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Rexpelagi's Not Daily Driven CAM-C / USCA Transmission Slayer!
Rexpelagi
Active Member
- Thread starter
- #17
It’s been a few weeks, so time for an update! I few weeks ago I attended the USCA event at Barber Motorsports Park. For those that haven’t been, the facility is amazing! The lawns look like fairways on a golf course and there is random art everywhere, including a witch hanging under one of the bridges over the road course. Best not to look at it while driving, though.
Autocross went very well – fastest in class! The suspension sourced and speced through Sam Strano at Stranoparts is definitely at home in it’s element!
I still struggle a bit with speed/stop (kind of like a Pro Solo but all the focus is on acceleration and braking), but most cars are separated by tenths if anything. I think I finished 4th in class.
On the road course I was 2nd in class, about 0.2s behind Jonathan in first! The transmission rebuild from Calimer combined with the RST clutch (also sourced through Stranoparts) did great, with smooth shifts and, more importantly, no shattered gears. I could definitely use a little more power – thankfully Barber doesn’t have long straights like some other tracks. Still, Jonathan posted his video and he had me by 15mph in the front straight alone!
On Design and Engineering… well, really need to work on that. I got crushed by about 20 positions, with each position in every event equating to 1pt, which I had to try to claw back through the other driving events.
When everything was finished, I ended up 2nd in class behind Jonathan – 5pts back.
However, since Jonathan is already heading to SEMA thanks to NCM, the invite fell to me. So, the Mustang will be headed to SEMA!
Also, it’s worth mentioning that this was the first time in USCA history with an all-Mustang podium! Mustangs actually managed to snag the top 4 positions in GT, pretty impressive! Ended up being a great weekend!
On the USCA front, I’m waitlisted for Road America in October – not sure if I’ll go if I get in (now that I’m invited to SEMA) as it’s a bit of a haul, but we shall see!
Now, on to SCCA Nationals in 2wks, to hang out with Dennis Healy and the rest of CAM crowd. Wish me luck!
Ready for autocross:
Check out the autocross banking!
Fastest autocross run:
Leaving for road rally:
On the road rally (still inside Barber Motorsports Park):
Cleaning the catch cans - a must between every track session!:
Fastest track session (2nd lap is my fastest of the day):
Autocross went very well – fastest in class! The suspension sourced and speced through Sam Strano at Stranoparts is definitely at home in it’s element!
I still struggle a bit with speed/stop (kind of like a Pro Solo but all the focus is on acceleration and braking), but most cars are separated by tenths if anything. I think I finished 4th in class.
On the road course I was 2nd in class, about 0.2s behind Jonathan in first! The transmission rebuild from Calimer combined with the RST clutch (also sourced through Stranoparts) did great, with smooth shifts and, more importantly, no shattered gears. I could definitely use a little more power – thankfully Barber doesn’t have long straights like some other tracks. Still, Jonathan posted his video and he had me by 15mph in the front straight alone!
On Design and Engineering… well, really need to work on that. I got crushed by about 20 positions, with each position in every event equating to 1pt, which I had to try to claw back through the other driving events.
When everything was finished, I ended up 2nd in class behind Jonathan – 5pts back.
However, since Jonathan is already heading to SEMA thanks to NCM, the invite fell to me. So, the Mustang will be headed to SEMA!
Also, it’s worth mentioning that this was the first time in USCA history with an all-Mustang podium! Mustangs actually managed to snag the top 4 positions in GT, pretty impressive! Ended up being a great weekend!
On the USCA front, I’m waitlisted for Road America in October – not sure if I’ll go if I get in (now that I’m invited to SEMA) as it’s a bit of a haul, but we shall see!
Now, on to SCCA Nationals in 2wks, to hang out with Dennis Healy and the rest of CAM crowd. Wish me luck!
Ready for autocross:
Check out the autocross banking!
Fastest autocross run:
Leaving for road rally:
On the road rally (still inside Barber Motorsports Park):
Cleaning the catch cans - a must between every track session!:
Fastest track session (2nd lap is my fastest of the day):
Rexpelagi
Active Member
- Thread starter
- #18
So, it’s been awhile so I figured I should post again.
Nationals… whelp, that was very much a mixed bag.
At the Pro first session I ran my BFGs. I was the fastest CAM car but we were bumped with FS, which didn’t go well on index (or on raw for that matter). For the afternoon, I switched to Bridgestones, which are faster at Lincoln. I proved they have higher grip on my first afternoon launch, which Healy’ed the diff bolts, specifically breaking the right front and left rear. When the diff shifted it also bound up the CV on the driver’s side and snapped that.
Based on this, I jumped in a 2010 GT500 for Sunday morning, but unfortunately it was mixed conditions (some wet spots), so I didn’t really get a great feel for the car.
That said, my first 4 runs were enough for the CAM win at the finale and the overall win for the season!
The fix for the broken bolts is grade 8 or grade 12.9 bolts, with the diff carrier drilled out in the back so the bolt goes all the way through and the shank takes the load as opposed to the threads.
Not wanting to deal with the car on site (and not having bolts to replace it), I started shopping around for a co-drive. I ended up sticking in the GT500, which… was not a great choice. Tuesday was a complete washout, high levels of steady rain, with large pools of standing water. I didn’t have dedicated wets, as I’d never competed in something this deep. However, everyone not on wets was way off the pace. The GT500 was especially problematic as there was so much weight over the front it just wouldn’t respond fast enough. I ended up way back day 1, and struggled with the car’s handling on day 2 – the S197 chassis definitely shows it’s age compared to the newer stuff, and being over 3700lbs didn’t help.
Wet:
I ended up off the podium, so not a great result given the season. I don’t think I could have done much in my car however, as day 1 would have still been a mess without wets. Overall, a fun but frustrating week in Lincoln.
The car is almost back together (I’ve been traveling a lot). Both bolts snapped at the threads as the stock setup has the threads as the load path. I also flipped the bolts to go in from the center, as did Healy, so now the diff can be dropped without messing with the subframe (aka, what Ford should have done from the factory).
I should have the car back together today and it should be good for SEMA, should I chose to attend! For anyone going, if I’m there it will be in Optima row!
Nationals… whelp, that was very much a mixed bag.
At the Pro first session I ran my BFGs. I was the fastest CAM car but we were bumped with FS, which didn’t go well on index (or on raw for that matter). For the afternoon, I switched to Bridgestones, which are faster at Lincoln. I proved they have higher grip on my first afternoon launch, which Healy’ed the diff bolts, specifically breaking the right front and left rear. When the diff shifted it also bound up the CV on the driver’s side and snapped that.
Based on this, I jumped in a 2010 GT500 for Sunday morning, but unfortunately it was mixed conditions (some wet spots), so I didn’t really get a great feel for the car.
That said, my first 4 runs were enough for the CAM win at the finale and the overall win for the season!
The fix for the broken bolts is grade 8 or grade 12.9 bolts, with the diff carrier drilled out in the back so the bolt goes all the way through and the shank takes the load as opposed to the threads.
Not wanting to deal with the car on site (and not having bolts to replace it), I started shopping around for a co-drive. I ended up sticking in the GT500, which… was not a great choice. Tuesday was a complete washout, high levels of steady rain, with large pools of standing water. I didn’t have dedicated wets, as I’d never competed in something this deep. However, everyone not on wets was way off the pace. The GT500 was especially problematic as there was so much weight over the front it just wouldn’t respond fast enough. I ended up way back day 1, and struggled with the car’s handling on day 2 – the S197 chassis definitely shows it’s age compared to the newer stuff, and being over 3700lbs didn’t help.
Wet:
I ended up off the podium, so not a great result given the season. I don’t think I could have done much in my car however, as day 1 would have still been a mess without wets. Overall, a fun but frustrating week in Lincoln.
The car is almost back together (I’ve been traveling a lot). Both bolts snapped at the threads as the stock setup has the threads as the load path. I also flipped the bolts to go in from the center, as did Healy, so now the diff can be dropped without messing with the subframe (aka, what Ford should have done from the factory).
I should have the car back together today and it should be good for SEMA, should I chose to attend! For anyone going, if I’m there it will be in Optima row!
boardkat
CAMtard
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2013
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sucks about lincoln - can't say i wasn't a good canary in the coalmine though, lol. i break so you don't have to! 
good luck in vegas and see ya next season!
good luck in vegas and see ya next season!
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Rexpelagi
Active Member
- Thread starter
- #22
Finally mostly recovered from SEMA/OUSCI, so time for a recap.
Overall, it was an awesome week, although quite exhausting. Hanging out in Vegas with some of the fastest street cars in the country was pretty cool, as was having a car in SEMA!
For the actual race, the event went about as well as could be expected. I struggled a bit with the handling all weekend on the polished asphalt surface, but I adjusted what I could and made the best of it. Some excessive understeer just couldn't be dialed out, at least without making it twitchy on throttle. Definitely some improvements planned for next year! Even with that, the Mustang did well given the strength of the field, in all spots except D&E, which still ended up better than expected.
At the end, I ended up 7/21 in GT class, and 32/87. Individual results are as follows:
Autocross: 6/21 in class
Fastest Left:
Fastest Right:
Speed Stop: 4/21 in class
Road Course: 4/21 in class
D&E (this one hurt the most, but at least not DFL!): 14/21, 67/87 overall
I ended up 60pts behind the class leader, and 58pts alone from D&E, so that's definitely an area to improve!
Big thanks to Sam Strano and Strano Performance Parts - his support all year through both parts and setup advise has been as awesome as always! Really not too bad for a budget build (compared to competition).
#bridgestone #stranoparts #driveoptima #becausestreetcar #ousci #sema2018
And with that, time to look forward to next year's plans!
Overall, it was an awesome week, although quite exhausting. Hanging out in Vegas with some of the fastest street cars in the country was pretty cool, as was having a car in SEMA!
For the actual race, the event went about as well as could be expected. I struggled a bit with the handling all weekend on the polished asphalt surface, but I adjusted what I could and made the best of it. Some excessive understeer just couldn't be dialed out, at least without making it twitchy on throttle. Definitely some improvements planned for next year! Even with that, the Mustang did well given the strength of the field, in all spots except D&E, which still ended up better than expected.
At the end, I ended up 7/21 in GT class, and 32/87. Individual results are as follows:
Autocross: 6/21 in class
Fastest Left:
Fastest Right:
Speed Stop: 4/21 in class
Road Course: 4/21 in class
D&E (this one hurt the most, but at least not DFL!): 14/21, 67/87 overall
I ended up 60pts behind the class leader, and 58pts alone from D&E, so that's definitely an area to improve!
Big thanks to Sam Strano and Strano Performance Parts - his support all year through both parts and setup advise has been as awesome as always! Really not too bad for a budget build (compared to competition).
#bridgestone #stranoparts #driveoptima #becausestreetcar #ousci #sema2018
And with that, time to look forward to next year's plans!
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