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First Track Day in the Boss review.

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I had my first track day in the Boss yesterday with the Lotus owners of south Texas. I was a little worried about the brakes since my Performance Friction Pads would not fit and I did not figure that out until the night before after bleeding the brakes with Castrol SRF. The pads were to thick, they had the correct backing plate, but would not fit even with the piston fully compressed. I figure I will give performance friction a call and see what they have to say. If they can't help, I will see if I can shave a few mm off each one and get clearance for the next track day. Anyway on to the track day and impressions.

I warmed the car up and headed on to the track, I did two easy laps to get everything up to temperature and then a I began hot lapping. First impression was damn, this car really is neutral. Despite all the reviews and my limited albeit positive experiences with it on the street, I still didn't quite believe a Mustang could be that good. I am glad to tell you that I was wrong and all the reviews are right. This car is bloody brilliant. It is the first street car I have ever driven on the track that did not need anything to get it handle the way I want it to. As far as the brakes go, the peddle never went mushy the entire day. I was pretty impressed with the stock pads as they did not start to lose bite until after 5 or 6 hot laps before I started having to brake a little earlier. I will say that if I was on stickier tires or on a faster track (back straight was about 105mph braking into a 75mph turn) track pads will be required if you are a fast driver, this track just is not that hard on brakes. I left the front grill on for the day as I am at sea level and it was in the 40s with a high of 62 and I had no overheating problems. Everyone was extremely positive towards the car, and it got more attention than everything else there.

The only mods I plan to do for track days are camber plates because I was rolling the crap out of the outside edge of the tires, I will make sure I have track pads that will fit, and stickier tires probably on 18 inch rims, and brake ducts because they will probably be needed on higher speed tracks. Other than that, the car is perfect no hint of push in the high speed sections of the track with just a hint of easily correctable oversteer when transitioning. It behaves like a track car is supposed to and man does it hook up on corner exit.
 
Great writeup. I had a similar reaction my first track day in the Boss.....just couldn't believe a Mustang could handle that well out of the box. Might I suggest one more small mod for track days, and that's the transmission cooling scoop? It's only about $120 and 4 bolts, but reportedly lowers trans temps by 15 or more degrees.
 
I had been meaning to ask if it was worthwhile or needed. I also plan on oil temp and maybe oil pressure at some point. I will probably swap out the grill for the Cobra Jet as well since I think the white will go with the rest of the car.
 
bolecailey said:
I had been meaning to ask if it was worthwhile or needed. I also plan on oil temp and maybe oil pressure at some point. I will probably swap out the grill for the Cobra Jet as well since I think the white will go with the rest of the car.
The trans cooling scoop becomes more of a benefit on the bigger tracks with long straightaways where you really heat it up.
 
My first track day was similar to yours and I'm still amazed how well the rear end hooks up and goes. All the magazines write about it and a couple have said it hooks up so well BECAUSE of the live axle, go figure. Anyway you shake it the Boss is fast not because it's light or so powerful but because it puts down what power it has very efficiently. Very similar in a sense to a 911 with all the weight over the rear axle.

I caught the trans scoop on sale for $90 at CJ Pony so keep an eye out for a sale.

http://www.cjponyparts.com/FORD-RACING-TRANSMISSION-COOLER-AIR-SCOOP-MANUAL-GT-2011-2012/p/M5025MBR/
 
bolecailey said:
Gary, you are running the MM camber plates right? Any reason you didn't go with Vorshlag.
I have friends with the MM plates who were very happy with them so that's the direction I went. I'm just not as familiar with Vorshlag, no other reason.
 

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