Adam Ginsberg Posted February 22, 2005 Share Posted February 22, 2005 Seat time. Seat time. Seat time. Get as much of it as possible, as there is no substitute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony G Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 Seat time... Seat time..Adam did you mention seat time. Forget all the crap you guys are worried about,get your ass out on the track..then you will be fast...I promise. Matt, if you want tio use a good replacement damper..use the factory over the counter replacement Motorsport part # 6316-B50..under $100 and works great if you feel the need to upgade a little. Really guys, don't worry about all the little stuff, and Matt I wish I had your HP numbers,but heck I had 10 less HP and still won the Championship..did I mention seat time.. Tony Guaglione Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Matt1548534716 Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 Matt I wish I had your HP numbers,but heck I had 10 less HP and still won the Championship..did I mention seat time.. I think seat time (and skill) is the key, although I'll bet your EFI motor has 15-20lb-ft on mine! BTW, the motorsport damper (at least the $100 version) is identical to the stock factory damper. I know because I have one, and it's not SFI rated. I will grant however that a new damper offers some insurance over a used one of unknown condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racercosmo1548534707 Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 By the way, the stock Ford rev limit is set at 6,200 on mass air efi cars for 88-93. I would imagine that 94-95 are the same, but I don't know. Keith and Guy never spun their AI cars past 6k unless they missed a shift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Ginsberg Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 I think seat time (and skill) is the key, although I'll bet your EFI motor has 15-20lb-ft on mine! That is a very true statement, from what I've seen. Todd's stock EFI motor makes exactly 300ft lbs. My stock carbed 302 did a best last year of 279ft lbs. However, that was with a 3" exhaust, which has been replaced for the 2005 season, with new mufflers in the quest to bring up the TQ number. We'll know Saturday if the change was successful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady in Nomex Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 Here's what seat time did for me: HP under 220, TQ under 260, 2:06.5 at Thunderhill. The last race that weekend my last lap was a 2:07 with one dead cylinder. For those who don't know Thunderhill, a 2:08 is a respectable lap time. The lesson is, don't sweat the small stuff like what mod can I do, you have plenty of time to do that later. Seat time is the best mod there is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Matt1548534716 Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 I don't think anyone questions the value of seat time, or the fact that driving experience for most people at this level trumps vehicle prep. The issue for me is that because I am building a car basically from scratch, there are a lot of decisions about parts and equipment to make. Obviously, like most of us, I would like to spend my money as wisely as possible within the rules the first time around. I'm not in a big hurry to make a bunch of hot-rod mods to my car, but in many cases, I am faced with the choice of having to spend X dollars to replace a stock part or a few bucks more to upgrade to something that either would perform better or be more reliable in the long run, but not necessarily create a competitive advantage. There are also numerous instances where I had to spend extra money to use inferior parts to stay within the rules. One example was the distributor. I spent $75 for a rebuilt factory steel-gear distributor when I already had a perfectly good MSD on the shelf. Same with the Duraspark. When that craps out I will end up buying a new one and leaving the MSD 6AL I already have on the shelf next to the distributor. I realize this doesn't apply to everyone, but I think the concept is applicable to many folks in CMC. I see where some people say you need to take the perspective that you are de-tuning a street car rather than prepping a race car. That makes sense if you are starting with a relatively new car, like a 4th Gen F-body, but not everybody can afford to take a $5,000-7,000 street car and spend another $4,000-5,000 on it all at once. On the other hand, many people are attracted to CMC because they think they will start with a $500-1,000 car, like I did, and prep it into a race car as time and money allows. Having spent the past year and a half doing that, I can vouch for the fact that by the time you're done, you will probably have the same 10-12 grand invested anyway. In the case of my 84 Mustang, I spent a lot of money just replacing worn-out stock components, but I used those opportunities to upgrade parts within the rules. For example, my car has a complete SN95 front suspension, including steering, brakes, spindles, etc. But I also had to build a new engine and replace every accessory on the car because everything was 20 years old. The only stock components that remain from the car I bought are the ignition box, transmission, K-member, and driveshaft! And the driveshaft is the next thing on the list to go. It would have been cheaper, faster, and definitely easier to buy a turn-key car, but I really wanted to build my own for the experience, and I'm glad I did. The light is at the end of the tunnel now. I just hope it's not a train (wreck)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady in Nomex Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 Hey Matt, I went your route too, and don't regret it. I do think it slowed my skill development down vs. a car that was already sorted as my mind was on the car more than what I was doing as a driver in the early days. That is fine though, we all learn at our own pace. Best of luck to you on your build-up and racing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmmotorsports1548534724 Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 First, please accept my apologies for bringing back a thread from the dead that is over a year old. However, I believe in using the search function of message boards to find the answers I am looking for before posting new ones. Now, with that out of the way, let me put in my I want to thank everyone here that has expressed their thoughts on keeping CMC affordable and anti-cheating. It is SOOOOO refreshing to see a race series out there that is so against cheating that their members even help to enforce the rules. I have been an Stock Car (oval track) driver since 1993. I have got out of racing a few times out of discouragement of costs and cheating. Tracks don't help prevent this anymore. I went to a SCCA Solo event on Sunday and enjoyed the company of EVERYONE there, something I haven't said about an automobile meet in a long time. I felt that maybe this road course stuff was the answer for me. A long time sponsor of mine had this '88 LX and I had it dropped off yesterday Most of my recent race cars I have built, so building this one shouldn't be too hard. I am really looking forward to getting out there in some CMC races. Today I have been reading up on SCCA AS, NASA AI and CMC rules. I really think that CMC is where I need to be. This site is really going to prove helpful in the coming months and I really want to thank everyone who posted above. It was everyones comments that made me feel that I made the right decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchntx1548534714 Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 As one of the newer racers to this series, let me say ... good choice. You are 100% corect that CMC has probably the best vehicle to go racing. It's affordable and competitive. We argue and slit each other's throat at times, but so goes any "family". Your best bet, as I have been counciled as recently as 15 minutes ago, is to work through your local regional directors for questions. Posting here for rules clarifications leads to some of that "family" discussion I eluded to. Welcome aboard and see you at the track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Al F. Posted May 27, 2006 Members Share Posted May 27, 2006 Welcome Michael! Sharp looking web site by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmmotorsports1548534724 Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 Thank you sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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