Greg Weld's 65 Mustang fastback track car

[Vegas69]

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

[Track Junky]

Originally Posted by Ron Sutton

Hey G!

It was fun hanging with you Saturday. Camaro looked good on track.

Greg told me his goal was to have the Mustang feel 25% like the Lotus & we achieved 75% ... which was fun to hear. Of course I would have gladly drove back to Sac, got parts & fixed the pinion seal problem, but he'd only get a session or two. So Greg made the call to do it later & drove the Lotus Sunday.

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.

[Ron Sutton]

Guys ... all of you ... thanks for all the kind words. I love helping guys/gals make their cars perform at high levels & haul ass. The Pro Touring, Autocross & Track Car projects have been fun & rewarding. Frankly, for me and the world I'm from, it's been easy to achieve big gains if we do our homework & do stuff right.

Greg, I appreciate you giving me free reign on the Mustang. It allowed me to get everything corrected, all the little details right and the overall car "happy." Next track day, we'll push her til we find the corner limits ... tune on the secret sauce valved JRi shocks ... and raise the limits.

This Fall/Winter ... along with doing shocks, brakes & suspensions for guys doing their own projects or having them done in shops ... I hope to do 3-4 car projects at BMR & Tolle's shops. For anyone not familiar with how I work ... I don't wrench on cars (Greg ... shhh) ... I design the suspension set-up, dial in the geometry, design & manufacture any custom parts needed, order the rest ... and have guys at shops I trust do the install with my oversight.

Bill McAnally Racing is 5-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Champion team and a long time alliance of mine. I utilized their team to do all the measuring, disassembly, minor fab work, reassembly & set-up on Greg's car. Another shop I use is Tolle Fab ... Mike Tolle ... who also builds Daytona Prototype, GT & other road race cars ... just down the street from my shop in Sacramento. He's an excellent pro race caliber craftsman I use to install my AutoX-Star & Track-Star line of front & rear suspensions, roll cages, etc. Of course I have clients doing their own fab with my suspensions & roll cage kits or having a shop near them doing it for them. Doesn't matter to me, as long as we do it right. I have another shop that builds my Street & Track Warrior complete cars. If anyone following along is looking to improve their braking, safety, handling or aero ... feel free to reach out to me.

Who is going to SEMA and/or Scottsdale ? I'll be at both ... including Jody's fun Lat-G party. I see some beers, food & bad jokes in our near future.

[Flash68]

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

[Flash68]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

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

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.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Flash68

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

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.

Originally Posted by Flash68

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.

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.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

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

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.

[DBasher]

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!



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!

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by DBasher

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!



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!

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

[Ron in SoCal]

These last couple pages are a GAS!

Congrats to you Greg and Ron for a great outcome.

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