I was playing around with the GoPro at LS Fest TX to see if I could learn anything about the runs from suspension or my driving after the fact. Looks pretty tame watching these vids. It feels a bit more chaotic in the driver seat.

The TrackX was my favorite of the 4 events compising the Grand Champion Challenge (AutoX, TrackX, 3S, Drag). I could get into this road course stuff.

I had some issues with the GoPro on Friday so did not get my best AutoX runs but this is the best of what I captured...

I did a little better at 3S than AutoX but seeing these vids shows me where I can pick up some speed...

Same 3S run from a buddy's point of view..

 

How did you fair against the competition?

 

For Grand Champion official standings, I was 6th out of 14 in the Truck class and 31st out of 93 overall. Of the 5 trucks ahead of me, 2 are full chassis trucks and the other 3 are pretty much purpose build race trucks with good drivers. That was just for Saturday's Autox, 3S and Friday's drag race as they lost our AutoX and TrackX times from Friday. I had my best AutoX run on Friday and my TrackX time would have likely scored more points. I did horrible in the drag race as I could not get any traction on the virgin 'no-prep' pit row. I think my best pass there was an 8.65. :shame: That's where I need to play with the adjustability in the rear suspension to go from good handling to max straight line traction.

 

Bad *** videos!

 

I have not made many changes to the truck over the last few events. I am trying to learn to translate what I feel in the truck when on course to what I need to change to make it handle better. Also been working on my driving technique. At PTTS back in April, I did learn I have been going the wrong way on tire pressures on this pig to prevent it from pushing in tight corners. It likes 40psi to keep from rolling the tire. Other than that, I did install a 4 point harness to keep me in the seat so I can focus on steering and petal modulation rather than holding myself in. It did seem to help last weekend at LS Fest TX.

Now for some gratuitous track pics...
Auto X...




Track X...




Drag Race...


Unfortunately, I had forgotten to pack the gopro for the last two events so no videos to share.

 

What is your exhaust set up? Any pics of the exit as well?

 

Kooks 1-7/8 to 2" fbody headers > 3" intermediate tubes > Flowmaster 3"-4" merge > MBRP diesel muffler > 4" over the axle > 4" Dynomax bullet > 4" dumped at corner of bumper. You can somewhat see the exit in the first TrackX pic in post above.

 

Dang, I am terrible at keeping this build thread updated. There are quite a few things to update since May 2023 so here we go...

After LS Fest TX '23 I started looking at ways to dial in more caster and camber to help with the front end push. I took measurements and drew up a few designs in AutoCAD but wanted to test some things before cutting up the StrongArms or fabbing a new arm. I found these modular arms from SPC and pulled the trigger. Based on my calculations the upper ball joint need to be moved 1.5" rearward and inward to get the -2* camber and 8-10* caster I was after. Due to the straight arm triangulation, I had to clearance the font of the spring pocket and compromise on the adjustments a bit. However alignment was dialed in at -2.3* camber, 7* caster (which allows for ~1.5* camber gain on outside wheel when turning) from the previous -1* camber, 4.5* caster. This resulted in a noticeable increase in front grip at the next event.

Place holder for pics...

While I was working on the font end, decided to take off the 1.5" Addco sway bar for the stock front bar with new poly bushings in order to gain some steering angle back as that was the limiting factor after replacing the LCA with the revised versions. It is definitely nicer driving around town and in parking lots with the improved turn radius. It didn't seem to affect handling much and may have even helped, but hard to tell since it was done at the same time as the UCA.

 

Next event was LS Fest in Bowling Green. The front end changes made the truck much more responsive and easier to push into the curves with confidence. I felt I did better on the curvy driving but straight line traction was still lacking thus doing poorer in the drag and 3s portions that I wanted.
However, I did get one of my favorite action pics on the TrackX portion at NCM...

 

Had some truck friends from LS Fest suggest I come to C10 Nationals in Nashville in October. Man, what a good time with lots of seat time to dial things in and work on driving. Truck did great all weekend and actually had my first win in AutoX taking the late model class.