I wasn’t sure where else to post this, but this section seemed like the closest even though I was not actually racing.
After all these years building the car I finally got to take the Cuda to a “high-performance driving event” or HPDE on a road course. The track is called Inde Motorsports Ranch in Wilcox AZ (basically a tiny little town) and its a private track. Luckily I know someone from work that puts on private track days. Basically this guy organizes it and limits it to 32 cars divided up in to 4 run groups. So only 8 cars on track at any one time and its a 2 +mile course so once the cars spread out you don’t have to worry about getting stuck behind someone (passing is only allowed on the main straight with a wave by). Each group gets 15 minutes on the track each hour and you just keep cycling through the groups all day long. Unfortunately early in the day someone oiled down a large part of the track and the cleanup took a long time so I was only able to do 2 run groups in the Cuda and 1 in my Dad’s Mini Cooper before packing up at the end of the day. I could have gotten at least 1 more run in but I decided to quit while I was ahead
The Cuda ran good overall, but I took it pretty easy given the nasty driveshaft rubbing. Plus I’ve only got 850 miles on the car since the rebuild. I had two issues with the car. One with the new lower stance and the pinion angle adjusted to be equal with the transmission angle the driveshaft was rubbing on the floorboard. That’s the awful buzzing noise you hear in the in car video. Because of that I pretty much only used full throttle on the main straight and up the hill. You can hear in the video there were parts where I was just coasting because I knew there were bumps on the track which would cause it to rub even worse. Since I was working on other things the day before I went to the track I didn’t get a chance to adjust the angle down a couple of degrees. I might need to cut the floorboards and space up the rear of the transmission even more.
The only other issue I had was the axle vent was pushing out gear oil resulting in an oily mist on the rear suspension and rear of the car. I have a hose running from the axle vent to a little K&N filter and it was basically leaking out of that. I'll have to hook up a catch can type setup for it. Here’s a pic showing the spray on the back of the car. It made a mess.
On the plus side, thanks to Dan at DTM Racing the car handled great and the brakes were good for the entire 15 minute session. I think the car can outhandle my driving nerve.
Anyway I had a blast and I accomplished what I wanted to which was to get the car on the track, get some experience driving it and to figure out what else needs to be fixed! Next time out I should have these 2 issues fixed and I’ll push it harder.
Here’s some pics and videos. There was a good mix of cars including 2 McLarens ( I think these are like $270k a piece or something!), plus everything from Honda’s, Evos and WRXs, lots of Vettes, to even a Nissan GTR.
There was even another old car! A really nice 2nd gen Camaro that does a ton of track days. I spent a while talking to the owner. He drove there towing a little trailer that housed his race tires. Cool!
This vintage race car Camaro also turned a few laps.
Here you can see some of the assortment of cars... Acura, Honda, Evo, GT-R, Porsche race car, BMW race car, new Camaro...
These are the only action shots that I was able to find:
In this video I layed back at the start because I kept catching some cars, plus Turn 2 heading on to the main straight is one of the few places where there is a wall on the track so I never pushed it there. Then on the main straight I lifted early and coasted for a bit. I still ended up catching the Evo and the Subaru WRX STI in front of me. Since you can only pass on the straight, at that point I just stayed behind them and didn’t want to get too close to them and get pelted by rocks or worry about them out braking me. Be sure and watch in high def.
In this video I put the GoPro outside the car but it picked up a ton of wind noise because it was windy that day. On the plus side you don't have to listen to the driveshaft rubbing!
Oh and I know it doesn’t look like I’m going that fast, but I hit 110 mph on the front straight and the even the slowest corner on the course you’re exiting the corner at 45 mph. I did just leave it in 4th gear the entire time so on the slow corners it’s down at like 2000 rpm and bogging out of the corner. I figured that way I didn’t have to worry about spinning out when getting back on the throttle. In reality on most of the course I should be in 3rd except for the main straight and uphill portion.
Anyway I’m looking forward to the next event where I will have the 2 issues fixed and I’ll be able to push the car harder!
Travis
72 Cuda
