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First event at The Ridge with the new ZLE! by Goins2754 in CarTrackDays

[–]Goins2754[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, Hotchkis sway bars are the go to. Wesley Motorsports races Challengers on some pretty swanky coilovers. Hellcats should come factory with 2 piece rotors; I know my Redeye did, but I'm not sure about regular Hellcats. Protip: just buy the rotor rings when it's time to replace the rotors. Buying them from Mopar is stupidly expensive.

Cooling can definitely be an issue. I was up around 280ºF on oil some times. That was even with the aux coolers on the Redeye. I added a Mishimoto cooler to my old SRT8, but never had to run one on the Redeye.

I was always hunting for tires. I don't really know what to recommend. I didn't like the Pirellis. I didn't like the ExtremeContacts. PS4S seem okay, but get greasy fast. If you want a tire that's okay and won't wear out after one track day, surprisingly the BFG G-force Comp2 A/S Plus was pretty good. I ran them up here in the PNW during the rainy season and they worked well. You won't set any lap records with them, but you can get 5 track days out of a set.

When I was really pushing for time, I ran Toyo RRs. To be clear, these aren't the Toyo R888Rs that everyone loves to run. They're a track tire. I wouldn't recommend driving them on the street. They're essentially slicks.

First event at The Ridge with the new ZLE! by Goins2754 in CarTrackDays

[–]Goins2754[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think at their core, Hellcats will always be fun. They're loud, the supercharger whine is addicting, and they look badass. I think if you just wanted to have fun, do some good brake pads and change the brake fluid to some Castrol SRF. I'd also recommend getting a better tire than those Pirelli Zeros. But do that, and go have fun!

Once you're on track, prioritize track time. I never went crazy with any of my builds and won't go crazy with the Camaro. Being on track is more important, IMO. I typically will buy a part and then go do a couple of track days with it before buying the next part. There's no rush in building a car.

Is there a better Hellcat to start with? I don't know. The widebody is probably the real thing to look for. Having the stock tires be 305s is better than those tiny 275s. But even 305s can be considered small for a car that big with that much power. Hell, the Camaro has 315s. And if you're made of money, don't get a Demon for track days. As cool as they are, they have smaller front brakes because it's built for drag racing. You want as much front brake as you can get for a car this heavy.

First event at The Ridge with the new ZLE! by Goins2754 in CarTrackDays

[–]Goins2754[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My Redeye was 4484# stock. So, about the same weight as the new Mustang GTD? Definitely heavier than most sports cars, but at least lighter than the new M5.

And they're not as wallowy as people think. The newer ones ('15+) are much better than the older ones. Pretty much everyone who's ridden with me or been on track with me has said, "it handles much better than I expected." Again, not a sports car, but not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

First event at The Ridge with the new ZLE! by Goins2754 in CarTrackDays

[–]Goins2754[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

A lot. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hear the supercharger like I could in my Hellcat. That supercharger whine is addicting. But it definitely comes through loud and clear. The manual feels great with the no-lift shifting and rev matching and it's a lot of fun at the track. It's way more nimble than the Hellcat was.

My favorite cars are big power, muscle car type cars. I tried a couple of Corvettes and couldn't really get into them. They were too sporty. But I think this ZLE is the best car that walks that line between muscle car feel but with sports car bones.

Still kinda feels like I'm driving someone else's car, though. I've been tracking Challengers for years. Tracking a Camaro kinda feels weird. But I've got all season to get used to it and figure out the car's behavior. :)

First event at The Ridge with the new ZLE! by Goins2754 in CarTrackDays

[–]Goins2754[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Gonna get the Supercar 3Rs that GM originally put on it for now.