Road Atlanta in the GTI

Okay, confession -- I normally track my Vette....no hating :fighting0030: But the daily driver MkV is so zippy and nimble, I've been making plans to take it as a "backup" car for track events. These are mods going into the weekend:
- APR Stage I
- Neuspeed Rear Swaybar
- Carbotech XP10s and GS610 brake fluid
- Hoosier R6 245's on Flik 17" wheels

Have done RA at least 10 weekends in the Vette but now first time in the GTI. I took it easy first day learning the car and drove on street tires and street pads. Also because it was drizzling and then raining. Stock pads really sucked! Still, good driving experience.

Sunday was much better and drier. Put the Hoosiers on at that point. It handled great. Very predictable and the race pads made a world of difference. I was curious what differences a FWD car would be and only tested the limits a few times trying to throttle earlier out of a turn and brake later into the turn.

I did feel reduced power about 5-10 minutes into the session. Is the APR stage I putting out so much boost, the intercoolers cannot keep up? I could normally hit 155-160mph in the back straight in the Vette, I was only able to muster 120mph before the 200 ft. braking marker. If anyone has done RA before, is this the usual?

Drive on...:headbang:

Put the Hoosiers on at that point. It handled great. Very predictable and the race pads made a world of difference.

Click to expand...

Ha...I believe those are the two best mod you can have with our GTIs. The stock brake pads and tires are just trerriable on tracks!

Dont really know the track configuration of RA, but does it have any tight corners for 2nd gear? My experiences on Streets of Willow here is not so good...I ended up use 3rd gear all the way to avoid tire spin on croner ext...

Haven't run my GTI on any high speed course yet, top speed on the front straight on SOW is only about 100mph, so I can't really help you on the heat soak issues.

yea you really need better brakes i find the stock brakes to be pure shit. have the new pads helped a lot or just slightly?

bz_2.0T said:

yea you really need better brakes i find the stock brakes to be pure shit. have the new pads helped a lot or just slightly?

Click to expand...

Race pads are day and night from the stock pads. You can still use them if you brake earlier and longer but that's much slower.

i haven't driven RA...yet. i'd love to get down there. maybe next year. do you have video?

as for speed, in my stock GTI, i top 125-130mph indicated on the back straight at VIR and 120-5 mph on the front (i think. usually too busy braking for Turn 1 to look).

bz_2.0T said:

yea you really need better brakes. i find the stock brake pads to be pure shit. have the new pads helped a lot or just slightly?

Click to expand...

fixed

Track_Guy said:

Race pads are day and night from the stock pads.

Click to expand...

:thumbup:

johnny love said:

i haven't driven RA...yet. i'd love to get down there. maybe next year. do you have video?

as for speed, in my stock GTI, i top 125-130mph indicated on the back straight at VIR and 120-5 mph on the front (i think. usually too busy braking for Turn 1 to look).

Click to expand...

I can't find the actual numbers but I do believe the back straight at VIR is longer than the back straight at RA. I feel VIR is more a HP track (so is RA actually) so I would actually prefer to run the Grand or the Patriot configuration if I took the GTI there. Need something to slow them d*mn Vettes and Vipers down...:biggrin:

I ordered a camera mount for last weekend's event but it didn't show up in time. Next event -- will have some...:w00t:

johnny love said:

fixed


:thumbup:

Click to expand...

to be honest i dont think the stock rotors are good enough for tracking either, but that'll get to pricy i guess

Track_Guy said:

I can't find the actual numbers but I do believe the back straight at VIR is longer than the back straight at RA.

Click to expand...

i think you're right. VIR's back is close to a mile and it's mostly uphill. i usually read the paper, have some coffee, pick bugs out of my teeth, etc etc.

Track_Guy said:

I feel VIR is more a HP track (so is RA actually) so I would actually prefer to run the Grand or the Patriot configuration if I took the GTI there.

Click to expand...

i've only run North and Full. Patriot is a waste of time from what i've seen and ppl complain that the Grands (East and West) don't flow well.

Track_Guy said:

Need something to slow them d*mn Vettes and Vipers down...:biggrin:

Click to expand...

easy enough! Turn 1, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 10, Turn 11, Turn 14... :bellyroll:

my brother hit RA last year in his slightly modified R32. i'll get him to chime in.

bz_2.0T said:

to be honest i dont think the stock rotors are good enough for tracking either, but that'll get to pricy i guess

Click to expand...

it seems like you just dont know what your talking about, and just posting random crap to act like you know alot.

tasteofink8733 said:

it seems like you just dont know what your talking about, and just posting random crap to act like you know alot.

Click to expand...

I believer stock rotors are 12.3 inches. Seems like a good sized rotor to me.:iono:

tasteofink8733 said:

it seems like you just dont know what your talking about, and just posting random crap to act like you know alot.

Click to expand...

it seems like your crying

redGTI said:

I believer stock rotors are 12.3 inches. Seems like a good sized rotor to me.:iono:

Click to expand...

it seems like he just agreed with me

The stock rotors are fine to run race pads on. I would not run two different types of pads on the same set of rotors, but the stocks are able to handle race pads.

As for the power loss, it is most likely do to heat soak after a few realy hard laps. I don't notice it too much, but then again it was very hot on saturday and that could be why it was more noticable.

Was this with NASA? I was going to go but I opted to check out the ALMS race at Sebring instead.

Meat said:

The stock rotors are fine to run race pads on. I would not run two different types of pads on the same set of rotors, but the stocks are able to handle race pads.

As for the power loss, it is most likely do to heat soak after a few realy hard laps. I don't notice it too much, but then again it was very hot on saturday and that could be why it was more noticable.

Was this with NASA? I was going to go but I opted to check out the ALMS race at Sebring instead.

Click to expand...

Yep, it was NASA. Signed up for 3 days but decided to skip Saturday's sessions which were just mostly rain and then a duck and cover tornado warning. The hail did some pretty good damage to a few folks that day.

I've seen your Roebling video. VERY COOL:bow: I'll be at CMP in April with NASA again. Maybe an intercooler upgrade by then...:drool: