Gumball
10-06-2018, 09:58 PM
When you buy a new GT350, Ford sends you out to Utah Motorsports Campus to participate in a free track-day with the Ford Performance Racing School. This past weekend, I attended the school with a friend who also has a new GT350. Having done a bunch of wheel-to-wheel racing, track days, and autocross over the last 25 years, I had low expectations - figuring that they would gear it to the least experienced participant and it'd just be some parade laps.
Well, I couldn't have been more wrong - it was an awesome experience and I congratulate Ford for an outstanding program. Mrs. Gumball and I turned it into a long weekend and spent the first few days up in the mountains at Park City. After that, we drove down into the valley west of Salt Lake City to Tooele for the evening reception and dinner. Then, we returned early the next morning for the exciting part of the program. Ford supplies the car, a race suit, helmet (you can bring your own), and instructors. After a very typical driver's meeting, we headed out to get our assigned cars - complete with our last names on the windshields. We then spent the morning doing braking and heel / toe exercises, did a little autocross, then played with a skid car (one of those things up on hydraulic casters that simulate understeer or oversteer on the instructor's command). After a nice catered lunch, we headed out to the real track and did van tours for a couple laps. The class was split into two groups of eight and for the rest of the afternoon the groups alternated between on-track and classroom sessions. The first on-track session for each group was lead follow, with two or three students behind an instructor. I lucked into a fast group and the instructor kept going faster, as long as we kept it tight. The second session was with an instructor in-car for a few laps, then alone for the rest. The final session was all alone - but still with just eight cars on a track that is over two miles long... and they even allowed passing on the front straight.
The instructors were first class - lots of pro-drivers, engineering-type test drivers, and even a couple of stunt drivers. The guy who rode with me helped me out with a couple of great tips on footwork - getting on / off the brakes and gas in ways that made me just a little faster. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better day - really enjoyed myself, learned a little, and pushed the school's car way harder than I think I'd have the nerve to do with my own car.... especially since I paid for the track insurance so was only on the hook for $5k if I wadded up their GT350.
The cars have very minimal prep - camber plates (with around -2.5* camber), longer wheel studs (to avoid galling with all the off-and-on), higher-temp brake fluid (with stock pads and rotors), bolt in roll bars, four point harnesses for the driver and passenger, and a disconnected parking brake (to avoid heat sink by inadvertent application after coming off track).
I took my previous GT350 out for one track day last summer, but haven't had the R out yet since it still isn't broken in. But, I didn't push the old one very much and really couldn't believe just how much grip and balance these cars have - the limits are really, really high and way beyond my bravery threshold.
Here are a few pics of the event - they even had a professional photographer taking pics and gave all of us a flashdrive with hundreds of pictures of the day. If you bought a GT350 recently or are contemplating one, I highly recommend taking advantage of the school.
Classroom with Mustang GT instructor car -
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/20181001_084657_zpsdpcattm0.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/20181001_084657_zpsdpcattm0.jpg.html)
Lead-follow session -
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/PGP35369_zpssuedxrxy.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/PGP35369_zpssuedxrxy.jpg.html)
Havin' fun pulling the inside front tire a bit -
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/PGP35402_zpspkjd5tm6.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/PGP35402_zpspkjd5tm6.jpg.html)
Class picture -
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/PGP89119_zpsbmntqtr6.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/PGP89119_zpsbmntqtr6.jpg.html)
Well, I couldn't have been more wrong - it was an awesome experience and I congratulate Ford for an outstanding program. Mrs. Gumball and I turned it into a long weekend and spent the first few days up in the mountains at Park City. After that, we drove down into the valley west of Salt Lake City to Tooele for the evening reception and dinner. Then, we returned early the next morning for the exciting part of the program. Ford supplies the car, a race suit, helmet (you can bring your own), and instructors. After a very typical driver's meeting, we headed out to get our assigned cars - complete with our last names on the windshields. We then spent the morning doing braking and heel / toe exercises, did a little autocross, then played with a skid car (one of those things up on hydraulic casters that simulate understeer or oversteer on the instructor's command). After a nice catered lunch, we headed out to the real track and did van tours for a couple laps. The class was split into two groups of eight and for the rest of the afternoon the groups alternated between on-track and classroom sessions. The first on-track session for each group was lead follow, with two or three students behind an instructor. I lucked into a fast group and the instructor kept going faster, as long as we kept it tight. The second session was with an instructor in-car for a few laps, then alone for the rest. The final session was all alone - but still with just eight cars on a track that is over two miles long... and they even allowed passing on the front straight.
The instructors were first class - lots of pro-drivers, engineering-type test drivers, and even a couple of stunt drivers. The guy who rode with me helped me out with a couple of great tips on footwork - getting on / off the brakes and gas in ways that made me just a little faster. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better day - really enjoyed myself, learned a little, and pushed the school's car way harder than I think I'd have the nerve to do with my own car.... especially since I paid for the track insurance so was only on the hook for $5k if I wadded up their GT350.
The cars have very minimal prep - camber plates (with around -2.5* camber), longer wheel studs (to avoid galling with all the off-and-on), higher-temp brake fluid (with stock pads and rotors), bolt in roll bars, four point harnesses for the driver and passenger, and a disconnected parking brake (to avoid heat sink by inadvertent application after coming off track).
I took my previous GT350 out for one track day last summer, but haven't had the R out yet since it still isn't broken in. But, I didn't push the old one very much and really couldn't believe just how much grip and balance these cars have - the limits are really, really high and way beyond my bravery threshold.
Here are a few pics of the event - they even had a professional photographer taking pics and gave all of us a flashdrive with hundreds of pictures of the day. If you bought a GT350 recently or are contemplating one, I highly recommend taking advantage of the school.
Classroom with Mustang GT instructor car -
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/20181001_084657_zpsdpcattm0.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/20181001_084657_zpsdpcattm0.jpg.html)
Lead-follow session -
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/PGP35369_zpssuedxrxy.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/PGP35369_zpssuedxrxy.jpg.html)
Havin' fun pulling the inside front tire a bit -
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/PGP35402_zpspkjd5tm6.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/PGP35402_zpspkjd5tm6.jpg.html)
Class picture -
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/PGP89119_zpsbmntqtr6.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/PGP89119_zpsbmntqtr6.jpg.html)