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sarals Thanks Sara. Good luck with Andrew assuming he is the instructor at VSC. He usually is and probably the pick of the litter. He is Russian and I know you have a lot of experience with certain tall Russians. Think Putin.
Tires at VSC....The more grippy the tire is the better. I ride Vittoria tubulars and Tufo Elite tubulars (casing only no tube) and they work perfectly. Most tires both clincher and tubular will work and not slip at adequate speeds. However, hard casing "cheaper" clinchers or tubulars that work at Hellyer may not work well at VSP. Colored tires are generally not good.
Before we go on the track at VSP, we scrub the surface of our tires with alcohol and a scrubbing pad to remove any oxidization / mold. So even if you have been riding the tires at Hellyer or they are new, they may have mold on the tire that may come in contact with the track at certain speeds and cause the loss of traction. Andrew may or may not bring up the alcohol but know that he has alcohol in his locker and uses it.
Think flying helicopters...everything has to be right to allow the pilot the maximum chance to survive any and all occurrences. Margin for error is less at VSC than Hellyer. Sometimes racers promote ideas that are good enough or works for them. That is true until it doesn't work for them.
We have not had any problems with slippage but we also maintain adequate speeds. And if you think this is not a problem...a couple of years ago we were waiting to get on the track. A club had the track with a couple of coaches who were organizing mock races and efforts. I watched 2 racers crash solo while doing efforts in the pole lane. I think what happened is they got on the blue band in the turn and came back onto the track. There is a slight change in elevation when leaving the blue band that can throw a rider if you are not expecting it or totally relaxed. The other was a group of 5 started together and approached a turn going very slowly. We jumped up in the stands and started screaming at them to go faster. They did not and they all crashed when they hit the turn. In all cases, nothing serious but that is just a matter of luck. The ahem, coaches, were not very good instructors although they may be great racers.
The other matter is the forces on the bikes and riders due to the shorter radius turns. At 35 mph, one will pull 2 "G"s in a turn. So making sure that everything is tight including seats and seat posts and etc. are important.
And if you think that you cannot go that fast, think again. Since the top of the track is 34 feet above the floor, one can dive off the 45 degree banking and generate a lot of speed. In the accelerated class, you will be doing a flying 200 from the balustrade.
Have fun, be confident and relaxed and you will be a rock star.