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S550 2017 Grabber Blue Mustang GT Build Thread Profile - S550 Mustangs

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343
300
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
Bulgaria
Car Spec and Build:
Car: 2017 Eu Mustang GT PP1 Premium MT82
Mods List Current:
Suspension/Chassis:
- Ohlins R&T (515lbs/800lbs)
- Ford Performance Strut Tower Brace
- Steeda Camber Plates
- Steeda Front Swaybar
- KB Jacking Rails
- Steeda IRS Base Pack
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Brakes:
- Motul RBF660 brake fluid
- Goodridge Braided Brake Lines
- GLoc R12/R8 brake pads
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Wheel/Tires:
- Apex SM-10 19x11
- Square 305/30/19 TW100 Nankang AR-1
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Powertrain:
- Steeda Oil Separator
- K&N Air Filter

Lap Times Current:

Dracon, Bulgaria - 1:06.390 - 05.05.2023
Serres, Greece - 1:31.870 - 03.06.2022


Buying the Car and Story - 20.03.2019

I should have started this tread 2 years ago. This will be a long post going through the story of my car in the past 2.5 years. So a bit about myself I leave in a small European country named Bulgaria and work as a Senior DevOps engineer with 14 years in experience in IT and I'm 34 years old. Cars always have been my passion as I watch Formula 1 since I was 6 years old and my dream as a kid was to be F1 World Champion. Been in small country and mid class family with no one interested in cars besides me I had no chance to pursuit my dream. So I started driving really late got my driving license at 25 and in 2013 bought my first new car Ford Fiesta 1.25i. When the 2014 Focus RS got released I really wanted one but at the same time the S550 Mustang got introduced at similar price range and this settled it I wanted a Mustang. So in 2015 a dream was born to own an S550 Mustang. It took me 4 years of saving and planing to achieve that dream and in 2019 I bought my 2017 Grabber Blue GT Premium Performance Pack brand new from Germany. It was sitting on the lot for 2 years waiting for me. I imported it on 20.03.2019.

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This is the first photo after I registed it

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I bought the car to be both my Daily and weekend track car (never been to a track before) to be able to at least partly fulfil my dream of racing cars. In the 4 years I was lusting after that car I read through all the forums and watched tons of youtube videos regarding the S550 so I had a great idea what I wanted to do with my car. I'm not mechanically inclined which means that I needed to find shops interested in working on an unknown car for them. Only 18 S550 Mustangs were registered in Bulgaria at that time.

SEASON 1

First Track Day - Dracon - Race Wars - 13.04.2019

In Bulgaria we only have 1 race track Dracon near Plovdiv small 2 km track with lot's of hard breaking. The first event for my car was only a month after I bought it on 13.04.2019 at Dracon Race Track. I never been to the track before so I just got my new car only 1500 kms on it and registered for my first Time Attack event organised by a local youtube channel 1 day Time attack event on Satarday and 1 day BMW M day on Sunday. I was going to enjoy a great weekend. I registered my car with Race Number 8 in a class for cars over 3.0 litter Street with no modifications. The class was really competitive with 14 cars ranging from Nissan GT-R which was first through AMG A45 all the way down to E92 330i's.

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I was super slow since this was my first time on track and I never before had owned a powerful rear wheel car and with 2 years old PZero's I did 1:19.431 to finish 12 in class and 36 overall out of 47 cars.

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However the bug got planted. And I had my starting point for the build - 1:19.431.
On the M Weekend I got in touch with a company that is XPEL dealer for Bulgaria so I added XPEL protection to the car.

Dyno Run - 06.06.2019

Since this was a new to me car and project I needed to put the car on Dyno and when FTA had a Dyno Day on there DynoJet I had to do it.

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Car didn't perform as expected but it was hot 30 degrees celsius and put down 395 HP

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With that the summer started and I enjoyed a lovely summer with my brand new car. By september the car had 9000 km's on it's oddmeter.

Free day - Dracon - 07.09.2019

When September come I had to go back to driving on track as on 29.09.2019 was the Ford Fest at Dracon a Time Attack day only for Ford cars and I was planning to participate. With that in mind I hired a driver instructor and on 07.09.2019 we both went to Dracon so I can start really improving my driving. In mean time I also bought a phone mount for my iPhone and start using TrackAddict to record my sessions and my driving hoping to learn a lot and improve. My instructor was really good setting a 1:12.874 lap time and giving me a reference point to reach with my driving. I manage to achieve 1:14.079

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And recorded this video of my second best lap 1:14.7


This was my 3rd day at Dracon and by this time and 9800 km's my rear PZero's ware begging to show there age (watch for this tires they will come back latter) and my front brake pads were done. (1st of many OEM brake pads that I will go through).

Ford Fest - Dracon - 29.9.2019

For my next and last event for the first season on Dracon. I was going to participate in Ford Fest Time Attack on Dracon. 1 day event for only Ford cars classes were up to 1.6l under 2.0l / over 2.0l and Turbo. It was clear I was in Over 2.0l class however here race numbers were handled when you come to the track so besides my try to come early someone snagged number 8 in the line just before me so I was left with next best thing number 88. Event was 30 cars and in my class were only 6 cars obviously ford don't make enough non turbo over 2.0l engines in cars suitable for track. My closer competitor was Ivan Slavov with Ford Sierra that he had race prepped and was driving for a while now.

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I manage to win my class with a time of 1:15.498 just because Ivan's car broke in the second session for the day and his best time was 1:15.505 so only 0.007 seconds difference.A Win is a win. And this decided that my race car number will always be 88.

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Here is the mandatory video from the lap:


There were no more events for me on Dracon this season but there was something interesting coming up in November in Greece on the Serres Race Track.

Overdrive Lap Battle - Serres - 10.11.2019

Overdrive Lap battle is an event created by Georgi Donchev (Bulgarian race car driver in Porsche Carrera Cup Germany). Overdrive is performance shop well know in Bulgaria for tuning sports cars also featured in SeenThroughGlass movie and most known for the 1000 hp Audi RS7 drag car they build. Overdrive is also a racing team participating in Carrera Cup Germany. They organise a Series of events named Overdrive Lap battle that future both real racing cars like GT3, GT4 and Carrera Cup car but also customer cars like 911 GT2 RS, 911 GT3 RS, Lamborghinis etc. The list of cars was amazing . With that in mind I asked a friend to join me and we both drove the car 2 days at the Serres track. The track in question is a 3 km long fast track build for moto racing near our border with Greece so it's like 3 hours drive from Sofia. So Friday when I arrived at the hotel I was greeted by a Lamborghini Hurican, 911 GT2 RS and 911 GT3 RS I was clearly outgunned.

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In preparation for the event I bought new tires Hankook K127 (totally not good for track) and changed my oil and differential oil as a friend of mine had his diff overheated on his Mustang on Serres.

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So I got race number 42 with lovely decals on both doors and front of the car.
I did my first laps and did 1:39.012 and my friend did 1:38.069 And we were 50 and 49 out of 60 cars. Top time was 1:16.650 done by a Lamborghini SuperTrofeo. We didn't drive the second day as my front left was worn out track is very hard on tires and I got advised to bring old tires.

Manage to capture this amazing video of my lap:


I did a weight in of the car shortly after Serres and the car was 1840 kg with me in it. I did a weight in for me as well at 120 kg (264 lbs). Putting the car at exactly 1720 kg (3791 lbs)

Shortly after my Serres event and just a day before I send the car in storage for the winter I jumped over a curb on the street with 80 km/h and broke both right wheels, front right and both rear wheel hubs and my steering wheel got 15 degrees on the left when going straight. Take the car in storage and was done for the season.

SEASON 2

Pre Season preparation.


Once the Serres event ended I started a diet and by April I was down to 90 kg (198 lbs). A big win.

Over the winter I got in contact with Kenny Brown an amazing guy with over 40 years of prepping Mustangs for the track in events like Sebring 12 hours. I contacted him to help me build a development plan for my Mustang. He totally free give me a great plan to develop my car but most importantly give me numbers for a daily/track alignment.
Once the car was out of storage I ordered 2 new wheels from my local dealer and a set of rear wheel hubs. Got them replaced and got an alignment close to Kenny Brown spec.
The Kenny alignment totally transformed the car that was previously sliding at the back but with the help of little toe in the car was now super planted with improved my confidence in it.

Something that I didn't mention in Season 1 was that the car was burning oil on track and was burning a lot. I changed my oil on every 2 track days and on every 5000 km's give or take.

With that in mind one of the first mods I ordered for my car from the only EU shop available for S550 parts steeda.eu.com was Steeda Oil Separator. Luckily by 2020 Ford Mustang is 5 years in a row best selling sports car in Germany outselling both BMW and Porsche 911 which mean that there is fordperformance parts Germany shop. So I ordered FP Strut Tower Brace (EU Mustangs have the Kcow brace but not the strut tower brace because of pedestrian safety laws) ether way I added the Tower brace to my car.

With my car still needed repairing after the curb jump and with Covid hitting full speed in March of 2020 this mean that I didn't manage to get any events in before June. In mean time in 2019 I joined a lovely car club one of the first in Bulgaria named ClubSpeedBg and they ware slowly getting to organise nice and lovely events. They also introduced me to a nice place for changing tires and alignment's.
With that in mind and since my car was having only worn tires I ordered by advice from Kenny a set of 4x275/35/19 Zestino 07RS (140 TW Soft tires).

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ClubSpeedBG Track Day - Dracon - 05.06.2020

First ClubSpeedBG Track day was a big deal for both the organiser and myself. For organiser because it was first such event ever and for me because it was the first time at Dracon since my Ford Fest win and since my curb incident and lot's of car modification and preparation. My goal's were to improve my time, to make sure that car is fine over winter and to see if the oil burning will continue. Over the winter I start doing go karts to improve my driving even more and my karting instructor was on the track so I give him the car for a lap with me in it he did 1:11.069 and I improved my time to 1:12.735 (faster than my previous instructor in September) car was moving in the right direction and was obviously faster. Having real semi slick tires surely helped the car stick and having Kenny Brown alignment for Track helped with turning and the tail not been happy:

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Cars on the track that keep me company was a Lexus ISF (my fears rival) a BMW M2 and so much more amazing cars:

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Here is the mandatory video from my best lap:



Time Attack Balkans - Serres - 05.07.2020

Time Attack Balkans is a series of time attack races organised by my karting instructor. So when he decided to do one on Serres I couldn't say no. So again I invited my friend to co drive the car with me on Serres. And in mean time decided to add Steeda Camber Plates and Steeda Front SwayBar.
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It was a super hot day with 33 degrees celsius over the whole day.
My car was in the Sport class where only 5 drivers were taking place me and my friend a C43 AMG, An E90 M3 and a Focus RS. Not surprising my past dream car the Focus RS finished first the E90 M3 2nd and was a tough fight for 3rd place between the C43 and my friend the C43 manage to get it in the last session of the day where my friend couldn't drive because I finished off the tires the previous session
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The C43 did 1:37.051 while my friend did 1:37.196 and i did 1:38.054 but new PB on Serres still slower than my friend in my own car ... The new swaybar, tires and camber was clearly helping the car.

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And as usual the video from that lap:


Something that I noticed shortly after the Serres event was annoying knock at exactly 60 km/h and when I take the car to my dealer it turned out my MT82 was leaking (when I selected the car I wanted Auto but there waren't any with the Grabber Blue color). So I needed to take the gearbox out and fix the leak and that prevent me from racing at the Ford Fest in September. Ether way was an amazing summer.


ProDrivingAcademy - Dracon - 13.10.2020

ProDrivingAcademy is a driving academy event organised by the same youtube channel that organise Race Wars and M Weekend. And for this event they invited Pavel Lefterov (a 2019 SP8 Class winner in 24 hours of Nurburgring 20 overall) and current VLN and GT4 Germany racing driver. He is the fastest GT driver in Bulgaria and is an amazing guy so there was clearly a lot to be learned from him.

My car had new front Zestino 07RS Tires (since I blow mine on Serres), fixed transmission with Motul DCTF trans fluid+new diff oil+new oil also a set of brand new OEM front brake pads and my rear swaybar bushings were torn because of the front swaybar. Turned out this is common problem when you only replace front bar. My dealer installed a new ECU tune from Ford. I started learning that day even though was heavy rain in the morning and learned a ton for my car and for the racing line. Most importantly handled the car to Pavel and he set a new reference lap of 1:08.123 and a friend with an M3 E92 give his and it did 1:08.110 or something. Which mean that cars were totally on par.
I was amazed and only did 1:12.413 new PB but still clearly 4 seconds of the pace. Racebox theoretical best was 1:07.85 in Pavel's lap so the car could do 1:07.
The good news was that for some reason the new ECU tune for the car finally fixed the oil burning issues of the car and this was great.

ClubSpeedBG Track Day 3 - Dracon 15.10.2020

Just 2 days later ClubSpeed organised 3rd track day (missed the 2nd because of the gearbox issue). And I obviously signed. This would be a great time to test what I had learned the previous day with Pavel who complained that the car was loosing power on top so I replaced oil and air filter in hope to solve that issue. It was an amazing day with friends on the track and spending the previous day watching videos of Pavel laps clearly helped me improve my lap times doing a new PB of 1:10.573

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And the video of the lap:


Free Day - Dracon - 15.11.2020

With Covid all the Serres events were off the table because of travel bans so I instead desided to finish the season in style with a free day at Dracon free days are days where for small fee anyone could drive. So I invited my usual Serres buddy for a training day. We started driving and I manage to do 1:09.774 just before lunch. Next session my friend did an 11 laps stint and the right pipe on the generation broke just after the soft link and before the resonator suitcase making the car sounded like a race car but with no way to fix it on track we cut the day short and went to Plovdiv for lunch and a long loud travel to home.

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And the mandatory video of the car:


Generation was a simple welding in my local shop and was less than a tank of gas so was cool.

For first time since I owned the car I would put it in winter storage not broken :)

Over the winter I joined Kenny Brown Speed Therapy Academy a 16 week program for improving your track and Mustang knowledge and this was a money well spend not only I have what to do in this long winter nights but I met a lot of cool people with Mustangs and learned a ton from Kenny.

Season 3
Pre Season


With all the knowledge from Kenny over winter I decided it's time for some serious new improvements on the car. I asked Kenny to prepare me a care package and ship it to Bulgaria: Gloc R10/R8 brake pads (I was done changing pad's every 2 events), Goodridge Braided Brake Lines, A set of his new Kenny Brown Jacking Rails (8.6 kg). It took a while to clear all of this over customs and to get with all covid issues but eventually I manage to install all of that. I also bought a new set of Zestino 07R tires (240 TW Medium) As i wanted something that will last more even in expanse of times:

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And I also bought new front wheel hubs to finish of the annoying whinning from the car in mean time last season I replaced 1 more time the rear left wheel hub (turns out this is an issue on this cars) in warranty.

Club Speed BG Track Day 7 - Dracon - 07.05.2021

Wow how did ClubSpeedBG manage to did 7 track days in Covid environment is beyond me but this was going to be a great event and the first event for the car since all the winter I was really happy for been on track again. I did 39 laps that day but something annoying was happening even though the car was faster because of the new brake pads I was overbraking every corner (using my old brake points) by the looks of it the Gloc's allow me to stop 20 meters later at the end of the longest straight but I don't have the guts to try it. But since it was a hot day 26 degrees celsius my car was over heating and pulling timing out so I was down 10 km/h on the long straight with all this issues I only manage to do 1:12.220 which was really annoying my goal for the season is to get the car down to 1:05 (but will add wheels, suspension and tires over summer brake).
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With that I was puzzled as there was a very important race coming up and i was aiming in only the 1st overall place there an all American Cars Fest on Dracon.

American Muscle Cars Fest - Dracon - 31.05.2021

American Muscle Cars Fest was an event organised from Ford Mustang Bulgaria facebook group with one goal to mark a proper season opening for 2021 inviting all American Cars to a Time Attack/ Drag Day/ Fest event type of thing. The Advertising for the event was done with a red Mustang GT owned by a friend and I decided to gift him my old rear PZero's (told you to look back for this tires) so he can trash them at the Burnout event. After two seasons on Dracon I didn't just wanted to participate in it I wanted to win it all. So I was willing to make everything that I can. Added a K&N air filter to hopefully help my overheating / timing issues. Was only going to do limited number of 3-4 laps and will set my tire pressures perfect from the get go. The Time Attack part was 4x15 sessions in 2 classes over and under 4 litters. Which mean that the top class was Unlimited. With that in mine I this time make sure I have my lucky number 88:

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And start doing my laps only did 2 stints for a total of 11 laps but my time dropped to 1:10.974 which was enough to be faster than a 2012 Shelby GT500 that was previously owned by a friend of mine and from a 2019 A10 GT on Federal 595 Pro tires in same 275/35/19 spec.
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Over 20 cars were in the event. And the event was attended by over 7000 people making it one of the biggest croud's at one place since the Covid started with over 500 American Cars from 1928 all the way to 2020 GT500 (only one in Bulgaria) and 2021 C8 Corvette (one of very few in Bulgaria).

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And the video from the lap:


And also an amazing video from the whole event:


After this event the whine in the back got super annoying so I ordered a new rear left wheel hub, hub nut and a new rear left half shaft as I have also a push during hill rolls on Cruise control all symptoms of a worn out wheel hub (my 3rd in an year) and CV Joints (possible what is causing the issue).

My next event is another ClubSpeedBG Track Day 9 at 18.05.2021. And I have a Dyno Day on 19.05.2021 so we will see if the K&N without tune is adding any power to the car. Next plans for the car are Ohlins R&T suspension, Apex SM-10 19x11 wheels and 305/30 or 295/30 tires. And events after summer.
 
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343
300
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
Bulgaria
ClubSpeedBg Track Day 9 - Dracon - 18.06.2021

Another ClubSpeedBG Track Day was really interesting event. My car didn't have anything changed since my win at American Muscle Cars Fest which marked the first back to back event with same setup for a long time. This mean I have confidence in the car and was super fun to drive. Was a warm day at 79 degrees f. And the car was still facing some overheating issues and pulling timing. I limit my stints to no more than 5 laps which was annoying but my first goal was to keep my car safe.
I faced a BMW M2 and the Lexus ISF as well as some Evo X's and Megan RS's. The Megan RS Cup was on Pirelli Hard Slicks and was fastest overall with 1:08.020. He give me a ride and was insane the G Levels that this car sustained. The BMW was on some street Bridgestone tires and did 1:08.942. 3rd was Evo X on Federal RR tires with 1:09.370. Forth was the Lexus ISF with 1:09.435 and a total of 108 laps. I was 5th fastest with 1:10.027 and a total of 28 laps. I was hoping to beat the Lexus as we were on the same tire but it wasn't my day. It wasn't Lexus day ether as at the end the radiator of the Lexus broke. It's always important to keep your car cool I guess especially on a hot day.

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By the photos taken on the track is clear that the car need some suspension work in order to perform better the brake dive is too much I guess.


Also in the video is clear that I made some mistakes like to late braking after the straight and to early on the penultimate corner. I was also frustrated that I couldn't do 1:09 this day. However overall super happy with the car as it was almost a second faster than last time out and also I kept my tires safe and my brake pads safe. And manage to return it home safe.

ClubSpeedBg Dyno Day - 19.06.2021

Next day ClubSpeedBG was organising a day at the Dyno in the same Dyno I tested my car first time. So naturally after 2.5 seasons I wanted to be sure that the engine is fine.

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Car put down 415 hp and 487 NM of torque. However there was a noticeable vibration in the left rear caused by a wheel hub issue. I ordered a new wheel hub and half shaft and they were waiting for me at the dealer. However enigne was fine so great.


Day at the shop - 19.06.2021

After the Dyno Day I take the car to a shop a friend run in order to take the brake pads off and put back my street pads. My GLoc's were fine but fronts have some cracks near the backing plates:

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However I think they will hold fine the next time out which will be in September. Something else we noticed when we taken the wheels off was that my Lug Nuts were slowed so much so that the rear left once (where the vibration is) were moved from 21 mm to 22 mm socket ... we put them on the front but ether way I ordered a set of Dorman 611-257 lug nuts from Germany hopefully they will arrive soon.

After that I took the car to my Ford dealer to replace the left wheel hub and halfshaft they did that but they didn't fill out the diff fluid so will need to replace it at some point as I'm getting a whine from the diff now which is less than the hub whine but still annoying hopefully is just missing fluid and I don't need a new diff. My car has Trac-Loc so this need replacing anyway but still.

Overall now car will do it's job as a summer car for the next few months and return to track in September (hopefully with some new parts).
 
343
300
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
Bulgaria
Ok Where we were. Ah Yes my Build tread so after June I get the car back to street settings with OEM brake pads, OEM Tires etc. And was a good summer with the car and a fun one. I ordered a set of Apex SM-10 19x11 ET26/ET52 for the car in July. And I'm trying to order Ohlins R&T for the suspension since last year but they pop-up for a day and then disappear for months. Anyway coming September I had a plan for 2 events on Dracon first for a friend we organised a Birthday Gift in the form of a full track day just for us and a Pro Driver - Pavel Lefterov (GT4 Germany, NLS) this was planned for 14.09 and there was the annual Ford Fest on 26.09.

ProDriver Track Day - Dracon - 14.09.2021

So the first event for the second part of the season. First of I was planning for Apex wheels to show but instead got a notification that it wont be until 15th of November when this will be made so naturally I canceled my order. I was planning to order Ohlins R&T but this didn't get back on stock till end of September ether. So what was changed since last time out only a rear left wheel hub, a rear left halfshaft and new lug nuts (which I sourced from local tire dealer). This mean that my old tires (275/35/19 TW240 Zestino 07R) will be again mounted on my wheels and I will get a new track alignment after that. Also my clutch pedal was very hard so I decided is time for changing the brake fluid and put new brake fluid in. With that in mind the long waited track day had arrived. This was planned as a birthday present for my friend with the Lexus ISF who has birthday on 12 of July.

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So at 9:00 AM we were on the track and the ProDriver spend time with us in the cars to set reference laps mine was 1:09.5 However because of temperatures and because of my poor driving my best for the day was 1:10.940. In the Lexus ISF he did 1:09.2 and my friend did 1:09.4 which is super close but the Lexus don't have a differential and had some platform limitations. So I barrowed the Mustang and my friend only did 1:10.840 (so still faster than me) but the pro driver went all the way down to a new best of 1:08.017 (So the Mustang can move only I can't make it move). And you can see that in a proper hard to drive car the difference between a Pro Driver and a normal Driver is really big in a Mustang back to back over 3 seconds big on a 2 km tight track. I learned a lot this day and had a lot of fun which is always important. And the car setup was amazing.

Here are the lap times all Set by the ProDriver 3rd car is Focus RS also owned by a friend.

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This at least proved my theory that back to back with the same driver the Mustang GT is faster than Lexus ISF.


Ford Fest - Dracon - 26.9.2021

My next event was a big one the most important one for me Ford Fest 2021. As we know I had unfinished business with that event since I finished 1st in Class but 5th overall in 2019 and couldn't run in 2020 because of the trans issue. My goal for the event was to finish 1st Overall and by this time all my track friends were sick of listening how I'm going to be 1st Overall (after all 2 years is a long time). I didn't do anything to the car since 14.09.2021 and this mean that my tires now had over 100 laps on them. I know that I only have two cars that I need to beat My friend with the Focus RS who's Personal Best is 1:10.909 and a very well prepped Ford Sierra 2.0T which till now had a Personal Best of 1:10.680. So we traveled very early with the Focus RS to the track to create thislovely pit area:

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And to pick up our race numbers. Mine was 188 (since this season they were doing bigger numbers). This was fine by me though. With that in mind the sessions started but again was very hot 77F at 10:00 AM. I only had 2 other cars in my over 2.0l class but still in the first 2 laps I needed to pass them both also my tires were cold but I did a 3rd lap on a clean track and did 1:10.518 I felt good with that lap so I exited the track (here time attack is run on a 15 minutes sessions where everyone can do as many laps as he can) Other 2 cars in the class were on the 1:22 mark so good for me. But the real question was what is going on in the top class with is Turbo where both the Focus RS and the Sierra run. But in the Turbo class were a lot of car around 10 or so which mean that the track was packed with cars. So both cars needed to pass a lot of cars that were slower the Sierra did 1:11.341 and the Focus RS did 1:12.235. So looks like the battle will be between me and the Sierra or old vs new. Also this Sierra is the same that was 1st overall 2 years ago.

After the first sessions the Ford Mustang Bulgaria club decided to show off which mean that I had more friends to talk with about our favourite cars (Owner of the Track owns a 1970 Mustang Mach 1) so on the Fest there was a dedicated parking area for Mustang Cars and the Mustang club bring a lot of gorgeous cars most notable was a 2021 Mustang Mach 1 in Appearance package with amazing Carrol Shelby Signature Wheels in 20 inch and a dash plate of only 0052. I loved the car and the owner spend a lot of time talking with me on what he should do next to that baby.

It was time for my second session on the track. I was so nervous that I forget to turn my camera on and record the lap but I did a great first lap of 1:10.319 to improve on my lap times. And as usual after that was time for class Turbo. The traffic was still terrible which also included the new Puma ST in green. Both the Sierra (1:10.557) and the Focus RS (1:11.449) managed to improve on lap times. But I was still 1st overall. That's how the lunch break started. There will be more sessions in the afternoon but by lunch the air was up to 86F. After lunch there was Drift show fallowed by Mustang Drag. So it was fun and the Time Attack resumed for 1 hour between 16:00 and 17:00 Before the sessions we noticed that the Focus RS disk was badly cracked so he was out of the race but the Sierra and me could still improve. I decided that I don't want to risk the car in the heat and let the Sierra run. Ether way because of the heat it only did 1:11.727 which mean that I finally won that event.

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This was something I was working for the past 2 years and I'm very happy to finally be on the top. We manage to drive both the Mustang and the Focus RS safe home after the day so that was a huge win as well. Overall was an interesting season I didn't manage to improve my times (probably because of the heat and downgrade in the TW of the tires). Also learned the hard way that getting parts for the car in current COVID world is really tricky hopefully this issues will be sorted out for next season.
 
343
300
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
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More wheel and tire and you will be moving up that list.
Nice write up!
And my Apex SM-10 ET26 F ET52 R finally arrived. It's great to know that they are finally here. I hope the Fronts will fit on the OEM wheel hubs without issues and I'm still wondering if I should do 295/30 Zestino's or 305/30 Cup 2's or equivalent. Not a lot of 305's for cheap in Europe. Since I don't want to cut my Strut towers I guess 295/30 will be easier fit with the limited camber that I have.

Overall I can't wait till March / April (when new tires arrive) to fit this bad boys.

My clutch problems continued so I plan to switch my clutch to Exedy Mach 500. Hopefully it will work with OEM Flywheel as getting a lighter flywheel in Europe is not possible at all.

IMG_8977.jpegIMG_8978.jpeg
 
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@Bill Pemberton @JDee let's move the suspension discussion for that build here:

Overall my plan was to go with Ohlins R&T with the out the box rates of 500 lbs/800 lbs and the out the box drop of 1" adding Steeda bumpsteer kit as well as Whiteline Endlinks and this was the plan since beginning of last season. However Ohlins got hit by supply issues and this kit was only available to order for a few days every few months. They keep rising the price even though it was unavailable because of high demand. With that in mind the other options here are JRZ RS One Touring, KW v3 and H&R coilovers.
However I think for dual purpose car Ohlins because of the DFV technology will be better bet. So I plan on going with them eventually but in mean time with the new Wheels/Tires combo Apex 19x11 / 295/30/19 tires will need to drop the car a bit because the wheel gaps will be huge if I stay with OEM springs.

With that in mind I'm looking into getting a set of:
Eibach Pro-Kit (200-314 lbs/800-914 lbs) with 1.1" front 1.0" rear drop.
Steeda Stop the hope base kit
Steeda Toe Links
Steeda Vertical links in order to make the rear more compliant since I'm lowering the subframe anyway for the springs to go in.

And then when Ohlins become available will update to it.

Hope this makes sense.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
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I would defer to JDee on the drop ( since he has an S550 ) because I often find folks are more worried about looks than finding the optimal lowering for different cars. I have seen many a machine at Woodhouse Auto Family with chewed up fenders liners because the lowering kit was limiting travel with track use. The amount sounds fine to me, but always better to have someone with a similar car , and a lot of experience, to give you an idea on the preferred drop for track usage.

Wow, congrats on getting the rims and check your PMs concerning the G-Loc pads.
 
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I know we were discussing springs at the last post but I lucked out of the parts lotto ! So here is what just arrived:
IMG_9210.jpegIMG_9212.jpegIMG_9215.jpeg


This is the Factory version with 515lbs/90nm Front and 800lbs/140nm Rear Springs.
I can say that they look gorgeous in that silver and gold and can't wait to put them on together with the Apex SM-10 and 295/30/19 Zestino 07RS (140 TW).

There are a few more parts that I need before the install such as Steeda Adjustable Endlinks and IRS Base Pack.

And still need to put new clutch in at that moment I'm wondering ether going OEM again or switching to Exedy Mach 500 according to Exedy this should work with OEM flywheel with some modifications.

Can't wait to get that baby on track though.
 
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oh wow! Its the same set I plan to get. Was hoping to place the order this year, but figured i am way off from needing them right now.

I look forward to your review.
 
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oh wow! Its the same set I plan to get. Was hoping to place the order this year, but figured i am way off from needing them right now.

I look forward to your review.
It will take some time as still waiting on parts I think the car will be fully ready in April probably will schedule a track day mid/end of April not sure on dates yet. But will make sure to post as much details as possible. At that point I wonder if this will fit with my Steeda Camber Plates there is a good chance they won't but let's see. I will need the camber for the Apex wheels though so hopefully will fit. And if everything is ok track testing will show how the car is after everything. Literally can't wait for winter to end.
 
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Before Photo:
IMG_9392.jpeg

After photo:

IMG_9403.jpeg

Video from the install:


Finally installed the Ohlins R&T and for the brief drive from the shop to the garage since it's still winter here I could say that this package is insane. Also even on the ruff roads it's ok though you definitely get much more feedback about the road surface than before. I can say that this is how the car should have come from the factory. Though it's a bit more direct than I though it will guess this is what you get when you put 515 lbs upfront. And I can see how the car could oversteer though at the moment it puts the power perfectly to the ground. I'm super happy and can't wait for it to get to the track and see what it can do. Still some more things to do like new clutch and finally finding tires for the Apex wheels but overall I'm making progress towers Season 2022.
 
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SEASON 4

Pre Season preparation.


Took the car to my dealer to install new Clutch in the car Exedy Pro-Kit (had ordered Exedy Mach 500 but my part got mixed up anyhow).IMG_9400 (1).jpeg

However after the install a new clicking noice was coming from the Driveshaft like a stone in it (this noice was there when we fixed the trans from an oil leak but looks like by this lovely photo that are two different issues:

IMG_9529.jpeg

There is something metal in my driveshaft that can't be removed I'm probably going to eventually replace the whole thing with a 1 piece aluminium driveshaft.

I also have a problem since installing the Ohlins with annoying metal clicking over bumps looks like the reason is that spring seats don't fit properly and are grinding out the control arm:IMG_9528.jpeg

I know @Fair had same issue when they were doing the install on the red car. But I wonder if the OEM PP1 springs (728 lbs) and returning the car to OEM right height will do the trick as well.
 
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I also have a problem since installing the Ohlins with annoying metal clicking over bumps looks like the reason is that spring seats don't fit properly and are grinding out the control arm:
are those the original control arms?

I know he said that in certain years you had to even out the lower control arm hole. Maybe you have to do the same with with yours. Im sure you've seen it but in case you havent, he points it out in the install photos on their site.

 
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are those the original control arms?

I know he said that in certain years you had to even out the lower control arm hole. Maybe you have to do the same with with yours. Im sure you've seen it but in case you havent, he points it out in the install photos on their site.

Yeah I have seen this we did even it out but looks like my shop grinded out a bit too much from the control arms so now the seat is moving inside the hole which is not ideal. So I'm getting all sort of clicks and clunks. At that point I wonder if the Ohlins rears will work with OEM springs without the height adapters or the shocks will not handle well the higher ride height. Contacted Ohlins Sweeden as well looks like on the market there are two versions of the suspension FOS MR00 (which I have) and a revised kit for that issue FOS MR00S1 which is what Vorshlag are selling.
 

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