Why are Fords so slow?

[jhwalker]

Great article. Lot's of info, but do you have the nitty-gritty "details" in a file somewhere -- weight, front/rear distribution and corner weighting, engine and drivetrain specifics (charts, best being rear-wheel numbers so you see the drivetrain losses), g-force capability (acceleration, braking, and lateral left and right), track gas consumption? .
I expect to lock in most of those details for the SPF in May while spending a week at the MPH track in Hastings, Nebraska, in May 2016.

Great job with your car. It is truly a quality effort. I love that you are driving it. One of my sons has been pitching autocross to me pretty hard, and based on your experience I should look harder. I don't know if you saw my 9 days of driving the SPF around this summer. Search on Pardeeville...

I give you and your car a pass from my normal "Chebbie hate".

[Chad-1stgen]

ha ha I appreciate the "pass."

The most complete build thread I have is up on Lateral-G but it is many pages long. http://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=33178

It has much of the info you are talking about. pics of corner weighting, dyno graph etc.

Some of the gritty details rounded from the top of my head.

Total weight with full tank of gas (17+ gallons) 3,350
F/R bias with full tank of gas 50.3% / 49.7%
Don't recall the L/R bias.
On track fuel consumption had varied a fair amount between tracks. Think the worst I saw was between 3-4 mpg and best was between 6-7 mpg.
Engine made 500 rwhp and has a pretty broad torque curve
No idea on g force for linear acceleration though I have the data somewhere. per Harry's Laptimer the highest and consistently sustained lateral acceleration I see is 1.1g. Highest lineal deceleration is right around 1-1.1g but that is only in a speed stop challenge environment. On track I have a lot of trouble being consistent when I start seeing lineal decelaration of .8/.9+. A big part of this is due to the pretty extreme pad knockback I get so my braking points are way conservative and erratic.

I just read a post yesterday where you were talking about your SPF in the kit car thread. I will have to look up the other thread you are referring to to read more about it.

[Chad-1stgen]

One of my sons has been pitching autocross to me pretty hard, and based on your experience I should look harder.

I forgot to respond to this part. Autocross is a ton of fun and arguably much safer than a track day or driving on a road course. There are exceptions but most SCCA courses are set up so that there is plenty of run off room and so Autocross is a great place to find the limits of your car. I'm not totally sure on kit car eligibility in the CAM class for the SCCA but it wouldn't matter at local regional events as they would let you run regardless.

[jhwalker]

todo muy Bueno