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Great stuff! Great driving and great videos! Bravo!
(What the hell is sticking out of your pants on that podium shot?
(What the hell is sticking out of your pants on that podium shot?
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S197 BOSS 302 Race Car Build Thread Build Thread
- Thread starterArizonaBOSS
- Start date
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302 Hi Pro
Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
patrickshelby said:Great stuff! Great driving and great videos! Bravo!
(What the hell is sticking out of your pants on that podium shot?
My guess, it's a Driver's cooling system. I think I saw the cooling system pump/reservoir box located in the passenger seat floor area of Drew's Super Stang race car.
Drew, let me know if correct and thanks for the Podium Driver ID.
Kind Regards,
Davis
02HP
- Thread starter
- #763
302 Hi Pro said:
@302 Hi Pro @patrickshelby
Dave is correct--those are the hoses for my cool shirt system. It pumps ice water through bladders in a special shirt worn under the fire suit to help keep me cool and focused during hot days. Big help out here in Arizona especially when we are approaching or leaving the summer months.
You can cut a hole in the right hand pocket and have the hoses go out of there. That if there's a fire you won't burn your junk j/k
- Thread starter
- #765
Final race of the year for me this past weekend, on a track that nobody had driven as a road course in two years. It was good to be back. Wild Horse Pass (formerly Firebird) Main circuit combines a half-mile dragstrip/runoff straight with a return-side road course to make a 1.6 mile track with speeds ranging from 145 (for me) down to 40mph.
29 cars started the race, five in my class "PS0" (Production Sedan unlimited). The silver 260Z with an LS3 is also in my class but much lower power-to-weight than me.
Leading the BMW train:
After Saturday's checker flew, I had the win in-class after the silver Z-car crapped out with fuel system issues, but was hotly pursued the entire race by a pack of fast BMWs, one of which was forced to retire mid-race after his shifter linkage came apart.
The Mustang's reliability shined during the race and the car did not let me down when I needed it.
I didn't plan to run the Sunday 100-minute enduro, but any second thoughts were dashed when I fired the car up Sunday morning and it sounded like a Harley Davidson or something. Upon initial inspection it looks like I cracked a joint on the passenger side stock exhaust manifold. From what I am told these typically last around 5K hard track miles; my contacts were very surprised mine lasted as long as they did.
So now I am planning to get a set of long-tubes on the car before January. I have a set of stock manifolds in the garage but no sense in doing all the work of the header swap with none of the benefits. I still have 25 HP I can add before I have to start dealing with adding weight back into the car, so I'll unleash those ponies (and pick up a lot of un-regulated torque) and deal with any overages via tuning or perhaps some careful weight add-ins.
Also going to pull the trigger on the 15" Brembo Pro Kit and FTBR rear brake upgrade a little sooner than I had planned but that's not really a "problem".
All in all, it's been a great year, and I'll prepare a season summary later this week
29 cars started the race, five in my class "PS0" (Production Sedan unlimited). The silver 260Z with an LS3 is also in my class but much lower power-to-weight than me.
Leading the BMW train:
After Saturday's checker flew, I had the win in-class after the silver Z-car crapped out with fuel system issues, but was hotly pursued the entire race by a pack of fast BMWs, one of which was forced to retire mid-race after his shifter linkage came apart.
The Mustang's reliability shined during the race and the car did not let me down when I needed it.
I didn't plan to run the Sunday 100-minute enduro, but any second thoughts were dashed when I fired the car up Sunday morning and it sounded like a Harley Davidson or something. Upon initial inspection it looks like I cracked a joint on the passenger side stock exhaust manifold. From what I am told these typically last around 5K hard track miles; my contacts were very surprised mine lasted as long as they did.
So now I am planning to get a set of long-tubes on the car before January. I have a set of stock manifolds in the garage but no sense in doing all the work of the header swap with none of the benefits. I still have 25 HP I can add before I have to start dealing with adding weight back into the car, so I'll unleash those ponies (and pick up a lot of un-regulated torque) and deal with any overages via tuning or perhaps some careful weight add-ins.
Also going to pull the trigger on the 15" Brembo Pro Kit and FTBR rear brake upgrade a little sooner than I had planned but that's not really a "problem".
All in all, it's been a great year, and I'll prepare a season summary later this week
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cloud9
Gary
Congrats on the win Drew! 8)
ls110
John
Awesome driving Drew and a very impressive season!! Very cool that you can add another 25hp. That should be a noticible boost for next season!
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ArizonaBOSS said:
This is awesome!
Congrats on a great season.
- Thread starter
- #769
OK, 2015 season review time. This was really a transformative year for both car and driver.
The year started off cautiously on a new FRPP short block that I installed in December of 2014. I ran the first weekend in January on that new engine and old P-Zero scrubs and everything went great, with the exception of a loose power steering ground wire from the engine install. Before that event even happened, I was already planning how to get the car back onto a DOT race tire like the new Hoosier R7s, and go to a much wider tire in the process. This would allow me to take 75-100lbs out of the car for NASA ST2 instead of taking a power-to-weight penalty for running used slicks.
By February the 18x10.5 PF01s were delivered and 315/30/18 R7s mounted up. I didn't get to test these until Willow Springs with NASA So-Cal but they made a big difference in grip vs. the used scrubs I was used to running on. I still hadn't come close to finding their optimal grip and wasn't used to how they would drive at the limit. Big Willow is an intimidating track and I didn't have the speed to truly be competitive there out of the gate, but it did help to give me some perspective on what a truly FAST track feels like--and that paid dividends later.
The weekend after that we raced again back in Arizona, at at track I know well and I was able to really get the tires and setup dialed in. The performance of the car was excellent, and I was able to run at the front of the race group all weekend (despite losing an overall win on Sunday by running out of fuel--but I learned an important lesson there), and I set my first track record in Time Trials! On the dyno we discovered I had blown up my OEM driveshaft's center bearing (a victim of Willow Springs the month before), but @cloud9 was able to get me one of his used ones quickly to continue the season. High five! Finally, I pulled the trigger on the Vorshlag/MCS TT2 suspension package that @modernbeat had mapped out with me in December of 2014 to help take advantage of the larger, grippier tires and hopefully set me up for a good showing at NASA Nationals at Laguna Seca later in the year.
April was the last hurrah for my Roush suspension setup, which has gone to a good home in @captdistraction's car. We were at INDE Motorsports Ranch for a private test day and was able to do some testing on scrub vs. new R7s. We weren't able to find the time to get the MCS setup onto the car before this event so it was more of a fun run, and helped to gather baseline data for the upcoming race at this track the following month. After that test session, we put a Dynotech aluminum DS in, an Odyssey PC680 lightweight battery, and removed a couple non-essential parts and fuel ballast, taking the car from 3550 race weight down to 3450 race weight with a full cool-shirt box in the car.
In May we were back to INDE, but this time with the MCS setup installed. The car was just as fast as before but finding the "right" damping rates took the whole weekend, and the car still had some slight mid-corner understeer. Despite that, I was able to take second in class out of 5 in both day's races, losing out to a more powerful, and much lighter LS3 260Z.
In June I was able to get to a test session in the morning at a familiar track to do a swaybar sweep. We didn't find anything that worked better on the car, but we did find out a lot of things that DIDN'T work. NASA Nationals was fast approaching and we were still trying to dial in the suspension.
When we finally got to Nationals at Laguna Seca, I was able to test out a couple other minor changes during the practice and qualifying runs that got the car balanced the way I like. Coupled with some tire advice from @ilesjohn, I was able to take 4th place out of 14 in ST2 in the Championship race. Much of this had to do with a few of my competitors breaking down during the weekend, but that's racing.
I was very happy with the overall reliability of the Mustang compared to the Corvettes at Nationals, and it was clear that the gap in time to the front of the pack had more to do with my driving than the car--so I am confident that I will be even more competitive in 2016. After Laguna, the only thing hardware-wise I felt needed improving was the brakes. I could get the car slowed down just enough, but didn't have any braking capability left in reserve to make passing moves under braking. Also I was more confident with the car so I was driving deeper before braking than the brakes were willing to cope with.
The remainder of the year was spent racing at home in Arizona, but the dialed-in setup did well, setting multiple track records in Time Trial and Race Group with NASA Arizona. The car ran strong and predictably, and I had a lot of time to play with both A7 and R7 compounds at different pressures. As my driving ability and confidence grew to match the new-found capability of the car, I started to smash my previous personal best times at every track I visited. The top step on the podium was becoming a familiar spot.
At the end of the season, I'm 4th in class out of 10 in ST2 for NASA AZ Region, and 2nd in class out of 10 in ProAutosports PS0. I only ran 5 race days with NASA AZ; had I showed up more the regional trophy would have been within my grasp. I'm aiming to fix that in 2016.
Season Statistics:
This season I owe many thanks to Hoosier Racing Tire and Winding Road Racing for their support via contingency programs. These programs made significant impact on my ability to race and win consistently during the season, and I am looking forward to continuing these programs in 2016.
Additionally, the test information shared over the course of their S197 builds, advice, and technical discussion with the team at Vorshlag really helped me define and execute my strategy to improve the capability of the car during 2015. Big thanks due here!
Season Contingency Payouts:
Hoosier Racing Tire: 10 tires (!) (www.hoosiertire.com)
Winding Road Racing: $510 in store credits (www.windingroadracing.com)
ProAutosports ProCash: $200 in event credits
The year started off cautiously on a new FRPP short block that I installed in December of 2014. I ran the first weekend in January on that new engine and old P-Zero scrubs and everything went great, with the exception of a loose power steering ground wire from the engine install. Before that event even happened, I was already planning how to get the car back onto a DOT race tire like the new Hoosier R7s, and go to a much wider tire in the process. This would allow me to take 75-100lbs out of the car for NASA ST2 instead of taking a power-to-weight penalty for running used slicks.
By February the 18x10.5 PF01s were delivered and 315/30/18 R7s mounted up. I didn't get to test these until Willow Springs with NASA So-Cal but they made a big difference in grip vs. the used scrubs I was used to running on. I still hadn't come close to finding their optimal grip and wasn't used to how they would drive at the limit. Big Willow is an intimidating track and I didn't have the speed to truly be competitive there out of the gate, but it did help to give me some perspective on what a truly FAST track feels like--and that paid dividends later.
The weekend after that we raced again back in Arizona, at at track I know well and I was able to really get the tires and setup dialed in. The performance of the car was excellent, and I was able to run at the front of the race group all weekend (despite losing an overall win on Sunday by running out of fuel--but I learned an important lesson there), and I set my first track record in Time Trials! On the dyno we discovered I had blown up my OEM driveshaft's center bearing (a victim of Willow Springs the month before), but @cloud9 was able to get me one of his used ones quickly to continue the season. High five! Finally, I pulled the trigger on the Vorshlag/MCS TT2 suspension package that @modernbeat had mapped out with me in December of 2014 to help take advantage of the larger, grippier tires and hopefully set me up for a good showing at NASA Nationals at Laguna Seca later in the year.
April was the last hurrah for my Roush suspension setup, which has gone to a good home in @captdistraction's car. We were at INDE Motorsports Ranch for a private test day and was able to do some testing on scrub vs. new R7s. We weren't able to find the time to get the MCS setup onto the car before this event so it was more of a fun run, and helped to gather baseline data for the upcoming race at this track the following month. After that test session, we put a Dynotech aluminum DS in, an Odyssey PC680 lightweight battery, and removed a couple non-essential parts and fuel ballast, taking the car from 3550 race weight down to 3450 race weight with a full cool-shirt box in the car.
In May we were back to INDE, but this time with the MCS setup installed. The car was just as fast as before but finding the "right" damping rates took the whole weekend, and the car still had some slight mid-corner understeer. Despite that, I was able to take second in class out of 5 in both day's races, losing out to a more powerful, and much lighter LS3 260Z.
In June I was able to get to a test session in the morning at a familiar track to do a swaybar sweep. We didn't find anything that worked better on the car, but we did find out a lot of things that DIDN'T work. NASA Nationals was fast approaching and we were still trying to dial in the suspension.
When we finally got to Nationals at Laguna Seca, I was able to test out a couple other minor changes during the practice and qualifying runs that got the car balanced the way I like. Coupled with some tire advice from @ilesjohn, I was able to take 4th place out of 14 in ST2 in the Championship race. Much of this had to do with a few of my competitors breaking down during the weekend, but that's racing.
I was very happy with the overall reliability of the Mustang compared to the Corvettes at Nationals, and it was clear that the gap in time to the front of the pack had more to do with my driving than the car--so I am confident that I will be even more competitive in 2016. After Laguna, the only thing hardware-wise I felt needed improving was the brakes. I could get the car slowed down just enough, but didn't have any braking capability left in reserve to make passing moves under braking. Also I was more confident with the car so I was driving deeper before braking than the brakes were willing to cope with.
The remainder of the year was spent racing at home in Arizona, but the dialed-in setup did well, setting multiple track records in Time Trial and Race Group with NASA Arizona. The car ran strong and predictably, and I had a lot of time to play with both A7 and R7 compounds at different pressures. As my driving ability and confidence grew to match the new-found capability of the car, I started to smash my previous personal best times at every track I visited. The top step on the podium was becoming a familiar spot.
At the end of the season, I'm 4th in class out of 10 in ST2 for NASA AZ Region, and 2nd in class out of 10 in ProAutosports PS0. I only ran 5 race days with NASA AZ; had I showed up more the regional trophy would have been within my grasp. I'm aiming to fix that in 2016.
Season Statistics:
This season I owe many thanks to Hoosier Racing Tire and Winding Road Racing for their support via contingency programs. These programs made significant impact on my ability to race and win consistently during the season, and I am looking forward to continuing these programs in 2016.
Additionally, the test information shared over the course of their S197 builds, advice, and technical discussion with the team at Vorshlag really helped me define and execute my strategy to improve the capability of the car during 2015. Big thanks due here!
Season Contingency Payouts:
Hoosier Racing Tire: 10 tires (!) (www.hoosiertire.com)
Winding Road Racing: $510 in store credits (www.windingroadracing.com)
ProAutosports ProCash: $200 in event credits
Last edited:
Tucson 302
2013 Black LS #439
Hey Drew
Having been there to witness a good part of your season it was impressive! You are the man and congrats on the season.
Having been there to witness a good part of your season it was impressive! You are the man and congrats on the season.
Drew, congratulations on an awesome season! I suspect you're off to even better things next year. The BMO sticker development team has been hard at work and we just released even faster stickers for 2016. Let me know if you need any. For any of you other racers out there send me a PM if you want BMO stickers for your race car. They've been spotted on Phoenix Performance Grand AM cars in the past and should be on the Elgin Racing Mustang next season.
For any of you other racers out there send me a PM if you want BMO stickers for your race car. They've been spotted on Phoenix Performance Grand AM cars in the past and should be on the Elgin Racing Mustang next season.- 68
- 0
Congrats Drew, You had a great season!!!
- Thread starter
- #773
VooDooBOSS said:Drew, congratulations on an awesome season! I suspect you're off to even better things next year. The BMO sticker development team has been hard at work and we just released even faster stickers for 2016. Let me know if you need any.
Design/details? I need all the help I can get!
TymeSlayer
Tramps like us, Baby we were born to run...
My congrats to you sir. This was a great read, you had a great season and you seem to have great plan. My best to you next season as well.
- Thread starter
- #775
Started taking receipt of some parts for the car...
Got the Full-Tilt Boogie Racing 13" rear brake conversion kit with two-piece floating rotors. 1.5lbs lighter than stock rotors, and an inch larger diameter. Includes offset brackets for the stock calipers. Really nicely-machined stuff.
The weight difference isn't a big deal for overall static car weight, but again this is rotating mass that needs to be accelerated or slowed--this yields improvements for the same reason we install aluminum driveshafts and lightweight flywheels. So I will have increased rear brake torque and heat dissipation capability through the improved vent vaning and floating design, in addition to reduced rotating mass.
There are less expensive and also larger kits out there but this one is engineered the best for the track from my research. Replacement ring cost on these is also lower.
Also I pulled the trigger on the 15" Brembo Pro Kit (again, increased brake torque and heat dissipation capability in the front, and reduced rotating mass) for the front from Paul's Automotive Engineering and should have that installed before my first race of 2016 in January.
Finally, the Kooks headers and off-road X-pipe arrived to replace my cracked factory exhaust manifolds. Haven't had a chance to unbox them yet but all the packaging looks solid.
#SOON
Got the Full-Tilt Boogie Racing 13" rear brake conversion kit with two-piece floating rotors. 1.5lbs lighter than stock rotors, and an inch larger diameter. Includes offset brackets for the stock calipers. Really nicely-machined stuff.
The weight difference isn't a big deal for overall static car weight, but again this is rotating mass that needs to be accelerated or slowed--this yields improvements for the same reason we install aluminum driveshafts and lightweight flywheels. So I will have increased rear brake torque and heat dissipation capability through the improved vent vaning and floating design, in addition to reduced rotating mass.
There are less expensive and also larger kits out there but this one is engineered the best for the track from my research. Replacement ring cost on these is also lower.
Also I pulled the trigger on the 15" Brembo Pro Kit (again, increased brake torque and heat dissipation capability in the front, and reduced rotating mass) for the front from Paul's Automotive Engineering and should have that installed before my first race of 2016 in January.
Finally, the Kooks headers and off-road X-pipe arrived to replace my cracked factory exhaust manifolds. Haven't had a chance to unbox them yet but all the packaging looks solid.
#SOON
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Nice. Have fun installing the headers and get the Captain over to help you. I hear he works for beer.
- Thread starter
- #777
Confirmed crack in the passenger header. Can't get the phone in from the top to get a good picture of it but it's there and it's big.
On the other hand, the Kooks headers look great.
On the other hand, the Kooks headers look great.
302 Hi Pro
Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
Drew:
Yes, those headers by Kooks look great and I'm sure you will be very happy with the end result. Which Tuner will you use to optimize the performance of the new exhaust? (Sorry if I missed that.).
I've done a few intake and exhaust mods, and I went with the Kooks Super Street headers to maintain the OEM cats and emissions for my street Boss. However, I realized the best performance improvements with the Kooks header install. For my application the header replacement seemed to pull everything together nicely.
Congratulations on a very successful 2015 race season and I look forward to reading about the next round of winter mods and improvements to your car.
Hoping to see you as a mainstay on the podium in 2016!
All the Best, and be safe.
Dave,
302 Hi Pro
Yes, those headers by Kooks look great and I'm sure you will be very happy with the end result. Which Tuner will you use to optimize the performance of the new exhaust? (Sorry if I missed that.).
I've done a few intake and exhaust mods, and I went with the Kooks Super Street headers to maintain the OEM cats and emissions for my street Boss. However, I realized the best performance improvements with the Kooks header install. For my application the header replacement seemed to pull everything together nicely.
Congratulations on a very successful 2015 race season and I look forward to reading about the next round of winter mods and improvements to your car.
Hoping to see you as a mainstay on the podium in 2016!
All the Best, and be safe.
Dave,
302 Hi Pro
- Thread starter
- #779
@302 Hi Pro
Dave--I have a great road-race tune from AED now and Shaun is going to update it to take advantage of the LT headers. These were purchased on his recommendation/preference so I think we will see some good results.
The car already does 410 to the tires so I'm guessing this will bump it into the 430-435 WHP range, plus a bunch of torque everywhere.
Dyno comparison coming first week of January.
Dave--I have a great road-race tune from AED now and Shaun is going to update it to take advantage of the LT headers. These were purchased on his recommendation/preference so I think we will see some good results.
The car already does 410 to the tires so I'm guessing this will bump it into the 430-435 WHP range, plus a bunch of torque everywhere.
Dyno comparison coming first week of January.
- 680
- 215
ArizonaBOSS said:Confirmed crack in the passenger header. Can't get the phone in from the top to get a good picture of it but it's there and it's big.
On the other hand, the Kooks headers look great.
Man, Kooks is really setting the bar. Those are just beautiful. These should also really bring your Coyote to life even without tuning. Can't wait to see the install pics!!
Awesome!
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