Gentlemen,
One of the great things about owning a Ford GT are those moments when this rare and special car allows us, like the fictional character in James Thurber's short story, to live out a fantasy. And, when enhanced way beyond the capabilities of the stock car with sticky Hoosier race tires, stiffly sprung Penske coil overs, and an additional 300 hp courtesy of Jason Heffner and his twin turbochargers, the Ford GT becomes one of the fastest and most capable street legal cars that has ever worn a license plate. In a race to 200 mph, even the Bugatti Veyron would be humbled.
Last weekend, at the Spring Mountain racetrack outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, I spent a day living out some real Walter Mitty quality fantasies. But the day didn’t start out that way. I was nervous. My primary goal on this day was to drive away at the end of it with my beautiful yellow GT in pretty much the same condition it was in when I got here. Were 843 hp going to get me in over my head? Relax, take it easy, and enjoy the track.
While getting my GT ready for the first session of the day I was approached by a camera crew from thesmokingtire.com. They wanted to plaster seven cameras all over my car, and mount a GPS tracking unit inside. Uh, I don’t think so. Then we want to see if you can be faster down the straights than some other guys who have driven this track a bunch of times before. One of them will be driving a Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni Edition, another in a specially modified supercharged Audi R-8 on race tires. Great…..that sounds like a prescription for disaster. This guy with giant sideburns then offered further encouragement by telling me that if I did go off track and destroy my car, they would have great video of it from all angles. :eek :eek
I ultimately did allow them to mount the cameras on my car and I decided I would give it my best shot. On my first drive before the cameras were mounted I went out with Ralphie as my instructor. He really knows his stuff and he showed me the proper racing line. Then I went out as a passenger with Mark McGowan in his 5.0 L Mustang. Mark’s racing line was identical to Ralphie’s. Mark passed a lot of big power supercars in that 5.0 Mustang.
The intermediate and advanced group was combined all day and contained a mix of track only race cars, and a fine bunch of exotic supercars. Lots of Porsche GT3s, GT2s, Turbo Carreras, R-8s, Gallardos, Ford GTs, BMW M cars, and others. I expected my Ford GT to close the gap on many others down the straightaways, but I was surprised at how much harder it cornered than just about anything else on the track that day. My car is very stiffly sprung and when you look at the amount of lean angle and the inward deflection of the tire side walls that look like the rim is about to punch clear out of the tire in the picture below, it gives you a pretty good idea of how tenaciously the Hoosier R-6s gripped the track. My flying gives me a pretty good sense of G forces, and my GT felt like it was pulling close to 1.5 lateral Gs in the turns. Late in the day I was bouncing off the 7200 RPM rev limiter in third gear which put me over 140 mph at the end of the straights and braking later and later. With the stock Goodyears on my car at the track, the tires were constantly squealing and I was constantly sliding. With the Hoosiers I was cornering and breaking far harder and the tires never made a chirp. I felt much more secure riding on those slicks.
On every straightaway I was able to reel in other supercars like they were dragging boat anchors, gaining an easy 50 yards on other six-figure exotics between corners. At 4:50 into the video below, watch how quickly I am overtaking the Porsche GT2. Braking hard into the corners I was able to carry more speed through the turns than just about anything I encountered as well. It was a blast. On this day, Elmer Fudd got to feel like Superman.
So what does all this prove? It is confirmation that Alex at T&A Shocks, the GT Guys, and Jason Heffner really know what they’re doing. The vast majority of the participants at Spring Mountain last weekend were far better drivers than I am. I have no formal training and had only been on a race track four times prior, at Rallies III and IV, and 2 one day track events in Arizona. I made a ton of mistakes and often found myself on the wrong side of the track with a corner coming up. No matter. Brake hard, turn in, point the nose down the straight, and pull the trigger. And an 840 hp velvet hammer would slam me back into my seat and vaporize the distance between me and what ever was up ahead.
Here’s the world-famous Ken Miles bearing down on that orange Porsche GT3. Press close in behind him in the turn and then rocket by him on the inside down the straight. There’s the Balboni Edition a football field ahead. Two turns later, he’s in the rearview mirror.
Like a quality automatic camera that gets excellent results for rank amateur photographers, my twin Turbo GT was equally easy to use. Just point and shoot. And consider this.....Ken Miles' Ford GT Mk II had only half the horsepower that was propelling me last weekend, shod with tires that had less than half the traction that my Hoosiers provided, and with brakes that were probably only half as good as well. Ken Miles and Dan Gurney never experienced the type of acceleration while racing at LeMans that shot me out of every corner at Spring Mountain! :thumbsup
The smooth onset of the cars enormous power makes it easy to take advantage of. The Hoosiers allow a lot more of that power to generate forward motion without wheel spin.
In addition to all of the mistakes I made driving on the track, I’ll let you in on one more. With my Simpson helmet on, I was not able to see the center console. I detected a bit of a burning smell and my car didn’t seem to have all of its normal snap during my drive with the cameras and GPS mounted. When I set the fastest time of the day down the straights, I had done that the entire track session…….with the emergency brake on!!!! :ack On subsequent drives, without the cameras or GPS, I was going noticeably faster with the emergency brake off!
Finally, I know that a large number of drivers attending last weekend would have blown my doors off if they were driving a car like mine. But they weren’t. So the old man got to have his day. Walter Mitty wins at LeMans!!!!
Chip
Here's the video.
http://www.thesmokingtire.com/
The good stuff starts 4 minutes in.
One of the great things about owning a Ford GT are those moments when this rare and special car allows us, like the fictional character in James Thurber's short story, to live out a fantasy. And, when enhanced way beyond the capabilities of the stock car with sticky Hoosier race tires, stiffly sprung Penske coil overs, and an additional 300 hp courtesy of Jason Heffner and his twin turbochargers, the Ford GT becomes one of the fastest and most capable street legal cars that has ever worn a license plate. In a race to 200 mph, even the Bugatti Veyron would be humbled.
Last weekend, at the Spring Mountain racetrack outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, I spent a day living out some real Walter Mitty quality fantasies. But the day didn’t start out that way. I was nervous. My primary goal on this day was to drive away at the end of it with my beautiful yellow GT in pretty much the same condition it was in when I got here. Were 843 hp going to get me in over my head? Relax, take it easy, and enjoy the track.
While getting my GT ready for the first session of the day I was approached by a camera crew from thesmokingtire.com. They wanted to plaster seven cameras all over my car, and mount a GPS tracking unit inside. Uh, I don’t think so. Then we want to see if you can be faster down the straights than some other guys who have driven this track a bunch of times before. One of them will be driving a Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni Edition, another in a specially modified supercharged Audi R-8 on race tires. Great…..that sounds like a prescription for disaster. This guy with giant sideburns then offered further encouragement by telling me that if I did go off track and destroy my car, they would have great video of it from all angles. :eek :eek
I ultimately did allow them to mount the cameras on my car and I decided I would give it my best shot. On my first drive before the cameras were mounted I went out with Ralphie as my instructor. He really knows his stuff and he showed me the proper racing line. Then I went out as a passenger with Mark McGowan in his 5.0 L Mustang. Mark’s racing line was identical to Ralphie’s. Mark passed a lot of big power supercars in that 5.0 Mustang.
The intermediate and advanced group was combined all day and contained a mix of track only race cars, and a fine bunch of exotic supercars. Lots of Porsche GT3s, GT2s, Turbo Carreras, R-8s, Gallardos, Ford GTs, BMW M cars, and others. I expected my Ford GT to close the gap on many others down the straightaways, but I was surprised at how much harder it cornered than just about anything else on the track that day. My car is very stiffly sprung and when you look at the amount of lean angle and the inward deflection of the tire side walls that look like the rim is about to punch clear out of the tire in the picture below, it gives you a pretty good idea of how tenaciously the Hoosier R-6s gripped the track. My flying gives me a pretty good sense of G forces, and my GT felt like it was pulling close to 1.5 lateral Gs in the turns. Late in the day I was bouncing off the 7200 RPM rev limiter in third gear which put me over 140 mph at the end of the straights and braking later and later. With the stock Goodyears on my car at the track, the tires were constantly squealing and I was constantly sliding. With the Hoosiers I was cornering and breaking far harder and the tires never made a chirp. I felt much more secure riding on those slicks.
On every straightaway I was able to reel in other supercars like they were dragging boat anchors, gaining an easy 50 yards on other six-figure exotics between corners. At 4:50 into the video below, watch how quickly I am overtaking the Porsche GT2. Braking hard into the corners I was able to carry more speed through the turns than just about anything I encountered as well. It was a blast. On this day, Elmer Fudd got to feel like Superman.
So what does all this prove? It is confirmation that Alex at T&A Shocks, the GT Guys, and Jason Heffner really know what they’re doing. The vast majority of the participants at Spring Mountain last weekend were far better drivers than I am. I have no formal training and had only been on a race track four times prior, at Rallies III and IV, and 2 one day track events in Arizona. I made a ton of mistakes and often found myself on the wrong side of the track with a corner coming up. No matter. Brake hard, turn in, point the nose down the straight, and pull the trigger. And an 840 hp velvet hammer would slam me back into my seat and vaporize the distance between me and what ever was up ahead.
Here’s the world-famous Ken Miles bearing down on that orange Porsche GT3. Press close in behind him in the turn and then rocket by him on the inside down the straight. There’s the Balboni Edition a football field ahead. Two turns later, he’s in the rearview mirror.
Like a quality automatic camera that gets excellent results for rank amateur photographers, my twin Turbo GT was equally easy to use. Just point and shoot. And consider this.....Ken Miles' Ford GT Mk II had only half the horsepower that was propelling me last weekend, shod with tires that had less than half the traction that my Hoosiers provided, and with brakes that were probably only half as good as well. Ken Miles and Dan Gurney never experienced the type of acceleration while racing at LeMans that shot me out of every corner at Spring Mountain! :thumbsup
The smooth onset of the cars enormous power makes it easy to take advantage of. The Hoosiers allow a lot more of that power to generate forward motion without wheel spin.
In addition to all of the mistakes I made driving on the track, I’ll let you in on one more. With my Simpson helmet on, I was not able to see the center console. I detected a bit of a burning smell and my car didn’t seem to have all of its normal snap during my drive with the cameras and GPS mounted. When I set the fastest time of the day down the straights, I had done that the entire track session…….with the emergency brake on!!!! :ack On subsequent drives, without the cameras or GPS, I was going noticeably faster with the emergency brake off!
Finally, I know that a large number of drivers attending last weekend would have blown my doors off if they were driving a car like mine. But they weren’t. So the old man got to have his day. Walter Mitty wins at LeMans!!!!
Chip
Here's the video.
http://www.thesmokingtire.com/
The good stuff starts 4 minutes in.
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