GT350's at Moterery Historics; hot laps and some in-person impressions

My son and I cruised down today to check out the Historics at Laguna Seca yeasterday...nice drive over Hwy 17 through the Santa Cruz mountains and then down Hwy 1 (the Coast hwy) in the Boss. Parked right near the paddock as there really aren't a lot of people there on Thursdays for the historics...it's just practice...but the racing isn't even the point at the historics, in my book...it's about walking the paddock, watching the cars on track (not who's first or second)...so you get most of the flavor without the crowds. I sat in on a bit of the drivers meeting and the head organizer said as much...loosely quoted: "if you come in first place, you probably don't get what the historics is all about."

Anyhow, the paddock was crammed full of the most amazing auto-candy available...heck, just on the drive down we say a Pagani Huayra, countless lambos, ferrarris, e-types, astons, 918...you name it.

Given that the GT350 was the featured marque, there were a lot of them in attendance and about 8-10 at the Ford Performance display (where the new GT350's were). Those are amazing machines...they had one race / run group entirely dedicated just to 65 / 66 GT350's...incredible.

We walked the whole paddock and then ended up at the GT350 display and, as others often note, the Ford employees in attendance were super gracious and friendly...Jim Owens, Gene Martindale, and others. There were 5 cars...Red R with electronics, Red R without, Yellow R, blue base track pack with white stripes, and the liquid blue debut car which was flipped on it's side for display. They also had stands with various components out to hold / touch / etc...brake caliper and rotor, oil pan, etc, etc. All in all it was a great display and the cars are simply fantastic. I've consumed all the media up to this point, but it's hard to grock the car until you see in in person and sit in it. It's is one bad-ass looking ride in person. And the interior looks and feels great....it's just a whole new level. BTW, there was a second Ford Performance booth over in the covered garage with a sweet gulf GT40 and a new GT! It was the liquid silver one which, apparently, has no powertrain and doesn't have a full interior, but you get to check out the exterior and it's simply amazing.

Back to the GT350...in talking with Jim, I asked if there was any way to get in on the hot laps at lunch...and we (both me and my son) ended up with 2 hot laps in R's. That's where you realize that this car is, as one of the lead engineers said, a 'step change' difference from the Boss. I've driven LS quite a bit...and in a pretty wide range of cars...but never in something so composed. Corner exit...amazing....brakes, amazing...places in the track that make you feel like you're on a rodeo bull in most cars I've been in (T6 is a great example)...flat, composed, wow. And not in an unexciting / it's-all-computers-GTR kinda way...still really visceral...the revs build so fast and that FPC has such a great howl. And the brakes...oh my, the brakes!!! I was already convinced the car was gonna be really good...nothing that I saw today did anything but substantiate that.

There were 10 of us that did hot laps, so as I'm waiting to get into a car I'm chatting with the folks around me...one guy had '15 GT350R, one gal worked at Shelby...and one guy was Carroll Shelby's grandson...super nice guy. It reminded me of when I met Carroll at a Shelby meet when I was about 15 (my dad had a 70 GT350 convertible)...he was one of the most gracious gents I've ever met...and I've never forgotten that. Other random highlights: right before we went on track, they were going to do a parade lap with a couple special 65 GT350's...and one stalled right in front of us and they couldn't get it restarted...sounded like a dead battery...so a few of us popped out of line and pushed it so he could bump-start it...I get back in line and the guy next to me leans over and says: "you know that's chassis #2...that car's probably worth a couple million bucks"....and right after that a vintage F1 car needed a push back into the paddock so we also obliged with that....pushing on that big-ass wing is probably the closest I'll ever get to piloting an F1 car. I didn't get many photos / videos that are worth a darn...but I'll look to get stuff uploaded later.

Pretty cool experience. I guess the other cool take-away was to see how much interest there was in the GT350 from the non-Ford crew...I think that everyone that understands this car is really impressed.

Great write up - thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing...would love to see some chassis pics of the show car on its side. The reviewers are going to gush on this car. :hail: The demand will jump like crazy creating some new frustrated searchers. Buckle up...this is gonna get rough. :frusty:

In for the pictures. Thanks OP!

Awesome experience, thanks for sharing it with us.

fuhrius said:

I've driven LS quite a bit...and in a pretty wide range of cars...but never in something so composed. Corner exit...amazing....brakes, amazing...places in the track that make you feel like you're on a rodeo bull in most cars I've been in (T6 is a great example)...flat, composed, wow. And not in an unexciting / it's-all-computers-GTR kinda way...still really visceral...the revs build so fast and that FPC has such a great howl. And the brakes...oh my, the brakes!!! I was already convinced the car was gonna be really good...nothing that I saw today did anything but substantiate that.

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I did a Skip Barber program out at MRLS, so this testimonial has me more excited for this car than anything else I've read so far. T6 takes some serious stones and commitment to run fast. I'd be interested to know how the car felt coming up the hill and over the rise going into the 'screw as well. :cheers:

Great write-up. I wish I had taken the day off work to go over there. I have a GT350 on order but haven't seen one in person.

I've also driven quite a few laps at Laguna, so it would have been fun to ride along with someone who actually knows what they are doing. T6 in my current 350(Z) is definitely a rodeo.

-T

licktensteins said:

Awesome experience, thanks for sharing it with us.



I did a Skip Barber program out at MRLS, so this testimonial has me more excited for this car than anything else I've read so far. T6 takes some serious stones and commitment to run fast. I'd be interested to know how the car felt coming up the hill and over the rise going into the 'screw as well. :cheers:

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that was the second place where I went 'wow'...and was telling the engineers as such. When I got into the car, the driver told me that he'd only been around LS 3-4 times and said 'so maybe you can give me some pointers'...I told him that I thought that anyone who can drive well can drive any track well. It was clear from the couple laps he'd had around LS, that he hadn't quite wired 6 and the entrance to 8...which made the way the car dealt with those two spots all the more impressive. coming into 8, his line wasn't optimal (where you go full track left...even two past past the line where there's still pavement, then angle it in and get straight so after you crest you end up completely track right to enter 8)...so he had a little bit of steering input to make getting over the crest and don't think he realized that, in most cars, if you're really moving through there, that you have to come off the brakes slightly as you crest - then back on them hard after the crest...if you don't, it's easy to get the car really light over the crest and then lose breaking traction when you come down...that's especially true in a car without ABS.
Bottom line: it just didn't matter. the car just ate it up.

Also of note, the long third gear can get you almost all they way around the track with three obvious exceptions: upshift to 4th on both straights (b/ T11 an T2, and b/ T4 and T5) and a downshift to second at T11. The car did fine in 3rd up from T5 to T6 and then most of the way up through T7 and needed just a super short shift to 4th before T8. You could just hold 3rd there if you want but it wouldn't be optimal. He held 3rd all they way from T8 to T11 before dropping to 2nd!

Awesome man. No sound restrictions?

krt22 said:

Awesome man. No sound restrictions?

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heck no. some of those historic cars (the older GT350's included) will rupture you're friggin ear drums. dang they're loud. In our hot laps, they ran with the exhaust open. The cars sounded great, but after hours of hearing race cars with no exhaust running, it's kinda hard to be impressed by a street car's sound.

fuhrius said:

heck no. some of those historic cars (the older GT350's included) will rupture you're friggin ear drums. dang they're loud. In our hot laps, they ran with the exhaust open. The cars sounded great, but after hours of hearing race cars with no exhaust running, it's kinda hard to be impressed by a street car's sound.

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Ya....those street cars in Frisco.....all you hear is the bells clanging !!!!! :cheers:

fuhrius said:

that was the second place where I went 'wow'...and was telling the engineers as such. When I got into the car, the driver told me that he'd only been around LS 3-4 times and said 'so maybe you can give me some pointers'...I told him that I thought that anyone who can drive well can drive an track well. It was clear from the couple laps he'd had around LS, that he hadn't quite wired 6 and the entrance to 8...which made the way the car dealt with those two spots all the more impressive. coming into 8, his line wasn't optimal (where you go full track left...even two past past the line where there's still pavement, then angle it in and get straight so after you crest you end up completely track right to enter 8)...so he had a little bit of steering input to make getting over the crest and don't think he realized that, in most cars, if you're really moving through there, that you have to come off the brakes slightly as you crest - then back on them hard after the crest...if you don't, it's easy to get the car really light over the crest and then lose breaking traction when you come down...that's especially true in a car without ABS.
Bottom line: it just didn't matter. the car just ate it up.

Also of note, the long third gear can get you almost all they way around the with three obvious exceptions: upshift to 4th at on both straights (b/ T11 an T2, and b/ T4 and T5) and a downshift to second at T11. The car did fine in 3rd up from T5 to T6 and then most of the way up through T7 and needed just a super short shift to 4th before T8. You could just hold 3rd there if you want but it wouldn't be optimal. He held 3rd all they way from T8 to T11 before dropping to 2nd!

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Excellent description, and glad to hear the car is well composed there. The gearing to allow 3rd from 5 to 7 is impressive given the 3.73 ratio.

You only get 7 into 8a wrong one time; either because you beach/wad the car up, or you soil yourself so badly that you never forget it again. I got greedy one time and decided not to brake over the crest. Thank goodness I didn't have any steering input, or it would have been messy. I never thought the ass was going to settle down in time to get turned. :eyebulge:

such a fun weekend at Laguna! I need to plan better for next year and spend the week.

I'm still hopeful to get in the waiting list for next week!

I told you guys it would be like riding a bull! Good thing I'm a bull rider. Lol. Thanks op for the joyous news. I'm J. I should quit my job and Coke down there.

Fantastic write up thanks for sharing. Must. See. Pics!

Jim Owens is the man. Love how he speaks openly and doesn't hold back with enthusiasts.

I was stationed at Fort Ord in the early thru mid 80's so Laguna Seca was like a second home for me when off duty. Thanks for the great posting...cannot wait for the pics!