The Mule spotted at Thunderhill this weekend
 

I had the pleasure of going with Charley and Mark Stielow to Thunderhill this weekend. Initially took two Mustang track cars Charley owns as it was a Shelby meet. Charley was lucky enough to be the first guy kicked off the track for their new noise requirements;:wow: his cars both had open exhaust. Funny thing is Mark was driving the other car with open exhaust and had no problems.

Since he couldn't take the car back out on the track and fearing the second car would also be black-flagged we headed back to Charleys Saturday night to pick up the Mule and Charleys Mercedes SL65 V-12 twin turbo rocket.

On Sunday I got to ride in both cars with Mark Stielow for the sessions. For some reason Charley wouldn't ride with Mark! :eek: Let me tell you it was a thrill to ride with him, he is VERY good at what he does on the track. Absolutely an "E-ticket" ride!:bow:

Here's a few pics from today, and there are a few stories to be told in the future. Hopefully Charley will drop by and fill you in. Let me suffice to say both cars did GREAT! No breakage and they were fully used, trust me on this. Mark was picking off guys all day in both cars running street rubber; virtually everyone else was on race rubber of some type. Says a lot for his driving skills and a lot for the setup and ability of both cars. Charley was flying by the end of the day in the Mule, also blowing past several cars.

Here's a few pics from the day. We got some in-car and out of car video, but not sure how well it turned out.

Let me add one thing. The Mule ships out in a month to go on it's fourth Power Tour. It takes guts to put the car on the track for 4-5 30 minute full throttle session this close to the Tour. Things break, etc. Thankfully it performed very well and came out unscathed. I applaude Charley for allowing the cars to be flogged and for proving he drives all his cars, they are not trailer queens.


Jody

It sounds like you guys had a blast!
W.

Ahhh, the things I miss being me...... :rolleyes:

Dang guys, next time say something when you are going to run the cars. I would have loved to come up and see that thing run.

Thunderhill has a noise restriction now? What the hell for? There isn't anything around that track for miles. Did some dipwad build a house near a racetrack then complain about the noise?

Sweet! i Bet that was a blast! :thumbsup:

That first pic is great. :yes:

Very cool.

The Mule looks happy in that first pic. :D

Apparently I woke up a cow. They have always had I think a 102 db limit but it was never enforced......Till me. There were other cars as loud as mine but both my exhaust pipes exit the right side of the car...straight at the noise meter I guess. I think I am the first car ever black flagged there for noise.
The Mule worked great. We turned the boost down to 8lbs and just drove the crap out of it. Just when I think I'm going fast thru a sweeping turn at 80 mph, Mark goes thru it at 100. I have to take back what I said about me being faster in the Thrasher. The Mule felt very balanced and easy to drive. As the tires heated up it was so cool to determine how far you were going to drift to the outside of the corner. You just knew where it was going to go. Mark did some data logging on both cars. I think he hit like 132mph on the front straight with the Mule and maybe 131 with the SL65. There was a guy with a GT3 Porsche that Mark walked away from with the SL65 and I'm sure the GT3 is a better track car. My biggest worry was getting into trouble with turbo boost but at 8 lbs it was fine. Could probably have managed more boost with no problems but I really do want to make Power Tour...With Gumballed tires.... The video is crap...the pic thru the windshield is nothing but glare.

Awesome pics! If you guys have any more be sure to post them up.

Right on, Charley!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Awesome!! :hail:

That's cool to hear that 8lbs of boost on a motor like that worked well on a road course.Looks like you guys had quite a bit of fun.

It was a blast. It could have handled more boost, but it worked so well at that level they left it there. Even at 8 psi the car screams, trust me. It was just so predictable how it handled, never got unsettled or fussy.

It was a great car-guy weekend.

Jody

I'd say. From the first hand account I got on the phone, it was a chance of a lifetime. :thumbsup:

I'm also glad to hear that 8psi was no issue.

That's awesome guys. Charley, Mark and Jody. You ARE what PT is all about. Very cool. Thanks for being our "poster children". :thumbsup:
Better than seeing you on the side of a milk carton.

That really is a great picture! :thumbsup:

Yes, it is currently my new desktop background, and I had a mouse pad made of it!



Jody

Pretty sweet Pic!

-Paul

Great story and pics guys, I would love to see video from this event. :thumbsup:

Thanks Jody for the great story. What a great car.

wrong owner though... :D

no more bird pics for you.......

Sounds like a killer weekend. Man I love the mule..... :bow:

Charlie....what the hell do you do to be able to have some many bitchin toys...??????

He's a professional jackass! :unibrow: :rofl:

Jody

Judging from the rollangle and the inner front tire camber in the pics it must have some speed thru that corner. Do you guys have any idea how fast you went thru there?

I'd say really impressive :thumbsup:


Jan

Mark could tell by his GPS system he had. We'd have to figure out which curve that was for sure; looks like 13 or so, after the downhill backstretch, heading back to the final turn into the front stretch. Mark likes to carry much speed into the front stretch! :lol:

I do know there's a sweeper at the end of a short straight heading to an uphill blind rise. Telemetry showed we hit 100 mph through that pulling 1 G lateral on street tires.:eek: Felt like 150! :D

Jody

I'm not sure what that all means......but it sounds cool. :D

Sorry Tony, I'm probably not using the correct terminology. Basically there's a short straight section then a curve and another short section heading up a hill. You can't see over the hill and have to hit the right line to stay on the track.

Mark hit 100 mph through the curve pulling 1G of lateral grip. The curve is sharp enough at that speed that the car drifts outside to the edge of the track at that speed (or off if you do it wrong!). The car has to handle very well to run that speed through this area and stay on the track. Have to enter it correctly, hit the apex, and let the car drift out of it. I prefer to hold my breath on this part. :D

My point was that this car is not a trailer queen. It handles very well and is super predictable. You know exactly what it's going to do and where it's going to go.

Jody

Man! I bet that was a blast.

-Paul

Just send the car.... :D

Charley that's pretty awesome to run the car with all other cars so close by. I would be afraid some yahoo would do something stupid and wipe me out. I think we all appreciate what BALLS it takes to do that with a special car like the MULE.

I can see Jody grinning from ear to ear. Mark is quite the driver, pretty neat stuff for a bunch of posers!!

Hey Jody what shoes was Charley wearing, the race Velcros, LOL.

LOL..Like Mark passing 2 cars on the downhill straight at about 100 when the back car decides to pass also and never looked to see Mark was coming around him. This is in the SL65. Mark is doing 100 with 2 wheels in the grass still gassing it to get around them and then had to brake hard to make the hard left turn. They black flagged Mark but didn't realize he got crowded off the track. There was nothing else he could do. He explained what happened to them so they said be careful and go clean all the grass out of the left front fog light before going back on the track. From where Jody and I were all we saw was him passing 2 cars before the turn. We couldn't tell he was in the grass. Somewhere I have a pic of the leftover grass stuck in the fog light.

High fives to you Charlie for running that beautiful thing. I got three different phone calls from people who I know that were out there asking if I know the guy with the bat-$hit-crazy twin turbo Camaro.

Hey, next time let us know when you are going to go stretch el mules legs. I just wanna see the darn thing in person some time.

You mean bringin' the fanclub :D


Jan

When I grow up, I wanna be just like Charlie!

The only problem Frank, is that you will never grow up. Just ask Lisa... :rofl:

Grow up??? What's that. My 22 year old son is more grown up than me. :willy:

As women say: Boys and men, only difference is the price of their toys.

Jan

Thank you Charley and Jody for posting about this event!! It is sooo awesome to hear the Mule getting some well deserved track time. The pics look great too and nothing is more fun than beating the cars up on a road course. :D
Does anyone have any more pics of the mustangs that were out there? I would love to see some 67-68 fastbacks in action.

Un--freakin--real! It would be nice to hear some lap times as compared to other cars like the GT3 or even the V-twizzy Benz. I've driven an SL65 and those cars accelerate faster than my synapse-challenged brain can process data. I can only imagine how the Mule runs. Can you guesstimate the output at 8lbs of boost?

I can't wait for the conspiracy theorists to chime in: "That car? No way! It's too expensive. Ain't no way it made it saw track time. The pix must be photochopped."

Thank you for the pix.

p.s. Frank, when you grow up it's better to be Stielow. He still gets to enjoy the Mule without having to wait on line at the D.M.V.

Come on Frank at least spell his name right. Its Charley. :lolhit: