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Memorable Track Weekend - Learned a lot about the car setup too!

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OK, I just got back from a fantastic track weekend at MPH (Motorsports Park Hastings) in Hastings, NE. MPH is a private club that hosts several different events from karting, club racing, autox and drag racing. It's a 2.1 mile very technical track. This was my first visit. First off, I have to say the hospitality was overwhelming. You got the white glove treatment from the time you got there until you left. The track is very new having opened in 2006. It is the most well maintained track I have ever run. I washed the car last night and had very few rubber marks to clean and I ran well over 200 track miles in two days.

I had the opportunity to run with a Boss 302 Laguna Seca in addition to Z06s, a variety of Porsches, a Superformance Cobra, Mustangs, Camaros and a variety of other cars.

On Saturday, I started out running in the high 1:47s and 1:48s. By the last session of the day I logged a couple 1:44s and a high 1:43. The track president commented how he was really impressed with the lap times for a Mustang and said that car was really set up well by Ford. I asked him for some benchmarking and he said Mustangs typically run in the 1:53 to 54 range and as high as 58 to 59. He said a Z06 on street tires would be around 1:42.

Sunday was interesting. There weren't any cars signed up to run, but I had driven 5 hours to get there and was hoping to run at least two days. The track president said they would be open from 10-3 regardless since they had some SCCA cars to tech and those times were member hours to come and go if they chose. Turned out I was the only car on track for most of the day. It was like going to Disneyland and being the only kid there with free run of all the rides ;D I told him I felt bad the corner workers had to be there and he said they were actually having a lot of fun watching the Boss run. They started radioing in the times and holding up a board each time by the tower with my previous lap time. I started out Sunday running consistent 1:44s. By the second sesssion I ran a 1:43.5. In the next session I ran two 1:42s including a 1:42.221 which was my best lap time of the day. Toward the end of the day the other Boss came out. We chased around a bit and then they gave me the checkered and I pulled into the hot pits. The owner was standing by his Laguna Seca and told me to park my Boss. He said hop in so you can experience the difference. I was really humbled and can't say enough about how cool that was. I ran about 6 laps. The car did feel more stable in the sweepers and I sensed a little less body roll. However, I also noticed quickly the stock brakes and wheels/tires. While the Pzero Corsas were sticky, they were over an inch narrower than the Nittos I was running. The stock pads worked well, but didn't have the bite of the DTC 60s/70s so my braking points were very different. Also, I had -1.7 negative camber on my car so there was a noticable difference in turn-in. I also felt the fronts rolling over on some of the early turns because I was trying to drive it like I had driven my own car for two straight days on the same track.

My lap times were in the 1:46s and 47s for those 6 laps. Granted I also had a passenger and limited time with that setup. I would have certainly adjusted my line after realizing the differences in braking and turn-in. I learned that the wheel/tire combo I am running and the brake pad/rotor combo is perfect for my car.

Here's a link to some photos and short videos on the front straight: http://www.racemph.com/Track-Day-5-7-2011.htm

All I can say is Thank You Ford for building an amazing car! IMO, I wouldn't TOUCH the suspension on this car. Play around with wheels/tires and brake pads that work for you, but leave the rest of it alone. The engineers nailed it.
 
Sounds like you had a great time and thanks for sharing. You mentioned before that you were concerned about brake dive from watching some videos. Are you still concerned about it? What is the tire/wheel combo you were running?
 
You lucky dog for being able to get track time already. Sounds like there was an ear to ear smile. How does your Boss compare to the Shelby?
 
5 DOT 0 said:
Sounds like you had a great time and thanks for sharing. You mentioned before that you were concerned about brake dive from watching some videos. Are you still concerned about it? What is the tire/wheel combo you were running?
I really don't notice the brake dive (if I brake properly ;D). There were a couple of occasions where I wasn't smooth and noticed it a bit, but nothing to really be concerned about. I was running Enkei PF01s 18 x 10.5 38mm offset rear and 18 x 9.5 35mm offset front. For tires I went with Nitto 555RII 305/35/18 rear and 285/35/18 front. They provide a stagger of 1.25" front to back. The rear tire height is 26.6" which is within .5" of the stock size so it keeps gearing close to stock. The staggered stance and wider offset really provided a much bigger base than the stock setup. The rear tires barely sit outside the fender and with the negative camber, the fronts are tucked inside the fenders nicely with plenty of clearance to the strut. I would have preferred to run an NT01 or R6 but they don't have those sizes.

I also have a set of Laguna Seca wheels in black with machined face with 295/30/19 and 265/35/19 Hoosier R6s that stayed in the truck. I will be anxious to run those to see how they compare. Having that 285 up front was awesome though. The other thing about the Hoosiers is the rear tire is 26.1" tall which is a full inch shorter than the stock Pirelli even in a 19" radius! There are very very few choices in 19" R-compound tires.
 
548
0
Good data on your Boss times and the comparisons to the other cars is great...confirms what we've been hearing that the Boss is for real. The adage that practice makes perfect seems to hold true once again as you really clipped time off the Saturday runs on Sunday. Hard to imagine a Mustang can go toe to toe with a Z06 which is a fine, fine car.

Sounds like it was a blast!

Thanks for posting!
 
5 DOT 0 said:
Thanks. When you have time, no hurry, can you please post links to the brake lines, rotors, and pads you are using? Also where are you buying the tires? TIA
Goodridge SS Brake Lines
Hawk DTC 70 (front) DTC 60 (rear pads)
DBA slotted rotors: 5000 2-piece front and 4000 1-piece rear

I bought the lines and pads from stranoparts.com and the rotors from revanracing.com Both carry all these parts.

I bought the Nittos from discounttiredirect.com and the Hoosiers from Tire Rack and had both of them heat cycled.

I bought the Enkei wheels through a local tire shop and the SVT Laguna Seca wheels from my dealer.
 
Yikes those 5000 series two piece rotors are expensive! Is the main purpose of two piece to minimize heat transfer to the hub or are rotors replaceable and you reuse the hub mount?

http://www.stranoparts.com/searchbymodel.php?CategoryID=196&ModelID=5

I don't see the DTC 70 pads for the Brembos on Sam's website. Maybe he's out of them.

http://www.stranoparts.com/searchbymodel.php?CategoryID=213&ModelID=5
 
Yea I'm not sure about continuing with the 5000s. It all depends on how long this set of rings lasts me. There are two main advantages to the 2-piece rotors that I'm aware of. First it lightens the rotor. These weigh 20lbs versus 28 stock. Secondly and maybe more importantly is it does reduce heat transfer to the hub. The rings are replaceable and are roughly $600 a set.

I'm sure he has the 70s and they're just not called out on the site.
 
Dean#4AI said:
Awesome report. I am sooooo jealous. I gotta figure out how to get to the track this spring.

So how were the temps?
I knew you'd eventually ask me ;D OK, so I have probably the worst luck when it comes to temps this year. It's been the coldest spring I can remember in my 46 years, however, we hit 87F and 80% humidity on Saturday and 91F and 80% humidity on Sunday! This was in southern NE where it tends to be hot and high humidity in the summer. By Saturday afternoon after about 5 or 6 laps I started to see ECT rise to 240. After talking to the Laguna Seca's owner and he said his gauge ran to 240 without upshifting and not going above it, I adjusted the annunciator on my Aeroforce to 240 before I got the two flashing red lights. When I hit 240, I'd run turns 4-7 in 4th gear instead of 3rd and temps came right back down. I could have pushed it further, but the car's dummy gauge was getting pretty close to hot. I think I read somewhere that the PCM shuts down cylinders at 250, but don't hold me to that. The LS ECT gauge goes to 260 for whatever that's worth. So bottom line is it got warm but didn't overheat. I would strongly suggest getting a temp gauge like the Aeroforce if you're going to track it a lot. It gave me peace of mind that I could keep pushing it and/or adjust driving for a lap or two to keep it safe. I am talking through some cooling ideas with a couple guys relative to opening up the fake fogs on the grille and inserting a steel mesh. A friend of mine with a 5.0 already did this and we're headed to Brainerd in June. He's going to see if that makes a difference. It's not a huge issue yet, but certainly something to keep an eye on if there's a way to bring temps down. The car still ran strong at those temps.
 
Dean#4AI said:
Awesome report. I am sooooo jealous. I gotta figure out how to get to the track this spring.

So how were the temps?

I am way more jealous then you! Sounds like fun Gary, thanks for sharing.

I am kinda suprised you have not added a spoiler to your car, do you plan that?
 
2012Boss said:
Dean#4AI said:
Awesome report. I am sooooo jealous. I gotta figure out how to get to the track this spring.

So how were the temps?

I am way more jealous then you! Sounds like fun Gary, thanks for sharing.

I am kinda suprised you have not added a spoiler to your car, do you plan that?
Well I'm currently not sure about changing the spoiler. I want to make sure I don't compromise the aero Ford already designed into the car. We did talk about that this weekend, but I can't remember which one he recommended. It might have been the 302S. I don't know how much difference it will make on shorter tracks. On a high speed track like Brainerd next month it would, but I also don't know if you need to match it with the front splitter. I still don't see how I get my car on and off the trailer with that front splitter, and I'm not going to put it on at the track.
 
I have had the hardest time with my trailer. I needed to use two 2x10's under the ramps to clear the front splitter. then I hit the bolts that are in the side pipes for adjustments, I had them cut down at the dealer yesterday and they also adjusted the system since it was not done well at the factory. Need less to say I need to have a new trailer made with a different dovetail at the rear, like 36 inches. Money, money and more money!

On the spoiler, it is just a base Mustang one, so I'm not sure how much thought went into that, I would think at the least a LS type wing would help you some out there.
 
2012Boss said:
I have had the hardest time with my trailer. I needed to use two 2x10's under the ramps to clear the front splitter. then I hit the bolts that are in the side pipes for adjustments, I had them cut down at the dealer yesterday and they also adjusted the system since it was not done well at the factory. Need less to say I need to have a new trailer made with a different dovetail at the rear, like 36 inches. Money, money and more money!

On the spoiler, it is just a base Mustang one, so I'm not sure how much thought went into that, I would think at the least a LS type wing would help you some out there.
I drag my front splitter about 8 inches on the diamond plate dovetail and I did on my GT500 too. I've had the GT500 4 years and still have the original splitter. It doesn't hurt it, you just close your eyes and don't watch ;D
 
The boards work for now but I am pulling the car up. I cut some notches in the wood for the ramps but would still be afraid to drive it like this. My splitter is marked up from other attempts at loading already :'( Good news is I do not have to remove the fender to open the door, have to on the 70.

How are you strapping down? Through the rims? I plan that unless you have better ideas, don't know if that will scratch the finish. I also saw some short straps that are just long enough to wrap the rear axle and has flat hooks attached to each end to hook into. I like the looks of them and may try that.

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