Trackaholic's GT350 Experience

[icormba]

Are you going to the Shelby Mini-Nats Aug 5-6 at Sonoma?

http://www.norcal-saac.org/mininats/

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[ssteve]

Why does shelby and mini share a track day? Seems like a odd pairing.

 

[raiderjatt02]

Why does shelby and mini share a track day? Seems like a odd pairing.

I think you're reading the name wrong, it's not the Shelby-Mini Nats, it's the Shelby Mini-Nats. It's a Shelby show and track day, just not as large as a "Nationals" level show.

Unless you were being sarcastic, if so...ignore me and carry on :-D

 

[saf1]

Are you going to the Shelby Mini-Nats Aug 5-6 at Sonoma?

http://www.norcal-saac.org/mininats/

Stupid / dumb question - maybe I missed it on the site, but what would be the beginner course and rules? It says yellow, red, red-plus, or green. Also what does it mean for "one run group"?

I may drive up for a day to just take some photos and see how everything goes if they allow non event attendees. Maybe do the parade lap just for giggles (although 25 bucks seems high for a low speed 1 lap).

Thanks - not trying to hijack the thread but I saw this so wanted to ask.

Edit: re-run group color. I found it - just had to go back to main portal and it was obvious.

 

[Trackaholic]

I hadn't planned on going, but it looks like fun. I'll have to investigate more and maybe I can find some time to check it out since it is pretty close by.

-T

 

[sublime1996525]

Great thread! Also I have to admit the more I see TY the more I love that color! Beautiful car man. :cheers:

 

[Ninjak]

This a great thread Some good reads here. I am still new to the GT350...just getting to 300 miles

 

[Trackaholic]

Latest update:

A few weeks ago, I brought the car in with ~21,750 miles to have the Oil Line Recall performed.

Took the car to Sunnyvale Ford, and had a good experience. Had them do the recall and an oil change since I was at the limit (as defined by the car's monitoring system).

They had a specific technician allocated for the recall work, but he got stuck on another job so they had to keep my car overnight. Gave me a Fusion Energi as a loaner, which was a very nice vehicle. Had lots of fun trying to maximize fuel efficiency as much as possible. Kept things interesting. Only downside to the car was the very limited trunk space due to the batteries, but it would make a great commuter vehicle as long as you didn't need to stuff the trunk full. I could barely fit my Martial Arts bag inside.

Been driving the car pretty regularly in the couple of weeks since the work was done, and have not had any issues. Given the fickle nature of the beast, I keep waiting for my oil filter to go flying off, but so-far so-good.

This weekend I tried out my new electronic torque wrench and re-torqued all of my lug nuts to 150 ft-lb. They turned quite a bit and seemed to be close to 100 initially (although when I had new tires installed about 1000 miles ago they pro-actively mentioned the 150 ft-lb lug torque, so I think the lug nuts have simply relaxed a little over time - I know it's a good idea to re-torque after a few hundred miles). I notice that my front wheels make a clicking sound when the torque is a bit low, so we'll see if that has gone away now that I've cranked them down.

Also cleaned out the catch can and checked the oil. Car is now at 22,366 so it's been about 600 miles since the oil change and 2250 since I last emptied the catch can.

Oil is nearing the lower end of the dipstick, but still has a bit to go before I need to add anything. Not sure how filled it was after the change, so I'll keep monitoring.

Car remains awesome!



Photo List:
1. Fusion Energi
2. Morning commute stats - check out that MPG (and this was hybrid mode, as I left the house with an empty battery)
3. Today's mileage
4. Oil Level
5. Catch can fill

-T

 

[Trackaholic]

Also, went to my first Cars and Coffee @ Canepa Design.

http://canepa.com/

Pretty amazing. They open the shop and museum so you can see everything that is being worked on and stored. They have an amazing variety of cars. I was too entranced to take many photos, but here are two.

First, one of the many Porsche 959's in the shop/storage area. This one was being worked on, and I chose to photo it because of the beautiful green paint job.

Second, as an F1 fan, I saw one of the most interesting F1 cars from back in the day: the Tyrrell P34 6-wheeler. Pretty cool to see one in person.

-T

 

[Shawnski]

Also, went to my first Cars and Coffee @ Canepa Design.

http://canepa.com/

Pretty amazing. They open the shop and museum so you can see everything that is being worked on and stored. They have an amazing variety of cars. I was too entranced to take many photos, but here are two.

First, one of the many Porsche 959's in the shop/storage area. This one was being worked on, and I chose to photo it because of the beautiful green paint job.

Second, as an F1 fan, I saw one of the most interesting F1 cars from back in the day: the Tyrrell P34 6-wheeler. Pretty cool to see one in person.

-T

Very interesting cars.

 

[Ninjak]

Also, went to my first Cars and Coffee @ Canepa Design.

http://canepa.com/

Pretty amazing. They open the shop and museum so you can see everything that is being worked on and stored. They have an amazing variety of cars. I was too entranced to take many photos, but here are two.

First, one of the many Porsche 959's in the shop/storage area. This one was being worked on, and I chose to photo it because of the beautiful green paint job.

Second, as an F1 fan, I saw one of the most interesting F1 cars from back in the day: the Tyrrell P34 6-wheeler. Pretty cool to see one in person.

-T

Man I love those 6 wheelers ! I remember I had a slot car version one. I loved that car. I remember when I got it It so cool looking I spent my little saved up money for it. I would love to see one in person.

Thanks for the photo.

 

[Trackaholic]

Nothing too exciting lately, but thought I'd give a minor update.

A couple weeks ago I was pulling onto the highway and ran the car up to redline, and thought the engine felt a little weak. That surge of torque around 3500 RPM seemed to be missing. Felt like maybe the car was pulling timing, or maybe something else was up. Perhaps I just got a bad tank of gas (is it possible I filled up with 87 octane instead of 91?).

Over the next week or two I would floor it every chance I could get (and also got a new tank of gas - making sure to put in hi-test), and thought maybe the car was feeling better, but I wasn't quite sure.

So this morning I took the car back to the dyno and did a few pulls just to make sure everything seemed kosher. And of course, engine was fine and making power pretty much the same as always. So, MAYBE I had some bad gas, or maybe Jupiter and Saturn were out of alignment, or maybe the weather was 0.6 degrees warmer than the engine liked....or maybe I imagined the whole thing. At least I can rest easy knowing the engine is still running strong. In the photo below, the 005 run is from when the car was new, and the 001 run was the first of the three pulls today. You can see how they are very close to eachother, even though they were taken over a year apart.

The shop owner joked about me just getting used to the power. He said that happens to everyone, and even when you are making 600 and you go drive a car with 700 and all of a sudden you don't find that 600 as mind blowing as it was before. Sad to think I'm already getting used to the power this engine puts out, so I guess that means I should drive my Z or GTI for a while so the GT350 will once again feel like the beast it felt like originally.

One of the things I did while troubleshooting was to empty the catch can and check the oil. Only 400 miles since last time, but there was still a noticeable amount in the can. Oil was approaching the bottom of the dipstick but wasn't quite there yet.

I also found some small stowaways on the car the other day. I blew them all off, but some must have been hiding because when I got home from my commute (35 miles of highway) there were several more.

One last note: I do have some pulsing from the brakes due to insufficient cool-down before pitting at my last track day. I can see a clear outline of the pad on the left front rotor (probably one on the right rotor as well but haven't checked). So, I think the next item on the agenda is for me to get a couple new brake rotors and pads, some jacking rails, and the caliper studs and then go ahead and do a little brake job. I will be sure to make another update when I get around to that.

In the meantime, here are some photos.
1. Catch can @ 22,780 miles
2. Stowaways
3. Dyno results.

-T

 

[icormba]

The shop owner joked about me just getting used to the power. He said that happens to everyone, and even when you are making 600 and you go drive a car with 700 and all of a sudden you don't find that 600 as mind blowing as it was before. Sad to think I'm already getting used to the power this engine puts out, so I guess that means I should drive my Z or GTI for a while so the GT350 will once again feel like the beast it felt like originally.
-T

Does Rob still have the "Handle Bar" mustache?? ;) :cheers:

 

[stanglife]

Spiders????? Sell it.

 

[Trackaholic]

Does Rob still have the "Handle Bar" mustache?? ;) :cheers:

Of course!

-T

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