First two track days in my 2016 Track Pack

[THX 138]

I spent all day Saturday and Sunday at my local track in my GT350 Track Pack. What an amazing car on track! By way of background, I have 16 track days on this track--Putnam Park in Mount Meridian, Indiana--in my 2002 Porsche Boxster S, so I know the racing line very well. I did two track days in my Boxster last month, just to get back into practice, since I haven't actually been on track in two years.

During the first morning session in the GT350, I matched my best time from my Boxster's September HPDE, and by the end of the first session on the second day, I had beaten my best time ever in the Boxster (from a couple years ago) and was consistently turning times that would have beaten my best time in the Boxster by 1-2 seconds.

This car is so easy to drive fast on track, it really felt like cheating! 132 MPH on the front straight vs. 117 MPH in the Boxster is pretty telling, and the acceleration in the short straights was significantly stronger as well. I've pulled more g's in the Boxster (1.4 vs. 1.3 g's in the GT350), but I'm still learning the limits of the GT350.

I honestly have NO complaints... She performed flawlessly, the tires still looked good after 10 sessions, and although the front brake pads are pretty worn down, I learned by the end of the second day that I had been braking way too hard in certain sections of the track, so my next set of stock pads should wear much better. It's exciting to know that this car has so much more in it, and I really wasn't "hanging it all out" at any point all weekend.

My only mods are Schroth QuickFit Harnesses, Ford Performance Catch Cans (haven't checked them yet), and an AirRaid dry air filter. I used a combination of TrakkTape and blue painter's tape to protect the finish and am extremely happy with the results on that front too (pun intended).

First session: E36 M3, 991 GT3, C6 Z06, Lotus, and a 640HP GT500 that wouldn't give me a point-by. :(
[ame]

Day 2: Z/28, S2000, and BMW M3.
[ame]

Best lap of the weekend, after playing lead/follow with a 991 C4S Cabriolet for a few laps, which was probably the most fun I had all weekend.
[ame]

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[FPCV8YO]

Great comparison against a familiar car on a familiar track.

 

[Bossing]

Awesome Gary! Glad you had a fun & great track weekend! Nice vids and smooth as silk.

 

[VOODOO 6G]

Man, after the track attack and watching these videos I think I'm gonna have to add coolers to my tech car. I may have a new addiction!

 

[chedder]

Very addictive playing at the track.

 

[firestarter2]

Nice nice thanks for sharing. My next event I want to get a bunch of gt350 owners there

 

[torque124]

Very nice!! is your car affected by that recall ? Were you concerned on the track at all?

I have my first track day coming up Saturday, I am a bit concerned with that damn hose popping out at high speed, and ruining my engine...

Thanks

 

[Bossing]

.... and a 640HP GT500 that wouldn't give me a point-by. :(

Last Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, I (as well as a freight train of fast drivers/cars behind) was held up for nearly 5 mins by a driver who wouldn't give me the point-by for the longest time.... I was clearly much faster than him. You know the story... lesser HP car with a faster driver vs. high HP car but with a slow driver who just drag races on the straights. Effin moron. I'm balls out hard throttle on some of the turns (over 100mph at turn 1). This is the advanced Instructor/Solo group.... passing in all areas including on turns but with a point-by.

You can see me hold my hand up in frustration.... and the corners workers failed to waive the blue w/ yellow diagonal striped flag (aka "faster car / faster driver" approaching) at him. He was in a Shelby GT-H automatic (yeah.... the Hertz rental). :frusty:

Afterwards the track organizers and the pit marshall had a long talk with him.... 2x. I wasn't the only one irritated... he didn't repeat it anymore in the later sessions.

Enjoy! :lol:
[ame]

 

[firestarter2]

Last Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, I (as well as a freight train of fast drivers/cars behind) was held up for nearly 5 mins by a driver who wouldn't give me the point-by for the longest time.... I was clearly much faster than him. You know the story... lesser HP car with a faster driver vs. high HP car but with a slow driver who just drag races on the straights. Effin moron. I'm balls out hard throttle on some of the turns (over 100mph at turn 1). This is the advanced Instructor/Solo group.... passing in all areas including on turns but with a point-by.

You can see me hold my hand up in frustration.... and the corners workers failed to waive the blue w/ yellow diagonal striped flag (aka "faster car / faster driver" approaching) at him. He was in a Shelby GT-H automatic (yeah.... the Hertz rental). :frusty:

Afterwards the track organizers and the pit marshall had a long talk with him.... 2x. I wasn't the only one irritated... he didn't repeat it anymore in the later sessions.

Enjoy! :lol:

That looks frustrating, its funny how the cars that hold you up are always running horrible lines.

 

[THX 138]

ote="torque124, post: 1566042"]Very nice!! is your car affected by that recall ? Were you concerned on the track at all?

I have my first track day coming up Saturday, I am a bit concerned with that damn hose popping out at high speed, and ruining my engine...

Thanks[/quote]

I didn't read about the recall until yesterday, so no, I wasn't worried about it. It's a warranty item now, so if your car is included in the recall, and the hose were to pop off, you're covered (albeit (1) you would be seriously inconvenienced, and (2) you'd probably prefer the original engine to a replacement engine).

 

[TDC]

Nice nice thanks for sharing. My next event I want to get a bunch of gt350 owners there

Let me know when next year and vice versa.

 

[THX 138]

I did forget to mention the one concern I had on Day 2. During my final two afternoon sessions, I noticed that I was getting a scary amount of hood flutter on the driver's side front corner at the end of the front straight (at roughly 130 MPH)... Enough flutter, in fact, that during my final session, when I had a novice passenger riding along, I pulled into the hot pit to have a track worker make sure my hood was actually latched, which it was.

After the final session, I popped the hood and noticed that the adjustable rubber hood stop on the driver's side was screwed all the way down into the body--not even close to touching the hood--while the passenger side hood stop was raised up nearly an inch, thus supporting the hood and providing pressure against the hood edge and the spring latch. I can't say for sure that raising the driver's side hood stop will fix the hood flutter issue, but I would at least recommend to anyone getting ready for a track day that they should ensure that their hood stops are both properly adjusted before the event.

:cheers:

 

[SixSpdCyclone]

Appreciate the videos and information. Have been wanting to get to a HPDE event at Putnam Park for a while, especially after having been to the SLC Track Attack event back in September.

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