Sounds like a good idea to put together a checklist for what might be needed and what to be cautious about when going to the road races. here's my questions...
1)should i use switch to some kind of special high temp brake fluid and power steering fluid??
2) how long can i run constantly before i run into trans and rear end overheating? (t-56 and 10 bolt wth 3.73's, no coolers.)
3) How hard can i be on stock ls1 rotors and hawk pads before i warp the rotors?
I've never done the road courses before so any experience would be great. I'd love to get out this year or next, so i'd like to get a good idea.

 

I have an LT1 car with LS1 brakes as well and do road race it so I'll take a shot at this.

1. For your first time out all I would really do is make sure that all of your fluids are fresh. That's a full flush of the brake fluid and power steering fluid for sure. I run the Valvoline Syntec brake fluid that you can get at most parts stores and it's fine as long as it's fresh. The LT1 power steering pumps are notorious for boiling the fluid so even after you flush it you'll need to monitor it during the day. A lot of guys use a turkey baster at the track to empty the resevoir and put in some fresh fluid between sessions. A company called Turn One makes a replacement pump just for road racing and it's what I run but I wouldn't spend the money until you've at least done a couple of events.

2. I've never had any overheating issues with the T56 or the 10 bolt.

3. I run the Brembo rotors from Tire Rack and have never warped them but I have certainly gotten the typical heat checking. Hawk HP+ pads should be fine for your first time out. As I got more aggressive I changed to a full race pad, Hawk HT10, but I ran the HP+'s at quite a few events first.

 

sounds great so far. I'm looiking at using hawk's ferro carbons for the street and for the track...i'm not serious enough to be changing for events... I'm also going to skimp on tires for now and use the sumitomo's ihave now. i know it will hurt my times, but for no more than i will road race, it's not worth 250 a tire to put good tires on the 17x11's out back.
onto more discussion.. I'm going to run a powersterring cooler...what size will be suitable? i've heard the 5"x7" ones that summit sells will do the trick. any advice??? also, i have no way of telling temps of the t-56 and 10 bolt, so what would be a good time limit to set for myself before i should slow down or stop for a bit to cool off???

 

I use a Permacool power steering cooler on mine that is 2 1/2" x 7 1/2" and I mounted it on the passenger side bottom of the radiatore core support. http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

Don't worry about the transmission and rear end they'll be fine. I don't have any coolers on mine and have run for up to 30 minutes in the dead of summer here in Florida. I quit long before the car did.

 

i talked with sam strano. he says the cooler will do a lot better if its mounted in the dead middle of the radiator. i guess the air is less turbulent...anyone else do this? no questoning sam but wondering how you routed the lines

 

So go a little bigger, mount it where you like. ANY cooler needs airflow, but overcooling isn't really an issue. You'll be using rubber hose for the PS lines, so you'll just find a spot to get them to the front of the radiator. Hint: either side of the radiator, near the bottom, there's plenty room for hoses.