[Dr. IDO VUDU]

Hey guys, I admit I am a track rookie but have been on at VIR five times this year (2018) so I have some experience, however I have only yet driven in Sport mode and have not had the balls yet to drive in Track mode but I plan to remedy this. Please share your knowledge and or experience of what I should expect in vehicle performance and handling or whatever you care to share with me, especially words of caution as I do not want to wreck! No 10/10ths driving for me, maybe 7-8/10ths for now.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[hetzerrr]

I have participated in several professionally instructed classes this year. The advice I received was that it would be extremely unwise to drive in Track Mode until I can drive in Sport Mode without ever having traction control or ABS engage. I have never had a track day without seeing TCS several times while pushing my limits.

My recollection of GT350 Track Attack is all on track sessions are Sport Mode only.

I do not believe I will see any difference in lap times by switching to track mode at my current experience level (about 10 track days). Given this, and that I drive frequently at Sonoma, which is unforgiving, I will be in Sport Mode for the forseeable future.

YMMV, of course.

 

[DewmsEleanor]

Hey guys, I admit I am a track rookie but have been on at VIR five times this year (2018) so I have some experience, however I have only yet driven in Sport mode and have not had the balls yet to drive in Track mode but I plan to remedy this. Please share your knowledge and or experience of what I should expect in vehicle performance and handling or whatever you care to share with me, especially words of caution as I do not want to wreck! No 10/10ths driving for me, maybe 7-8/10ths for now.

Thanks for any insight!

I have been tracking my GT350 for about a year and a half with roughly the same number of events as you. I also used to track a 2016 GT with a Performance Package before this, so I had some previous experience before I started with the 350, and all track days at Sebring International Raceway. I did the same as you, only ran in Sport mode. But, in the last two events I went to, I decided to put on my big boy pants and move to Track Mode. From what I understand, Track Mode is supposed to have a few minor differences than Sport. I actually did a search and found this https://www.torquenews.com/106/5-shelby-gt350-mustang-drive-modes-broken-down :

Normal – This is the default mode and all of the features are set where Ford finds best for daily driving use.

Sport – This mode is for spirited on-road driving. The throttle input is sharpened, traction and stability control remain on, the dampers stiffen the ride a bit for improved handling, the steering system requires more driver input, the exhaust gets louder and launch control is available for use.

Weather – This mode is designed for situations where the new Shelby GT350 Mustang gets caught in the rain. The throttle input is softened, traction/stability control remain on, the dampers, steering and exhaust are all in their normal modes and launch control is disabled.

Track – This mode is designed for use on a road course, and this is the setting their yields the greatest overall performance from the new Shelby Mustang. Throttle input remains normal, but the traction/stability controls are adjusted to have almost no input, the dampers shift into the stiffest possible setting, sport steering mode is engaged, the exhaust gets louder and launch control remains available.

Drag – Finally, this mode is intended to make the new Shelby GT350 Mustang a quarter mile monster. Throttle response is sharpened, traction/stability remain on (as they work with the launch control system), the dampers adjust to drag mode for the best possible front-to-rear weight transfer, the steering system remains normal, the exhaust goes to the louder setting and launch control is automatically enabled.

I would agree with the Track Mode assessment. The traction control is still on in track mode, it just takes more before it actually kicks in. I can attest to this, the last two events when I switched to Track mode I did get the Traction Control to kick in a couple times. I heard from someone say that it is possible to fully remove the traction control by holding the button for a period of time, might even be in the owner's manual. One thing I have learned as I have been getting more experience is that eventually I got to the point where I had to be comfortable with a little bit of sliding around the corners. Not sliding in the sense of uncontrollable, but that as you go through a corner, the back end needs to slide just enough to rotate the car a bit. It helps me line up for the next straight way or next corner as I'm coming out of the apex.

Hope this helps!

 

[galaxy]

I wish you could put the magneride in track (for the firmer setting), but everything else remain in sport mode. Seems there could be some use there.

 

[Dr. IDO VUDU]

Thank you for the information, helpful indeed. Unfortunately that link does not work and I cannot locate it. Would you mind giving it a try, I would like to see it. I'm not seeing a whole lot of YouTube.

 

[hetzerrr]

Thank you for the information, helpful indeed. Unfortunately that link does not work and I cannot locate it. Would you mind giving it a try, I would like to see it. I'm not seeing a whole lot of YouTube.

There is an extraneous trailing colon at the end of the URL. Delete the colon and it works.

When I switch to track mode, by TCS shows disabled on the dash.

 

[DewmsEleanor]

hetzerrr is right, you need to remove the colon on the end. I edited the original response. I also did some more searching and found this :

https://trackmustangsonline.com/threads/advancetrac-traction-control-track-mode.12503/

There is a member in there, VoodooBoss, I've read some of his posts on brake pad changes as well. I would say his assessment is probably right. He mentions the traction control system after the original poster said he was confused about the dash display for the traction control:

The symbols being the same is confusing. You have to actively turn off the AdvanceTrac by pushing the TC OFF button once to put it into Sport mode or hold if for 5-8 seconds to completely turn it off. If you have not had your GT350 on track yet I'd start by putting the car into the Track driving mode and leave the AdvanceTrac on. If that intervenes too much then try Sport mode and Track mode as you get more time in the car. As an example another member and I have been to many track days together in our Boss 302's and now our GT350's and both of us use the AdvanceTrac in Sport mode with the Track driving mode. We both completely turned off AdvanceTrac in our Bosses. The GT350 (and I'm sure all S550's) is much more sophisticated than the S197 cars.

This sounds about right. I have indeed kicked in traction control in Track Mode, this would be the AdvancTrac system. The symbol on the dash will be there, and says traction control is off, but it is not fully off until you hold the button for around 5-8 seconds to fully disengage it altogether. I think that is actually a good approach, as it allows you to slowly remove nanny mechanisms until you learn how to fully control the car.

 

[FastEddie9]

My two cents' worth. If you drive at 7-8/10ths, I don't see anything to gain from Track Mode. Your experience with track days is helpful, but have you ever had any high level professional instruction like Skip Barber? Very few have the instinct to learn just from driving. I think top level instruction is a must before you go 9-10/10ths using Track Mode. Nothing wrong with driving 7/10ths, I do it sometimes and enjoy it. Sport Mode will help keep you out of the fence and won't slow you down until you go much harder.