froggy47

Just curious for some data those who track and autox their cars all year round. What ambients are you at when you cold start your engine on those days?

If I am in my garage (attached) the lowest is about 60f, If I drive out to a desert track "locally" SoCal and park outside it's usually about 40f give/take.

rbl

I've actually cold started at -43° .... but the tires need about 5 miles to get the flat spot on the bottom beat down and the tire round again !!

froggy47

minus 43f?

93Rubie

Last October, was my coldest auto-x ever. I think the temp. was about 25 when I started the car up that morning. Heater works great!! It got to around 60's or so later that day.

Nothing like setting up a auto-x course at 7AM when its below freezing out. The sh** we to for fun.

autoxer6

We had an auto cross school while it was snowing once. Just have to wait for the oil to warm up. Grip was much worse than a wet summer day.

That was April 22 in Milwaukee.

Bill Dearborn

In the middle of May a little over 10 years ago after a 3.5 hour drive I arrived at an Autocross site that had 4 inches of snow on the course. As it started to warm up the snow changed to rain and we waited three hours for it to melt.

Bill

rbl

Yep ... that's the coldest it would ever start but it does get a little cooler sometimes.

froggy47

Thanks guys & this is why GM specs 5w-30 oil in the owners manual (with 10w-30) as an option.

Cold starts are not all equal eh.

93Rubie

That is hardcore. I would NOT do that. Snow-x.

db2xpert

Several times had 25-28 at Lime Rock around 7am, and only warmed to mid 40's by 2 pm. .. March and Nov events. Snowed at the Glenn.

Supercharged111

Your location is most deceiving. When I first bought my car Jan 2012, I auto-x'd it in March. It was right around 30 degrees, boy was the car a handful. So much more grip when the weather warms up. I didn't have the luxury of a 5 mile tire warmup either. Still smashed all the other Vettes in attendance.

rbl

Yep ... been to both extremes of the continent I suspect and couldn't help myself when I saw "cold starting". After about 4 hours at -40° you're not going to get it to fire though.