The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

My Trackey Experience

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jneary

Performance Fords
323
0
Norcal
OK here we go.

Dropped the car off at 7:00AM this morning for Trackey Installation. Got a call 1.5 hours later and the car was ready. Excitedly, I headed back to the dealer and picked her up. Sure enough, the magic words "Trackey Mode Enabled, Track Use Only" so I drove off waiting for the ding to occur indicating that the lopey idel mode was enabled. Never happened.

Got home and was wondering why the car never went into lopey idle mode. Attempted to set launch control and no go. Also, not able to turn on pit lane speed control.

Called Ford Racing and they said that the dealer had programmed the key but had not flashed the PCM. "It's a two step process, you need to take it back". So, I called the dealer and took the car back.

I had an MRI this morning so off I went to get that done and assumed that I would return and all would be complete. MRI done, I returned to the dealer and assumed that the car was done, It was not.
I waited another hour and asked again and the service writer indicated that they were having problems flashing the PCM and that they had called Ford Racing twice to no avail.

Finally, another half hour goes by and I see my car coming out of the service bay and drive up to the pick up area with a very haggered look on the technicians face. I commented to him ""WOW, that was a pain in the A$$ huh?" to which he replied in a very distressed look, "Yeah, it took eight times before it would take it and Ford kept saying to "try again"!". Seems like the procedure to update the PCM is fraught with potential failures and I am sure that they have bricked a few before which is why the tech was stressed out about it.

So, finally about 2:00PM today, that magic ding struck and "Lopey Idle Mode" came on for the first time!!! AWESOME!!! What a transition in driving this makes.

My impressions:

1. The car is much more responsive to the throttle. Feels more immediate and there is less lag between pressing the pedal and the car accelerating. Took a little bit to get used to, like I had to learn to shift it again.

2. Deceleration is WAY better now. Engine braking is much more smooth and less sudden. The car just kind of floats when you get off the go pedal.

3. No more Jake Brake. The exhaust sound is much better and smooth. The sudden grumble when you decelerate is gone and replaced with the same rumble of the exhaust all the way down to idle.

4. Lopey idle is AWESOME especially with the side pipes fully open as mine are. I don't want to turn the car off anymore but just sit and listen to it in the driveway.

5. 'POP POP POP I'm moving in stereo'. Now, when I double clutch on a downshift, the side pipes pop, out of sync and it is just COOL!. At some point, I'll try to make a recording but it surprised me when it first happened because it usually all came out at the same time but now, it is very melodic.

6. Launch Control. Hmmm, it pains me to dump clutches on transmissions but I tried it tonight and it works pretty well. Probably the last time I will ever use it.

7. Ping-a-D-ping. A little pre-ignition at low RPM WOT action but I suspect that will go away once I let everything re-learn and use the troubleshooting procedures in the instructions.

8. Pull a little harder. I did the first through third gear redline test and seat of the pants says that the car pulls harder from mid RPM up to redline. Hard to believe that but it does have a more powerful feeling higher up in the RPM range. Again, this is seat of the pants.... I could also smell the cats working harder when I came to a stop after getting on it indicating that the car was putting out more hydrocarbons....

Overall, I am thrilled!!! This is a great feature and though the installation was a pain in the a$$, the result was worth the extra drive back to the dealer. After all, the tech was the one under pressure!!!

I thank my wife for an awesome Christmas present!!!

John
 

Domestic Product

Big fat tires and everything !
John, I agree the track key is awesome. Mine went in with out a hitch, I think it is what tech you end up with. Believe it or not the Boss is a rare beast at most dealers. Ya I drove around on the streets with it for a time, had a blast. You have probably read about the key here on BMO and have all this covered. I love it, but I subscribe to the " we use the track key on the track". Others drive around with it around town and such and that's ok. But it learns how you drive and adjusts. So if one is on the road with stop lights and traffic it dumbs it self down. Less lopey and such. If one is limiting its use to the track it stays at its most aggressive setting. But that's just me, it will also relearn to its ideal settings as well if you take it out on the track , but it takes some time .
 
Cool. It's unfortunate that over two years after it's release dealers are still having problems installing the TK tune. Mine was done the fourth day after the release and I've never had a problem with it. It sounds really cool revving the car up to about 4,000 RPM's and then lifting off the throttle. While I'll be the first to admit the lopey idle is a bit of a gimmick I like it! John is sounds like you'll be needing some new rear tires very soon. ;)
 
I can report that after 3 months of commuting and back roads driving that the Lopez idle and overall experience has NOT diminished. However, I have no highway miles and leave it in the lowest gear I can to get that sweet sounds, engine breaking and pop*pop*pop!
 
jneary said:
OK here we go.

3. No more Jake Brake. The exhaust sound is much better and smooth. The sudden grumble when you decelerate is gone and replaced with the same rumble of the exhaust all the way down to idle.

6. Launch Control. Hmmm, it pains me to dump clutches on transmissions but I tried it tonight and it works pretty well. Probably the last time I will ever use it.

Great report! Hmmm, I like the jake brake sound. :-\ But, everyone seems to like TracKey sounds better, so I can't wait to hear the difference for myself. The sounds this car makes are one of the reasons I get such enjoyment from my car every single time I drive it.

As for the launch control, by most accounts I have read and first-hand advice at TrackAttack - it responds best to releasing the clutch in the same manner as you would any fast launch, NOT sidestepping it. That might make you feel better about playing with it, even if it isn't your thing.

Dealership opens in three hours! I'll report back here later today with my TracKey report!
 
88
0
I had the same experience, it took them 8 or 10 tries to load it. They said the download from Ford Racing kept failing.
 

jneary

Performance Fords
323
0
Norcal
that is what my service tech said. It kept failing. Now, it makes me wonder if they were using a wired network like they were supposed to or not.

John
 
Trackey is awesome! I'm suprised it took you so long to experience it, I think every Boss owner should have it. I've heard similiar things about difficulty at dealers with loading it. I had to get my gauge cluster replaced and it took them 2 tries to get it to load right.
 

PhilTaylor

Track Attack 5-26-14
Finally got my TracKey installed. It took 3 times, so that makes me middle of the pack based on this thread :).

I agree with JNeary's 1-5, especially lopey idle. Haven't used launch control, wasn't where I could accelerate enough to judge.

I did notice that the accelerometor in the TracApps did have the moving red dot, but the brake, left, right, acceleration numbers seem to be "current highest value" and not a real-time display. Is that correct and normal or does my TracKey activation have issues?

Almost 1400 miles on the car and it definitely puts a grin on my face every time.
 
I don't use my track key very often for the same reason as mentioned above,the car learns your driving habits in the every day traffic.You can unhook the battery for 10 to 15 minutes then start it back up and it will relearn the track key program.I do love the track key,it really changes the attitude of my car!
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top