Cars N Cones Roadtour - the greatest hotrod tuning and education event of 2016

[bret]

The reason hotrodders come to these forums is for information...about suspension, engines, tires, brakes, wiring...ect.

The reason hotrodders drive and race their cars is to have fun...and to determine if the changes they have made are actually an improvement.

Imagine if there were an event that combined the two...an event where you would have direct live access to experts in the suspension, brakes, engine, (and several other fields), you could get them to look at YOUR car in person, ask their advice, potentially TRY their advice, then ask more questions (in person) about the results of that advice.

The Cars N Cones Roadtour might just provide that chance for you. The Tour starts on Monday May2 at the DSE shop in Charlotte, NC and ends on Friday May 7 at the RideTech shop in Jasper, In. At each stop we will be doing 4-5 hours of autocross fun, then retiring to the day’s sponsor’s facility for dinner and socializing. Then the next morning we get up and drive 2-4 hours to the next stop…and repeat. Find out more here: http://www.fm3roadtrip.com/


Here is a short list of the people who will be on the tour, and what they might be driving:

Bret Voelkel, RideTech - (somebody has to be first on the list, right?) 70 Buick GSX
Building cars since 1979, building suspensions professionally since 1996, driven many hotrods across the country, driven several thousand autocross laps...I still LOVE to talk about cars and try to help people improve them.

Kyle Tucker, Detroit Speed - 65 Nova
GM suspension engineers Kyle and Stacey Tucker started DSE on the back of a pro touring 69 Camaro that they put THOUSANDS of highway miles on. They might be best known on an autocross track, but they also know exactly what it takes to make your car happy on the highway.

Rob McGregor - No Limit Engineering – 65 Mustang
A mechanical engineer who spent time on the TRD Toyota racing program many moons ago, Rob has likely put more highway miles on a motorcycle and/or a hotrod than many of us put on our daily drivers. Rob is a real common sense guy that tries to find the most efficient solution to your problems.

Chris Smith – Smitty’s Custom Automotive - 70 Camaro Streetgrip car –
While he is now known as the driver of the 48 HR Corvette and the RideTech shock tuner, he also builds lots of fast reliable hotrods in his Tiffin, Oh shop. There is little Smitty can’t fix or prevent from breaking...a totally dedicated hotrodder who thrives on helping other hotrodders.

Britt Marolf - RideTech - 48 HR Camaro - Brit is the RideTech Special Projects engineer. He has 2.5 small children so he doesn't get out much, but when he does, his autocross competitors know about it! Britt is also the guy to talk to if you want to build an all-wheel drive Gen 3 Camaro...he knows all the ways that don’t work! Shock expert, air suspension expert, electronics expert...he'll make your head swim with information that you never knew existed.

Chad Reynolds - bangshift.com – 72 Chevelle StreetGrip car - Some of you know him as one of the founders of Bangshift.com, others may know him from his announcing duties at Optima and Goodguys. Fewer may know that the reason he is such an effective announcer who needs no script is that he KNOWS this stuff...because he has lived it for the last 40 years! The only thing about hotrodding that Chad doesn't know is a stranger. You'll be kicking him off your leg

Jeff Schwartz – Schwartz Chassis – 65 Tempest - Jeff makes a living building kickass chassis for lots of different applications, AND has a history of building huge horsepower unique hotrods. Anyone remember a certain Ultima GTR with a twin turbo LS engine that made 1012 hp and went well over 200 MPH? Not impressed yet? How about putting 40,000 miles on that car? Yeah, I was impressed too.

Bruce Raymond - Raymond's Performance Center - Bruce’s shop in Indianapolis is the support system for Ken Thwait’s VERY successful Optima Ultimate Street Car program. Yeah, their kinda smart like that. Bruce and his guys will be following along with the tour to provide repair services and general car building/maintaining/racing tips.

The Bonus…each sponsor will be giving away a LOT of product and swag. RideTech is giving away a full StreetGrip system EVERY DAY. DSE, No Limit, Holley, Forgeline, Baer and others will be giving out similar prizes.

AND…after all of this…Ron Sutton will be presenting his first Suspension workshop of 2016 at the RideTech facility in Jasper, Indiana on Saturday May 7. For those of you who attended one of Ron’s workshops last year, you can attest to how much information is offered. Be aware that the information presented in the 2016 workshop will be significantly different than last year’s workshops.
2016 topics:
• Tips and tricks to measure the suspension and steering points in YOUR car
• Learn to evaluate your car’s geometry and understand it better
• Simple ways to improve your car’s grip and handling consistency
• Proven methods to create out-of-the-box winning suspension set-ups
• Master the recipe for ultra fast spring, swaybar, and shock combinations
• How to achieve amazing grip and corner speed in your current car…or any car
• Track day tuning to dial in your car for neutral, balanced handling

The Ron Sutton Seminar does have an extra cost of $329.00 [about the cost of ONE good tire] but it will likely be the best investment you have ever made in making you and your car faster and happier.

Soooo…the highlights:

1. Sign up for one of the last 20 spots left in the Cars N Cones Roadtour. You can enter for the entire week for $500 or just for a day at a time for $75/day. Note that the day rate does not include any autocross access or raffled prizes like the weeklong entry. http://www.fm3roadtrip.com/event-registration.html

Why? Have fun…learn things…have fun…win prizes…have fun

2. Sign up for Ron Sutton Suspension workshop on May 7 at RideTech http://www.ronsutton-racetechnology....php?storyid=64


Why? Learn something…make your car faster and handle better…what other reason do you need?

[SSLance]

Man I wish I could be a part of this... All of you that will are going to have a blast!

[Ron Sutton]

I'm really looking forward to this event. Autocross all week & a Workshop at the end.

On Friday, a couple of my Star Girls & I will be at the autocross event in Bowling Green. I'll be hanging out with friends & answering any questions folks have. The Star Girls are going to be passing out my new "Build Your Own Track Car Catalog" & posing for photos if anyone wants.

Saturday is the first workshop of my 2016 tour ... with a new topic: The 7 Secrets of Suspension Mapping, Set-ups & Track Tuning. You can get more details on the Workshops HERE & purchase tickets HERE. Every Workshop sold out last year & we are NOT increasing class size. The group size was perfect for interaction, questions & discussion. So get your tickets early.


I hope to see you there !!

[carbuff]

I really wish I could attend this event, it sounds like it will be a blast! Hopefully next year I will have more free time in my schedule.

[jarhead]

geez Ron, you even have Star Girls, I won't be able to attend for sure now

Plenty of pics

Would love to attend.

Joe

[jb@ridetech]

Here are some of the registered participants going on the tour.....


DRIVER: Erik Vandermey
CAR: 2007 Mazda MX-5 MS-R

DETAILS: Upgraded 2.5-liter engine, OE 5-spd trans; Koni yellow DA shocks, MazdaSpeed MS-R springs, Hotchkis swaybars

DRIVER INFO: Erik has been autocrossing since 1994 and doing track events since 1999, and attended his first OSUSC event last year. He’s owned his car since 2007, and says it handles great, is light weight, and as close as you can get to a motorcycle on 4 wheels! He’s looking forward to going to places he’s never been before with friends and other auto enthusiasts.



DRIVER: Todd Earsley
CAR: 1969 Camaro

DETAILS: 350 small block with Tremec 5-speed; stock suspension

DRIVER INFO: We’ve met Todd many times at events, but we’ve never seen him outside of an EVO! Todd has owned this car for 16 years; it was his first car, and he spent time in high school restoring it with his father (who would disown him if he ever sold it!). Todd is looking forward to driving the car to various locations and participating with the other enthusiasts.


DRIVER: Edward Michalak
CAR: 1969 Camaro

DETAILS: ZZ4 350, Edelbrock top end & Holley Terminator EFI, TKO500 trans; RideTech 4-Link, Moser 12-bolt, Wilwood disc brakes, SPC & Chassisworks control arms

DRIVER INFO: A Marine with a history in stock car racing, owning a ’69 Camaro was a dream of Ed’s since childhood. He finally got a chance to make that dream a reality in 2010, when he purchased this car and began his build. Ed has taken this car on 3 Hot Rod Power Tours, including one with a family of 4 including a 3 & 4-year old stuffed in the car…he says “It was not ideal, but it was a trip we’ll never forget!”! Ed is looking forward to meeting new people and enjoying his ride on the Road Trip.


DRIVER: James Vanhoose
CAR: 1967 Camaro

DETAILS: LS1 & T56; TCI Engineering suspension, torque arm 3-link in rear, full subframe up front, RideTech SA Coilovers, 9″ 3:89 gear, Wilwood brakes, RideTech TigerCage, Forgeline wheels, Falken tires

DRIVER INFO: James is a big fan of the 1st gen Camaro, but is also building a ’72. He has owned the ’67 for 5 years and enjoys the pro-touring performance and ride. This event will be his first time on the autocross track, and he’s hoping to win a few door prizes that might help with the build of his ’72!


DRIVER: Christine Crutcher
CAR: 2014 Camaro 2SS/RS

DETAILS: 6.2L; Ported & shaved head – changed cam – 3.91 gear swap, upgraded suspension mix of 1LE & Hotchkis, Corsa exhaust, Eibach lowering kit

DRIVER INFO: Christine’s favorite detail about her car is the increased HP courtesy of RedStar Performance. She is looking forward to time with friends and autocrossing on the Road Trip.