A Smart should be able to hold its own on Streets against a fair bit of those cars, assuming equal driving skill of the drivers. That course isn't about pure speed, it is about flow and how well you handle the car. ....OK, the car's handling does come into play as well, but hopefully you are on better-than-stock tires to help a bit with that.
You will probably be passed a bit, and depending on your skill level vs the other drivers, you may end up holding some people up at times (if they are only allowing passing in certain areas as is typical at Willow Springs track days). There are a LOT of factors to take into account really. But focus on improving your skills, how you drive that car, and most importantly, have fun!!!
I've got a couple of track days uner my belt, but not in the Smart (...yet...).
I wonder if the brake pads and calipers will take the abuse. Take some brake fluyd and the proper size hose and wrench to bleed your brakes in case you boil the fluyd. And a jack and lug wrech can't hurt for that job.
The OEM pads may overheat and fade so take it easy and gradually take your braking point closer to the corner. If your brake pedal starts to get mushy take it easy on the brakes for the rest of the lap and go to grid to cool of your car.
Have fun!
Gotta say, if I was driving another car in your session, I'd be very annoyed that the club/organization allowed a slow moving obstacle like a smart on the track. If it is like most driving events at SOW, there are only two passing zones, and only so many cars can get by in each...so you will be holding everybody up, perhaps for laps at a time. Not fun for anybody. Sure, it would be fun for a lap or two...but for a whole day, it's selfish if you want an honest opinion. People are taking days off work, making the trek out to the desert, paying good money, etc. to push their fast cars to the limits.
I don't agree with that, most track days have novice, intermediate, and advanced groups. If the driver or car is too slow they will put you in the novice group and those drivers are often very slow regardless of what car they drive.
If every one is an advanced driver than yes it could be a little anoing but it's doable, just stay attentive to those behind you and wave them by in the passing zones, when every one is advanced they tend to allow more passing zones anyway.
I went to some track days where the smart and I would have fit in the intermediate group and others where clearly I would had have to drive in the slowest group. The only thing that really bothers me is when the slow drivers don't wave you by and that tends to happen more with the slow drivers in fast cars that hate to admit that a well driven CRX is faster than a poorly driven exotic.
Hold on a sec here. Yes, a Smart is not capable of the speeds of a F430 or even a lowly 3 Series. But who said that the drivers of those cars are capable of keeping their cars at those speeds? And who said that the OP isn't capable of driving his Smart at 10/10ths the entire length of the track for the entire day? Assuming that the OP and his Smart are going to be holding everyone up on a track that is NOT about how much hp you have isn't looking at the entire picture. Some of those other drivers may actually end up holding up the Smart!!! Doubt it? Fine. But how about this. Last time I was at Willow we were on the big track. Some guy showed up with his (at the time) brand new Murcialaggo (or however you spell the name of that Lambo). There was talk about how he was going to be passing everyone left and right, that the 4 cylinder cars (specifcally the Mini Cooper S' and my e30 M3) shouldn't even be allowed on the track at the same time as him since we were just going to be getting in his way. And what happens? The guy gets out there and is doing 1/2 the speed of everyone else in the corners becuase he can't drive to save his life. But every single time he hit the big front and rear straights he would punch the gas and roar through his gears, keeping people from passing him. But then he would slam on his brakes and crawl through the corners again. Since passing was only allowed on the front and back straights, nobody could pass him unless they PLANNED a pass just right so that they were not on his tail as he reached the straights (and thus he didn't hit the gas as hard). You had to use your momentum you already had built up to overcome his acceleration. And yes, I got around him in my lowly 16v e30 M3 this way. Someone like that getting onto the smaller Streets track would be holding up everyone, including a well heeled Smart, in what should be the fastest and quickest car of the bunch.
It isn't always about the car. More times than not, it is about the driver, especially on a tighter course like SOW.
..hey Gus...what's your view on the skinny tires and narrow wheel base of the smart on the track...also how about tires/compounds..
jetfuel
Good questions, esp since I have yet to really see how bad these tires get when heated up a fair bit. I've done some canyon sprinting, but nothing too harsh on them. They are pretty skinny, but that to me is just less width of a contact patch more than anything else. But since the car is small and light, that isn't a HUGE concern to me.
What seems like a decent idea though is taking another pair of rear wheels and mounting them up front, with 205/50/15's all around. That is PLENTY of rubber for the car and if you get something like the Falken Azenis in that size (an autoX tire that is DoT approved and less than $100 per tire), you're basically never going to loose traction. Those tires would fit just fine on a 15x5.5 in wheel. I'm not sure if there would be any rubbing issues, but I'll be trying that out as soon as I am in need of tires myself. Those tires aren't an R Compound, but have a fairly low tread wear rating (just at 200). They would end up wearing pretty well on the Smart I think, since the car is so light.
As for the short wheelbase, I don't see that as a huge problem unless you get into a corner too tight and get into a situation where the back end has come out and you're trying to correct things up to get the car back under control. The ESP and TC would be freaking out and trying to do what they can to correct as well, making it a general electronic nightmare for anyone that is used to NOT having those systems. But everything should come out fine and as long as the driver is able to get used to the (stock) body roll and adjust the high speed driving accordingly to not upset the car too much, fun should be had by all.
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