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First Day on the Track at Palm Beach

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Some short vids at Palm Beach, don't make fun - it was my first time. ;D

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXnVJDibRhg[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCTeCiAxa9c[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSt3mkVQa5M[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZcjaTzSTbA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKVLq6M0myY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-yV7hMiVTU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xFTh5caHTU[/youtube]
 
I haven't watched the videos yet but how about telling us about your experience today? Did you have the exhaust plates out?
 
Would like to know if you were using the trackey. I ordered the same color. I took a shot knowing it that it wouldn't be "gold" as it looked on Ford's website. I think it looks sharp.
 
Well, what to say? Lot of fun but I hate the Boss, I thought my first time out there I would be scared and on the edge but no. The Boss is so well balanced I could not even get close to driving it to its capabilities. I never felt like I was pushing it but after all I guess that is a good thing ;D

The vids are of the first, second and third runs while I had an instructor with me. I did six sessions, the first four with him then he "signed me off" to go solo. The fourth run was just a few minutes after a thunderstorm passed through. I did break the back end loose twice but the car recovered in a split second before I even knew it. It was a good experience and one car did slide off the track and back into the wall, makes you think.

Last session, the first solo, I took it easy. That was the most intimidating time of the day but the Boss helped me through it. After a few laps I built up the confidence to push it some more. The track had dried off but there was some standing water on the apex of two turns so I had to stay wide on those. There was a final open session at the end of the day for everyone, from beginner to advanced. I did not want to go out and mix it up with them but most people had gone home so I let the car cool off for 15 minutes and went back out. There were 3 others cars out there, much faster then me. I got passed a few times but after two laps I did not see anyone else. Sure enough I was the only car out there. I ended up running about seven laps with the track all to myself. That was a lot of fun, hard to even put into words.

Ran the car completely stock and it did take a toll on tires and brakes. I did hit 138MPH on the long back stretch twice. I could get to 120 easy and 130 using more of the stretch but then it was hard on the brakes and tires making the 180 at the end. Even on the straight aways it is hard to look down at the gauges. Man a heads up display would be really nice. In the end I did not boil the brakes with the factory fluid in there. However before the next time out I need to get tires and rims and maybe a track setup brake kit.

All in all the day went very well, I did some bonehead things like put the e-brake on parked right after a run, need a sticky note to remind my self about that in the future. You need to learn to take it easy the first two laps until you heat the tires up. You also need to learn to keep an eye out for corner workers and flags, that is not as easy as it sounds. One thing I found I got better at was looking further ahead as the day went on. The first time out there I do not think I looked more then 10 feet in front of the car. The further out you look the better you can set up your cornering. Also you tend to follow the line of the car in front of you. That is not always best for you but hard not to do.

It is all about seat time, you pick things up pretty quick but the more time the better. As I said it was not as scary as I thought, the car was made to be out there and it is everything we have come to expect and more from all the reviews. I doubt this will come to be an addiction for me, I want to go run again for sure but not going to hold my breath until the next run.
 
Maybe one of the racers can read these rotors better. I really never knew how important the cooling ducts were, I knew they worked but never realized how much the brakes heat up out there. I am surprised the car just does not burst into flames, lol. There was several thousand miles of dust on the wheels. The tires did hold up well but were pretty scuffed up. With the cost of these I would rather have a set of tires and rims for track use. These are pretty sticky but you need to heat them up well first, at least two laps. I just think it will be better to have an extra set of tires and rims for track use.

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Sounds like you had a great time and learned a lot. Although you may not think you will get addicted to this, the more comfortable you get out there, the harder that bug bites. Throw a few friends out on the track at the same time, it will be all over! ;D
 
Dean#4AI said:
Sounds like you had a great time and learned a lot. Although you may not think you will get addicted to this, the more comfortable you get out there, the harder that bug bites. Throw a few friends out on the track at the same time, it will be all over! ;D
As Perry would say...THIS! ;D Glad you got to have such a great experience Scott.

All those things you mentioned are normal as you are learning. If you do want to really dive deeper, I can't say enough about a quality track school where you get classroom, skidpad and track time. I had done a few single day schools like you did in this case, but I did a 3 day school at Spring Mountain driving Corvettes and it was a game changer for me. It's not like I don't still have more to learn, but it was an incredible learning experience for me. I've been able to continue practicing and honing the more advanced skills I learned there as I've gotten more experience.
 
What do you guys think of the rotors, good, bad or about right. Anything I did wrong? I did not hit the ABS till about the third run, then I hit it almost everytime going into the same corner and it was not after the big straight away. One other turn it would come on for a second but not always. I guess if you hit the ABS you are braking too hard, right?

Just some pics of America :)

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Gary the TBC is f-ing sweet. Give you a readout of the gain setting plus a bar graph of the amount of brake pressure.
 
No just my Boss, a 05 Roush and a SN95 that is pictured next to mine. Lots of really nice expensive stuff there but it is not a Ford or any other model thing. I am pretty lucky to be near many great tracks but still I bought the Boss because it a Boss, I am racing because I have a Boss.

I left traction control on the first two runs and the wet run. I ran sport mode the third and two final time. Did not ever feel the difference except during the wet run.
 
If you are engaging ABS yes you are braking too hard because you have exceeded the grip of your tires. I run with everything off (AdvanceTrac Off). I did notice one session where I didn't hold it long enough so I was either in Sport Mode or just had TCS off and the ABS were going off like crazy. That's the only time I've engaged ABS in the Boss. I actually pulled into the hot pits to turn it off as I felt the car was undrivable. They must be more sensitive if you don’t have AdvanceTrac Off.
 
I have to read the manual but on mine one taps turns it off and on and two quick taps puts it in sport mode (should be called race mode, imo) always with your foot on the brake. I don't know what the holding part is but just try a quick tap and see if that woks better.
 
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GA
2012Boss said:
Well, what to say? Lot of fun but I hate the Boss, I thought my first time out there I would be scared and on the edge but no. The Boss is so well balanced I could not even get close to driving it to its capabilities. I never felt like I was pushing it but after all I guess that is a good thing ;D

The vids are of the first, second and third runs while I had an instructor with me. I did six sessions, the first four with him then he "signed me off" to go solo. The fourth run was just a few minutes after a thunderstorm passed through. I did break the back end loose twice but the car recovered in a split second before I even knew it. It was a good experience and one car did slide off the track and back into the wall, makes you think.

Last session, the first solo, I took it easy. That was the most intimidating time of the day but the Boss helped me through it. After a few laps I built up the confidence to push it some more. The track had dried off but there was some standing water on the apex of two turns so I had to stay wide on those. There was a final open session at the end of the day for everyone, from beginner to advanced. I did not want to go out and mix it up with them but most people had gone home so I let the car cool off for 15 minutes and went back out. There were 3 others cars out there, much faster then me. I got passed a few times but after two laps I did not see anyone else. Sure enough I was the only car out there. I ended up running about seven laps with the track all to myself. That was a lot of fun, hard to even put into words.

Ran the car completely stock and it did take a toll on tires and brakes. I did hit 138MPH on the long back stretch twice. I could get to 120 easy and 130 using more of the stretch but then it was hard on the brakes and tires making the 180 at the end. Even on the straight aways it is hard to look down at the gauges. Man a heads up display would be really nice. In the end I did not boil the brakes with the factory fluid in there. However before the next time out I need to get tires and rims and maybe a track setup brake kit.

All in all the day went very well, I did some bonehead things like put the e-brake on parked right after a run, need a sticky note to remind my self about that in the future. You need to learn to take it easy the first two laps until you heat the tires up. You also need to learn to keep an eye out for corner workers and flags, that is not as easy as it sounds. One thing I found I got better at was looking further ahead as the day went on. The first time out there I do not think I looked more then 10 feet in front of the car. The further out you look the better you can set up your cornering. Also you tend to follow the line of the car in front of you. That is not always best for you but hard not to do.

It is all about seat time, you pick things up pretty quick but the more time the better. As I said it was not as scary as I thought, the car was made to be out there and it is everything we have come to expect and more from all the reviews. I doubt this will come to be an addiction for me, I want to go run again for sure but not going to hold my breath until the next run.

Glad you had fun. My advice to you is even though you can push the car harder, concentrate on your lines and cosistency instead of how fast you can go. After you get that down, you can push it faster. I often hear instructors say that you will learn better in a slower car, and I can understand this since a less capable car forces you to develop skill to compensate for its shortcomings. It is addictive for most, but not for everyone so maybe you might go a couple of times to say you did that will be that. The more track days you do, the faster you will have to replace tires and brake pads, and that is just a hard fact of this hobby. Another hard fact is that things do happen out there, and usually it is driver error, so all you can do is stay sharp and hope for the best. When you do become addicted, it is best to take a cheap purpose track car out there than a new 40K plus car. I won't take my Bullitt out past HPDE2, and when I eventually get good enough for DE3+ I will find a track car.

A tip regarding the E-brake, some drivers put racers tape over it in the down position to prevent them from pulling it up by accident.
 
2012Boss said:
I have to read the manual but on mine one taps turns it off and on and two quick taps puts it in sport mode (should be called race mode, imo) always with your foot on the brake. I don't know what the holding part is but just try a quick tap and see if that woks better.
Foot on brake and hold AdvanceTrac button for 5 full agonizing seconds to turn it all off. It's the first thing I do every time I start the car.
 
Just happened to catch this posted after the track day, I did not even know someone were doing this.

http://www.photoreflect.com/store/ThumbPage.aspx?e=8039458&g=0A6J00CN0K
 
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I can't tell from the pictures but do you have a 4-piston front Brembo caliper?

The rotors look great. No issues there.

I think high temp brake fluid (ATE Superblue amongst many others) and a good set of pads (Performance Friction "01" compound pad -if youre getting to be more serious about tracking your car) will suffice for your brake needs. The stock street pads aren't that great on track, especially as your speeds pick up. I'd say the pads and fluid are more important than ducting. Ducting stock pads won't help much.

Engaging ABS isn't bad or braking too hard. But blindly pushing the pedal through the floor and not modulating the pedal is a bad thing. Engaging ABS means you're braking at the limit, but as you feel the pedal pulsate, don't be pushing the pedal too much harder. You also want to work up to threshold (also in abs) braking in a straight line, then trailing off the brakes (modulating them) down to the apex.

0.02
 
Thanks, glad to hear on the rotors, they looked OK to me but that means nothing at this point. I was unsure if I heated them too much by just looking at some of the markings there. They had no street time after so this is how they looked at the end of the race day. Yes they are the four piston Brembos, they stopped very well even when I pushed it down the straight-away and braked hard, no worries outside of boiling the fluid which did not happen.

Now that I have my tires I really want to get advise on the pad and rotors. I will switch them out for track days and have the same thoughts as the tires, not burning up a set of expensive Brembos. If I use the pads you memtioned, will they be harsh on the stock rotors? Fluid is going to be changed real soon.

Best place/price to order the Dot 4, anyone got a link? Also anyone know what the factory Brembo pads and rotor cost, searched that but could not find them.
 

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