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Wife took this unusual picture while running with my friend's ridiculous ZL1-1LE a few days back in FL. We had a phenomenal time! Long live the 2UR-GSE in USB-2! I liked her picture too much to keep it to myself. I hope some of you like it.
North central part of the state, small town named "Starke". The facility is called "The FIRM". It's actually a rally school that has an HPDE track that they use for various other trainings. They run "open" track days on the weekends (sometimes they run standard groups if there are too many people). My friend and I use this track to establish benchmarks and evaluate mods, as we have a reasonable control over the timer and traffic is predictable. Also, the folks that run the facility are great down to earth people that are a delight to interact with.
For the curious and mechanically inclined, and as an example of how we use that facility:
For the ZL1-1LE, my friend was testing a new Methanol/Water injection system and some new slick tire/wheel combo.
For the GS-F, I was testing a new intake system, new aftermarket spark plugs and validating tire pressures for my new tire solution for track use. I was also testing a different timer, a new transponder, and different placement for Go-Pro. My friend was also testing other peripherals like that.
We take all lessons learned and change/adjust/fix what needs improvement. If we decide that further validation in a track setting is needed, we do so at The Firm. If not, we then go to other tracks that we have in mind where we just want to have fun while driving and learning. In our case, our next track will be Sebring in a couple of months. This validation/testing effort is not only super interesting and challenging, but it also greatly diminishes the chances of serious issues arising in more serious tracks at more inopportune times. We are by no means the only ones with that approach. It is impressive to see the kinds of trailers and exotic cars that come from far away to that place with the same purposes of validation and testing.
For those that might not know, when I say "track", I'm definitely not saying competition driving. These Track Days are just HPDE (High Performance Driving Education) days. They are usually organized and ran by clubs that rent amazing tracks and that have developed a structure and a set of rules designed to allow people to enjoy and use their high performance cars in a safe setting while surrounded by people of similar skill. It's a very much non-cheap way of having a lot of legal fun with your car.
No, the OEM stuff is only adequate enough for some light track days, which is more than enough for most people.
In my case, I currently run on Toyo R888R tires, all around. 285/30 ZR-20 on the front and 315/30 ZR-20 on the back. Brakes are RR-Racing Competition "floating" two piece design rotors, front and back (amizingly better than OEM by the way!). Brake pads are Tom's "Racing" pads (not the performance ones) front and back. Brake oil is Brembo HTC-64T, DOT4 fluid.
Soon to add high quality SS brake lines in all 4 corners (from Tom's or Novel) and a titanium shim that RR-Racing makes for the front calipers. For my next brake pads, I might try the "Endless Type-R" that RR-Racing sells.
No, the OEM stuff is only adequate enough for some light track days, which is more than enough for most people.
In my case, I currently run on Toyo R888R tires, all around. 285/30 ZR-20 on the front and 315/30 ZR-20 on the back. Brakes are RR-Racing Competition "floating" two piece design rotors, front and back (amizingly better than OEM by the way!). Brake pads are Tom's "Racing" pads (not the performance ones) front and back. Brake oil is Brembo HTC-64T, DOT4 fluid.
Soon to add high quality SS brake lines in all 4 corners (from Tom's or Novel) and a titanium shim that RR-Racing makes for the front calipers. For my next brake pads, I might try the "Endless Type-R" that RR-Racing sells.
Great to see your GSF at the track and thanks for posting!
The Endless are great pads, perhaps the best overall street/track capable pad. That said, I find that it’s better to use street pads on street and track pads on track. Endless pads are very expensive, so it’s a shame to use them up on a track day/weekend. A much less expensive track pad will both save money (about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of Endless) and way outperform a street/track pad.
Great to see your GSF at the track and thanks for posting!
The Endless are great pads, perhaps the best overall street/track capable pad. That said, I find that it’s better to use street pads on street and track pads on track. Endless pads are very expensive, so it’s a shame to use them up on a track day/weekend. A much less expensive track pad will both save money (about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of Endless) and way outperform a street/track pad.
Rafi
Rafi-
No exaggeration, the rotors do deliver what they promise in a surprisingly competent way. Thank you for the good job with that product.
As far as the pads, I do see your point of cost. However, as you know going to the track in any degree is the opposite of saving money so if one wanted the dual purpose nature of those pads, I'm not sure that there is any other way. I take from your post that it is due to that dual purpose nature of those pads that they are so expensive... That a single purpose pad, even for track only use, would be way cheaper and perform way better, I get it. I don't trailer my GS-F to the track and I do rarely use it locally. So unless I was willing to swap pads every time (which I'm definitely not) I assume I'm stuck with "racing" dual purpose pads. Do you see it that way?
I suppose that if one wanted to use dual purpose "racing" pads and money wasn't a factor, the only way to upgrade from here would be to use a pad like that, but on a carbon ceramic rotor.
No, the OEM stuff is only adequate enough for some light track days, which is more than enough for most people.
In my case, I currently run on Toyo R888R tires, all around. 285/30 ZR-20 on the front and 315/30 ZR-20 on the back. Brakes are RR-Racing Competition "floating" two piece design rotors, front and back (amizingly better than OEM by the way!). Brake pads are Tom's "Racing" pads (not the performance ones) front and back. Brake oil is Brembo HTC-64T, DOT4 fluid.
Soon to add high quality SS brake lines in all 4 corners (from Tom's or Novel) and a titanium shim that RR-Racing makes for the front calipers. For my next brake pads, I might try the "Endless Type-R" that RR-Racing sells.
Car looks great. Can you share your wheel set up and offsets? I'm looking to run similar size tires as I feel like the GS-F is severely under-tired from the factory since its a pretty heavy car. I'm having a hard time finding wheels that will work for that size though as most are cookie cutter.
More Info: The Yokohama AVS F-15 Wheels are very high quality forged wheels and their only drawback is their price. They heat up less than the OEM wheels as the distance from the brake rotor to the wheel is obviously larger in a 20" wheel vs. a 19". So there is more "space" for the heat from the rotor to dissipate just a little more before getting to the wheel and through the wheel, to the tire. Of course the tire is getting most of its heat from the friction with the road. That was not my main reason to go for 20", but one small benefit that came to mind, there is a lot into this.
Most will not notice or care, but in my pursue of fitting as much R compound rubber in the wheel well as possible, I tried to maintain the inevitable net increase in diameter at least the same front and back. Surprisingly the speedometer stayed accurate somehow all the way to 160 MPH. The +.8" and the +.9" is the total net increase in diameter respectively. Divide that number by 2 and you get the radius, or the total height difference from the ground, from the OEM stance. Every GS-F comes with a "Reverse Rake" (Gangster Lean, ha) stance from factory and I didn't want to change it as my suspension is completely stock.
Fair warning! This set up just doesn't go in and that's it... Trying to fit a 315 tire in the back with a +30mm offset seems undoable and it kind of is... The car looks like it has spacers, but it doesn't. It might not look like it, but it took a lot of effort and patience and a few screw ups to get to where I am. The front was no joke either. I don't recommend this and regardless, most people going for a 20" wheel set up are more interested in improving the looks and will not need to fight for every mm of space like I did.
I put a lot of effort in these posts as I wish someone did the same for me in the past. I hope this information can help you or someone else out there.
More Info: The Yokohama AVS F-15 Wheels are very high quality forged wheels and their only drawback is their price. They heat up less than the OEM wheels as the distance from the brake rotor to the wheel is obviously larger in a 20" wheel vs. a 19". So there is more "space" for the heat from the rotor to dissipate just a little more before getting to the wheel and through the wheel, to the tire. Of course the tire is getting most of its heat from the friction with the road. That was not my main reason to go for 20", but one small benefit that came to mind, there is a lot into this.
Most will not notice or care, but in my pursue of fitting as much R compound rubber in the wheel well as possible, I tried to maintain the inevitable net increase in diameter at least the same front and back. Surprisingly the speedometer stayed accurate somehow all the way to 160 MPH. The +.8" and the +.9" is the total net increase in diameter respectively. Divide that number by 2 and you get the radius, or the total height difference from the ground, from the OEM stance. Every GS-F comes with a "Reverse Rake" (Gangster Lean, ha) stance from factory and I didn't want to change it as my suspension is completely stock.
Fair warning! This set up just doesn't go in and that's it... Trying to fit a 315 tire in the back with a +30mm offset seems undoable and it kind of is... The car looks like it has spacers, but it doesn't. It might not look like it, but it took a lot of effort and patience and a few screw ups to get to where I am. The front was no joke either. I don't recommend this and regardless, most people going for a 20" wheel set up are more interested in improving the looks and will not need to fight for every mm of space like I did.
I put a lot of effort in these posts as I wish someone did the same for me in the past. I hope this information can help you or someone else out there.
Great information. I actually did a search and saw some of your other posts regarding setting up the car. Thanks for taking the time out to explain everything.
Maybe this is what I need. RB makes a model specifically for the RC-F & GS-F, FIGS offers them... This upgrade costs as much as a used 2019 Toyota Corolla, LOL.
Maybe this is what I need. RB makes a model specifically for the RC-F & GS-F, FIGS offers them... This upgrade costs as much as a used 2019 Toyota Corolla, LOL.
09-30-20, 07:03 PM
Holding The Line @ 1.3Gs
