Enough apologizing and onto the good stuff:
The 2013 Season started off with one fundamental change over last years setup. The Tokico D-Specs and Steeda HD plates have been retired to "Winter Duty" and the Steeda Sports were sold to a friend for what I paid for them since they are unfit (understatement) for Autocross duty. Let me introduce you to their replacements.
The folks at Ground Control were kind enough to listen to my wants and needs and build me this lovely bit of kit. Something about the combination of high quality Koni dampers with Eibach Race coilover springs and Ground Control's lovely camber plates at a very reasonable price ($1650 shipped to my door) makes for one attractive kit. Adam, my Ground Control representative consulted with their local S197 racer and came up with my spring rates of 440lbs/in front, 200lbs/in rear. These spring rates are 10lbs/in less in the front and 25lbs in MORE in the rear than Terry Fair's setup during his brief foray into STX.
That isn't the only change to the car for this year. After Spring Nationals (read the after action here) I determined that the largest reason for the huge deficit in time was largely due in part to the selection of tires. Not that the Star Specs are not a great tire, but being down 20mm each corner and a half inch of wheel width on each corner certainly is holding the car back. So, to solve that problem, the lovely folks at TireRack received an order for some 265/40/18 Hankook RS3s and asked that they be mounted to a set of Enkei PF01's in 18x9, ET45, and in the silver paint. Those should arrive this week and in time for the next local event. Who has two thumbs and is excited? THIS GUY!
There were some setup changes as well. With the new coilovers came the much needed camber plates. My autocross alignment is -3.0º camber, -0.10º toe OUT, and +7.0º caster. This is an absolute boon to saving tires and increasing performance while autocrossing. The Strano 25mm rear bar is off the car due to some hamfistedness by myself so the stock rear 20mm bar is on. The Strano 35mm front bar got moved to the middle position and the Fays2 Watts link pivot bolt went to the top most hole from the bottom most hole. The car actually rotates now!
There are some things that need some tweaking though. Power delivery is nervous at best. The new wheels/tires should help with that. One of the remaining suspension modifications is a torque arm and one that I'm interested in discussing with the folks at Cortex Racing. The ST rules could make this a non-starter modification if I can't figure out a way to stiffen up the suspension bushings in the rear lower control arms without inducing bind.
There is also the matter of the differential. A Torsen T2R will be on order as soon as the funds are available. The Torsen will be the final piece in the "power delivery" department and one that should make the greatest difference in how the car performs it's duties. As you are all well aware, the one advantage that a Mustang has over the rest of the competition is power and power delivery will be key to this car doing well.
The current deficit is 5.25 seconds from the courses at Spring Nationals. If there is one thing I learned from that event it is that there is a lot left in the driver mod. I just hope that it is enough!
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