Report from racing the Muscletang at the Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge at Road America this past weekend (6/30/2024)

[tony-muscle]

I have been very busy with Hot Rod Power Tour and then getting ready for the Ultimate Street Car Challenge at Road America. The event was great. Weather was great except for rain Friday morning but that was the getting there day and setup. Many cars from vintage to modern, many amazing car enthusiast and amazing group of organizers. The Muscletang did great! The car felt great with no issues over the weekend which was a huge win given the challenging and quantity of events. There were 7 autocross runs, 7 acceleration/braking runs and 3 road course sessions. I am glad that was the case because I drove the 100+ miles from home to the track and back. I placed 11 out of 19 competitors that started in the GTV class, and 38 out of 70 starters overall. This is huge given that I am going against many sponsored and shop owned cars. This event consists of 5 segments: autocross, acceleration & braking, road course, street rally (which is just showing that you can drive in the street for a few miles) and design & engineering (where you show the judges the work you have done in the car). I also set my personal best at Road America with a time of 2:51.011 (with the Bend - no Kink) and a top speed best of 137mph.
I completed a few mods over the winter to address some issues I was having at speed. The biggest mod, which I still have to write a separate post for, was not related to a problem but just that I was searching for more power. I replaced the iron 4V heads with CHI's 4V heads, including new beehive springs and valves. This mod helped me in being 5 seconds and 8 mph faster. The other issue I got fixed is that last year I was having a vibration from the front of the car when at 120mph. My suspicions were that it was related to the flat panel I added from the front spoiler back to the strut rod crossmember. Over the winter I added structure to the front valance and added a support for this flat panel between the spoiler and the crossmember. The other mod was improving the oil management of the oil pan. I purchased a new oil pan and made some mods to it to improve. I think they worked because the Accusump oil reservoir did not kick in during the road course. I saw the light coming on a couple times during autocross and a couple times during hard downhill braking. The other improvement was the rear axle oil that was leaking through the vent at high speeds. For that I added a catch can to capture the oil. The catch can is a bit higher than the vent so when I slow down the oil drains itself back to the axle. This worked great. Oil leakage gone! I owe a lot of writing in regards to those mods so I will get to it on other posts.

Here are some links and videos:
Results (GTV class): https://clubregistration.net/clients/usca/results/overall.cfm?eventID=14071

Video of Road Course best lap:
Video of Autocross best lap:
Video of Speed Stop (acceleration & braking):

Course and speed information from TrackAddict app:



Autocross grid for GTV class:


Getting ready for the design and engineering segment:

 

[Sheriff41]

Looks like a great event and your Mach 1 is looking right at home with the competition!

 

[mach71351c]

Very cool !! I would like to give it a shot one day.

 

[Bill73Ragtop]

You're doing what 99% of vintage car hobbyists only dream of --- kudos to your efforts. That track run looks like so much fun. I've driven Watkins Glen track a few times in my 69 vert, but at nothing close to the speeds you are reaching.

 

[Stanglover]

That's awesome Tony, well done.
Most of us, which includes me for sure, are scared to take our "old classics" much over 80 mph, let alone 137!

 

[Billw69]

Outstanding representation of the Mustang group! Your car looks great and it sounds like it’s dialed in for a wide variety of events, nice work!!

 

[tony-muscle]

Thank you! I can only trust my setup because the whole drivetrain has been replaced and upgraded. The only original part is the axle housing. Otherwise I would be scared as well.
There are a few things here and there from the driving perspective that I could do to get better. These videos are very helpful!

 

[cjstaci]

I think your car is bad *** and a great job driving too. Very impressive.

 

[swice]

Wow!! Thanks for such a cool post and well done!!

What wheels are you using? I need something like that, my originals just can’t stay in balance. Thx!!

 

[Tnfastbk]

Good job. Looks like all the work is paying off.

 

[rcadd1ct]

Did you get to pick 713 as your number?

Very appropriate.

 

[tony-muscle]

Did you get to pick 713 as your number?

Very appropriate.

Yes, I have been using that number for my local club. Last year I was 71 but that was taken, so know I am 713

 

[tony-muscle]

Wow!! Thanks for such a cool post and well done!!

What wheels are you using? I need something like that, my originals just can’t stay in balance. Thx!!

My wheels are American Muscle Bullitt 18x10 in the rear and REV wheels Classics 18x9 in the front. I couldn't find one brand wheel with the backspacing and size I wanted for a decent cost. Although these are two brands they are very similar and hard to spot the difference unless you know and focus on it. The well known wheels for racing are Forgelines and you can order them any size but they are way above my budget.

 

[bkdunha]

Looks like it was very fun and my compliments to your driving skills. Thank you for sharing and driving the car in competition. Have you ever met Randy Dolensek? He has a Mercury Cyclone and a Camaro he has campaigned on the Optima circuit. He lives up there as well and has been a great contact on Cyclone questions for me. I met him in person out in Vegas several years ago while there for SEMA.

 

[tony-muscle]

Looks like it was very fun and my compliments to your driving skills. Thank you for sharing and driving the car in competition. Have you ever met Randy Dolensek? He has a Mercury Cyclone and a Camaro he has campaigned on the Optima circuit. He lives up there as well and has been a great contact on Cyclone questions for me. I met him in person out in Vegas several years ago while there for SEMA.

I met Randy Johnson that has a red Camaro from Wisconsin, but not Dolensek.

 

[swice]

My wheels are American Muscle Bullitt 18x10 in the rear and REV wheels Classics 18x9 in the front. I couldn't find one brand wheel with the backspacing and size I wanted for a decent cost. Although these are two brands they are very similar and hard to spot the difference unless you know and focus on it. The well known wheels for racing are Forgelines and you can order them any size but they are way above my budget.

 

[swice]

Thx Tony, I’ll ck out the AMB!

 

[Horsin' Around]

Very cool! How/where is your rear wing mounted?

 

[tony-muscle]

Very cool! How/where is your rear wing mounted?

Stock wing in stock location. I have it angled so it is parallel to the ground.

 

[bkdunha]

I met Randy Johnson that has a red Camaro from Wisconsin, but not Dolensek.

Your correct. Dolensek goes in straight lines with his Cyclone and Johnson does left and right in his camaro. Johnson did a very cool build of a Cyclone for the Optima challenge.