Well we're close to finishing our newest race car build. Last weekend we got the car done enough to run an open track weekend at Summit Point to do some shake down testing.
Our team has been competing primarily in the Chump Car series for the last few years. We've been running a really clapped out looking 1986 Cougar that most people refer to as a rat rod. We've even been asked multiple times if the car had been on fire at one point. So looks aren't everything so they say, right.... Nope they aren't, we've had wins at Nelson Ledges (25 1/2 hour race), Daytona (14 hour race), Watkins Glen, NJ, and Lime Rock with that car. So needless to say our car building focuses on the sleeper and nondescript approach with everything as cheap as possible.
Well last year we ran a race in AER (American Endurance Racing). When we went to tech the car we were told that they were going to let us race but we couldn't bring the car back again looking the way it looks. That weekend we broke a clutch (it was a $99 Ebay special with probably 15,000 race miles so no shame there) during the 7 hour Saturday race. We put in a new clutch and finished that race out of contention. During Sundays 7 hour race all went well and we finished 2nd overall in the field. They wouldn't take any pictures of our car during the awards ceremony.
So we left that race discussing a new potential new build of another old school car with a modern car drivetrain. Nothing much came about at that point until I crashed the car pretty good at the championship race in Pittsburgh racing during the tropical storm that came through. With that car needing extensive work to fix we started getting more serious about the new build.
So here a year later we finally made it to the track for a shake down weekend!!
I present you our 1988 Mercury Cougar complete with a vintage Lake Speed Nascar front license plate and sporting a 2015' Mustang 5.0 Coyote motor along with the stock Getrag 6 speed.
Of course the sleeper aspect wouldn't be complete without us sporting the original trunk lid luggage rack.
We accomplished exactly what we wanted. Which was to find out what we needed to do during the winter so the car was prepared to go racing in spring. We ended up with a reasonable list of things that need done. But all in all considering we were on 8 year old used track tires that are much smaller than our race setup plus undersized brakes that had an incredibly stiff pedal feel. The car performed VERY well and should have some tremendous potential. Needles to say we had a steady line of people asking a lot of questions through the course of the weekend.
Our team has been competing primarily in the Chump Car series for the last few years. We've been running a really clapped out looking 1986 Cougar that most people refer to as a rat rod. We've even been asked multiple times if the car had been on fire at one point. So looks aren't everything so they say, right.... Nope they aren't, we've had wins at Nelson Ledges (25 1/2 hour race), Daytona (14 hour race), Watkins Glen, NJ, and Lime Rock with that car. So needless to say our car building focuses on the sleeper and nondescript approach with everything as cheap as possible.
Well last year we ran a race in AER (American Endurance Racing). When we went to tech the car we were told that they were going to let us race but we couldn't bring the car back again looking the way it looks. That weekend we broke a clutch (it was a $99 Ebay special with probably 15,000 race miles so no shame there) during the 7 hour Saturday race. We put in a new clutch and finished that race out of contention. During Sundays 7 hour race all went well and we finished 2nd overall in the field. They wouldn't take any pictures of our car during the awards ceremony.
So we left that race discussing a new potential new build of another old school car with a modern car drivetrain. Nothing much came about at that point until I crashed the car pretty good at the championship race in Pittsburgh racing during the tropical storm that came through. With that car needing extensive work to fix we started getting more serious about the new build.
So here a year later we finally made it to the track for a shake down weekend!!
I present you our 1988 Mercury Cougar complete with a vintage Lake Speed Nascar front license plate and sporting a 2015' Mustang 5.0 Coyote motor along with the stock Getrag 6 speed.
Of course the sleeper aspect wouldn't be complete without us sporting the original trunk lid luggage rack.
We accomplished exactly what we wanted. Which was to find out what we needed to do during the winter so the car was prepared to go racing in spring. We ended up with a reasonable list of things that need done. But all in all considering we were on 8 year old used track tires that are much smaller than our race setup plus undersized brakes that had an incredibly stiff pedal feel. The car performed VERY well and should have some tremendous potential. Needles to say we had a steady line of people asking a lot of questions through the course of the weekend.
