How Track Days Can Affect Your Car’s Maintenance Schedule

Driving your vehicle at your local circuit means putting your vehicle through its paces. You’ll be revving your engine higher up its rev range, testing your tires’ grip, and pressing your brakes harder than you usually do on the highway. High-performance driving generally puts a lot of stress on components like the engine, brakes, transmission, and tires. You’ll need to service your vehicle more frequently to prevent any problems when it comes to reliability and safety.

Track car maintenance is different from regular car maintenance. It’s generally going to involve more maintenance and therefore more costs. You should be aware of this before taking your vehicle out on track. In this article, we’ll discuss the parts that wear out quickly when driving on a track and discuss how a vehicle’s maintenance calendar changes.

What Maintenance Do Track Vehicles Need?

The most common and important maintenance task for track vehicles is an oil change. Track vehicles typically require more oil changes because the increased heat, friction, pressure, and blow-by gases inside the engine can cause oil to degrade faster. When engine oil degrades, its lubricating properties are reduced. As a result, your engine will have less protection from wear. Degraded oil can cause major engine issues if left unchanged.

Aside from engine oil, many items on a vehicle’s maintenance calendar will require earlier attention. Replacing other vehicle fluids such as gear oil, transmission fluid, coolant, brake fluid, and differential oil are common maintenance items. Tires will also wear out very quickly.

Do You Need an Oil Change After Every Track Day?

There isn’t a definitive answer to this question because oil degradation depends on operating temperature, the oil specification, and how the vehicle has been driven.

There are a lot of discussions between car enthusiasts regarding this topic in forums. Most vehicle owners generally agree that replacing your oil frequently is a good course of action. That said, there isn’t an exact oil change interval guide that anyone can simply follow. Most vehicle owners have created an oil change interval for their specific vehicle based on their engine, oil type, and driving style.

Some car enthusiasts simply shorten their vehicle’s oil change interval if they drive their vehicle on the track. For example, if a vehicle’s maintenance calendar recommends an oil change every 5,000 miles, they would shorten it to 3,000 miles. Meanwhile, some vehicle owners conduct oil changes after several track days regardless of mileage. This could range anywhere between two to four track days.

Some owners even conduct an oil change before every track day for their peace of mind. Given how oil change intervals can be largely based on personal preference, you can try to compare your maintenance calendar to other vehicle owners to formulate your vehicle’s maintenance schedule. If you care about your vehicle a lot, then you shouldn’t take any risks and replace your oil sooner rather than later.

You can also conduct an engine oil analysis, which involves sending in a sample of your vehicle engine oil to a laboratory. The laboratory will identify the amount of contaminants in your oil, which can give you insights into your engine’s overall health. Engine oil analysis can also give you an idea of how frequently you should be conducting oil changes.

How Often Do Track Vehicles Require Maintenance?

Your vehicle’s track day checklist or track maintenance schedule varies greatly depending on how you drive your vehicle. If you’re someone who races near your vehicle’s limits frequently, your vehicle will likely need more maintenance than someone who drives more conservatively and less frequently on the track.

Each part also has a different replacement interval. For example, track use generally shortens a brake pad’s lifespan significantly. Brake pads can require replacement after just two or three track days. However, a high-performance brake pad can last longer. You need to conduct your own research for each component and determine its ideal replacement interval.

Generally, enthusiasts believe reducing the manufacturer’s recommended service interval when it comes to these gear oil, brake fluid, coolant, and automatic transmission fluid is a good idea. That said, you should also seek out other enthusiasts and ask questions about their fluid change intervals. Maintenance experiences from other drivers are valuable because you can learn from their wisdom. You can also end up copying or imitating their maintenance regimen.

You should also inspect your vehicle before and after every track session so that there aren’t any issues present before you drive on public roads. Reputable track organizations and motorsports sanctioning bodies have their own safety checklist. You can try to create your own written checklist based on other checklists so that you have an organized way of tracking vehicle maintenance. Aside from replicating checklists, it’s a good idea to add your own items since there might be special areas of concern for your specific vehicle.

When it comes to keeping your car in good working order, nothing beats being cautious. There’s nothing wrong with inspecting your vehicle thoroughly with a flashlight and a notepad for a prolonged period. At the end of the day, being thorough with maintenance will decrease the likelihood of mechanical risks and even translate into faster lap times as you’ll have more confidence in your vehicle.

Oil Filters To Keep Your Vehicle Maintained On Track Days

Frequent oil changes are going to be necessary if you’re driving your vehicle on the track. You’ll also need to replace your oil filter with every oil change Forgoing this might cause your engine to wear out faster, which may cause even more issues down the line. If you want a new oil filter but don’t want to search far and wide for a replacement, you can check out CarParts.com.

CarParts.com has an easy-to-navigate website that can help you order online without trouble. You can check our extensive oil filter catalog with only a few quick clicks. You can even filter results to parts that are sure to fit your vehicle with our vehicle selector.

Keep your engine in tip-top shape with the right oil filter. Buy replacement oil filters from CarParts.com today.