Any Lightnings in Here??

[BAMM BAMM]

I've been on this site for YEARS and never browsed down this far to see this section!! Any L owners in this section? I "discovered" open tracking a few years ago and have been hooked ever since. I'm always the only L at the tracks I go to around California and I always hear " You can't take that out here, you'll kill yourself"....... And then afterwards, everyone wants to come over and check it out after I pass them all!! I'm doing a time trial event at Thunderhill this Sunday.... got a GoPro for my birthday, so vids to come.....

 

[David Hester]

LOL We had a SVTOA event at Nashville Speedway years ago. There were a couple of Lightnings there. Both were plenty fast. Its all fun!

 

[Sirl]

How does the auto trans handle track duty? and that much HP??

 

[wheelhopper]

I used to see a few at the regular SCMC and SVTOA events I do. As time goes by I see them less and less. I am sure they are fun, but they have to be hard on parts, particularly brakes and tires.

 

[BAMM BAMM]

I installed one of TCE's big brake kits and cooling ducts to keep them supplied with fresh air....... And I have a built tranny to handle the extra HP. The tranny temps get pretty high, so next on my "to do" list is an F250 tranny oil cooler. Towards the end of a 25minute session, the temps reach just over 200...... Already have it, just haven't gotten off my butt to install it.

 

[wheelhopper]

The lady I knew who tracked hers had a Wilwood brake kit on the front. She never really used the truck the way it could have been. She was a career HPDE2 student and liked it that way.

I hope the trans cooler you have is from a 6.0 and not a 7.3. The 7.3 guys swap their coolers out for the 6.0s cause they are 3 times the size.

 

[gcassidy]

There used to be a guy from Kentucky named Cliff (some here will remember him) who ran his Farm Truck, as he called it, all over the east coast.
Here's a video he gave me from Summit Point at an SVTOA event back in 2005.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaworti30Ys

BTW, what TT base class is a Lightning in? I guess being blown it's TTA by default.

 

[jbp99cobra]

...BTW, what TT base class is a Lightning in? I guess being blown it's TTA by default.

TTA no longer exists.

Driving a truck on track is always a spectacle. On occasion, I will drive a '64 C-10 pick up that is an absolute beast!

 

[gcassidy]

That's right, they dropped it right after I left.
That's where I was about to be moved to, I guess they figured the pain would be too much. LOL

 

[BlackBolt9]

There used to be a guy from Kentucky named Cliff (some here will remember him) who ran his Farm Truck, as he called it, all over the east coast.
Here's a video he gave me from Summit Point at an SVTOA event back in 2005.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaworti30Ys

BTW, what TT base class is a Lightning in? I guess being blown it's TTA by default.

Cliff passed away from cancer a few years ago unfortunately I used to track my Lightning all the time. Cliff was my instructor several times. We always had alot of fun making cars look bad an drinking 'shine.

I stopped open tracking when I bought my house and could no longer justify the cost. Then I traded it in to buy a GT500, which I've now sold to offset the costs of starting a new business.

I did my first track event because of learning about the SVTOA events. I had only had the truck for a month and it saw it's first track time with less than 3000 miles on the clock. Over the years I beat the dog crap out of that thing and even at 30,000 miles it still managed to make it around the track, but it was starting to burn oil and the trans would slip when it got hot. The first mods I did were a deep sump Moroso trans pan and driveshaft safety loop. After that was a Truetrac, front control arms, front springs, both sway bars, pan hard bar, front and rear cooling ducts. It was even more fun when I started running used Hoosier slicks from the Koni Challenge (now Continental Tire Challenge) series. The last thing I ever did to the truck was a custom big brake kit I made using Alcon 6 piston calipers and Brembo 14" rotors. It was a beast with those brakes.

It was a blast irritating all the guys in cars who didn't think I could keep up. I miss those days for sure!

 

[BlackBolt9]

Some pics:
Cliff was riding in this one:

My open track setup:

Suspension work before and after:

What can happen to rear brakes with no cooling:

Rich, Cliff and I at Gingerman Raceway:

 

[gcassidy]

Some pics:


Rich, Cliff and I at Gingerman Raceway:

Nice pics Tom. They bring back memories.
Rich came to Summit Point often, even though he lived in Illinois. Always willing to help with Tech at SVTOA events.

 

[BlackBolt9]

Nice pics Tom. They bring back memories.
Rich came to Summit Point often, even though he lived in Illinois. Always willing to help with Tech at SVTOA events.

They definitely bring back some great memories! Rich was/is a wildman in that truck He always did tech when I saw him also. I remember some stories about track days he flew in for and drove a rented V6 Mustang :-D:banana:epper: