Official GT350 Track Attack Attendance Thread

Just signed up for October 25-27, the last event of the year. Did the ST Octane Academy in late October a few years ago, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Really looking forward to the Track Attack!

Minn19 said:

Nice to meet you out there! It was a blast and I agree, I wish I would've done the second day as well. I had time constraints to just get this in and didn't wan't to waste it.

I'm thinking of just paying for the two day school with the Boss 302 upgrade and do it next year when I have more time.

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Are u the one with black tech pack?

Jmk said:

Are u the one with black tech pack?

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It's an AG/BS Tech Pack.

Just got back from the April 26-27th Track Attack school. I added my wife based upon my friend saying his wife had a blast. He was right. After the class, my wife left her badge/name tag on when we went out. To everybody that would listen she said "You know what I did today?" It was good to see that I didn't waste $1,600. On the 12 hour drive home, in the GT350, I even let her drive the car for the first time (true). She earned it.

This was an absolutely astounding experience. I was completely blown away with the capability of the car. I had no idea it could do what it does in the hands of a pro. The Hot Lap was an eye opener. And this is coming from somebody that has road raced motorcycles. Nor was I slow relative to my group of 6 other riders. No one ever closed on me, and I had to pit twice to avoid riding somebody's ass. But the jump up to pro driver was a night and day difference. The car has a ridiculously high level of performance.

It is so good to finally know what the limit of the car is. Unlikely that I will ever get there. However, I have to decide now if I am willing to do a few track days to raise my competency. Either way the experience something to not miss.

Details.....

The first half of the class (morning) consisted of, cones, heal toe and skid car. Of the three, the skid car was the only valuable exercise for me. It was a helpful reminder of the feeling of when a car breaks loose.

The second half of the day was following the instructor through the proper line. This again was pretty basic as I have road raced motorcycles before. However the pace was decent and I could see that this was going to be a whole lot of fun as they weren't going to be P**sy footing around. Plus it was good to get to see the track.

The second time out on the track was split 50/50 between either a little personal time to get used to the track and an instructor ride along, with a quick pit for the instructor to get in / get out. As I was setting up to hit the apex several times I was not aggressive enough with the steering input and the instructor yanked the wheel in the direction of the turn. He kept on doing this until I got the lesson. It totally freaked me out. Here I think I am at the limit of the cars cornering and this unwanted input would crash me, or cause the back end to step out. Not a chance, it just proved that I was being too cautious and not giving enough steering input even though the car could handle it. Much different from driving a motorcycle where steering input is smoother, more gradual and less forceful.

The 3rd and last session was about 20 mins of solo time. Having learned that the car could handle a lot more steering input even after I thought it was toward the cornering limit, I lightened up my death grip on the wheel. This also helped me relax as I gave more steering input but with a light touch. I had to pit twice because I was held up by other drivers, we were not allowed to pass. Pitting was the approved method to put some distance in front of you. And a third time, one of the drivers pitted in front of me because he felt bad because it was the second time I was riding his butt.

I thought I had learned something in my brief 60 minutes of track time, and I had. But the Hot Laps with the instructors were another experience all together. If I were to assess my driving, I would say that I only extracted 70% of the capability of the car. But what a great perspective. Before the Hot Laps, I might have thought I was extracting 90% of the capability of the car. I can see why they would put the hot laps at the end. While it would be very helpful to get back on the track after the Hot Laps, you don't what somebody thinking they can extract that level of performance right out of the gate.

While only the second half of the program was valuable to me, I was the only one with track experience. So the design of the program makes sense. The morning portion helps everybody get up to speed. It was a great set of stepping stones to experience before the actual track time. It would have been in appropriate to just throw somebody in the car without the initial basics. Patience is not one of my virtues.

Bottom line is it is great to know that there is so much untapped potential in the car. The whole experience has left me in awe of this cars ability.

I will be attending the two day class May 15-16 and each post has me more and more on edge to get out there.

My questions are about cameras. I have seen many posted yet I wonder were these taken by a third party?

Do they allow GoPros?
Are there limitations to mounts?
I understand the time is limited between sessions is there a secure place to leave a camera bag while you are on the track? I will be going alone.

Thanks!!!!!

havasu486 said:

My questions are about cameras. I have seen many posted yet I wonder were these taken by a third party?

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Yes there is a photographer that takes pictures the whole day and you get a usb stick of them. However you may want to take your own as well.

havasu486 said:

Do they allow GoPros? Are there limitations to mounts?

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Yes, Don't know what they might be.

havasu486 said:

I understand the time is limited between sessions is there a secure place to leave a camera bag while you are on the track? I will be going alone.

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Yes, you will be able to leave all of your stuff in a locked classroom before you head out to the track and nobody will mess with your stuff.

Cool article..... I can't wait to go back again!


http://www.businessinsider.com/ford...ree-all-they-have-to-do-is-get-to-the-venue-3

Very cool article. Thanks for that! :cheers:

[MENTION=19373]havasu486[/MENTION], they allow GoPros to be mounted inside of the vehicle, nothing on the outside for obvious reasons.

They also ask that you get it ready to go in a timely fashion so you don't hold everybody up. There is enough time to mount it pretty quickly. I just used the suction cup mount and put it high on the windshield. Just don't put the suction cup on black/rough area by the rear view mirror. It won't stay up there, ask me how I know. :doh:

Minn19 said:

[MENTION=19373]havasu486[/MENTION], they allow GoPros to be mounted inside of the vehicle, nothing on the outside for obvious reasons.

They also ask that you get it ready to go in a timely fashion so you don't hold everybody up. There is enough time to mount it pretty quickly. I just used the suction cup mount and put it high on the windshield. Just don't put the suction cup on black/rough area by the rear view mirror. It won't stay up there, ask me how I know. :doh:

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I could have sworn a guy that was there when I was put one on the outside. He put 3 on the car total....

This guy.....

Thanks for all the input!!!!!! I have several mounts ill bring in a bag and see what works on that day. Great heads up on being prepared. I have a few batteries and will make certain everything pairs to my watch before I leave.

IMO, while its awesome to have the footage, and I'm probably in the minority on this, but having that extra "thing" to fiddle with and being more concerned with "getting the shot" might distract from the whole experience. I almost liken it to people at concerts with their cell phones out the whole time...you can get more focused on recording the show than "experiencing" it..... While you do have some time to set up between sessions, your day is pretty much scheduled to the minute. If you do bring it, make sure you are really good with it so you can make quick work of battery and SD card changes. Oh, and HAVE FUN! I am fortunate enough to have done the Boss Track Attack in 2013 and now a couple weeks ago the GT350. It really is an incredible experience. Enjoy every minute of it!

btown93 said:

IMO, while its awesome to have the footage, and I'm probably in the minority on this, but having that extra "thing" to fiddle with and being more concerned with "getting the shot" might distract from the whole experience. I almost liken it to people at concerts with their cell phones out the whole time...you can get more focused on recording the show than "experiencing" it..... While you do have some time to set up between sessions, your day is pretty much scheduled to the minute. If you do bring it, make sure you are really good with it so you can make quick work of battery and SD card changes. Oh, and HAVE FUN! I am fortunate enough to have done the Boss Track Attack in 2013 and now a couple weeks ago the GT350. It really is an incredible experience. Enjoy every minute of it!

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Great input, I plan on reacquainting myself with my GoPro over the weekend before I leave. My first goal is to get everything I can out of the two days, I also want to have some video to remember the experience. I'm feeling pretty lucky to have this experience. You went twice? Very Cool!!!!

havasu486 said:

Great input, I plan on reacquainting myself with my GoPro over the weekend before I leave. My first goal is to get everything I can out of the two days, I also want to have some video to remember the experience. I'm feeling pretty lucky to have this experience. You went twice? Very Cool!!!!

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I should mention that they do have a photographer there on day 1 and you get a drive full of photos. back in 2013 on day 2 they had a photographer as well that you could buy for an extra fee. I'm not sure why they don't photograph on day 2 anymore, but either way, its awesome.

there are plenty of youtube videos with guys and their gopro footage, so you might be able to see what perspective you like, either from outside the car or inside from the rollbar. if you are doing day 2 the boss probably has more bars inside to mount to. people do lose thier gopros on occasion, so keep that in mind of you go outside. they aren't gonna stop everyone for retrieval