Kissin' the tire wall (with video)

[jlisle01]

Well, I finally did it. I put the stang into the tire wall at the Shelby meet. I did it on Friday in the rain. My Kumho's were pretty thin on tread and I decided to go out anyway. Bad move! Between the wet track, the nearly bald tires, and my being stupid I guess it was inevitable. The good news is that the damage was minor and the car should be better than it was before the kiss by tomorrow. Those tire walls really work. All it did was pop the chin spoiler off, put a small crack in the front bumper cover, and pop the turn signal out. Anyway, if you open track your car and have ever wondered what would happen if you put her in the tire wall, you might find this interesting.

View attachment 313497

 

[walter]

Sucks to hear man, still one should never run a car that isn't ready for the track. Rule is if it gives you any reason to pause then don't go out there.

 

[Maza4ever14]

lol at least your in good spirits

 

[jlisle01]

Sucks to hear man, still one should never run a car that isn't ready for the track. Rule is if it gives you any reason to pause then don't go out there.

You know, I had a little guy sitting on my shoulder saying the same thing that morning. I skipped the first session because it was raining. When the second session call came the track was dry and it was just cloudy so I suited up and went to the grid. Go figure, it started to rain just as we pulled out onto the track. So I thought, I'll just baby it around a little. Oh well. The damage was minor and I came back out the next day and ran some good laps so there's really not much to be upset about. Well, except that I apparently need to learn how to drive!

 

[walter]

You know, I had a little guy sitting on my shoulder saying the same thing that morning. I skipped the first session because it was raining. When the second session call came the track was dry and it was just cloudy so I suited up and went to the grid. Go figure, it started to rain just as we pulled out onto the track. So I thought, I'll just baby it around a little. Oh well. The damage was minor and I came back out the next day and ran some good laps so there's really not much to be upset about. Well, except that I apparently need to learn how to drive!

Or that you need better tires

 

[jlisle01]

UPS is delivering new Kumho's tomorrow. Still, I think I could have saved it if I'd have reacted faster. Live and learn, I guess.

 

[RFMustangGT]

Rule is if it gives you any reason to pause then don't go out there.

I did that in May at Nashville Speedway track day event hosted my Music City Mustang Club. I thought my autometer temp gauge started acting up.It waspegging all the way over then back to 210*. I was about to pull into the pits but I was like, "nah, she'll go one more round." About 5 seconds later...BOOM. Luckily, it was just a upper rad hose the blew but it taught me a valuable lesson.

jlisel01: Most importantly you were not hurt. Looked like one of those slides where you can look to your buddy and go, "Hey! Watch this!" Had a great attitude about it too, laughter.

 

[RFMustangGT]

oh yeah, don't mean to hijack the thread but have you ever considered the Falken RT-615? I've never driven on the Kumho but the Falken RT-615 grips AWESOME. The road course event I did in May made me a believer in them. I had no worries about sliding out of control. Where I pointed the car, the car went and stuck. A lot of car guys back home that are into autocross are using them and loving them. Plus, they are much cheaper than some of the other tires in its class. Can't beat the value in my opinion.

 

[walter]

Falken = Cheap (relatively) and Good.
Khumo = Cheap (relatively and long tread life (read so so traction in favor of great treadwear)

GRM had a great article on the best tires to chose for Auto-X Tarck days this month along with a killer mustang article lineup.

 

[bluecar]

ouch

 

[kooldawg6]

Just a little too much throttle bit ya. At least it was relatively minor and you are in good spirits afterwards Agreed the tire walls do their job(not firsthand experience...yet)and for cheap too!
Informative video!
Even the pros wreck...even when 100% dry conditions At least you didn't do this!
From yesterday's Sprint Cup race...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eaYQ67K5Fk

 

[jlisle01]

Ouch. Yea, I know. It's just that I always thought if I went off it would be going into a corner too hot or something, not at 20MPH and in a straight line. Those Kumho MX's were crap in the rain when they were new so I should have known better considering how thin the back ones were on tread. I also probably should have left the TC on but, as always, I turned it off while I was sitting on the grid and didn't think about it when the rain started. Oh well, the car's in better shape than it was before the meet, I'm OK, the new shoes are on, and I'm back to the track this Sunday.

As for the tires, The Kumho MX's are working out real well for dry condition open tracking. Like I said, I took the car back the next day and ran in the dry and ran real well. I'm happy with the Kumho's for now. If I decide to change tires again I'll go back to the BFG KDW's for street and mount up some Hoosiers or NT01's for the track. Right now I'm shooting for a 1:32 on street tires and I'm having more fun trying to get my target lap time by driving as opposed to getting there by just throwing money in it. I've had several racers and instructors tell me I'd be in the 1:29's if I'd switch to gumballs but I'd feel like it's cheating. I certainly would not want a softer tire than the Kumho MX. My last set only lasted me 11,000 miles.

 

[kooldawg6]

From a few seasoned Stang racers in my club, they say the best mod for road course driving is the driver mod! Getting to know your car and how it handles is the key to improving lap times by improving your skills then addressing what areas of your car can be improved on. All to many times they see inexperienced people show up with all this money tied up in suspension kits/tires/brakes/wheels thinking they'll run fast and end up being some of the slowest out there.

 

[shooterm1]

:Track: Props for even getting out there ....

it looks like you had fun regardless :Teh-Win:​

 

[jlisle01]

Damn straight! I'd rather it was bent from being well used than all shiny because it's never been driven the way it was meant to be.

 

[Vantage Sport]

Ouch, well at least the damage does not appear to be too bad. How did you mount the camera to the car?

 

[chad9350]

Damn, sux man....

Well, there's no better excuse to upgrade than safety

 

[jlisle01]

Ouch, well at least the damage does not appear to be too bad. How did you mount the camera to the car?

Believe it or not, that's a GoPro Motorsports Hero camera mounted with a two inch square piece of double sticky tape. It's been working out really well.