Daily Driver / occasional Track Day GTI ‘19 S

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · Jan 23, 2022

Another autocross weekend in the books! I joined my kid with my commuter Acura ILX. He beat me by two seconds…..
…….Went from giving him a ride along/instruction lap in the first morning lap to closing out the day with him giving ME pointers/instruction on our last lap! These kids learn fast and go fast!

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · Mar 27, 2022

More fun in the sun today. Both of us cut a couple seconds off our previous best times. Always looking to improve and have fun!
Autocross is a nice hobby we share and the GTI has been a great car for my son to cut his teeth on! And the ILX has surprised me as to how well it can negotiate the course for a mild mannered sedan!

ckuhns · Mar 27, 2022

That's so awesome! My son may only be 15 months old, but already LOVES cars, Hopefully he's into such things.

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · May 22, 2022

Another Autocross in the books. This outing we tried a new set of RT660 to replace the worn RT615K. The RT660 offer great overall grip and I’d say are an improvement over its predecessor.

I always enjoy seeing the GTI alongside me on the way to Homestead!

Over the past couple outings my son consistently runs the course 2-3 seconds quicker than I in my stock ILX. Him on the Falkens and me on PZero. Today I had a best of 55.8sec with him turning a 52.05 second run.

Today we had the pleasure of seeing fellow forum member Deanjet tearing up the course in his GTI.

A great day!

DerHase · May 23, 2022

Very cool, now following as I've largely got similar goals to not ruin my car like I've done in the past

Also another white 19 GTI here. That seems to be one of the most common colors of people who track them anecdotally.

I was at VIR a few weeks ago, and going back this weekend with just 034 camber mounts and slightly more aggressive pads being the only changes to an otherwise stock (with wheels and tires) car. On the street it's already super noticeable in lateral grip. Should be able to put a number to it (either data and/or laptimes) after this weekend.

You guys have any plans to run any tracks further up the east coast? One day I'd like to get down to Road Atlanta/Sebring/Daytona.

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · May 23, 2022

DerHase said:
Very cool, now following as I've largely got similar goals to not ruin my car like I've done in the past

Also another white 19 GTI here. That seems to be one of the most common colors of people who track them anecdotally.

I was at VIR a few weeks ago, and going back this weekend with just 034 camber mounts and slightly more aggressive pads being the only changes to an otherwise stock (with wheels and tires) car. On the street it's already super noticeable in lateral grip. Should be able to put a number to it (either data and/or laptimes) after this weekend.

You guys have any plans to run any tracks further up the east coast? One day I'd like to get down to Road Atlanta/Sebring/Daytona.

Funny play on the Spiderman pointing meme!

As for plans tracking- I’m tempted to get the kid signed up for a novice run group in either NASA or Chinmotorsports or PBOC. He’ll be 17 in June. I may even join him in a novice group in my ILX as I could honestly use a refresher on everything. Homestead would be ideal since it’s convenient. Sebring would be option 2.

I’ve run at Daytona in an open wheel car back in 2005. Saw lots of people overshoot T1 and saw a few people get loose and go backwards into the the infield tire wall at the bus stop chicane. I’d like to get back there one day… just not in my car!

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · Jun 16, 2022

After having gone from -2 front camber with the Superpro Strut Tops and LCA’s we took the car back to -1.2 deg up front when removing those clunky/rattling strut tops and going to factory tops. Really missed that crisp turn-in reflex of the -2 setup so we had a set of Eurosport strut tops installed (along with a strut tower bar).
I could feel that -2deg again …crisper turn in reflexes with no added NVH. Great product. As for the strut tower bar- I notice it less than the negative camber! For the price I didn’t mind throwing it on there. Tucks under the cowl… can’t even see it.

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · Jun 17, 2022

Update s to the mod list…. Changed items in italics, added in Bold

Intake Tract;
*ECS Inlet Air Fin
034 Front Air Dam
APR Open Intake
034 Intake Hose
033 Turbo Inlet Pipe

Power Mod;
JB4 Map 2 day to day. Map 1 for track day.
*now running a Map 6 from Georgia- needed after going with ARM Downpipe as Map 2 was hitting fuel cut at 5500rpn. Map 6 pulls hard and smooth power band.

Exhaust;
Factory Downpipe
*now on a Catted ARM Downpipe. Much louder now and some fuel smell. My son loves it… if it were my Daily I’d put a resonator in the mid pipe. Power increase was definitely noticeable.
3” Custom Catback Exhaust using one Borla ProXS muffler.

Suspension;
Superpro Front Endlinks
Superpro 22mm RSB & Endlinks
Superpro Front Lower Control Arms
Tyrolsport Front Deadset Kit subframe
VWRacing Cup Kit (matched Springs and Dampers)
Added Eurosport front Strut Tower Brace.
Added Eurosport Stut Top Mounts.. provided quicker turn-in reflexes. Brought neg camber to;
Alignment -2F , -2R , 0 Toe

Brakes;
TRW hi temp fluid
*now Motul RBF600
Porterfield R4S Street/Track pads daily
Porterfield R4 front Pads track day
ECS 2pc Rotors Front

Appearance;
Aerofabb rear wing insert (to be installed)

Wheels;
Sparco Assetto Gara 17x7.5 ET48

Tires;
Fallen RT615K 225/45 17
*now Falken RT660 225/45 17

Interior;
Leyo Billet DSG shift knob

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · Jul 24, 2022

Had the pleasure of Codriving my son’s GTI today. What started off as a bad prep for the outing (snapped a wheel stud last night swapping out the wheels on my ILX and didn’t have time to replace it) turned into a day of sharing knowledge in the GTi.

Added camber up front was great. Tires great. Very hot out there so cut the day short. Blessed to be able to do this with my son. The kid is constantly a second quicker than I am so I do learn from him!…. But I feel good knowing I taught him the fundamentals!

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · Jul 30, 2022

Just found out my son placed Second in his class last Saturday. Lost to a ‘96 Civic but beat a new Civic Type R. First time he sees his new skills pay off as it was our first competition.
Looks like we might take a break from Autocross and get him started with HPDE.

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · Aug 16, 2022

Nice day of Lead/Follow at Lime Rock in Roush Mustangs! First track experience for for the kid- was pushing the car harder than I was! ….The difference between 17 and 48 years of age!
Skip runs a nice intro class. Plenty of seat time!

Great prep before we get him in the GTI in a few weeks at the Homestead road course.

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · Sep 18, 2022

Another day in the books!
HPDE at Homestead

Here’s the kid at Turn 6. His first HPDE.

Standard line

Inside line

Really proud of him . Did great.

SouthFL_Mk7.5 · Oct 1, 2022

With only DSG transmission cars in the driveway and manual cars becoming more scarce, a few weeks ago we went on a search for a manual transmission fun car to collect and enjoy and to teach my son how to drive a manual well.
After test driving and searching Miata’s, WRX’s, BRZ’s, we came across this 2009 JCW and chose it.