During the Open House Kyle stayed busy all day, when he re-assembled the Mustang's splitter and front end, installed the wing, and then worked on a customer's Corvette race car - all while the rest of our crew was eating food, drinking and goofing off. Nicely done, Kyle!
To be fair, Olof helped him for the Mustang front end, and mounted the 335 tires on the newly refinished 18x12" front wheels. Of course Brandon was busy taking pictures all day and we were
all busy talking to folks and giving tours of our little shop, too.
Just want to give a shout out to all of our crew here at Vorshlag for a job well done, after the two busiest months we've ever had. It was good to kick back and take a day to eat, drink and bench race with our friends and customers.
New 335 front 345 rear Hoosiers + New COBRA Seats
So the whole point of (last year's) front and (new) rear flares was to house these wider tires. We knew the 335/30/18 Hoosier A6 fit up front, and I had a pair of scrubs that were mounted up for the Open House. The rear got another set of scrub 345/35/18 Hoosier A6 tires, which I have about 10 of (from the pair I purchased earlier plus some more I acquired).
The sticker set got here today. So the plan is that we will have the Mustang loaded in the trailer on the four scrubs, with the sticker 345s mounted on the spare 18x12" rears and the sticker 335/30/18s loose in the trailer. Blast out to MSR and test in the afternoon on the 1.7 mile course on the scrub tire set.
Then take the front wheels off and mount the sticker 335s trackside at PST (since Amy busted one of the extra pair of front 18x12s at MSR-H and the replacement isn't here yet). That Friday night I'll mount the sticker front and rear wheels onto the car after I'm done testing.
The old seats that came out of the 2011 GT. These will be for sale on our Clearance Page soon.
While we were getting the car cleaned up for the Open House I noticed how faded the COBRA seats have become. The passenger seat, a narrow ("normal width") Suzuka kevlar fixed back composite racing seat, is from 2005 and with nearly 9 years of use in two of my cars without tinted windows, that often get parked outside during the day (to make room in the shop to work), is fading fast. And it is a bit narrow for most folks, so my passengers have had to suffer (it is really made for folks under 160 pounds). The driver's seat is also a Cobra Suzuka, but the "GT width" version (wide, which fits 90% of the people in the USA) from 2009. The fabric is perfect on that one, but the outer left side edge has seen some sun fade also. It isn't noticeable unless you sit it next to a new set, though.
But with an event in March that will be televised (USCA) I wanted to put in a fresh pair of COBRA seats, and get that narrow passenger seat upgraded to a wide version, that will make it easier to give rides at track events and autocrosses. So I took the Cobra Evolution GT seat from our lobby, and another Cobra Suzuka GT we had in stock, and had Olof and Kyle put them in the Mustang. They had to modify the (fixed) bracket on the passenger side, but it is all good now. We routed the OEM seat belt through the head protection section and down through the lap belt hole of the Evolution seat, and it fits across my shoulder and hips just like it does on an OEM seat. So yes, a racing seat can be safe in a street car, if you keep the stock belts and route them properly... I had a whole article written about seats, roll bars and harnesses (for autocross, track and street use) but it needs some more edits. I'll post it in a week or two.
Call Vorshlag For 315mm Scrubs!
So now that we've finally made the switch to 335/345 tires, we've got a shop full of my used Hoosier A6 (and even six R6s) DOT race tires in 315/30/18 that we need to move. They have been stored in our climate controlled shop and all are less than one year old. These are all my TT scrubs, and I've been saving and hoarding them from last season - I think I used 32 new A6s last year, and most of them are still here. They'd all work great for autocrossers, even track guys - if you don't mind the fastest TT laps have been taken on each set already. These cost $376 new, selling them for $100-125 per tire. Call us and see if we still have any left. I'll be moving the 335 and 345 Hoosier scrubs pretty soon as well.
And of course we still have several sets of new Continental 305 and 320/650/18 racing slicks. All of these are either in our
Clearance Page now or will be soon.
Getting Ready for NASA @ MSR Cresson March 7-9th
Amy is out of town so "Team Vorshlag" will be just me, driving solo this weekend. The signups were a little light for this event in TT, and TT3 only has 4 cars right now. That means: nobody can win tires. It also means that we only have 27 in TT, not enough to warrant the extra track length (and 3 extra corner stations) of the 3.1 mile course that TT normally runs at MSR (the race groups and HPDE always have smaller run groups and just run the 1.7). Most of the TT racers are bummed about running the 1.7 mile course, but after that 1:18 lap time in January, I'm not! I had one of my best drives on the 1.7 five weeks ago, and that was on worn out 315s. What will the car run on sticker set of 335/345s? Who knows but I doubt it will be slower.
Continued below
Threaded Mode