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

Love the pics! Thanks for sharing. That continental is fantastic.

-T

Trackaholic said:

Love the pics! Thanks for sharing. That continental is fantastic.

-T

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It was mesmerizing. I've always wanted a Continental project but I always imagined mine would be blacked out. I never even thought of a Coyote swap. Once I saw how beautiful that engine looked in there ideas started flying around and I want one even more now!

I'm just sitting at home reminiscing about the track and looking back at pictures waiting for my next time out there. Back in April, right after Fabulous Fords Forever, we had a private track day at Buttonwillow in the 1CW configuration. This was my first time on that track and my first time on my new setup. Mods since last track day are as follows:

• Ford Performance Lowering Springs
• Vorshlag Camber Plates
• GT350R Front Hubs (for the longer studs)
• 28mm spacers up front
• 19x11 ET50 Fully Forged VIBE Motorsports wheels
• Brand new Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires (305 all around)
• -2.7 front and -2.1 rear camber
• Still using GLoc R12/R10 brake pads (they were done after this day)

I was excited to see how much more balanced the alignment and the square setup would make the car. Since this was a private day set up by 50 Deep and VUDUGT350, the majority of the cars out there were Mustangs. There was a Focus RS, a ZL1, a GTR, and a few BMWs and Vettes sprinkled throughout as well as a Shelby Cobra.




This was my first time in an open passing group so my first time out, I was a little nervous sharing the track with some REALLY quick drivers and cars. As soon as the warmup lap was done, 2 cars came flying right onto my ass and blew past me. Luckily the car count was pretty low so once they went by, I had a fairly open track pretty much to myself while I got accustomed to the track layout. By the end of my first session, I put up a 2:10 lap time with plentyof room for improvement.





Once I started to get used to the track and picked up the pace, I could immediately tell that the car felt so much more balanced with the square set of tires. It felt like I could "dance" with the car. Every input made the car react exactly how I wanted it to. The extra camber really helped initial turn in but I feel like I could make use of a little more camber. By the end of my 3rd session, my best lap time dropped to 2:06.02.





The guys from 949 Racing were in attendance too and they were giving ride-alongs all day long. Holy shit can these guys drive! I learned that I was braking way too early, way too late on the gas, missing apexes, and unnecessarily downshifting and losing time all over the track. After riding along with them and trying to match their lines, I put up my fastest lap of the day. A 2:05.966 with a lot more improvement left on the table. I just love heel/tow downshifting and found myself shifting in places I really didn't need to. It's just to much fun and feels so good when you get that perfect rev-match so whatever .



Here's a video of my best lap. You can see that there is still a lot left in there but I was happy with how I did for my first time at that track! And before anyone says...yes, I know it was stupid of me to leave my Ikaika helmet hanging from the rear-view mirror. I completely forgot to take it out and it was distracting me and annoying me the entire session. I took it out right after this one. I probably should have pulled into the pits and removed it on my first lap but too late for that now. :headbonk:

[ame]

Rob Gluckman was our trackside photographer and took some amazing pictures. Especially considering this was his first time shooting a trackday event! He captured my favorite picture I've gotten on track so far. 2 wheels up!



This was the first time the VIBE Motorsports wheels were put through their paces at a track day and I have to say, it was a success! They felt amazing and handled the curbs and abuse without issue. After losing aftermarket center caps at my last 2 track days, I made the decision to stick with the OEM Ford ones from now on. The cheapo aftermarket ones will stick to street driving duty. These wheels used to be gloss black...



My original rotors are finally getting to the end of their life after 9 days at the track and nearly 11k miles. They're fine for the street but I will not feel comfortable tracking on these any more so they will be replaced before Sonoma in August.



Tire wear on the Cup 2's looks much better than it did when I tracked on the factory alignment! It still looks like I need more though. I'm going to aim for a little over -3 in front and -2.5 out back for my next time out. That seems like it will be the sweet spot between the amount of street vs track driving I do. I don't want to keep adjusting it depending on how it'll be driven so I want a balanced/slightly track oriented setup to keep it at permanently.



I started the day down in Buena Park, drove about 3 hours north to Buttonwillow, had a full track day, then drove another 3 hours north back home to Livermore. The drive home was more stressful than the track for a little while. We got caught in an on/off hailstorm on I-5. I was still on my Cup 2's and we all know how bad they are in the rain. Imagine them when the roads are painted white with hail! I slowed down to 45mph the car was still hydroplaning and sliding around trying to stay straight. This is on a completely straight freeway. An old ass lady in a Prius overtook me :lol:

Talk about a long day!

Once I got back home into Livermore, I took a little detour and took some backroads the rest of the way to my house. The sun was setting and the windmills offered up a perfect photo op. I didn't have my SLR like usual but the cell phone is good enough. The lack of quality helps to hide all the damn tire marks, dirt, and overall filthiness of the car.



If any of you are on the fence about the track day Terrance is setting up in October at Thunderhill, get your shit together and sign up! It'll be a hell of a good time and you don't want to miss out. But come out to the Shelby Nationals at Sonoma Raceway in August first. You won't regret it!

Was fun running with you, Jesse! Hopefully some day you can make it down to Texas for a visit! The new house is only 80 miles from COTA

honeybadger said:

Was fun running with you, Jesse! Hopefully some day you can make it down to Texas for a visit! The new house is only 80 miles from COTA

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Same to you brotha! It was fun trying to keep up with you haha. Even on brand new tires, I couldn't hang.

COTA is definitely on my bucket list. And the drive down to TX would be pretty damn fun. I want to come out there one day to watch an F1 race. It'll be awesome to have a track day too so I can compare my times to Lewis Hamilton

Is that a crack I see on the rotor? Or are those normal wear patterns?

REDLINE said:

Is that a crack I see on the rotor? Or are those normal wear patterns?

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Lots of little cracks. It's what happens to drilled rotors as they wear out from all the abuse on track. That's why I'm replacing them before I go back out on track. That's also why I'm so excited that the 2019 rotors are solid and no drilled. I just wish they were available now so I can throw those on instead of another set of drilled. I'll get drilled ones this time but by the time they wear out again, I'm definitely going with the 2019 rotors. Drilled looks cooler, but solid rotors are much better. More surface area for the pads to grip, less pad wear, and longer lasting. The drilled rotors are like cheese graters for brake pads.

raiderjatt02 said:

Same to you brotha! It was fun trying to keep up with you haha. Even on brand new tires, I couldn't hang.

COTA is definitely on my bucket list. And the drive down to TX would be pretty damn fun. I want to come out there one day to watch an F1 race. It'll be awesome to have a track day too so I can compare my times to Lewis Hamilton

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Our new place is about 50 miles from COTA if you make is down let me know. Were still here for a few more weeks, maybe we can get a group drive going once Sunday.

Oh man, I'd totally be up for a caravan to COTA at some point! Would love to take the GT350 to that track.

Awesome write-up Raiderjatt02. Love the photos and video.

I'm one of the ones that needs to get my act together for the T-Hill track day. Thanks for the reminder.

-T

Trackaholic said:

Oh man, I'd totally be up for a caravan to COTA at some point! Would love to take the GT350 to that track.

Awesome write-up Raiderjatt02. Love the photos and video.

I'm one of the ones that needs to get my act together for the T-Hill track day. Thanks for the reminder.

-T

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Could you imagine a GT350 cruise from CALI-to-COTA? We'd have law enforcement waiting for us to roll through their jurisdiction hours in advance :lol:

Spent the day swapping to my track pads, wheels, and tires to get ready for Sonoma Raceway next weekend. My old rotors started to get some cracks around the drilled holes and I don't trust them enough to run them hard at a track day so I swapped my fronts out today too. Brand new rotors look gorgeous! Part of me doesn't even want to drive the car with these on because the look so good.

Did you have the R Spec wheel and tire size combo prior to the square? if so what are some of the pro's and cons that you saw in running the square? Did you ever feel you missed having the wider tracks in the rear?

hp1000 said:

Did you have the R Spec wheel and tire size combo prior to the square? if so what are some of the pro's and cons that you saw in running the square? Did you ever feel you missed having the wider tracks in the rear?

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Yeah, I was running 19x11.5 (315) & 19x11 (305) last year and did 4 track days on that setup. I'll have more info after this weekend when I do Sonoma Raceway on Saturday and Sunday. I've only run the square setup once so far at Buttonwillow and it made a pretty big difference. The car felt so much more neutral and didn't have the mid-corner understeer that was inherent with the RSpec setup. It felt like I could "dance" with the car and it would gradually rotate rather than push. I like this setup a lot more than staggered. Even with the slightly narrower width out back, I could easily put the power down when I wanted to. I'm thinking about trying 315's all around on my next set just to eek out a little more grip and to see how much of a difference it would make. Not too many tire options in 315 so if it's not too much of a difference, I'll stick to 305 and keep trying different tires to see what works best.

I highly recommend going square on the S550's. The car is so much more balanced.

raiderjatt02 said:

Yeah, I was running 19x11.5 (315) & 19x11 (305) last year and did 4 track days on that setup. I'll have more info after this weekend when I do Sonoma Raceway on Saturday and Sunday. I've only run the square setup once so far at Buttonwillow and it made a pretty big difference. The car felt so much more neutral and didn't have the mid-corner understeer that was inherent with the RSpec setup. It felt like I could "dance" with the car and it would gradually rotate rather than push. I like this setup a lot more than staggered. Even with the slightly narrower width out back, I could easily put the power down when I wanted to. I'm thinking about trying 315's all around on my next set just to eek out a little more grip and to see how much of a difference it would make. Not too many tire options in 315 so if it's not too much of a difference, I'll stick to 305 and keep trying different tires to see what works best.

I highly recommend going square on the S550's. The car is so much more balanced.

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awesome, looking forward to hear about the square 315 . Any concerns with having the spacers in front with the 305 setup? Did you opt for the 350R hubs only for the extended Lugs? is this due to the specifc Vibe wheels you put on the car?

hp1000 said:

awesome, looking forward to hear about the square 315 . Any concerns with having the spacers in front with the 305 setup? Did you opt for the 350R hubs only for the extended Lugs? is this due to the specifc Vibe wheels you put on the car?

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No concerns at all with the spacer up front. As long as they're hub-centric, slip on spacers and not bolt on with their own extended studs you should be good. Plenty of other people run spacers on track much more often and they run harder than I do and they don't have any issues.

And yeah, I got the R hubs just for the extended studs. That's the only difference between the R and non-R. You need the extended studs to be able to use a spacer and you need the spacer to be able to run the same spec wheels front/rear.