First, the most satisfying part of the week was watching a relatively new driver, Paul Mashouf mature into a well-disciplined driver. His street driven 94 GR40 6.7 liter Mustang is a good solid drive, however at its full street weight with all accessories and luxury items it weighs nearly 3800 pounds with driver. To see his performance exceed that of all the much lighter touring Corvettes and finish 3rd in touring division behind an ACR Viper and a Ground Control prepared E46 M3 (both driven by very experienced drivers) was wonderful. We know how well a GR40 Mustang can perform, but for Paul to consistently better the times of other trailered GR40 cars, let alone the serious competition of Vettes, Porsches and BMWs was quite rewarding.
The only time I drove the car was on Wednesday at the first Buttonwillow event during the third session. Paul was having trouble coming up to speed and asked me to drive the session to see if I could better his time. I did by 2 seconds, but with great difficulty as the car pushed horribly due to too many cycles on the front tires and needed chassis adjustments. Paul's inexperience showed here as he hadn't recognized the degradation of performance was due to the car, not him. In my effort to go as fast as possible with the severe push I abused the brakes, boiling the fluid almost immediately. The only other difficulty encountered with the car was a stripped thread in the right front Brembo caliper that occurred prior to Paul's last session on the last day at Vegas. This problem was due to a quick fix that was performed trackside over a year previous and never fully corrected.
The Griggs Racing built 408cid Trickflow Scat/Eagle/Ross FMS BBK MSD Redline power plant ran flawlessly all week, and the McLeod/T56/GRP hybrid 8.8/Goldtrack delivered the power through all ratios required for each track configuration with seamless reliability. The full treaded Yokohama tires did there best under the weight of the car, and in retrospect performed admirably. Hawk Brake equipped Brembos stopped the car, using Brembo floating rotors with the only problem previously noted, which was our fault for not flushing the system previously and for not finalizing a previous temporary repair. Of course the GR40/Recaro's kept us comfortable and fully supported on the track as well as during the long hauls between events.
After my abbreviated session, we flushed the fluid, changed the tires, raised the Panhard bar, and set off for the remaining 3 events, where Paul's performance continued to improve. The biggest improvement I noticed was his consistency. Averaging the three best laps of the day scored the events, so one fast lap didn't necessarily get you a good finishing position. Paul's times were generally consistent within hundredths, showing a real ability to find and hold his pace.
One of the highlights of the week was dinner with Rupert Bragg-Smith at Urichio's in Bakersfield where he produced from various ingredients off of the table a mint-wine sauce for my rack of lamb that should be bottled and sold. I don't agree with Rupert's opinion of California wines, but he does have taste when it comes to sauce. Even Urichio's world-renowned chef thought it was excellent. I guess I should add here that Paul has attended more than a couple of driver's schools, and it was Rupert's school in Pahrump where he spent one day earlier this year in a Camaro that he feels gained him the most knowledge and understanding of how to get a big car around a track correctly. He said it was a big, big help.
Another note of interest was when driving into the entrance of the Luxor in Las Vegas Friday night, the 6.7 liter engine pumping through Hooker Aero chambers set off at least 50 car alarms in the enclosed valet area creating a cacophony that was talked about for quite some time. Fortunately the head valet, Jim is a Shelby restorer and let us park the car in front of the front door for the duration in spite of the ruckus. Thanks Jim!
Overall, the organizers put on a very good event, with few problems or controversies. Of course a large share of the success should go to the participants and drivers. I cannot remember an open track event where all the drivers were of such high caliber and competence, and who collectively maintained such a cooperative spirit. It was a real pleasure being around them all. It would have been nice to have a little more media recognition for sponsoring the classes we did, but beyond that I was happy to meet such a great group of guys.
I have to admit, I was disappointed that I was not able to prepare and enter my ZO6 for the event as originally intended. Here at GRP our recovery from the events of September 11th did take longer than expected, and so I did not have the time to finalize products I had wanted to introduce at the OTC. However, I did meet a lot of serious ZO6 owners, and reaffirmed that this is a viable market for a high-end chassis system, and therefore we are prioritizing this market niche for completion this summer. Look for Griggs Racing to enter a GR40 Mustang and a GRZO6 Corvette in next year's event!
Bruce Griggs