We took out the mighty Fox along with BDX 01 and BDX 02 to Miller Motorsports Park the weekend of July 7, 8 & 9th.  We were lucky enough to have the company of Instructor Chris Kaufmann, who drove BDX 02 for the weekend.  Also joining us for the weekend was long time friend, Luis Torres in a 2006 Mustang GT.  We joined the SAAC/SVTOA group out there on Saturday and played our hearts out until Monday night.  On Monday we were lucky enough to run the complete 4.27 mile East Loop - wow!!!  What a blast - a great experience to be able to have!  Allan had the chance to drive one of the Challenge Spec cars that they are building out there at the motorsports park and is writing an in depth article on the car and a corner by corner article on the track itself.  As usual - both will be published in Modified Mustangs Magazine upcoming issues.  Here is a look at some of the pictures that we got while we were there.  There are too many for me to post all at once, so take a look at these for now, and I will update you all with some more in a couple of weeks.  Also, while we were driving out, Utah had the biggest fire in their history.  Overall, fire and everything - it was a great experience and we look forward to being able to do it again and to be able to share these great things with you all! -  Slidemistress 

Tire Testing with Modified Mustangs Magazine

One of the best parts of testing new equipment is when you get to run great equipment.  This was definitely the case when we got the chance to run two exceptional track tires recently with Modified Mustangs for a tire evaluation article. We hooked up with a Northern California organization called “Checkered Flag Racing” during one of their open track/race days that fell on one of our favorite tracks, Buttonwillow Raceway.  

BF Goodrich has introduced the very aggressive R1, which we received in a 285/30 18” tire size.  To counter and compare this Toyo forwarded the soon to be released R888 in a 275/35 18”.  This tire is a very important player as it replaces the RA1. Conditions for the test were pretty hot with outdoor temps close to 100 degrees in the afternoon. We used our 1988 Supercharged Mustang with KW dampeners and large Wilwood brakes, with killer Enkei wheels for the test. I about melted in the car, as the floor temps were super hot and the interior I would think was close to 150 degrees while parked in the hot pits taking measurements on the tires. It took me days to finally cool down, well worth it however.

Tread patterns of these track tires could not be more different and the behaviors in terms of turn in and car “set” are different as well.  How do they compare?

We will let Racepak’s G2X Data Acquisition data show all the numbers in the September issue of Modified Mustangs Magazine.  It’s good stuff and should be combined with a drag tire comparison.

Special thanks to Checkered Flag Racing Association and their great group as well as BF Goodrich and Toyo Tire Company for the contributions to the test. Craig and Mandy Dabbs for trackside support, Walter Marcy with Marcy Motorsports for mechanic support, Tim Anderson with RacePak for Data Acquisition support as well as Alex and Lorin Muller from our training crew, “Focaljet.com”, and Craig Allen for pit crew support.  We couldn’t have gotten through the weekend without them.  And a great big thank you to Don and Hugh with Modified Mustangs for all of their help and continued support! 

See you all at the track soon!

Allan and Dawn

NASA/JetFest 2007

"Jetfest" and NASA at California Speedway.  Focaljet is without a doubt the largest Ford Focus enthusiast site with about 16,000 active members.  When the annual get-together took place in our home of Southern California and at California Speedway, we had to show.  NASA put on a great event with about 300 vehicles in attendance with 4 levels of HPDE and tons of door to door racing.  BDX 01, BDX 02 had the owners racing in level 2 as it was their first day with this organization.  Both ran clean and quick and signed off for group 3 after the weekend.  Mission accomplished, good work guys!!

The 1988 Mustang had a little different experience.  After running great in HPDE 4 and perhaps covering the field, the crankshaft snapped, causing immediate terminal bottom damage with a very large "blam" sound.  That's the bad news, the good news is that we will now be building (with just a little help from Marcy Motorsports) a feature road course engine based upon the "Boss", Z304 Ford racing heads and Vortech "T" trim supercharging.  Goals are reliable 7200 RPM use and about 650hp at the wheels.  Can we do it?  Stay tuned.

Mazdafest!

One of the best tracks in California was the site of the second annual "Mazdafest". We were very happy to be invited to do the driver training portion of this great event.

Saturday brought out a mix of cars at the Redline Track event(www.redlinetimeattack.com ) that held a normal open track event. The majority of cars were Mazda's as lots of the owners were there early practicing and enjoying the great spring weather. We had brought our training Ford Mustang, the trailer with its track maps, multiple instuctors, and their private track cars.

It was a combination test day and play day for us. Advanced group had some rather slow cars in it and we saw closing speeds of up to 40mph under braking. We were trying to test a new system on the 1988 Mustang for KW Suspension and were constantly blocked. Somehow a S2000 TT driver was able to get a lap at 2:01, we were second at 2:04. Some cars in the group were running 2:28, to put that in perspective that mean we were 100 car lengths faster than some cars in the same group.

We had three great students with us in 2006 Mustangs. All great attitudes and real fun cars. My two students had mufflers and intakes and had just strapped some 18" rubber on the cars. They were running 2:35 laps in the beginning group, I was satisfied with the results as both guys had only seen a track about a month before. One was kind enough to allow me to strap a camara on the car and run a few laps in the 2:14 range. We hope to have the cars capable of 2:08 types of laps within a few months.

Sunday was Mazdafest, the annual migration of Mazda drivers and the great handling cars that example that brand. We held a ground school and a vehicle dynamics school as well as rode and coached about 15 different drivers. There was a mixed vehicle type race with GT2 cars, Pro 7 cars (my ears are still ringing) and a new spec Miata. In wet but drying conditions the Miata recovered from a full spin to come through the field and take the win. What a show! 

Largest R32 Track Day!

The best part of it being, was that a big part of it was at a Roadrace Course. The BDX was there in support. We feel very lucky to be part of such a nice event. One of the unique things about this event is the sponsor support. Track, timing and flag crew was all paid for by the nice people who support the VW R32 product. 121 cars were scheduled and most showed up. We had 23 signed up for our track training. Very good student group!

We held a very brief ground school and focused on fitting the students in thier cars. Going one by one we got the seat correct and adjusted the steering wheel correctly for the type of driving the students were going to enjoy. R32's enjoy a telescoping steering column, which with seat back, and proper overall seat location got the drivers set for visability full range of motion, and proper head rotation.

We followed that exercise with a lead and follow session where the students were very close to each other in 4 or 5 car chains. With Dabbs in the first group, the pace accelerated to about 80% of full speed within about 15 minutes. I was on track pointing to turn in points and exit locations. Craig and I also had gone on track before the event and discovered a huge pothole which we covered with a cone to protect the group.

2nd session included instructors jumping in and out of the cars, with the ground crew coordinating the drivers to be sure they all got some time with the instructors. Great event! Great cars, and even better people. We are off to help MazdaFest next, believe me it would take alot to top this one!

Thanks to the following individuals which helped us out and made for a better time for the participants.

Craig Dabbs, Alvin Tolosa, Chris Stout, Chris Kaufman, (instuctors) Craig Allen, Eric, Mike Harris, Corey and Bill Grund for ground support. You guys did a great job. Thanks!!

Allan 

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Time Attack!

On March 3rd and 4th, all three of the Barber Driving 'founders' joined our friends at Redline Track Events at California Speedway for the Modified Magazine/Redline/Toyo Tires Time Attack. Modified Magazine (www.modified.com )online has some great coverage of the event, including driver interviews and of course some great photos. Check out Modified.com and the upcoming issues.

"Time Attack" is a combination of an open track event and a time trial. This event had a ton of really nice cars and a good group of dedicated pro drivers. Craig Dabbs was piloting a 650whp all-wheel-drive Subaru STI in the Unlimited (open rules) AWD class. This group was filled with tuner cars shooting it out for bragging rights and future business.The import all wheel drive venue is hot!

I was sceduled to run in the "Modified" front wheel drive class in a Tuner Focus, and in Modified rear wheel drive. Well the Focus was not complete and my tires (Khumo 710's) were not legal in the Modified class. So into Unlimited I went in an 18 year old Mustang 'student training' car. I remember looking at the line up in the cold pits thinking the Mustang looked more like a mini-van compared to the nicely prepared cars in line. My time was the fastest Ford powered vehicle in the event.

Alvin ran in the Modified AWD class and one of Barber Automotive's customers Chris Stout was in the Modified FWD class.

Craig took 3rd in his very fast class behind the Japan Drifting star 'Tarzan' Yamada in an 851whp AWD Skyline and the Road Race Engineering Mitsubishi EVO. Craig missed 2nd by about 3/10s of a second, and did it with a full interior. Craig took the top spot for best lap time in a Subaru.

Somehow, I made it into 3rd in the RWD unlimited class, despite a forward 360% spin (see our front page). I'll take that, and hopefully have a better car for the next event!

Chris Stout really stepped up in a Supercharged "Powerworks" ZX3 Focus taking 2nd and missing 1st by a few hundreds of a second. He did a great job of adjusting some issues on the car, and then stepping up when it counted!

We enjoyed that Fastest Front Drive Ford (Chris Stout) 2nd FWD Modified, Fastest normal asperated Focus (5th place Scott Laird FWD modified) Fastest Ford powered anything (Barber Driving experience student training Mustang 3rd RWD Unlimited) and Fastest Suburu (there were alot) in Craig Dabbs/Mike Crawford STI Unlimited AWD. Overall we were happy with the results. 3 top 3 finishes and a two 5th place finishes from graduates. Scott was handycaped in a car that was severly traction limited. In retrospect, the Barber Driving Experience had more cars in top finishing positions than any race shop. Not bad for a car dealer based operation!

In December we re-joined our friends at Redline track events as they are the hosts of Redline Time Attack.  This time it was at Buttonwillow Raceway Park and we brought 4 of our staff, running in 5 cars.  We featured our 2006 BDX Mustang tuner rides.  Chris Cook and myself ran these cars in the street class against an army of nice S2000's and Nissan 350z rides.

The now very old 1988 Mustang had been reconfigured with a Vortech supercharger, Enkie wheels that were a full 2" wider than that of the old wheels (yet the weight was still down) flares and some Maximum Motorsports front suspenstion to move the engine location and help offset the additional front weight of the supercharger.

We also had our newest instructor, Loren Mueller running in the street class in his SCCA autocross prepped Ford Focus along with Alvin Tolosa running his VW R32 ride, sporting some new control arms and the full complement of creature comforts that those cars are so famous for.

Somehow; I managed to podium the old school 1988 Mustang in 3^rd  place despite dropping cylinders at 5200 RPM due to a bad ignition and a bent rear axle housing which provided a ton of rear toe out (made hard braking a real exciting experience.)

Chris Cook took 1^st in the BDX01 car supplied by Ken Palos, the story behind this car is covered in Modified Mustangs Magazine in the March and April 2007 issues.  I took 4^th in the BDX02 car, sporting about 90 less hp.  Loren could have won his class with some brakes that worked, but still podium finished as did Alvin despite a huge weight disadvantage to the Mitsu Evo's and STI's that usually dominate the all wheel drive classes.

See you at the track!

Allan