Vin Wins! Year One Auto-X

[andrewb70]

Uhhh.....
I think I just got lucky.

No really , I put a rear anti-roll bar on the car.
That's it ! An inexpensive $ 140 Herb Adams rear anti-roll bar.
That gave me a little less understeer.
Plus , I tried to drive more smoothly ,........Really.
I'm bad about stomping on the brake and sliding the front tires across the pavement.
So I tried like hell not to do that.
I read a book about race driving too("SPEED SECRETS" )

The aforementioned late night thrashing was actually body / sheetmetal / rust repair.
And I put a new windshield in the car.
I was tired of looking through a sandpitted cracked windshield.

Jeff,



Congratulations. I think you proves that it's possible to go fast without breaking the budget.

Andrew

[ProdigyCustoms]

Very, very impressive my friend. And Luck had nothing to do with it from what I am hearing. Good homework sounds more like it.

[hotrdblder]

on vinnys fast lap he had a penelty added to his time for one cone. vinny ran only 3 laps as there was a huge line. first lap was learning course, 2nd he spun out 3rd i believe he ran a 26.49 or 26.59 but hit a cone so they added in a penelty.

[PARKERRS]

Jeff was running street tires with a 300 tread wear rating also compared to Vin's Toyo R888's, so I was impressed to say the least. Congratulations guys!
Tommy

[JEFFTATE]

Very, very impressive my friend. And Luck had nothing to do with it from what I am hearing. Good homework sounds more like it.

Thanks Frank !

[JEFFTATE]

Jeff was running street tires with a 300 tread wear rating also compared to Vin's Toyo R888's, so I was impressed to say the least. Congratulations guys!
Tommy

Actually , I must thank Tommy Parkers' son for riding with me when I ran my quickest time for the weekend.
He's a nice young man. He inspired me and brought me luck.

And Susans' son rode with me when I ran the time that got me second place.

And my tires actually have a 400 treadwear rating.
( Hard as a rock Pirelli P-zero Neros )

There's no comparing my car to Vin's , That car of his is awesome.
I am humbled in his presence.

[69Nova]

And my tires actually have a 400 treadwear rating.
( Hard as a rock Pirelli P-zero Neros )

Thats crazy! Guess I need to buy that Speed Secrets book you mentioned. LOL

[trapin]

Jeff, knowing a regular guy like you with a regular car can go out to one of these events and make some noise is an inspiration to us all. It makes me want to take my car down there when I'm done and race it.

[67SSDan]

Holy crap, that's awesome! Elvis lives at the Auto-X!!

Congrats guys! Can't wait till RTTH, should make some good talking points.

Dan

[yellowrallys]

Here is a shot of me trying to get a few driving tips from one of the resident "hot shoes". I just can't keep up.

[Desert68]

I encourage everyone to make these post-purchase mods and Vinnie's car proves that air ride works in the real world. We'll keep driving home the point (literally) to make sure no one forgets.

I do not want to hijack a thread and I am not trying to stir up any trouble, but I have what I feel is a legitimate question. Why do you not see high-end, supercar builders (Ferrari, Lambo, etc) or race cars builders (IRL, ALMS, etc) use 'air bag' suspension designs? I apologize in advance if this should be a separate thread.

[Steve Chryssos]

Not at all. Air suspension is definitely a hot rodding trick. Vin's car is versatile, because the air suspension is easily adjustable. You can auto-cross it at installed height. Then yank the 18" x 30 series wheels/tires, jack the air pressure to make room for the tall drag slicks, pre-load the right rear bag, dump the air in the front bags and then click off a mid 10 second E.T.
When that's all said and done, you can park it at a show dumped and then cruise home with very comfortable ride height.

Air suspension is most definitely not the only game in town. But no one can argue it's versatility across the entire spectrum of pro-touring mojo. The car can be made to handle better on metal springs and road race specific suspension geometry. But think how much work would be involved to achieve that mid 10 second E.T. It's by no means impossible, but Vinnie accomplished all of the above, by only turning lug nuts and pushing buttons. With metal springs, what would the sacrifice be to drag strip performance or other environments?

My personal car has metal springs. Always has, always will. I'm not gonna tear my done car apart to make room for Shockwaves. I used to personally crap all over air suspension myself. I watched the air ride cars run at RTH2. That provided enough impetus to have me try it out on Vin's car. 18 months later, the car's overall documented performance speaks for itself. The technology might not be viable for a production Ferrari, but for a true multi-purpose hot rod, suspension should be given strong consideration.

Detractors should prove otherwise by bringing out actual running cars for comparison across the entire spectrum. If that's not possible, then they should just sit there, tap their feet and stew in silence.

[Desert68]

Air suspension is most definitely not the only game in town. But no one can argue it's versatility across the entire spectrum of pro-touring mojo. The car can be made to handle better on metal springs and road race specific suspension geometry. But think how much work would be involved to achieve that mid 10 second E.T. It's by no means impossible, but Vinnie accomplished all of the above, by only turning lug nuts and pushing buttons. With metal springs, what would the sacrifice be to drag strip performance or other environments?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question in detail. I've seen the setup on TV and I've seen it in magazines, but you answered the one question I had in my mind. A good balance.

[Prejudice alert] Consider a setup for (pre-batwing) C3 Corvettes, then float the idea over at corvetteforum.com

[Edit] It might be the packaging space for the rear, but any coilover/whatever setup I've seen for the rear seems like a rather big compromise.

[TonyL]

actually there are plans for some exotics to use air adjustable springs in the future. It's all about the controllers and settings. Simply put, air systems are expensive, and parts do wear out. So amplify that factor in an exotic car, and you have a cost prohibitive system that creates many headaches for a manufacturer.

However, that being said, There have been some high end cars with air ride, and they were world class for the time.
Case in point.

[dylanCamaro582]

I don't wan t to be off topic, but i have a Mark VIII, and it a pretty good car except when the air bag decide not to fill up and leave my front end on the ground. I have not felt the car lower itsefl at higher speed, only when parked. AS a note too, i have not done any track days or auto-x with it, so it can't say how it handles in a high perfromance setting nor have i driven many perfromance cars beside my dad's miata for a short while.

Vinnie, you '68 is wicked!and congrats on the win. makes me want to put an ART system in to any for my future projects.

[nickdoe6]

Not sure if you remember us talking to you just before you got on track. He got the conversation and he got the off track, the black flag and the "tail between his legs" exit off the course. I have the disc with me but I have not figure out how to load it on the computer. I will post it as soon as I do. I have a couple of passes of me on the autocross along with a few passes down the strip at Alanta Dragway.

I agree with you on the "rubber meets the road" thing. I was going to trailer my car down, it would go on the trailer because it was too low, so I drove from Charlotte to Year One, beat on it all weekend and drove it home with never a mishap. I think my car may have sat in the show area for maybe 2 hours for the 2 days that I was there. I went to the test and tune, autocross and made 3 parade laps if you can call it that..I was over 100 mph in a couple of spots.

I also reccommend LS motors to anyone. Mine makes 425 rwhp and I got 26 mpg at 1800 rpm running 75 mph on my trip home.

Hey Payton,
Send me the original video. I know exactly what to do with it. Hehehe.
I'll be sure it makes it online...I promise. No, reeeely.

1.5 laps might be a new record for getting black flagged. Leave it to me set that standard. I'll have to redeem myself at GG Columbus.

It's like I told Steve -- His car takes 150 lbs of brake pressue to stop it, but I only weigh 135 lbs. I'll have to do some leg presses before I hop in that hot rod again.

I still had a great time...at least for 30 or so seconds.

Nick L.

[Vinz68]

It's like I told Steve -- His car takes 150 lbs of brake pressue to stop it, but I only weigh 135 lbs. I'll have to do some leg presses before I hop in that hot rod again.

I still had a great time...at least for 30 or so seconds.

Nick L.

Next time you can take mine for a ride.

[nickdoe6]

Next time you can take mine for a ride.

Vin,
I appreciate the offer, but I might wait until my car is done. This way I won't have to keep buying my way out of video of me in the grass.
I'm going broke here.

Nick L.

[Steve1968LS2]

Vin,
I appreciate the offer, but I might wait until my car is done. This way I won't have to keep buying my way out of video of me in the grass.
I'm going broke here.

Nick L.

You'll still be in the grass... just in your own car..

[nickdoe6]

You'll still be in the grass... just in your own car..

Ya but only with three wheels, so I won't get the ol' black flag. I'll get to keep on runnin'.

Nick