Setting up my 2011 for street and autoX

[snowsled]

So I changed back to having a car hobby after a 20 year absence. I bought a 2011 Mustang as one of our sons has a crazy '04 Cobra build. I wanted something a touch more modern and love the look of the S197. So I bought this car last spring and have done some car shows, an 1/8 mile airport drag, ran a guy on the highway up to about 120, and none of that was really doing it for me. I signed up and did my first autocross ever a couple weeks ago. I am now an SCCA member and planning my cars transformation into a solid autoX car, fun driver and maybe segway back into some HPDE events.

The car has high miles, 185k but a new 321 engine build with cams, long tube headers off road x pipe stage 2 clutch, stage two trans build, alum driveshaft, 3.73 with a Torsen R-2. The car is lowered with an Eibach Pro Kit and has adjustable UPR adjustable lower control arms, drop brackets and adjustable panhard bar.

I think I am sold on the idea of the Vorschlag kit. Not cheap but not bad. I plan to use the H&R shocks with the Eibach 450/175 springs and Vorschlag camber plates. I will probably leave the stock sway bars for now but probably do the Whiteline bushings in the LCA's. I plan to run a wide set of wheels so the Ford perf hubs with longer studs are on the short list.

Brakes I will leave for now but I will do a big brake swap later. It has factory small brakes with drilled slotted rotors and performance pads. Seemed fine for autoX for now and they have been fine on the street except for the loss of vacuum at WOT.

The car is on a square set of 19x9.5 GT500 wheels. This probably depends on budget. I can run a 285 without being too wide for the rim. Or I put my big boy pants on, but the 19x11 wheels I want and run 305 all around. Right now it is on some awful Nitto Invo 8's, I had to look them up. Not a fan and they are 255/30 front and 305/30 in back on the SVT wheels.

It was my first event and first chance to really feel out the car. We got 7 runs, which was nice. I dropped 2 seconds off my first run and dropped a second every run after. By the end I was over driving the front tires in a couple of the turns. The rear can be spun at anytime in second gear...lol

I had a great time. Looking forward to the next one in a couple of weeks. I wont have anything changed by then, just some more practice. I have a snowmobile to repair and sell that will fund the new hobby. I plan to be pretty well set up and ready for fun next season.

 

[SilverMustangGT]

The S197 is a very capable autocross car. You should continue to improve as you get more seat time. After seat time, the first mod I recommend is getting rims/tires. That will be your baseline for making any changes to the suspension.

Running a square setup on 19x11 or 18x11 is the to go. I really like the Bridgestone RE-71RS tires. The Yoko A052 is another good tire, but they have a hard time handling the heat on our heavy cars.

 

[snowsled]

I should be fortunate enough to do pretty much a full set up all at once. We have an event Sept 6-7 that should net me a fair amount of seat time. I will not have it built by then but it should be fun and good practice. Looking at the results, my first time, I wasn't last. I am already able to push the front tires beyond their limit. There are local Oct and even a Nov 2 events so hopefully I can get my mods done before putting it away for the winter and try it out once or twice.