With this many changes, the first trip out was always going to be a crap shoot. After one run, it become obvious that a quickie modification made to the rear shock mounts to extend them wasn't nearly up to the task, and we had to call it a day.
Disappointing, but the car felt reasonably good (in hindsight, nothing was very positive to me that afternoon..) and in one piece at the end of the day.
An auspicious debut to running in the 'X' class..
Next up was a fresh hood. We've lived with the 4" cowl for years, but it was never ideal. We still need a cowl for carb clearance, but Harwood's 3" has a much lower overall profile. This necessitated going to an Edelbrock RPM Air Gap to gain more clearance, and this piece was ported to flow within a few points of what the old one did.
Initial impressions, I can't tell a difference and it feels even beefier in the mid-range.
Color matched fantastically by the awesome guys at Heritage Collision Center
Seriously, they kicked all kinds of butt on this thing, and turned it around quick
Take 2: shock mounts fixed, let's do this thing
Successful day with 8 runs and the biggest problem being those pesky cones
The car is light years ahead of where we were. The surface at Mineral Wells absolutely kicked our butts last year, and it was predictable and controlled and planted right out of the gate. It tends toward a push as it is right now, but that is easily solved with subtle doses of throttle, making it easy to rotate the car exactly where you want it pointed. Before, the car would start to push and just never recover without either scrubbing speed or tapping the brake.
The new shock package also deals with the rough sections beautifully. The new springs have the wheel rates at nearly twice what they were, yet the car is mild-mannered thanks to having a matched overall package with custom valving by Penske in the shocks.
The morning runs were a learning experience, gathering up trust in the car and getting myself to not do the same crutches I did previously to account for the shortcomings of the old setup. Where transitions used to mean big braking to settle the front end down, now it can be a lift off. Or sometimes not even that.
It will take a few more trips out for us to fully get on the same page, but I'm super excited about the potential it has shown already.
10th quickest of the day, with a coned away run that would have been good for 5th. Me likey.
Finally, a few videos to get caught up.
NOLA coming in hot, and we've got another surprise or two in store before then.