The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

Crazy Hawaiian Races his GT 350 at Tracks all over the Continental US !!!!!!!!!!!

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Hello Fellow Addicts,
Time for me to get current. Let's start with VIR!! I ran there 2 weekends ago with NASA and it was up there in the top 5 for best tracks so far. Weather was perfect and we ran 4 times each day. The track is very technical and very fast. It does test your limits. Lot's of elevation changes and WOT areas, 2 short straights and 3 long straights, even through the two sets of Esses. It is a great road course. NASA ran the event on time with a great dinner with lubrication on Saturday night. If you go to an event make sure you reserve a room on Pit Lane which are these great clean large rooms right over pit in and the final straightaway to Start/Finish. Also there are 18 garages that are directly below the rooms which have a view of the paddock. It is a big experience so you may as well do it right. There is a great restaurant on track named the Oak Tree Tavern. Food is great, Bar is Great and the prices are good.
During the event the car ran great except for 1 session where the engine ran a little rough. I think it may have been fuel related. temps were 92-98 degrees. Monday morning when I went to start the car I had a whine from the transmission so i went to Kenny Ross Ford South in Pittsburgh where they had helped me with all new Rotors and pads, oil changes etc before I went to VIR and turned the car over to them. After diagnosis we decided Transmission so they ordered one that somehow got lost costing me 3 extra days. Finally the second transmission arrived yesterday evening thanks to the extra effort of Joe in Parts and Jennifer Clark the Regional Ford Representative. The unit was installed today so I am leaving for Watkins Glen in the morning where I have free tickets and some VIP status thanks to a good friend for the Pirelli World Challenge Event which is running Saturday and Sunday this weekend. I will be running Monday and Tuesday with Chin Track Days and hopefully I will run into a TMO brother or two.
Oh almost forgot to mention I was able to maintain my sanity waiting here by playing 18-27 holes of golf almost every day at Lindenwood Country Club. A great 27 hole layout thru the forest with excellent fairways and greens. A must play if you are in the area.
After Watkins Glen I am booked into Mosport on Sept 6th and then Calabogie Sept 14th and 15th and then I will be at the NASA National Championships at Mid Ohio running as one of the Pace Cars so that will be fun and I hope to see some of you there.
I will report on Watkins Glen next week. Come see me if you are there. I have garage #25, car # 53.
Have a great Labor Day weekend
Aloha
 
Wow, I'm tired just reading that. Sounds like you are having a blast. Glad everything is falling into place. I was hoping you might end up at Pocono or NJMP in September and we could meet. Have fun at the Glen.....awesome track. Make sure you head to the Seneca Lodge one night and experience the bar and all that race history. It's a must. Enjoy
 
Was out driving in Bowmanville tonight in my R and saw a GT350 with Texas plates in the parking lot. I knew there had to be a story so I stopped to take some pictures and met Bob in the process. Had a great conversation with Bob describing his trip so far and all the tracks he's run. What an adventure Bob.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6419.JPG
    IMG_6419.JPG
    580.6 KB · Views: 94
Was out driving in Bowmanville tonight in my R and saw a GT350 with Texas plates in the parking lot. I knew there had to be a story so I stopped to take some pictures and met Bob in the process. Had a great conversation with Bob describing his trip so far and all the tracks he's run. What an adventure Bob.
 
Aloha Bill,
Thanks for the picture. Bill stopped in to look at my car in Bowmanville, Ontario Canada. He has a brand new beautiful Magnetic Gray (I think that is right) GT 350R with 800 miles on it. He traded up from his previous GT350. We need to get him out on the local Canadian tracks so Canadian TMO Brothers help him out. I run at Mosport tomorrow with the Speed Therapy group. Looking forward to another track with great racing history. I was out looking at the track on Friday, looks fast and challenging!!!!
 

JDee

Ancient Racer
1,797
2,001
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
5 miles from Mosport
See you in a couple of hours Bob, we usually park up at the top of the paddock where the long row of buildings are. Silver/black Mustang and my neighbour has a red Civic Type R.

Scoobs, you gotta bring that R out and get some track miles on it, way too much car to just drive around the street! Be glad to help get you get started if you're interested.
 

JDee

Ancient Racer
1,797
2,001
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
5 miles from Mosport
Couple of pictures from today's track day. Great day, perfect weather and got to meet Kona Bob and his trusty steed. Bob's a fun guy and brave too, he even went out with me for a session and that's not something for the faint of heart. We both survived though, so that's a bonus.

Bob entertaining the assembled masses.
IMG_20190909_125626_1.jpg

Crossing the finish line at a great old grand prix track.
IMG_20190909_133724_1.jpg

Great to meet you Bob!
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,422
8,349
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Way to go JDee, as Kona Bob would not even go out with me on track ---- oh, yeh, I don't have a passenger seat ,ha! He probably learned alot running with someone accustomed to Canadian Tire ( Mosport) , as it is a track that tests one's cojones, heart , and focus! Great to see so many of us getting to share in his track adventures and glad he made it to Canada with his prior transmission concerns.
 
Last edited:
Hello Addicts,
I need to catch up again, been on the move. It was good meeting JDee and his friend Norm. Mosport was everything it is made up to be, fast and not for the light of heart. The track is really easy on the car since there are not many areas for braking, accelerating and hanging on is the name of the game. Lots of elevation change. I am thankful to JDee for getting me up to the track. The track is beautiful. His very quick 5.0 is set up nice and turns in some very competitive times. The Speed Therapy group is great to run with. You run for 20 minutes once every hour and they serve a great Lunch.
Watkins Glen:
I ran at Watkins Glen Sept 2nd and 3rd with Chin Track Days. I think I am going to have to say Watkins Glen may be my #1 favorite track with VIR and Mosport and Road Atlanta a very close second. (hard to place those in any order since they are all great) I arrived in the town of Watkins Glen Friday morning Aug 30th. As it turned out the Pirelli World Challenge was running for the weekend so that was a plus. Got VIP passes from one of my driver friends so life was good. Watkins Glen is a must do. You can feel all the history there. The town is full of it as well. Drive the original 7 mile track which winds thru the hills on the south side of town, up the mountain. It must have been amazing!! There are plaques showing you the route. The track is everything you would expect, fast and technical, it's a big scene. A two day event is the way to go since getting up your confidence is most of the 1st day. Turn 1, and 9 are really good along with the Bus Stop. Lodging is relatively affordable if you look early. The Harbor Hotel is really nice with a great restaurant with dining at the Marina on Lake Seneca. Be sure to add a day or two to the trip to enjoy the area. There is a Motorsports Museum which is a must see.
I am in Calabogie Ontario, running at Calabogie Motorsports Park this weekend. This is the longest track in North America and looks like a real challenge.
I will report in after the event.

Have a great racing weekend everyone.
Aloha
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,422
8,349
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Glad to hear you are making it to Calabogie as that is supposed to be a fantastic track - one on my bucket list! Minor clarification ,though, as it is the longest track in Canada, but not the longest track in North America. For awhile that was held by Utah Motorsports Campus ( Miller Motorsports Park), but the SCCA owned track in Northern California took over the top spot with an extension that made the full layout of that track over 5 miles long!
 
Hi Bill thanks for the help with that. Where is the track? What is the name?? I need to put it on my list. Calabogie was an amazing trip up into Ontario. The drive up is beautiful. The track was long and technical. I highly recommend it with a stop at Mosport. Calabogie is a small town on Calabogie Lake 4-1/2 hours north of Toronto. The accommodations are limited so plan ahead. I stayed at the Four Seasons Highlands Golf Resort. A small Hotel on a beautiful 18 hole Golf Course on the lake. Played 36 holes a couple of days. The hotel is not part of the Four Seasons chain but affordable and comfortable.
The Track holds all their own HPDE and Lapping Day events as well as weekend open track events. Information on all the events is on their website, CalabogieMotorsports.com. The track has 12-14 mustang GTs that are caged and track ready for rent if you want to go that way. This track is one of the tracks Ford used to develop the GT 350 and the New Ford GT. The track pavement is one of the best I have run on. Contact the track direct with questions as they are very accommodating.
There are a few shops for support. Jay Fredericks at Powersports Garage will go out of his way to make sure you can run if you have any problems with your car or need tire changes. The track has quite a following and I met two of the Owners who race regularly and they and all the other Canadians I met are super friendly and want to make sure you have a good time.
This weekend I am at Mid Ohio helping my NASA friends run the NASA Championships. We have about 325-350 cars from all the NASA Regions across the US. The weather has been great. There are alot of people having a great time pursuing that roadcourse/racing passion.
NASA is putting on a first class event. The finals will be tomorrow. You can watch all the racing with interviews with the drivers on nasachampionships.com and it's free. I have been getting a few hot laps everyday and the track is a very good technical track, definitely a must run. Lot's of the best of NASA.
All for now. Good luck this weekend.
Bob
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,422
8,349
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Correct , the little SCCA track started by the NorCal Club years ago , is now the longest track in the USA and Canada , with the extention that was completed a few years back.
 
Correct , the little SCCA track started by the NorCal Club years ago , is now the longest track in the USA and Canada , with the extention that was completed a few years back.
I'm not sure Spring Mountain would agree with that but since TH is local to me I'll go with it.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,422
8,349
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
I stand corrected , it seems as soon as one track is said to be the longest someone else adds asphalt. Apparently, at 6.1 miles ( in it's longest configuration )Spring Mtn. now has the title!
 
Last edited:
Aloha Guys, Looks like we all got an update on track lengths and configurations. Thankyou for all the good info. Now I have more destinations!!!!!!! Yes. I am going to see about getting on Spring Mountain. I know Buttonwillow is trying to lengthen or add another track also.
Anyway I am at Mid Ohio Just finishing up with the NASA Championships where I had another outstanding event that was beyond expectations. I helped with setting up the event and drive and manage the Pace Cars all weekend so that was good fun. We had some exciting moments trying to gather up the fields under race conditions. I got to run my car at speed for a few sessions and the track is a very interesting challenge. It was good fun.
The NASA event was 1st class all the way. The Management Team, Officials and the Owners were fantastic. I arrived a few days early and I helped set up the event hang out with the NASA Management and Officials team and that was quite wild at times after the racing was done at the end of the day.
My next move will be to start accross the US to the West Coast trying to pick up a track event on the way and will complete my adventure at Laguna Seca on October 8th. Will any TMO friends be there??
My Best to All, keep the comments coming, I enjoy them. Don't hold back my skin is pretty thick. I am off to play 18 holes while the local Ford Dealer has the car for a few hours
Bob
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top