Before we start, in the last "update" I mentioned that I had two goals for Spring Nationals.
First, don't place DFL and second, don't be DFL of the cars that competed both days.
Keep that in mind as you are reading!
Also, I would like to give a special thanks to Danny Kao for making me feel welcome. I realize I'm not an overly social person when I'm in groups of folks I don't know so thank you for going out of your way to make this oddball project and antisocial driver feel welcome! :) I would also like to give a thanks to Sam Strano for giving me a few tips and taking a few of his brief free moments between the two Strano Parts FRS's on either side of me to give me a few pointers on car setup. It was unexpected and greatly appreciated!
May 26, 2013 – Race Day 1
So nothing special has changed between the previous update and this one in terms of car setup... well, ok, except I moved the Watts Link pivot bolt to the top bolt hole which moved the rear roll center up about an inch and a half IIRC. This would hopefully help the car rotate a little easier in tighter sections of the course.
The weather the whole weekend was rain centric. I think it rained in the morning of each day of competition. The first run groups always had wet courses and by the end of the day, where I was in Heat 5, we had completely dry runs.
Day 1's course will look familiar to anyone who ran Nationals last year as it is the west course from Nationals just run in reverse. It didn't seem that way when walking as there were a few slight differences. Cones 606 and 603 at the end of the start "straight" where offset to the left rather than the right and the first slalom had a bit of an angle to it making the turn before the 5 cone draw a tighter than 90ยบ turn.
The slight change at the beginning of the course was enough to trip up a few people who missed the last gate prior to the start of the slalom because it was offset left and you would already be looking ahead to the start of the slalom and just drive past it. See the video from my third run for a perfect example of that! Yes, that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
As it would turn out, I would only get one clean run in on Day 1 and it would also be the first. My second run the car had a transitional push that would crop up in the slaloms which was easily cured by a quarter turn more on the rear shocks but that run would end up with a cone coming out of Flop, Turn and River to clip cone 335. My last run was a DNF caused by looking too far ahead on course and just flat out missing the last gate on the start "straight". Rather than toss the run away I decided to finish the run at speed and gain a little more experience going into Day 2.
Run #1: 72.561
Run #2: 72.319 +2 (76.319)
Run #3: DNF (71.576...)
This put me in DFL going into Day 2. Never a good place to be but one that was not exactly unexpected.
Here are the videos from day 1:
May 27, 2013 – Day 2
Day 2 would start off with pouring rain. I'm being generous... when I arrived at 7:45AM the entire paddock was flooded with about an inch and a half of standing or running water. The lower drainage section that separated the fence and the padock was closer to 3 inches of water. At points during the drive down it was raining so hard that it was impossible to see and when I got on site that didn't change much. By the time the rain had stopped we had been delayed a substantial amount which would mean a LONGER day for me since I volunteered to help tear down afterwards.
Day 2's course was very straight forward, no-nonsense and direct. While walking the course I thought how boring the course was going to be to drive and the comments of people around me echoed my thoughts. Driving the course was significantly different than walking it. The course was still very straight forward and no-nonsense in it's implementation. Every slalom started on the outside of the turn prior to so you could carry TONS of speed into the slaloms. The course finished with a tight pinch to the finish line to keep the speeds sane going through the gates. What was interesting to me was the number of lines taken through the last corner as was evidenced by the rubber at the finish being ALL OVER the end.
Run 1 felt extremely good from a car setup standpoint. I think I maintained tire pressure at 32 front/30 rear for the entire 3 runs. It was working really well. Power delivery required some patience but the car seemed to just FLY through the course. Of course, the times didn't indicate much of "flying" through the course but it FELT that way! At the end of run #2 I realized that there was little hope of me catching the guy in front of me so I decided to have a little fun and maybe prove how genuinely insane I am! :)
Here, watch, till the end:
You got that right! What better way is there to go out having fun then to CRANK "Danger Zone" and just go balls out on course? To make matters even better, the start guy decided to join in the fun, was rocking out, and when it was my time to go did the Catapult "Shooter" maneuver with the kneeling and pointing to go. It was EPIC and to be honest, it kind of worked. I was having so much fun not giving any fucks that I managed to crank out a 56.973 but in the process lunched two cones. One at the end of a slalom and the other I understeered (driver induced!) into and lunched it hard. If nothing else that last run proved that I need to let go a little bit more. Maybe that was the "click" in my head that will hopefully push me to a higher level of driving. Neither of those two cones were something that couldn't have been avoided with a little clearer thinking and is indicative of time left on the course and to be honest were rookie mistakes.
So here were the run times:
Run #1: 58.397
Run #2: 57.559
Run #3: 56.973 +2 (60.973)
Here are the other two videos from Day 2:
At the end of Day 2, my times were slow enough to land me in 25 of 27 and only besting two people who didn't even run Day 2 (left due to weather I presume). So technically, I didn't place DFL, but I failed the second goal of not being DFL of the people who competed both days. Small victories are important for Project Tilty! :)
Another small victory came in the form of support from the announcer who said "If I was to build an STX car, it'd be a Mustang because I think it would be an absolute blast to drive." I concur, there is something about taking a boat and thrashing it around cones on street tires which is one of the reasons why I am where I am.
Mustangs in STX, Mustangs in STU, and Mustangs in ST in general
Lets just be clear on this point, my experience at Spring Nationals is not indicative of an ST prepped Mustang, nor is it driven by anyone worth their salt so my results are not to be taken too seriously. At this point, I am doubting quite heavily that any allowance the SEB/STAC would allow for live axle cars, heavy cars, whatever, would make a Mustang competitive in ST. Lets do some bench racing shall we? Assuming tire compound doesn't change (in this case it would be Star Specs), the time difference between 245's (what I'm on) and 265's (class limit) is about .75 seconds. At the end of day 2 I was 10.42 seconds behind the top guy and 7.51 seconds behind the last torphy spot. At 1.5 seconds total reduction, I'ms till 8.92 seconds behind the top guy and 6.01 seconds behind the last trophy spot. Even if the SEB/STAC where to open that up to 285's that time would only drop about another 1.5 seconds to 7.42 seconds off first and 4.51 seconds off. Even out to 315's, another 1.6 seconds off THOSE times to 5.82 seconds off the lead and 2.91 seconds off of the trophies. That is of course assuming a 60 second course of which these two courses kinda "washed out" to be in cumulative time.
That only focuses on the tires, how about on driver modifications and driver confidence from bigger wheels and tires? I honestly don't know how you could apply a time to it, but even at a very generous 1.5 seconds we aren't even within driver noise yet. It would REALLY have to boost the capabilities of these cars to kill over 5 seconds to be even in the same ballpark as the top contendors are. Then we have weight reduction possibilities too. There is about 165lbs (being generous) of weight to remove that are allowed in ST for this car. That translates to about 2% reduction in time on a 60 second course or 1.2 seconds.
It would seem that with a good driver, unlimited wheel width and 315 street tires that the 05+ Mustangs might have a potential course dependancy. I would LOVE to see the complaint letters if the SEB/STAC ever approved such a measure for Pony Cars and I'm sure it would generate a ton of animosity there too as another one of THOSE "Pony Car" allowances.
To me, such a move sounds like something STU could support. Rather than making this a pony car specific allowance, why not open up all 2WD tires to unlimited width in STU, move the Mustang and any lingering pony cars from STX to STU and let us duke it out with the boost buggies (admitedly on 245's). IIRC, and please, DO correct me if I'm wrong, the M3's are pretty limited in ST trim on wheel widths and the Littlehale M3 to somewhere around 275's and maybe 285's if you let the rubbing move the fenders or whatever you want to call it. I get it, I get it, I get it, STU is FASTER than STX but it doesn't make sense to open up the wheels/tire allowances in STX when STU is pretty much there and the nearest competitor to the STI and Evo can't even run the currently allowed class maximum size.
What's Next for Project Tilty?
Project Tilty may be coming to a close. It takes some pretty hardcore stupidity and dedication to continue to fight a battle that can't be won. I'm not even sure the car could trophy at this point. That seems like a convenient cop out for someone to use when they get their ass handed to them but looking at the time split, even with alien like driving abilities and maxed preparation, I don't think any allowance will get the car there.
I had a conversation with Danny and Sam about Mustangs in ST while waiting in impound and I think the general consensus was still the "no duh, go play in ESP". They made some compelling points about buying used A6's and running on those instead of continuing the fight in ST. The switch would only require wide A6's and wide/light wheels. My concern will always be on cost both in the short term and long term and this was the primary appeal of ST. Unless things change for me financially (I'm trying, trust me!) it doesn't seem likely that I could afford to make that switch this year. It would mean giving up on going to Nationals if I did. No guarantees that I'm going now either though.
Anyway, a move to ESP will most likely happen sooner than anticipated and as soon as next year. In doing so I will have to forgo any other planned mods than wheels/tires for next year (assuming no changes to finances) since I will most likely have to buy new street tires to drive on since I doubt the Star Specs will survive this season. That decision wont be made quite yet though. I'm still interested in hearing what, if anything, the SEB/STAC does.
Photos courtesy of Andy Seipos:
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