It is hard enough to try to do live coverage at an event, let alone try to race at three events over that same weekend.  It was the first ever NMRA/NMCA California race that was also the first time an autocross and brake stop had tagged along with the drag racing-centric organizations.  Three events over two days and having to work as well?  No sweat.

First Stop – True Street Drag Racing

This was the second real outing with the Vortech-equipped 2011 Mustang project dubbed Wild E. Coyote.  We had previously been fighting tuning issues with the Mustang wanting to go really rich on the top end of the track.  In short, the new Mustang has a catalytic converter over-temperature sensor built in that will override your calibration in an effort to help protect the cats. This resulted in a dramatic loss of power over the course of a run.

Before running in True Street on Saturday I filled the Mustang up with five gallons of VP 100. Being an unleaded fuel, it was going to help protect against detonation while not damaging the catalytic converters.

Thanks to late model Mustang tuning guru Jon Lund of Lund Racing, the problem was fixed.  While that might have solved the first problem with the tune, the next problems, traction and heat, were going to be the bigger hurdle. Before the tune was corrected, I got the Mustang to run consistently in the high 11.5s-11.6 range.  This was accomplished with 60 foots in the mid 1.6 range and temperatures in the high 70s.  For the NMRA Fontana race, temperatures were about 15 degrees hotter, pushing into the mid 90s. To help fight detonation with the high air intake temperatures from the weekend, I poured in five gallons of VP-100.  The fuel is oxygenated with ethanol and CARB-legal in most areas. It contains no metal compounds and won’t harm catalytic converters or oxygen sensors.

Friday I came in for about an hour during the test and tune session.  I deflated the tires down to 15 PSI like I had done in the past and headed to the starting lines.  All three runs resulted in some form of wheel spin;  I adjusted tire pressures and also changed my launch RPM and I still could not muster better than a 1.78 60 foot, a full tenth off my previous average.  Between the bad launching and the 3,700′ density altitude, I could only muster an 11.667 @ 123.19.

Saturday morning I was looking forward to the slightly cooler temperatures and 2,900′ density altitude for the test and tune session.  I put the tire pressure back at 15 psi and headed to the lanes. Clutching out at 4,500 rpm seemed to be the best on Friday, so that would be the hot ticket for Saturday, right? Wrong!

With a freshly groomed and cool track, the available traction was greater than my launch rpm, resulting in a slight bog, though a better 1.732 60-foot time.  While I managed to run a 11.501, I lost 4 mph of trap speed versus Friday’s test session due to the bogging, resulting in 119.38 mph.  Again, playing with pressures and launch rpm over two more runs, I could not best the 11.501 – my best ET to date.  With better weather and 60-foot times, there is no doubt the Mustang has a bottom 11 run in it.

It was a neat experience being able to drive around on the California Speedway NASCAR track for the True Street cruise.

For the True Street cruise we were allowed to take our cars on the California Speedway NASCAR track – this was a treat.  Concluding the cruise, we moved to the staging lanes at 1 PM.  I figured that the track was going to be hot a greasy like the Friday test and tune session was, so my theory was to clutch out over a longer rpm to help avoid wheel spin.  Well, the Mustang didn’t like that too much; despite the traction control being turned off, the engine virtually shut completely off during mid-clutch out.

Foot still slammed to the floor, the engine came back to life a second later. To reduce waiting at the timing shed, no one was able to get their time slips until True Street was over.  That didn’t do me any good on trying to average my time and it seemed that no one else knew what I ran… except for one person that said twelve thirty-something.

Warming the tires up during a test pass for the True Street race.

Second run out I went with my normal techniques and mustered a 11.610.  I knew at this point I was out of contention for the 11 second average trophy and was now gunning for the 12 second one.  With my shoddy-known times I tried to shoot for a twelve-teen for my last pass and jammed on the brakes right past the 1000 foot cone.  Finally I was able to go to the tower and see what I ran.

First timed pass – 12.841
Second timed pass – 11.610
Third timed pass – 12.090

Did I win? No. Fellow compadre Will Baty of Centerforce Clutches beat me out by .020 of a second.  I was butt-hurt mainly because if I had reliable friends and ran a normal pass on that last run, I would have had it.  The only explanation I got was “Oh, I guess the eight in the 12.841 looked like a three, sorry man.” Ugh.

Better News at the Brake Stop Challenge

The Baer Brake Stop challenge was the second time I had ever done one of these events.  The first time was at the Pro-touring.com Run to the Coast event earlier this year were I placed 4th overall… on the stock two piston, non-Brembo brakes.  The brake stop at El Toro was also about 900 feet long, while the one at Fontana was a little over half that at around 500 feet.  The concrete that the brake stop was placed on was a bit loose and was like driving and marbles.  I would have to clutch out at a low rpm and bring the power in slowly to keep from going straight into wheel spin.

The shocks should have been set a little stiffer to help against forward weight transfer, though the Mustang still managed 4th place overall on Sunday.

The first run I hung it on the rev limiter in second gear for a second and then jammed on the brakes… a little two short.

Second run I got it into third and stayed in a bit too long… a little too much and I went through the barrier cones

Third run I knew exactly what I needed to do, short shifting into third and on the brakes hard, stopping about 12 inches from the barrier cones. It wasn’t going to get much better than that.

I did make three more attempts after that and figured I wasn’t going to get any better.  In the end, I managed to get fourth place overall again… on stock brakes.  Did win an award though for the fastest stopping Mustang which was great.  With some bigger front tires and brakes on the car I think the Mustang could be a true podium contender.

Wrapped up with a Good Showing at the Autocross

The Hotchkis autocross was ran in numerical order with my run number being 74.  Many of the people there were running all day Saturday, so I needed to learn the course quickly on Sunday to be competitive.  Furthermore, this was my second autocross ever in the Mustang and only the third autocross I have ran in nearly 10 years.

I still needed to work on Sunday so I needed to make as many autocross laps as I could.  The course layout was very fun with speeds averaging in the 40 mph range.  There was one short straight away that came up to a left hander.  Most people didn’t go all out in this corner because if you lost it, that was the place you were going to run into something.  The Ford Racing handling back did not disappoint, and neither did the Falken Azenis RT-615Ks, which stayed super consistent during all the runs.  I was only able to make 5 runs (most people averaged around 10) and I knew there were many spots on the course where I could improve.

I ended up placing 7th out of 25 in the Modern Muscle class with a best lap of a 37.482.  In contrast, the fastest car on the property, a fully built 2005 Ford GT, ran the fastest lap with a 36.165. There was one event that was being held that weekend that I did not know about until the race was over called the “Turn and Burn.”  It was as simple as giving them your best drag strip pass from the weekend and having that combined with your best autocross lap.  If I would have entered that event I would have won by nearly two seconds over the person that actually won it.  Oh well, there is always next year.

Despite the very basic modification list the Wild E. Coyote Mustang currently has, it has proven that it can be a competitive all-around race car.  With a good showing on the track, brake stop, and autocross, we cannot wait to get more serious with the suspension and braking modifications to make it much more competitive.  Stay tuned to Stang TV because in the next few months, that is exactly what we will be doing!

Click the photo for a larger version.