Project Stolen Goods Hits The Track

    I've always been an avid forum poster, but recent events have spurred our staff here to blog. I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about our just finished project car, Stolen Goods.
    We started the Stolen Goods project in our January 2007 issue and had the build finished 12 months later with a wrap up in our December 2007 issue. That wrap up included drag strip testing, but not road course or autocross testing. Unfortunately there were no local events for us to flog the filly at.
    This past January, we signed up for our local autocross. It was the first test and tune event of the season and we really like the test and tune atmosphere that the Florida Corvette Racing Club provides, as there is little pressure to perform, and plenty of time to wring out your ride and catch rides with other drivers to compare driving lines and technique.
    The FCRC sets up its autocross on an unused airport runway, which allows for courses that stretch nearly a quarter-mile long. The layouts provide everything from tight slaloms to fast sweepers, and short of an elevation change, offers everything you might ever encounter on a road course. You're also traversing said course at non-school-zone speeds so you definitely learn some car control, or your lack of it.
    Heading into the autocross event, I knew that I needed to take it easy and just work my way up. Stolen Goods was as yet untested in this type of arena, so we fully expected a few issues here and there.

    The abundant torque from the DSS Racing-built Boss 347 made throttle application extremely important, which turned out to be a blessing. I've always been an overly aggressive driver and never really smooth in my adjustments and applications, but I made it a point to take my time this year and work up to speed, rather than going balls out from the get go. Having the ability to easily overpower the rear wheels definitely helped in my quest for smoothness.
    Out of 28 cars that attended, I managed about 6th place, behind a couple of ZO6 Corvettes, worked Corvettes and even a heavily modified '74 Firebird. Had I been able to stay all day, I most likely could have improved my time, as I knew a number of areas where I needed to improve, and just wasn’t able to string all of them together in one run before I left.
    That being said, I considered it a very successful outing. Stolen Goods performed admirably, offering plenty of horsepower, more brakes than I needed, and a comfortable ride home. I did notice a slight groaning noise in the turns, which I think is a brake bracket rubbing the rotor.
    The Falken Azenis RT615 tires worked great. I left the tire pressure at 35psi and the sidewalls never rolled over. They offered consistent performance no matter what temperature they were at as well.

The next autocross isn't until April, but I hope to have the Maximum Motorsports torque arm installed by then, and might even try a set of NTO1 tires from Nitto, so I can sneak up on those unsuspecting ZO6s. I'm also planning on taking Stolen Goods to the SVTOA/Camp Steeda event in Sebring, Florida this year too.