Hello All!

[Chris91GT]

Hey guys, I just signed in here.

No, I've never run a Solo event, but I have been out to numerous events as a spectator.

But no need to worry! I just bought Kirk Morgan's white 91 Mustang GT that he campaigned last year in both S1 and S2. As soon as the season starts I'll be out and ready to embarass myself in front of you all. :)

Now I can only hope that winter will end soon so that I can get the car out and enjoy it.

[Dave]

Chris, congrats on the Mustang! That car has a very good competition history and I'm sure you'll thoroughly enjoy driving it on the track :) Looking forward to seeing you and the Stang this summer.

Cheers,
Dave

[ctenche]

Hey Chris. Welcome aboard.

When I heard that Kirk will be selling the Mustang I was worried that we'd never see her again. I'm glad she'll be back on the track where she belongs.

Any idea what Kirk bought/is buying?

[spoonie]

well, you can look forward to embarassing me! haha, i have a feeling everyone is gonna kick my ass this season, assuming i have the kahunas to stick it out.

how many people have wrecked their cars in crashes in the last 4 years? this is my only *gulp* car.

~spoonie

[Dave]

Chris, you picked a bad year to ask that question. During my previous 2 years of Solo 1 I saw only one accident causing damage to a car (George smacked his Mustang convertible into a wall a bit and did some cosmetic damage but he was back at the track in no time) but this year we had several roll overs. Nobody was hurt but 1 car was written off. However, if you look at the safety and car wreckage history of Solo 1 for the last decade or more I'm certain you could count the number of cars that have been seriously damaged on one hand. It's actually an extremely safe form of motorsports, both for the driver and for the car. Because of the time trail format used in Solo 1 you're never near another car on the track, so the only time cars get damaged is when a driver loses control (or a mechanical failure occurs). If you're smart about your driving during your first season, which it sounds like you're planning to be given you registration for the Solo 1 school, then I'm sure your car will survive totally undamaged. Of course you can expect to wear out brake pads, rotors, and tires, but such is life at the track!

Solo 1 or any high speed events on a race track is not without risk, but if you drive within your limits and to your level of experience the chances of wrecking your car are probably considerably greater on the drive to the track among the general populace of cellphone talking BigMac eating drivers out there on the highways. And if you do make a mistake and go off the pavement at the race track, 9 times out of 10 you just end up going for a nice tour across the grass rather than hitting anything solid like a wall or guard rail. On tracks that do have solid barriers in a few places you just have to use that extra bit of caution on those particular corners where you could hit something.

That's my take on the daily driver/track car thing,

Dave

[Dave Barker]

Chris , I'm really glad that you bought that car . As a previous Mustang owner , I can tell you that car is a honey . I switched to a 97 Camaro after running my Mustang for 7 years in Solo 1 but recently at Cayuga , Kirk and I went out nose to tail , with me leading , in a practice session at the end of the day . He stayed on my tail for almost the whole session . Frankly I've never been so insulted as afterwards he said that my Camaro accelerated faster , braked better ( very unlikely given the brakes on your new car) and handled better than the Mustang . Now if that were the case then the only reason he kept up with me was that the driver ( me) was gawd awful ! Anyway you have a great car . I had tried to convince a friend of mine ( who has WAY too much money) to buy it . Certainly he could afford it but decided to buy German .

BTW Spoonie , don't be too worried re damage to your vehicle . It's pretty unlikely and the tracks we run on are really quite safe .

[Chris91GT]

Sorry for the late reply guys! The board didn't send me a notification of replies. Doh!

Anyway, I'm glad to have something to finally come out and play with this year! I've been out to several Solo 2 events locally and I've wanted to compete, but I didn't want to risk breaking something on my 87 daily driver... which is bone stock and would have been completely embrassing to road race. lol!

I discovered Kirk's car on the Trader site back in January and recognized the car immediately. My dad and I went out to see the car, talked to Kirk for 4 hours in the freezing cold, and decided to buy it. This car is actually going to be a team project for both my dad and I. He originally wanted a drag car, but I managed to convince him to think a little more 2-dimensional. :)

My plans for this year are to compete primarily (full-time) in Solo 2, and run as many of the Solo 1 races as possible (time/budget permitting).

Kirk sold the car for two reasons. One is because his wife was putting a lot of pressure on him to stop racing, and two, because he wants a new M3. "One" will never happen I'm sure, but I can't argue with "two". But that's not for me to worry about... he sold me the car. :)

Any tips/hints/suggestions any of you may have for my first-ever season on the track and between the cones would be much appreciated.

Can't wait for spring!

[DECH_92]

Hi Chris, you’re going to enjoy the car very much, it’s set up very nice
And has great set of brakes and 275`s tires are as wide as you can go on
a fox body.
Wish I had your brakes and tire size.
There's lots of friendly guys willing to help, especially D Barker and Shaman
:)

[Dave Barker]

Chris , I'm not sure if Perry or Kirk ever did anything to that car's engine but if not you may be able to throw some things at if that will help as I think you can run 8 prep points in ASS2.

Also I'm sure you will be able to convince your dad that race track use ( solo 1 and lapping days ) will be alot more fun than spending 13 seconds at a time at the drag strip . Just get him in the car at the track and then try to wipe the smile off his face .

I'm not sure where the Solo1 school is this year but with the Mustangs don't make any judgements if you just start at the Mosport DDT which is much more suited to small front drive cars and doesn't allow your car to assert itself .

[Dave]

The Solo 1 school is at Shannonville, with the first day on the Fabi configuration and the second on the Nelson configuration. Excellent idea to sign up for the school if you plan on doing any Solo 1 this year. Not only will you get some needed experience at Shannonville, but you'll get some solid instruction that'll help you get the most out of your car.

As I understand it there's also an official CASC Solo 2 school in the works at the moment, though the details are still being ironed out. Definitely sign up for this school too. The more instruction you can get from experienced drivers the better, particularly for a technical discipline like Solo 2.

Besides the schools, the only other thing I'd suggest is bumming a ride off as many different drivers (preferrably the fast ones!) as you can. You can learn a lot by seeing the different lines, turn-in points, braking points, etc., that different drivers take. You can then experiment with these to see which works best for you and your car. Basically the more seat time you are able to accumulate, both as a driver and as a passenger, the faster you will likely progress as a driver.

Oh yeah, and no more than 1 hour a day of the Speed (NASCAR) channel. That oval stuff will destroy everything you learned between the cones and at the track! :p

[Andretti]

Originally posted by Dave

Oh yeah, and no more than 1 hour a day of the Speed (NASCAR) channel. That oval stuff will destroy everything you learned between the cones and at the track! :p

HAHAHAHA now isn't that the truth, I can seem to get it trough my freind's head's that anyone can be fast turning left all day, not to mention you will get DIZZY.

[Chris91GT]

I've been out for a ride on a couple of Solo 2 events. It seems pretty tight from the passenger seat. :)

There really isn't any work done to the engine, which suits me fine. My long-term plans revolve more around be learning the car over the course of this year, and then opening up the top-end of the engine next year. I don't really want to get too wild with the powerplant at the expense of reliability.

BTW, is there a good explanation of the prep points in the in the files on the Solo site?

[soloZ]

Hey Mister slow 5oh hehehe you came to one of the BEST forums on the internet or in Ontario. I have purchased my first of four tires for this season and it is in my trunk, they are Toyo proxies RA1's at 205/50r15 and they are nice and wide. I don't think my buddy ever really drove on them much because it still has a full tread on them so I am in the same boat as you. I say we get some really big heaters and worm up some parking lots hehe:D

[Chris91GT]

:D I'm all for that. This weather is doing nothing but teasing us. I haven't even had the chance to drive the car yet (other than out of Kirk's truck, onto a flatbed, and into the garage). I'm going to "visit" the car on the weekend and get some pictures.