teej281

Well, a 550hp mustang has a lot more work done to it than just some BMW or Mercedes. Throw just a good suspension, good tires, and good brakes on a stock power M3 and you'll probably crap yourself around every corner. I can understand going fast in a straight line is fun and all, but I'm gonna say taking a turn at 90 is a lot more exhilarating than taking a straightaway at 150.

I like it!

100% agree!

If anyone disagrees that launching and 1/4 mile isn't fun, they need their head examined! But I still side on the side of the twisty after trying both.

I'd say that a person can do better than mediocre at both styles of racing with the same car, but not a whole lot better. If you're wanting to go out and have fun while being able to compete in either, you'd have to do a lot of changing between styles of racing. I'm with you though, using the right tool for the job.

I'll say this though, I would much rather take a road racing car to the drag strip than a drag car to the road course! After auto-x down at Myrtle Beach Speedway during mustang week and then running at Darlington 1/4 mile, its lots more fun cornering. And I've been to the SAAC conventnions for the past couple years and watching the Vintage racing Shelby's and AC Cobras and Sunbeam Tigers as well as a 1 of 5 original GT40 street cars converted to a race car is just fun. Then going out in one of them or going out with your car is just so much fun! This up coming June I'm planning on getting my tubular front suspension taken care of, throwing a cage in the car and setting up to run at the next SAAC convention at Watkins Glen. I'm super excited! To run where some of the legends from the 60's ran is just monumental!

BTW, is your favorite color blue or something? lol

smitty2919

After doing a bunch of research and calling into Paul's Automotive who is a local speed shop to me in Cincy, I may nix the IRS and go Panhard bar/Torque Arm/FLSFC's all from Maximum Motorsports.

Paul from Paul's Auto does a LOT of SCCA racing and I was able to see him at the HPDE at Putnam park this past weekend. He's an honest guy and will tell you an idea is stupid if it's stupid. Not like some speed shops that say "we can do whatever you want us to do at $XX per hour."

He mentioned the fastest cars are running modified SRA's in the American Iron(??), which I gathered as some big scca race held. So I'm now torn between IRS or a TA/PB setup.

I don't want to sacrifice comfort for a DD, but I'm sure there can be improvements made to Ford's 4-link setup lol. IRS would prob give nice handeling and comfort for DD, a TA/PB I don't know how they ride...what to do what to do

I would like an improvement, but I also don't want to throw all these parts into the car to where I would not USE the parts. I'd like to improve the car functionally and not just throw parts in it just because lol

turbo232

a TA/PHB wont be that bad. i have driven one and if felt stiffer but didn't knock out any fillings. the 4-link is garbage. there are improvements like converting to non-triangulated but that's expensive.

PushinTheLimit

Glad to see that you got a taste of what its like in the road racing world. It’s a totally different world than what you see in drag racing. I myself started off doing the Friday night T&T at the local drag strip and had thoughts of really building up my old 04 Cobra to compete with it. But I got a little bored with drag racing and wanted to find something else. That’s when my friend introduced me into AutoX. I thought that was great and learned so much. Then about 6 months later, I was introduced to road racing/track events. And I haven’t looked back.

I’m currently running with Nasa (National Auto Sports Association) in the Super Touring 2 class. It’s a pretty wide open class with the biggest rule that you have to make the 8.7 weight/horsepower ratio. Here in the Southeast, it’s a pretty popular class with all different kinds of cars (vettes, vipers, porsches, rx-7’s, mustangs, etc.) and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had in a car. I’m running the car you see in my signature but its far from being prepped to the rules. I’m working on that, but I still lack some suspension and aero mods to really compete with the front runners. We have a lot of times 40-60 cars on track at the same time (some classes run together in the races) and traffic management is critical. Its so challenging, but very rewarding at the same time. It is a very expensive hobby, but I love what I’m doing.

My advice to you is ask yourself what is your goal with your car? If it’s just to go run in HPDE’s (High Performance Driving Events) and have fun, then mod away at what you feel is best. If you want to compete with your car in a certain class, the best thing to do is to read the rules of that certain class and build your car around those rules. One thing about Nasa, is that they have three levels of racing you can be a part of. They are as follows:

HPDE – This is where you will have to start no matter what. There are 4 levels in HPDE and that start with level 1 (Beginners), level 2 (Intermediate), level 3 (Advanced) and level 4 (Advanced/Instructors). This is where you learn car control, traffic management, track layouts, driving lines, apexes, etc. You can advance at your own pace and can get a check ride with your instructor to move you up to the next level accordingly. You will find all different kinds of cars here from bone stock cars to highly modified.

Time Trials - This is a lot like AutoX except it’s your best one lap time of the day of all the sessions you run in. This is a good intermediate step between HPDE and Racing. There are a few classes to choose where you want to run in and its based off of your car and the mods that are on it.

Racing – This is wheel to wheel racing. You have to have all the safetly equipment in the car as well as all the required driver safety gear. This is where your friend was talking about “American Iron” as that is a class made just for American muscle/pony cars. You will see lots of mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds, etc. in this class and its very competitive.

Go check out www.nasaproracing.com and look through their website. It has a lot of useful information and you can check out events close to your home since there are regions all over the US for Nasa.

Jazzer The Cat

With all this talk from fellow corner-carving pepes, I am gonna need a roll of paper towels and about 2.5 minutes of "me" time

smitty2919

Well just my luck...my suspension mods are now on hold until I get my TOB replaced....d@mn it all!

UPRSharad

Ironically, neither of the colors on these two cars were my first choice. I really wanted white on the S197. I saw a white GT500 with blue stripes that FRPP built for SEMA and the traveling FRPP race display and I totally fell in love with it. I really think I'm going to have to buy a white GT500 with blue stripes. Of course, it'll still need to be a UPR Products demo car, but we're breaking into cornering products a little more nowadays, so it could be a good opportunity. The temptation is hard to resist since I live only an hour away from Sebring International Raceway.


Boo!

smitty2919

Yea you are telling me...I was really getting into pricing some stuff out and was going to start calling shops for install prices. I was laying under the car all last night getting sizes of all the bolts and just making a game plan if I was to do it. Then came to figure out how to attack the top starter bolt....WTF! That looks like a PITA to get to...I have yet to fish an extension or even get a socket on it.

sonicx

True, the IRS drives better and don't get me wrong I do like the IRS yet I'm going to be sad if the next mustang is only IRS equip. I know guys esp s197's guys that are crying out for an IRS. I'd rather have a build SRA all day anyday (personal preference) but mainly due to what i've seen on RR & AX events.

UPRSharad

Well, when you get ready to price out some parts, if you drop me a PM I'll give you the coupon code for our webstore so you'll know what the mustangforums.com discount is. As for the top starter bolt, I use long extensions, like two or three 1-foot long 3/8" extensions connected together, and run the extensions between the engine and the k-member from the front of the car. Does that make sense?