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Yesterday was my first track day with the Focus.
I have 4000 miles on the car so I figured that I was used to it enough.
Got to the track at about 7:30AM, registered, chit chatted with a couple folks here and there, attended the rider meeting and at 9AM the Advanced group (which I was part of) went on the track. Our group was small and maybe we had a dozen cars.
Most of which were Lotus cars (Track day sponsored by Golden Gate Lotus Club) besides a BMW, a Golf GTI, a Gen 4 Viper, a couple Caymans and the lone Focus [twothumbs]
Before going on the track, I chatted with a dude I knew from a couple years back as he owns a Lotus shop (specialized in suspensions) and he told me that some of his customers own the ST and that they told him that the brakes on that car heat up pretty quickly. With that in mind, I thought I'd be even more conservative than I had previously planned on being.
Did the first lap pretty slow since tires were a little cold and because I don't really know how hard I can push them.
Started picking up some speed by lap #2 and was getting a little more comfortable with the tires. Then I started noticing a few things.
I'm used to drive my Turbo Elise on the track so here are the main differences:
- The Elise pulls a lot harder than the Focus (then again, I got some 300RWHP on the Lotus) and it's also 1200lbs lighter
- The stock suspension on the Focus is ok but too much roll for track duties
- I shouldn't downshift to 2nd for Turn 11 because I'll spin the front wheels accelerating out of the turn.
- The ESC should be turned off
Last thing was the brakes.
While they do pretty well on the street, they clearly aren't up to snuff on the track. In a 20min session I ended up cooking them completely...
By the 3rd lap, I could feel them fade and it kept on getting worse. Going down the straight (Turn 1 really) I was doing about 110MPH and started my braking initially by the 3 brake marker and as laps when on, I had to brake earlier.
On the last lap, I started braking maybe 50 meters before the '3' marker and my foot was touching the floor... Car did slow down but I came into turn 2 a little hot. I was actually still on the brakes in the middle of it. I usually use trail braking on the Elise but this time, I had to do it because I had no choice.
I exited on that lap and while going through pit lane at idle, I could see smoke coming out of the front (pads).
Went to get some gas (The ST did a little less than 14MPG on the track) and the brakes were really mushy.
I figured that I would wait for them to cool down and try again.
Even cooled, still no pressure at all and the pedal remained super soft (was fun driving back home with almost no brakes).
Pads went from 95% worn to 40% if even that. The discs are toast as well and the brake lines heated up so much that since they are rubber, their diameter is forever changed (even after bleeding them a little, still no pressure can be observed).
I included a few pics of the discs.
Bottom line is that if you're thinking about tracking the Focus you need to do at least the following upgrades:
- SS Brake Lines
- 2 piece front discs
- upgraded rear discs
- Better pads (Hawk HPS Plus or whatever). Sadly the choice for pads is rather limited. I wanted to get some Carbone Lorraine but they don't make those for the ST. I couldn't find any Pagid either but maybe I just failed to find those.
In addition to destroying the brakes, I think I also cooked one or more TPMS. On the way back I got the message that my tire pressure was low so I stopped, check with the tire gauge and since I had my compressor in the back, put some air back in there. Tires went from 32psi to 36psi but the warning never went away. Maybe the TPMS needs to be reset, I don't know but hopefully I haven't destroyed them as well.
I know that it got really hot in there because after the session, picking some gas and chatting for a couple of minutes with some dude, the tires were at almost 45psi (I set them up to 35psi before going on track) excepted for the front left tire, which was a about 50psi. When I let the air out of that one tire, I could feel that the air was pretty hot. Wheel being aluminium basically heated up via the hub.
I have 4000 miles on the car so I figured that I was used to it enough.
Got to the track at about 7:30AM, registered, chit chatted with a couple folks here and there, attended the rider meeting and at 9AM the Advanced group (which I was part of) went on the track. Our group was small and maybe we had a dozen cars.
Most of which were Lotus cars (Track day sponsored by Golden Gate Lotus Club) besides a BMW, a Golf GTI, a Gen 4 Viper, a couple Caymans and the lone Focus [twothumbs]
Before going on the track, I chatted with a dude I knew from a couple years back as he owns a Lotus shop (specialized in suspensions) and he told me that some of his customers own the ST and that they told him that the brakes on that car heat up pretty quickly. With that in mind, I thought I'd be even more conservative than I had previously planned on being.
Did the first lap pretty slow since tires were a little cold and because I don't really know how hard I can push them.
Started picking up some speed by lap #2 and was getting a little more comfortable with the tires. Then I started noticing a few things.
I'm used to drive my Turbo Elise on the track so here are the main differences:
- The Elise pulls a lot harder than the Focus (then again, I got some 300RWHP on the Lotus) and it's also 1200lbs lighter
- The stock suspension on the Focus is ok but too much roll for track duties
- I shouldn't downshift to 2nd for Turn 11 because I'll spin the front wheels accelerating out of the turn.
- The ESC should be turned off
Last thing was the brakes.
While they do pretty well on the street, they clearly aren't up to snuff on the track. In a 20min session I ended up cooking them completely...
By the 3rd lap, I could feel them fade and it kept on getting worse. Going down the straight (Turn 1 really) I was doing about 110MPH and started my braking initially by the 3 brake marker and as laps when on, I had to brake earlier.
On the last lap, I started braking maybe 50 meters before the '3' marker and my foot was touching the floor... Car did slow down but I came into turn 2 a little hot. I was actually still on the brakes in the middle of it. I usually use trail braking on the Elise but this time, I had to do it because I had no choice.
I exited on that lap and while going through pit lane at idle, I could see smoke coming out of the front (pads).
Went to get some gas (The ST did a little less than 14MPG on the track) and the brakes were really mushy.
I figured that I would wait for them to cool down and try again.
Even cooled, still no pressure at all and the pedal remained super soft (was fun driving back home with almost no brakes).
Pads went from 95% worn to 40% if even that. The discs are toast as well and the brake lines heated up so much that since they are rubber, their diameter is forever changed (even after bleeding them a little, still no pressure can be observed).
I included a few pics of the discs.
Bottom line is that if you're thinking about tracking the Focus you need to do at least the following upgrades:
- SS Brake Lines
- 2 piece front discs
- upgraded rear discs
- Better pads (Hawk HPS Plus or whatever). Sadly the choice for pads is rather limited. I wanted to get some Carbone Lorraine but they don't make those for the ST. I couldn't find any Pagid either but maybe I just failed to find those.
In addition to destroying the brakes, I think I also cooked one or more TPMS. On the way back I got the message that my tire pressure was low so I stopped, check with the tire gauge and since I had my compressor in the back, put some air back in there. Tires went from 32psi to 36psi but the warning never went away. Maybe the TPMS needs to be reset, I don't know but hopefully I haven't destroyed them as well.
I know that it got really hot in there because after the session, picking some gas and chatting for a couple of minutes with some dude, the tires were at almost 45psi (I set them up to 35psi before going on track) excepted for the front left tire, which was a about 50psi. When I let the air out of that one tire, I could feel that the air was pretty hot. Wheel being aluminium basically heated up via the hub.
