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The Watts Links were just starting to get some press as I made the mods to my car. I sometimes I wish I would have waited but honestly, I’m pretty happy how it runs with what I have. I may look into a rear bar if I can’t get the balance I want with shock adjustments and tire pressures. However, I still secretly lust for a watts link… I’m really interested in hearing how the data logger works out. Sounds like an excellent source of track feedback
Calabogie is an amazing track. I was consistently over 100 mph on at least four sections of the track. It’s a definitely a place to “let the pony run”. I’m trying to find the time to get some video off the camera and on to the computer to put with a track report but haven’t been able to find the time. We had some Ferrari Challenge cars on the track while we were there and it was amazing to see how fast full race prepped cars are. I have a car pass on the front straight from the in-car camera as well as having my son capture the same shot from the tower. The car blew me away and I was gong 100+ mph! It was lucky I saw him and lifted before gong into turn 1. He wasn’t there coming out of he quarry.
Unfortunately I’ve only run the yellow stuff pads at Calabogie which was a new track for me last year. I don’t have any comparison on a familiar track. Two of my friends run them and love them (S/C Miata and 65 Mustang/C6 Vette). I still experienced a little pad fade going into turn 5 (the fastest part of the track) but nowhere else. I’ll tell you what, I went two days, 5 - 30 minute sessions (32+ miles each) per day and they hardly look worn. The dust was way less than with the HPS’s too . I went through at least half of the last set of HPS of pads I had (fronts) after two track days.
I went to Nitto NT01’s at Calabogie as well so the extra grip probably made me braver to brake later than I normally would have. I definitely was waiting to the very last minute going into 5 and almost slid through/out of it once :-0.
When I go back to Grattan on May 19th, I’ll be able to really see how they compare. I was getting significant pad fade going into turn 10 on the HPS pads.
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Mods: Corsa Exhaust, Steeda: Complete Intake, UDPs, HD Strut Mounts, G-Trac, Panhard Brace & SS Lines, Eibach Pro Kit, Tokico D-Spec, Spohn: Adj. LCAs & Panhard Bar, BMR: UCA & Reloc Brkts, Coast AL DS, Strange STB, Cobalt Friction Pads, ATE Fluid, Quantum Ducts, ARH LTs, Prothane MM
Yeah, I think I've got 6 tracks within 4 hours of me, there might be a couple of others that I don't know about.
Texas World Speedway is less than 10 minutes from my house
Harris Hill Road is in San Marcos about 3 hours away
Motor Sport Ranch: Houston is about 2 and a half hours away
Motor Sport Ranch just South of Dallas about 3 hours away
Texas Motor Speedway is just north of Fort Worth about 3 and a half hours away
Eagle's Canyon Raceway is further north about 4 hours away
Only problem is that I can only afford to make it to Texas World Speedway. I really want to make it out to MSR some time next year.
Mosport looks like a fun track to drive. I love tracks with lots of elevation change. The guy I track with has been talking about Mosport so maybe we'll have to work it into the schedule next year. I didn't see how long it is (quick look admittedly). It must be at least two miles. Looks like a blast.
Here is the video I used to learn the line at Calabogie:
I ended up making some adjustments but it is a good start. I must have watched it two dozen times before going but still felt totally lost on my first session. I guess that's what a 3 mile track can do to you. What is challenging and fun about Calabogie (other than the speeds) is the number of blind turns and corners. You'll get a good idea from the video but a couple are more scary in real life (turns 15 & 16 for instance). They have lots of well placed corner workers to keep things under control.
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Mods: Corsa Exhaust, Steeda: Complete Intake, UDPs, HD Strut Mounts, G-Trac, Panhard Brace & SS Lines, Eibach Pro Kit, Tokico D-Spec, Spohn: Adj. LCAs & Panhard Bar, BMR: UCA & Reloc Brkts, Coast AL DS, Strange STB, Cobalt Friction Pads, ATE Fluid, Quantum Ducts, ARH LTs, Prothane MM
Mosport looks like a fun track to drive. I love tracks with lots of elevation change. The guy I track with has been talking about Mosport so maybe we'll have to work it into the schedule next year. I didn't see how long it is (quick look admittedly). It must be at least two miles. Looks like a blast.
Here is the video I used to learn the line at Calabogie:
I ended up making some adjustments but it is a good start. I must have watched it two dozen times before going but still felt totally lost on my first session. I guess that's what a 3 mile track can do to you. What is challenging and fun about Calabogie (other than the speeds) is the number of blind turns and corners. You'll get a good idea from the video but a couple are more scary in real life (turns 15 & 16 for instance). They have lots of well placed corner workers to keep things under control.
Mosport is 2.46 miles around and the elevation changes are what makes it really fun. Turn 2 is a blind double apex negative camber blast (especially when you go in too hard and end up missing the tire wall by 3 feet) and turn 4 is another blind corner taken in fourth gear. The back straight is over a mile long and last year I ran out of revs and nerve in 4 th gear at 130 MPH before I ran out of straight. Here is the link to the May 22 event I'm attending at Mosport http://www.frankewald.com/ . This is my first time with a Frank Ewald organized event but he puts on several each year. As you can see you get 3 1/2 hours track time per event! It is also terrific being able to drive on the same track that I used to watch people like Bruce McLaren, Denis Hulme, Graham Hill, Jimmy Clark etc... drive on.
After watching the Calabogie video I'm even more interested in trying to get there this year.
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White 08 GT Roush S/C 445 HP/KDW2 285/40/18 tires/18 x 9.5 Steeda Ultralite wheels/ Steeda Competition springs/D Specs/FAYS2 Watt's Link/LCA/Adj UCA & Mnt/Upper strut mnts/GT500 Brake Kit/GT500 Front LCA/X5 Ball Jnt/Bmp Str + more
Well I had an absolute blast at Putnam Park which is a 1.8 mile 10-turn road course just west of Indianapolis.
This was my first real track day in my Mustang and I have to say I can't wait to do it again! I've received some high-speed driving training years ago but I went ahead and rode with a more experienced driver in his 350Z before I drove. It was extremely valuable (and worth the entrance fee in and of itself) as he showed me the line and the apexes and how to exit the corners and use all of the track. He also warned me to drive off the line in the rain and that proved very valuable later as it started raining at 11:15ish in the morning. When I checked in one of the track employees also warned me that the track was slippier then most when wet.
So this was just a very low-key lapping day (all about seat time) and in the morning they split us up into two groups by experience and vehicle potential. The first group drove the top half of the hour and the faster, second group drove at the bottom half. I was in the slow group of course and the only Mustang. I was pretty much the slowest driver there and I was constantly doing point-bys! About the only car slower then me (at least in the corners) was a Ford FOCUS, the only other Ford there... I considered it a win for me because I didn't spin out (I had a car spin out in front of me and behind me) and I didn't go off track!
The second half of the day, since everyone was following the rules and letting faster cars pass, they went green flag for everyone. Unfortunately by this time it was raining so a lot of the faster (and likely trailered) cars didn't even go on the track.
This was a "toe in the water" kind of experience for me so I was on my street tires and OEM brake pads. My tires are what they are and I have to say I was very happy with how they performed. The brake pads held up well, too. In the dry I was hitting 100+ in the front straight and braking to about 60 into turn one. But, I was braking early for safety's (and my car's) sake. When I rode in the 350Z he was hitting low 120's and braking a lot later and carrying a lot more speed into turn 1. Obviously if I would have had a whole day with a dry track my tires/pads would have been in a lot worse condition.
All together I put 90 miles of track driving on my car with about 2 hours of driving time. If you had been on the track non-stop you could have had 6 hours of driving time! I actually left at 3PM even though we had the track till 5PM because of the rain.
Anyway, the organizer said a lot of the faster cars were not going to be there. There were a few Z06s, a few older 911s, 944, 928, a new Cayman, E36 and E46 M3s, Miatas, S2000s, CRXs, CTS-V, Lexus IS, Audi A4, Lotus Elise, Cooper S, and a few other cars.
Sorry, no pics of me driving, I was by myself and didn't want to lend my camera to anyone! My wife said she'll come next time so I'll get some pics.
I do have some video of the other cars coming down the straight away, not very good, but I might post it later.
Not a one of them sounded as good as my Mustang with the Boomtubes going down the straight!
The guy I rode with. He's been coming out to Putnam Park for about 7 years.
Why didn't I buy that pristine 50k-mile E36 M3 6 years ago?!!!!
Putnam looks pretty nice from those photos. Lots of runoff on the turns we can see in those photos. I did a track day in the rain last fall, pretty hard rain in fact. I was very uncomfortable, spun it once. It was partly tires, partly me but also a big part is the car, its pretty twitchy in the wet. Front drivers were running rings around me. Rain is the great equalizer.
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07 GT 5spd: stock > road racing > stock.
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