For those of you have track day/road racing experience, would I be better off with the Sport trim or the Touring trim with DSC and TCS for doing track days?

I don't know how invasive these systems are, and I'm wondering if I should opt for the Sport trim to avoid them (though the car will be a daily driver as well...)

Thanks for your input.

 

You can turn them off for track days. DSC will kick in at times and slow things down. IMO it's worth having for public roads where life is unpredicatable. Also, if you're tall (6 ft+), the moonroof option cuts into headroom and can cause helmet clearance issues.

 

DSC is completely useless for you on a track day, either on the track or on a twisty road it will make you seriously slower, on a track especially where you can usually see around the corner and you know nothing is coming the other way, you'll never ever want to use it

 

Not necessary useless. It can save your *** in cold tyres, esp going around narrow area of the track and not concentrate where you are going.

 

Get the sport...it's lighter and doesn't have those pesky electonic nannies.

 

I'm 6 ft 1 and I wish I hadn't gotten a sunroof - I have to move the seat really far back when I've got a helmet on, and even then I have to crank my head to the side. Plus it adds weight. Plus I open it about 10x/year because it's so loud. Looks good, though.

- kabong

 

I've test driven two cars, both with sunroofs so I know to avoid the sunroof. So now I'm trying to decide if I want an 06-08 sport model, or an 09 GT without the sunroof.

 

Go with the best deal you can find, have some money for track wheels, tires, and brake pads.

 

If you are new to the track, it mmight be ok to have dsc and tcs......for extra safety margin, etc., but as you become more experienced it is better to not have it.

My experience happened at the Glen on a driving school/open track day. I was in the advanced group and had quite of experience driving there. Over the "s"'s the car started to feel unstable where it never had been in previous years. I only lasted until lunch on the 2nd day before noticing that lost all rear pads.
The DSC was warying out my rear pads and causing the car to be unstable. After replacing the pads and turning off the DSC, the car became solid as a rock.

 

I say get the model with DSC. The "Performance Package" (which was the Sport model until '07) comes with DSC, foglights, and HIDs, all of which are nice on a daily driver. The traction control is fully defeatable for track work, and the weight penalty for all of this is less than 10 pounds.

 

Get the '09 IMHO. It has a new OMP and a third oil injection port in the rotor housings. That alone is worth the price of admission for track day longevity.

 

i am 6 ft. and will not fit with a helmet if i were to have a moonroof. in fact i had to take off a small vent spoiler on top of the helmet to fit in the car. it does bump the side top when i do turn my head.

 

Anyone know if it is possible to modify the mounts on the seats to lower them? There is so much open space under the seats. I'm 5'10" and only have about 0.5-1" of head clearance when I'm sitting in a comfortable position. I'd love to track my 8 but dont want to have to drive it with a gangsta lean to fit in there with a helmet.

 

I've done some searching on that topic and the vague answer is yes, maybe.

I've seen some mentioning of seat brackets that mount to the sides of the rails and not the tops. However I have not found a thread with "the" answer to adding more headroom. There is some suggestion that a race seat will sit lower than a stock seat.

I really want to sit in an 09 R3 and see how the Recaros are on the headroom issue...

 

I'm not really willing to have an extra race seat for track days but would definitely modify the stock (cloth in my case) seats or swap in the R3 seats if it would win me some headroom. Thanks for the reply.

 

I wish I could find a helmet that was only 1/2" thick

 

If you find one, you're better off not even using it. Might as well wear a hat