Ron Sutton Secret Sauce for the win! Go get 'em Greg! Have fun this weekend.

He was having fun as of yesterday. Car seems to be dialed in pretty well and was hauling ass. Ron was there tweaking little stuff but pretty impressive for all the work that was just done to it.

Nice! :thumbsup:

Greg and Ron were dialing the car in and by the last session Greg was saying it felt like the Lotus. Last session of the day he had a car go off track right in front of him which caused Greg to spin. The rear popped a pinion seal and she was leaking pretty good.
I loaded up from there. Pretty sure he was running the Lotus today.

Car was running 3:47 for the 5 mile config.... I have no idea if that's good bad or indifferent.


The Mustang is like a completely different animal now... totally neutral handling - and just had so much grip... and best yet - didn't do anything weird. The motor is more powerful FEELING. It also just flat sounds better. The brakes give great feel and were very effective. All in all.... WONDERFUL.


The pinion seal issue was unforeseen and really not fixable at the track -- so I said "that's why I have a back up car!".... We'll fix this later as it's a very minor deal.

I can't tell you guys how impressed I am with what Ron has been able to do with the old girl. It's not just the parts.... it's how they all work together. I can't say "this" was better or "that" made a difference. The cars running gear is all new... and it ALL made a difference. Where I used to lift and roll thru turns 7 and 8 --- I'm now taking WOT.... that's just HUGE! The off camber turn 3 is just no biggie now -- where I was always just waiting for the ass to step out.... My confidence level and fun factor just went up by 100 fold. Amazing. What a great weekend!

Not to mention how much different the car sounds. Waaaaay Bad Ass!!

AIR!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA







http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/4TR_5619.jpg

That's Awesome!! :cheering:

And since this is a Mustang thread.....






http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...r/4TR_3349.jpg

That is a beautiful picture right there. Perfect contrast imo.
Glad to here is close to being or is dialed. Hard work=rewards.
Too bad about the pinion seal but i guess thats all part of the fun. Beats what i was doing all weekend...

Yeah, he busted his a$$ on this one.

Yeah, somebody did.

:lmao: :lol: :lmao: :lmao: :lol: :lmao: :lmao: :lol: :lmao:

Great photo. Good choice in wheels.

:cheers:

Great picture. Car looks and sounds better than ever! Thanks for the hospitality and the hook up with Chet, I'm pretty sure I had a good day.

If you've got video of the last session with the Panoz and Porsche I'd love to see it from your view, that was some good racing!

:thumbsup:
Dan

Greg, is the rear window in the mustang lexan? In the photo above, it looks like the top of the window is pulling down? Could be just an illusion...
Car looks great, and I'm glad you chose to work with Ron. Enjoy!

Yes it is a R model rear window.

Hi Craig!

We removed the factory bump stops. No rubbing.

:cheers:

Hey Greg, it was a fun project & a rewarding track day. Thanks for the opportunity to make your car handle, steer & brake better.

Like we discussed after your first hard run, the new low roll angle suspension set-up not only has a ton more gripacity (a new made up word ... LOL) & cornering speed ... it's not "edgy" like the old high roll angle set-up was ... and you can run any line with it now.


:trophy-1302:

Nice work Ron, not surprised with the outcome. :thumbsup:

I'm sure I missed it, but what size brakes front and rear?

The wheels do complement the car.

Pretty impressive that on it's first time out with a completely new setup it works so well. Says a lot about the guy who picked the parts. :thumbsup:

I'm not surprised a bit that it was fast off the truck.

I can't wait until Greg has a bit of free time to talk more about how it felt to drive it now.

Welcome..........you earned it!

PS - You seriously need a photo/video assistant to document your successes. :whistling:

GW too! :angel:

The "R Code" windows for these cars (readily available) don't connect along the top and are purposely "bowed" in... this lets the pressure out of the inside of the cars since they have no side windows and that big back glass/slope catches a lot of air. The shape of the back glass creates a low pressure area just aft of the roof.








I will continue to ATTEMPT to get people to understand that setting these up is SO MUCH MORE than just the parts being purchased. In fact -- I think that's most likely what I've learned the most lately. Everybody goes out and buys parts.... bolt them on and expect to have this fantastic handling "track/pro touring car". <buzzer> There's just so much more to it --- and we ALL need professional help like a guy can get from Ron Sutton.







Lance -- Like you, I'm not surprised one bit by the car - I knew it would be miles better... I didn't expect it to be WORLDS better!

I don't think I can explain in writing what the differences are overall. There were a myriad of little things that weren't working on the old set up. Heim joints that were sticking - bearing frozen up - shocks that were just flat shot. It's easy to fix a couple things and think - AH HA! That's the ticket... or just go buy the newest hot shock... and probably the car would feel better. But when you just start with a clean sheet of paper - the way I let Ron do it.... There's just no description to compare old vs new. Drive a bone stock 69 Camaro - then bolt on all the latest parts - and it's going to feel like OMG better.

Now --- This was a well built track car.... plenty of power - sticky tires - good, but old, parts. Even with the old worn old sticky parts -- I could still get in and drive it pretty well. NOW THEN -- the new stuff works like SILK -- the car is SMOOTH.... GLUED DOWN.... no side stepping -- no porpoising.... no weird clunks... no weird squatting that it did on RH turns that it didn't do on LH turns.

Now -- either turn is identical -- The nose is FLAT - the rear is FLAT... ease into the brakes and the nose just takes a nice set and stays there - and when you release it doesn't snap up suddenly. Punch the gas and it doesn't squat - it just goes... Get off line --- big whoop -- you can turn it inside or you can go wide... it goes exactly where you want to steer it. Go flying over the Crows nest -- I used to have to wait for it to settle... and it did a bit of "yawing" or sashaying around in the off camber RH downhill.... now it goes up and over... compresses nicely - no sashaying... no bobbling around... you just dial in some steering and off we go to the next corner.

Charley used to yell at me for lifting in T8..... and I honestly tried the best I could to stay in it... but it was f'n scary! He'd just run away from me on that section.... This time out - I was WOT from 6 until I made the transition before 9... I was friggin' flying back there. Never could do that before.

Frankly -- there just wasn't a single place where I didn't have 100% confidence to make the car do what I needed it to do. That is the way the Lotus drives! Now I have TWO Lotuses!! I used to describe the Mustang as driving a "pissed off bull".... that description no longer applies. Now it's quick and light and nimble and stable and responsive as hell. I may no longer need the Lotus. It used to be "refreshing" to get into her but now I'd have to ask myself why I'd want to drive the Lotus when I can run the Mustang and be just about as quick.


Here's another "item". Gaetano used to tell me I should run Blue Group -- and I was always "NO WAY!"... those guys are FAST!! Well.... I ran with Blue Group... and not only can I keep up -- I can pass some of them!! I won't run Blue Group... but I know now that I don't have to say NO WAY.

:gitrdun: :woot:

While on a smaller scale, I can relate to the feeling of going out in a properly setup car after trying to drive it fast improperly setup. It's very confidence inspiring...isn't it?

Congrats... When is the next track day?

By far the most fun track session I've ever run. What a hoot. You can only imagine my disappointment when I discovered the "auto start" AiM Smarty Cam (should maybe be called STUPID CAM) didn't auto anything. So no video. I'm bummed because for me - it was epic!

The best suspension components available are only mediocre when attached to improperly aligned pickup points.......at least that's my perception.

Answer the question we all want to know. How many times did you lap Gaetano?

Definitely another great time Ron!! Its taking me 4 years to get the Camaro to where it is and I couldn't have done it this year without you. The tech support you provide on this site is priceless. Not to mention the huge difference the shocks I got from you made. There wasn't any car in front of me in that new back section that I couldn't out handle. Passing the stock car and the 4 Z06's back there was another one of the high lights of my day.
Hope to see you back out with us in April. :thumbsup:

Well done Ron. When a discerning buyer like GW is happy, you've done your job and then some. :cheers:

Gaetano was pretty stoked about passing the 4 guys who brought out their Vettes on the track for the first time for a little Sunday drive.

His expertise is invaluable. My goal was to make both cars "more fun" to drive. These are TRACK DAYS not races.... and I just want to go out and enjoy the experience.. hang with my buddies... pass some slow guys if I can... dice a bit with the guys I can run with. Ron's knowledge and experience has made my track time so much more fun that I can hardly stand it. He teaches me why this or that is happening -- what to think about -- how to drive differently -- how to calm down... so it's a complete package deal for me.

I didn't want to just "patch" the existing car. I wanted a completely fresh examination of what it WAS and then what could be better. The car exceeded my wildest expectations. I can't wait to get it back on the track.







In the drivers meetings they always talk about getting the checkered flag -- and what that means -- they point out that the checkered flag means you get to go back to the pits and take 10 seconds off your lap times and lie about how many people you passed. I never realized that Gaetano had run with this group so many times that they adapted their speech around him.

Saturdays track time was a complete mess --- lots of off track excursions --- wrecks ---- EVERYONE was learning the new Thill WEST section. Frankly - until I ran it several laps I found it to be frightening... then you learn it and you can start to mess with the lines and get it handled. Gaetano came up early Saturday morning -- and then had issues with something, Brakes I think... and the day was done. He didn't come back for Sunday --- FUNDAY --- which was running FAR more smoothly and everyone was learning the track and generally behaving better.

It's so hard to actually be able to run with someone in this events. We are called down to hot pit -- you line up and then wave you out. Most of the time there's two lines and they run one line out at a time. If the guy you want to run with is 3 or 4 cars ahead -- and the cars between you are slow... you get held up and can't then catch up. We're not allowed all that much passing zones and a guy can get ahead of you pretty quickly with traffic in the way.

Gae wanted to line up on our second track session --- but I wasn't there to "race" with him. We were setting up a brand new car - with new tires - new brakes - new motor. Ron's advice was to take it easy - learn the new track and break the car in and get the tires cycled etc... so I passed on G's "lead follow" offer. The third session out he pulled off track from the issue he was having.

After the third session --- is when we discovered the seal pushing out so the Mustang was done for the weekend. I couldn't see Ron driving all the way back to Sacramento -- then us thrashing around trying to fix the car... when I have a perfectly good back up car. We'll fix the Mustang correctly -- on our own time without the track thrash. That's not my idea of a good weekend!

So to answer your question -- you'll just have to wait until we get back on track the next time. BTW --- I personally don't give a sh!t who's faster... Charley and Chet and Pete and Mike have all BEEN faster than I am... If I ever caught up to them - my choice would be to run WITH THEM not pass them to prove anything. I personally don't like being out front -- or in front -- or all alone on the track. I like it when I can find some cars that are capable -- and then just run with them. See if I can catch them in which section of track.... I'll even back out of throttle to let someone open a gap -- just so I can see if I can catch them. I told Ron I'd have been a terrible "racer". I just don't want to lead. Well.... that's not all true.... I'd follow and strategize and get a feel for what we could do - and then use that on the last lap to spring to the lead just before the checkered.

You're crackin me up Weld! This is how I remember the last session on Sunday.

You sitting in the car getting ready, me and your new neighbor looking things over, just hangin out. You said something to him and pulled away, I asked what you had said and he told me you were just going to "Cadillac" around for the last session. We looked at each other and just started laughing, ya right!

Few minutes later you're back in the pits and we're bringing the air pressure down "just in case"....20 minutes later you've just had the best volley between the Porsche and Panoz! Poor Panoz driver was flat wore out! That was some exciting, non-racing, just "cadillacan" action!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I'm thinking you and Gaetano will have your little friendship cruise at some point.....and he'll have some excuse why you ran away from him! :lmao:

Here's my excuse - preprinted. My Sh!t is slow and I'm not that good of a driver.

These last couple pages are a GAS! :lol:

Congrats to you Greg and Ron for a great outcome. :cheers:

Oh, and using the term "sashaying" is against the LatG rulebook, unless of course your user/real name is Sieg :D