New AI Driver Brian Cook

[Bacook]

Good morning, all! I wanted to introduce myself. I've been running the HPDE gauntlet with NASA for the past 18 months in my E36 M3 and moved to time trials in March. Prior, I prepared an Integra and raced in 6 LeMons, managed a rally team during the transition from SCCA to Rally America, and built 2 cars for the GRM $2002 and $2003 challenges. When I'm not in the garage, I work presales for EMC and I have a wife and three young kids, so never a dull moment!
I've recently completed my 1970 Mustang AI race car and we made it successfully through a very rainy test day at Harris Hill last Friday. I've got a few tweaks to make on the ergonomics and setup, but everything held up well and I'm ready for the ECR comp school. Next up is Colvin's for the dyno session.
Here's a link to pics of the car: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B2egiTEn8PRlUUlSRzNzV3JIdEU/edit
Here's a video of one of the test laps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQcgvK1caGQ
I've met with Casey, who has a tremendous help in this process, and several other AI guys and I look forward to getting to know everyone on and off the track!

[BlueFirePony]

Beautiful work Brian! Welcome to the group! Look forward to meeting you at ECR.
tap ...tap...calling Jay C. ...think you and your Camaro might have a good time running with this pony ;)

[marshall_mosty]

Brian,
Welcome. Please feel free to grid with the AI/CMC guys in the NW corner of the lower parking lot at ECR. Between Glenn and I, we can give your car the once over for CCR and AI rules, if you would like.

Please feel free to call with any questions (940) 736-9043 or email at marshallmosty at hotmail dot com

[Fbody383]

Whoop a cake-eater driver and old iron race car... i like this guy already.

[ShadowBolt]

Damn nice car! My first car was a green 1969 Mustang Fastback.
This was in 1974.

JJ

[Al Fernandez]

Wow...that is very very cool! Welcome aboard Brian!

[BryanL]

Welcome. Looks awesome. Can't wait to check it out. How heavy and what brakes do you have on it for ECR?

[Bacook]

Thanks, guys! Before the cage and before changing out the all iron 351w to the 302 with aluminum heads, it sat at 2400lbs. I expect it to be close to 2700 as it sits. Brakes are PBR/Cobra calipers with 13" rotors up front and 11" rotors in back with EBC Yellow Stuff pads. The hydraulics are Tilton masters matched to the caliper bores with custom lines and residual valves. There's no power and the floor-hinged pedals take getting used to, but the brakes felt solid and predictable during testing after the pads started transferring material.

[AllZWay]

Very cool car... Welcome aboard.

[BlueFirePony]

Thanks, guys! Before the cage and before changing out the all iron 351w to the 302 with aluminum heads, it sat at 2400lbs. I expect it to be close to 2700 as it sits. Brakes are PBR/Cobra calipers with 13" rotors up front and 11" rotors in back with EBC Yellow Stuff pads. The hydraulics are Tilton masters matched to the caliper bores with custom lines and residual valves. There's no power and the floor-hinged pedals take getting used to, but the brakes felt solid and predictable during testing after the pads started transferring material.Hey Brian, keep an eye on the yellow pads through the weekend if you have them front and rear...and be sure to have spares - ECR is very tough on brake pads.



If you can get a set of blues for the front (depending on your bias) that would be a good idea.

[smitty328]

Wow, awesome car! Can't wait to see it on track.

Watch out for the dents, the first one can be a bitch!

1120

[GlennCMC70]

Very nice intro post and welcome aboard.

[Bacook]

Hey Brian, keep an eye on the yellow pads through the weekend if you have them front and rear...and be sure to have spares
I was curious about that. The volume of friction material on this Cobra setup seems small compared to the job they need to do. I'll add spare pads to the kit. :)

[ShadowBolt]

Brian,

We can't stress enough how hard ECR is on brakes. BL used up every set of pads and rotors in N. Texas one year. I went to a race there two years ago and only had three 20 minute races on the pads that were in the car and had to change them prior to the last race on Sunday. That did include a half day practice on Friday but still........

The track (if you have not been there) is several drag strips with hairpins at the end of each one.
JJ

[Crumpacker]

Welcome Brian! SWEET RIDE!!!!


We can't stress enough how hard ECR is on brakes. BL used up every set of pads and rotors in N. Texas one year. I went to a race there two years ago and only had three 20 minute races on the pads that were in the car and had to change them prior to the last race on Sunday. That did include a half day practice on Friday but still........

The track (if you have not been there) is several drag strips with hairpins at the end of each one.
JJ

JJ & BL are obviously braking too much ;) , but an extra set (or 2) of pads should always be in your spares box.


Can't wait to see that super-clean stang at the track!

[marshall_mosty]

Very nice car... Almost a shame to put it on the track.. It's been 8 years since mine looked half that good...

[Al Fernandez]

Man its almost comical how light those old cars are...considering people used to think of them as tanks.

[Bacook]

They look big but there's nothing to them. Andris Laivins did the cage and fabrication for the pedal cluster, seat, and fuel cell. He's accustomed to building Grand Am MX5s and he was dumbfounded by the utter lack of structure in the car. Old cars were engineered with protractors and abacuses, built of mixed quality steel and sloppy welds, and designed to crumple entirely in an accident. It took quite a bit of effort to build a safe car and stay within the rules for plates and mount points. I've had the car for 25 years and this is the safest it's ever been! :) It's also the most fun it's ever been, which justifies all the effort. I'm not a show car guy so a car not driven is useless IMO.

[BryanL]

Awesome that you have had the car for 25 years and now doing this. My first track day was in my 68 Camaro and I was hooked. I don't know anything about the brake pads you are running but if they aren't a 100% race pad then you need to be careful and keep a close eye on them after every session. JJ is right-I used up any spares that every F-body owner had one weekend. I had a different set of pads after every session. Killed mine, cracked, rotors, etc.

[Bacook]

Glenn and Marshall, I'd like to chat with you guys about getting tech'd and a log book on Friday the 5th at ECR if possible. What works best? My cell is five one two eight two six seven to to three

[GlennCMC70]

I should be there very early Friday as I only live 45 mins from there.

[MikeS]

Smokin' hot. See you at ECR.

[michaelmosty]

I was curious about that. The volume of friction material on this Cobra setup seems small compared to the job they need to do. I'll add spare pads to the kit. :)
Brian,
If it were me I would reconsider running the EBC Yellow pads.
I ran them for about 5 events back 5 years ago and found they were "acceptable" (not optimal) for the lighter braking tracks but that on the heavy braking tracks they were terrible. Even at Cresson they would overheat after about 5 "race laps". We weren't racing at ECR back then but I'm sure they would not do well.
We have run the EBC Yellow's on our LeMons Corolla for years and it works great on that light car but I'm afraid they could make your weekend unpleasant in the Mustang. I'd recommend the PFC01's but I also hear a lot of people like Carbotech and Hawk race pads, the EBC Yellow is not designed as a race pad.

[Bacook]

On earlier suggestions I ordered and installed a set of EBC Blues on the front. Even in testing at H2R the front yellows coated the wheels with dust and we were going light. I'll keep them as backups in case the blues give out. The rotors are well ducted so I'm reasonably confident I can keep rotor temp and thus fluid temp down. In the build I contemplated one of the fluid bleeder/recirculation systems but opted out. I also like the idea of retrofitting the Boss ABS and I did plumb all four circuits just in case. There's always something to experiment with.

[michaelmosty]

The heavy dusting is from the initial coating specific to the EBC yellows. Not to say it couldn't be from excessive wear but I know the first session out always puts off lots of dust from those pads.

[BlueFirePony]

On earlier suggestions I ordered and installed a set of EBC Blues on the front. Even in testing at H2R the front yellows coated the wheels with dust and we were going light. I'll keep them as backups in case the blues give out. The rotors are well ducted so I'm reasonably confident I can keep rotor temp and thus fluid temp down. In the build I contemplated one of the fluid bleeder/recirculation systems but opted out. I also like the idea of retrofitting the Boss ABS and I did plumb all four circuits just in case. There's always something to experiment with.
All things considered, you should be fine on the blue pads. Just make sure you bed them in properly - they market a shorter bed-in but I followed the same for the blues as the pagids, PFCs and other pads I used. I ran the blue stuff several times in 2011 including the August TWS (with the FR500 ABS installed) and they did VERY well....wish I would have stuck with them for ECR :(