Educate Me Please / GT350 vs GT Performance Pack

[bpracer]

I hear you on the stiffness. It's actually going to be an extra pain to change pads because these new calipers are also radial mounted - again, great for real track use but that means we can't just rotate the caliper up by removing one bolt in order to get the pads out. We'll actually have to get in behind the rotor and take the caliper all the way off.

Can you tell I'm lazy?

I understand. Radial mounted calipers are even a better way to attach calipers (I forget the exact engineering reason....hmmmm) Anyway, I bet these use pretty thick pads so not much chance you will be swapping pads at the track. These calipers look exactly like what is on my Ducati motorcycle, just scaled up 600%

On my old racer, I was more likely to change rotors over a race weekend, due to warping, before pads. That meant popping out seals and packing grease in the bearing between sessions. Big mess.

As for the other post about whether to get the Track Pack.

DO IT! Magnetic Shocks!

Sponsored

 

[Hack]

How many people here will go for the Base GT350 instead of selecting the Track Package Option? What are your reasons? I am a very indecisive person and have not decided yet which to go for. I must decide within 7 days, as an opportunity may or may not come up to buy one at $3000 below MSRP (military deployed price).

My intentions are not to change this topic so if I am incorrect, provide feedback please. I have joined this forum and have been visiting daily, very good info, and even greater people. I am very close to deciding based on the advices I have received, but just need a little more. Thank you for any comments/replies.

For me there were two things behind my choice of tech pack:
1. I'm a big guy and I don't think I'll fit comfortably in the Recaros.
2. I wanted Magneride.

The shocks on the base will be more of a compromise, whereas the Magneride will be great for both track and daily duties. Now I'm second guessing myself, because deciding to get the tech pack for another $8,000 will make a big difference in my payment. IF there's too much ADM I might not swing it. For me - at $3k under MSRP I would want the tech pack, but your financial situation/priorities might be very different than mine. If you don't care about the seats or expect you will fit in them no problem, but want Magneride - track pack is the way to go IMO.

I didn't pick the track pack because I figure I can add coolers if need be. Also, I've tracked my base GT with no problems. Based on Ford's advertising that the GT350 is built for track duty - I think it should be more capable than my base GT on the track. I can't imagine the coolers will be needed for my use.

 

[bretlasalle]

How many people here will go for the Base GT350 instead of selecting the Track Package Option? What are your reasons? I am a very indecisive person and have not decided yet which to go for. I must decide within 7 days, as an opportunity may or may not come up to buy one at $3000 below MSRP (military deployed price).

My intentions are not to change this topic so if I am incorrect, provide feedback please. I have joined this forum and have been visiting daily, very good info, and even greater people. I am very close to deciding based on the advices I have received, but just need a little more. Thank you for any comments/replies.

I am getting a Base GT350 instead of the Track pack. I will never track this car, I am simply going to have a blast around town for a year or two. I never tracked my Boss and didn't go to the free track day experience - just not in my genes yet. I follow Nascar and go to races often, I just don't have the urge to race myself yet. My case may be a bit dissimilar from yours. I am paying a $5k mark up. So after the mark up, paying an additional $6500 for the track pack makes the car less of a "value" for my personal goals. The Boss has been the most rewarding experience when you consider cost and fun factor. I paid $42ish for the Boss and will be paying $55ish for the Shelby. If I'm you and can afford it, I would say thank Ford for the $3k discount and use it to get the Track Pack - depending on your view of resale, I bet you'd get close to even money if you had track pack (I think magneride is here to stay for Ford).

PS - If you start a GoFundMe or something, I'd like to thank you for your service and would personally donate $100 to you for the track pack. What do you guys say? Can we thank a gentleman for his service and throw a couple bucks his way?

 

[nastang87xx]

I was on the fence about the Base vs the Track Pack too. I ended up sucking it up and going for the Track Pack. ZERO regrets. However, I will be racing my car. And if you don't end up with MagnaRide, whatever. I'm sure coilovers will be available eventually if you really need some suspension.

 

[cjgt350]

Yes.

But I would call these much better calipers. The stiffer the bridge, the better and your not going to get that with some bolt in bridge. Clamping force on the rotor not bending the caliper body. I would call these true, track focused calipers, especially if the pads are thicker (an assumption on my part).

Has anyone heard what the piston surface area is vs the previous 6 pots? That is where the big performance difference will be. Probably the reason they had to go to the bridge design as clamping force would increase with piston surface area.

 

[Trackaholic]

So, to change pads do you actually need to pull the entire caliper off and pull the pads out the bottom? Or is there a way to pull the pins and rotate them out of the top?

-T

 

[bpracer]

I'm pretty sure you will have to take the caliper off. The bolts will be easier to get to as they are radial mount calipers.

 

[F1-R]

So far I'm in inclining towards the base model...

If none of the collective components in the Track Pkg (but particularly the Mag Ride and Coolers) is required for your personal use, such as regularly tracking it, then the zero option GT350 is perfectly fine. Plus if your budget must be close to 50k as possible then it's also a wise decision to stick within your means. In the end, even a base GT350 will still be one fine high performing car.

It is not that the MagneRide doesn't appeal to me, it is just that I cannot justify it, if I will only track the car maybe 10 times a year max. This will be my one and only car in a city with bad public transportation. But I agree with you that sometimes in life you have to stick within your means. I would like to avoid not having enough money for good tires and maintenance down the road. Have seen so many with high end cars that end up using cheap parts to lower cost, changing the quality of the vehicle entirely :tsk:

 

[R 350 gt Donson]

It is not that the MagneRide doesn't appeal to me, it is just that I cannot justify it, if I will only track the car maybe 10 times a year max. This will be my one and only car in a city with bad public transportation. But I agree with you that sometimes in life you have to stick within your means. I would like to avoid not having enough money for good tires and maintenance down the road. Have seen so many with high end cars that end up using cheap parts to lower cost, changing the quality of the vehicle entirely :tsk:

Not to beat a dead horse, but I believe the mag ride will give a better ride than with out it...on the pot holes and alike..So the Mag ride will be a better DD as well IMO:cheers:

 

[Bossing]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I believe the mag ride will give a better ride than with out it...on the pot holes and alike..So the Mag ride will be a better DD as well IMO:cheers:

Absolutely correct. The latest gen3 MagRide on my Z06 is so advantageous for DD'ing... I can just imagine on the R and non-R alike, IMO a worthy option if you can swing the extra cost.

 

[licktensteins]

Absolutely correct. The latest gen3 MagRide on my Z06 is so advantageous for DD'ing... I can just imagine on the R and non-R alike, IMO a worthy option if you can swing the extra cost.

How would you compare the MagRide to the PASM / Air Suspension on your Macan Turbo? I'm familiar with that system and would appreciate your insight.

 

[krt22]

It is not that the MagneRide doesn't appeal to me, it is just that I cannot justify it, if I will only track the car maybe 10 times a year max. This will be my one and only car in a city with bad public transportation. But I agree with you that sometimes in life you have to stick within your means. I would like to avoid not having enough money for good tires and maintenance down the road. Have seen so many with high end cars that end up using cheap parts to lower cost, changing the quality of the vehicle entirely :tsk:

10 track days a year is actually pretty decent..enough that by your 10th track day you might be relatively quick and able to benefit not only from the magneride, but all the coolers as well

 

[Bossing]

How would you compare the MagRide to the PASM / Air Suspension on your Macan Turbo? I'm familiar with that system and would appreciate your insight.

Good question... there's more of a gap in MagRide between the modes. For example, when I go from Touring to Sport or to Track, the dampening firmness is clearly progressively noticeable. Basically, Tour is more comfortable and absorbs road undulations and potholes better. When roads are smooth, I leave it on Sport. I only use Track mode when actually on the race track because it's pretty firm.

Re: my Turbo, the change in PASM's suspension modes is less noticeable than Mag's. So on the Porsche, I regularly just leave it on Sport PASM setting (it's right in between Normal and Sport Plus) because it's still able to absorb bumps well and within comfort. In addition, I'm pretty sure the Air Suspension also helps in dampening purposes.

MagRide clearly benefits comfort and sportiness but just as important there's so much less body roll when in Track mode especially at high speed cornering. The car is so well balanced with it.

10 track days a year is actually pretty decent..enough that by your 10th track day you might be relatively quick and able to benefit not only from the magneride, but all the coolers as well

Agree! That's like tracking almost once a month. I average at least 1 track day per month (sometimes I do 2)... hence Track Pkg is a must for me.

 

[1mic]

If you're tracking 10x year you should already be laying down sufficient lap times by your 3rd time out.
I understand the learning curve is different from one person to another, but depending on what company does the track day, 4-6 sessions of 20 minutes each = easily over an hours worth of driving. And aside from COTA, Road America, Millers, VIR, Sebring, etc (tracks over 3+ miles).
With short courses like Laguna and sonoma, in a 20 minute session you can be doing 10 laps or so. 4 sessions and you've already done 40 laps!

My experience driving these tracks is in an ICC shifter kart, clocking 1:51 @ Sonoma and 1:40 @ laguna. Slow times compared to my brother (1:37 at LS).

 

[F1-R]

I want to thank everyone for the good info. It seems that I am going to have to cut cost somewhere else and spend the extra money to afford the track pack. This will be my first v8 car and American car purchased.

Does anyone know more or less, and estimate of how much money a 15 lap session can cost in total, fee, tires, fuel, brakes, etc? I am trying to put a budget together down the road for actually taking the car to the track and I am a complete newbie, except for some sessions in go karts.

Sponsored