by "Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
Published 08/20/2017 at 17:24
by "Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
Published 08/20/2017 at 17:24
No Tags
STARS: 8
Holy shit, it is without a doubt the best car I’ve ever driven
I even have video evidence, but I’m dumb: I know the Session can autodetect orientation, but for some dumb reason I didn’t think UP or DOWN only. I saw a picture of one mounted to the side of a helmet and although I have a full on helmet mount, it wasn’t on my helmet because earlier I’d decided to test the Session alone. I did not rotate the camera 90 degrees in the mount cause I’m dumb. I wasn’t entirely expecting this drive and my camera was already set up on a suction mount on the side of my car so I grabbed it quickly and put it on sideways. So here is terrible profile video (when google finishes rotating it) evidence that I did indeed drive this car:
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Here are my thoughts in “I’m tired so a bulleted list will do” form:
Holy. Fucking. Shit. I realize I can be labeled as a bit of an S550 Mustang fanboy at this point, having owned 2, but this car was without a doubt the best car I’ve ever driven, and here’s why:
Power: it is really fast. Does it feel like 100 hp more than my GT? Maybe, I’d have to drive it more to give a better answer. The redline at 8500 RPM MY GAWD HOW IS THIS REAL?! I’m sure a lot of the “it feels faster” can be attributed to the long gearing. First gear must go close to 60, I didn’t feel a need to shift until the big sweeper at the turnaround, and I think it would have been fine in first the whole course. My GT redlined in 2nd before the finish, I think the GT350R was around 6k RPM at that point.
Handling: The car feels very, very light on its feet. It felt almost STS Miata-like. Steering is quick with very good response. I drove a Focus RS a little later (more on that soon), it wasn’t quite that level of responsive but not far off. I noticed zero body roll. Today’s course had a lot of aggressive direction changes and the GT350R was in a different LEAGUE from my GTPP. For reference, I was nervous as hell to drive it and I still ripped off a 56 second run while in my own car that I drive extremely aggressively I only managed 55.5 or so. With another run or two I am positive I could have been at least a second faster than I was in the GT, maybe even more if I wasn’t intimidated by it being someone else’s very expensive car.
Some other thoughts:
The sound is orgasmic. The redline is insanity, it’s straight up irresponsible. I want to marry this motor
These are recaros done right. Every FoST I’ve been in with Recaros, and the Focus RS I drove later, feel way too tight. I’m big and I was comfortable
I was very impressed with the tires. Good job Michelin. I just looked it up and they’re 180 TW, so I guess that’s not surprising. I wonder how it would do on RE-71Rs?
I can’t get over how light it felt. I got out of it thinking it felt 500 pounds lighter than mine, but it’s really more like 200. Quick steering, the magical suspension, and the lighter weight really come together well
The clutch is weirdly light. Like, annoying Honda clutch light. I thought that was weird.
I didn’t get a chance to poke around too much, but the way the controls differ from mine is interesting. The toggle switches on the center console are different with the far right being exhaust and the one to the left of it being launch control IIRC. I think all the performance stuff (drive modes, traction control) is done in the center of the gauge cluster. I left it all in whatever the owner had set up, and there was a screen showing what mode the exhaust, suspension, steering, etc were in that doesn’t exist in my car.
I cannot thank the owner enough. I wanted to ask for another run and I’m pretty sure he would have let me, but I didn’t want to be *that* guy. The only problem is I need a GT350 now...
About the RS...a new autocrosser came with his tuned Focus RS. He was at the previous event and had asked for tips, I offered to drive his car today and he obliged. He was running about 59 seconds, I pulled off a 56.5 in it. Thoughts:
The tune has 2 step launch control, it’s fun
Acceleration is impressive. Reasonably confident it’s faster than my car
It drives like a FWD car for the most part. Reminded me a lot of driving my Sonic at autocross
The tires suck for autocross. I know they were holding me back
Steering response is really impressive. Fast and agile, made the care feel light and easy to place.
It rotates reasonably well. I think he had it in drift mode for me. I would say most of the time it still feels like a FWD car, more than I’d expect, but it doesn’t understeer quite as bad as that would imply
The combination of sitting low and further away from the wheel than I would like (owner asked me to not move the seat and I was happy to oblige) made the corners feel further away than my Mustang, which was odd
The Recaros in it are too tight for me. I don’t know how many miles it has, and the owner is much thinner than I am so maybe the seats haven’t broken in for someone my size, but I could not live with them every day and be happy.
Is it fast? Yes. Does it drive well? Absolutely. Would I buy one? Probably not. Sorry, for the money a Mustang GT is still better IMO
I have videos of my own car to share, they’re uploading now. Will post later.
"E90M3" (e90m3)
08/20/2017 at 17:29, STARS: 2
The redline at 8500 RPM MY GAWD HOW IS THIS REAL?!
I hit fuel cut off in second today on a highway on ramp, which is ~8400 RPM. All I could do was laugh. I love high revving V8s.
"Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies" (jordanwphillips)
08/20/2017 at 17:38, STARS: 2
Drift mode is first gear only. It’s more accurately a donut mode.
"Thatredcar" (thatredcar)
08/20/2017 at 18:32, STARS: 1
I own a GT350, in fact it’s a 2017 which is as close to an R with the magride suspension now standard.
The appeal of the car wears off when you’re not on the track or autocross, in fact it’s not as fun as a lot of light weight cars on the curvy roads. It’s a great track car, but a not that great of a street car.
Maybe we view will change past my current 8000 miles in, but I’m not in love just yet...
"Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
08/20/2017 at 19:58, STARS: 0
Depends on the streets I guess. We don’t have curvy roads around here, so light slow cars are boring
"LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com" (limitedtimeonly)
08/20/2017 at 20:38, STARS: 0
How would a GT350R be classed? Assuming that you know and will save me from having to look it up. SS?
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
08/20/2017 at 20:56, STARS: 0
Someone brought a GT350 to an autocross I was at last week. It was pretty quick and sounded awesome.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
08/20/2017 at 21:11, STARS: 1
One ran in an event that I was at last week and they put it in A-Street where it was the only entry.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
08/20/2017 at 22:16, STARS: 1
I should qualify though that it was a GT350 rather than a GT350R
"Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
08/20/2017 at 23:04, STARS: 1
It’s not street class legal on stock tires so SSR probably
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
08/22/2017 at 14:18, STARS: 0
I’m jealous.
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
08/22/2017 at 14:19, STARS: 0
Appreciate the honest take.