• analysis compared to jd
• changes for next time
• focus on braking

My first time driving the Veloster N on track! Was actually really happy with how it behaved out there. I was worried about the balance given how loose it is for autox, but it was perfect out on a very humid 80 degree day. If anything, by the end I was getting quite a bit of understeer and could have probably started spraying the front tires. The car was loose for maybe the first warm up lap, after which the tires were totally ready. The problem was, the oil was reaching very high temps even by the first lap – 250 degrees or so. By the second hot lap, 270+. I actually had an oil cooler prepared for this event, but due to getting the wrong fittings, we were unable to use it in time. This will, at least, provide a good before/after test of how the oil temps look with the oil cooler.

Because of the oil temps climbing so rapidly, it was difficult to get into a rhythm of setting laps for the car. The overall impression was that the car handled great, but was pretty slow. I think the fastest I got to on the back straight was maybe 106-107mph. I think that’s about right, but on the whole pretty slow. That made judging the braking zones more difficult, as they were more compressed. All my references were off compared to the Evo, so it took some time to adjust. I was also really worried about the car snapping on me, which it has done in the past, so on the whole I wasn’t driving my best. I think the next time I go out I’ll be able to push the car way better.

First time also driving a DCT on track, and like on the street, I’m very impressed with it. You can visibly see the shifts in the data with the Evo, vs a smooth straight line with the Veloster. The only thing that was a little difficult was knowing what gear I was in. While that doesn’t really matter, there were a few times I was in the wrong gear in the Veloster. I think it’s partly knowing at all times in a manual what gear I’m in, and partly just needed to memorize what gear to be in when for this particular car. At T9-10 and T11-12 I was in 2nd gear, other than that most straights were 4th, most corners were drops down into 3rd. The DCT has to be used in manual mode on the track because no matter how aggressive the most aggressive shift logic is designed for, it will not hold every gear to redline and also downshift as aggressively as possible. A+ for the transmission, very cool and very impressed.

Straight-line in the Veloster was ok. The car handled really well though – no bad behaviors. Car turned in well, felt like it had tons of grip and had mild understeer at its limits. Definitely could have pushed the car harder in the corners. Braking was good, a little unstable under the heaviest braking at T1-2 and T11-12 but stopped the car well every time. The pedal did feel a touch soft and i’ve bled the brakes but the brakes still feel a little soft, so I figure its the pads that finally got bedded in during the track day. I don’t think the HPS Plus’s were quite up to the task of the track day, but good enough for now. My opinion on the Vitours is a little more positive now, they just need heat and being on the track generates it. I have the Elantra N brake air guides which are much bigger than the Veloster’s, but didn’t really notice a difference there. It was a brutally hot day though. Overall, the car is perfect – just needs the oil cooler to keep the oil in check. The car uses a coolant-oil heat exchanger, but on track I don’t think this has any real positive effect – if anything it will heat up the coolant. I usually run the heater on track, but would prefer not to have to. Think the oil cooler will really help solve that.

This was really two events in 2 days. The first day was Sunday evening with SCCA TNIA. It’s been a while, so it took some time to build up to speed. It didn’t help that it had been raining for about a week, but the track wasn’t too bad. Over the 3 sessions I was able to whittle the time down to a 1:41.9. I had a rough target of 1:40 in my mind, so I thought I’d have an easy time making it on the 2nd day in the morning. Unfortunately, I was struggling to pick up much time. I still wasn’t quite comfortable in the car, not hitting under a 1:42.5. I don’t think the conditions were ideal by the end, things were getting very hot and the front tires were overheating. I had an instructor review my laps and talk about what to change, and especially comparing to a certain pro’s time, who drove my VN earlier, and in general, I was apexing too early for most corners. I was v’ing off T1-2 a little too much, so tried more of a U-arc to keep minimum speeds higher. The most important thing was to be able to get on the gas early after the turn to carry it all the way to T4. I’m still slowing down a touch too much from T4-5-6, but was able to get a little bit of time back. I slowed down too much for T6 in my second lap though. Most of my losses I gained back by being able to really get on the throttle in T9-10 early and hard. All of those gains were wiped away by trying to do more of a brake & turn for T13 rather than floating it in, but that’s an easy fix and it means I at least essentially got to the same time as before. Overall, I need to focus on my braking to let off the brakes more quickly and more easily. I think I’ve been used to longer brake zones in the Evo, and on this track the Veloster really don’t need much braking in most of the turns.

Finally, the car performed flawlessly the whole weekend. I was able to drive up on the summers, drive 7-8 track sessions over 24 hours, and drove back home 2 hours without a single hiccup. Data below with some interactive analysis here.

For reference, this is the pro’s lap below. Most notable things are that he really gets a huge chunk of time through T4-6. He brakes later, for less, and is back on the throttle earlier. He definitely also bleeds off the brakes more smoothly than I do as well. I also match his T9-10 on a different lap, so a lot of little things to work on but nice to have a solid target for the car. I’m not sure how many more Autobahn track days I will do in this car, but regardless I think this car will be good for practicing on the track and breaking bad habits that the Evo allows me to do.

Set Up (VN):

• GS
• 255/35-18 Vitour P1, 34/33psi
• WL 24mm RSB on soft
• Camber at -2.0 0 toe, -1.5 0 toe
• Brakes: Stock

Notes (VN):

• 36psi

Things to work on:

• Release brakes sooner/get off max pressure sooner
• Optimize turn-in – brake, release, turn, gas
• Use both hands on the wheel, not just right hand
• Autobahn: release brakes sooner for 4 & 5, turn and gas. Maintain more speed through 6, brake later release earlier, gas asap. 9-10, throttle, release, turn and full throttle all the way. Carry as much speed through 12 as possible. Carry speed into last corner with trail, then gas all the way

2026 Event Count VN: 3 Autox, 2 track days
2026 Event Count Evo: 0 Autox, 1 track day