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Almost bit the bullet on the DHM race intercooler and crash bar on Black Friday. I decided to hold off and see how the Mountune does on the track. This weekend I'll be at a little-known historical track in Savannah called the Grand Prize of America Road Course.
I have upgraded Wilwood Polymatrix pads to try but I think I'm going to roll the dice and see how the standard Wilwood pads hold up. I've seen a warning but I want to judge for myself considering the stock pads took my last track beating without incident. I'll take the Polymatrix and tools with me to change them out if I end up burning out the others.
Finally took the Fiesta of the Month win! Big thanks to my loyal build subscribers who voted for my car.
Stay tuned for some more updates. I took a break from the Fiesta to buy a few things for my GT4 so I anticipate working on my mod to-do list a little more after I recover from the beating my wife will give me when she finds out.
That's exactly why I don't feel so bad about the big financial risk I took in buying/financing it. I should hopefully get years of enjoyment out of it without much of a loss. I'd like to grow old with it but that will remain to be seen.
I just put a set of Ti studs/lugs on it just to prove the internet superstitions wrong. I also had a set of customer hub-centric spacers made which are on the front wheels right now. Then Cyber Monday got the best of me and I pulled the trigger on a set of wheels and tires that I just could not pass up on. I wanted to save my OE Cup2s for the track only. They are about $2300 per set to replace so I got some $700 Kumhos to use as street tires on a set of heavily discounted 20" HREs (like sub $2000). So this is why my wife will be beating my ass soon...
I'm out here at this little known road course on Hutchinson island in Savannah: Grand Prize of America
With 63F ambient here are my peak temps pushing the car 10/10ths.
I absolutely destroyed the standard Wilwood pads in 2 sessions. Like down to the backing plate. Luckily I brought my set of Wilwood Polymatrix pads and swapped them in (missed 1 session). My advice: do not at all attempt to track on the standard Wilwood pads that come with the kit. You will ruin your rotors and you won't get through the first half of a track
Also, I'm participating in a video shoot to promote a new amateur endurance series so the guys here have been stickering my car up.
It ended up being a very cool little track. The group I go with is sold on doing it again next year. We all stayed in the hotel on the island and took the ferry as needed to go to the old River Street for dinner and drinks. A very cool combination for a weekend.
Fortunately the driving range was closed for our track day but there may have been people on the gold course, I'm not sure. The track steward mentioned that they have never seen a golf ball on the track.
17x8 +40. No rubbing with stock tires stretched. Once they wear out I will go for a sticky 215 or 225. Looks to me like there should be clearance at my ride height (Swift).
Ok, very interesting weekend at the track. Many updates on the happenings.
First of all, photos. Bear in mind the decals were for a video shoot we did between sessions to promote a new showroom stock series. Not actually sponsors of my car.
Then below that you will see the carnage that occurred during my last session of the day. Brakes failed and I went off and narrowly missed a barrier. Had to ebrake back to the pits where I discovered mushroomed and grinded brake pistons, warped backing plates, destroyed Polymatrix pads, bent pad pins, and my passenger caliper ON FIRE. Needless to say I had to get the car trailered back by a friend. I'm working with Wilwood to get the braking kit replaced. Hoping they step up.
Up until that point the car was brilliant. Could've used more power on straights but I had no problem dispatching 350/370Zs as well as a pesky caged/prepped 987 Cayman that refused to point me by for 1 and a half 20min sessions. I eventually just made an inside pass on him as I was so frustrated. Maybe he was intimidated by the little wonder...
Were you getting some bad knock back (from the front wheel bearings) on the first hard hits after the long/higher speed straights??
I thought those pads would hold up much better than that, but you must be carrying more speed than Wilwood even thinks the cars using this brake setup are even capable of.
That is pretty crazy. I use the BP40 pads and can do about 3-4 track days with those pads going full out depending on the track and how hard the braking zones are. Sorry to see that disaster but glad the car as a whole is okay and you are too.
Were you getting some bad knock back (from the front wheel bearings) on the first hard hits after the long/higher speed straights??
I thought those pads would hold up much better than that, but you must be carrying more speed than Wilwood even thinks the cars using this brake setup are even capable of.
The only thing I noticed right before the off-track incident and subsequent brake fire was that the car was not accelerating on the back straight as hard. I thought maybe it was heatsoak but in hindsight it might have been when the brakes began locking up.
That is pretty crazy. I use the BP40 pads and can do about 3-4 track days with those pads going full out depending on the track and how hard the braking zones are. Sorry to see that disaster but glad the car as a whole is okay and you are too.
Thanks, could've been much worse. I expected the standard kit pads to fade but they got hosed. The Polymatrix pads were phenomenal until the incident. I maintain they are probably still phenomenal and that there must have been a fluke with my calipers.
Yes, one track day on stock brakes. Different track. They were adequate with cooling but definitely faded towards the end of sessions. The Wilwoods no doubt were even better. The unsprung weight was nice and with the Polymatrix pads the braking was phenomenal while it lasted. I don't have enough tire to take full advantage of them. I'm definitely looking forward to continuing to run these if Wilwood will replace my damaged gear. Otherwise I'm not sure I can justify paying for an entirely new kit.
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