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Fiesta ST First Track Report

8686 Views 53 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  MLKN, 
W
I just got back from a weekend with the BMW CCA at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia. As always it was a great event with awesome folks and some great driving.

This was my first weekend with my FiST after a season of events in my E46 M3. I float between the intermediate and advanced group depending on the number of people, this weekend I was in intermediate and it was an interesting mix of cars. Mostly BMW's but also an F430 Scud and a 996 GT3 (more on those in a moment).

My FiST is slightly modified. I have a Cobb Stage 1 tune (93 octane), Poterfield R4 pads, SS lines, and Motul 600 fluid. I also had OZ Ultraleggera 15" wheels w/ 205 Nitto NT01's. I ran the car in sport mode saturday and full traction control off sunday.

So first the good...
The car was a hoot for the sole reason of here's this little 1.6L Ford running down a fair few number of cars out on the track. I passed the GT3 a few times and held off the F430 Scud for about 6 laps. Summit is a pretty technical course that rewards drivers over horsepower which is the only reason I stood a chance.

The torque was great out of corners and I really was about to pull away.

Body roll wasn't bad. I was expecting it to be much worse but it corners pretty flat. The seats were awesome. The steering feel was pretty good. And the grip was pretty good thanks to the tires.

Now the not-so-good...
The car is pretty unstable under high-speed braking and also does some odd things at turn-in (namely fighting and wanting to dart away from the direction of turning). Coming down the main straight from about 115mph the car twitches...a lot. And then (for those that know Summit or pull a map) between turns 2 and 3 it twitches so much that on one lap I dropped 2 wheels off and then went 4 off. No biggie, just cut some grass, but still not a great tendency.

Part of it is me trying to correct it (the squirm) and also the short wheel base, but I had 1 instructor and 1 racer drive it and both thought it was fun but not a good track car. For the reasons noted.

Generally the brakes aren't 100% up to task. I boiled the Motul on one session to the point where there was fluid in the engine bay and the brakes were smoking. It was when I was using the sport mode so I suspect the traction control was working the calipers without my input because once I turned the traction control off I didn't experience any more boil-offs like that. I also melted a brake piston seal and the calipers look pretty smoked.

Maybe someone can chime in here and tell me they've had this issue, and even better they know a fix. It's almost like the car moves the bias to the rear for a moment then sends it forward. Or maybe it's a combo of the Nittos and the race brakes up front.

A lot of this is just me debriefing and I tend to pick on the cons more than the pros. For what the car is and what it cost and what it "should" be able to do it really made a good showing and I got a lot of props.

So hopefully people get something from this. And hopefully someone can comment on the squirm and how they may have resolved it.
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ISO100
Leaving sport mode on will definitely overdrive the brakes. I roasted my rear brakes in only 5 minutes of super spirited driving on very twisty roads recently.
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S
Cooked my rears on the dragon in the wet too from the stability control.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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W
On the camber bolts, the FSWerks site says the SPC ones will only do -1.75 degrees, but the H&R will do -3. Is that in addition to the OE adjustment? So the SPC will get me close to -3 total?
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McRib 1s Back
I only ever run with stability control completely off on the track. Some do report success with it in "sport mode", however. I imagine it's a lot like the first generation system in the Focus ST where notable people (like Randy Pobst) complained that the Focus brakes took a serious beating over it (as in total failure, can't drive home!). I can say that my brakes are fine with it off. I'd be tempted to run sport mode in the wet, but I'd also use different tires (my Dunlop DZ2s are my "rain tire" now). Not that we actually ever get rain -- so this will probably be a hypothetical model, forever. :)

Yes, the SPC camber bolts are great. I think other firms might even repackage those with their label -- so I doubt much difference there. Yes, you can run two bolts (per side), but I don't recommend it. I bought them initially with the idea of doing that, but thinking about the failure model at the track under load, made me think otherwise. This isn't so much about safety, but about the ability to harmonize both bolts once they have slipped -- and to get back on the track. With one bolt, you simply move the shock back into position, tighten up, and call it good enough. Your call, of course.

Again, I managed -2.8 with my SPC bolts. You have to coax it out, that's for sure.
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W
And to whoever commented on having a spare set of rotors...you're right about that! I looked at my fronts and they are covered in tiny cracked. Luckily they aren't drilled rotors so I can probably run them a little while longer.
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ISO100
Never run with sport mode on at the track. You have to disable stability completely or else deal with completely cooked and possibly destroyed rear rotors, pads and calipers.
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W
All that really happened was boiled fluid. The rotors, pads, and calipers seem to be ok.
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ISO100
That's good. I hope your caliper piston seals are still healthy too. If you have plastic hubcentric rings in the wheels pull the rears and check them for melting too.
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W
Oh no, contrar....the dust boots are toast. At least on the front.

The wheels came off just fine because I swapped them before driving home (NT01's aren't highway rain tires...)

The Sport mode is subtle such that I couldn't tell how actively the brakes were being applied for stability. But the car was perfectly predictable without the traction control.
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razorlab
2
was-an-M said:
And to whoever commented on having a spare set of rotors...you're right about that! I looked at my fronts and they are covered in tiny cracked. Luckily they aren't drilled rotors so I can probably run them a little while longer.
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The surface cracks are a normal part of track use with heat. The cracks that go all the way out to the edge of the rotor are what you have to worry about.

If your "cracks" look like this, that is normal and nothing to worry about, they will go away with street use between track events.


If they look like this, time to replace:
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M
I must say this is an awesome thread and its helping me choose the FiST over the STI haha.
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W
maybe_fiestast said:
I must say this is an awesome thread and its helping me choose the FiST over the STI haha.
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They are very different cars.

But I will say there were 3 at the track this past weekend and none of them kept up with my FiST :)
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ISO100
was-an-M said:
They are very different cars.

But I will say there were 3 at the track this past weekend and none of them kept up with my FiST :)
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Yes!
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McRib 1s Back
was-an-M said:
They are very different cars.

But I will say there were 3 at the track this past weekend and none of them kept up with my FiST :)
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Here in LA, you'll see plenty of very fast WRX and STi cars. At the recent "twilight @ SoW" run, I think every single car was very modified (and most had cages). A stock STi cannot keep up with a FiST on SoW (or HTM). A well driven STi *should* beat a near-stock FiST at Big Willow -- but that wasn't my experience, either. :)

Anyhow, beware, many very fast Subies are out there. These were competing in a local time attack style competition. I have been blitz-passed by those. Big power ones often blow up, but there are plenty more to step in! Build, blow-up, re-build. That's a very loyal crowd. :)
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S
McRib 1s Back said:
Here in LA, you'll see plenty of very fast WRX and STi cars. At the recent "twilight @ SoW" run, I think every single car was very modified (and most had cages). A stock STi cannot keep up with a FiST on SoW (or HTM). A well driven STi *should* beat a near-stock FiST at Big Willow -- but that wasn't my experience, either. :)

Anyhow, beware, many very fast Subies are out there. These were competing in a local time attack style competition. I have been blitz-passed by those. Big power ones often blow up, but there are plenty more to step in! Build, blow-up, re-build. That's a very loyal crowd. :)
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Im glad someone is putting money into those cars, its a really cool engine design.

I'm also glad its not me.
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M
How many of you have had overheating problems at the track? I saw a few other threads where that seems to be a decent concern.

I am trying to make a final decision on the FiST.

I am also kinda waiting until motor trend does the best drivers car review of the fist.
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W
maybe_fiestast said:
How many of you have had overheating problems at the track? I saw a few other threads where that seems to be a decent concern.

I am trying to make a final decision on the FiST.

I am also kinda waiting until motor trend does the best drivers car review of the fist.
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The only heating issues I had was as a result of leaving the traction control partially on. However, I swapped out the OEM coolant for distilled water and water wetter (which is a good idea anyway because coolant can be dangerous if spilled on-track) because distilled water + water wetter moves heat better than anti-freeze.

I was really worried about overheating but it really was a non-issue except where noted but that went away as soon as I turned the traction control off.

You can also run a larger intercooler if you are concerned. And really, unless you are racing, if 15 minutes into a 20 minute session it's running a little hot, just dial it back.

I don't know that I'd wait on Motor Trend. I think they just go where the money is and don't really deliver much insight. Automobile magazine and Evo both love it and those were the reviews that moved me. But really, I think if you listen to folks here you get a very good picture of the car. It's not perfect and has some areas that need addressing, but it's awesome bang for your buck and is a blast to drive.
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razorlab
was-an-M said:
The only heating issues I had was as a result of leaving the traction control partially on. However, I swapped out the OEM coolant for distilled water and water wetter (which is a good idea anyway because coolant can be dangerous if spilled on-track) because distilled water + water wetter moves heat better than anti-freeze.
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What did you do to burp the system after replacing the fluid? What process did you use?

I'm used to Mitsus where it's pretty straightforward to burp it.
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W
razorlab said:
What did you do to burp the system after replacing the fluid? What process did you use?

I'm used to Mitsus where it's pretty straightforward to burp it.
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I used the "regular" method that I've always done. I drained it from all the hoses I could, pulling the lower radiator hose got most then sorta whatever other ones would come off. That gets 80+% of it.

After that I refilled the overflow, started the car, cranked the heat full blast, once the fan kicked over I kept an eye on the level, then opened the bleed screw (it's hard to see but it's slightly towards the drivers side back screwing forward) and let the coolant come out till no more bubbles. Topped off the tank, then called it.

That seemed to do the trick as I didn't have any indications that there was air trapped.
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razorlab
was-an-M said:
I used the "regular" method that I've always done. I drained it from all the hoses I could, pulling the lower radiator hose got most then sorta whatever other ones would come off. That gets 80+% of it.

After that I refilled the overflow, started the car, cranked the heat full blast, once the fan kicked over I kept an eye on the level, then opened the bleed screw (it's hard to see but it's slightly towards the drivers side back screwing forward) and let the coolant come out till no more bubbles. Topped off the tank, then called it.

That seemed to do the trick as I didn't have any indications that there was air trapped.
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Ok I wasn't sure if there was a "ford" trick or not. Thanks for the info!
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