Chasing a Hellcat at Palmer.......Lovin my Golf.

[R Golf]

Great day at Palmer (clockwise) with SCDA. Beat my prior PB by a good margin. I'm finally getting to know the track well enough where I can fine tune instead of big changes. My best lap was lap #11 (1:54.05) chasing a Hellcat and a couple of others. Love the R. 60K daily driver yet huge fun on track. Over 40 track days and bulletproof.

A terrific day overall. It was just perfect weather for fast laps, mid 50's so nice dense air but warm enough tires and track. I had 6 laps that beat my prior PB.

Tires: 225/40/18 Falken 660
APR Stage 1, camber plates, IC, rear sway, APR Ground Control springs, pads: Ferodo DS3.12 F, DS 1.11 R & Castrol SRF fluid, stock brakes, & shocks.

 

[GTIfan99]

Great day at Palmer (clockwise) with SCDA. Beat my prior PB by a good margin. I'm finally getting to know the track well enough where I can fine tune instead of big changes. My best lap was lap #11 (1:54.05) chasing a Hellcat and a couple of others. Love the R. 60K daily driver yet huge fun on track. Over 40 track days and bulletproof.

A terrific day overall. It was just perfect weather for fast laps, mid 50's so nice dense air but warm enough tires and track. I had 6 laps that beat my prior PB.

Tires: 225/40/18 Falken 660
APR Stage 1, camber plates, IC, rear sway, APR Ground Control springs, pads: Ferodo DS3.12 F, DS 1.11 R & Castrol SRF fluid, stock brakes, & shocks.

Nice driving, looks like a fun track.

Did your APR springs give you excessive rake.

 

[R Golf]

Nice driving, looks like a fun track.

Did your APR springs give you excessive rake.

Thanks. It is a very fun track. Huge elevation changes throughout the lap. The video doesn't give it justice, but you are either climbing bigtime or heading downhill for much of it. Beautiful as well for the few microseconds you have to enjoy it. ;>)

No issue at all on excessive rake with the APR springs. I have been only impressed with them. No rubbing, tighter feel and response. Fine for street driving as well. The only adjustment I made for street driving is that I typically keep it in sport mode (tranny in D) because it seems like the shocks are better tuned to the springs in that mode.

 

[Will_]

Nice! And 40 track days, wow. Do you find the DS3.12 okay for daily driving?

 

[R Golf]

Nice! And 40 track days, wow. Do you find the DS3.12 okay for daily driving?

Thanks.

I do find them OK for daily. I don't change pads during track season, and I was worried about that. Cold bite is totally fine, and noise has surprisingly been much more than tolerable. Calipers and rotors are VW stock. It sometimes get squeaky with very light braking, but a couple of firm stops usually fixes that. I would say they are only very slightly more noisy than the DS2500's, and cold grip is at least equal. On track the DS3.12 are far superior

I do change pads to pure street pads after track season for the New England winters. For what it's worth, I also bed pads fully with every pad and/or rotor change.

 

[Will_]

Thanks.

I do find them OK for daily. I don't change pads during track season, and I was worried about that. Cold bite is totally fine, and noise has surprisingly been much more than tolerable. Calipers and rotors are VW stock. It sometimes get squeaky with very light braking, but a couple of firm stops usually fixes that. I would say they are only very slightly more noisy than the DS2500's, and cold grip is at least equal. On track the DS3.12 are far superior

I do change pads to pure street pads after track season for the New England winters. For what it's worth, I also bed pads fully with every pad and/or rotor change.

Thanks for the info. I’m considering a more aggressive pad than DS2500, looking at Pagid RSL29 and these among others.

 

[Cliff]

My car made it to 60 days before the rings started to fail, and 3 more days after that before I gave up, returned the car to stock, and sold it. I'm running DS3.12 pads on the Cayman and I am happy with them. Much better initial bite and torque than the DS2500 pads I previously had on this car, and far less noisy than the Pagid RSL29 pads that I was running on the R.

 

[GTIfan99]

Thanks. It is a very fun track. Huge elevation changes throughout the lap. The video doesn't give it justice, but you are either climbing bigtime or heading downhill for much of it. Beautiful as well for the few microseconds you have to enjoy it. ;>)

No issue at all on excessive rake with the APR springs. I have been only impressed with them. No rubbing, tighter feel and response. Fine for street driving as well. The only adjustment I made for street driving is that I typically keep it in sport mode (tranny in D) because it seems like the shocks are better tuned to the springs in that mode.

Your car DCC?

With Rabbit Edition GTI, ended to with excessive rake, which lessened once I installed konis for some reason.

I'm keeping the APRs in front, but doing a custom MSS 6k rear setup.

The stock Sachs front shocks weren't up the the task and would collapse into the bumpstops, and cause terminal understeer under braking.

 

[R Golf]

Your car DCC?

With Rabbit Edition GTI, ended to with excessive rake, which lessened once I installed konis for some reason.

I'm keeping the APRs in front, but doing a custom MSS 6k rear setup.

The stock Sachs front shocks weren't up the the task and would collapse into the bumpstops, and cause terminal understeer under braking.

Yes, my R has DCC. With the springs I now run in "race" mode on the street. I find the shock/spring rates are much better matched in that setting.

I definitely was concerned about potential bump stop issues with the spring install, but was pleasantly surprised that there is none even under big compression.. This track really tests that with all the elevation changes, and you can see 1.3 g in some turns on the video.

 

[GTIfan99]

Yes, my R has DCC. With the springs I now run in "race" mode on the street. I find the shock/spring rates are much better matched in that setting.

I definitely was concerned about potential bump stop issues with the spring install, but was pleasantly surprised that there is none even under big compression.. This track really tests that with all the elevation changes, and you can see 1.3 g in some turns on the video.

Yeah, I don't think I would have had an issue had I done the konis on day one. The GTI Sachs shocks are pretty awful and even worse with lower/stiffer springs.

I was pretty impressed with the R and GTI I've driven with DCC. I bet they work really well with your DCC shocks.

 

[R Golf]

Yeah, I don't think I would have had an issue had I done the konis on day one. The GTI Sachs shocks are pretty awful and even worse with lower/stiffer springs.

I was pretty impressed with the R and GTI I've driven with DCC. I bet they work really well with your DCC shocks.

I do think the DCC helps with the springs. Setting it stiffer (race) really seemed to help sort the car out even on the street.

 

[turbojzrr]

great driving!

I remember you mentioned there was a miata holding you up there? which part of the video was that? I couldn't find it.

 

[R Golf]

My car made it to 60 days before the rings started to fail, and 3 more days after that before I gave up, returned the car to stock, and sold it. I'm running DS3.12 pads on the Cayman and I am happy with them. Much better initial bite and torque than the DS2500 pads I previously had on this car, and far less noisy than the Pagid RSL29 pads that I was running on the R.

Are you loving the Cayman? I was a "Porsche-guy" back in the day, instructing for PCA Metro and NNJR for 7 years ('99-06), and still love them. As part of my research on the brakes I checked some Porsche forums, and 3.12 users seem to be a happy bunch there. After a bunch of years doing this and many, many pad brands, I like the 3.12's best for a daily/track combo on sticky tires, and would most likely pick them as a track only pad as well.

 

[R Golf]

great driving!

I remember you mentioned there was a miata holding you up there? which part of the video was that? I couldn't find it.

Thanks!

The Miata is from my post on the "Official Lap Times" thread and refers to a different session. I was definitely going to get in the high 1:53's, except I caught up with a Miata in the very last turn and had to slow down before getting the pass. He was totally fine with his mirrors and immediatley gave me a pass when he saw me, so I have no issue with the driver at all. At least I now have a good target time to shoot for next season! ;>)

 

[Cliff]

Are you loving the Cayman? I was a "Porsche-guy" back in the day, instructing for PCA Metro and NNJR for 7 years ('99-06), and still love them. As part of my research on the brakes I checked some Porsche forums, and 3.12 users seem to be a happy bunch there. After a bunch of years doing this and many, many pad brands, I like the 3.12's best for a daily/track combo on sticky tires, and would most likely pick them as a track only pad as well.

The Cayman is awesome. I am finally learning how to be quick in it, and it looks and sounds the business. As a relatively light car, it seems to be easy on consumables too. I have not modified the car so far, and I don't have any plans to modify it. I've done 9 days in the car since buying it last Veteran's Day, with 4 more coming up next month.

A friend of mine who used to have a 718 GTS recommended the 3.12 pads to me, and I am pleased with them so far. Very little noise compared to the Pagid pads I ran on the R, and similar bite and torque.