Indy wasn't as good of a day, despite having run 2 tenths quicker. The previously mentioned track shutdown just as I staged and heat up made the run less than desirable. Still, overall it was a decent day as Jay and I arrived at the track at the same time, so we parked together. Here's a good shot just as we arrived.
And here's a shot of me and Jay waiting in line like I had mentioned before. It was nice having two FE powered Mustangs right near each other. I think they stood out from the rest of the cars, but that may just have been my bias...lol
After my run, my Son and me decided to walk around for a bit and check out some of the cars, which I hadn't had a chance to do earlier. You just get too busy and want to get to the next track. Jay packed up and headed out quickly. The trip back to Columbus, from Indianapolis, was without issues. It was actually a really nice drive. All the nervousness from earlier in the week about driving the car on such a long trip, had disappeared and we had settled into a nice groove. With the 4.30 gears, I was only running about 52 mph at 2800 rpm and it took a while to drive from track to track. All the while I was getting passed by guys doing 65+, wondering why I was going so slow. I really need a Gear Vendors Overdrive now
Whenever somebody asked me why I was moving so slow, I told them about my gearing and the response was always the same..."OH, holy #@$*!"...lol
Hey, it's 'Old School', remember
For the final day, I pulled into the track and immediately removed my valve covers just to give the rockers a quick check and to let the engine get rid of some heat. I had about 8 friends come down to see me run. I only live about 2 hours from the track, so it wasn't a bad drive. It was really nice to be cheered on by them. I decided to do a few things to the car to see how much I could improve it, so I started by putting about 5 gallons of 110 octane fuel in, removing the tailpipes, bumping the timing to 40* and removing the air cleaner. With the 40* timing, I also pulled the 45 plugs and put in 124's to help avoid any detonation. Whether or not any of those things helped, I'm not sure. I eased the clutch out easier from a 4500 rpm launch, and the car took off smoother but still grabbed a little. It's a fine line trying to ease out on the heavy duty Ram clutch, but regardless, the run was better, the shifts were smooth, the engine didn't miss a beat and I was rewarded with another 2 tenths knocked off my ET and a better 60' time, and my speed increased to 114. I shifted at 6400 from first to second, and at 6000 on the other 2 shifts, crossing the line at about 6100-6200. My ET ended up at 12.54, still not what I wanted but nevertheless a fairly good improvement. I went back to the pits and pulled my Canton filter and inspected it. Everything looked good and I had planned on making another run, bumping my tire pressure to 16 and dumping the clutch to see if I could get some tire spin and a better 60', but decided that I had ran the car hard enough through the week and just decided to load up and enjoy the rest of the day. I was happy that I had managed to knock off almost 7 tenths over the week and, despite the starter issue, the car had performed flawlessly. And I DID meet my goal of not only finishing, but not having to wrench on the car to fix anything. I was really happy about that!
Here's a YouTube video of my run at Wayne Trail. You can see the clutch grab a little earlier than I wanted, but overall it wasn't too bad.
https://youtu.be/-BZ1iCKCgHQAnd a shot of my time slip. Obviously still a long way to go on the 60' times. I'm really wishing I had a slipper clutch and Jerico, but not sure I really want to take away from the street friendliness of the car. I just enjoy driving it too much. Obviously I'm on the right side.
Here's a few random pics from the week that I couldn't upload earlier through my phone because I couldn't edit their size.
This is the flaw I found on my tire the day before I left and a shot of the place I stopped at to get it changed. I made one pass with it at Wayne Trail, and as soon as we left I found a place about 8 miles down the road to change it for me. The guys loved the car and were very nice about dropping what they were doing (their bays were FULL) and getting my tire changed over for me.
Scott Miller's Cougar. This car is awesome, and the Blair Patrick engine ran flawlessly all week. A VERY impressive showing by Scott, although I know he could have done better and possibly won his/my class if he had chosen the right gearing.
Here's a shot of Jay working on his cam/rocker issue at US 131 Motorsports Park...
My wife took this shot as my Son and me were leaving the track at Martin, MI. I liked the way it turned out.
Here's a random shot of one of the checkpoints, with the trailer attached to the car. The hitch and trailer worked perfectly all week.
Finally, here's a shot of the tow rig with trailer loaded into it, as we arrived at Wayne Trail on Sunday. A LONG way from the boatload of Super Duty diesels and fancy tow rigs that most guys had! But one of the coolest in my opinion