I went to the Hallett Racing Circuit outside of Tulsa, OK, today. Hallett is a 1.8 mile course with 10 turns and several elevation changes. This was my first outing with the Mustang, and it did (I think) exceptionally well. My best lap time was 1:50 and I'm very happy with that since I consider myself a novice driver.

The suspension/tire setup handled very well, very little body roll, and great grip with the Goodyear tires. Thanks to PMP for good advice on the suspension setup.

The brakes were fine, no problems with fading at all. In fact, one of the course instructors (a female who can drive like you can't believe) made the remark how well she thought the brakes were performing. My only mods to the brakes are Hawk pads, DOT 4 brake fluid, and Quantuum Motorsports brake cooling kit. I'm running the stock rotors.

The drive to the track takes almost 3 hours, and the Mustang rode well except on some of the really bad sections of pavement in OK. The stiffer suspension showed up then, but it wasn't that bad. Overall, I'm VERY pleased with the way the car turned out.

 

Congrats Jon! Sounds like an awesome time..... that is something I've never done but hope to at some point.

 

Go for it, Tom. It was a blast. But upgrade your brakes The Mustangs on the course with stock brakes were either struggling or going slow.

 

LOL going slow probably wouldn't be a problem for me, being a rookie that is!

 

Tom, take that vacation down in South Florida! I have been to Homestead twice now as a spectator for a SCCA event and NASA event. NASA even allows passengers in certain classes, funnest thing I have ever done, better then any rollercoaster!.

Being a former road racing Kart racer all I can say is I have been slowly planning out my future trips as the "driver"!

Homestead is one fun place.......tailgating for the Nascar finally too.

 

No vids Jon?
This video doesnt do it justice, and was kinda crowded the 1st few laps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxLVXC7wNgs
theres more under my user name on there psc777 in car vids are better imo.
I love road course events, its 10x more fun than the dragstrip.

The one I run is 3.5 miles with 21 turns.

How'd the wheels look after the day? black? lol.

What goodyears you running? F1 GS D3's? Thats what I run. This year it was a down pour and those things handled like it was dry!

 

Stoenr, maybe a video tonight after I get home. This is my first time with in-car video, so no promises. I'd love to run a 3.5 mile course.

Very, very little black dust on the wheels. Almost unnoticeable. I was VERY surprised. The Hawk pads are great. I put EBC pads on my Charger and the wheels are always black. I'm switching it over to Hawks soon.

And yep, the Goodyears are awesome.

 

The S197 platform handles so well compared '04 and earlier Mustangs. It still amazes me (and others) that ~$1000 in suspension mods and upgraded brake pads and ducts will let us run with all but the biggest track dogs.

Can't wait to see some video. What setup are people using for in-car video?

 

Im surprised on the brake dust, I am running the same pads. That pic was after about 1:20hr of track time.

Looking forward to the vid! I just took tie straps and tied my cam to my passenger headrest

 

After 400 miles of driving, and all day at the track, I do have some brake dust on my wheels. But nothing like I would have even after one day with the EBC pads on the Charger. Maybe the brake cooling kit is blowing some of it off, I dunno.

I bought a headrest-mounted camera holder from Cruise Cam. It's easy to use and is very stable.

 

Here's a video of one lap at the track.

http://media.putfile.com/Hallett-Oct-2007

 

Nice! Thanks for puttin it up!

 

Thanks for sharing!