As you may know I am the owner of Torqued Racing Solutions and I organize all of the events. I also participate in each of the events and have made continual improvements to my track car throughout the year. Here’s the highlights for 2011!
Continue reading click here->
June 1th, 2011 – Torqued Racing Solutions HPDE Track Day at Nelson Ledges!
This was my first time on track in 2011 and it was short lived. I had upgraded the fuel system a few weeks prior which included new wiring from the fuel tank to the new FPDM’s. I used the heat shrink that came with the kit after soldering the wires from the FORE fuel hat to the new wires to the dual FPDM’s. However it got pinched between the tank and the frame of the car during the first session. I went out on the first session and about 7 minutes later the car kept going lean. I was able to coast into the pits. My uncle ended up towing me home. I ended up cutting a small hole in the bottom of the trunk and ran the wires through with an excessive amount of electric tape and padding. Turns out this solution worked very well as i have not had any other problems with the fuel system in 2011!
http://torquedracingsolutions.com/blog/2011/06/16/nelson-ledges-track-day-recap-june-12th-2011/
September 9th, 2011 – Torqued Racing Solutions HPDE Track Day at Putnam Park Road Course!
This was my second event for 2011 and it was amazing. I rented the track Friday and Kenny Brown rented the track Saturday and Sunday. I had a unique opportunity to meet all of the Kenny Brown staff and even lap with them through out the day. It was a great time seeing Old Blue on track and the rest of Kenny Brown Mustangs. The first session was crazy. The track was soaking wet and with my “not so great” tires and no traction control I was fighting the car for the entire session. Later in the day the track started drying out and I was able to really push the car and my limits. I pushed a little to hard coming out of turn 3 and ended up going for a ride through the grass. It didn’t damage anything so i was able to finish the session. Then after lunch during the 1:20 session about half way through the brake pedal started to get spongy so I backed off slightly. I still had plenty of brakes but had to pump once before really standing on them. I finished that session and inspected the car. I was thinking a brake line was leaking. I couldn’t find a leak so we blead the brakes at the master cylinder. I went back out for the 2:20 session and was experiencing the same spongy pedal after a few laps, however i finished the 20 minute session. I decided I was done for the day and loaded the car up. After talking with the guys at Track Guys and Cari at Kenny Brown I decided to come back Saturday Morning to the Kenny Brown 25th anniversary event. I was going to run a few sessions in the morning so I unloaded the car. When I was putting the straps away I noticed a large puddle on the left rear of the car trailer. It was brake fluid. I took off the left rear and found the seal around the brake piston was shot and it was leaking fluid badly. I loaded up the car and just hung out with the Kenny Brown staff all morning. It was a pleasure meeting everyone at Kenny Brown and hope to see them again in 2012. When fixing the brake caliper I decided to upgrade to 13 inch vented cobra rear disks. In order to install them you have to take the axles out to install the larger axle brackets. When I took the differential off I noticed metal shavings and some of the gears in the differential were missing or severely cracked! I ended up installing 31 spline axles and a new Torsen T2 differential. It is a huge difference at the track. Check out one of the fly by videos.
October 23rd, 2011 – Torqued Racing Solutions HPDE Track Day at Nelson Ledges Road Course!
Nelson Ledges is always my last event of the year. Its near Cleveland Ohio and only about 3 hours from Columbus, Ohio which makes it nice. It was a great day with temps in the 60′s and sunny. The car ran great all day! It was a blast lapping with such a variety of cars. Nelson Ledges road course is an older track built back in the late 60′s. It was also the first track with a “tire wall” for safety. Its a very fun and fast track. The only problem I had was about mid day. With the semi-recent upgrade to 3.73′s i was topping out at 130mph on the back stretch all day and a few times hitting the rev limiter. I think this is what was causing the belt to shread as i haven’t had problems with this before. Finally the belt gave out at about 90mph right before on of the final turns. I had brakes but since the mustangs are setup on a hydroboost system they rely on the power steering pump to provide boost for the brakes. Since there was no belt I couldn’t press hard enough to slow the car down so decided to hit the e-brake and thankfully between that and the mud on the inside of turn 10 i was able to get stopped without damaging anything. I had to be towed back to the pits where i was able to put a spare belt on and finish the last two sessions. I was also able to run my fastest time of the year, a 1:19. Check out the video below.