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Another change we made was to remove the current "livery", which we've had on the car since 2012. The crazy stripes were Amy's idea, and the vendor decals were there to show what we have on the car that we sell. Some of the parts shown in decals are about to be removed (more on that in my next post) and almost all of the vendors we use aren't "Goodguys/USCA" sponsors, so they had to get toned down a bit.
Street Car, Race Car - What's The Definition? Who cares?
The number board, NASA decals and race numbers/class letters make this streetable car look more like a race car than it really is, and I didn't want to put the wrong impression for Goodguys or USCA - because this really is a very streetable car that we often drive around town for various events, unlike some cars that show up at those street car competitions. We have had a few folks complain publicly about how our Mustang is a "race car" showing up and beating "street cars" at NASA events, Goodguys, and other competitions, but I just chalk that up to internet whining. It is even funnier when folks with "street cars" that have gutted interiors, no radio or air con, built or boosted motors and/or wildly illegal emissions systems make these claims about our 2011 Mustang. This
really is a full interior car (back seats are reinstalled as of last week), with the OEM air bags, big honkin' radio, touch screen sat NAV, a satellite radio subscription, air conditioning, power windows, all of the OEM glass, OEM seat belts, and a bone stock engine from throttle body to exhaust port. The suspension is refined for competition, but it's still quiet and uses bushings in most of the arms and links.
A ducted hood, splitter and big wing don't make a car a "race car" or really much less streetable than other cars - but these are visible exterior mods that look "racey" and some that don't understand the function of them would even say "ricey". And at the events we race in, this Mustang is usually the heaviest car at the entire event (3802 pounds) and almost always competing against much more radically prepped cars. Is it my fault if someone shows up to NASA TT in a bone stock car and gets beat? Should they expect to win in a totally stock vehicle? Sometimes a fairly stock-ish car can do well in NASA Time Trial, but most of the time these entrants are making significant modifications to otherwise OEM vehicles to be more competitive. When there are contingencies on the line (like free sets of tires for the winners) you better believe I'm going to look at the rules and do what I feel is most beneficial to lowering our lap times. At the 2013 NASA Nationals our car was one of the only ones on the TTU-TT1/2/3 grid that was a registered and inspected street car, and once again the heaviest car on grid.
Just know that everyone has their own definition of a "street car", and your's might not sync up with mine. You should see some of the street cars race in Hot Rod's Speed Week! The 80 mile road rally we have to drive on public roads this Friday at the USCA event will separate the street cars from the race cars, and I'm confident that I will have no problems on that drive. In fact I'll probably have the A/C on and playing Channel 51 on Sirius blasting through the 1000 watt stereo, burning 93 octane pump fuel and having fun.
Back to the decal removal. So we left the car out in the sun for a couple of hours to help soften the adhesives, then I started to yanked off the stripes and most of the decals myself. Kyle finished removing the decals and then washed the car. After that I removed the adhesive residue with the Goof Off Heavy Duty spray remover I like (not the Goof Off Industrial Strength, which can sometimes affect the paint - the "heavy duty" version is much safer). Finally, Ryan used his detailing skills and tools to buff and wax the paint. HE wasn't around when Brandon took this picture below, so I stood in for him and pretended to do real work, heh.
Some of those decals have been on there for about 2 years but luckily we use good vinyl and they came off well. Nothing was brittle and tore except for a few printed decals that came from vendors or race events. One of those left a HUGE glob of adhesive that took a bit of elbow grease to get off, but it all cleaned up well. Some of these stripes and decals went onto VERY fresh paint (due to time constraints) but Shiloh's paint work held up perfectly. Once it was all buffed and waxed it came out nice.
There's the old livery at left and the new "naked" look at right. We had planned on doing some simple black stripes and a few vendor decals but the weather started to turn and we ran out of time. That's going to happen soon, so it won't stay "naked" long. Yes yes, it looks better with a simple red paint job, but this car is a marketing tool for us and it has to show the parts on it that we sell, so they have to go back on at some point.
Goodguys Autocross - Sunday March 16th - TMS
A Goodguys weekend consists of 3 days of car shows, swap meets, and autocross competition. The typical customer for these shows is the 1972-older domestic car or truck owner, and they tailor most of their many events around these folks. The g-machine muscle car scene has taken a strong foothold over Goodguys and the Friday-Saturday autocross competition is chock full of these 1972-older American cars.
Event website:
https://www.good-guys.com/slsn-2014
Luckily they also welcome the "late model" 1973-newer American cars on the "All American Sunday Autocross", which we have entered once before (last October, where I got
2nd place by .02 seconds - and lost out on a
free set tires from BFG!).
Last October we went to the Goodguys event at Texas Motor Speedway for our first time and ran on a used set of 295/35/18 Nitto NT-05s and I was introduced to their autocross course layouts. I had heard they were tight, but this was an eye opener.
With 90% of the course run in 1st gear, several super tight 180° turn-arounds and running through major sections of the course multiple times, I'd really call this more of a
gymkhana than an autocross, but that's how they set up all of their events and more power to 'em. Not knocking it - just different from your typical SCCA course, in case you attend one of these. And you should - it is fun and you get to see some serious machinery! I learned what to expect back in October (about the course as well as the
unannounced goodies you win for first!) and so when the next Goodguys event was scheduled in Dallas (they do 2 events a year at TMS - Spring and Fall) I signed up. This time I was there for two reasons: first, to get practice for the following week's USCA event (more on that below) and second, to win the
fat loots they give to the winner.
The prize package for the winner of the All American Sunday at a Goodguys event is no joke!
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