AlanL

It turned out to be a nice day at the track for me. Some dry sessions and at least one with a wet track allowed me a good opportunity to explore the handling characteristics of the S2k. I started the day out thinking I would driving fairly slow today while adjusting to the feel of the car, but found myself incrementing my speed in the turns almost every lap throughout the day. I am in the end very happy with my new track toy and I think it will keep me entertained for some time to come. While I have much more to learn in terms of how to get the most out of this critter, it is a very drivable car that is delightful in the turns.

I drove the car in a totally stock configuration today just to see how it did without any type of modification at all. I did note that the brake fluid didn't seem to be up to the task and there was a mushiness to the pedal feel at the end of the day indicating that a higher spec brake fluid is most likely in order. I had been told that the pads couldn't hold up, but was able to make it through the day with no sympthoms of vibrations that would suggest that I had pushed the pads over the edge and left uneven pad deposits on the rotors. I tend to be pretty easy on brake pads since I like to avoid the "go slow" pedal, so this may not be everyone's experience given the speeds I was driving today. It is highly likely I will upgrade both the pads and fluids prior to the next track event I attend.

Some very nice observations after some 18 track days in my old Audi S4 Avant: I did 4 lapping sessions today for a total of 98 miles and have 1/3 tank of gas left according to my dash display. My old Avant would have gone through 2 tanks of gas at 7mpg. The tires showed a little beading at the edges of the tread and no shoulder wear whatever. My old Audi (at 4100lbs) could totally destroy a set of track tires in 3 events. Methinks this is going to make my track habit much more affordable through time.

Turned out that cbender and I have crossed paths before at several events and simply had never stopped to introduce ourselves. Sorry our encounter was so brief today, but our schedules didn't offer much of an overlap to have much time to chat.

At the end of the day, I am delighted at the results of my 1300lb diet plan and am looking forward to the next event....

cbender

[QUOTE=AlanL,Apr 29 2005, 08:49 PM] The brake fluid didn't seem to be up to the task.

dojo_s4

I have to tell you I was eagerly awaiting this and was amazed at the results...

phrases like (I still had 1/3 of a tank), tires showed little wear, etc...

pretty darn amazing! nice work and thanks for the feedback.

separate email coming you way..

congrats!

and the beginning of the next phase of your track exp.!

d

cbender

Another conversion clearly in the making....

Just fyi, but I get about 6 mpg on the track, but then I'm pushing 8 psi of boost so the car tends to drink fuel pretty rapidly.

CB

dojo_s4

CB,

MPG on the track is always terrible, that's fine, hell it's totally worth it... the truth of me being "another conversion" in the making is true.

it's the longetivity of the durables, the weight reductions, the fun of RWD vs. AWD (I know I'm preaching to the chior here )

but I have an immense amount of respect for Alan and his perspective coming from the same previous 3 cars...(sad eh?)

so it's very good news to hear how happy, positive, surprised he was.

I do think I met you at our event in November, b/c I talked to you while in the morning exercises(assuming you have the turboed' s2k) that's also silver? (I think so?)

either way I'll be joining the ranks sooon.... just looking for the right one these days

AlanL

I was flogging it pretty hard, but when I filled up at the end of the day and did the math, I ended up getting about 12.4mpg.

Add in the tire cost differential and I am saving almost $150 per track day over my old Audi Avant. I am thinking I may just stick with street tires and let the car slide around instead of doing the track tire game if I can get more days out of the rubber that way.

cbender

Alan, for what it's worth -- you can get a hundred opinions from as many owners on the subject of race tires -- I run Khumo MXs for street and track. Sure, they don't offer the grip of Toyo RA-1s (the race tire of choice for most hardcore S2K owners), but they last a bit longer, won't disappear on the way to/from a more distant track, and they're reasonable in the rain (which my car only rarely sees). I swear by them, but, as I said, others have their own opinions. In combination with wider wheels that permit me to run fatter rubber, I'm pretty happy with the setup, and I've driven a lot of different cars in different configurations on different tracks (the big caveat being that I don't care that much about lap times, per se, as much as the satisfaction of feeling as if I'm driving well whatever car I happen to be in).

Dojo, yes, we met at the Quattrofest, as the turbocharged silver S is my car, and I instructed for the event. Glad to hear you'll be swapping sides. While I have a tremendous amount of respect for Audis (superb fit and finish, world class interiors, great engines), in the end, they're just too nose heavy for my tastes, and I've no interest in all wheel drive, although I did have a blast beating on a TT Quattro at the Nurburgring for three days in 2003...

CB