5.M0NSTER

Hey all,

Just got back from a weekend of tracking my 2014 GT Track Pack at Gingerman Raceway in west Michigan. The only thing I did to prepare was swap out the front Brembo (friction material by Ferodo) front pads for Carbotech XP 10 race pads.

The event was organized by a Windy City BMW, and it was fantastic. 4x 30 minute track sessions each day, with classroom instruction and break periods, for a total of 4 hours of track time on the 2.14 Mile Gingerman raceway. Very well organized event, with an instructor by your side the whole time.

Mustang overall: I'm quite pleased with my "Budget Boss". It pulls very hard on the straights, and is easy to drift past the apex towards the exits in corners. I was quite happy how predictable the rotation was then controlling it with throttle. Past the turn in more throttle gave me progressive and controller oversteer. Nice With my brake setup it handled trail braking really well, and if operated smoothly held the line quite well. It takes a nice set mid corner, and stays fairly planted. The stock Pirellis did quite well the first day, but as I got quicker the second day, they were not able to meet my demands. With all the hard cornering and acceleration towards and past the apex, I managed not to break the rear wheels loose though. This led to impressive corner exit speeds . I got up to about 120mph going into the braking zone on the longest straight!

Suspension: Having intermediate experience under my belt, I felt like I was able to push the car 95% in the corners. The body roll was not overly noticeable, but it was obviously there, based on tire response and some understeer. Although I'm quite impressed with the Track Pack suspension on the street, I think if my Mustang were to become a track car, the suspension is the 2nd priority. Stickier tires are the first. Need more cornering grip!

Brakes: The Brembo brakes are phenomenal, but I'm also really happy I switched to Carbotech XP10 pads before the event. Brakes got HOT, but never faded, and the pedal never got squishy. Granted, I was braking earlier than I could have by a marker, but still. This is a 3600 lb car braking from 120 to 40 for a 90 degree turn, and 11 corners per (sub 2 minute) lap for 30 minutes straight! . There was an EVO 9 in my group, and in the 2nd session it lost brakes. Apparently it's brake fluid evaporated. So I can honestly say my Mustang OUT-BRAKED and EVO 9.

Gearing: Here I was slightly surprised, and not in a good way. I LOVE my 3.73s for straight line acceleration, but at least for this track I wish 3rd and 4th were taller by about 10mph. I was between 6000 and 7000 RPM very frequently. In one of the series of turns if I hit the apexes properly, I would bounce off the rev limiter in 3rd gear with a 100 yards left to the brake zone (not worth upshifting for) so I was loosing time there. Also, in my group of multiple BMWs, MR2, EVO, and Miata I was the only car that had to go to 5th in the longest straight. Everyone else could manage in 4th (including the M3s). I really wish for taller gears for this track.

All in all, great weekend. Car stood up to 4 full hours and some 240 miles of track wonderfully. It was able to run with M3s, EVOs and the like. It outperformed the majority of them on the straights, and even though it was middle-of-the pack in corners, it was more fun than most others in corner exits . Great success!

Side note 1: My car has ~3000 miles on it. It consumed just a tad of oil till date. Then during my first 3 sessions it consumed over 1/2 quart. I had to run out to a local car parts store to get oil. I ended up getting Mobile 1 full Syn 15W-50 for high performance engines. After adding a little over a 1/2 quart before my last session for the day, it hasn't used a drop in the last session, or 4 more sessions on day 2.

Side note 2: My instructor was a hard core BMW guy. He was weary of American muscle car drivers (Camaros, Corvettes and Mustangs). After the 1st day he told me he was very pleasantly surprised, and glad I didn't follow the stereotype. He said his appreciation for American Muscle cars was renewed.

Halfadeck

Sounds awesome glad you had a good time!

dmichaels

Good review - glad to hear you had good success with the brakes too. Did you instal cooling ducts?

You are spot in right regarding the gearing. I think 3.55's would have been the more appropriate gearing for track pack cars. 3.73's work in the boss cause it revs 800 rpm higher and gets about 10 mph more in each gear as you note!!

Any videos?

5.M0NSTER

Thanks guys! I'm really glad I got a chance to do it.

No brake ducts yet, but it is one of the planned mods. Well ... maybe. I think I'll only be able to do things like this 2x per year, so I'm not sure if I'll see a return on investment at that pace.

2 mods I want for sure for next season are:
1) a dedicated set of wheels/tires for the track
2) Fix for the missed 4th to 3rd downshift issue. I ran into that for the first time last weekend, and it was annoying. Sometimes it would go it baby smooth, and other times I'd bounce off the gate and have to try again. I think a shifter bracket may be helpful here.

2 Go Snake

Thanks for posting the results of your track day. I was wondering how well the track pack works on a Mustang GT. Your test sounds like a good validation of how well the track pack works. If those race pads work out okay on the street, I would think you could leave them on and save yourself some time when you get to the track by not having to swap pads.

DarrenGT

where's the LIKE button LOL!

dmichaels

It's worth switching back to street pads. Track pads squeak and dust a lot, plus are quite abrasive when cold. The brembos are very easy to switch pads on. The rears are a little more involved. I would leave the rear track pads in thru each season and swap for the winter. Fronts switch out after each event unless you have one every week or two... Most of us don't do that many tho!

5.M0NSTER

I'm quite pleased with the GT Track Pack setup. There is room to improve (as always), but I have to say it performed really well. Suspension, brakes, transmission, engine, the whole thing. My buddy has a 2014 GT with out the track pack or brembos, and it's like driving a different car. It rolls more, and doesn't accelerate quite as hard. I certainly have no regrets about buying the GT track pack. The Recaros worked really well too. I didn't feel the need to brace myself with my knee in corners, the seat kept me planted and I could focus on driving. Definitely worth every penny.

I ran with the pads for a week before and a week after the event. I ended up going back to stock pads becasue I couldn't deal with the noise anymore. They were squicking like crazy. High pitched, ear piercing squick at EVERY stop. If it wasn't for the noise I may have considered leaving them on, but just the noise alone was a deal breaker for me. Plus they were super "touchy", you rest your foot on the break and it decelerates. Also the stock pads are a lot more rotor friendly as dmichaels pointed out

dmichaels

Same experience with non-TP vs TP GT... I had a rental GT Premium (automatic, no TP or Brembo package) for 2 weeks and it was nice, but it didn't handle anywhere close to the TP car. Partially due to wheel/tire setup but also the suspension seems quite a bit better with the TP

Yes, track pads like to whine... a lot... on the street. They are hard to modulate too, as they have medium grip when cold, but on a longer downhill for instance with constant brake pressure you build up heat and suddenly they become SUPER GRIPPY. Not a bad thing, just not particularly street friendly!

Sure are fun to surprise unsuspecting passengers though... not many people have experienced >1g deceleration!

5.M0NSTER

Good point! It's crazy how warm race pads can give you over 10 m/s2 of decel! It's like doping an anchor. I'm amazed the tires can provide that much grip. Once they are loaded up and you only ask them to give you longitudinal decel they can support over 1g. Not bad for factory tires.

dmichaels

Yep, very solid. And I've logged 1.12g's in a couple corners... some banking helps, but still I was very impressed with the stock tires. Too bad they are expensive to replace Need to get a 18" wheel setup soon!!

5.M0NSTER

I was just thinking the same thing. Started looking at 18x9 wheels and 255/45-18 tires. Average saving from 19s is about $50 a tire.

I'm still wondering if I should go wider than 255...

dmichaels

I will be going wider. Probably 275 front, 285 or 295 rear. The LS comes stock with 255 fr 285 rear. My other debate is what to get for daily driving tires as well... New set o 19" tires or pick up a set of used wheels/tires for the street for probably the same price... I really like the brembo wheels. But hate to spend much on street tires!

5.M0NSTER

I decided I'm putting a cheaper set of All Season tires on the 19" Brembo wheels when time come to replace the Pirellis. Tire Rack has Goodyear Eagle RS-A2 in 245/45-19 for $136 each.

Haven't made a decision on performance wheels and tires yet... but I would like to keep fronts and backs same width to be able to rotate them properly.

dmichaels

Wow that's an awesome deal. I might do the same... I usually try to find the cheapest tires with the highest treadwear rating possible for my daily driving tires! $136 is excellent for 19's. little narrower works for me too. Put the money saved into a nice set of sticky 18" tires

dmichaels

Regarding rotating, you could probably do a square 275 setup. I believe a couple guys on BMO run that setup

davesvt2000

Gingerman is a GREAT facility !!

I've run it three times in the past few years, well worth the ride (15 hours) for me...

PJRManagement

Way to go, Monster! Great write-up. Pics and video next time please! Great job.

5.M0NSTER

Thank you!

One of the things on my "to get" list is a Go Pro. I didn't take any video, and I only brought my smart phone to take a few pictures. Next time I'll get more pics and maybe a video as well!

DaveSVT,
Wow! 15 hour drive! Glad you had a chance to drive Gingerman, have you done many other tracks in the area?

JScottGT

Gingerman is a great facility. I'm not sure where you are coming from, but another great MI track is about 50 miles away from G-man, called Grattan Raceway just east of Grand Rapids. It is about the same length as Gingerman, with a real long straight, and tons of elevation change and blind entry corners.
I am an instructor with 3Ballsracing.com and we visit both Gingerman and Grattan throughout the season. We also make it to Mid-Ohio at least once in the season as well.
As far as your comments about the car's performance, I found the same things to be true, especially with the gearing. I am actually considering changing out to 3.55 gears as well for a little more mph in each gear. Plus the track tires I use are shorter than the OEM tire, so I lose a few MPH there too.