Ewheels Road Course Build

[Michael_vroomvroom]

Yeah I wish we could run windows closed as is becoming more popular in Europe but no dice, most organizers here are stuck in their ways and ignoring new data showing that windows up can be just as safe if not moreso.

But us that are slow need to have the windows open so we can hear the fast guys coming up on us from behind. Especially since at least here in Spain, there is no culture of waiting for a "point-by" sign to pass, and I have yet to see anyone give it, so suddenly there's a car next to me as I turtle through the corner. Last time there was an electric Porsche turbo on the track, which had me concerned I would not hear him stealthly sneaking up on me, but fortunately he did not try to pass me. Ran out of battery or something before he could catch up I assume.


Windows partially open also helps me not overheat as the A/C is off.

What's the benefit of keeping the windows closed anyway? Better aerodynamics and less wind resistance?

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[shogun32]

Better aerodynamics and less wind resistance?

less sound distraction and buffeting and dust and dirt swirling around. Road/Wind noise is high dB. Yes I'll happily wear earplugs inside the helmet if the windows are down. I wear plugs without fail when taking the 2-seater out.

 

[Egparson202]

cheap easy and effective we don’t get all three very often!

I’m intrigued. Give me the 10 cent tour on these clever little wind deflectors please. Materials, effectiveness, etc

 

[Scootsmcgreggor]

I’m intrigued. Give me the 10 cent tour on these clever little wind deflectors please. Materials, effectiveness, etc

sure. 1/16” abs plastic sheet cut and bent 30*. Double sided sticky taped on. No more buffeting at speed on track. Prior to installing them buffeting at 90mph plus was so bad it required ear plugs in my helmet. Deflectors resolved it completely.

 

[Kermitz]

sure. 1/16” abs plastic sheet cut and bent 30*. Double sided sticky taped on. No more buffeting at speed on track. Prior to installing them buffeting at 90mph plus was so bad it required ear plugs in my helmet. Deflectors resolved it completely.

That’s awesome. It would be cool if someone with a 3D printer could make something like this.

 

[Egparson202]

sure. 1/16” abs plastic sheet cut and bent 30*. Double sided sticky taped on. No more buffeting at speed on track. Prior to installing them buffeting at 90mph plus was so bad it required ear plugs in my helmet. Deflectors resolved it completely.

Thanks! Adding that to my prep list for the April event.

 

[Ewheels]

@Scootsmcgreggor here's my attempt.
.093" sheet of Lexan from good ol Home Depot Racing. Cut out the shapes with a dremel. First tried to heat them up over the kitchen stove....after burning some hair off, I now own a heat gun. That works much better.

 

[TeeLew]

If i were going to print something, then I think I might try to do the whole part, including the door trim piece. It's funny that Ford missed this.

 

[Ewheels]

If i were going to print something, then I think I might try to do the whole part, including the door trim piece. It's funny that Ford missed this.

To be fair, with the back seats in, there's no buffeting. I didn't want to spend the time/money or add weight with a seat delete thing

 

[Scootsmcgreggor]

Nice Eric! Yeah heat gun it is.

 

[Ewheels]

What a weekend! And it was a humbling roller coaster...

Back to Autoclub for the weekend and I was overly excited. I was aiming to set new PB's and thought I was going to be a hot shot...the universe had other plans.
Very first hot lap of Saturday and I got into the braking zone of T9 and had soft pedal, no brakes. I boiled my fluid. Went deep into the grass. The Steeda Heel Toe gas pedal extension that I put on to help with my heel toe downshifts has been biting me in the butt for a long time now. Super embarrassing but when I hit the brakes hard, my foot grazes the gas pedal at the same time thereby heating up the brakes excessively and, in this instance, boiling my fluid.
Took the pedal extension off for the second session. I could feel my foot wasn't hitting the gas pedal anymore but my fluid was still cooked. Bled the brakes and finally fixed all this though my confidence was shaken at this point. Still didn't feel super great about the brakes.
Saturday ended with no new PB, sketchy feel about my brakes, and wondering what all went wrong. I had many doubts and questions and luckily many of those were answered the next day.

Sunday comes and my goal for the day was to get used to heel toe without the pedal extension and sort of relearn the car.
First session went mostly well but still had an instance of hard pedal, no brake. (I must've been black flagged 5 times this weekend for going off.)
I'm starting to question if these Hawk pads just aren't working for me.
Second session comes around and I luckily find @PaddyPrix near grid. He comes by the car to say hi and I ask him if he'll do a ride along with me. Patrick....thank you! He corrected my line in a few places which I'll need to practice but the biggest take away was he informed me of my poor braking habits. Apparently I'm too hard on the brakes. Completely murdering the brake pedal; which is upsetting the car and overheating the brakes. Patrick said to back off 10% pressure and start braking a little earlier. I tried this the following session and finally for the first time all weekend, I had zero braking issues!
When people say to hit the brakes hard, I guess I took that too literally.

Overall, fun weekend, spent time with a bunch of friends and family, and I learned a lot as a driver. A few summary points:
- The Hawk DTC 60 pads are fine, seem to take abuse better than the GLOC R12s I had previously. Though KNS told me to run DTC 60s front and rear as opposed to the normal stagger....when I boiled my brakes, the fluid in the rear looked much worse off than the fronts. I think I'll go back to a staggered pad setup. Also, as I'm not winning TT events and earning free Hawk pads, I think I might go back to GLOC and try R16/12 setup. I know my recent braking issues have been all user error, but I also never had braking issues when I had GLOC pads...
EDIT: thinking back now, the rear fluid would definitely be worse because I was hitting the gas at the same time, super heating the rears only. DTC 60 F/R might actually be fine if you don't have a dumbass behind the wheel.
- First time on the Toyo RR tires this weekend. They seem to have ever so slightly less max grip than my previous Supercar 3's and they don't seem to take corner exit throttle as well. They do, however, last all day long! The supercar 3 tires would be amazing for 2-3 laps and then they'd get greasy and stay greasy until I came off track. RR's had the same level of grip from lap 1 to lap 6, session 1 to session 4. They would slide out if I asked too much of them but throttle it back a bit and they're ready to go again for the next corner. Honestly, the most cost-effective practice tire, period. Though I'm starting to get into time attack events, I think I still have a lot to learn as a driver before I'm actually competitive so the RR might be a good fit for now.
- Downshifting....I'm over it. I'm throwing in the towel and getting an Autoblip. It'll be one less thing to think about and allow me to focus that much more on driving.
- Finally got weighed and dyno'ed for TT. 413 whp average and 3957 lbs with me and a quarter tank of gas. I think I can take another 85 lbs out with the Sparco seat I have coming in, removing the passenger seat, and removing the windshield washer fluid bottle. I think I want to keep this a full interior car but we'll see what happens.
- It was another hot weekend. 85-90° Saturday and maybe low 80's by the end of the day Sunday. Diff was under 250, CHT max was 235, oil in the yellow. I know I've said this a dozen times, but I really need to box my radiator. I want to add cooling mods at least for the peace of mind. So I can forget about my temps and focus completely on driving. It's amazing how much of driving is all focus and attention. Any distraction and my lap times go down.....speaking of lap times, I could only muster another 1:55 for the weekend. TT3 winner was a 1:48 and most competitors were around 1:49 to 1:51. Hopefully with more practice and less weight, I can get down to maybe a 1:52.
- Last point on this very long post: the little wind deflectors worked flawlessly. Zero buffeting even at 145 mph.

 

[Biggsy]

man oh man the feedback I've been waiting months for lol. I came back to this thread a couple days ago to see when you next track day was lol. Glad you and the car made it through the weekend.

I know I am going to finish my R12/10 after my next event. I was looking at the EBC offerings RP1 or RPX with bluestuff in the rear. No interest in trying those?

As for the RRs, it looks like the feedback is positive and I will be placing an order next week. Cant beat the price. Any thoughts on driving/steering feedback with the much lower TW than the SC3s?

Im with you on the auto blip. The SRP pedals helped a little, but I dont feel like thinking about it right now while improving other skills. Once I get the necessities out the way, I will most likley be going with Xineering. I know it cost more, but from what i've read, it is an overall better product.

I plan on getting Race Louvers center vent soon and will most likely go with the Watson/FP350S Radiator closeout. I know it is not too bad as a DIY but in this case I might pay for an already made solution.

As always, I look forward to reading about your progression as a driver.

 

[Ewheels]

man oh man the feedback I've been waiting months for lol. I came back to this thread a couple days ago to see when you next track day was lol. Glad you and the car made it through the weekend.

I know I am going to finish my R12/10 after my next event. I was looking at the EBC offerings RP1 or RPX with bluestuff in the rear. No interest in trying those?

As for the RRs, it looks like the feedback is positive and I will be placing an order next week. Cant beat the price. Any thoughts on driving/steering feedback with the much lower TW than the SC3s?

Im with you on the auto blip. The SRP pedals helped a little, but I dont feel like thinking about it right now while improving other skills. Once I get the necessities out the way, I will most likley be going with Xineering. I know it cost more, but from what i've read, it is an overall better product.

I plan on getting Race Louvers center vent soon and will most likely go with the Watson/FP350S Radiator closeout. I know it is not too bad as a DIY but in this case I might pay for an already made solution.

As always, I look forward to reading about your progression as a driver.

Thanks very much for the kind words and feedback, Biggsy.

EBC brakes: I haven't heard very much feedback on these actually. Could be good, could be bad. I don't personally know anyone in the mustang community who uses them and that alone might be reason enough to avoid them.

Honestly, treadwear seems to mean nothing. You just have to go off what people say who have tried them.
For feedback, I did hear some auditory feedback a couple times but not as much as a tire with street tread. When they do break loose, it's not a snap change. I could always catch it and correct it. Higher speed grip feels comparable to the SC3's but low speed, corner exit seemed to slide more but that could all be my car setup and my driver inputs. I would still say SC3 is slightly faster but very close. I mean, I ran the same lap time with both tires but my skills may not exactly be consistent.

I heard the very same about Xineering. Probably what I'll go with.

Be careful with that closeout though. It's made for a large oil cooler in front which if you don't have, could be problematic.

Whenever I do finally box my radiator, I'll be sure to share. PM me at that time and I'll give you all my pictures and measurements for a stock setup (with AC condensor)

 

[Ewheels]

Oh, almost forgot....the Steeda shifter bracket....AMAZING!
Without a doubt improved my shifting and overall shifting feel.
The oem stuff just felt sloppy, I would miss shifts regularly.
This cheap mod helps make the shifter slot into place like it's supposed to. Can't recommend this piece enough. Next best thing to replacing the whole shifter.

 

[shogun32]

When people say to hit the brakes hard, I guess I took that too literally.

it's supposed to be a SQUEEEEEEEEEEZE with ever increasing pressure, not STOMP! and hold it to the floor.

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