August 22-24: Texas Motor Speedway

Discussion in 'Track Experience' started by StevoSRT, Jul 7, 2008.

  1. StevoSRT

    StevoSRT Moderator

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  2. Rajunz

    Rajunz Turbocharged

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    Thanks for the hotel link Stevo, very helpful.
     
  3. leeperryar

    leeperryar New Member

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    A buddy of mine and I are heading to this event from Little Rock, AR. Any other forums members attending this one?

    I was actually able to get a REALLY good rate at the Marriot just across from the track through priceline.com. It was assigned as a 4 star hotel when I did the whole priceline name your own price deal. It literally has a view of the track... or so it says.
     
  4. StevoSRT

    StevoSRT Moderator

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    so any news from here guys?!

    how did it go?!
     
  5. Wildman

    Wildman New Member

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    My son and I went and had a great time! 100 people participated which made for a lot of sitting. It is a well run event and made for some awesome memories for myself and my son. During the last event of the day, Hotlaps, where a professional driver takes you for a couple of laps around the road course, I got to see what our cars are really capable of! I think the driver when faster sideways down a strait away than I can run strait down a strait away. Best roller coaster I have ever been on!
     
  6. StevoSRT

    StevoSRT Moderator

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    SWEET!....what car did you ride in during the hot laps?

    any pics? :happy:
     
  7. Wildman

    Wildman New Member

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    4 cars went around at a time. I was in a 300 in the lead position. After driving the 300, Charger, and Magnum, I'm glad I chose the Charger. Suspension is noticeably tighter.
     
  8. StevoSRT

    StevoSRT Moderator

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    did you have one with the mopar suspension?....when i did it the maggy was the tightest but it did have all the mopar gear on it....when i got in the charger after the maggy i felt like the car was drunk hahaha
     
  9. Wildman

    Wildman New Member

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    None of the cars I drove had Mopar parts. I asked one of the instructors if the Mopar coils and sways made a difference and his response was a tremendous difference on the 300, not so much on the charger.
     
  10. StevoSRT

    StevoSRT Moderator

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    I disagree with that one....the charger w/out mopar stuff on it was all over the place while the other was planted!...plus the mopar exhaust made for a much better video! :happy: hahaha

    how did you do in the other events like autocross/dragracing
     
  11. Wildman

    Wildman New Member

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    SteveSRT, I am very interested in the sways and coils. My car currently has the Razor's Edge Front Tower Bar, Falken 250/45/20, Mopar Cat Back, Magnaflow Highflo Cats, BT Catch Can with Custom Hoses, 3M Bra, BT parts, and Predator 93 CAI Tune. I was interested in the Razor's Edge Bump Steer Correction Kit and Pedder's bushings. Do you see a noticeable difference with the Mopar Coils and sways? Do you have an opinion on the Mopar parts vs. the Hocthkis and KW setup?
     
  12. Bud

    Bud GG EVO IX MR

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    I have the KW variant 2's, Hotchkis sways, DC front strut tower brace (will be replacing with Razors Edge), and Razors Edge 4-point rear shock tower brace. I also plan on the Razors Edge Bump Steer Correction Kit and Sub Frame Connectors. Pedders has a good bushing set but way over priced IMO. I emailed Energy Suspensions yesterday and received a response today saying they are in development right now for bushings for our car. Now, WRT Mopar coilovers. They are basically rebadged KW variant 1's. I think I am the only one I know of that adjusts my coilovers on a regular basis. I also had to do a hack job on my trunk to install the RE rear 4 point shock tower brace....AND be able to adjust the rear coilovers. WRT sway bars. Before Pedders came out with there sways I did the research on what was the best fit for our cars. Hotchkis was the hands down winner and why I went with them. Pedders sways are supposedly stronger and smaller om diameter, but I don't have any experience with them or haven't read enough about them to make an educated opinion.

    Oh....and I'll tell you...you will see a dramatic difference with the coilovers and sways. The coilovers will absorb the road imperfections and give it a nice stance. The sways are IMO the best bang for the buck mod you can do for our cars....that and the Predator. So I guess the coilovers depends on whether you can see yourself adjusting them for different types of driving. Hope this helps....and welcome to the Connection!
     
  13. Rajunz

    Rajunz Turbocharged

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    My wife Sherry and I attended on Saturday, it was definitely one of the best days we've ever had at a race track. They haven’t received any SRT8 Challengers yet, but there were 4 of them in the parking lot, really beautiful cars.
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    I wrote the following recap for some friends that wanted to know about the weekend, but figured I would post it here for those that haven't been to the SRT Experience.

    We were in "Team Hammer" and first module of the day was the Drag Races. The track was fairly short because it was in the infield (less than 1/8th mile), but you got a real good feeling for what the SRT’s are all about. All that I can say is the Jeep Cherokee SRT8 is one amazing machine, I had no idea, they launch like a cannon (1.7 60 foot). I ended up making it into the Semi Finals in the drag races where I lost on a hole shot (ouch). After the finals, the group winner, Dave had to race "Hammer" in the Cherokees. Sherry got to ride along in this race which ended up as the closest race of the day with Dave winning over Hammer by less than a foot.
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    Second was the Autocross where we drove the Calibers. It was a first gear only course which was extremely narrow and tough to get around, with a 2 second penalty for every cone knocked down, and 5 seconds for blowing through the stop box. I ended up running the 4th fastest of our group of 14. Then we did a relay event driving the Cherokees on the autocross where we each drove one lap, then frantically swapped drivers until every driver in our group made a lap. This was a timed event competing against the other groups. After that we did timed laps in the Cherokee, and believe it or not, my lap time was a second quicker than in the Caliber. Part of it was because of lap experience, but those Cherokees really do drive that well.
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    We broke for lunch and enjoyed some great food. The SRT Experience is truly a top notch, very well run event.

    After lunch we drove the Vipers on a coned course similar to the autocross with an instructor in the car where we would slide them around the corners, that was badass, and I can see why those are the most wrecked new cars on the market. Most people have no business driving a car with 600 HP. My second lap was perfect and the instructor gave me a thumbs up. The car pivots perfectly in the corner with the blip of the throttle. Once we swapped seats they gave us a thrill ride around the course, Sherry got to ride a couple of laps with the instructor power sliding it around, couldn’t wipe that smile off her face the rest of day.
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    The best was saved for last. The Road Race course. They had the Calibers, Magnums, 300C’s and Chargers set up in groups of 3. The first car was an instructor, and we drove behind them in the other 2. The faster we could keep up, the faster they went. The straights we would get up over 100 mph, brake hard, and slide them through the corners. We did this for over an hour, 2-3 laps at a time, then swapping out cars. Sherry got to ride in the lead cars throughout this event. I paired up with one of the better drivers in our group so that we could go faster. We were all 3 out there, about a car length apart from each other at over 100 mph, unreal experience. After we drove, the pro drivers went out on the track with the Vipers and the Cherokee, that was wild. The Vipers would leave the Cherokee on the straights, but sure enough, the Jeep was as fast if not faster through the corners than the Vipers, in a fricking Jeep. That thing is a freak.

    Then came the Hot Laps. We all got in a Charger or 300C with the pro drivers and they took us around the road race course wide open, traction control turned off, 5 cars just a few feet apart, power sliding and smoking the tires out of the corners. That was unreal, Sherry was in the car in front of me and our cars had bumper mounted cameras, they’ll mail us a DVD soon to relive it all.
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    Definitely one of the best days ever at a race track, drove some really fast cars and I’ve got a new found respect for the Jeep Cherokee SRT8’s, I was just amazed at what those things could do.

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    Sherry wants to go trade her Crossfire in now for an SRT so that she can drive next time. Might be cheaper to just pay for the class!
     
  14. CentralTexHemi

    CentralTexHemi PUNISHER

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    Glad you had a great time and thanks for the write up makes me wish I could have made it
     
  15. Cheatek

    Cheatek SRT once, SRT always

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    :naww: Oh here we go again, and of all people YOU Rick!! Lol! I thought we came to the conclusion (I have at least) that the Mopar coilover kit is indeed made by KW BUT it is NOT a rebadged V1 kit, it is made by KW but to Mopar specs and is quite different than the KWs in ride quality. I am about as POSITIVE as I can be on this since the ride with the Mopar kit is IN NO WAY as nice as the ride from the KWs. However, as any of you who've done the SRT TE and driven the Mopar equipted cars can attest to, they handle AMAZINGLY well!! I thought we talked all bout this buddy, what gives, slip of the tongue, lol!!
     
  16. Cheatek

    Cheatek SRT once, SRT always

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    Totally agree, that instructor is waaaaaaaaaaay wrong. I drove both the Mopar Charger and the standard one around Laguna Seca at the TE back in Feb and I can tell you there is a BIG difference, very noticable. And just to drive home the point, at the end in the hot laps I was in the lead Charger (stock) with the Mopar one behind us. My instructor was pushing that stock Charger as hard as he possibly could (with my consent, lol) yet the red Mopar Charger behind us was all over our rear bumper the whole time. I said something about it and he said yea, the Mopar kit makes a BIG difference on the track.
     
  17. CentralTexHemi

    CentralTexHemi PUNISHER

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    Stay on Topic, after all this is about Texas you stray from the subject at hand I will ban you from all the Weight Watcher parking lots trolling for fat chicks
     
  18. Cheatek

    Cheatek SRT once, SRT always

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    Sorry wade, I thought that very thing after I posted. Rick just gave wrong info on the Mopar kit and the TE instructor gave wrong info too! (I was sorta on track, kinda sorta, lol).
     
  19. CentralTexHemi

    CentralTexHemi PUNISHER

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    AHHH, I was JK I would never take away your priveleges of trolling for fat chicks, just remember Yoo-Hoo and Ding Dongs on the dash-LOL
     
  20. Cheatek

    Cheatek SRT once, SRT always

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    Got em, check. Also hanging some bon-bons out the window on a string works good too, lmao! (ok, NOW I'm off topic, lol!)