Official GT350 Track Attack Attendance Thread

[TENTEX]

Few more updates from last weeks experience.

Lodging & Dining

There are (3) additional hotels all in the same proximity of the Embassy Suites as suggested by the school. I am not sure if the pricing is comparable but one would suspected so.

They are Residence Inn by Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott, Homewood Suites by Hilton.

There is also (7) other hotels that are closer to Interstate 85 and also in walking distance to dining venues.

Secondly there is more enough dining options from fast food to sit down dining along the main street Brunton Smith Blvd/Concord Mills Blvd.

If you were to forget anything that you might need there is a Bass Pro and Academy and a entire Mills Mall on Brunton Smith Blvd/Concord Mills Blvd.

If you get there early you can walk around the building from the Storage Bays with the 350's and 500's and in the garage area as long as you are not under the lifts.

Everyone I encountered was nice and as helpful as possible and very accommodating.


Classroom & Driving

No need to bring water, food or snacks. There was always an abundance of water, Powerade and sodas in the class and water and Powerade on the track. There were even bins of snacks in the pits to grab between runs. There are restrooms at the classroom and in the pits so you have plenty of locations to make a quick stop on the way back to class or at the track.

If you require glasses or sunglasses to drive. Bring the least bulky glasses that you have on hand. I prefer to wear sunglasses all the time and make sure they have more bayonet style temples so they fit within the Balaclava and the helmet padding.

Lastly, Getting in and out of the vehicle. Make sure the door handle is within reach once you are buckled. Its pretty hard to close the door if your all buckled and can't reach the door. Also make sure you connect your communications cord before your strapped in and tightened. your can't turn to find it after the fact. The instructors will come an d help out with these if they see you struggling so don't worry.

That is all i can think about now. It was a great experience and left me wanting to come back.

Tex

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[68Stang]

Tex - and others
Are there any car specific items you suggest practicing or refreshing before Track Attack? Such as line lock? Launch control? etc.? Those are not features I use under normal driving conditions but rather not be caught off guard.

Thanks for the great info above!!

 

[72&18]

Tex - and others
Are there any car specific items you suggest practicing or refreshing before Track Attack? Such as line lock? Launch control? etc.? Those are not features I use under normal driving conditions but rather not be caught off guard.

Thanks for the great info above!!

GT500 track attack has a drag racing session. The GT350 class does not. You will go through each of the different modes, normal, sport, and track during a small slalom course to see how each of them feel. On the Roval, you will be in track mode all the time.

You will go down the drag stip, but that is for an exercise on braking.

 

[TENTEX]

Tex - and others
Are there any car specific items you suggest practicing or refreshing before Track Attack? Such as line lock? Launch control? etc.? Those are not features I use under normal driving conditions but rather not be caught off guard.

Thanks for the great info above!!

The best thing to have mastered is the heel toe for down shifting. If you have that and understanding of the green apex cones you will be fine. I’m not a master of heel toe but use the outside of my foot to blip the throttle. Coming out of turn two doing 120 mph and getting hard on the brakes and bliping I found I need some real practice. You basically run the whole course in 3rd till you get to the high banks then you can get to 4th in the 350 and 5th in the GT. I hope this helps

 

[Postal Bob]

Tentex, thanks for all the info. For a novice like me, that is all good info to know. Looking foward to getting there early the day before, so hopefully I can look around the garage and take in the scenery(cars) and take some pictures.

 

[TENTEX]

Tentex, thanks for all the info. For a novice like me, that is all good info to know. Looking foward to getting there early the day before, so hopefully I can look around the garage and take in the scenery(cars) and take some pictures.

I showed up day early and got my bearings. I walked around the garages and talked to the techs. I was polite and wore my mask.

I may have even snuck in the track and watched the GT 500 session that took place for a few minutes. But it’s also possibly frowned upon.

 

[squid678]

See you there!

I just got a phone call yesterday and I am filling in a cancellation for that day also!

 

[460Fred]

Yup

 

[TENTEX]

One more thing I forgot to mention on the second day session.

For some reason the GT's in 3rd and 4th if you stomp the skinny pedal to the floor the throttle will go dead at 4,000 RPM. Now if you use constant increased pressure all the way to the floor it will not go dead pedal on you. Only one of the instructors mention this to my group but I do know it was happening to several people.

Tex

 

[72&18]

One more thing I forgot to mention on the second day session.

For some reason the GT's in 3rd and 4th if you stomp the skinny pedal to the floor the throttle will go dead at 4,000 RPM. Now if you use constant increased pressure all the way to the floor it will not go dead pedal on you. Only one of the instructors mention this to my group but I do know it was happening to several people.

Tex

We have two GT350’s that had this issue during our day 1. Rolling on the throttle solved the issues as you noted.

 

[460Fred]

To achieve higher speeds on the banked oval, stay in third to 8K which is well over 100mph, then shift into fourth. I thought it was weird our leader was pulling away from us on the oval, this was a big reason.
Watching my videos I discovered I was shifting into fourth at about 80mph...I had way more to go.
Also saw that I was trail breaking into the corners...didn’t think I was. Your car absolutely handles the corners very well on the track....STAY OFF THE BREAKS IN THE CORNERS!
Kind of reminds me of watching game videos playing football way back when. Pull back and you can see your mistakes.

 

[09cs]

To achieve higher speeds on the banked oval, stay in third to 8K which is well over 100mph, then shift into fourth. I thought it was weird our leader was pulling away from us on the oval, this was a big reason.
Watching my videos I discovered I was shifting into fourth at about 80mph...I had way more to go.
Also saw that I was trail breaking into the corners...didn’t think I was. Your car absolutely handles the corners very well on the track....STAY OFF THE BREAKS IN THE CORNERS!
Kind of reminds me of watching game videos playing football way back when. Pull back and you can see your mistakes.

It's weird you mention that about staying in 3rd on the oval. Our instructors were telling us to get into 4th around 80 (though it was raining)

 

[460Fred]

It's weird you mention that about staying in 3rd on the oval. Our instructors were telling us to get into 4th around 80 (though it was raining)

For me the weather was beautiful. I don’t believe we were told to shift into fourth at 80, we were told to go into fourth on the bank, that came out in class.
This was a first track experience for me. Looking back I could have been a lot more aggressive like the guys in the faster groups. Then again maybe I would have crashed if I did ;-)
As first timers, you need to be comfortable.

 

[Tennkid]

Question guys. Just signed up for the July 15-16 session. I opted out of the liability insurance (they said I could call back later and add it if I wanted) bc they said the deductible was $7500 ??? So, I figured if I ran off the track and busted a wheel or tire then I was going to have to pay for that anyway out of pocket. But, of course, I don't plan on doing anything stupid, but things happen.
Anyway, was just wondering what other people decided on regarding the liability insurance when you either went to the track day or if you recently signed up?

 

[flybipe]

I bought the insurance when I attended several weeks ago, and a quick poll of those in my class indicated most others did too.

No one in our class needed it, but several folks spun on day 2 - and a few came very close to spinning or hitting the wall.

When I bought the insurance, Amy at FPRS indicated that there have been recent incidents where it was needed.

Speaking to the instructors, it sounded like this was less of an issue in Utah where there was less to hit.

As an aside, I also upgraded to the Cup 2’s on the second day, and I was very glad I did.

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