STANG KILLA SS Goes Racin

[JatoTheRipper]

So which car is your favorite?

[STANG KILLA SS]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

So which car is your favorite?

Favorite? thats easy. the vette. it was my first, and i built it, and its a GM which is my background. the M3 is probly the most fun/rewarding to drive though.

[STANG KILLA SS]

Got back from ECR. cold but fun weekend. great track, and got to see alot of my sim racing buddies too.

removed the 1" steering wheel spacer before i went trying to figure out why i do the weird thing with my hands when im on track, thinking maybe the wheel was too close to me. didnt change a thing. still a subconscious mystery.

also ive always struggled with feel/feedback from this car. felt the power steering being overboosted might cause it. bought a power steering restrictor. the smallest one they had 1.3gph. took the stock 1/8" hole down to a 3/32"
it did help some, but i wish they made any even smaller one. did slightly heavy up the steering and a tiny bit more feel, but id like alot more.
was a PAIN IN THE ASS to do. bought $100 worth of specialty tools trying to do it from the bottom, but just not enough room despite the straight shot. GM made the PS pump a royal pain in the ass on this car.


in the process i snapped on the PCV valve nipple off the manifold, but found this trick little gem on amazon that i taped and inserted.


temps were cold all weekend. morning warm up was freezing!




with the lack of good practice laps (cold and rain) didnt go as fast as id hoped, but was able to start on pole and hold onto an overall win in Race #3!
an unlimited car caught me on the last lap, but there was no way i was gonna let him steal it from me, was able to hold him off in the corners and brakes to take the overall W!
my fastest lap from that race:


car performed great all weekend. zero issues. before the event i added 2 holes of firmer adjustment to the rear sway bar to get more rotation of of her . wasnt the best move for the low grip track, but in the end it made the car alot more playful and loose. which helped me get comfortable in a car thats like that. something ive always struggled with.





looking forward to some changes for 2024!

[JatoTheRipper]

Congrats again! Such a great looking car.

[STANG KILLA SS]

First race of the '24 season. at Cresson
an eventful, uneventful event
one of the 1100 lb Rush SR prototypes in my class. didnt have any chance against him on this 1.7 mile track. he was some 3 seconds faster a lap.
so needless to say i only saw him on the first lap starts.
however we fought electrical gremlins.
just before the loading for the race at home, i realized the alternator and battery were both done. so put in a new alternator and battery. all fixed right?
wrong. Race 1 we smoke the brand new alternator, and the new battery just wasnt keeping up cranking the 7L.
so searched around located a new alternator, bought a new proper battery while there, and it seemed to fix everything. had to miss race #2 to get it fixed.
other that that pretty uneventful. but a good time with the fam.







despite loosing 1/2 a second to the CMC cars, this was somehow still my fastest lap of the weekend.
we were on 15 heat cycle R7s. 20 by the end of the weekend.

[STANG KILLA SS]

back to back race weekends and without a doubt my biggest race of the year.
season opener at Super Lap Battle, the GLTC race at Circuit of the Americas!
unfortunately with the new rules we were 90 lbs heavier and on old tires with 15 heat cycles, that were 20mm too narrow. so just not competitive all weekend.



car was a bit over steery and had alot of body roll, so we added some front sway bar, and rear wing. really helped. gained about a second on lap time and made the car much more confident to drive.



overall a great weekend though. fought an issue were the car would randomly only take 10% throttle, but a quick power cycle would fix it instantly. never seemed to bother me in the races. always happening on the outlap or cool down lap.





near the end of Race 3, i was coming down into T2 and grabed 4th a little to hard and lost all forward drive. after getting towed back we discovered a broken axle. thought our weekend was done.
luckily my crew was able to track down a spare axle from another racer in the pits, and the tools we needed to change it (mostly a 32mm axle nut socket and an impact more powerful than mine. as well as some reverse torx E sockets for the axle bolts) in about an hour the new axle was in and good to go to make the final race!





couldnt have done it without my family and crew!


despite the under prepared car, i was able to go 1.1 seconds faster than last year. sadly the rest of the field all got 2 seconds faster than last year. i felt like i drove well just didnt have the car or tires to mix it up with them.

my fastest lap of the weekend.

[4wd4ws]

Good stuff!

More onboard 'vette vids, please, Sir!

[JatoTheRipper]

I can't get over the Red Bull livery. I've always loved Red Bull stuff and it looks great on the M3.

[STANG KILLA SS]

thanks!
the car got SO many compliments and looks over the weekend.
even stuffed back in the back corner of the paddock. people and photographers just seemed to love that old car.
with the other machinery that was out there it just baffled me.