continued from above
I was still in disbelief as I climbed the stairs.
No way this is happening! Jimi Day congratulated me on the overall win and asked me if I'd be in SEMA in Novem...
"OH HELL YES!" I didn't even let him finish the question. We would have a lot of work ahead of us to get the Mustang presentable for the SEMA show, tons of testing to fine tune the street tire set-up, and this meant I couldn't sell the car before November, but so be it. The weight of that huge chunk of billet aluminum that the folks at Ridetech CNC machined into the class winner trophies sure felt good in my hands. Its sitting in our lobby and I crack a wide smile every time I see it.
The overall lead was by 7 points, so I could have slipped down a spot in one event and still won. Four solid finishes with steady top 4 placings just added up for the win. The Design Challenge and Hot Lap Challenge scores saved me the most. People were congratulating me below the Optima trailer, but I was speechless. They shuffled the class winners over behind the trailer for more interviews with the TV show's host, Chad.
After a few takes (due to outside noises) we finally got this 20 second interview in the can and I stumbled back to the garage - to see the REAL star of this event, the
big red Mustang! I cannot thank our crew here at Vorshlag enough for all of the hard work they put into this car over the past FOUR YEARS to get it where it is today. If a no-talent-hack like me can win against a field with this much talent and top dollar iron, then we must have made one helluva car!
We came up with a package of the right parts that was just easy enough to drive, with a touch of downforce when it mattered and just enough power from the stock 5.0 Coyote engine to get it done. This set-up isn't even remotely perfected for street tires, but I guess it was good enough this time. The Mustang was rock solid reliable all weekend, even when we dumped in E85 ethanol. The brakes worked through 3 days of abuse (after we replaced the very worn front rotors that I let slip by after the last track event), and the Carbotech XP20 compound just laughed at the abuse I threw at them. The stock clutch was solid, and the Vorshlag/Moton/Whiteline suspension handled everything we threw at it and did so with ease.
The most amazing thing was: these 200 treadwear BFG Rival street tires were fast enough that I
beat my best GTA time from this track in 2012 when it was on 315mm Hoosiers! Even if you count my un-timed best 39.8 lap from 2012, we were still quicker on the BFG streets here. I guess we have refined the overall suspension and aero package THAT much to overcome a grip deficiency to gumball A6 compound Hoosier race tires. Wow. Sure, I did some damage to the outer tread blocks on the rear 335 Rivals, but most of that was done in the closing "victory" laps of the last session - where I kept the rear tires spinning through most of 3 laps, heh. We flipped these tires on the rear wheels and ran them at another event a few weeks later without a worry. Other than the outer tread wear the tread depth left over after 3 days of brutal abuse was remarkable and I won't bat an eye about using Rivals again at the Optima Invitational. Look for more street tire testing from Vorshlag soon!
When we went to go pull the Mustang back in the trailer after the USCA event on Sunday night the battery to the winch was dead (someone left the interior lights on overnight) so we had to push it up the ramps and a series of moving wood planks we use to keep the splitter from dragging (thanks for the help guys). We've since upgraded to a set of 2-piece foam Race Ramps that are twice as long as before, so the car drives into our rather tallish trailer easily now.
After we were all loaded up the whole Vorshlag contingent of 15+ people met for dinner and Amy and I headed home, utterly exhausted yet elated. There were more events coming up and we had to get ready for them both. We had a new focus for the rest of this year, other than just doing well in NASA TT3: we had to get a
second set-up tested and perfected for street tire use in USCA... because we were going to the big Optima Invitational! That is going to be SO much fun. Amy has already reserved a condo with multiple rooms for the week of SEMA and the weekend after. Lots of mods to do, lots to test.
continued below