Sure thing, I'll grab a few pics under the hood this weekend. The only thing that's really close is the swaybar, from what I remember.

I hadn't seen that Customworks kit before. It looks pretty much like what I have in mind, but since we cut off the stock control arm mounts it would still require a lot of work for us to make it work..nothing off the shelf just works on this car :lol:

Ideally, we'd go to an outboard mounted shock and spring tied to the cage downbar, like what Hobaugh and many of the other CP guys run, but with stock length control arms it's extremely tight in there and would need a pretty hefty chunk removed out of the frame.

Dustin,

Thanks!That will awesome.

Mike,

D'oh, I completely spaced on this Sunday for reasons apparent below - still on my list, I should be able to get some this weekend.

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SCCA Event #6

Sunday was the first trip out with the new axles and bearings, and I was looking forward to getting back in the car with my head screwed on straight after the debacle that was the last trip.


The course was fairly technical this time as opposed to the wide open flowing elements we typically have at LSP, which was actually a nice change. Got things started off on a weird note, as it was pointed in tech out that the Z had lost a screw in the undertray on the trip over, and it was nearly dragging the ground.


A few zipties got everything back in order, and we set back to the regular morning routine.

I noticed the night before that the CP Camaro of Jeff Stroh and Todd Farris (of http://www.oversteergarage.com) was entered, and we ended up parked right next to them. Regular routine: derailed.


We talked for a bit, they had a look at our car, and soon it was off for drivers meeting and first heat. Things worked out perfectly, as I was off this heat and they were running, so I begged a couple rides, tried to help where I could (provided a little muscle helping to push it), and mostly tried to stay out of the way while they did their thing.


What. A. Ride. They had to fight a pretty dirty course going out first, and a setup that was geared for the grippy concrete of Lincoln rather than the course asphalt, and it was still a MONSTER. Hopefully we cross paths again, it's a joy to watch, listen to, and ride in.

Back to the normal program, running last heat gives you plenty of time to roam around, catch rides with friends, stare at the sky and ponder life, etc. The temps were moderate, in the mid-90s, but the Houston-esque humidity made it just about as tough as the last few 100+ degree events.


I took the 3rd heat to make a sandwich and cool off in the truck before heading out in an effort to not repeat the sins of the Camaro club event. Grabbed rides with my dad and Jon in his CAM-C Mustang to re-remember the course, and it was time to saddle up.


Things went much better this time, with a reasonable calm, controlled 52.8 right off the bat. Right around what I was expecting, but with a couple cones. A 52.211 followed, which was good for the top overall CAM time and would be my best of the day thanks to a rash of cones that wiped out a 51.678 on the fourth run - class results.

Speaking of that fourth run, about a 1/3rd of the way into that one I noticed a fairly loud whine from somewhere in the driveline after letting off the throttle into a turn. The first section out of the start felt pretty messy, and the noise sealed the deal on a slow 52.5. Looking back at it on the logger, it was actually quicker until letting it push wide about 2/3rds of the way through.

The second, fully charged GoPro battery eluded both of us, so we didn't get video of my session. I was able to use the tablet between runs to compare lines, which proved to be pretty helpful.


We pretty much always say distance is king, and that was the case. This corner, the tightest on the course, seemed like a good opportunity to drive in deep and go for a late apex, getting back to the throttle quicker for the next fairly straight section.


In the session before, I actually discussed this with Jon as he 'pinched' it, and we both agreed that the late apex option should be better. It even felt better in the car..but the numbers don't lie. I entered the section with a .162 lead, and left it basically dead even. The exit speed was nearly 2 mph higher, but this didn't translate into any gain through the next section, either.

Distance. Is. King. Good stuff, and I can't recommend SoloStorm from Petrel Data Systems enough.

We haven't gotten to investigate the noise yet (hopefully it's just in my head?), but it was a great day overall.

On to the next one!

Looks fun and looks like you did well Dustin! Good job! I was out at LSP on Sat with the BMW club and had a blast, they laid out a really fast course! I was getting 75+mph in several places.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks Greg - I really need to get out for one of their events, they always look like wide-open fun.

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One more bit of Optima Wrap-up


Friday night was about as much fun as I've had sitting in front of the TV in forever. It was Optima Texas night on MAVTV, and it didn't disappoint.

Bangshift Chad, Kevin Mooney, and their entire team work their butts off at these events, and we spent a good chunk of time with cameras strapped on the car throughout the weekend. The show featured great coverage of many of our local guys and shops that contribute to the scene here, and it was great going "Hey, there's X" as they each got their respective segments.

Fairly early on, during a short montage of newcomers to the event, BAM there we are! Complete with a buzz up past 7,000 audible in the background. Ok, I'm good now, anything else from here is gravy :lol:

Backstory: Drag Week 09

A little bit of background with us on doing these events with media coverage - when we did Drag Week, we had two main goals, and a third slightly less important goal. The two main ones were to (1) finish the week, and (2) get a 10 second timeslip. Done, and done. The third was to appear in Hot Rod Magazine, even if it was just in the background of a picture. We 'Long Hauled' two Power Tours in 03 and 04 and never made it in, so we had to have better odds with a lower car count, right?

A few months after the event, the mag came in the mail and the event coverage consisted of around 30 cars from the week, and that was it. Long story short, we were a little bummed, but we knew running 11s in a car like ours it was a long shot anyway.

Back to Optima


My big long wrapup posts intentionally overlooked a fairly big part of the weekend for us: shooting a segment with Mike from Wilwood. We felt pretty sure it would make the show, but didn't want to look like jackasses if we talked it up and it ended up on the cutting room floor. About 45 minutes into the show, I saw the image above coming out of the break and let out an "OH S..."


Early in the day Sunday, we found ourselves in the garage during a fairly quiet time, and caught Chad walking through. After some pleasantries, I told him we had talked to him on Drag Week in 09, and he lit up and remembered the car. We bench raced for a bit, and he brought up the idea of shooting a feature for Wilwood highlighting the multi-purpose nature of the car and the different braking demands of an event like this vs the drag strip.

A bit later, Mike from Wilwood came back over and went through the plan with us, which was to shoot the car going into the braking zone at turn 1 from both on-board and outside, then shoot a segment in the garage discussing the braking performance and potential upgrades after coming in.


I may be biased, but I felt like it turned out great. So many shows put sponsor copy in the host's hands and just shoehorn these types of things in there, but this felt much more natural. In our case, we went with Wilwood from the start and recommend them to our customers, so there wasn't a need for a prompt for me to speak well of them.

The cherry on top of the whole deal was wrapping up the segment showing Smitty going back out for an extra session to improve his road course time in response to our best lap. We had no idea we were anywhere close to him until after things wrapped - I was just having a blast flogging the car on the road course for the first time.

All in all, a very cool way to wrap up one of the most fun events we've ever done and set the hook hard for us to get back at it next year. Huge, huge thanks again to Chad and Mike - my dad and I were still giggling about it hanging out at the lake this weekend.

And I'll say it one more time - if you have the capability at all, get your car out to one of these events!

Bring on 2016!

Here Here to Friday night being the best time I've had in front of a TV in FOREVER! It was great to see all the guys I race with on the weekends, that I know work on their own stuff and swap ideas with during the down time at races! It was awesome to see Dustin, Mike, Chris, Amy and Gary and brought back really fond memories of the most fun event I've entered- I'm a little biased because I got some air time too!

I think my rear drum brakes scarred the Willwood guys away!

I thought you were great Dustin and I too look forward to making minor changes going into 2016!!!!

Little update time - we got back on the road course!


..they just stuck a bunch of cones on it first :headspin:

Every year Texas SCCA does one autocross event on the infield road course. It's a lot more open than their typical courses, and stretched 2nd gear pretty good.


Looking at the video, I'm thinking I could have shifted 3rd and probably gained a little time, but the downshift into that hard braking zone would have made things interesting. As it was, I 'backed into' that section a few times, with the rear getting very antsy under braking.


Didn't get video of my fastest two runs, but this one was pretty close. I was able to clean up the last group of offsets a decent amount to find some time.

We've probably got a few events left this year, then we'll start evaluating the to-do list and the calendar (this time of year always gets crazy), and getting to work.

ALSO..I started a new job a few weeks ago, and I'm loving it already. Exhibit A: if you're going to SEMA, come see me at the Traxxas booth!

That's awesome. So you are the guy jumping the remote control truck in the half-pipe all day? haha Always have to stop by that booth and checkout the trucks. For my son of course... :)

Congrats on the new gig, Duston. What are you doing for Traxxas now?

Seth told me you recently changed jobs- Congrats! I hope you like what you are doing!

I might be down for the year - tires are shot! have to wait for the funds to build back up to put some Bridgestones or Rivals on it.

You had a great season Dusty, man you tightened down the loose nut behind the wheel a bunch! That's a lot of work. It's always fun seeing you at events and trying to come close to your times. I recall not that long ago I could keep up with you, not a chance now.

Greg