Shopping FP track handling pack for 15 GT PP

[stonecutter908]

I've been doing research on improving the ride on my 2015 GT PP 50th Ann. Reading lots of threads on the topic and youtube videos (favorite: ), I've come to the conclusion that the FP Track handling pack is the route I should go.

Looking for any final recommendations, in case I am off the mark.

To me, the GT PP ride of my 2015 is still too soft and floats for my liking. I'd prefer a "ride on rails" and grippy feel, even on a straight highway. With that said, I will never take the car to the track. It's not my daily driver, just a short day trips and weekend fun rides car to clear my head. I've owned BMW 3 series, Audi S6, C4 and C5 Vettes. While I know it's hard to expect my GT PP to handle like these rides, I am still hoping to get at least close.

Is the Track pack overkill for my needs? TIA for your comments.

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[plresultsman]

Following. I've posted and saved a few on same topic.

 

[tangguy]

I have the track pack kit on my 18 GT and its VERY livable for the street application. Its stiff but definitely not harsh.

 

[Seanuf99]

I have a 21 non PP, and I put the kit on it. Figured even if ride was harsh it was ok for my purposes (novice autocross, HdPEs, but mostly weekend back country drives. Turns out that was 5k miles ago because it is so much fun to drive i take it out everyday weather permitting. 80 something year old mother in law needed me to drive her 30 miles, mix hwy and crappy surface roads. She commented on how smooth the ride was. No comments on how it does in autocross because i suck at it. Will find out re HPDE in a couple of weeks. But daily, what a blast.

There are several threads on this already, you should take a look because you may have better or cheaper but similar options.

 

[bmrylnd5]

Do it, that's the main reason I got it and I've loved it since. I have a write up out there as well if you need help with it.

Original suspension and tires made the car too floaty for me and felt like driving on ice. After the upgrade and steeda irs updates it feels way better like on rails. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

 

[accel]

I have a 21 non PP, and I put the kit on it. Figured even if ride was harsh it was ok for my purposes (novice autocross, HdPEs, but mostly weekend back country drives. Turns out that was 5k miles ago because it is so much fun to drive i take it out everyday weather permitting. 80 something year old mother in law needed me to drive her 30 miles, mix hwy and crappy surface roads. She commented on how smooth the ride was. No comments on how it does in autocross because i suck at it. Will find out re HPDE in a couple of weeks. But daily, what a blast.

There are several threads on this already, you should take a look because you may have better or cheaper but similar options.

Really curious how autoX handling changed before and after?

 

[Seanuf99]

Really curious how autoX handling changed before and after?

Unfortunately I am not qualified to answer that. My first ever autox event was in this car with less than 1k on the odometer and 100% stock rubber and suspension. 2nd event was a novice school with 3k miles on it, and i had the track handling pack, 18x10 square apex wheels and 275/40 summer tires on it. It was night and day difference, but how much of that was the rubber, how much was increased confidence and how much was the new suspension? I will say the instructer who has been auto crosaing for like 50 years (rick ruth) seemed impressed with the handling when he drove it. Also no sidewall roll which was nice (extreme contact sports).

3rd event was 2 weeks ago and I once again sucked at it, but man its fun.

 

[tosha]

Really curious how autoX handling changed before and after?

I can share my experience on somewhat similar setup and progression on the street and hpde, in chronological order:
1) starting point - full stock PP1 with magneride and stock staggered wheels on summer Pirellis - terrible understeer on track, coupled with unbearable body roll in turns. I thought I need racing seats to mitigate weight transfers, because otherwise I was almost flying around the car. On the street - great GT cruiser with numb steering, some resemblance of a sports car.
2) Istalled FP magneride specific track package (springs, sway bars, MR tune presumably from PP2), steeda extreme K-brace, kamber plates with track oriented alignment. Wheels still stock from PP1, Firestones Indy 500 tires. On track - huge improvement as far as weight management in turns, body roll pretty much eliminated, car feels very planted. Still understeering when pushed due to 255 tires up front, but car inspires a lot more confidence. On the street - stiffer ride but not harsh, still a great GT car with much better handling manners.
3) square 305/30/19 wheel setup with 200tw tires. On track - massive, I mean massive difference in handling characteristics. Understeer eliminated, car drives like it's on rails. Every time I push it, it just asks for more. If previously tires were a weak point, now I am the one . Coupled with previous changes, I feel that I have a lot of room to grow my driving skills without hitting the handling limitations of the car. On the street - it's a go-cart . Drive through beat-up downtown roads is not the best idea now. Hitting back roads pr highway cruising is a joy though. Between lower springs, lower tires and k-bar hanging below subframe, I have lost over 2 inches of ground clearance and it was absolutely worth it. I still have original wheels, so I can swap them back for street driving.

 

[accel]

Unfortunately I am not qualified to answer that. My first ever autox event was in this car with less than 1k on the odometer and 100% stock rubber and suspension. 2nd event was a novice school with 3k miles on it, and i had the track handling pack, 18x10 square apex wheels and 275/40 summer tires on it. It was night and day difference, but how much of that was the rubber, how much was increased confidence and how much was the new suspension? I will say the instructer who has been auto crosaing for like 50 years (rick ruth) seemed impressed with the handling when he drove it. Also no sidewall roll which was nice (extreme contact sports).

3rd event was 2 weeks ago and I once again sucked at it, but man its fun.

Yeah, makes sense to start stock and just invest in seat time. Then at some point you'll understand what kind of a change the car needs.

 

[Seanuf99]

Yeah, makes sense to start stock and just invest in seat time. Then at some point you'll understand what kind of a change the car needs.

Yep. I probably should have done one thing at a time, but well, patience is not in my DNA apparently. Thought process was, I had a pretty solid idea what I needed and went all in. Am now really focusing on seat time since I have such a vast improvement in set up, and can fine tune later. But for a packaged deal, man what an improvement.

BTW- I also did the PP control arms and some steeda subframe alignment dowels while the shop.

 

[accel]

I can share my experience on somewhat similar setup and progression on the street and hpde, in chronological order:
1) starting point - full stock PP1 with magneride and stock staggered wheels on summer Pirellis - terrible understeer on track, coupled with unbearable body roll in turns. I thought I need racing seats to mitigate weight transfers, because otherwise I was almost flying around the car. On the street - great GT cruiser with numb steering, some resemblance of a sports car.
2) Istalled FP magneride specific track package (springs, sway bars, MR tune presumably from PP2), steeda extreme K-brace, kamber plates with track oriented alignment. Wheels still stock from PP1, Firestones Indy 500 tires. On track - huge improvement as far as weight management in turns, body roll pretty much eliminated, car feels very planted. Still understeering when pushed due to 255 tires up front, but car inspires a lot more confidence. On the street - stiffer ride but not harsh, still a great GT car with much better handling manners.
3) square 305/30/19 wheel setup with 200tw tires. On track - massive, I mean massive difference in handling characteristics. Understeer eliminated, car drives like it's on rails. Every time I push it, it just asks for more. If previously tires were a weak point, now I am the one . Coupled with previous changes, I feel that I have a lot of room to grow my driving skills without hitting the handling limitations of the car. On the street - it's a go-cart . Drive through beat-up downtown roads is not the best idea now. Hitting back roads pr highway cruising is a joy though. Between lower springs, lower tires and k-bar hanging below subframe, I have lost over 2 inches of ground clearance and it was absolutely worth it. I still have original wheels, so I can swap them back for street driving.

Thank you. Most of threads on track pack end up discussing visuals and "night and day" difference daily driving. And so I'm not sure if I should upgrade from PP (2017) or just replace shocks when it is time. I'd be interested in HPDE level of changes.

I quickly realized that staggered was not for me -

One autox event with relatively fresh\even wear tires (Pirellis) I was actually impressed with handling. Yes, it needed delicacy in hairpins.L ater, same tires but rears worn subst. more than fronts - a snap oversteer at the street. And then an HPDE with new rears and 50% worn fronts - understeer. So with staggered you never know what your car balance is at the moment as you do not rotate tires.

I'm on squared 285 now and to my shame not a single hpde on this setup yet. Obviously I'll need to try it first.

But it sounds from your post that squatted plus track pack play well together.

 

[tosha]

Thank you. Most of threads on track pack end up discussing visuals and "night and day" difference daily driving. And so I'm not sure if I should upgrade from PP (2017) or just replace shocks when it is time. I'd be interested in HPDE level of changes.

I quickly realized that staggered was not for me -

One autox event with relatively fresh\even wear tires (Pirellis) I was actually impressed with handling. Yes, it needed delicacy in hairpins.L ater, same tires but rears worn subst. more than fronts - a snap oversteer at the street. And then an HPDE with new rears and 50% worn fronts - understeer. So with staggered you never know what your car balance is at the moment as you do not rotate tires.

I'm on squared 285 now and to my shame not a single hpde on this setup yet. Obviously I'll need to try it first.

But it sounds from your post that squatted plus track pack play well together.

If I were to do it again, I would invest in tires above everything else and would basically revert the order of upgrades. If you want to do hpde once or twice, that's pretty much all you really need.

I don't have experience driving non-magneride s550, so I can't compare, but I do feel that MR equipped PP1 is really well set up for street only car. Flip it to track mode and it's planted enough. There is no way you can push this car to it's limit on a street without risk of going to jail.

Having said that, once you do hpde once or twice, most likely you'd get hooked up, and then you do want to have camber plates. While you're at it, it makes sense to upgrade springs/shocks/sway bars. And you start going this never ending rabbit hole . That's basically what happened to me - I started with stock car and upgrading/fixing issues once I start reaching the limits of stock stuff.

 

[accel]

If I were to do it again, I would invest in tires above everything else and would basically revert the order of upgrades. If you want to do hpde once or twice, that's pretty much all you really need.

I don't have experience driving non-magneride s550, so I can't compare, but I do feel that MR equipped PP1 is really well set up for street only car. Flip it to track mode and it's planted enough. There is no way you can push this car to it's limit on a street without risk of going to jail.

Having said that, once you do hpde once or twice, most likely you'd get hooked up, and then you do want to have camber plates. While you're at it, it makes sense to upgrade springs/shocks/sway bars. And you start going this never ending rabbit hole . That's basically what happened to me - I started with stock car and upgrading/fixing issues once I start reaching the limits of stock stuff.

Yeah. I'll go to a couple auto crosses as is just to see the delta the tires gave me.

Next I feel like my shocks lost some stiffness and I can just replace them with some adjustables (kinda manual magneride) or, invest a little more and get a track pack.

This is why I collect its HPDE characteristics.

 

[accel]

Yep. I probably should have done one thing at a time, but well, patience is not in my DNA apparently. Thought process was, I had a pretty solid idea what I needed and went all in. Am now really focusing on seat time since I have such a vast improvement in set up, and can fine tune later. But for a packaged deal, man what an improvement.

BTW- I also did the PP control arms and some steeda subframe alignment dowels while the shop.

Yeah I used to attend scca, UFO autos, american muscle series, lotus club.... An event every other week or so.

These days I go to autoX once per year mostly to be sure I know my Mustang well and can control it. I also like to feel the potential.

To be first you'd need to be a very pragmatic person. Like start from getting a car that it at the top like miata. I do not like to be very pragmatic when it comes to fun. So I was not a top driver but I never cared.

If car mods light you up just go for it

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