I am very impressed with the Dark Horse on the track (VIR)

[BimmerDriver]

Yesterday I went to my home track, VIR, for a day of fun in the sun. The weather was perfect, although it started cool, it stayed in the 60s.

For background, I've been doing track events since the 90s, and I've probably been to VIR 40 times or more as a driver and HPDE instructor with various groups. I've done tracks all over the Southeast as well as Mid Ohio and Road America. Corvette and BMW mostly, although I did track my S550 GT a bit.

My car is a base DH, no options, no HP, with OE Pirelli tires and OE brake pads. As I've gotten older, I've lost the desire to set record times and I don't go for maximum speed down the straights. Too many bad things can happen at those speeds and it really wears the brakes quickly. I did change the oil to full synthetic 5W30 and did a look-over on the car. Since it's relatively new, no brake fluid flush was needed.

I've already written more than most people want to read. TLDR; version: the car did awesome. The handling is excellent, very predictable and stable, the brakes are awesome and the suspension was just incredible. In track mode with the stiffest settings, the ride was compliant enough that the car never hopped or bopped around, the curbing never upset the balance and I never had any issues with the rear end stepping out under hard acceleration in turns. It was really amazing. The balance is excellent, no pushing and when it did exceed the slip angle, it was progressive and easily controllable.

My only complaint is that it was really too loud, but fortunately I was able to set the exhaust to "sport" instead of track even though you can't change the other "track" settings like steering. It would be nice if there was a quicker way to turn off the emergency braking (it resets every time you start the car) but that's nit-picking.

Even with the base seats, they held me in pretty good and I wasn't missing the Recarros. If I could ask for one thing, it would be to allow the headrest to tilt backwards more for when we wear a helmet.

Take your car to the track! That's what it was designed for, and dang, it works well!

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[S550VIN54]

Nice write up! As far as the recaros I have no complaints other than I wished they were electric with memory but I guess that would add more weight.
I would love to take this car to VIR!

 

[MadManMoon]

Awesome! I took my GT500 to VIR a bunch of times years ago, but it just never felt right (too fast in the straights, too ponderous in the corners). I definitely want to take the DH to feel the difference!

 

[d4rkg04t]

You can create a custom profile to switch to that has Track as the base profile, then turn the exhaust to Silent and the steering to whatever you like. Track mode eliminates the emergency braking stuff, I think.

 

[Rufus2023]

Thanks for sharing. Took my GT to Dominion for a track attack a few times in Fredericksburg and had basically the same experience. Enjoyed every minute. Plan to move to the next level in 2026 (HPDE).

 

[REV745DH24]

Yesterday I went to my home track, VIR, for a day of fun in the sun. The weather was perfect, although it started cool, it stayed in the 60s.

For background, I've been doing track events since the 90s, and I've probably been to VIR 40 times or more as a driver and HPDE instructor with various groups. I've done tracks all over the Southeast as well as Mid Ohio and Road America. Corvette and BMW mostly, although I did track my S550 GT a bit.

My car is a base DH, no options, no HP, with OE Pirelli tires and OE brake pads. As I've gotten older, I've lost the desire to set record times and I don't go for maximum speed down the straights. Too many bad things can happen at those speeds and it really wears the brakes quickly. I did change the oil to full synthetic 5W30 and did a look-over on the car. Since it's relatively new, no brake fluid flush was needed.

I've already written more than most people want to read. TLDR; version: the car did awesome. The handling is excellent, very predictable and stable, the brakes are awesome and the suspension was just incredible. In track mode with the stiffest settings, the ride was compliant enough that the car never hopped or bopped around, the curbing never upset the balance and I never had any issues with the rear end stepping out under hard acceleration in turns. It was really amazing. The balance is excellent, no pushing and when it did exceed the slip angle, it was progressive and easily controllable.

My only complaint is that it was really too loud, but fortunately I was able to set the exhaust to "sport" instead of track even though you can't change the other "track" settings like steering. It would be nice if there was a quicker way to turn off the emergency braking (it resets every time you start the car) but that's nit-picking.

Even with the base seats, they held me in pretty good and I wasn't missing the Recarros. If I could ask for one thing, it would be to allow the headrest to tilt backwards more for when we wear a helmet.

Take your car to the track! That's what it was designed for, and dang, it works well!

Go deaf like me! Loud wouldn’t bother you! Lol! My exhaust is loud with Kook headers and AWE pipes!

 

[d4rkg04t]

Go deaf like me! Loud wouldn’t bother you! Lol! My exhaust is loud with Kook headers and AWE pipes!

My ears flinched reading this post.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Yesterday I went to my home track, VIR, for a day of fun in the sun. The weather was perfect, although it started cool, it stayed in the 60s.

For background, I've been doing track events since the 90s, and I've probably been to VIR 40 times or more as a driver and HPDE instructor with various groups. I've done tracks all over the Southeast as well as Mid Ohio and Road America. Corvette and BMW mostly, although I did track my S550 GT a bit.

My car is a base DH, no options, no HP, with OE Pirelli tires and OE brake pads. As I've gotten older, I've lost the desire to set record times and I don't go for maximum speed down the straights. Too many bad things can happen at those speeds and it really wears the brakes quickly. I did change the oil to full synthetic 5W30 and did a look-over on the car. Since it's relatively new, no brake fluid flush was needed.

I've already written more than most people want to read. TLDR; version: the car did awesome. The handling is excellent, very predictable and stable, the brakes are awesome and the suspension was just incredible. In track mode with the stiffest settings, the ride was compliant enough that the car never hopped or bopped around, the curbing never upset the balance and I never had any issues with the rear end stepping out under hard acceleration in turns. It was really amazing. The balance is excellent, no pushing and when it did exceed the slip angle, it was progressive and easily controllable.

My only complaint is that it was really too loud, but fortunately I was able to set the exhaust to "sport" instead of track even though you can't change the other "track" settings like steering. It would be nice if there was a quicker way to turn off the emergency braking (it resets every time you start the car) but that's nit-picking.

Even with the base seats, they held me in pretty good and I wasn't missing the Recarros. If I could ask for one thing, it would be to allow the headrest to tilt backwards more for when we wear a helmet.

Take your car to the track! That's what it was designed for, and dang, it works well!

Great post, but I am surprised that with decades of tracking you did not go for the handling package.

Are you saying that you were in Track Mode but the car was emergency braking without you wanting it to do so?

 

[d4rkg04t]

Great post, but I am surprised that with decades of tracking you did not go for the handling package.

Are you saying that you were in Track Mode but the car was emergency braking without you wanting it to do so?

Yeah, the true Track mode disables emergency braking. Every other mode will try to kill you. It's such a stupid, stupid, stupid design idea by Ford. I was on the interstate a while back and had some clown in the left lane doing 65 with a semi 2 cars ahead in the right doing 65. I zipped up and as I changed lanes to get in front of the POS in the left lane, my car thought I was going to hit the semi so it slammed on the brakes and violently brake-checked the left-lane dude I was passing. He was angry enough to follow me for a time.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Yeah, the true Track mode disables emergency braking. Every other mode will try to kill you. It's such a stupid, stupid, stupid design idea by Ford. I was on the interstate a while back and had some clown in the left lane doing 65 with a semi 2 cars ahead in the right doing 65. I zipped up and as I changed lanes to get in front of the POS in the left lane, my car thought I was going to hit the semi so it slammed on the brakes and violently brake-checked the left-lane dude I was passing. He was angry enough to follow me for a time.

I have had this happen as well.

I did not realize I could turn it off.

Now I am going to look and see how to do that (other than track mode).

 

[BimmerDriver]

I would love to take this car to VIR!

What's stopping you?

 

[BimmerDriver]

Great post, but I am surprised that with decades of tracking you did not go for the handling package.

Are you saying that you were in Track Mode but the car was emergency braking without you wanting it to do so?

Yeah, the true Track mode disables emergency braking.

First, I didn't go for the HP because it's just too stiff for the road even in comfort mode. I'll go to the track 2 or 3 times a year, the rest of the time I'm driving on the streets or on the way to the track. It's just too much for me.

I'm old.

Second, the owner's manual states that the emergency braking is disabled in track mode, but that does not appear to be the case in my 2025 car. I still had to go into the menu and turn it off each time.

No, I did not have it brake for me on the track (I turned it off) but I have had BMWs do it to me unexpectedly, and based on the behavior of the active cruise in the Ford, I don't trust their algorithms and I've turned off that feature as well.

 

[d4rkg04t]

Second, the owner's manual states that the emergency braking is disabled in track mode, but that does not appear to be the case in my 2025 car. I still had to go into the menu and turn it off each time.

I have a '24 and in Track mode it absolutely will watch you hit Warp 8 into the back of another vehicle or wall... in silence with a smile on its face. Sounds like they changed it up for the '25 models?

 

[S550VIN54]

What's stopping you?

Actually I was looking into getting a 2nd set of tires but then decided not to just because I get bored with cars and was looking to possibly trade for another c8. Yes, I have a car disease!

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Take it to VIR!

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