Put the beast through Auto-x in the pourin-ass RAIN!

[r3dn3ck]

W00t... yeah event was rain or shine and it did both... just one more than the other. The track was soaked and had standing water all over the place the whole day. There were tons of vettes, miatas and S2000's and the obligatory Datsun 510's running amok but the Mustangs present didn't disappoint anyone and were competitive with the rest of the field.

My car... Got stuck in the OSP class which is for pretty heavily modded cars (like mine). Only 1 other car was in OSP though and it came in on a trailer wearing Hoosiers so I'm pretty stoked that I was at least competitive. This was the first sanctioned outing for the beast in its current configuration.

waiting for on-track pics of my run... I was busy driving, couldn't be bothered to snap any other pics.

My buddy Elliot (twinkie)

Track description:
START, 25ft to 90deg left, 50ft to 180deg 2x apex right, 100ft to left-right chicane, exit chicane hard left 90deg into 100ft left-right-left slalom, long left 150deg sweeper exit to 100ft right-left-right-left slalom into hard right reducing radius 170deg, exit to 75ft left-right-left slalom, into 180deg sharp apex left, into 180deg right, 50ft to 90deg sharp left, FINISH

Consider that was in the pouring ass rain. I managed to not hit a single cone and had some pretty interesting throttle steering exercises. Almost every other car spun out at least once.... well except the friggin miatas. Those things are nuts.

 

[justinschmidt1]

man...I need to do some autox!

Especially with the new bilsteins up front..I love them!

 

[jfor441]

Dang... thought i replied to this. How did you end up doing in the event? Good job getting out there and doing what you built your car for :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[AaRoN]

Awesome man! How'd you do?

 

[r3dn3ck]

I lost... came in 2nd in a field of 2 cars in my class. Worse yet.. I came in 2nd by like 9 seconds. Exposed some areas that need attention though. Front sway bar is too soft and it's costing me on the turn-in. Rear end is silky smooth and easy to handle when it steps out though so I may be able to step down to 250# rear springs and back up to the MM adjustable sway bar with no problem.

Traction was a big issue but not as big as I'd thought it would be. I'll be a LOT more aggressive my next time out. BTW... Sumitomo is a shitty tire for racing on dry but they're pretty good in the wet.

Fortunately for me this year this is a non-points series so I'm just taking the opportunity to get the car dialed in as much as possible.

 

[jfor441]

Good deal! Losing by 9 seconds isn't too bad when it was really a shakedown run for car though. You know where you need to improve and what to do to fix it!

 

[Paul]

Cone dodging!

 

[r3dn3ck]

It really is pretty exciting to go from nearly drifting through a tight 180 to a wide open romp to 60 through the slalom then immediately jump on the brakes, crank the wheel and mat the gas again to make the next hard turn. I did nearly the whole track above 3500rpm in 2nd gear, most of it above 4500.

Best part is it's damn near impossible to mess up your ride. 2nd gear doesn't allow you to go too fast and the tracks are usually too tight to get into 3rd.

 

[justinschmidt1]

It really is pretty exciting to go from nearly drifting through a tight 180 to a wide open romp to 60 through the slalom then immediately jump on the brakes, crank the wheel and mat the gas again to make the next hard turn. I did nearly the whole track above 3500rpm in 2nd gear, most of it above 4500.

Best part is it's damn near impossible to mess up your ride. 2nd gear doesn't allow you to go too fast and the tracks are usually too tight to get into 3rd.

hmm, I see light poles haha.

Yea, I was thinking autox might suck in an auto..but then again..I should be able to just hold second gear around the whole track...

your probably in the MPH range of 30-70 the whole track right?

 

[r3dn3ck]

light poles are so far from the angle of inertia for every turn you'd have to aim at one deliberately. We take pains to make sure the track is idiot resistant. Yeah... stayed in the 35-60mph range for better than 3/4 of the total track length. The only parts you go much slower on are the start and the finish lane. Turning hard at 50mph is a definite and unique sensation... you gotta try it.

 

[justinschmidt1]

light poles are so far from the angle of inertia for every turn you'd have to aim at one deliberately. We take pains to make sure the track is idiot resistant. Yeah... stayed in the 35-60mph range for better than 3/4 of the total track length. The only parts you go much slower on are the start and the finish lane. Turning hard at 50mph is a definite and unique sensation... you gotta try it.

I turn hard at 50 plus all the time.

I need better front tires though