5 DOT 0 said:
Any update from the roundup?
Sorry it's been a whirlwind weekend. Got home late last night and trying to get caught up at work ;D Anyway here's a brief synopsis:
- Almost 100 Mustangs!
-Perfect weather for 3 days 8)
- 5 Ford engineers DROVE from Detroit bringing their own Boss cars to the event. That's how passionate they are about this car that they actually purchased them personally. By the way, they also "troll" the forums and want to hear our feedback, good and bad and when we can provide them with accurate info as they are eager to continually improve the product. They do listen to us customers and particularly the enthusiasts who have a passion for these great cars. On top of that, they can drive! Todd won the stock class road race, Chuck won the stock drag race and Tom took 2nd in the stock road race.
- We had activities non-stop including practice open track time, autocross, drag race and road race competition. A legendary Bacardi bus ride on track (and through the alfalfa ;D), car show, BBQ and a very cool presentation from Ford about the Boss.
My personal best story of the weekend was a bit unusual. I rolled my car off the trailer on Thursday night and my wife says "what's this puddle of fluid all over the trailer by the front wheels?". My heart sank and I thought I was done before the weekend even started. Immediately a couple guys from a nearby trailer came over to help diagnose and assess the situation. I opened the hood and the coolant reservoir was full. I pulled the dipstick and oil was full. I wondered about trans fluid, but it was clear so it couldn't be that. Finally we pulled a wheel and both struts were soaked....hydraulic fluid from the front struts. I had just had some work done and both struts were reinstalled in the process. There had been an accident during reinstall and the shafts had been gouged. The action of the suspension on the trailer was enough to tear the seals on both of them. Now here I sit in South Central, NE at 8 p.m. EDT on a Thursday night before the event I've been helping organize all year :'( I'm thinking I'm dead in the water because it's not like I can just pick up a set of Ford Racing struts at the local O'Reilly's, or order them from a vendor to get them here in time.
I figured I need to try a Hail Mary and see if I could reach Mark Wilson and see if there was any hope of salvaging the weekend. Fortunately I was able to connect with him while he was at the SCCA runoffs at Road America (way to give those Vette's hell btw
) and explained my dilemma. He just asked one question....."what's the address of the track". George was standing right there and gave it to me, then George made one phone call to the UPS lady at the local airstrip. At 8 a.m. Saturday there was supposedly going to be a plane with a box on it and I didn't even know Hastings had an airport!
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If you ever wondered if FRPP parts are worth it, I can tell you unequivocably, YES! This was so far above and beyond I just can't thank Mark enough.
A big thanks also goes to John Scheier and my buddy Kevin for helping get the struts off the car and Loran Kellar from Open Track Connection in Dallas who simply said "Don't worry dude, I'll have them disassembled and back on your car in less than an hour. Just run to O'Reilly's and get a spring compressor and we'll be set". I would HIGHLY recommend Loran's shop to anyone looking to make their Mustang fast. All you have to do is look what he did with his '93 SVT Cobra and see how he put down the fastest lap of the weekend and had never been to the track before. On top of that he's just a super nice guy along with his brother Matt.
Anyway by 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning I was up and running and got to really enjoy an amazing and memorable weekend. This event grew so much this year and we've got even bigger things planned for next year. It will definitely be something you won't want to miss!