Are they staying cool on track?

[Atlas1]

Considering the price of the cup 2s in those sizes if one would spring for that it is going to get really expensive if they hold up like the picture above….

motorsports is definitely not a hobby for those on a budget! i knew the cup tires didn't have a long life span on the track but..................damn.

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[Mazman]

motorsports is definitely not a hobby for those on a budget! i knew the cup tires didn't have a long life span on the track but..................damn.

My Cup2s on the MX5 have held up really well. The weight on the S550 would be a big contributor to the wear specially on track duty.

but agreed tracking is no good idea if budget is tight

 

[NeverSatisfied]

Here’s my 2 week old tires after 1 track day...

send picture of rear tires

 

[NeverSatisfied]

My Cup2s on the MX5 have held up really well. The weight on the S550 would be a big contributor to the wear specially on track duty.

but agreed tracking is no good idea if budget is tight

In my experience on a PP2 running 305’s using endurance 200’s they last ~3 weekends with proper alignment and heat management

 

[Strokerswild]

Will post more tomorrow because I’m whipped and heading to bed, but I did my first track day with the Mach 1 today. Surpassed all my expectations. It was my first track day in 2 years, but I beat my best times from my ‘19 Vette Grand Sport. Never thought that would happen in a Mustang. No issues with the car (except that it likes to eat tires and gas) - it performed like a beast. Just...wow.

Impressive.

 

[Thumpa]

If there’s a way to post video on here without having to post it on youtube and link it, I’d post a lap. My GoPro battery died before my fastest session, but I have a decent lap on video. I was running some 2:05-2:06 laps in session 2, but in session 3 I ran a 2:03.17 trying to hold off a Cayman GT4 Clubsport, then ran a 2:02.48 chasing him. Go to check the video afterwards and my battery gave had died as I was pulling onto the track to start the session. I wanted to cry. But I did catch a 2:05.63 lap (only my 5th best lap) from session 2 on video at least ...which was a half session because I was running out of gas - burned a half tank of gas per 30 minute track session.

The best lap in my ‘19 Vette Grand Sport (equipped with Pilot Super Sports, not Cup 2s) was a 2:04.88. That was on a slightly different track configuration - on that day we ran the full S turns, but this time one turn was replaced by a straight - but after timing that section on the videos, the full S turns was only a half second longer. So I legit beat the Vette lap time by 2 seconds. I was pretty shocked. I went in expecting to be 3-4 seconds slower than the Vette and would have been happy with that.

Out of 16 novice and 11 intermediates, I think I was around 4th fastest in my Mach 1. I used the RaceChrono Pro app on my phone for lap times - so easy to use and works great. Only 2 weeks in the car, first track day in 2 years, bought the GoPro and app the day before track day, so lots of learning going on. Next track day (probably not til Dec.) I’ll have my act together and get some good video.

 

[Thumpa]

A few other notes....
I was not expecting the Mach 1 to be THIS solid on the track in my hands. I'm no pro, but I'm no slouch either. Like I said earlier, out of 16 novices and 11 intermediates, I was around 4th fastest. The advanced group was obviously faster but had plenty full-on race cars (this open track day was the day before a NASA race weekend, so lots of serious NASA guys come a day early to get their cars set up for race day). I'm by no means trying to brag about my skills, lol, I'm just saying that I pushed the car as much as most casual track day guys ever will.

I did a half dozen or so track days in my 911 back around '13-14, then a few more in my '15 Vette back then. Got rid of the Vette in '16 for a family car, but at the time I was buying my son a Mustang. While my wife wanted to get my son a V6, I got him a '15 GT so I could do an occasional track day since I gave up my Vette. I did not like the way the GT handled on the street, especially the loose rear end, so I never put it on the track once. Just felt like too much of a downgrade coming off a 911 and a C7 Vette. That car got totalled (not my son's fault), so I bought him a new '17 Mustang GT California Special. Felt just like the '15, so I never put it on the track once.

When I bought my '19 Vette Grand Sport, I did a couple track days after a 3 year hiatus. But a year later I moved to "the country" and traded it for an F-150. Now a year after that, my son (Ford salesman) got me to check out the new Mach 1 he had on his lot. I really was NOT interested in a Mustang for myself. But after reading the reviews I decided to test drive it, and it instantly felt more like my Grand Sport did than it did my son's Mustangs. So 2 weeks ago I bought it.

So now first track day in a year. Amazed by the performance. I ran the first session in Sport+ then the second in Track mode. Didn't feel much difference so I just went back to Sport+ since it was my first track day in it. The only 2 complaints I had:
1) The gears are much shorter than the Grand Sport. In the Vette I could ride the whole track in 3rd and 4th gear. I could carry 3rd to 100 mph and 4th up to the mid/high 140s, which is where I got on the main straight at NOLA. In the Mach 1 it just means an extra gear shift in a lot of places and I have to grab 5th gear on the main straight (and was only getting up to low 130s so far). Not a huge problem, but a lot of the turns are in the 70 mph range, and if you downshift to 3rd you almost instantly would have to grab 4th. This had me staying in 4th in some areas, and watching my video I cringe at the lugging in turns where I should be grabbing 3rd gear. Also, when you're quickly decelerating from 130+ mph to take the first turn, 5th to 3rd is just a crappy downshift to have to grab as opposed to the easier 5th to 4th downshift. The rev matching is amazing though, which makes the downshifts so easy. Next time out I'll be using 3rd gear a lot more. None of this is a real issue with the car, it's just that I have to relearn what gear to be in all over the track since I'm coming off 2 Vette as my previous track cars. More of a "me" problem than a car problem.

2)My biggest complaint was just that I had no real view of my speedometer. I ride on the street in Sport+ mode with the Track dash setup (so that it's etched in my brain for track days). I usually like my steering wheel fully extended and all the way down. However, that puts the top of the steering wheel right over my tachometer bar on the Track dash. So from day 1 I raised my steering wheel a bit so that I have a clear sightline. But on the track, you are never centered neatly in your seat (unless you have some good racing seats and a harness) when you are pulling 1.1-1.3g in the turns. So in every right turn my arm and the edge of the steering wheel are blocking my view of the speed. Would be nice if it were in the center and not the far right of the dash. Wasn't an issue in the Grand Sport because I had hud in that one so it was on my windshield. This cost me time on the track for a couple reasons. The first is that my braking point is relative to the speed I'm carrying, so if I can't see my speed it's a problem. The second is that on all the turns where I'm kind of between 3rd and 4th gear, I don't want to be downshifting into 3rd then instantly redlining. Now that I have myself on video, I'll study it and next time out I'll know which turns I can safely go down to 3rd gear. When I used to do monthly motorcycle track days, I could mentally run through a lap in my head and know what gear I was in and at what speed on every point of the track. I'll get there soon in the Mach 1 now that I have a track day under my belt and a decent lap on video to study. Long story short, if you do track days and are ordering a Mach 1, get the heads up display.

As noted, the tires took some serious wear, but some of that could have been reduced a bit by setting up the camber for the track. And the gas guzzling caught me by surprise. I filled up on the way to the track, so going into my first session had around 200 miles left to empty (for normal driving, lol). Didn't even cross my mind to monitor my fuel. Did 10 laps my first session, then was 7 laps into the second session when I was going on empty. Burned almost half a tank for each 30 minute session. Thankfully there's fuel at the track (albeit $4.75/gallon for 93 octane).

By having the right camber setup and downshifting to 3rd gear more often, I can definitely shave another few seconds off my lap times. I can also brake later in several areas - I just wasn't as trusting of the brakes the first time out as I was on my Vettes. Now I'm not saying the car is necessarily better than my Grand Sport was on the track - I improve every time I get on the track so I probably would have run similar times. But I will say that for a non-professional driver, it was every bit as good as my Grand Sport and gave me everything I asked of it. When I ran my best lap behind the GT4, there were no track sessions where it was lacking. No issues with power, grip, no oversteer or understeer problems, absolutley no overheating problems, etc. Pushing it to the most my skill level can ask for, it answered every call - there were no areas where I had to back off because the car couldn't handle it. I'm overjoyed that I can get this level of performance (and then some) out of a $60K car.

 

[Atlas1]

A few other notes....
I was not expecting the Mach 1 to be THIS solid on the track in my hands. I'm no pro, but I'm no slouch either. Like I said earlier, out of 16 novices and 11 intermediates, I was around 4th fastest. The advanced group was obviously faster but had plenty full-on race cars (this open track day was the day before a NASA race weekend, so lots of serious NASA guys come a day early to get their cars set up for race day). I'm by no means trying to brag about my skills, lol, I'm just saying that I pushed the car as much as most casual track day guys ever will.

I did a half dozen or so track days in my 911 back around '13-14, then a few more in my '15 Vette back then. Got rid of the Vette in '16 for a family car, but at the time I was buying my son a Mustang. While my wife wanted to get my son a V6, I got him a '15 GT so I could do an occasional track day since I gave up my Vette. I did not like the way the GT handled on the street, especially the loose rear end, so I never put it on the track once. Just felt like too much of a downgrade coming off a 911 and a C7 Vette. That car got totalled (not my son's fault), so I bought him a new '17 Mustang GT California Special. Felt just like the '15, so I never put it on the track once.

When I bought my '19 Vette Grand Sport, I did a couple track days after a 3 year hiatus. But a year later I moved to "the country" and traded it for an F-150. Now a year after that, my son (Ford salesman) got me to check out the new Mach 1 he had on his lot. I really was NOT interested in a Mustang for myself. But after reading the reviews I decided to test drive it, and it instantly felt more like my Grand Sport did than it did my son's Mustangs. So 2 weeks ago I bought it.

So now first track day in a year. Amazed by the performance. I ran the first session in Sport+ then the second in Track mode. Didn't feel much difference so I just went back to Sport+ since it was my first track day in it. The only 2 complaints I had:
1) The gears are much shorter than the Grand Sport. In the Vette I could ride the whole track in 3rd and 4th gear. I could carry 3rd to 100 mph and 4th up to the mid/high 140s, which is where I got on the main straight at NOLA. In the Mach 1 it just means an extra gear shift in a lot of places and I have to grab 5th gear on the main straight (and was only getting up to low 130s so far). Not a huge problem, but a lot of the turns are in the 70 mph range, and if you downshift to 3rd you almost instantly would have to grab 4th. This had me staying in 4th in some areas, and watching my video I cringe at the lugging in turns where I should be grabbing 3rd gear. Also, when you're quickly decelerating from 130+ mph to take the first turn, 5th to 3rd is just a crappy downshift to have to grab as opposed to the easier 5th to 4th downshift. The rev matching is amazing though, which makes the downshifts so easy. Next time out I'll be using 3rd gear a lot more. None of this is a real issue with the car, it's just that I have to relearn what gear to be in all over the track since I'm coming off 2 Vette as my previous track cars. More of a "me" problem than a car problem.

2)My biggest complaint was just that I had no real view of my speedometer. I ride on the street in Sport+ mode with the Track dash setup (so that it's etched in my brain for track days). I usually like my steering wheel fully extended and all the way down. However, that puts the top of the steering wheel right over my tachometer bar on the Track dash. So from day 1 I raised my steering wheel a bit so that I have a clear sightline. But on the track, you are never centered neatly in your seat (unless you have some good racing seats and a harness) when you are pulling 1.1-1.3g in the turns. So in every right turn my arm and the edge of the steering wheel are blocking my view of the speed. Would be nice if it were in the center and not the far right of the dash. Wasn't an issue in the Grand Sport because I had hud in that one so it was on my windshield. This cost me time on the track for a couple reasons. The first is that my braking point is relative to the speed I'm carrying, so if I can't see my speed it's a problem. The second is that on all the turns where I'm kind of between 3rd and 4th gear, I don't want to be downshifting into 3rd then instantly redlining. Now that I have myself on video, I'll study it and next time out I'll know which turns I can safely go down to 3rd gear. When I used to do monthly motorcycle track days, I could mentally run through a lap in my head and know what gear I was in and at what speed on every point of the track. I'll get there soon in the Mach 1 now that I have a track day under my belt and a decent lap on video to study. Long story short, if you do track days and are ordering a Mach 1, get the heads up display.

As noted, the tires took some serious wear, but some of that could have been reduced a bit by setting up the camber for the track. And the gas guzzling caught me by surprise. I filled up on the way to the track, so going into my first session had around 200 miles left to empty (for normal driving, lol). Didn't even cross my mind to monitor my fuel. Did 10 laps my first session, then was 7 laps into the second session when I was going on empty. Burned almost half a tank for each 30 minute session. Thankfully there's fuel at the track (albeit $4.75/gallon for 93 octane).

By having the right camber setup and downshifting to 3rd gear more often, I can definitely shave another few seconds off my lap times. I can also brake later in several areas - I just wasn't as trusting of the brakes the first time out as I was on my Vettes. Now I'm not saying the car is necessarily better than my Grand Sport was on the track - I improve every time I get on the track so I probably would have run similar times. But I will say that for a non-professional driver, it was every bit as good as my Grand Sport and gave me everything I asked of it. When I ran my best lap behind the GT4, there were no track sessions where it was lacking. No issues with power, grip, no oversteer or understeer problems, etc. Pushing it to the most my skill level can ask for, it answered every call - there were no areas where I had to back off because the car couldn't handle it. I'm overjoyed that I can get this level of performance (and then some) out of a $60K car.

great write up!
if you want to send me the track video i can put it up on youtube for you!

 

[Thumpa]

Thanks, I got it taken care of.

Lap at NOLA

3 seconds slower than my best lap, but best I got on camera unfortunately.

 

[murick]

Thanks, I got it taken care of.

Did you use no-lift shifts? I cannot say I have heard them.

 

[Thumpa]

Did you use no-lift shifts? I cannot say I have heard them.

I actually didn’t even think about it at first, but at some point in the day I started doing them on the long straight only (3rd to 4th then 4th to 5th). Not sure if I did them in this particular session. But when I did finally start doing them, it was the first time I had ever done them. The car still basically comes off acceleration for the shift on its own, so I don’t know if they would be distinguishable by sound alone from the normal way.

 

[murick]

@Thumpa I actually only heard it on some YT video, but I was not sure, if I could really distinguish it by the sound (especially when not having the other one to compare), so I was just curious. I would imagine one should not hear an RPM drop during the shift when no-lift-shifting, but is just an armchair analysis

 

[Thumpa]

@Thumpa I would imagine one should not hear an RPM drop during the shift when no-lift-shifting, but is just an armchair analysis

That’s what I was expecting when it finally dawned on me to do no-lift shifting down that straight. Then I did it and heard the rpm drop and was like, “Well that was anticlimactic.” It didn’t seem like an advantage over lifting off the accelerator myself, just the car does it for you - it even seemed like it let off more than I normally do when I shift, though that might just be my imagination.

 

[murick]

@Thumpa that indeed sounds anticlimactic . The guy in the other vid however sounded quite ecstatic https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/2021-mach-1-reviews-compilation.157725/post-3310284

 

[NeverSatisfied]

All good info to pass along, but I’d really like to see someone pounding on one consistently cranking out laps in the vicinity of, or sub spec Miata lop records.

I’m surprised there isn’t more videos up by now? I.e. sub 1:58at NOLA

I guess I’ll be one of the guinea pigs!

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