My Blog

2010 Mustang Video Update

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:49:10 -0700

We went ahead and teamed up with Jack (of KJ Productions) for today’s update. We thought we’d give you a quick tour of the car as it stands, what we’ve done since you last saw it, and what remained to do. Hope you enjoy it!

2010 Mustang Update

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:04:40 -0700

I have temporarily relocated to Oklahoma to help prepare the 2010 Mustang for Bonneville. Let’s start with the basics. It will be red, it will have 300 additional horsepower, and with any luck, it will go 300 mph. Obviously, this is a lofty goal (250 mph to 300 mph is the difference between the moon and Mars), but we have the wind tunnel numbers back and we think it’s doable.
The website is progressing nicely, so you can now get ahold of me at dtms@me.com. I’ll be happy to answer any questions! Here are a few additional pics of the car. Or what will one day become a car.

Bonneville 2008 Part II

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:15:44 -0700

By Thursday the team had things running well and we made a pass of 246 mph, missing the class record by .5 mph. On Friday we kicked it up a notch, hitting 252.780 and qualifying for a record run.
The next morning it was time to time to back our speed up and the crew was excited and tense. The salt was dry and hard, the ideal condition. I let the clutch out, and the FR500c was a beast. The crew’s hard work had me shifting nine second sooner per gear, a prodigious improvement. We were on our way!
And then we weren’t. Moments later, I felt the engine let go. It’s the sound a driver hates most. But that’s Bonneville. Everybody was a little bummed out, but the talk soon turned to how long we had to prepare for the world finals in October. Brent and team manager Brent Hernandez (both bitchin’ guys by the way) starting talking to Glenn, and new plans swept the bad news away.
Of course, I was now the driver of the world’s fastest Mustang (no backup run need to prove that), which helped a little bit too.

Bonneville 2008

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:01:50 -0700

As the month of August approached, the outcome of our 2008 Bonneville run was much in doubt. New car, new crew, new owner, new engine package. And I hand only sat in the car once.
The first time I let out the clutch, the FR500c made a 175 mph run on the short course, and I wondered what in the hell I had gotten into. The car was everyway but straight. Looking out the side window at nearly 200 was not the way I wanted to start the week.
We took the car back to the pits to see what it would take get that mother going in a straight line. I should have done my homework about this type of Mustang. The FR500c was intended to be a road car, which, of course, is meant to go anything but straight. Crew Chief Glenn Snapp got started on addressing the handling.
Compounding the problem was the sheer amount of power the car was making. 1000 hp on homegrown E85 ethanol. Granted, that sounds like a great thing, but horses don’t do any good if you can’t get them to touch the ground. Traction was a nightmare. I should also mention that I this was the first time I had driven a production sedan. All my experience was in purpose built streamlines, and the learning curve was steep.
Luckily, the awesome crew sat down with Glenn and project Mastermind Brent Hajek and starting make adjustments to the car, first small, and then, as we gained confidence, bigger and bigger. We began gaining speed with each pass we made.

continued tomorrow...