In August we competed in two events in four days, both on the chicane-chicane configuration at Loudon. Here's a report I wrote to Doug Arnao at the time:
We had a fantastic time at Loudon this
week. The car is awesome. With Doug's springs
and shocks and our new anti-roll bars (built to Doug's specs)
it's a completely different animal. Before it was a marshmallow;
now it feels like a race car. It talks to you and it does exactly
what you tell it to do. It's incredible, a total joy to drive.
We kicked butt. We had it dynoed on a chassis dyno that was at the track and found we have 188 hp at the rear wheels or 225 at the flywheel.
We took 4th and 5th in COMSCC against much more powerful cars (350 hp and up), less than 3 seconds away from the winner (and within 2 seconds in practice). In the NERC we were 2nd & 3rd, only 1/2 second away from a car with wings, good brakes, and 350 hp.
We haven't got the alignment dialed in yet, so the front tires are running way too hot on the outside edge. Also our brakes totally suck.
Also we can't use the full stiffness of the anti roll bars due to a geometry problem with the old Mustang lower control arms, so the car is still rolling a bit too much. We plan to fix that this weekend by switching to new tubular arms, plus adjustable front upper arms which will allow us to easily dial in the right caster and camber.
We wore out our race tires and had to run on street tires for the NERC, and were less than 2 seconds slower than with the worn race tires. With the worn race tires I did a 1:21.5 on the long course (north and south chicanes) and we both managed 1:23.1 on the street tires.
With new tires and all the other things fixed, we think there has to be at least a couple more seconds in the car. This would put us right in the ballpark with the fast guys in COMSCC. The winner in our class did a 1:19.2, as I recall. Fastest time of day was a 300 hp twin turbo rotary-powered Caterham 7 with a high 1:15.
Woohoo!!!
This has to be one of the most satisfying moments I've ever had in cars and racing.
Thank you, Doug!!
Here's a more sober report I wrote a little later:
We ran two time trials at Loudon last
week. This was the first time with the complete Arnao/Hine
shock, spring, and anti-roll bar package. The car was fantastic!
It is completely different from what it was before. With the stock FFR springs and shocks, it's a marshmallow, wallowing and floundering around whenever you do anything with the controls. Now it feels like a race car! You can do anything you want with it. It just stays flat and stable, and sticks. It talks to you, and it does precisely what you tell it to do. It is awesome.
We gave some rides after the time trial, including to another FFR Cobra owner. Halfway around the first lap, he started shouting at me how fantastic the car felt, even from the passenger seat. Afterward he was raving. He couldn't believe how much better the car felt compared to his own car.
We got good results too. In COMSCC we got 4th and 5th (out of about a dozen cars), by far the best result we've gotten in this club, which is very competitive. My best time was only 2 seconds away from the winner's, and that was with worn tires and warped front discs.
We took 2nd and 3rd in class in the New England Replica Challenge, only a half second from the winner - Jack Rosen's FFR Cobra, with well over 100 hp more than us and far better brakes, plus wings. FFR engineer Jim Schenck asked me what kind of times we were running (using the North and South chicanes). When I told him 1:21.5, he looked shocked. He said, "that's flying around here!"
The car isn't completely dialed in yet. We still have to install the new front upper and lower control arms, and bump steer kit. Then we can dial in the proper alignment and hopefully get less understeer on corner exit.
Also the brakes suck. We still have the stock Mustang front brakes and T-bird rear. They just don't have the heat dissipating capacity we need. I've been investigating various alternatives but we'll have to wait till winter before I can afford my share of some real racing brakes.