Official GT350 Track Attack Attendance Thread

[460Fred]

I see #11 is back out there....Thought I blew it up I drove it so hard ;-)

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[calduke]

If anyone buys one of these cars and doesn't attend, they don't know what they are missing. Great fun seeing what these cars can really do on the track. Not sure I'd ever be willing to drive my own car like that

We did have one person hit the wall on the 2nd day and wrecked a GT (or at least hard enough to need a rollback and track fluid cleanup) if any of you are on the fence regarding insurance. It wasn't really visible from the pit areas and we never saw the person again, but thankfully he wasn't hurt. If he is on the forum, sorry that happened, especially on his birthday :(

And while the instructors mentioned people get sick in the cars (into their helmets), I didn't think it happened. Lo and behold, the 3rd car in our group dropped off the back during one of our lead/follow sessions on the 2nd day as he got sick. According to the in car accelerometer (make sure you clear everything off the car computer before you start each day), my car got up to 1.5 lateral G's...probably during the ride along , 0.8 of acceleration (in the GT350, only .6 in the GT) and nearly 1.5g in braking. Something fun to monitor each day.

I wasn't terribly impressed with Racekeeper. Seems like the dash forward looking camera didn't work very often (e.g. 1st day, while it recorded 11 videos of the in car camera of me, it only got 8 external; 2nd day was 13 in car videos but only 8 external [Chris, I may not have that video you wanted as a result]. If you want to share videos with others, when you are on a break and have time, go up on the walkway and record some video of the other cars doing their thing. More impressive video to share in my opinion...

It was good to meet so many great Shelby enthusiasts from all across the country. BTW, I was there early on reception day and met Chris (anacar312) for lunch at Jim & Nick's. That was fairly average (though service was good). But a bunch of us went to the Smoke Pit after the first day of class (a little farther away in Concord) and everyone seemed to enjoy that much better. As we stayed post close, they even gave those of us that wanted it some free strawberry cobbler.

Anyways, an absolute blast of the time seeing what these cars can do! Many of us were wondering how to buy one of these cars when Ford is done with the GT350 track attack as the car to abuse on a track vs. the ones we already own
Chris

 

[Postal Bob]

Racekeeper video worked fine in my car, but the car I did the ride along in wasn't working. Would've like to see just how fast the instructors were driving, compared to what we did.
Here is a portion of my 3rd track session. You see how we were the fast group, and were lapping the slower groups.

 

[-RAC-]

Racekeeper video worked fine in my car, but the car I did the ride along in wasn't working. Would've like to see just how fast the instructors were driving, compared to what we did.
Here is a portion of my 3rd track session. You see how we were the fast group, and were lapping the slower groups.

What tires were you on?

 

[anacar312]

If anyone buys one of these cars and doesn't attend, they don't know what they are missing. Great fun seeing what these cars can really do on the track. Not sure I'd ever be willing to drive my own car like that

We did have one person hit the wall on the 2nd day and wrecked a GT (or at least hard enough to need a rollback and track fluid cleanup) if any of you are on the fence regarding insurance. It wasn't really visible from the pit areas and we never saw the person again, but thankfully he wasn't hurt. If he is on the forum, sorry that happened, especially on his birthday :(

And while the instructors mentioned people get sick in the cars (into their helmets), I didn't think it happened. Lo and behold, the 3rd car in our group dropped off the back during one of our lead/follow sessions on the 2nd day as he got sick. According to the in car accelerometer (make sure you clear everything off the car computer before you start each day), my car got up to 1.5 lateral G's...probably during the ride along , 0.8 of acceleration (in the GT350, only .6 in the GT) and nearly 1.5g in braking. Something fun to monitor each day.

I wasn't terribly impressed with Racekeeper. Seems like the dash forward looking camera didn't work very often (e.g. 1st day, while it recorded 11 videos of the in car camera of me, it only got 8 external; 2nd day was 13 in car videos but only 8 external [Chris, I may not have that video you wanted as a result]. If you want to share videos with others, when you are on a break and have time, go up on the walkway and record some video of the other cars doing their thing. More impressive video to share in my opinion...

It was good to meet so many great Shelby enthusiasts from all across the country. BTW, I was there early on reception day and met Chris (anacar312) for lunch at Jim & Nick's. That was fairly average (though service was good). But a bunch of us went to the Smoke Pit after the first day of class (a little farther away in Concord) and everyone seemed to enjoy that much better. As we stayed post close, they even gave those of us that wanted it some free strawberry cobbler.

Anyways, an absolute blast of the time seeing what these cars can do! Many of us were wondering how to buy one of these cars when Ford is done with the GT350 track attack as the car to abuse on a track vs. the ones we already own
Chris

Spot on write up by Chris (Calduke)! I'll echo everything and emphasize 2 points:

(1) The Smoke Pit in Concord is on point. Spare Ribs and burnt ends were awesome. Not restaurant style BBQ... this is pitmaster style BBQ. Skip Jim & Nick's.

(2) Get the insurance. I had a bit of a "pucker moment" myself when the ass end got a little loose coming out of the chicane that follows Nascar turn 4 on day 2 during a lead-follow session with Chris (Calduke) right behind me. I pulled it back in but still..... it just takes a little too much throttle or a missed shift and there is a wall within a car length for better than 1/2 of your lap. There are walls everywhere and not much to speak of as far as gravel traps or similar. Best to cover your are, IMHO.

PS: If anyone does see where/when/how the Ford Performance Racing School sells off these GT350s, please share the info. I'm certainly curious.... and possibly interested in purchasing if they end up at reasonable prices. I forgot who told us but someone mentioned the Raptors they sold off from the "Raptor Experience" ended up selling for sticker. I'd be in up until 1/2 of sticker.... especially if it was one of the PP cars.

 

[68Stang]

Race keeper worked fine in my car as well except for the ride along. I really wanted to see the difference! If anyone has a ride along video please share.

 

[Postal Bob]

What tires were you on?

They have the Super Sports on all the cars. Though I didn't look at them beforehand, I looked at them for wear after the track session was over. They were starting to wear down, but nothing like some of the pics guys post of their PS2's after a track meet. And I noticed no tramlining at all. Could be because we're on a smooth track. But even the ride from the school to the different areas in the parking lots where you practice maneuvers, and to the track itself, I felt no tramlining. They will certainly get at least 3 track days or more out of those tires. And that's with almost 20 high speed laps total for each day. Definitely will put on the Super Sports when my PS2's wear out for street use.

 

[calduke]

I definitely don't have ride along video even though I did my 1st day ride along in my car (with Andy driving) and plugged my race keeper in at the start. But I can't find it anywhere (raw files or in the racekeeper program itself)...2nd day, I didn't go in a race keeper car, so no dice there either...

 

[Seb]

I'll be there June 8th, anybody else going too?

 

[Postal Bob]

Race keeper worked fine in my car as well except for the ride along. I really wanted to see the difference! If anyone has a ride along video please share.

I'd like to see someones ride along video too, if they have. The car I did the ride along, the racekeeper wasn't working. I'd like to see how fast we go through the turns, and on the straightaways.

 

[dps]

I'd like to see someones ride along video too, if they have. The car I did the ride along, the racekeeper wasn't working. I'd like to see how fast we go through the turns, and on the straightaways.

Per your request - The demo (ride along) lap showed why we were so frustrated in lead-follow. I was on the brake/coasting far too long with our instructor when we should have been WOT. Actually pushed it more in the slalom.

 

[Inthehighdesert]

When I did the class last Sept., the instructors were pretty much on par. And by on par, all fast as ....... When I was there last week there was quite a difference in that group of instructors. There was one in particular that was noticeably slower. Some were complaining about the lack of speed. And there was, but they(students) were losing 4-6 car lengths in every corner and the instructor was pulling away. I was fortunate to be in a group in Sept. that included a previous owner/driver of a Gt3 team so pace wasn’t an issue for our group.

Per your request - The demo (ride along) lap showed why we were so frustrated in lead-follow. I was on the brake/coasting far too long with our instructor when we should have been WOT. Actually pushed it more in the slalom.

 

[Postal Bob]

Per your request - The demo (ride along) lap showed why we were so frustrated in lead-follow. I was on the brake/coasting far too long with our instructor when we should have been WOT. Actually pushed it more in the slalom.

Yeah, looks like how I drove......almost.
That was the instructor we had. And seriously, we weren't that far off in speed as what she did in the demo lap. In the turns we were between 40-75 mph. She hit 85 at times. And on the oval, we hit 120 mph, instead of the 130 she did. So I really, I felt I got the maximum out of my sessions.

 

[09cs]

Yeah, looks like how I drove......almost.
That was the instructor we had. And seriously, we weren't that far off in speed as what she did in the demo lap. In the turns we were between 40-75 mph. She hit 85 at times. And on the oval, we hit 120 mph, instead of the 130 she did. So I really, I felt I got the maximum out of my sessions.

She was my instructor in the GT500 class as well. We were hitting 130 on the oval with her. Feel the same, we got the max out of that session with her!

 

[Carbide]

Just got a voicemail that more dates have been added. I will be calling them tomorrow am.

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