I did my first track day with the Shelby!

[_M_]

Nice post. External mic is what you need.

I've tried Bluetooth and just not strong enough unless clear line of sight so I think wired is still going to be best. Get yourself a wind sock as well

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[Rogue]

It's such a great track car, it's good you didn't waste any time.

 

[TDC]

Unless it's the camera lens that track has a nice amount of runoff. Seems like a good place to push the limits a bit.
Looks like fun, thanks for sharing.

 

[Trackaholic]

Nice video! Did you do the track alignment, or were you running the street alignment? How was the balance?

-T

 

[Wblv17]

nice driving Joe

 

[Readfast]

Awesome video!!!

Thanks for sharing

 

[ITLRUN]

Unless it's the camera lens that track has a nice amount of runoff. Seems like a good place to push the limits a bit.
Looks like fun, thanks for sharing.

Tons of run off. It's primarily a motorcycle track.

Nice video! Did you do the track alignment, or were you running the street alignment? How was the balance?

-T

That's still the "street" alignment. This place is Hell on the right front. I tried to "baby" the corners with a slower entry/exit speed.

 

[gravedgr]

I did three sessions yesterday with iTrack Motorsports at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway. This is a smallish 1.4 mile road course designed primarily
for motorcycle roadracing and limited automobile usage. I was able to use 3rd gear most of the time occasionally shifting to 4th in three sections.

The was the first time I have run this track since it had been reconfigured. Heck, the last time I even ran it was over 15 years ago! I'll say that was I pretty "rusty" but this car is extremely easy to drive fast. I used the "TRACK" mode in all three sessions. The more laps I put on the car, the more my confidence level behind the wheel increased. By the third session I was running a 7.5 on a 1-10 scale. For most of us, 9/10ths would be pushing too hard for a HPDE.

I learned several things:

1. These brakes really are NO JOKE. I never even came close to finding their limit. Even still after only three sessions, there was brake dust in the door jams. ;)

2. If you go from 3rd to 4th for even just an instant, the car will accelerate (doh!) like a beast! Reference back to #1.

3. Don't run the car with less than 1/3 tank of fuel. Turn one at this track is a fast left corner with decent banking. I hit this corner fast enough to slosh fuel away from the pick up and the car sputtered and acted like it was running out of gas (actually it did for an instant).

I've got some video from the top of the rear window. I was hoping to get the glorious exhaust note, but the wind noise was way too loud. I'll try to get this uploaded later today.

It was such a RUSH to be able to drive this car the way it was designed to be driven, HARD! If you bought this car and you don't intend to "track it", you are truly missing out.

EDIT: I wish I knew why the pics didn't upload with the correct orientation. :shrug:

Wait, 3rd and 4th at TGPR? You should be in 2nd almost the entire track, except for the "straightaways". Do you recall your speed at turn 6? How about going into Turn 1?

I was barely able to pull 4th before breaking for turn 6 and that was driving at 9-9-9.5/10 on that section.

 

[gravedgr]

Maybe I should qualify my comments/questions. What is the redline speed in 3rd and 4th in the 350? My comments relate to speeds in a 6MT 997.1.

 

[Trackaholic]

Maybe I should qualify my comments/questions. What is the redline speed in 3rd and 4th in the 350? My comments relate to speeds in a 6MT 997.1.

~110 in 3rd
~145 in 4th

-T

 

[ITLRUN]

Keep in mind 5th gear is 1:1 and my rev limit has been raised to 8500. I wasn't paying attention to the speedo.

 

[gravedgr]

~110 in 3rd
~145 in 4th

-T

Thanks!

Keep in mind 5th gear is 1:1 and my rev limit has been raised to 8500. I wasn't paying attention to the speedo.

Okay, so I'm guessing you were running 2500-5500 RPM around the track to be in 3rd or 4th most of the time. The fastest I've trapped going into turn 6 was about 112-115 and that was really pushing it. That meant a 4th gear pull about 50 yards before the brake point, stand (and I mean STAND) on the brakes and then a downshift into 2nd for the S kink before the front straight.

Carrying enough speed through 5 is key to breaking 100 before 6, but I'm interested to see how the extra 500 lbs of the 350 affects trackout on 5 and turn in on 6. I think you said this was your first time at TGPR in the 350? or at all? Would love to hear more feedback - it's really too tight of a track for anything over 300 hp unless you're on R compounds, but it is good for fundamentals at lower speeds and I like that it is so accessible to car clubs and smaller groups (more track time!).

Have you driven RA before and do you have any track days planned there? I'm anxiously waiting for some feedback on how the 350 does there, as that is where I have most of my track time.

:cheers:

 

[ITLRUN]

Thanks!

Okay, so I'm guessing you were running 2500-5500 RPM around the track to be in 3rd or 4th most of the time. The fastest I've trapped going into turn 6 was about 112-115 and that was really pushing it. That meant a 4th gear pull about 50 yards before the brake point, stand (and I mean STAND) on the brakes and then a downshift into 2nd for the S kink before the front straight.

Carrying enough speed through 5 is key to breaking 100 before 6, but I'm interested to see how the extra 500 lbs of the 350 affects trackout on 5 and turn in on 6. I think you said this was your first time at TGPR in the 350? or at all? Would love to hear more feedback - it's really too tight of a track for anything over 300 hp unless you're on R compounds, but it is good for fundamentals at lower speeds and I like that it is so accessible to car clubs and smaller groups (more track time!).

Have you driven RA before and do you have any track days planned there? I'm anxiously waiting for some feedback on how the 350 does there, as that is where I have most of my track time.

:cheers:

I'm afraid you'd be mistaken. I was getting into the rev limiter (8500) going into turn 1, turn 2 and turn 6 in 3rd gear. I played with 4th a time or two going into 6 and 2. Coming out of 6 I could flat foot the car through 7 (never lift). This car is a beast (and I'm just a little crazy), but I wasn't pushing the car real hard.

As you know, this track is hell on right fronts. I didn't want to destroy the tire so I was trying to not push corner entry speeds. After the last session, I got a reading on the right front tire across the tread at about 95* and 35 psi (from 28 cold). Interestingly, the left rear was only 33 psi and the other corners were 34 psi.

This was my first time in the Shebly on a road course. It had just turned over 500 miles before I got there. I have driven there before, but it was over 15 years ago.

 

[CSL]

Was tire wear across the tread even on the fronts, or did you wear the outer edges?

 

[ITLRUN]

Was tire wear across the tread even on the fronts, or did you wear the outer edges?

I have not measured it. There was not a noticeable difference by eye.

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