RaiderJatt02's GT350 story, first 1000 miles and beyond...

[raiderjatt02]

I met up with a few friends from around the Bay Area last week and had a small photoshoot in Alameda, CA. Here are some of the pics from there while I try to process the videos from my track day at Sonoma Raceway.

I love the stance in the first picture. It looks so damn nice on the FP springs and track focused camber!

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[sublime1996525]

That’s it. I’m taking the stripes off.

 

[raiderjatt02]

That’s it. I’m taking the stripes off.

Smart man. I get so many compliments on the stripeless look. Race Red just looks so clean without stripes IMO.

 

[sublime1996525]

I agree. It looks killer.

 

[raiderjatt02]

So I finally got to try out Sonoma Raceway on my new setup and the changes from last year still amaze me. Last year I ran Project 6GR wheels and PSC2 tires in R spec sizes on OEM springs and alignment. My changes since then are:

• Vorshlag CC plates (-2.7F / -2.1R)
• Ford Performance Lowering Springs
• 19x11 +50 Vibe Motorsports Forged Wheels, Square
• 305/30/19 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires

I don't know how much of a difference each change made since I did them all at once but the combined effect of those slight changes made the car feel so much more controlled and balanced. I said the same after my track day at Buttonwillow back in April but that was my first time on that track so I didn't really have a baseline to compare it to. Now that I was able to drive on a familiar track at Sonoma, the differences are wayyyy more noticeable.

First of all, the camber...initial turn in is rollercoaster like. The car changes directions so fast it feels like it started turning before I even turned the steering wheel. The mid-corner understeer that I used to feel is pretty much gone too. I'll attribute that to the square stance. The slightest feeling of understeer was easily corrected either by lifting off the throttle a little bit, lightly dabbing the brakes with my left foot. Coming out of the turns, you could kick the back out just a bit by giving some extra throttle. Every input effected the car exactly how my brain wanted it to. I love it.

Now to the springs. I was worried about them being a little bit lower since I used to scrape at a few places on my stock springs. On my OEM setup, my front splitter would scrape going up turn 3 and while slamming on the brakes coming into turn 11. I am happy to report that even though the FP springs are lower, I didn't scrape a single time all weekend long at any place on the track. The added stiffness is just enough. The car felt amazing through the chicanes between turns 7 and 9. It felt so much more planted settled down after changing directions almost instantly. Unfortunately, the Shelby club didn't have a track photographer so I don't have any pictures to see how it looked from outside because it would have been nice to compare the difference in compression around some of the turns. Oh well...

Last year when I came out to Sonoma, I was on fresh PSC2 tires that never saw a track day yet. This year I was on day 2 and 3. They are wearing out fairly quickly but even with the lesser grip, I was able to beat my PB by nearly 3 seconds with plenty of room for improvement. I had to slow down on both of my best laps due to traffic and still posted my PB. Here's a video of my best 2 laps. I tried to record my pedals for that sexy heel-toe action but my genius self set the exposure too dark so all that video came out nearly pitch black . One of these days I'll get everything recorded perfectly.

Anyways, enough with my jabbering. Here's the video:

 

[sublime1996525]

Great video. Good job man :cheers:

 

[honeybadger]

Tip toeing through Turn 10 - smart man!

Car looks sorted, bro. Wish I could've made it this year!

 

[raiderjatt02]

Great video. Good job man :cheers:

Thanks! Just trying to get a little faster each time I get out there. Wish I could go more often though.

Tip toeing through Turn 10 - smart man!

Car looks sorted, bro. Wish I could've made it this year!

every single time. I don't think I'll ever go flat out through 10. That shit is scary! One little hiccup and if the back kicks out, fuuuuuuuuck that. You probably would have gotten annoyed on Saturday if you came. It was a fully packed track. Sunday was much better and more open though. You probably would have been one of the fastest guys out there.

 

[tracktardicus]

So I finally got to try out Sonoma Raceway on my new setup and the changes from last year still amaze me. Last year I ran Project 6GR wheels and PSC2 tires in R spec sizes on OEM springs and alignment. My changes since then are:

• Vorshlag CC plates (-2.7F / -2.1R)
• Ford Performance Lowering Springs
• 19x11 +50 Vibe Motorsports Forged Wheels, Square
• 305/30/19 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires

I don't know how much of a difference each change made since I did them all at once but the combined effect of those slight changes made the car feel so much more controlled and balanced. I said the same after my track day at Buttonwillow back in April but that was my first time on that track so I didn't really have a baseline to compare it to. Now that I was able to drive on a familiar track at Sonoma, the differences are wayyyy more noticeable.

First of all, the camber...initial turn in is rollercoaster like. The car changes directions so fast it feels like it started turning before I even turned the steering wheel. The mid-corner understeer that I used to feel is pretty much gone too. I'll attribute that to the square stance. The slightest feeling of understeer was easily corrected either by lifting off the throttle a little bit, lightly dabbing the brakes with my left foot. Coming out of the turns, you could kick the back out just a bit by giving some extra throttle. Every input effected the car exactly how my brain wanted it to. I love it.

Now to the springs. I was worried about them being a little bit lower since I used to scrape at a few places on my stock springs. On my OEM setup, my front splitter would scrape going up turn 3 and while slamming on the brakes coming into turn 11. I am happy to report that even though the FP springs are lower, I didn't scrape a single time all weekend long at any place on the track. The added stiffness is just enough. The car felt amazing through the chicanes between turns 7 and 9. It felt so much more planted settled down after changing directions almost instantly. Unfortunately, the Shelby club didn't have a track photographer so I don't have any pictures to see how it looked from outside because it would have been nice to compare the difference in compression around some of the turns. Oh well...

Last year when I came out to Sonoma, I was on fresh PSC2 tires that never saw a track day yet. This year I was on day 2 and 3. They are wearing out fairly quickly but even with the lesser grip, I was able to beat my PB by nearly 3 seconds with plenty of room for improvement. I had to slow down on both of my best laps due to traffic and still posted my PB. Here's a video of my best 2 laps. I tried to record my pedals for that sexy heel-toe action but my genius self set the exposure too dark so all that video came out nearly pitch black . One of these days I'll get everything recorded perfectly.

Anyways, enough with my jabbering. Here's the video:

Looks like you are using really smooth inputs! Your shifts are really quick, can you go over your shifter mods, if any? I struggle to shift that quickly in my GT350. Also, I see in turns 7 and 7a and in turn 11 you are a bit off the rumble strips...is this a line you've been instructed on as a faster line? If not, I'm thinking you can shave some time through those turns by being on the rumble strips. I'd be interested in your thoughts and thanks for the vid!

 

[raiderjatt02]

Looks like you are using really smooth inputs! Your shifts are really quick, can you go over your shifter mods, if any? I struggle to shift that quickly in my GT350. Also, I see in turns 7 and 7a and in turn 11 you are a bit off the rumble strips...is this a line you've been instructed on as a faster line? If not, I'm thinking you can shave some time through those turns by being on the rumble strips. I'd be interested in your thoughts and thanks for the vid!

The only shifter related mods I have is the Steeda Clutch Assist Spring. I hated the stock, dual spring setup. Everything is else is completely stock. I want to get an MGW in the future but I have other things I want to spend my money on before that.

Me being a bit off the rumble strips is not something I've been instructed on, nor is it a faster line. It's just me being off line and proves that I have plenty of places to pick up time .

 

[raiderjatt02]

I went out to Thunderhill Raceway as part of the private track day set up by @50 Deep last week and holy hell what a great time it was. If/when he sets up another one, you guys don't want to miss it. It's not a full fledged organization setting up a track day like Hooked on Driving or SCCA Track Night, but you'd never know it by how smoothly it was run. It actually feels MORE organized. The entire day went off without a hitch, no major incidents, nobody got hurt, and every car made it home safely.

Speaking of cars...just look at these two machines that were in attendance:

Not to mention plenty of Focuses (Foci?) of all types and obviously a myriad of GT350's and all other kinds of Mustangs.

Here's my baby before she hit the track. All nice, clean, and shiny!

The forecast predicted a small chance of rain so I brought along a second set of wheels wrapped in MPSS just in case it got too wet for my Cup 2's. This was day 4 on my current set of PSC2 tires so they were much lower on grip than my previous days but they held up just long enough to get through the entire day. It DID end up raining a bit during one session but not enough to necessitate changing the tires out so I stayed on the Cup 2's all day. Here's a Before/After of my tires

BEFORE:

AFTER:

If anyone is curious how much life they have left on their Cup 2's, there you go. If you look closely at the BEFORE picture, you can see the inside tread was already starting to get a little cut up but they held up great for all 5 20-minute sessions of the day. I overdrive the shit out of my car so my tires don't last very long. I need to calm down a bit to get better lap times but once I start feeling the tires go, it's just too much fun to slide around and throw it into the corners. I induced a few 4-wheel drifts in my last session of the day. Fun times, but slow times. About 3-4 seconds slower than my PB of the day).

We ran the East (3-Mile) configuration but didn't do the Cyclone. This was my first time going over the bypass and I can definitely say that I like it much more than the Cyclone. It's higher speed and going over the blind crest, feeling the entire car float over the top is such a fun feeling once you know where the road will be on the other side. The first session or two are nerve racking though.

My best lap of the day and my new PB for this configuration came on the 3rd session, just before lunch while I was trying to catch up to a beautiful 6th Gen Camaro. I ended up with a 2:05.194 but after watching the footage, there were so many places for improvement. I love that feeling because even though I didn't drive to my potential, I still clicked off a decent time and have something to beat next time out. It just makes me anxious to get back out there.

All in all it was a great day and I was happy to see so many familiar faces as well as meeting a ton of new ones. Here's the video of my best lap.



And lastly, looking at the pictures, I was surprised at how flat this car corners with the only suspension mods being FP springs and Vorshlag camber plates. I was thinking about sway bars but after looking at the pics, I think I'll hold off for a while until my driving skill catches up to the car's potential. I feel like I'm at the point where I don't need to mod it any further. Besides needing a little more camber, the car feels so damn good in my hands as it sits right now. I'm in love.

 

[hp1000]

great video and pics. Thanks for sharing. What brake pads are you running? btw I just added SRP pedals, changes the experience and takes it to another level. I was not initially sold on it because it took a while to install, but after a session, love it.

 

[raiderjatt02]

great video and pics. Thanks for sharing. What brake pads are you running? btw I just added SRP pedals, changes the experience and takes it to another level. I was not initially sold on it because it took a while to install, but after a session, love it.

I use GLoc R12 in front and GLoc R10 in the back and Castrol SRF fluid. The initial bite is very immediate and they don't fade at all throughout the session. They're too much for the stock MPSS tires but when paired with the Cup 2s, I slam on the brakes as hard as I can and they stop on a dime. Ask @icormba how good they stop .

And I'm still using the stock pedals in my car. I haven't found the need to switch them out since I can heel-toe just fine the way it is right now. I'd have to try out the SRP pedals on someone else's car before I'd buy them for myself.

 

[raiderjatt02]

Here are a couple more videos from my day at Thunderhill.

This was a fun battle between me, a GT350R, a Mustang GT, and a Focus RS. My tires were shot and I was trying so damn hard to keep up but it was probably the funnest session of the whole day.


This was with me and a 2018 GT on NT01's. We kept getting caught up in a little traffic but once the road cleared up...DAMN those new GTs are quick!

 

[honeybadger]

Here are a couple more videos from my day at Thunderhill.

This was a fun battle between me, a GT350R, a Mustang GT, and a Focus RS. My tires were shot and I was trying so damn hard to keep up but it was probably the funnest session of the whole day.


This was with me and a 2018 GT on NT01's. We kept getting caught up in a little traffic but once the road cleared up...DAMN those new GTs are quick!

Damn, bro. Looks like you guys were having fun! Whoever was driving that GT sure was comfortable with his/her adhesion limits

Wish I was there this time! Hopefully in the spring!

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