That explains a lot, including Bob’s perplexity with the large weight that he removed.
That and the quads, which were also removed, but I still can't remember why I removed the quads. The only axle hop I get is when doing a burn-out on a good, abrasive surface, which I did a few times this weekend. I noticed that the rear tires were picking up an amazing amount of track boogers (have never seen it do that before and it might explain part of why the rear-end gets loose after 5-6 laps), so a quick burnout works well to clean the tires.
I'm sure the lack of hop under "normal conditions" is because of the relatively stout single upper control arm and the drum brakes.
Really, the car was very wonderful at first. Loved how the push had returned, so I could trail-brake without fear of looping it, and I could exit turns floored in 3rd without any wheelspin. Last year it couldn't take much more than neutral throttle even in 4th. But late in sessions, it really felt like the rear tires were corded. The back end was *that* loose. It totally felt tire-related. If I don't find obvious problems under the car when it's on the lift (I won't -- anything would've been obvious on the ground, I think), I'll just throw the new tires on it and see how it does next weekend, although they're predicting rain, which means the Subaru will get all the fun.
But like I said before, if the Subaru turns out to be as good as the Mustang and can cheaply be made better, that'll pretty much be the end of the Mustang's track days except for very infrequent use. Probably using it as a backup to the Subaru.
Don't want to get too carried away improving the Mustang any further because if I end up with the Shelby, the Mustang will end up getting converted back to a decent road car. And road-racing springs and stiff bushings aren't part of that equation.
Edit: The truck really worked its butt off on the way home today. Driving into a really strong south wind, I started out getting about 7 mpg and barely able to hold 60 mph on some hills even floored, but when the wind let up, my average came out to almost 9 mpg. Not as good as the 12-14 I usually get pulling that trailer. Cost me about $80 just in fuel to drive from Omaha to KC.
AI
