[tommyg29]

I was thinking of trying the 71 cuda, but its too nice to take any chances with. The operator ran a 67 mustang last time out, and he did 3 seconds better with it than my Stealth

 

[DennisVR97]

I was thinking of trying the 71 cuda, but its too nice to take any chances with. The operator ran a 67 mustang last time out, and he did 3 seconds better with it than my Stealth

I love the 'Cudas. Love that green, too. 1970 was such a good year for the Pony's. Cuda, Challenger, Firebird, Camaro, Mustang all had major overhauls that made them really great looking. I'm partial to Firebirds (worked for GM Research when I bought my 70 'bird new). But I think the overall styling of the Challenger/Cuda was a bit slicker. I still have my 70. It is now all Ram Air, but the chassis still sucks with the 70's design. AND it needs a serious ground up restoration because of all the rust.

There are a number of companies out there that are makiing world class suspensions for 60s/70s pony cars. Detroit Speed (in NC if you can believe that one) has phenomenal replacement suspensions for many of the old GM bodies. There's another company that does nothing but old Mustangs. Maybe that's what beat your Stealth

Have you done anything to the Stealth chassis? I had an SCCA instructor drive my car at the last autocross I did. He was VERY complementary about how it handled. He said he almost bought a Stealth (can't remember why he said he didn't). He was visibly surprised how my VR4 handled. Now, I'm a ham-handed driver ........ I just know the basics of chassis tuning. But our rides with the right updates can hold their own, surprisingly, given how old the design is.

 

[tommyg29]

only have lowering springs and decent tires. The engine is slightly modded too with upgraded turbos and injectors, but the handling should not be too different from stock.
3S's in stock form are cruisers, and too heavy for competitive autox'ing, but I will have fun running about 10 times, always trying to beat my last time.
Hope nothing breaks.

Here's my baby:

 

[tommyg29]

Heres 2 of my better runs from 12/18/11. On one run I missed a cone, and messed up on the same turn both times, misjudging my entry point. I did much better later when we had free runs. Had 10 runs overall, and one time (not in these videos, sorry) I went sideways and t-boned a cone early on in the course, I think at the end of the first slalom, about 15 seconds in.

Contour | Stories | 92 Stealth 12-18-11

Contour | Stories | Homestead AutoX 12-18-11 Run 2

Not sure what class I belong in, but I was put in STR, which is for 2 seat roadsters. The classification rules are incredibly confusing, and theres lots of room for owners tempers to be set off by the tech guys, which apparently happens at the competitive regional levels. Anyone have any advice about that next time they ask me what class I'm in, which is what they did at the registration desk. I didnt know, so I just let them place me, based on one question..."is it awd?" Not that I really care, but I might as well be placed properly.

About my driving experience. I was wearing shorts, and I found my left leg getting scratched by the speaker grill. I dont think Im properly using that leg. I found myself shifting into second early, and keeping it in second the whole time. I think Im a lazy driver, and let the car take me for a ride. Felt a little like I was just muscling the car around, instead of me fine controlling the car. Just using my left leg to stabilize myself from the g forces, and flailing with my arms, and modulating my right foot (with an occasional stab at the brake pedal) tells me I have a lot of room for improvement in my driving technique.
I can see where a proper racing seat and harness allows you to focus more of your efforts actually driving.
Also, doing more than one thing at a time would be very helpful, such as instinctively downshifting while braking. The once or twice I did try downshifting into first after braking into a hard turn, I realized I did it after I let off the brake. I'm leaving seconds all over the track, because lets face it , you dont have to drive like that in the real world, so its not second nature to me. I'm going to slowly try and retrain myself.
And next time, my first couple laps I will force myself to drive the course deliberately (slowly, if necessary) to learn the course, but more importantly, to practice proper shifting and braking technique, and driving the proper line, and then gradually just stepping it up.

Most importantly....nothing broken...yet.
Though I noticed major wear this time on the outer edge of my front tires, and smelled burning rubber several times, or maybe burning clutch?? Hope not. They smell similar.

 

[daneboy5]

only have lowering springs and decent tires. The engine is slightly modded too with upgraded turbos and injectors, but the handling should not be too different from stock.
3S's in stock form are cruisers, and too heavy for competitive autox'ing, but I will have fun running about 10 times, always trying to beat my last time.
Hope nothing breaks.

Here's my baby:

Damn that is a gorgeous car! The only thing that could make it better would be a Hemi. Nice ride, and don't take the chance of racing it!

 

[HLxDrummer]

Heres 2 of my better runs from 12/18/11. On one run I missed a cone, and messed up on the same turn both times, misjudging my entry point. I did much better later when we had free runs. Had 10 runs overall, and one time (not in these videos, sorry) I went sideways and t-boned a cone early on in the course, I think at the end of the first slalom, about 15 seconds in.

Contour | Stories | 92 Stealth 12-18-11

Contour | Stories | Homestead AutoX 12-18-11 Run 2

Not sure what class I belong in, but I was put in STR, which is for 2 seat roadsters. The classification rules are incredibly confusing, and theres lots of room for owners tempers to be set off by the tech guys, which apparently happens at the competitive regional levels. Anyone have any advice about that next time they ask me what class I'm in, which is what they did at the registration desk. I didnt know, so I just let them place me, based on one question..."is it awd?" Not that I really care, but I might as well be placed properly.

About my driving experience. I was wearing shorts, and I found my left leg getting scratched by the speaker grill. I dont think Im properly using that leg. I found myself shifting into second early, and keeping it in second the whole time. I think Im a lazy driver, and let the car take me for a ride. Felt a little like I was just muscling the car around, instead of me fine controlling the car. Just using my left leg to stabilize myself from the g forces, and flailing with my arms, and modulating my right foot (with an occasional stab at the brake pedal) tells me I have a lot of room for improvement in my driving technique.
I can see where a proper racing seat and harness allows you to focus more of your efforts actually driving.
Also, doing more than one thing at a time would be very helpful, such as instinctively downshifting while braking. The once or twice I did try downshifting into first after braking into a hard turn, I realized I did it after I let off the brake. I'm leaving seconds all over the track, because lets face it , you dont have to drive like that in the real world, so its not second nature to me. I'm going to slowly try and retrain myself.
And next time, my first couple laps I will force myself to drive the course deliberately (slowly, if necessary) to learn the course, but more importantly, to practice proper shifting and braking technique, and driving the proper line, and then gradually just stepping it up.

Most importantly....nothing broken...yet.
Though I noticed major wear this time on the outer edge of my front tires, and smelled burning rubber several times, or maybe burning clutch?? Hope not. They smell similar.

I have the same issue with the speaker grill! My knee is almost bleeding after a day of autocrossing lol

As far as the heel-toe downshifting, just make yourself do it on the street. It's a little hard because most turns you don't have to stomp on the brakes and downshift, but it helps a lot. Also, try not to think about it too much and just get into a flow with the car/the track - much easier!

 

[tommyg29]

I see spoolinturbo is running FS class. I would have finished second by a couple tenths to a 2011 Mustang GT in that class.
Seriously, my mods are not tuned properly, so I really dont think my car is running more competitively than a well driven stock car anyway.

http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/Lists/2011/stockc.html

 

[chilema]

I see spoolinturbo is running FS class. I would have finished second by a couple tenths to a 2011 Mustang GT in that class.
Seriously, my mods are not tuned properly, so I really dont think my car is running more competitively than a well driven stock car anyway.

SCCA Solo Car Classifications: Stock by Class

Hey there! I can probably tell you what class (SCCA classing that is) you belong in if you post a rough list of your performance-related mods. Strictly speaking there a lot of minor things that can bump you into the next prep-level even if they are minor but at the local level I don't think people would mind a little deviation from the rules unless you start running for points and placing near the top a lot haha.

On mods...some simple rule of thumb pretty applicable to TT owners. If you touched boost on stock turbos it's automatically BSP (B Street Prepared) and beyond. Swapping out turbos automatically go to Street Modified and beyond. If you are still on stock turbos and boost you may qualify for Street Touring Ultra (STU) depending on other mods (such as whether any interior has been removed, wheel/tire size, using street tires, suspension mods, engine mods, etc).

As for F-Stock or any stock classes for that matter as of the next year and forward you may either replace the front or rear swaybar but not both, change struts and shocks but keep stock springs, any exhaust after the cat converter, any tire size/compound that fits on stock sized wheels with offset no more than +/- 6mm from stock. Pretty much everything else must remain stock.

 

[tommyg29]

Im running 15g's w/450 injectors and supra fuel pump managed with a safc2, aem wideband afr and an aem boost controller, and other than a couple bpu upgrades the car is essentially stock.
I know they wont care but Im running no stronger than stock due to boost leaks, pre-turbo exhaust leak, etc. Cant boost more than 10psi.

 

[chilema]

The 15g's put you in SM but at the local level you can just run BSP. Our cars are rare enough that they won't take one look at your engine bay and spot the difference between a stock 9b and a 15g. If nothing else, unless you are winning all the time, they really won't care at all what class you run in (within the FS -> STU -> BSP -> SM -> FP/XP ladder that is, it would be way awkward if you ran against a bunch of Miatas in STS/STR/CSP, for example haha). Even without the fully realized power potential these cars can be a lot of fun to run! A set of nice, sticky tires and the appropriate spring rates to match the grip is just about all any car needs to do decent at the regional level.