FocusCanada Forums

Watkins Glen International is an awesome, awesome track ... with an amazing history and a deserved reputation for eating cars and drivers.

Having said that - the Fusion performed flawlessly; not whimpering one bit despite 8 runs of 25 to 35 minutes each, basically foot to the floor the whole time and up to the 7000 rpm redline in every gear.

And just as at Mosport, after each run we drew a crowd of other drivers who wanted to know wtf is that anyway ... and much to their consternation only to find out it was a four-banger dogging them around the track - and in fact a solid mid-pack car in terms of overall speed, factoring in braking and cornering ability.

They put me in the combined Intermediate / Advanced run grouping so I got to run with some decent drivers and some interesting cars; including a Cayman, SRT4, Cobalt SS, a whack of M3s, an M540i, some heavily modified older Bimmers and some beautiful new ones.

The overall organization of the event was excellent, and they even arranged for official track photography ... the link below takes you to their website and the Fusion is front and centre on almost every page - - and as you will see some portions of the track are so steep you couldn't walk up it.

I'm totally pumped about the whole thing and frankly kinda pleased with myself in terms of reppin' Ford and the Fusion. Let me know what you think.

Watkins Glen photos

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I can't cut and paste links on my iTouch so I will have to check out the pic's at work tomorrow.

dosnt work on my home computer eather

Jmountney1,Jun 18 2009, 11:52 PM Wrote:dosnt work on my home computer eather
[right][snapback]289816[/snapback][/right]

Hmmmm .... I think I fixed it - try it now.

Nice...

Who was the passenger in your car?

nice!!!!!!!

dBlast,Jun 19 2009, 06:13 AM Wrote:Nice...

Who was the passenger in your car?
[right][snapback]289826[/snapback][/right]

Looks like The Stig... :lol:

Looks like fun, Ken! Glad to see the Fusion kept up with the BMWs!

LMAO I was also gonna say the Stig

Looks like alot of fun has it taken a toll on the suspension/Tires/Brakes yet?

Do you need another set of tires now?

Great photos!

Id love to check out that track this summer. Was it a Bimmer club againg?

p.s. Seems a little too much 8 runs that are almost 30min long. That's quit a beating on the vehicle.

Nice photos indeed, but that one shot that Anthony posted makes me wonder. My car did the exact same thing at the Mosport DDT last year on a stock suspension set up (Heeled way the hell over as the load transitioned on a sharp right)

I was surprised, I would have thought after you did all that suspension work that the car would look a lot more neutral doing that :huh:

Maybe I won't look so hopeless on the stock AWD suspension set up on the big track at Mosport this year, it's just the way the car is.

I've also confirmed that the track is bodykit friendly (That's a load off my mind, I don't wanna be driving home with a cracked front bumper :P)

NefCanuck

NefCanuck,Jun 19 2009, 04:24 PM Wrote:Nice photos indeed, but that one shot that Anthony posted makes me wonder.  My car did the exact same thing at the Mosport DDT last year on a stock suspension set up (Heeled way the hell over as the load transitioned on a sharp right)

I was surprised, I would have thought after you did all that suspension work that the car would look a lot more neutral doing that :huh:

Maybe I won't look so hopeless on the stock AWD suspension set up on the big track at Mosport this year, it's just the way the car is.

I've also confirmed that the track is bodykit friendly (That's a load off my mind, I don't wanna be driving home with a cracked front bumper :P)

NefCanuck
[right][snapback]289870[/snapback][/right]

Hay Nef he was probably going much faster then you were, IIRC he does have a set of dedicated track tires.

NefCanuck,Jun 19 2009, 04:24 PM Wrote:Nice photos indeed, but that one shot that Anthony posted makes me wonder.  My car did the exact same thing at the Mosport DDT last year on a stock suspension set up (Heeled way the hell over as the load transitioned on a sharp right)
[right][snapback]289870[/snapback][/right]

Canadian ST is right ... the speeds are much faster ... see diagram below.

Yes - BMW - Patroon Chapter from NYC ... I call him "Le Stig blanc" - - LOL my instructor; a professional driver Bruno Lafosse originally from France - drives a monster M6 full race car - great guy and was happiest when we were going sideways around a corner 15kph faster than we had any business doing.

The forces associated with the speed, the elevation changes and the camber of the track are hard to put into words ... but hopefully this diagram helps with that.

Ah, the explanation tells the tale, thanks.

Lordy, 110km/h coming outta that hairpin, I wonder what the stock Michelin tires would have been screaming at that point?

My guess "UNCLE!" :lol:

Actually between the AWD and TCS I'm guessing my car would have shut the power down like crazy in that hairpin because of the sliding ass <_<

NefCanuck

Disable the TCS? Pull the fuse (unless the fuse is also for the ABS)?

Sweet pics Ken! Congrats on a wicked run!

NOS2Go4Me,Jun 19 2009, 07:58 PM Wrote:Disable the TCS? Pull the fuse (unless the fuse is also for the ABS)?

[right][snapback]289881[/snapback][/right]

It can be disabled via dash button (I dunno if it's like the Focus system in the 05-07 and will kick in at the point of absolute idiocy on the part of the driver though :dunno:)

Probably is tied in with the ABS (and to be honest, I doubt I'd ever be good enough on the track to want to disable the nanny aid, unless the nanny aid was making things worse)

NefCanuck