Thank you very much to Todd and Cris for allowing me to drive each of your incredible cars. Like Todd said, each car is set up different and handle different from each other. Both of these cars are fast and were a pleasure to drive. Here are some points on each car:

Payback:

Tons of power that is very linear. The power is easy to put down and modulate. Torque is beautiful and running 2nd gear on the autocross is a no brainer. It has all the power you will ever need. I wanted to go into 3rd gear, but Todd advised me of the issues he was having on the road course and said to ride the limiter a bit. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't shift to 3rd because I would not have wanted to stop! :D The brakes were easy to control and it stopped on a dime. The steering was light and quick and the car would go exactly where you steered it. In fact, I was really suprised how well it handled the back u-turn. Of all the cars I drove, my car before I grenaded the transmission, Mike Maier's Mustang, and Blue Balz, Payback easily got around the tight, sharp turns the best. As I told Todd, give me a course with a lot of u-turns and sharp corners, and I want Payback. Not only does it get around the turn the fastest, it will then launch off the corner with amazing grip. The biggest obstacle for me with Payback was the high speed instability on transition and when I lifted after chicanes coming back to the finish. I was at the top of second gear, not sure what my speed was, and when I lifted and started to brake (I left foot brake), the rear end immidiatly came around on me and I was not able to make the left turn. In fact, I did this two runs in a row. I had to be traveling completely straight when lifting to stay under control. This issue can be corrected with some shock adjustment and/or spring change. It may be getting too much weight transfer and unloading the rear of the car. Because of this, I had to slow down more than I wanted at the end of the course and I lost too much time. If it was not for that part of the course and the rear end coming around on me, the times would have been much closer. With more practice, I now I could knock about 1 second of my time and I would have been a high 38.xx.

Blue Balz:

I did have a slight advantage with Blue Balz as I drove this awesome car last week at Marina at the American Autocross twice. From the very first moment I sat in this car last week, I can't stop thinking about it. The interior is perfect. It has the feel of a better than new car. The ergonomics are just about perfect. The first time I autocrossed this car, I felt completely at home. Mary gave Cris some advice on some improvements and I gave a couple of my own and they improved the car a bunch.

So, at RTTC III, I had two previous laps under my belt to get the feel for the car. As with Payback, get the car rolling and then dump it into 2nd gear for the remaining time on course. Blue Balz does not have the bottom end torque like Payback. Once the RPM comes up a bit, Blue Balz has all the power you need. What I love about Blue Balz is the ease I have of just hammering the throttle and driving the heck out of it. The car is extremely easy to drive fast. Slalom type transitions is its strong suit. I like a slightly tight car. My driving style demands that. When it comes to entering a tighter turn, I use my left foot brakes and entry to rotate the car. Mike Maier and I have very similar driving styles. The only thing Blue Balz needs to do better is rotating on the over 90 degree corners. It is much better than it was last week. Blue Balz did have an issue with the brakes after they got cooked on the road course. I had to pump the brakes before each corner. I probably lost up to .5 seconds due to poor brakes. I got down to a 38.6XX on my last run and I don't think there was much more in it due to the brakes.

To sum it up, both cars are a treat to drive and are at the top of their game. It comes down to driving style and matching the car to the driver. Fix Paybacks issue with the braking and rear coming around and get Blue Balz to turn in just a bit better, and both cars would be just about perfect.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to drive these bad ass cars!

Brian

Great write-ups on some of the top PT cars.


:lateral:

Yeah it's easy to think you're average when you got so many great drivers with a decade or several decades of competitive driving experience. Todd's pretty darn good and with practice will continue to improve.

Todd, when did you get so humble? lol

I was lucky enough to take a few laps with Mary in Blu Balz and Todd in Pay Back. Yeah....you should hate me. It was full on Donkey Kong!

:thumbsup:

That is some killer feedback for both of us. Great write up Brian and thanks for sharing your experience with us. :thumbsup: I was thinking about my runs and my usual downfall autocrossing and it's exactly what you describe. I wish I would have hopped in with you as I feel our driving styles are actually alot more similar than Mary and I. I know I ran a 40.8 that I coned away so I'm sure the problem is magnified for you. Since the front end is digging so hard, do I leave it alone and drop the rear spring rate 25lbs? Or since I have these single adjustable Varishocks and I had them almost full soft(Which probably means very little rebound control)do I swap shocks or both? Maybe a little stiffer shock setting up front but I'm afraid I'll give up front bite in the process. You said a slightly larger front sway bar may fix it as well but will that be at the compromise of front traction?

Bottom line, I want to have it fixed next time you drive it. :D Oh ya, and 3rd gear will be available as well. (2nd tops out around 75/3rd at 110ish )

I'm glad you got to experience it with me. I bet we were close to 4000 lbs with all that muscle in the car. Good thing it has one of them boat anchors under the hood. :unibrow:

A weekend of racing and having fun with your buddies will put you in a good mood, what can I say.

Curtis, glad you got to experience my car. I know you have big block floating around in your head again. Brian touched on it in his feedback. The LS engines are civil and modern. Big blocks are naturally rowdier and more era correct. Put a set of tail pipes, hydraulic cam, fuel injection and it becomes a hell of alot closer. As you see, you can compete with a big block.

Slightly partial to.....
 

Blue Balz........had the best cup holders. :D

And that right there settles it!

Glad everyone had a good time and you didn't have to use the winch to get them in the trailer at the end of the day.

Yes, I suppose you could say there was some highly "spirited" competition going on. It is amazing how much beer can be consumed with pride on the line. However, I'm not sure a knife used to poke a hole in aluminum cans constitutes "exceptional equipment." OH WAIT, you're talking about on track competition. Never mind...

Really, I'm amazed Todd typed that last night. It sounded way more coherent than he looked.

I have to take a brand new engine apart, and I lost a shotgunning contest to Rich Bermea, neither of which seems that surprising to me, but really, this weekend was a blast. Doug, I imagine I know how you felt this morning. I also woke up with a headache, but it was because all I heard about for hours last night was Blu Balz this, Payback that. blah, blah, blah. At least you probably don't remember what gave you a headache :lol:


Matt

My amatuer perception of Brian's transition issue was the rear rebound needed to be slowed down and front compression increased to slow and better control the weight transfer. Springs may also factor.

With as hard as it sounds your car is running triple adjustable shocks would be appreciated. Being able to tune with high and low speed compression and rebound dampening should help depending on the range of adjustment and effectiveness of one click of adjustment. Good shocks (Ohlin, WP, Penske in the motorcycle world) offer a wide range of adjustability and one click of comp or rebound should be detectable. The WP shock on my KTM has 22 clicks of compression, 3 turns high speed, and 26 clicks rebound and 1 click C/R or a 1/4 turn HS is noticable.

Brian - Am I somewhat on track?