adidas04

Nice! Welcome. Im from KC and look forward to some track time at Heartland Park this season (I hope). I currently live in Tulsa though, not too far from Hallett, so maybe I can burn around that track a few times too. You mentioned MAM? Where is that?

DPE

MAM is Mid America Motorplex up near Omaha. It's basically a VERY flat track out in a field with a great smooth surface and tons of runoff room. I plan on starting the season there to get a feel for the Mustang; not much to hit if you have an off . We usually head up there 3-5 times in a season. They basically have open track on Fridays and usually there's only a few cars there and you can go on and off as you please.

We usually go to Hallett once or twice a year. It's the most entertaining track in the area. Just a bit of a drive from KC. I'll post when we're going down and maybe we'll see some other Mustangs down there? Or I should say 'another' Mustang; my track friends have a pair of RX-8s and an E36 M3. This American Muscle stuff is new to us .

And then of course we go to Heartland Park fairly regularly. They have a Wednesday afternoon/evening Touring Club deal that lets you get on track for minimal money several times a year.

chrumck

I ran my 06 on stock suspension the whole last season, last couple days on BFG R1's, had a TON of fun and was able to keep up with the fast guys. Well, one guy in an Elise told he could see my whole differential when following me in braking zones but that didn't prevent me from being faster than him!

I definitely agree that running on stock pads will be no fun and maybe even dangerous. I'd say some HT-10's (or EBC yellows which I would recommend despite many people considering them junk.), high-temp DOT-4 brake fluid and cooling ducts are a must. I'd agree with the people saying that the stock brakes can handle some abuse on the track but I noticed excessive overall wear on them which is the clear indication that they're not up to the task in the long run. Fried dust boots, uneven pad wear, cylinder and piston galling, caliper discoloration indicating excessive heat, that kind of stuff. On R-comp tires, you quickly realize that's the brakes which dictate the brake points.

As for destroying the Pirellis, I guess they get destroyed in the same pace as every other street tire so it's more the matter of what you want for tire performance than anything else.

DPE

Seems like some street tires are more prone to chunk and fall to pieces than others when on track. For example, I don't love the Sumitomo HTRZ III, but it's cheap and in my experience holds up to track abuse surprisingly well. The BFG KDW2, which I liked quite a bit on the road, was absolutely destroyed on track when mounted to a relativley slow, relatively light RX-8. I don't really want to test out the OEM 19" Pirellis; I'm guessing they'd fall apart and honestly I'd like to keep a 'nice' set of tires available for the car for between track days .

Good to know that with the basic brake upgrades the car can do pretty well out of the box. Funny that the Elise could see your rear diff in braking zones. Funnier that that means he was BEHIND you in said braking zones! I suspect I'll try and pick up a set of Konis while they're on sale (if they ever come off backorder), and if you're going to do shocks you may as well do springs, and if you are going to do springs you may as well do the upper mounts in front; next thing you know you've dropped over a grand! But that's the plan; I suspect by mid-year I'll have that stuff added to the suspension, and then probably just enjoy the car for the rest of the season and see what money looks like over the winter and ponder BBKs and Watts links and intake/tune packages etc.

Sleeper_08

DPE

I have had my KDW2s "Chunk",i.e small pieces are torn out of the tread on track days. It seems to do it worse on the front and someone suggested it was due to heavy braking. After about 18 track days it was not very serious.

My NT01s do not do it.

After mounts/springs/Koni Yellows you might want to also consider a set of Sam's adjustable front and rear bars to do the final tune on the handling.

A Watt's link also helps the car feel a lot more stable if you are really pushing hard.

There is a never ending list of things to do