Driver Education

[Mike Wyatt]

On track w/ 2 '05 GT's

My two sons and daughter-in-law and I did a Porsche Club of America driver education course this weekend at Beaverun Motorsports road course in PA. Fantastic!! The 2 Mustang GTs (1 an automatic/ 1 a manual) did great, very impressive.

We were at close to racing speeds. Part of the track involved two 115 MPH straights followed by hard 30 MPH turns, and the brakes never gave up (a little smell, maybe at times), despite that fact we were into the ABS most of the time at the end of the straights. The power was good, very managable and the handling was really great, very neutral. No wrecks, no spins. Some outside tread wear on the P-Zero Nero's, and no doubt some pad wear (have to get those checked) but otherwise no worse for wear.

The Stangs are for real!!! I recommend a course like this for anyone- it's a LOT safer (and legal) on a track vs. the street.

 

[Section8]

Sounds fun! Glad to see more and more people getting out there for Driver Ed events and HPDE.

Did you use the stock pads and fluid?

 

[Mike Wyatt]

All stock.. if I do it again, I would put in some DOT 4 fluid, and probably some different pads- what does everyone recommend??

 

[racegirl1]

Nice

I to, run with NASA and PCA in Southern California.

1. NASA (So. California HPDE 3) 2001 Mustang GT not stock
2. PCA (San Diego Region Auto-X and Time Trials) 1987 Porsche 944 stock

Opentrack racing and Auto-X are both a lot of fun and I also encourge people to take you car at first to an Auto-X event and really test your car and your ability against the clock for time.

Happy Motoring

 

[Section8]

All stock.. if I do it again, I would put in some DOT 4 fluid, and probably some different pads- what does everyone recommend??

I'm currently using Hawk HP+ pads, some use Hawk Blacks. I wouldn't recommend hawk blues as they'll eat up your rotors and the dust will kill your paint.

Performance Friction makes great pads too, although I'm not familiar with the appropriate autox/track compounds since they don't make a pad for my car currently.

If you get into it frequently, a set of speed bleeders would be a good investment too, nothing like being able to bleed all four wheels by yourself in 30 min.

 

[racegirl1]

I'm currently using Hawk HP Plus front brake pads and Hawk HPS in the rear. I have changed out my stock 01 GT front calipers to the cobra two piston front calipers and the stock calipers out the back. I'm currently running Motul 600F brake fluid.

Section8:

Great minds think a like I also have an 2005 Sonic Blue/premium package/dark charchol gray leather/shaker 500/IUP/5 SPD/bullet wheels/soon to be changed out to Boyd Cottington Smoothie II's this week. I ordered my 05 on Nov 30th and picked him up on Jan 26th.

Miles currently 2,500 no problems I just love this car

 

[Doc GTO]

On track w/ 2 '05 GT's

My two sons and daughter-in-law and I did a Porsche Club of America driver education course this weekend at Beaverun Motorsports road course in PA. Fantastic!! The 2 Mustang GTs (1 an automatic/ 1 a manual) did great, very impressive.

We were at close to racing speeds. Part of the track involved two 115 MPH straights followed by hard 30 MPH turns, and the brakes never gave up (a little smell, maybe at times), despite that fact we were into the ABS most of the time at the end of the straights. The power was good, very managable and the handling was really great, very neutral. No wrecks, no spins. Some outside tread wear on the P-Zero Nero's, and no doubt some pad wear (have to get those checked) but otherwise no worse for wear.

The Stangs are for real!!! I recommend a course like this for anyone- it's a LOT safer (and legal) on a track vs. the street.

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I have been instructing these "High Performance" driving schools for 5 years and I never get bored. I don't know what is available for the 05 GT yet as far as brake pads but Hawk, Axis, and Performance Friction make a high quality product. They have different heat ranges so you need to investigate what will suit your needs best. You can get a nice HP street/occasional track pad that way you don't have to change them or you can get a dedicated track pad that you swap out prior to the event. I would suggest AP 551 fluid. There are "higher" temp fluids out there but you are not racing in Formula 1 and some of the others absorb water so quick that the heat range goes down quickly. The AP 551 resists water absorption really well.

Enjoy!