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So those are the main SCCA Solo classes for the S197 Mustang. You could also build for C Prepared or E Modified in an S197, but those two classes are ruled by completely gutted race car shells running on giant non-DOT slicks. And both classes have their own set of open yet restrictive rules that will make you want to pull your hair out. Just... don't even think about those two options. Of all of the above choices, I feel the only two worth exploring in an S197 are STU and ESP, with STU being the much more common choice, as you have to run on 140+ treadwear street tires and keep emissions equipment. This saves you a lot of money and keeps your car a dual purpose street/autocross car.
Since we started the STU letter writing campaign, personally raced an S197 in STX for over two years, and raced an S197 in STU when it was allowed before 2012, I wanted to see how one of these cars would stack up at a local SCCA event in STU once again. So less than two weeks after the
August 2013 FasTrack announced the S197 move back to STU (effective in 2014, we
think), I found a Coyote equipped Mustang with a lot of the standard STU mods to co-drive and we ran it in this new class.
SCCA Autocross, concrete lot at Dallas Raceway, July 28, 2013
Mark Council is a Vorshlag customer and tester and has been building his 2012 Mustang GT around the ESP class in SCCA autocrossing. Mark said before that he would prefer to race on street tires, if this chassis was moved to STU class in the Street Touring category. So after the August 2013 FasTrack announcement, he offered me a co-drive, we found a Texas Region SCCA event on concrete, and away we went.
Mods to Mark's 2012 GT include: AST 4150 coilovers, 550#/in front and 250 #/in rear springs, Vorshlag camber plates, lots of negative camber, 18x10" Vorshlag/D-Force wheels, 285/35/18 Hankook R-S3 tires, Torsen T-2R differential, reprogrammed rev limit (7000 rpm), factory 3.55 gears, MGW shifter, mufflers, Whiteline sway bars front and rear, optional CS lower fascia, optional Brembo brakes with Vorshlag SS brake lines and Carbotech AX6 brake pads. He has more planned, but that's what it had installed when we raced it. Not a bad combination at all and it's 100% streetable and emissions legal. And most important of all, it's STU legal.
In order to avoid running both drivers in the same heat on this VERY hot Texas summer day, we split up into two available run groups. Two drivers running the same car in one heat would have overheated the tires quickly, plus made it more difficult to "reset the car" between runs. I've done it many times at local events and it always becomes a major time crunch - bleeding air pressure, cooling the tires and engine, checking tire temperatures, changing numbers, resetting cameras and more. So I ran in the 1st heat in the "X" class, with my first runs at 77°F ambient and my last runs in the high 80s. This is an optional class in our region to allow the National level drivers (or anyone who chooses) to compete together in this class, running with a PAX factor. It keeps the regular classes from always being dominated by the National level folks. I had no illusions that I would win X-class, as the PAX factor for STU almost exactly matches ESP's, even with STU having a lot more restrictions and running on street tires. I just wanted to break up our runs into two heats, but still wanted to see how the car stacked up in this PAX class.
Click above to watch Terry's third and fastest run in STU-X. You can stream up to 720P rez
Mark ran in the actual STU "open" class during the 4th and final heat of the day, which was also the hottest part of the day (97°F). The course was dirty in the first heat and cleaned up for later heats, but the added ambient temperature took some of the "clean" advantage away, at least on street tires. We figured we would analyze his runs against the four STU cars and my runs against the X-class "pro" drivers and both against overall PAX results. I got 29th out of 136 in PAX, which is much lower than I have done at these Texas Region events lately in our 2011 Mustang in ESP or even StreetMod. But before you guys over-analyze the PAX results, comparing this car's runs by me (running in X-class in 1st heat) or Mark (running STU in 4th heat) to other classes/heats, know this:
There was a course change after the first heat. The first heat had the following classes: AM, BM, CM, CS, GS, DM, EP, FP, FSP, GP, STF, X. The Safety Stewards demanded a change to the finish, but not until after the entire first heat had made their five runs.
Terry driving during his fifth run with Mark riding shotgun. Pretty cool video with
three camera views . Almost as quick as his solo third run. Up to 1080P rez
Again, splitting up and running in two different heats was a choice we made due to the hot conditions and relatively short heats. We knew that if both of us ran in the same heat at the very end of the day (97°F by day's end), that the tires would overheat badly. As it was, we still sprayed tires after EVERY run in the morning (for me) and TWICE after each afternoon run for Mark. The rear tires got HOT HOT HOT. I even had some trouble with the brakes hitting a bit of ICE MODE on the ABS as well. Again, the course was much dirtier when I ran in 1st heat, and Mark had no such complaints.
Left: Splitting up our runs into two heats allowed Mark (L) and me (R) to help each other between runs. Right: Jason McCall's BSP Corvette.
The mid-event course change essentially throws away the comparison data for runs that were not made in the same course configuration (1st heat vs 2nd/3rd/4th heats). During the morning course walk I predicted the finish would be too fast and that the curve right before the lights would create lots of spins and prompt a course change after the first few runs. Instead of making the change early and re-running the first few cars, they made the unusual decision to change it after an entire heat ran. Ironically the course fix didn't make the course that much safer - as there were almost as many spins in the finish after "the fix" as before.
Click the "spinning image" above for in-car video from McCall's BSP Corvette (5th overall in PAX). This 48.464 second run was clean.
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