Welcome to full race car. In this section of tires you are chasing lap times and peak perfromance. With the full R compound or semi-slick and slick track tires you take the bar and zero out comfort, noise, wet handling and longevity and max out dry grip and performance. Generally not a tire you want to use as a novice as it will mask mistakes and teach you bad habits. Sudden loss of grip at the limit is also a factor to consider with R compound tires. These types of tires are generally not suited for the roads and call for the car to get trailered to the track or a second road going set be used to get to the track. Some of our picks for is type of tires are; TOYO PROXES R888, TOYO PROXES R888R, TOYO PROXES RR, YOKOHAMA ADVAN A055, KUMHO ECSTA V700