Gotta Have Builds drag race and race autocross!

Gotta Have Builds drag race and race autocross!

Posted on 04. Sep, 2012 by in Racing, Videos

After a busy weekend two weeks ago, both Gotta Have Builds raced two more times during the last weekend in August, at Beaver Springs Dragway and another SCCA Autocross event!

Friday Night Street Racing

Our new, massive SSBC brakes on Gotta Have It Street.

Our new, massive SSBC brakes on Gotta Have It Street.

On Friday night, August 24, Bill and Rick took Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street back to Beaver Springs Dragway for their Friday Night Street Racing. Rick and Bill both wanted to get some practice on the .500 Pro Tree in preparation for Labor Day weekend’s trip to Columbus for the NMRA Expo. They also had some new parts to test out on Gotta Have It Race. Since their last trip to the track, they had installed a Yukon Dura Grip differential and slightly lower 3.90 gears. On Gotta Have It Street, massive SSBC Force-10 14″ Front Brake Upgrade Kit and a SSBC Force-10 Sport R1 13″ Rear Brake Upgrade Kit were installed, which unfortunately means that the 17” RaceStar wheels and drag radials will not fit with the new rear brakes. Instead, the heavier Ford Racing 19″ x 9″ and 19″ x 10″ SVT Performance Pack Wheels must be used.

After arriving and getting checked in, Bill’s first trip down the track in Gotta Have It Race was a 12.16 @114.06 MPH with a 1.76 60’ time. That was an improvement of about .2 of a second since the last trip to Beaver Springs. The better gearing and slightly cooler temperatures were definitely helping it go faster. Bill made two more test-n-tune passes, going 12.22 @ 114.03 MPH and 12.15 @ 114.19 MPH with consistent 1.76 60’ times. Bill was also dialed in at the light, cutting .035, .026 and .131 reaction times.

Meanwhile, Rick and Gotta Have It Street were trying a few different things while trying to see how much grip he could get out of the big BF Goodrich KDW II 255/35-19 and 275/35-19 Tires. On the first pass, Rick completely skipped doing a burnout and had a horrible 2.89 60’ time, which ended with a 14.15 at 108.08 MPH. For the next two runs, Rick did a small burnout to clean the tires and put a little bit of heat in them. His last two test-n-tune runs were very consistent at 13.28 @ 106.81 MPH and 13.28 @ 107.06 MPH.

Once the test-n-tune was over, Bill and Gotta Have It Race were first to run in the elimination round in the Street Stick Class. Bill had dialed in at 12.16 seconds, against his competitors 13.96. Bill cut a nice .058 light and cruised to an easy win with a 12.22. Rick had dialed in at 13.25 seconds, to his competitors 11.41. Rick was able to get the win with a 13.52. He was guessing the car in the other lane must have had issues, since it only ran a 13.82. Bill and Gotta Have It Race ended up with a bye in the second round, as there were an uneven number of cars and he had the best reaction time in the first round. He still ran a 12.18 at 114.59 MPH on his 12.16 dial-in. For Rick’s second round race, he redialed in at 13.15 against the other lane’s 11.28. Rick had the better reaction time with a .061 compared to a .071, but he broke out with a 13.08 to give his competitor the win.

Bill was now in the finals and had one more race to win! He kept his 12.16 dial in, versus the other lane’s 13.83. Bill had a nice .052 light, but the other lane had an even better .031. Unfortunately, Gotta Have It Race bogged, leaving the line with a  1.89 60’ time, ending up with a slower 12.27 @ 114.47 MPH.  The Mustang in the other lane went on for the win.

Bill and Rick had a lot of fun at Beaver Springs Dragway’s Friday Night Street Racing, and hope that the extra practice on the .500 tree is going to help the Gotta Have Builds Mustangs in Columbus at the NMRA event this weekend. They both expect to make a few more trips up to Beaver Springs throughout the fall.

Bill and Gotta Have It Race, lined up against one of his competitors.

Bill and Gotta Have It Race, lined up against one of his competitors.

SCCA Autocross

After Friday night’s trip to the drag strip, Rick had signed up to run Gotta Have It Street in the Susquehanna Region SCCA Autocross event at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex on Sunday morning. It was another early morning, as Rick arrived at the Farm Show around 7 a.m., with plans for the first car to go off at 8:30 a.m. Rick had signed up to race Gotta Have It Street in the ESP class. Unlike last week’s course, which was pretty wide open and allowed Rick to really use the power of the new 5.0L Coyote motor, this week’s course was set up much tighter, with a lot of slaloms. The course designers actually called the course, ‘Death by Slalom!’

Rick’s first run in Gotta Have It Street was done at a reasonable pace to learn the course. The first run was done in 68.979 seconds.  Between the first run and the second run, there was a light drizzle that soaked the course. The asphalt at the Farm show became very slick, and, even after already having a chance to learn the course, Rick’s second run was a slower 70.766, as Gotta Have It Street struggled to get traction coming out of the corners.

Thankfully, the rain only lasted a few minutes and, by the time Rick was ready for his third run, the course was basically dry. Grip levels improved, and Rick was able to run a 67.546. With one last run to go, Rick felt that he could still make a big improvement. His final run felt pretty good, and he was able to trim almost another second and a half, running a 66.114.

His 66.114 was 3rd fastest out of 5 cars in ESP. A late model Firebird and 2006 Mustang GT were the two fastest cars in the class, both of them running racing slicks. Overall, Rick finished 46th out of 77 entrants, which wasn’t as good as the previous weekend, but Rick had fun nonetheless.

During Labor Day weekend, Bill and Rick raced Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street in the Roush Super Stang class at the  NMRA Expo in Columbus. Bill will be trying to better his semifinal finish from the last NMRA race in Joliet, and Rick will be gunning for his first win in eliminations! Check back soon to see how they did!

Rick and Gotta Have It Street racing autocross.

Rick and Gotta Have It Street racing autocross.

Here are the parts that we have installed so far on Gotta Have It Race:

Here are the parts that we have installed so far on Gotta Have It Street:

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Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Gotta Have Builds take on the competition at the NMRA Ford Expo! | CJ Pony Service - 10. Sep, 2012

    [...] After last Friday’s race at Beaver Springs Dragway, Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street were ready to do some more racing! With the NMRA’s 6th event on the horizon for Labor Day Weekend, the Gotta Have Builds team headed to the National Trail Raceway in Ohio to race in the Roush Super Stang Class at the 34th Annual NMRA Ford Expo. [...]

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