[mustang50lx]

I recently bought a Mach 1 that a taking to an open track day at the local road course. The car has 18 inch Bullitts on it. I am sure they will be okay for a day, but will they hold up to repeated road course races with-out failing. I am a little leary of some imported wheels. Any suggestions on forged wheels that won't bankrupt me.

[Mineral_Grey_Gt]

Pick up a set of factory 17 inch rims

[Jazzer The Cat]

Mustang... your existing wheels will be fine, unless they are damaged in some way.

Open track can accelerate tire wear and be hard on brakes, but will likely not be bad on your first trip. Far and away, the biggest issue would be the potential for brake fade issues, due to heat. If you really get into this endeavor, you are probably gonna need to address brakes as the very first big uprade for future HPDE days.

My recommendation.....? Take your car EXACTLY how it is, with the exception of some failing parts and have fun

What performance mods do you have currently?
What tires are you running?
Have you open-tracked prior?

Jazzer

[mustang50lx]

Originally Posted by Jazzer The Cat Mustang... your existing wheels will be fine, unless they are damaged in some way. Open track can accelerate tire wear and be hard on brakes, but will likely not be bad on your first trip. Far and away, the biggest issue would be the potential for brake fade issues, due to heat. If you really get into this endeavor, you are probably gonna need to address brakes as the very first big uprade for future HPDE days. My recommendation.....? Take your car EXACTLY how it is, with the exception of some failing parts and have fun What performance mods do you have currently? What tires are you running? Have you open-tracked prior? Jazzer

The car is bone stock except wheels and tires. The tires are G-Force KDW's. I never opened tracked before.

[Jazzer The Cat]

The information above is what I will stick to, mister

Your car will be just fine on your first day out. You should NOT be pushing it hard at all, IMO and just work on your lines and corner entry/exit posture.

How many laps/hours will you be doing and what track is it? Are you going with a club or private lessons or what?

Jazzer

[mustang50lx]

It's a "Flat out" day. 3 or 4 hours. An instructor rides in the car with . It's at Beaver Run.

[Jazzer The Cat]

No prob

Once you get a few days like this under your belt, we can talk about some good mods to address those issues you feel need it. I know several things you should notice, but I'm not telling you right now You need to see/fee/experience them for yourself, so you have first-hand knowledge You have some nice tires, so just pay attention to how she responds under hard cornering/braking conditions.

Just drive her as she is and let the instructor give you some pointers and have a good time

Jazzer

[94racing]

What club is it? Im running stock gt but i have moved up tO toyo ra1s and i have plans for coilovers and some hoosiers when im ready for them. I open track day at mid ohio. Do mach 1s have 13 inch rotors? Make sure after you get done running change youre oil filter after you run and cut the old one apart and check for metal shavings. Running open track is very hard on a motor and you have alot more rotating parts with it being a mach1

[ZX2 Foxbody]

let me tell you, when i went from the stock brakes to the brembo kit, it is such an amazing difference

[Jazzer The Cat]

^ Brembos are nice, as I run them up front myself, but I can tell you that with proper upgrades of pads, fluid and SS lines, the OEM brakes will be just about as good as the Brembo's. The difference being a bit better cooling on the Brembo's, a slightly better mechanical advantage due to larger rotor and a bit less flex on the calipers.

The OEM calipers and rotors are just fine and especially for something like AX

Jazzer

[ZX2 Foxbody]

ahaha the stock stuff is good unless the right front caliper stops working

[Jazzer The Cat]

Silly boy.....

[94racing]

Originally Posted by ZX2 Foxbody ahaha the stock stuff is good unless the right front caliper stops working

or the calipers look like this after you overheat them

= equals pad.
normal ________
,,,,,,,,,,,=.............=
,,,,,,,,,,,=.............=
,,,,,,,,,,,=.............=
after overheating ________
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,=............=
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,=..............=
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,=.................=
(wouldnt keep my spaces)
the calipers overheated so much and having force pressing them apart the calipers were shaped like somebody had put a huge wedge in between the sides and pressed it apart.
cobra calipers did wonders for me and i also added brake ducting. and some decent pads to the car and it feels like you going to go through the windsheild when you stomp the brake.

on dads racecar we actually run stoptech calipers but thats another level of racing from what are cars do.

[YoKev]

THE most common 'brand' of wheels found at the track is 'Enkie'. They make forged aluminum wheels that are cost-effective for the 'least-wealthiest' of us track whores. They're also some of the lightest. You could find a set for the 'Stang (18x9) that weigh less then 20lbs ea. All in all they make a TON of different styles, but the most popular wheel with track guys seems to be the RPF-1. It's a copy of the wheel they use in Formula 1, and is about the lightest(an 18x9 should be around 18lbs), yet just as strong as any other wheel they make-which is much stronger than you'll ever need.
FWIW wheel weight is one of, if not THE most crucial place to lose it, as it's 'un-sprung' weight. It affects pretty-much everything from acceleration,to turn-in, to spring tension and shock damping.
Search some track junkie sites..

[94racing]

We have a set on enkie pf01s and 3 sets of forgeline(lightest wheel you can get) and theyre around 1k a peice though. Also have two sets of steeda wheels but i may have 1 set sold. I dOnt have anthing bad to say about any of the wheels. My favorite are the enkies for Price to what you get. Next would be the steeda then the overly priced fOrgelines

[bens98gt]

Be carefull with the lightweight rims, you hit a set of bumpy gator strips you gunna be buyin more rims is all i gotta say. and you go to one hpde event, you hooked!

[94racing]

Originally Posted by bens98gt Be carefull with the lightweight rims, you hit a set of bumpy gator strips you gunna be buyin more rims is all i gotta say. and you go to one hpde event, you hooked!

Never had a problem with that. What wheels were you running when that happened? We run the forge lines which are extremely lightweight then the pf01s and have had no problems on the striping. Jeff actually offtracked his forgelines and they are still fine

[bens98gt]

actually had a buddy i run n.a.s.a with ran over some rumple strips with some rpf1s and bent one. at CMP. i dont have lightweight rims. so actual input from me is none haha

[94racing]

Originally Posted by bens98gt actually had a buddy i run n.a.s.a with ran over some rumple strips with some rpf1s and bent one. at CMP. i dont have lightweight rims. so actual input from me is none haha

i actually dont like the rpf1 design it just didnt look strong. i also run nasa. what level of hpde are you in? i just progressed to level 2 and they said by the end of next weekend i should be in level 3

[bens98gt]

Ive only run 1 weekend with nasa (2 overall) and hpde 1 and possibly 2 after another weekend. i ran with the mustang club, that was my second weekend and compared to nasa it was a joke, they put me in the second group and i was still passing cars lol.