Project Update for Sept 18, 2013: This is a continuation of our NASA Nationals event write-up (part 2 of 3?). In the previous installment I covered the final week of work, after our ECR test, showing the things we did in the closing moments before NASA Nationals. One thing I forgot to mention (again): it is always a bad idea to make major changes right before a key event. But in this case, I guess it didn't
completely blow up in my face? Sure, the car was loose at higher speeds, which made it a real handful to drive at the
FAST 3 mile Outer Loop at Miller, but it had a lot
more front grip than it ever did before. We just overshot the set-up a bit, which we are rectifying now with a new, 4" shorter splitter.
New 18x11" S197 Wheel Set-up From Vorshlag
Gotta take care of of this first, since a lot of you guys have been asking us for this 11" wide wheel set-up. Vorshlag has been working on various wheel packages for the S197 chassis ever since we bought one back in 2010. We now have a good set-up for using 18x11" wheels at all four corners that we've measured, tested, and perfected. This took a few iterations to get right, with various sets of wheels purchased and used on our TT3 Mustang. There is no magic formula for stuffing maximum wheel widths under any given car - it takes patient measurements, some testing, and carries a risk of buying wheels that might not fit. Like with our 18x10 wheels we made 2.5 years ago (with D-Force) - we had to buck up, spend the money, and just do it.
After a few "well, that
almost worked perfectly" iterations we nailed it and have made this product entry for the four wheel 18x11" Forgestar F14 set-up located
here. These wheels cannot be rotated front to rear, as they have vastly different offsets on each axle. That's just the way it works out on an S197 once you go past 10" wheel widths.
Last week we tested and verified the fit of the final iteration of 18x11s on our 2013 GT (which is
still for sale if that page says so) with a set of Kumho V710 R-compound tires in 315/35/18, purchased for use by one of our S197 testers, Mark Council. These Kumho 315s are some
big muthas! Our black '13 shown here is lowered 2.5" on AST coilovers, has an adjustable WL panhard rod to re-center the axle housing, plus some additional negative camber up front using our camber plates. To go any wider in the rear you need a reverse mounted swaybar (Whiteline) and probably a Watts Link to be safe (we stuffed an 18x12" on the back of our TT3 car this way,
very carefully; we have perfected this 18x12" rear wheel set-up for racers as well, after several iterations on our car). To go any wider than an 11" up front you will need a Sawzall. The 18x12" fronts on our TT3 car have had the fenders cut and flared to fit, but the 18x11" works if you get the offset right.
As you can see in these pictures, the 18x11 wheels are close to the edges of the fenders at both ends, but these do fit, even with fat 315mm tires. This set-up has adequate inboard clearance up front and plenty of inboard room out back. It would also work with 295s, 305s or even 285s.
We now offer these in our online store.
These are built to order and take from 4-6 weeks, and are perfect for autocross and track use, and maybe even street use if you are so inclined. We have made these in the mesh 14-spoke F14 versions but they would likely also work in their CF5 5-spoke version as well (just a tick heavier). Give us a shout if you are interested.
Prep Work During NASA Nationals
OK, so I got that out of the way. Let's talk about NASA Nationals! In this section I will cover the work we did to the car in the paddock all week. The car was dead nuts reliable, but we still had to do some wrenching over the 5 days we were at Miller, mostly having to do with the 3 sets of tires we used. And we were among the poorer of the TT drivers, with only one set of brand new "sticker" tires used all week. Other folks used 2, 3 and even 4 sets of stickers in TT. Hey, if you've got the money, why not? As we learned the conditions could change
at any moment and you might be stuck with a time from an earlier session.
My favorite picture of the Mustang taken at Miller. Brandon did his magic on this one, right after it rained...
First, I have to talk about the track:
Miller Motorsports Park is the most amazing facility I've ever raced at (not counting COTA, where we only "hooned around in Cadillacs"). Sorry, NOLA, you guys have an amazing track and grounds, too, but this one has
mountains. Literally, every direction you look is filled with picturesque views.
You couldn't TAKE a bad picture here if you tried. Did you
see that "wet paddock" picture above? Click it for a super-sized version - Brandon shot some amazing stuff all week. Like the owners at NOLA, the folks at Miller didn't just build a great track, they have amazing buildings and garages, a massive clubhouse, cafes and shops, plus they house and run the Ford Racing school here. There is a kart track, zip line,
900 acre off road park with 90 miles of course, a rock climbing course, a motocross and stadium truck course, and a museum. In one word:
Epic
We parked at the far end of the West Paddock. This facility is huge and sits on over 500 acres!
Continued below
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