Pfadt Racing

Kevin Mixon in his Pfadt-equipped C5 repeatedly set the ST1 record at MSR this past weekend down in Texas. Currently installed is the Johnny O'Connell Stage 2 Black Series coilovers and sway bars. Big CONGRATULATIONS to Kevin with his hard fought battle upon his first race back in a while. Here is his recap of the weekends events:



1/19-20/2013
ST-1 Race

I had a great and reliable weekend. This is a great start. I am normally working on the car most of the time. This is really the first time I have run the car hard since 2010. I don't recall if any of those races were actually hard runs.

The first qualifying session was very slippery new Hoosier R80s and R100s from last season. They were very slippery. I still managed to qualify 3rd overall first in class. My only intention was to knock the crap off the tries and make sure everything else was working. 997 Porsche Gold Cup Car and the 800 HP Roush Winston Cup Mustang out qualified me.

The first race on Saturday was an interesting start. Again not being completely comfortable with my longtime friend I felt I would try to hold position and keep bringing the car up to speed. I let a radical get between me and the two cars in front of me. After about a 3rd of the first lap was down I scooted by the radical to take 3rd overall again. I then began the hunt for the overall win. Once I felt the slicks starting to respond well to driver input I started to push. Within a couple of laps I was tailing the 997 and Mustang. As I was closing in to put the C5 into the fight they threw the checkered flag. I was not happy. Turned out we only had 6 laps. On the upside I did set the fastest race lap and new ST-1 lap record.



The second race had starting positions based on the finishing order of the 1st race. I started 3rd again. When the green flag flew I attempted to jump the start by a minor amount to get a run on the Mustang and take the inside line forcing the 997 and Mustang out to the wide line. I quickly learned about 800 RWHP and 650RWTQ. I was immediately gapped by about 4 car lengths. I also found the power to weight and light weight acceleration levels of the 997 to also be a bit stronger than I could do. So time to work. After about a lap of bringing the tire temps up I was able to close the 997 coming into turn one and force watch me and spin wide left and open the door. After another lap I was able to run down the Mustang and and fill his mirrors in the turns until he left turn one open and the pass was made and stuck. My other 2 passes didn't take due to the vast HP difference. I was able put a reasonable gap on him and take the overall win. The ST-1 lap time record also was reset.



With my rebuilt Pfadt suspension and the long lasting stick of my Hoosier slicks I was able to push the car harder and harder every lap and every session. I was able to qualify 2nd overall on Sunday morning on basically my out lap. I had unfortunately flat spotted a front tire on Saturday and had to slow my pace somewhat on Sunday. There is a learning curve on slicks and getting them up to temp. I would have pushed to get the couple of seconds I was leaving on the table. Overall the JO Black Series out of the box kicked *** all weekend and made it easy to drive with confidence and hard into every turn. They were able to soak up the poor track surfaces and every transition with ease. I used Aaron's base set up all weekend and it worked well.

z06801

Well done

crease-guard

That was a great write up right up the point you left out the times. What were the times? And it looks like they were running clockwise, yes?

JerryTX

Great job Kevin! Kevin put down a 1:39.079 in race 3. I think all the vettes had problems flat spotting tires, lemme guess right front? Clockwise yes.

Bills Z06

Great job!

TEXAST1

Thanks Jerry! I know the car and I are capable of much faster times and a 39 flat is not as fast as some of the local member drivers have put down. Based on some participating member driver times, the track seemed to be a bit slow.

Yes, the flat spot on my left front tire was less than encouraging for pushing harder. When 1/3 of your lead front race tire is pure steel belt, it is tough to want to red line 4th going onto the front strait with nothin' but a big concrete wall in your view.

Corvette vs. Concrete = a Corvette loss every time.

CorvetteZ51Racer

Interesting that a 1:39.079 is an ST1 lap record there. TT1 (basically the same spec) set a fast time of 1:37.x on a built car, and I set a time of 1:40.1 in a mostly stock C6Z06 on heat cycled A6s and pad knockback issues. I've seen pro drivers in built TT1 cars running 1:34.x's there.

I did watch one of the races, and Kevin had a great drive on the one I watched.

TEXAST1

I think most of us had sever pad knock back. Mike Patterson couldn't get his brakes set fast enough to react in Turn 1 before he had unwanted body contact.

I was somewhat surprised the lap record was that high. I know I ran a 1.40 flat the last time I drove MSRH in the C5 in October 2007. My car was mostly an SCCA T1 car with an LS6 with a cam and headers. I used to run Hoosier Rs. That was before I learned about the Hoosier A compound magic.

I know, as I mentioned before, I was leaving several seconds a lap out there. My line in the carousel was pretty craptastic, in a few other spots as well. Actually, I can't think of a turn I was satisfied with. The car was working way better than the driver.

Yep, the local Pros Drivers can turn some fast times, no doubt.

rmj951

Great write up!

Lets put a cage in that thing & join us in the race group. Im sure Kevin & I can get your comp license signed off.