2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Track Drive

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The Circuit of the Americasâ€"COTA to its friendsâ€"was designed for one singular purpose: to provide Formula 1 with a truly world-class U.S. venue. Anyone who saw the inaugural race last year will likely agree the mission was accomplished. But Formula 1’s 1400-pound, 700-hp exotic racing machines come around just once a year. The rest of the time, the track is available for all sorts of other uses, one of which happened to be the launch of the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT. The 470-hp, 5200-pound bare-knuckle brawler would certainly feel right at home…right? Running the big Jeep on COTA isn’t nearly as bad an idea as it sounds. The track has an extra-wide racing surface and slow technical corners that emphasize purely mechanical grip, and that suits the Grand Cherokee. The Jeep certainly needs all the space it can get, but its all-wheel drive system and electronic rear differential put all 465 lb-ft of torque to the ground better than any other SRT vehicle save the Viper. SRT engineers are quick to point out the rear-diff is an active unit and does not do any torque vectoring. It has the ability to lock up on command, but it lacks the ability to overdrive a wheel. The all-wheel-drive system is rear-drive biased and becomes even more so when the center selector knob is turned to Track Mode. Selecting the most aggressive of driving modes also changes damper settings, opens exhaust flapper valves, and disables traction control. Stability control remains active, but is less restrictive. Shift maps are left out of the domain of the rotary controller. Instead, you must select Sport Mode with the Audi-esque shifter for the eight-speed transmission. Speaking of Audi, check out the steering wheel. SRT claims Audi and Mercedes were benchmarked for wheel designs. Call it what you want, but this steering wheel is fantastic, and I don’t care if it’s as original as a Weird Al parody. The track at COTA is 3.41 miles in length with 20 turns and 130 feet of elevation separating its highest and lowest points. As per usual, Start/Finish is hemmed by the pits on the left and giant grandstands on the right, but unlike most tracks, you feel boxed in as the front straight rises in front of you like an asphalt office building. The F1 boys are doing nearly 190 mph when they jump from gas to brake, but the SRT Jeep was a good 80 mph shy. Still, those shiny red Brembo-branded six-piston calipers scrub off speed with surprising ease. The track levels right before turn-in, and Turn 1 is your first experience in late apex patience. You have to wait until you think you’ve missed it, blurt out your favorite vulgarity, and then turn in. The rear differential works as much on entry as it does exit. Dial the steering in and it loosens the tail a bit, crating a yaw instead of just a head-first dive. Surprising at first, but in the best way possible. L ike, “How did this 5200-pound rig just do that?” Getting back on the gas in a hurry gets a little bit of the rear-end hop that was common in the last generation of SRT8 Grand Cherokee, but this is the only corner I where could make it happen, and only under very specific situations. A slow unwind of the wheel coupled with feeding in the gas instead of trying to punt the pedal through the firewall seemed to alleviate the tire hop. Obviously, I take a full 3 percent of the blame for the problem on the first few laps. Although the hill isn’t as steep or as obvious in the short straight between Turn 1 and Turn 2, it allows the SRT to accelerate faster than my well-tuned journalist butt dyno would have me believe. The big 295mm-wide tires have plenty of grip, which, with the help of some banking, allows the brave to run wide open through T2. Stay on the gas and the Jeep will run all the way through Turn 3, which a fast left kink, but Turn 4 and Turn 5 are a slower S-combo and require braking between T3 and T4. You need to get it straightened out before hitting the brakes or it will take fast hands â€" or, more than likely, stability control -- to keep it going grille-first. T4 and T5 are mirror images of each other, so use patience and self-control with the throttle. At the apex of T5, put the pedal down and let it run, freeing up the car with the steering. Slow down for Turn 6 to get it in, but don’t use all of the road on exit. Turn 7 comes up quick, and you need to be able get the Jeep straight to get on the brakes before Turn 8, which requires a visual turn-in indicator that is apparently invisible to someone with my exact seating position. By the end of the day, I had eventually found a rhythm, but it never felt ideal. Again, this section of track requires more patience than bravery, because Turn 9 is all about the exit. Get on the gas and let the engine and all-wheel-drive system work. Run all the way to the outside and watch for the marker. The track rises and your mind tells you the end of world is on the other side. Fast and blind turns that require minimal input, such as Turn 10, are some of my favorites. Line selection is paramount, because the apex is just a little late, but the car has to be rotated before you crest the rise. Get over the hump and the car suddenly feels like the tires have become hockey skates. On the run downhill, the slightest steering input will result in breaking the skates loose and understeering off the outside. Unwinding the wheel will get you in the same place. Lifting will also get you to the same place, but in a far flashier, backwards flurry. That, however, would only happen if you were brave and/or foolish enough to disable the st ability control.

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