continued from above
This was a pretty good suspension test, in my opinion. We know this track well and we ran this same car with the same set-up minus the shocks/springs a month earlier. Not only did we drop four seconds on a two minute lap, but we took the car from a bucking, portly pig that was rolling and brake diving and porpoising around this somewhat bumpy track and turned it into a calm, flat cornering car that was nothing like the OEM suspension'd Mustang any longer. I cannot repeat this enough: a bump in spring rate along with proper monotube adjustable coilovers will completely TRANSFORM these cars. The shocks that Ford installs are equivalent to $50/corner Autozone specials. Even the "adjustable" shocks that come on the Boss 302 LS are not good at all - Tokico adjustables are only a small step above the Autozone fare that comes on the GT's. The longer you run on track the more the performance in twin tube shock degrades in handling, as well.
Of course I couldn't resist a little hooning for the cameras... with the stock 380 whp, it's just too easy!
It isn't so much about how many adjustments the shocks have, or the reservoirs, but the type of damper being used. Monotubes are technically superior to twin tubes in every performance measurement, and their MUCH larger pistons can react to bumps much more rapidly and effectively. They tend to have more of an adjustment range and can deal with a wider spectrum of spring rates. We didn't make this a gut busting, over-sprung race car set-up (450F/225R), but instead mildly improved the front rates and kept the rear rates nearly stock. At the same time we lowered the car 1.25" or more at each corner, for a flatter "stance" and a lower Center of Gravity - which directly improves cornering grip. The lower ride height added negative camber, as it always does on McPherson strut cars, and this also helped improve front grip and lower front tire wear.
Andy Hollis giving the point-by from his OLOA race prepped CRX to Amy's '11 Mustang GT.
Amy had fun in the red Mustang and ran a bunch of 1:58 laps, sometimes with a string of 3 or 4 in a row within two tenths. Just couldn't get back down to the 1:57's she ran at the ECR event in November. These old Hoosier tires are just dead, and have "compounded out". We used and abused these for GTA, lots of autocrossing, and multiple track days. They still have tread left, and the wear is perfectly flat across the tread, but they are just getting ... slower.
And we
still used these same tires at the NASA event at MSR-Houston in January. Just like most folks, we have a fixed racing budget that isn't unlimited, so sometimes we gotta
win some tires to get new ones. The rest of the car was flawless and the Carbotech brakes were phenomenal once again. The twice-rebuilt TractionLok differential is utterly gone but again, we need the budget to recover before dropping $700+ on a Torsen T2-R. Meh, we can deal with some imperfection - this is a stick axle pony car after all.
Matt had an uneventful, but fun day in the BRZ. We luckily didn't have anything explode, fall off or catch on fire in the ChumpCar Firebird. It was a big hot mess, and we uncovered some new issues in this fiurst track outing, but we made it through five sessions and three drivers and still drove it onto the trailer for the ride home. The 2013 GT suspension test was great and the 2011 GT was flawless all day. Overall, this ECR Toy Run event was a lot of fun and a very informative test. I have to thank the ECR track owners for putting this much-discounted event on for the 5th year in a row, and thanks also to Brad Flak for corralling the drivers and instructors. As usual, the Toy Run's ultra-low price tag attracted many first time track enthusiasts, including many local autocrossers. Hopefully this exposure to road course driving gets them a little more hooked on doing HPDE events. This worked in the past for myself and many other fellow (and many former-) SCCA autocrossers, like Vorshlag tester KenO - who was a blur around the track all day (above right and below left).
Another Vorshlag tester, and BMWCCA LSR president MarkW, was also on hand in his 1M (above, right), pushing his
Vorshlag 1M camber plates and finally wearing front tires flat instead of chunking the shoulders. You 1M owners can thank Mark for the Vorshlag 1M camber plates. His constant stream of camera phone pics showing torn up front tire edges spurred the production of the OEM perches that make this fitment possible.
D-Force 18x10" S197 Wheel In Stock
Back by popular demand is the 5x114.3 bolt circle 18x10" D-Force Racing lightweight wheel. This ET43 offset wheel fits both the
S197 Mustang and
GR chassis Subaru STI without spacers. There are dozens of sets in stock in both Silver and Flat Black colors. These may not last too long, like last time, and will probably sell out before the next batch arrives. If you want a set, you can of course order them through Vorshlag. Thanks!
That's all we have on this December ECR event and the prep leading up to it, but I have a lot more writing to do to get caught up on this S197 thread. We have
several more posts for this thread coming soon, so stay tuned for more.