Amy and I motored down to TWS for the weekend of March 29-30th to do a little testing before the NASA event a few weeks later. This HPDE club was running the 2.9 mile course in the counter clockwise (CCW) direction and the next NASA event there in a month would be running CW, but no matter. We just needed a higher speed track event to test the new MCS dampers and softer rear spring rates at, so this event worked well for that. We signed up with Amy as the only driver, since she hasn't taken as many laps at TWS and needed more seat time at these speeds.
Amy drove the Mustang for two days, 7 sessions on track totaling and about 3.5 hours of seat time this weekend, burning up a lot of fuel and
completely used up a set of Continental DP tires in the process. She got a lot more familiar with the TWS 2.9 mile course and the higher speeds seen here after that many hours on track. The brakes did great with this much abuse, but she used up a good bit of the brake pads. American Iron Camaro racer Mike Patterson rode with her and even drove our Mustang with her in the right seat for a few laps, giving her some excellent instruction. Amy picked up a lot from Mike and she ran some 1:59 laps afterwards, dropping 3 seconds almost immediately - this is a sport that is very difficult to "self-teach".
The TrackGuys crew had a record number of entrants for this TWS event and ended up being just
barely short on instructors, so I filled in for an instructor that had trailer trouble on Saturday and arrived several hours late. I rode shotgun with two Mustang students for a couple of sessions each - one was in a '04 Cobra street car making 550 whp, yikes! Lucky for me they both did great. Since I instructed this allowed me to take a few laps in an instructor only session using our car, and I took exactly 3 laps both days. The Conti slicks felt OK but I was definitely slower than my previous laps on 315mm Hoosier A6 tires, with a best of a 1:56.2 lap with a student riding along.
Left: Mike Patterson's AI Camaro was quick. Right: Amy in grid for the red group
We ran this event on the same set of 320/650/18 Continental DP slicks we ran briefly at ECR on Dec 28th, back when it was so cold we couldn't get any heat in the tires. These tires were now used with the above mentioned new set of MCS RR2 shocks and 250 #/in rear springs, but the rest was the same from previous events this year. We ran the hot pressures in the mid 30 psi range and they felt much better in these warmer ambient temps, and didn't have the funky feel from December.
Matt White (at left) was quick in his ST1 classed 5.0 Coyote powered Mustang and Misty White (at right) was moving in her ST2 Camaro
According to our previous lap time data these tires were about 5.5 seconds slower than the 315 Hoosier A6 (previous best at
TWS 2.9 CCW last September was 1:50.675, which was a new TT3 track record then). That seems like a lot, and maybe it is, but the A6 is a one or two lap "sprint only" type of tire and this Conti DP slick is made to go for many hours - which it did.
Looking at the pictures of the tire wear we definitely got our money's worth on this set, ha! The fronts might have had a
tick too much negative camber, as the insides are worn more than the outsides. We actually took these a into the cords and could have easily suffered a blowout - not a pretty sight at 150+ mph. We saw a Corvette do that (pop a front tire at high speeds) during this TWS weekend, and it destroyed the front bodywork and some other bits.
Photo Gallery: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E...-TWS-March-29/
Amy and I took pictures so they aren't as good as what Brandon would have shot, obviously. We took video during each session but its pretty boring stuff so I'm not going to bother editing and posting up a lap.
There were Mustangs from all eras and types: race cars, street cars, and everything in between
This TrackGuys group put on a good event, but a handful of the drivers were a bit reluctant to give point-bys in the faster run groups. Amy got stuck behind a couple of Corvettes for too many laps in a couple of run sessions - she was held up in some corners, but they had enough power on the straights to prevent a clean pass. Oh well, it happens. She doesn't push cars in front of her hard enough to really "get the point across", but she's always safe and calm on track.
This C6 Corvette had an off in the wildflowers and we cleaned his grill, heh
Amy had fun and I got a few laps in: enough to know that the Continental DP slicks aren't going to be replacing our A6s any time soon, and also to know that the new MCS RR2 dampers feel as good or better than the customized Moton doubles we had on the car before. The new softer rear spring also seemed to put down power a bit better on corner exit as well.
The rear definitely has some more roll, as shown in the picture above, so we might look at bumping up the Whiteline rear anti-roll bar settings. But we've driven the car several times since this and it actually feels great. Having the ability to quickly and easily adjust the rear rebound settings of the MCS shocks is a welcome change, and it allows for more shock adjustments to be made.
What's Next?
I'm already working on write-ups for these events, which have come and gone:
The crash at Road Atlanta was pretty bad - but it is all fixable
More soon,