Fraser D
08-22-2013, 11:41 AM
There are many milestones that you have when building one of these things and yesterday I was able to achieve one and threw in a personal one while I was at it.
Chassis # 294 hit the track yesterday at MSR just south of Houston at a social day organized by the Houston Cobra Club. This was both the cars first time on a track as well as mine and I gotta say it won’t be the last for either of us
The day started with the usual last minute work list that never seems to get done in the time you have before heading off to the chassis dyno. As my transaxle is essentially stock, (upgrade is in the works) I was not looking for the potential of the engine so the waste gates were backed all the way out and the timing and fuel curves made conservative. I drove out the door with 506RWHP and two problems that I need to address. Looks like I have a vacuum leak that I have to track down and a throttle position sensor that throws a wobbly for a small portion of the throttle sweep at 2/3 throttle.
Just as I arrived at the track the sky’s opened and down it came for a good 2 hours, (not a good sign). Eventually the front passed through and the rain stopped allowing the advanced group to head out and I was fortunate enough to ride passenger with friend of mine Bill in his track only Mustang to get to know the track. That in itself was a great experience but seeing the track from that perspective helped me a great deal on knowing the racing line for my run. Bill rode shotgun on my first run to help keep me out of trouble and the advice of “once you have your racing line you can have your speed not the other way around”. Running with Bill first help burn off the nerves so by the time I strapped in and headed to the track I was more focused on the task that what I was feeling. The first few laps were nice and easy as I was getting to know the car and how it reacted to the track, how well the brakes worked, how much power the still wet track would handle etc, etc. I had one other run, this time solo with a dryer track and a little more confidence in both the car and myself as I did not crash and the drive train did not go up in smoke. Around lap 7 or 8 I was black flagged because I was losing fluid, which turns out to be the result of a full tank and hard cornering. Something that I need to look into.
All in all I had an absolute blast! This thing is a rocket ship that can turn corners and I am not even close reaching the potential of the combination that I have.
For those that have finished the mechanicals and are stalling with the body work just knock the rough edges off and go have a little fun and you will have the incentive to keep pushing. I am so glad that I have started to push my GTM at this point in the build.
My buddy Steve came out to help for the event and Ed made an appearance as well but best of all my family had a great time and really got into the whole event to the point where my wife wants to know when the next one is so she can come along. Now that is a payoff!
Here is a link to a quick clip with way more to follow. I just watched the video from the rear facing engine bay camera and dam that engine sounds so sweet when it’s on full song. Oh and I can see the fuel leak.
http://youtu.be/-pkWDoV9_F4
Chassis # 294 hit the track yesterday at MSR just south of Houston at a social day organized by the Houston Cobra Club. This was both the cars first time on a track as well as mine and I gotta say it won’t be the last for either of us
The day started with the usual last minute work list that never seems to get done in the time you have before heading off to the chassis dyno. As my transaxle is essentially stock, (upgrade is in the works) I was not looking for the potential of the engine so the waste gates were backed all the way out and the timing and fuel curves made conservative. I drove out the door with 506RWHP and two problems that I need to address. Looks like I have a vacuum leak that I have to track down and a throttle position sensor that throws a wobbly for a small portion of the throttle sweep at 2/3 throttle.
Just as I arrived at the track the sky’s opened and down it came for a good 2 hours, (not a good sign). Eventually the front passed through and the rain stopped allowing the advanced group to head out and I was fortunate enough to ride passenger with friend of mine Bill in his track only Mustang to get to know the track. That in itself was a great experience but seeing the track from that perspective helped me a great deal on knowing the racing line for my run. Bill rode shotgun on my first run to help keep me out of trouble and the advice of “once you have your racing line you can have your speed not the other way around”. Running with Bill first help burn off the nerves so by the time I strapped in and headed to the track I was more focused on the task that what I was feeling. The first few laps were nice and easy as I was getting to know the car and how it reacted to the track, how well the brakes worked, how much power the still wet track would handle etc, etc. I had one other run, this time solo with a dryer track and a little more confidence in both the car and myself as I did not crash and the drive train did not go up in smoke. Around lap 7 or 8 I was black flagged because I was losing fluid, which turns out to be the result of a full tank and hard cornering. Something that I need to look into.
All in all I had an absolute blast! This thing is a rocket ship that can turn corners and I am not even close reaching the potential of the combination that I have.
For those that have finished the mechanicals and are stalling with the body work just knock the rough edges off and go have a little fun and you will have the incentive to keep pushing. I am so glad that I have started to push my GTM at this point in the build.
My buddy Steve came out to help for the event and Ed made an appearance as well but best of all my family had a great time and really got into the whole event to the point where my wife wants to know when the next one is so she can come along. Now that is a payoff!
Here is a link to a quick clip with way more to follow. I just watched the video from the rear facing engine bay camera and dam that engine sounds so sweet when it’s on full song. Oh and I can see the fuel leak.
http://youtu.be/-pkWDoV9_F4