Mike,

What the Mustang reminded me of most was my '11 KTM 300XC with ideal traction conditions in Central Oregon - You can absolutely trust the front end, turns inside or outside with ease, throttle steer the rear IF you want, and powerful predictable brakes.......doesn't get any better than that in my book.

Ron's process works brilliantly in this 'nobody's' opinion.

Poor little Mustang - had to try and run with those pesky Lotus, Caterham, and BMW... Nice meeting you as well!! Great track!! Tough to learn... but OMG fun!

I used to live up at Shorty's Corners (Sandy).... and my Brother in Law lives in Boring on Regner Terrace.

Nice Greg!
The camera view from the low point it's set at (basically hood level) made it hard to tell what was up ahead. Car sounds great, and looked like a runner, for sure.
Glad to see you enjoying your toys!

Is it dialed in enough for me to report it stolen yet ?

Gwen says "tell him it's just about there -- you've redone everything on it... haven't ya?"

I am in Damascus, not far from the Safeway. LOL

Gregs race car
 

Sounds like you guys had a great time
I understand only having a small amount of cars on
the track.. done that many times with my Pantera group
lots of room out there.... good to hear the car is running and
sorted...I kinda miss my old mustang sometimes as Greg says
you don't have to worry about Rock chips etc

Bob

Badass riveted fastback panels.

I'll just leave this here...lol


@automobilemag: The new #Lotus 3-Eleven is a lean, mean, 450-hp track machine: http://t.co/z15JHrT4tr

I like green

Green is good.

I've emailed a couple times with the Lotus rep - David Simkin - they will be importing the 3 11 but no time or price has been set yet -- but it's in the 180K range.


For that kind of money - I'd just have Ron Sutton build me one of his track cars.


My little 2 11 with it's 1.8 liter Toyota motor will pound our old Mustangs with ease... while barely even trying. The Mustang is far more fun to drive (now). Sometimes it's not all about the fastest lap time. It should just be about having fun.

Agreed.

For $180K, give it to folks like Author Ron who live on this side of the pond. :unibrow:

Yes, it should just be about having fun...which is a valuable skill to posess. :)

I just spent THREE days at Sonoma Raceway (Sears Point)... for the NorCal Shelby Mini Nats. It was a huge event as this is the 50th Anniversary of the GT350.

I spent two days working with Ron Sutton on the completion of the Mustang set up - and his excellent coaching on my lines and strategies - and one day tooling around the track with the Lotus. Track Junky came up and ran two days... Rustomatic came up to check it out and blab a bit... Jeff Richied came by two days and brought a friend.

We had a blast - and it's the people that you run and hang with that make it the most fun.

The best part was when Peter Brock walked in the garage - asked who owned the yellow Mustang... and after shaking hands - declared it "THE MOST BEAUTIFUL" car in the whole place (there were a couple hundred cars running). He walked around the car pointing out all the little details and he noticed them ALL!! He also said - to the chagrin of Charlie - that "that is the hood we should have put on them". LOL... It has a "cowl" style hood instead of the standard little "scoop". He spent 10 minutes talking with us. What a classy gentleman. I'd love to spend the day walking around with him and listening to the stories he must be able to tell.

Sutton took a pic of "us" together but I'm not sure he has the skills to send it to me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Whaaaat?

This was cool.

Cool pic.

So, Peter Brock must be like what... 5'3" or 5'4"?

I had no idea Brock was so tall.

lol... :D

That sounds like a pretty cool weekend!! Doesn't get much better than that.

Man, just about everyone I know was racing somewhere this weekend, that is what it is all about folks.

Very cool pic indeed GregStarr. ;)

FWIW dept: I've been enjoying NOT seeing posts in this thread about motor troubles after each time you went a racin'.


:thankyou:

That's cause he thought you were Charley. :rofl:

He's a cool guy, way better than that Bruton Smith fellow.

phct up man haaaa haaaa aaaaa

Greg's 65
 

Greg,
Sears is a tough track to get right.. I bet
Ron had a bunch of info to help out... just
wondering did you guys play with shocks and
tire pressures only or bar, alignment adjustments, etc

I know you had the car close.. just wondering what
else Ron does to fine tune things.. I guess weather
changes tire temps to some extent

The hard part I have is giving some info back to
the guy that knows what the car is supposed to do
I think that is harder than driving the car

thanks,

Bob

Greg, I mean we are friends and all, but you suck!

Bob --- the car was just barely loose on exit.... and I'm running faster with more confidence building in the set up and trusting the new Borello motor etc... plus I am getting more track time etc...

So -- we raised the tire pressure up front 2 lbs... which is what needs to be done as you go faster... and to dial in a little more grip in the rear - we added rebound and some bleed. BAM! Secret Sauce.

Now --- I always want to repeat this.... SUTTON is the best part you'll ever buy for your car. The reason I repeatedly say that - is with him at the track - you get driver coaching - and car tuning....

We have a PRO set of Motorola radios built into the car --- and he gets high up to see the track -- and then talks me thru various options and corners - traffic - who / what's coming up.... having a spotter and a driver coach is going to make anyone better.

Typical dialog goes like this --- "remember Turn 4 is coming up and I want you to stay out wider and turn in a little faster...." Or -- traffic coming up -- or "remember to drive your line and pick up your spots" (this comes as he can see I'm chasing someone - or have someone (rare) on my ass).... or "Keep your eyes up" or "The Cortex Mustang is behind you... (the Cortex car he has timed and knows it runs 1:47's to my 1:58's).... to which I reply "F Cortex! I see Gaetano!!" (Track Junky).... LOL

The whole thing is very calming and reassuring.... and the reminders about what we've discussed in the pits - and drawn pictures of lines etc... really helps. Otherwise I do the typical "visor down! Race On!"....

Actually -- I don't think I can strap myself in anymore without him.

B E Utiful! Sounds like a great weekend! The cars working, the motor is healthy, confidence is up and your lapping Gaetano....awesome!

:thumbsup:

Sucks to be me -- Sucks worse to be Charlie... LOL

I truly suck at video -- mostly because I just really don't care... so I forget to turn the camera on - or whatever. But here's some footage from me at the 2015 Shelby Mini Nats at Sonoma -- running with my buddy Karl. He's pretty fast and carries lots of speed... with his amazing 2.3L turbo... We like running together and trust each other -- so it makes it fun to just do lead follows. I play -- opening a gap if I can - and then see if I can reel him in etc.

There's another guy in a Fox body Mustang -- his name is Adam - he races Formula Ford - and has this pretty fast Mustang... and he and I talk before we go out -- because he likes running with me and he's another guy I can trust to not loop it in front of me -- so we can run pretty tight. I'll post that video up tomorrow. I ran with him a couple times in the Mustang -- and then also on Sunday with the Lotus.

Just....Awesome, Greg! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Oh and ya missed a shift! :lol:

:cheers:

Wasn't just a miss! I thought I might have broke it. It's a Jerico - so no clutch on the upshift (I use the clutch on downshifts).... and I just got L A Z Y...

Actually -- my driving style is L A Z Y.... I'm really much more about just enjoying myself than I am about banzai driving.

Just for fun --- here's the Lotus - which has lap times - G's - and speeds and tach and track position overlay. Disregard the brake -- it's not even hooked up so have no idea why it shows braking when I'm clearly accelerating! LOL Think that might have something to do with the G meter.

These are the same lap times I'm running in the Mustang.... but it looks so much faster because of the low position.


Oh -- and sorry about the camera position! The set screw that holds the ROUND camera is missing! So the camera rotated.... UGH.... I hate videoing this crap.

Here's another one of the Mustang --- where you can see the kind of traffic there was on track -- when you take away the "non" passing zones (any corner) -- and you look ahead and see the stack of crap ==== then you just say "F it" and finish out the session. We only get 10 laps per session -- and there's just no money in it by moving passed guys and then sitting behind the next guy. We get plenty of sessions -- and Sunday is almost traffic free... so no point in pushing some guy and wading up the car.

Greg's 65
 

Thanks guys for the input.. sounds like you had
fun and had some guys you could run with.. I run
with my Viper buddy and we have a blast...
Also sounds like you may have to move up to the Blue group
It is great to pass a bunch of cars but sometimes I think
it messes up you lines too much.. passed 20 plus guys the
last two times I went out in the Pantera.. race group is only
option to move up for Checkered Flag guys.. may have to go there next

I need to some measuring, weighing etc for the bird and maybe
finish the diet it needs (hood and nose are 100lbs) then get
things figured out... Ron and I will talk after I get there

Bob

Greg, I can't believe how long it took you to pass that Miata. :smiley_smack:

That car is fast and the driver is even faster! :mock:

The Miata is very fast! I've passed him many times... and it takes some work! Remember we have very restrictive passing zones - so sometimes when you have a chance - you're locked out. Then there was so damn much traffic it become a worthless move.

A guy can also learn a lot from following those little nats! I'm still in the steep part of the learning curve.

Part of the learning curve is to be able to go off line and still be okay....

Hey Greg,

Thanks again for the free lunch--you always make a mean weanie! I really had fun just hanging out on Saturday, talking with you, Dave, Gaetano, Pete, and Ron (Mr. Sutton). We got to make fun of Filip from Cortex (whose Chevy-powered Mustang was killing it out there) over the hood of the Cortex-equipped Fairlane, and talked a bit with Mike Musto from Drive/Big Muscle. Sometimes, you don't get a chance to really enjoy the scene that much when you're running a car. The Shelby Mini-Nats are one of those events that I'll probably always attend, regardless of whether I'm driving--there's just so much cool stuff.

Your car/driving definitely looks quite ready for Blue group--the control under braking showed a lot of both confidence and vehicular predictability. The acceleration is ridiculous . . .

Was I supposed to send you a check?? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



Totally agree - and was happy you came out! The event this year was just spectacular!

Greg, great hanging out with you and Ron on Friday and you again on Sunday.

In addition to all the really killer cars it was cool seeing some of the drags on Fri. Watching a Tesla Type S run 13.1 was interesting. I ended up talking with him on Sunday for a bit. He said his boss will be bringing out his P85D model that puts out 690 hp and does 0-60 in 3.1 sec. to see what it will run. That is just crazy awesome.

I also talked with the guy in the brown car that you were chasing (Adam I think). He came up looking for you as you drove off in the Lotus. Really nice guy.

Looking forward to next time.