[Ron Sutton]

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for not posting sooner. I was rockin' on some projects.

I have lots to cover from the Thunderhill weekend ...

1st ... Greg thanks for hiring me to come out. You said it would be fun & man was it. You hang with a great group of people. Your cooking & hospitality was much appreciated.

2nd ... Sieg & Dave "Cheeseball" Gordon ... it was good to see you both again & hang out. Fun times.

3rd ... Mike & Mike ... it was good to meet you in person. It's funny how acquaintances are born online but friendships forged when you're hanging out.

4th ... Charley ... man ... you shoulda warned me about Greg. LOL

5th ... Gaetano ... good to meet you in person. I wish they would have let you run so we could dial in those trick rear shocks. But I'm glad you made the trip anyway to hang out.

If I missed anyone, I apologize.

Now onto some info I should share ...

A. Greg Weld didn't hire me to get faster. That was never our focus. Greg wanted to get a better handle on the Hoosier R6 tires ... optimum pressures for hot & cold tracks ... taking temp readings ... understanding what the temps mean, etc. He had “ono moment” at Laguna Seca and wanted to prevent that in the future.

Greg told me a dozen times before & during the track days, "I do this for fun." So my focus was on making it more fun for him on track. (Hard to make it more fun in the pits. Greg & the gang already have that covered. But I did get a few funnies in.)

What I mean by fun on track is ...
• Having a track car that is predictable to drive, consistent and comfortable at 8/10, 9/10 or 10/10.
• Having a track car that doesn't handle funny nor doing anything evil or unpredictable.
• And lastly ... and this is key ... having a track car that you have confidence in that's not constantly on the edge.

On Saturday:
After Session #1: I checked the tires’ hot pressures (to know growth rate) took inner, middle & outer temps ( to understand what the tire was doing) and checked the durometer on each tire. Greg mentioned the car was rolling over on the right rear on left hand corners (which Thunderhill has most of for you guys that haven’t been there.) Greg told me the car was doing this the last time he had it at the track too … but not before that. Driving a car that handles this way can be a little unsettling on slower tracks. On faster tracks it can pucker you up … if you know what I mean.

It would be easy to think the cause was mechanical, but understanding what the tires are telling us is can prevent us from going on a wild goose chase. The primary reason the car was rolling more over on the right rear tire … was the right front tire was not gripping “as well”. It was harder than the other 3 tires. A quick refresher: Grip (traction) causes the car to have body roll or roll angle. No grip … no roll angle. So the RR tire was gripping fine & the RF not so much. This led to more roll angle in the rear & less in the front.

If we had a single used, good tire we could have put on the RF, that would have fixed it. We didn’t, but Greg had 4 new tires mounted on wheels, so he swapped them on. I learned a little about the run pressures from session #1 & adjusted the “go out” pressure a bit for session #2.

We sat down (Sieg, Greg & I) and I shared driving tips to keep the tires “Happy” … for increased grip on all 4 tires … and outlined what I think of as timing the driver actions of braking, turning, throttle, etc.

After Session #2: I checked the tires’ hot pressures , temps & durometer plus brake rotor temps. The tire pressure growth & temps looked better. The durometer showed the new tires were all within 1 point & basically the same as the 3 good tires Greg took off. The brake temps showed the car’s brake bias was off.

Greg was excited his “car was back” and the handling restored to normal. He said the rear tires were hoppy on corner entry under hard braking, so I adjusted the brake proportioning valve … and made a small pressure change. I better clarify that … Greg sets his tire pressures … I just review the numbers and share my suggestions. Greg was laughing his butt off about the car needing .5 of a pound more in the in the front tires. LOL Good times.

After Session #3: I checked the tires’ hot pressures , temps & durometer plus brake rotor temps. The tire pressure growth & temps looked close, but not perfect yet. The brake rotor temps told me the bias was much better but not optimum.

Greg said the hop in the rear brakes was gone, handling was great and he had confidence in driving her. The brake bias adjuster was out of adjustment, so we understood that was all we could get until we made some mechanical changes. I called for another .5 tire pressure change … this time for the rear tires … and Greg was dying laughing.

After Session #4: Of course, as always, I checked the tires’ hot pressures , temps & durometer plus brake rotor temps. Tires were perfect … which means they were providing the optimum grip they were capable of. Brake bias was the same … Ok.

We called it day … a good day … and most of us proceeded to have several adult beverages (not Greg) and an awesome dinner the Shelby club provided at the track.

IIRC Greg’s times for the day were:
Session #1: 2:23 best
Session #2: 2:16 best
Session #3: 2:15 best
Session #4: 2:13 best

But we never once focused on going faster. We never discussed going faster or driving harder. My focus was learning & optimizing the tires … and finding and fixing issues that were there. My goal was to make the car more fun to drive.

To clarify, I didn’t cut 10 seconds off Greg’s times Saturday. I’ll bet Greg would have got the Mustang running around 2:18’s with no changes. maybe even faster. Only Greg can know. By correcting a few things on the car, it made it easier to drive faster. I think the majority of Saturday’s gains were from car improvements and some from Driving improvement.

We did not do much on the car relatively speaking. We didn’t touch shock valving, springs, heights, sway bars, track bars, roll centers, front end geometry, etc, etc. That wasn’t Greg’s goal. He just wanted the car to be predictable & more fun to drive.


On Sunday:
I called for “go out” pressures to make the cold tires come up to speed quicker. Sieg, Greg & I sat down & I shared ways to program the mind to increase critical information coming into it. I reminded them of a key thing to do before each session. We made no changes to the car on Sunday. All gains on Sunday were driver.

Session #1: 2:13
Session #2: 2.08

Summary: We achieved Greg's goals. He learned his tire info & knows how to optimize them everytime, got his car handling & braking better & learned a few driver tricks. The 10 second quicker lap times were just icing on the cake.

Someone mentioned 12 seconds, but I think working together, Greg & I cut about 10 seconds off his lap times … 2:18 to 2:08 … over the whole weekend. Some from car improvement & some from driver coaching.

For reference, I was timing several cars every session (at the track I live with a small 4-car stop watch). I have an old habit of always timing cars … because it teaches me stuff. I time laps for many reasons. In this case, I needed to know if the track was changing significantly to affect car performance and if so … how much? So I timed 3 veterans every session. The mean C6 Vette (fastest car there I “think”) ran 2:00’s almost every lap. The “good” Cup car ran 2:02’s occasionally 2:03’s all weekend. Another fast Mustang ran 2:09’s & 2:10’s every session. So the track didn’t change much.

Again, Greg & I never focused on going faster. We never discussed going faster or driving harder. I just helped Greg & Sieg see, hear & feel things more clearly in the cockpit. The 5 seconds Greg shaved off his lap times on Sunday was all driver. Greg had confidence in his car and increased his track awareness which allows you to get faster … comfortably.

Greg … Man … thanks for having me out. It was super fun. I’m glad you had fun … and you’re happy with the result.