This past Tuesday I took my 2005 Mustang to the Thunderbolt course at New Jersey Motorports Park (NJMP). This was my 5th track day at a road course, after previously going to Lime Rock, Loudon, and Watkins Glen (twice). Had a great time at this track and would definitely go again.

Thunderbolt is a very "technical" track, particularly the decreasing radius bend between Turns 8 and 9. In fact, the whole section between Turns 8 and 10 is a handful in the Mustang. Even the Corvettes were having trouble here. This section was better suited for the more nimble cars such as the Porsches and even the Miatas. Overall the Mustang did well enough here and definitely didn't embarrass itself. But I think a longer and faster track like Watkins Glen is more suited to the Mustang's size and power. (Keep in mind that my car is stock other than Hawk brake pads, ATE Super Blue DOT 4 brake fluid, and Kumho 255/50-17 all-season tires. Better tires and brakes would make a huge difference.)

The track is 12 turns and 2.2 miles. The front stretch is a full half mile that you enter close to 100 mph, so you should be able to get to about 130 mph. The track is very smooth so the live rear axle is fine. There is not much elevation change other than a hump in the straight section between Turns 3 and 4, where the car gets a bit light. Finally, there is plenty of run-off room everywhere if you go off-track, so it's not as scary as a track like Lime Rock where there are guard rails and walls are just off the track.

For me, I moved up from the Novice run group to the Intermediate group, and it was a big jump. At Watkins Glen the last time out I was among the fastest cars in the Novice group. But the Intermediate group not only has better drivers, but also better cars! What are you going to do when your group includes a Nissan GT-R, several Porsches, and several Corvettes including a Z06? But like one of my instructors said, they don't hand out trophies at these events - the idea is to have fun, learn to be a better driver, and get out of there with the car still in one piece. So that said, Mission Accomplished!

Like I said, I had two instructors this time. They are optional in the Intermediate group, but I chose to have them sit in the passenger seat because I had never driven the track, and I still could use helpful advice from someone who knows more than I do. These two instructors couldn't have been more different. The first one drove a 2013 Mustang Boss, and he didn't say much about my driving at all even though I was almost out of control a few times. The second instructor drove a Porsche Cayman, and he was very vocal and critical of my driving. In fact, after a couple laps he directed me to pull into the pits so he could give me a quick lecture about all the things I was doing wrong. And he was right - he would tell me things and I just wasn't doing them. It was sort of information overload, so he felt he needed to reign me in and talk while I wasn't going over 100 mph... Once I'd had my "lecture" in the pits, I was much more in control for the rest of the day. And definitely faster.

Besides my own four 25-minute track sessions, I also was a passenger in each instructor's car for one of their sessions:

- The Boss Mustang is one incredibly fast car. This car was stock, but he did have R-compound track tires on it. And it only had 430 miles on the clock! The car stuck like glue and had immense power. He passed pretty much every car on the track, and only got passed by a fully race-prepped M3.

- The Porsche Cayman was set up as a track car. No carpeting or door panels; full roll cage; racing buckets with 6-point harness; removable steering wheel; race suspension; and slicks. I would say that this car was roughly as fast around the track as the Mustang, but it did it with much less drama. The Boss was a wild ride with brutish acceleration and incredible grip, while the Porsche was more nimble and able to dart through turns more precisely. The Porsche's 6-cylinder had a surprising amount of torque, but then it had a lot less mass to push around than the Boss.

I shot HD video from a GoPro Hero 2 mounted inside the windshield and posted a couple laps to YouTube:

 

Great review. My first time was fun. Learnt a lot! I'm not too crazy about the twisty autocross tracks like the ones here in SoCal I have been to. Can't go faster than 2nd gear.

 

A buddy of mine was there with his white Griggs prepped Roush (02 IIRC), he put up a bunch of pics and a couple vids on his FB page.