My Mach-E Autocross Video

[Jim McDaniell]

Ha! Fun in cars.

What adjustments are thinking you need to make?

Did you use one peddle driving.

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[Jim McDaniell]

Did you use one peddle driving?

 

[Carsinmyblood]

I checked to see that the sound was on.

 

[xspartachris]

Fast autox course! Pikes Peak raceway? What group was organizing it? It’s been a long time since I’ve done that and I miss it…

Yup, Pikes Peak International Raceway with SCCA (https://www.rmsolo.org)

 

[xspartachris]

Did you use one peddle driving?

One pedal was off, I’d say that makes letting off the accelerator for corner entry more predictable but to be honest I never tried doing a run with it turned on.

 

[xspartachris]

What adjustments are thinking you need to make?

Adjustments to how I’d drive it? Lots.
Adjustments to the Mach-E? Mostly tires.

 

[sldave84]

I have always been curious about doing autocross or even open track days at some of the local tracks around where I live. How much does it shred your tires doing a single day? This is my daily driver so I would rather not kill the car, but wasn’t sure how rough a single day would be on a car overall. If you have to replace your tires after a couple autocross days it becomes a much more expensive experience

 

[HuntingPudel]

Depends on your tires, the event, and your car. I've done a couple of seasons on a set of "normal" tires. I've also replaced a set of soft compound tires after a quarter of a season. One event shouldn't totally shred your tires, but the wear rate is certainly a lot higher than normal commute driving.

 

[xspartachris]

Exactly, for what’s shown in the video on the original equipment tires for the Mach-E First Edition (Mach-E GT will come with grippier / softer tires) this scuffed up the surface of the tires but that’s about it. I didn’t measure tread wear but maybe equivalent wear of doing a few thousand miles of normal driving? Since they aren’t intended for extended use at high temperatures there may be a risk of “chunking” these tires on track but that isn’t a problem for autocross.

Almost all autocross / track regulars go with gripper “Extreme Performance Summer” (200 tread wear) tires and that’s where you start burning through tires. A 200 tread wear tire will only last a handful of track days or maybe one autocross season (about 10x that video). Maybe even worse for the Mach-E because it is heavy and only fairly narrow tires will fit.

 

[Thopter]

Adjustments to how I’d drive it? Lots.

This, a pony for your thoughts, plz.

I’m waiting on a GTPE, so I gotta live vicariously till when.

 

[xspartachris]

This, a pony for your thoughts, plz.

There’s some advice out there from drivers way better than me on autocross tips for Teslas, same should apply. Better to way over slow for corner entry (I kept terribly messing that up on the second corner throughout that video) and get a straighter / earlier exit setup to take advantage of the acceleration. It also took me a few runs to really understand that with the AWD I could get back on power earlier than I expected because even if there isn’t enough traction the Mach-E will figure out what it can do. It’s sort of like driving with traction control on but way smoother / more useful than most traction control. But it’s hard to tell how much of that is front vs rear motor power management versus what’s left of traction control, I guess I need to drive a GT with the fully defeat-able traction control.

 

[sldave84]

Exactly, for what’s shown in the video on the original equipment tires for the Mach-E First Edition (Mach-E GT will come with grippier / softer tires) this scuffed up the surface of the tires but that’s about it. I didn’t measure tread wear but maybe equivalent wear of doing a few thousand miles of normal driving? Since they aren’t intended for extended use at high temperatures there may be a risk of “chunking” these tires on track but that isn’t a problem for autocross.

Almost all autocross / track regulars go with gripper “Extreme Performance Summer” (200 tread wear) tires and that’s where you start burning through tires. A 200 tread wear tire will only last a handful of track days or maybe one autocross season (about 10x that video). Maybe even worse for the Mach-E because it is heavy and only fairly narrow tires will fit.

Thank you for the insight! I still regret not taking my manual ‘12 GT out a time or two. Do you have any advice on where to look/find these track days? I’m in metro Detroit so there are a couple legit tracks with public days but haven’t seen autocross

 

[ab13]

Thank you for the insight! I still regret not taking my manual ‘12 GT out a time or two. Do you have any advice on where to look/find these track days? I’m in metro Detroit so there are a couple legit tracks with public days but haven’t seen autocross

There's a map search feature on the SCCA site.

https://www.scca.com/events?categories=solo,prosolo,solo,solo,autocross-5

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