Yesterday I went out to an open track day at the new Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah with my three sons. It’s the same track they ran the Le Mans of America event this last weekend. We ran on the western end of the track on about a 2 mile course. I ran the Jeep while they had their Evo MR9, BMW M3 and STi. The track officials weren’t too sure what to expect with the Jeep but it more than held it’s own with the other cars. It sure surprised a lot of people. I had the driver of a GT40 tell me, “You sure drove the #@%& out of that Jeep and made me work to get past you.†Several had to come over and get a closer look in the pits. I ran with a pack of Corvettes, a race Evo, an AC Cobra, a 911 and the GT40. The only cars to pass me were the GT40 , the Evo and one Corvette (I have to say that I had the best seat in the house to watch that GT40 ripping it up), The photo of the 911 and me was just before I passed him on the front straight. I also passed that Cobra but he wasn’t driving it even near to it’s potential.
It was a blast but I probably used up about $300 worth of tire wear. The Jeep was tight in the turns and body roll was surprisingly minimal under those conditions. The brakes worked great and never faded during 4 sessions of 20 minutes each. The AWD grip was incredible. I think the ESP helped out a lot but was pretty transparent. I kept it in 3rd most of the track downshifting to 2nd on a few of the slower turns. There is a high speed 90 mph turn on leading to the back straight that was really fun. I was hitting about 105 mph on the back straight and 100 mph on the front straight. I had one of the driving school Mustangs start one session about 500 yards behind me. It took him 8 laps to catch up. He was quicker in the turns. I waved him past at the beginning of the front straight but I was faster on the straights and had to back out of it so he could get by. It was a fun day and the Jeep really did itself proud. There is some video at http://homepage.mac.com/munoap/iMovieTheater13.html. Also look at the footage of my son’s STi and M3 on the track as well as an onboard camera on my son’s Evo.
Now I'll have to try my Ram when it's ready. I have a feeling that it's going to take a lot more driving than the Jeep and will be much less forgiving.
It was a blast but I probably used up about $300 worth of tire wear. The Jeep was tight in the turns and body roll was surprisingly minimal under those conditions. The brakes worked great and never faded during 4 sessions of 20 minutes each. The AWD grip was incredible. I think the ESP helped out a lot but was pretty transparent. I kept it in 3rd most of the track downshifting to 2nd on a few of the slower turns. There is a high speed 90 mph turn on leading to the back straight that was really fun. I was hitting about 105 mph on the back straight and 100 mph on the front straight. I had one of the driving school Mustangs start one session about 500 yards behind me. It took him 8 laps to catch up. He was quicker in the turns. I waved him past at the beginning of the front straight but I was faster on the straights and had to back out of it so he could get by. It was a fun day and the Jeep really did itself proud. There is some video at http://homepage.mac.com/munoap/iMovieTheater13.html. Also look at the footage of my son’s STi and M3 on the track as well as an onboard camera on my son’s Evo.
Now I'll have to try my Ram when it's ready. I have a feeling that it's going to take a lot more driving than the Jeep and will be much less forgiving.
