North American Motoring - F54 Track tested!!

Yep, got my F54 out on the local road course for a little flogging. My local spot is the Autobahn Country Club located SW of Chicago just outside Joliet for you's not from around here :wink:. I have been on this track many times over the past 10 years, usually with my Mustang, but felt I had to see how a relatively stock daily driver would compare to my former fairly stock daily driver did back in 2008 (2006 Subaru Legacy Wagon 2.5i). I have to say that it is certainly faster than expected and did relatively well.

My only modifications for the HPDE was some Motul RBF600 brake fluid and front Power Stop Z23 carbon-ceramic brake pads, along with a newer set of BFG g-Force Comp-2 A/S tires in the stock 225/45R17 size. The brake fluid and front pads held up very well, but did let me know their limits if I pushed too hard. As long as I kept the speed on the two long straights under 95 mph, all was good for the entire 20 minute sessions. Cracking the 100 mph mark didn't agree well with the pads, so backing it down a bit allowed me more overall fun track time. :)

Suspension and tires ended up being a little 'soft' and 'squishy', but I didn't expect much else from an OEM setup along with all-season tires. The overall grip was very good with a LOT of communication from the tires. I shut off the dynamic stability control for the last 5 sessions, as leaving that on during the first session resulted in some system interaction and a chassis error to show up on a couple of turns. Putting the car in 'sport' mode and also putting the auto into 'sport' mode worked much better than expected. The tranny never seemed to get 'confused' and lose its mind, it handled the corners just fine and would generally keep the tach in the 4000-6000 range everywhere, so no need to bump-shift into manual mode. The temp readout stayed in the middle throughout all (6) 20-minute sessions and never showed things getting 'hot', which was nice. Temps were in the low 80's with lower humidity that day. I did notice a nice yellowed spot in the middle-rear of the muffler after the first couple of sessions, which showed I wasn't being all that easy on the go-fast pedal.

All in all, it was a great day and I now know my car's limits a little better. Now the car can 'retire' back to its daily driver status. As proof of my excursion I purchased the pics that were taken by a pro that was at the event...hey, since this was a 1x deal, why not!! Enjoy the pics. I have video that I still have to edit before posting up to my YouTube channel and will post a link when complete...later.