Dallas Fort Worth 5.0 Mustang Club - View Single Post - Vorshlag 2011 Mustang 5.0 GT

Fair · 12-03-2013, 01:26 PM

continued from above

On the very next lap I turned up the heat and re-caught one of the TT2 cars I had let by me after the near accident, in the same spot entering Turn 5. I was trying to get a good run up this hill on this Corvette and had a bit of wheelspin through uphill Turn 5. Any wheelspin quickly overheats A6 Hoosiers, so I backed off knowing this lap was blown, which turned into some off-throttle oversteer. I cranked in full opposite lock and got back into the throttle to hopefully transfer some weight to the rear... but it was too late. I had a little tank slapper and when I caught it the car wanted to go a bit wider than the track surface allowed for, heh. Instead of chancing a sideways off I straightened up and barely took all 4 wheels off, track right. It was 4 off, though, which of automatically DSQd any of times from that session, so I immediately came in and waited in the hot pits, trying to cool down. I was spitting mad, and eventually had some words with the TT1 driver that nearly crashed us both when he came in - telling him that his brake check move was utterly insane and that his constant blocking was getting old. His response was a lame "I never saw you..." Sure, since this giant red Mustang swerving and flashing bright lights parked 5 feet aft of your back bumper is so hard to miss. Good grief...

Mike Weathers' TT1 Corvette and I were always next to each other on grid all year, but communicated well and never impeded each other

Based on the repetitive blocking I encountered this year from this one TT driver I am going to run a completely different TT warm-up/gridding/out lap strategy next year to avoid getting anywhere near drivers like this, and I am going to publicly call out these games in every TT meeting we have.

Amy took the keys for TT session 3 while I tried to cool down. She went out and ran a 1:56.934, which was her personal best at ECR by over a second. That was good news, and she came in all smiles and super pumped up! If you don't know this track, a 1:56 lap is really flying, and would be a record in any of the lettered TT classes and was still 3+ seconds faster than American Iron was running. Many of the TT drivers congratulated her on her new best lap time, as only 5 other TT drivers ran quicker than her on Sunday.

Jeff Tan's ST3/TT3 prepped, EVO-D tuned EVO put up a hellva fight, taking 2nd in TT3 both days

Amy's 1:56 would have been 2nd place but Jeff Tan also had a fast session 3. After slapping on a set of 275mm Hoosier A6s for the first time he dropped to a 1:56.7, and I felt like he might go faster still in the 2 remaining sessions. This is a gutted and race prepped ST3 EVO with an Evolution Dynamics tuned motor that makes a big flat power curve... where they tweak the boost levels to make the same flat 380 whp across the entire rev range. It is a TT trick you can do in a turbo car, and they've used this tuning strategy plus good driving to notch up a number of TT lap records in Texas. Well I was worried Jeff might go out and find more time in TT session 4, which he eventually did in a BIG way

After 3 TT sessions were in the books I still didn't have a time yet, so I went out in TT session 4. There were 6 cars in TT3 class on Sunday so 2 more contingency tires on the line for anyone on Hoosiers, plus I was worried that my track record from Saturday was a little soft - since I had two major driving errors on that 1:55.250 lap Saturday. It was up to 65°F, a little warm for that ideal A6 lap time, but it was still possible. This time I gapped the road blocker in front of me by a HUGE amount, holding up the rest of the field on the Warm Up lap, but I wasn't going to catch him into the first turn again, by damn.

The bulk of the NASA Texas TT competitors are great about giving point-buys and making room for others during cool down laps

Luckily I had a fairly clear first hot lap with Jeff Tan glued to my tail. He was chasing the rabbit (me) and barely kept a handful of car lengths between us. I slowly pulled a little bit on him and when I saw the 1:55.279 time at the start/finish after hot lap one I knew he had to be in the 1:55s as well, but I felt like our gap was increasing ever so slightly. I found out later that Jeff had run a 1:55.872 right behind me, his fastest ever by a large margin. He got really close to my time - which made me nervous! - and this was the closest gap in TT3 that we had all year (other than the one loss at MSR-C). Lap one was good but I wanted more, so I went ahead with Hot Lap 2. This lap was feeling better, where I put even more distance on Tan, and I had an indicated 1:54.6 through most of the lap... but I was slowly catching that same TT1 car again. I can't get away from this guy...

I looked up when I was coming up the canyon out of Turn 10 that the TT1 driver had his fist in the air, indicating that he'd be going into the pits. Great! He was waaaay up there, and surely he saw me closing in and would give me room on his cool down lap. But instead of looking in his mirrors, seeing me closing fast on him (I don't think he owns a rearview mirror) he instead lollygagged for the last few hundreds of yards of his lap and I caught right him in the middle of Turn 11. I had to back way off to avoid hitting him, almost coming to stop mid corner, which of course blew my 1:54 lap down to a 1:55.9. I tried to take another lap but by now the A6s were overheated and I was catching the back of the TT field going into Turn 3, so I took a cool down and came into the pits.

The weather was getting warmer, and I was exhausted from constantly getting pissed off at the blocker, so Amy went out in TT session 5. She took one of our customers (who had the engine troubles the day before) riding shotgun, letting many of the other TT drivers by her on the first lap, cleanly and safely. She took several laps at a 1:59 pace, just having fun on the ride-along; taking riders in TT DSQ'd her session, of course, but she never impeded anyone. Probably her last day driving this car in competition, so she made the most of it.

While Amy came in from that session I went out in in the very next HPDE4 session driving one of our tester's Mustangs, who is running our first set of S197 MCS TT1 singles on her car. This was the very first set of S197 MCS TT1s ever built, where we helped them calculate shock lengths and such. We knew the car rode beautifully on the street (daily driven) but I needed to drive this car to make sure all was well on this bumpy, tricky track.

Jan's Mustang on MCS TT1 coilovers was a lot of fun to drive

This '12 Mustang GT was on the stock 19x9" wheels and some worn out 255mm Nitto Invo tires, Carbotech XP16 pads, Vorshlag plates, MCS TT1s, a CG lock on the stock belt, and that's it. Totally stock engine, tune, airbox, and those skinny street tires that had seen better days. We went out with several instructors in HPDE4 and I pushed it about 8-9 tenths, running as quick as a 2:07.5 lap in traffic on these very low grip tires. Watching that video (which is only posted on my personal Facebook page at the moment) I had to brake 200 feet early into Turn 6, while coasting and waiting for a point by, so the car should run closer to a 2:05 lap. She took some video and data with her phone (Tom's Lap Timer), which we will try to get ahold of and post later. Jan had a blast riding along as I talked her through my lines, braking points, and described the different phases of "tire feedback" on 4 laps, always in some traffic. This car was a joy to drive, easy to put anywhere, and soaked up the ECR bumps effortlessly. Only complaint was the stock seats! Seriously, once you run laps with a dedicated fixed back racing seat, nothing else compares. I was sore later on, after trying to hang on for 4 laps while I slid around on the flat leather seats.

continued below

12-03-2013, 01:26 PM	#255
Fair Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 333	continued from above On the very next lap I turned up the heat and re-caught one of the TT2 cars I had let by me after the near accident, in the same spot entering Turn 5. I was trying to get a good run up this hill on this Corvette and had a bit of wheelspin through uphill Turn 5. Any wheelspin quickly overheats A6 Hoosiers, so I backed off knowing this lap was blown, which turned into some off-throttle oversteer. I cranked in full opposite lock and got back into the throttle to hopefully transfer some weight to the rear... but it was too late. I had a little tank slapper and when I caught it the car wanted to go a bit wider than the track surface allowed for, heh. Instead of chancing a sideways off I straightened up and barely took all 4 wheels off, track right. It was 4 off, though, which of automatically DSQd any of times from that session, so I immediately came in and waited in the hot pits, trying to cool down. I was spitting mad, and eventually had some words with the TT1 driver that nearly crashed us both when he came in - telling him that his brake check move was utterly insane and that his constant blocking was getting old. His response was a lame "I never saw you..." Sure, since this giant red Mustang swerving and flashing bright lights parked 5 feet aft of your back bumper is so hard to miss. Good grief... Mike Weathers' TT1 Corvette and I were always next to each other on grid all year, but communicated well and never impeded each other Based on the repetitive blocking I encountered this year from this one TT driver I am going to run a completely different TT warm-up/gridding/out lap strategy next year to avoid getting anywhere near drivers like this, and I am going to publicly call out these games in every TT meeting we have. Amy took the keys for TT session 3 while I tried to cool down. She went out and ran a 1:56.934, which was her personal best at ECR by over a second. That was good news, and she came in all smiles and super pumped up! If you don't know this track, a 1:56 lap is really flying, and would be a record in any of the lettered TT classes and was still 3+ seconds faster than American Iron was running. Many of the TT drivers congratulated her on her new best lap time, as only 5 other TT drivers ran quicker than her on Sunday. Jeff Tan's ST3/TT3 prepped, EVO-D tuned EVO put up a hellva fight, taking 2nd in TT3 both days Amy's 1:56 would have been 2nd place but Jeff Tan also had a fast session 3. After slapping on a set of 275mm Hoosier A6s for the first time he dropped to a 1:56.7, and I felt like he might go faster still in the 2 remaining sessions. This is a gutted and race prepped ST3 EVO with an Evolution Dynamics tuned motor that makes a big flat power curve... where they tweak the boost levels to make the same flat 380 whp across the entire rev range. It is a TT trick you can do in a turbo car, and they've used this tuning strategy plus good driving to notch up a number of TT lap records in Texas. Well I was worried Jeff might go out and find more time in TT session 4, which he eventually did in a BIG way After 3 TT sessions were in the books I still didn't have a time yet, so I went out in TT session 4. There were 6 cars in TT3 class on Sunday so 2 more contingency tires on the line for anyone on Hoosiers, plus I was worried that my track record from Saturday was a little soft - since I had two major driving errors on that 1:55.250 lap Saturday. It was up to 65°F, a little warm for that ideal A6 lap time, but it was still possible. This time I gapped the road blocker in front of me by a HUGE amount, holding up the rest of the field on the Warm Up lap, but I wasn't going to catch him into the first turn again, by damn. The bulk of the NASA Texas TT competitors are great about giving point-buys and making room for others during cool down laps Luckily I had a fairly clear first hot lap with Jeff Tan glued to my tail. He was chasing the rabbit (me) and barely kept a handful of car lengths between us. I slowly pulled a little bit on him and when I saw the 1:55.279 time at the start/finish after hot lap one I knew he had to be in the 1:55s as well, but I felt like our gap was increasing ever so slightly. I found out later that Jeff had run a 1:55.872 right behind me, his fastest ever by a large margin. He got really close to my time - which made me nervous! - and this was the closest gap in TT3 that we had all year (other than the one loss at MSR-C). Lap one was good but I wanted more, so I went ahead with Hot Lap 2. This lap was feeling better, where I put even more distance on Tan, and I had an indicated 1:54.6 through most of the lap... but I was slowly catching that same TT1 car again. I can't get away from this guy... I looked up when I was coming up the canyon out of Turn 10 that the TT1 driver had his fist in the air, indicating that he'd be going into the pits. Great! He was waaaay up there, and surely he saw me closing in and would give me room on his cool down lap. But instead of looking in his mirrors, seeing me closing fast on him (I don't think he owns a rearview mirror) he instead lollygagged for the last few hundreds of yards of his lap and I caught right him in the middle of Turn 11. I had to back way off to avoid hitting him, almost coming to stop mid corner, which of course blew my 1:54 lap down to a 1:55.9. I tried to take another lap but by now the A6s were overheated and I was catching the back of the TT field going into Turn 3, so I took a cool down and came into the pits. The weather was getting warmer, and I was exhausted from constantly getting pissed off at the blocker, so Amy went out in TT session 5. She took one of our customers (who had the engine troubles the day before) riding shotgun, letting many of the other TT drivers by her on the first lap, cleanly and safely. She took several laps at a 1:59 pace, just having fun on the ride-along; taking riders in TT DSQ'd her session, of course, but she never impeded anyone. Probably her last day driving this car in competition, so she made the most of it. While Amy came in from that session I went out in in the very next HPDE4 session driving one of our tester's Mustangs, who is running our first set of S197 MCS TT1 singles on her car. This was the very first set of S197 MCS TT1s ever built, where we helped them calculate shock lengths and such. We knew the car rode beautifully on the street (daily driven) but I needed to drive this car to make sure all was well on this bumpy, tricky track. Jan's Mustang on MCS TT1 coilovers was a lot of fun to drive This '12 Mustang GT was on the stock 19x9" wheels and some worn out 255mm Nitto Invo tires, Carbotech XP16 pads, Vorshlag plates, MCS TT1s, a CG lock on the stock belt, and that's it. Totally stock engine, tune, airbox, and those skinny street tires that had seen better days. We went out with several instructors in HPDE4 and I pushed it about 8-9 tenths, running as quick as a 2:07.5 lap in traffic on these very low grip tires. Watching that video (which is only posted on my personal Facebook page at the moment) I had to brake 200 feet early into Turn 6, while coasting and waiting for a point by, so the car should run closer to a 2:05 lap. She took some video and data with her phone (Tom's Lap Timer), which we will try to get ahold of and post later. Jan had a blast riding along as I talked her through my lines, braking points, and described the different phases of "tire feedback" on 4 laps, always in some traffic. This car was a joy to drive, easy to put anywhere, and soaked up the ECR bumps effortlessly. Only complaint was the stock seats! Seriously, once you run laps with a dedicated fixed back racing seat, nothing else compares. I was sore later on, after trying to hang on for 4 laps while I slid around on the flat leather seats. continued below Last edited by Fair; 12-03-2013 at 01:29 PM.