jbooth
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Jonathan
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2021
- Threads
- 6
- Messages
- 162
- Reaction score
- 203
- Location
- Illinois
- Vehicles
- Honda Fit, Mustang Mach-E
- Occupation
- Software Engineer
- Thread starter
- #1
I thought I'd write up a brief post about taking my premium awd extended range to the track. I'm a stock config including original OEM tires with just over 14k miles on the car.
I did a day of the performance drive at the Autobahn country club. It was a mix of classroom, autocross, and track time. Active time I'd estimate at 1.5-2 hours of autocross and 1 to 1.5 hours on the track. I insured through OpenTrack, but didn't need it so can't speak to any claims process.
It was a fun time. However the weight of the MME was evident -- I was the slowest autocross by multiple seconds, never breaking the 30 seconds the instructor expected us all to beat (though I was close with multiple laps right around 30.5 seconds). The fastest autocross in our group (4-man) was a cute f-pace svr -- close in weight to the mme but with substantially larger tires. (and not quite double the price of the MME -- didn't want him for a hood ornament!)
Weight and lack of grip was evident on the lead/follow on the track as well. The club's miata running lead would power through turns where I was like, "nope, already at the car's traction limit just to turn at this speed." I did get some front collision warnings when directly following the miata due to its rapid braking action to regroup the pack of us. I could catch up with it after a turn, but I suspect the driver wasn't pushing it because of how spread out we'd end up due to particularly me in the MME and the f-pace having to take turns slower than the other cars (audi a5 and a camero with a track package).
Arrived at a 93% SOC, left at a 35% SOC. The last track session really hammered on the battery harder than the first two. My original HVBJB did not pop during track time or when I fast-charged at the nearest EA (although that was after a snacks and drinks, plus a 10-15 minute low-speed drive so there was plenty of time to shed heat). The after charge did pick right up to a 134kW peak charge rate, which was nice after previous charging peaks in Chicagoland of 85, 81, and 6. That is not a typo, I really mean 6kW, slower than my grizzl-e home charger at 9.6kW, for which EA charged me $0.36 before I concluded it wasn't going up (I wanted 10 minutes and was chatting with an id4 owner) and left for a different charger since the id4 was getting 19kW and the chevy bolt was getting 42kW (possibly limited by the bolt?) and that was all the slots.
Would I do it again? Maybe, although certainly not before getting better tires on the MME. I'm sure I'd improve as a driver with more time, although I don't know how much more the MME (as configured) will teach me. More likely I might do the needed inspection/fluids/etc to the other car -- the honda fit -- and take that. The instructor said if you can race a miata you can race anything, but I don't drive stick, so I can't rent one of the club's miatas, and my fit is a reasonable (inexpensive) substitute.
I did a day of the performance drive at the Autobahn country club. It was a mix of classroom, autocross, and track time. Active time I'd estimate at 1.5-2 hours of autocross and 1 to 1.5 hours on the track. I insured through OpenTrack, but didn't need it so can't speak to any claims process.
It was a fun time. However the weight of the MME was evident -- I was the slowest autocross by multiple seconds, never breaking the 30 seconds the instructor expected us all to beat (though I was close with multiple laps right around 30.5 seconds). The fastest autocross in our group (4-man) was a cute f-pace svr -- close in weight to the mme but with substantially larger tires. (and not quite double the price of the MME -- didn't want him for a hood ornament!)
Weight and lack of grip was evident on the lead/follow on the track as well. The club's miata running lead would power through turns where I was like, "nope, already at the car's traction limit just to turn at this speed." I did get some front collision warnings when directly following the miata due to its rapid braking action to regroup the pack of us. I could catch up with it after a turn, but I suspect the driver wasn't pushing it because of how spread out we'd end up due to particularly me in the MME and the f-pace having to take turns slower than the other cars (audi a5 and a camero with a track package).
Arrived at a 93% SOC, left at a 35% SOC. The last track session really hammered on the battery harder than the first two. My original HVBJB did not pop during track time or when I fast-charged at the nearest EA (although that was after a snacks and drinks, plus a 10-15 minute low-speed drive so there was plenty of time to shed heat). The after charge did pick right up to a 134kW peak charge rate, which was nice after previous charging peaks in Chicagoland of 85, 81, and 6. That is not a typo, I really mean 6kW, slower than my grizzl-e home charger at 9.6kW, for which EA charged me $0.36 before I concluded it wasn't going up (I wanted 10 minutes and was chatting with an id4 owner) and left for a different charger since the id4 was getting 19kW and the chevy bolt was getting 42kW (possibly limited by the bolt?) and that was all the slots.
Would I do it again? Maybe, although certainly not before getting better tires on the MME. I'm sure I'd improve as a driver with more time, although I don't know how much more the MME (as configured) will teach me. More likely I might do the needed inspection/fluids/etc to the other car -- the honda fit -- and take that. The instructor said if you can race a miata you can race anything, but I don't drive stick, so I can't rent one of the club's miatas, and my fit is a reasonable (inexpensive) substitute.
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