experiences with TTRS on track??

[kayir]

hey guys. haven't been on here in a few years. I had a b8 S5cab and a B8.5 S4 but have since had a c7 stingray and a Caddy ATSV which is on it's last few months. . .and i'm super interested in replacing it with a TTRS. With the caddy I have gotten into tracking it, and that caddy is a beast on track. I'm no super expert but i've done about 10 days over 2 years and i've been trying to get a sense of what the TTRS is going to be like on track. I've read some things that are super positive, but i've also heard some serious issues with braking, both in terms of heat and excessive wear, and a terrible story about a guy who ruined his ceramics after 1 day on track. . .

what i'd really love is for people to share their track experiences with the car, both in terms of how it performed on track and how hard you were really pushing it but also specifically how people think the brakes held up, both in terms of fade during the day, but also wear after.

Thanks fellas!
Mike

[ormandj]

It does well on the track with proper tires and pressures. Do not expect ceramics to last, they are not designed for track use. The steel brakes are a much better option. The stock pads will be an issue, they also aren't designed for hard track use.

It all depends on how you drive, like any car, if you really push it you will burn through brakes and tires. If you are going to drive 9/10ths+ you'd be well served to upgrade to a better brake system that will let you run thicker race pad compounds and track tires you swap on at the track.

For 7/10ths the stock iron rotor brake setup does fine, but the pads will wear out quickly and the dust boots will be toast. The stock tires stink, at least put PS4S on it.

[kayir]

thanks ormandj! I'm by no means any expert, but i've moved up through the levels quickly and i'm spoiled with the caddy, it's a great car on track and takes a beating without much fuss and so i really want to make sure that if i get a TTRS, and i WANT one, that it'll hold up as well. I'll likely buy a dedicated set of track wheels and tires with some 888s, and i guess i'll see how the brakes hold up and if they burn through quickly i can replace them with better rotors and race pads.

[big residual]

I track my TTRS (8S) and enjoy it a lot. It’s going to be a different experience than you Caddy obviously, being FWD/AWD and 60/40 F/R.

Here’s a video of the car at a local track.

https://youtu.be/nkaMzTjS0BI

Brakes: I have steel rotors. Not sure why anyone gets ceramics if they’re going to track. I took the stock rotors and pads off mine and put them in a box. On went Girodisc, Pagid RS29s (F) and G-LOC R10 (R). SRF fluid in place of stock. Brakes have been great over 5 track days so far. No fade, stops fine. Pretty close to the StopTech BBK I was coming from. Net: calipers and lines are fine :)

Do tires and wheels. Lots of reasonable options but the stock wheels are heavy, as well as ugly and a nightmare to fix right or replace if you go off. My stock wheels and tires also went into boxes.

Other than that, I’ve run mine stock and it does great on the track. It’s not going to run down GT3s or an R8, but it’s plenty fast relative to the cars that show up the places we track.

All that and it’s great as a daily.

Bonus: it’s not a big car for people but you can load up the hatch with a ton of track gear for a car its size.

[RReddington]

I track my TTRS (8S) and enjoy it a lot. It’s going to be a different experience than you Caddy obviously, being FWD/AWD and 60/40 F/R.

Here’s a video of the car at a local track.

https://youtu.be/nkaMzTjS0BI

Brakes: I have steel rotors. Not sure why anyone gets ceramics if they’re going to track. I took the stock rotors and pads off mine and put them in a box. On went Girodisc, Pagid RS29s (F) and G-LOC R10 (R). SRF fluid in place of stock. Brakes have been great over 5 track days so far. No fade, stops fine. Pretty close to the StopTech BBK I was coming from. Net: calipers and lines are fine :)

Do tires and wheels. Lots of reasonable options but the stock wheels are heavy, as well as ugly and a nightmare to fix right or replace if you go off. My stock wheels and tires also went into boxes.

Other than that, I’ve run mine stock and it does great on the track. It’s not going to run down GT3s or an R8, but it’s plenty fast relative to the cars that show up the places we track.

All that and it’s great as a daily.

Bonus: it’s not a big car for people but you can load up the hatch with a ton of track gear for a car its size.

Upgrading the suspension is probably going to be a huge difference too.

[big residual]

Upgrading the suspension is probably going to be a huge difference too.

Agree. I don't think it will be transformative but stock suspension still has a lot of roll and, most importantly, you can't dial in much camber stock. Which means less mechanical grip and I end up running less grippy tires because the outsides wear too fast. ExtremeContact Sports have shown negligible wear after 3 days though, so less sticky than a RE71R or Cup 2, but more sane until I can add some negative camber.

[Signature Wheel]

I track my TTRS (8S) and enjoy it a lot. It’s going to be a different experience than you Caddy obviously, being FWD/AWD and 60/40 F/R.

Here’s a video of the car at a local track.

https://youtu.be/nkaMzTjS0BI

Brakes: I have steel rotors. Not sure why anyone gets ceramics if they’re going to track. I took the stock rotors and pads off mine and put them in a box. On went Girodisc, Pagid RS29s (F) and G-LOC R10 (R). SRF fluid in place of stock. Brakes have been great over 5 track days so far. No fade, stops fine. Pretty close to the StopTech BBK I was coming from. Net: calipers and lines are fine :)

Do tires and wheels. Lots of reasonable options but the stock wheels are heavy, as well as ugly and a nightmare to fix right or replace if you go off. My stock wheels and tires also went into boxes.

Other than that, I’ve run mine stock and it does great on the track. It’s not going to run down GT3s or an R8, but it’s plenty fast relative to the cars that show up the places we track.

All that and it’s great as a daily.

Bonus: it’s not a big car for people but you can load up the hatch with a ton of track gear for a car its size.

All good advice. A quality, lightweight set of wheels can take substantial strain off the brakes. I found that losing 10 pounds over my stock RS3 wheels really made a difference.

If anyone is in the market for exceptional forged wheels at a reasonable price, please send me a PM. We’re having our best Track Series wheel promotion of the year this month.

[nardoRS]

I’ve had two track days with my TTRS having previously owned an Exige S track car, 996 track car before that and can honestly say that I’m enjoying the TT on track more than both. I upgraded my suspension with MSS track kit before my first session and I was very confident in the car right away and able to push to the limits (I’m still on stock 19” potenza S01’s.
The brakes are a weak link; I upgraded to Pagid RSL 29’s and motul 660 fluid running a 2 piece AP rotor but the calipers themselves are not up to serious duty on track so I am upgrading to an AP race caliper ( my car isn’t a daily driver).
The car does need more camber for the track, I’ve put on fixed 034 camber plates and even though I’m yet to dial in the alignment they have transformed how the front end responds. At the end of this month I’ll have it all set up right and will be running cup2’s.
All in all this car continues to surprise me with how capable it is at the circuit.
Below video is stock tires, upgraded suspension, Pagid pads, AP rotors.
https://youtu.be/98MbAzugLmc

[kayir]

thanks for all the input. So safe to say, out of the box it may be ok, but wheels/tires (which i'd do anyway as a track specific set with r888rs) and at the least a caliper/pad upgrade should go a long way to making it a blast on track? it sounds soooooooo good.

[Cream]

Before this car, I had a 2013 TTRS that I used to track a lot. On that setup I had MSS Springs, 034 Rear Sway, OEM Rotors and I then I would put in Track pads. Worked great, never had an issue.

This weekend I ran my first track event with my 2018 TTRS. I will admit, other than track fluid, I went with a stock brake setup. It worked great, until (I kid you not) the last turn of my last lap. Brake light came on and my pads are... gone. There is nothing left, metal on metal in the front. So I limped my car home 2 hours and now it is sitting in my garage in need of new pads and rotors. I got home last night and am out of town until Thursday, so I will not have any time to get a good look at the brakes until then. I am hoping it is just a Pad/Rotor replacement and that the calipers are fine. We shall see

Assuming the Calipers are good, then I am trying to decide if I want to go with Girodisc rotors or AP Rotors and then I will use the Pagid track pads in the future. I am really hoping the calipers are still ok because I really do not want to have to upgrade to a full brake kit at this point.

As far as how the car does on the track, it is a BEAST! I was passing R8s, Panameras, RS7s, etc.. (probably why I wore out my brakes, I was pushing it hard)

[nardoRS]

Before this car, I had a 2013 TTRS that I used to track a lot. On that setup I had MSS Springs, 034 Rear Sway, OEM Rotors and I then I would put in Track pads. Worked great, never had an issue.

This weekend I ran my first track event with my 2018 TTRS. I will admit, other than track fluid, I went with a stock brake setup. It worked great, until (I kid you not) the last turn of my last lap. Brake light came on and my pads are... gone. There is nothing left, metal on metal in the front. So I limped my car home 2 hours and now it is sitting in my garage in need of new pads and rotors. I got home last night and am out of town until Thursday, so I will not have any time to get a good look at the brakes until then. I am hoping it is just a Pad/Rotor replacement and that the calipers are fine. We shall see

Assuming the Calipers are good, then I am trying to decide if I want to go with Girodisc rotors or AP Rotors and then I will use the Pagid track pads in the future. I am really hoping the calipers are still ok because I really do not want to have to upgrade to a full brake kit at this point.

As far as how the car does on the track, it is a BEAST! I was passing R8s, Panameras, RS7s, etc.. (probably why I wore out my brakes, I was pushing it hard)

Sounds like you had a good time! If you are after pads, later this month I’ll have a set of Pagid RSL 29’s that have one track day on them for sale.
AP radical CP 9660 calipers going on next week with Pagid RSL 29 pads again as well as upgraded pads in the back (Ferodo 2500)!

[Cream]

Sounds like you had a good time! If you are after pads, later this month I’ll have a set of Pagid RSL 29’s that have one track day on them for sale.
AP radical CP 9660 calipers going on next week with Pagid RSL 29 pads again as well as upgraded pads in the back (Ferodo 2500)!

For the OEM Calipers? Shoot me a PM if so and let me know how much you are asking. I may be very interested

[Cream]

Btw, at my track event this weekend, I did not bother setting up Harrys until my very last session. I am posting the link. I wish I would have done it earlier in the day because there was a session that I ran with an RS7 and an R8 and we had a lot of fun together. The one I recorded was kind of a crazy session. The temp outside was about 36deg, so a little cold and slippery. Between the "indy car" spinning on Turn 3 and all of the Traffic, I never really got a clean lap in this session, and I also had my gps apparently pointed the wrong direction.. so ignore that. Oh, and also ignore my phone going off on lap 5. You also hear my brake warning come on at about 19:40

For the record, the car was totally stock this weekend with the exception of the MSS Springs. I went with a full stock brake setup, so I was not very aggressive in the turns

[nardoRS]

For the OEM Calipers? Shoot me a PM if so and let me know how much you are asking. I may be very interested

PM sent

[nardoRS]

Btw, at my track event this weekend, I did not bother setting up Harrys until my very last session. I am posting the link. I wish I would have done it earlier in the day because there was a session that I ran with an RS7 and an R8 and we had a lot of fun together. The one I recorded was kind of a crazy session. The temp outside was about 36deg, so a little cold and slippery. Between the "indy car" spinning on Turn 3 and all of the Traffic, I never really got a clean lap in this session, and I also had my gps apparently pointed the wrong direction.. so ignore that. Oh, and also ignore my phone going off on lap 5. You also hear my brake warning come on at about 19:40

For the record, the car was totally stock this weekend with the exception of the MSS Springs. I went with a full stock brake setup, so I was not very aggressive in the turns

I know that circuit very well although it was 10 years since I was last there with an Exige S at that time! Great track, very fast and the quicker corners are where you can make up loads of time (1,2,9 and 10 in particular). The track looks like it’s changed a bit with more track surface on the inside of 10 and 1 and it just looks in better shape overall than when I was going. Good to see, nice video!

[Ross_T_Boss]

I would simply start with pads and go from there. Don't bother taking it on stock pads, they quickly get out of their comfort zone.

I have an '18 TTRS with MSS Track kit. You'll be pretty impressed with the stock set-up on road, it works really well. I fitted the MSS kit sorted out the 'on stilts' look nicely and improves the cars stability and predictability at higher speeds. Pitch/dive greatly improved too, you can really stand on the brakes without the car feeling like it's sitting on the nose. A good improvement and worth it if you want a bit more from it.

Brakes do need attention for any track work though. I am still OEM and had a quick blast on track last weekend. Within 5 laps I was brakes-limited as the pads were overheating badly, and front tyres were hitting 90C/40psi up front and understeer became an issue. The circuit is hard on brakes though (Castle Combe) and I was scruffy the first few laps which didn't help. Good new is till temps became an issue the car had felt very balanced.

Point is I was done for the day after 15 mins, and half of that included significant brake management to prevent boiling the fluid. If I'd been there for a full track day it would have been a waste. With decent pads and Motul 660 I would have been comfortable going out again after she cooled down, just driving to the limits of the road tyres. I parked up (after 10mins of cool-down driving) and the front internal tyre temps + pressures were still going up, above 80C for a good while due to heat transfer from the roasting brakes.

Although I'm not planning on doing much on track with it, I will fit uprated pads and have PS4S to go on, and going to try and get the Audi Sport front brake cooling kit which should help. If I find myself doing more I'd definitely get a proper track tyre set too. I will move to 2-piece discs eventually and have some other 034 goodies to tighten up the car a little without over-doing it for daily duties.

[Signature Wheel]

Happy New Year! My resolution? More track days!

[cantcatchtomm]

Finally some on board from the 034 development car! A bunch of driver/passenger-facing videos were uploaded as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4hlJgeYoEc&t=4s

[cantcatchtomm]

Finally got a chance to drive this thing hard today and was really impressed with the fixed suspension. I do have lots of parts on the way that’ll help in dryer conditions but damn happy with the first event. (Getting used to it in autocross before getting it on track this summer).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNMvpO-8ock