johnl
02-27-2006, 12:42 AM
Drove it to Vegas, ran Saturday Track Day; got my visor signed, did Fremont street show, did Sunday show at Shelby, ate chili, got in car and drove home.
I was a total newbie to auto roadracing so SoCal TD guys - Alan and Boyd, told me where to start the Konis/tires.
There were only two TDs that did the track days, mine on Saturday and Stanley (gotta find his card) from Utah brought his Shelby Charger T1.
Car ran great, drove it there, raced it, drove it home. Went fast; passed and lapped lots of Fords. (Went with the "C" group of course so that is not such a big deal - but it felt good) Big welcomes were made by honchos from both Shelby American and from SAAC. When I pulled in after my second session, three national officers of SAAC made it a point to walk from the pit wall to where we were set up and to thank me for coming and to encourage me (and all Dodge Shelbys) to come again. I asked them about bringing turbo Dodges, as opposed to Shelbys, and they said it would be pretty hard to disallow them when they already allow all kinds of kit car/non-Shelby Cobra and Shelby Mustang clones. There appeared to my poor eye, to be more than a few fastbacks painted up as GT350s out on the track. They went on to say that bigger fields benefit all.
The track day was not on the speedway; instead, we were on the road course - 15 or 18 turns depending on whether you count the kinks. It was so tight that it was ideal for making a TD look good. I only used 5th when there was no one to catch and I wanted to give the engine a rest on either of the two straights. On both straights I'd get to the top of 4th and then need brakes; the straights were the only place that the truly fast V8s could walk from me while there were other parts where I could gain on most of the cars I ran with (and I did not run with the truly fast cars). When they opened the track to all classes of drivers, I got to see how slow I actually was. A lot of the difference, though, was in their tires - slicks/whatever. There were some late model supercharged Mustangs that plain flew - lowered, slicks, big exhaust. The fastest cars out there Bob Johnson's Shelby CanAm car and Shelby house tuned orange car.
Ran leaded 112 race gas mix. All day, the plugs remained as white as new. Maybe two speckels on two plugs all day. First started with 1:1 112/91, then figuring I was in no real danger of too cold/too rich and that it was going to get hotter in the afternoon, increased the mix to 3:1
Craig StPierre from SDAC was there. What a great guy. After the first two sessions, I was way amp'd and adrenalined and a little lost; haven't raced in 20 years; he would remind me to check the tire pressures NOW when I got in; he turned my engine back on to let it cool down; he reminded me not to set the parking brake. Lots of stuff like that. He also took lots of pics.
Anyway, great time. Thanks to Turbo-Mopar, and that other place, for educating me.
I was a total newbie to auto roadracing so SoCal TD guys - Alan and Boyd, told me where to start the Konis/tires.
There were only two TDs that did the track days, mine on Saturday and Stanley (gotta find his card) from Utah brought his Shelby Charger T1.
Car ran great, drove it there, raced it, drove it home. Went fast; passed and lapped lots of Fords. (Went with the "C" group of course so that is not such a big deal - but it felt good) Big welcomes were made by honchos from both Shelby American and from SAAC. When I pulled in after my second session, three national officers of SAAC made it a point to walk from the pit wall to where we were set up and to thank me for coming and to encourage me (and all Dodge Shelbys) to come again. I asked them about bringing turbo Dodges, as opposed to Shelbys, and they said it would be pretty hard to disallow them when they already allow all kinds of kit car/non-Shelby Cobra and Shelby Mustang clones. There appeared to my poor eye, to be more than a few fastbacks painted up as GT350s out on the track. They went on to say that bigger fields benefit all.
The track day was not on the speedway; instead, we were on the road course - 15 or 18 turns depending on whether you count the kinks. It was so tight that it was ideal for making a TD look good. I only used 5th when there was no one to catch and I wanted to give the engine a rest on either of the two straights. On both straights I'd get to the top of 4th and then need brakes; the straights were the only place that the truly fast V8s could walk from me while there were other parts where I could gain on most of the cars I ran with (and I did not run with the truly fast cars). When they opened the track to all classes of drivers, I got to see how slow I actually was. A lot of the difference, though, was in their tires - slicks/whatever. There were some late model supercharged Mustangs that plain flew - lowered, slicks, big exhaust. The fastest cars out there Bob Johnson's Shelby CanAm car and Shelby house tuned orange car.
Ran leaded 112 race gas mix. All day, the plugs remained as white as new. Maybe two speckels on two plugs all day. First started with 1:1 112/91, then figuring I was in no real danger of too cold/too rich and that it was going to get hotter in the afternoon, increased the mix to 3:1
Craig StPierre from SDAC was there. What a great guy. After the first two sessions, I was way amp'd and adrenalined and a little lost; haven't raced in 20 years; he would remind me to check the tire pressures NOW when I got in; he turned my engine back on to let it cool down; he reminded me not to set the parking brake. Lots of stuff like that. He also took lots of pics.
Anyway, great time. Thanks to Turbo-Mopar, and that other place, for educating me.