A Little Inspiration.......

[vnmsss]

It was with great pride and appreciation that I drove the first FFR Competition Coupe on track at Sears Point (Infineon/Sonoma Raceway) yesterday. The car was built in just under six months, and is a testimony to the talents of FFR Challenge Series fellow competitor and series champion Rick Anderson, FFR Coupe offcianado and the "Godfather" of Coupes, Hank Lopez, and the countless FFR Forum members that have contributed time, talent, parts and efforts to the Thunder Valley Racing efforts over the last three years. Through your kindness, enthusisam, and support, we secured the 2011 Western Endurance Racing Championship with our first Coupe, and we are now poised to bring Competition Coupes to vintage, endurance, and historic racing across the country and around the world! Thank you!!!

I had been racing FFR Challenge Series for more than seven years, but this Coupe would be my first complete, ground-up build....For those of you that are building a Coupe, I am inspired by your builds, and after working on the new car, I am humbled in your craftsmanship, technical skills and talents....For those of you chipping away at each of the build tasks, stay at it....If you have a Coupe in the garage gathering dust, gather your muster, get back out there, and get 'er done!! You'll be glad you did!!!! Karen

#28 Factory Five Racing Type-65 Competition Coupe
331 CID/400 HP DSS Racing engine, Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads, Edelbrock upper, Anderson cam, Canton race pan, Accusump
TKO 600 R, Fortes trans w/mid shift
Moser 3-link w/Torsion diff (Thanks David Hodgkins!)
Raptor Racing custom Coupe exhaust (Doug Marino, owner; Fresno, CA)
Chassis: FFR Type-65 complete Coupe kit
Paint by: The Body Shop, Santa Rosa, CA
Paint: Viking Blue/Wimbeldon White stripe; Wimbeldon White chassis
Full NASA/SCCA compliant competition cage (Design by Hank Lopez and Rick Anderson)

[John Dol]

Karen,

That sure is inspirational, and a beautiful Coupe to boot!
Now that these guys are done on yours, maybe you can send 'em my way. LOL
Few more parts to get my engine built, Can't wait. Thanks for the pic's and the motivational words, we all know we need them from time to time.
Anyway to get a line on the exhaust?

John

[M DOUGHERTY]

karen
just fantastic
you have done a great job. tell Rick I said hello.
later
mark D

[68GT500MAN]

Karen,
The new coupe looks great and I look forward to seeing it on a track soon. The "old" number will always have a special place in my heart but I wish you much success with the new build.
Doug

[Big Blocker]

Karen,

You look like that Coupe was built with you in mind, all the way in and ready to stomp the competition. With your talent, and that car, you should be un-stoppable.

You have my blessings . . . and permission to pass every one that is in your path to absolute greatness . . . we love you girl!!

Doc

[xlr8or]

Glad to see you got it out there. So how did the car do?

[theboppshop]

Karen,

Great pics ... glad you and the Princess are having so much fun!

Garry

[KodiakCoupe]

REALLY nice coupe Karen!! Wow, you sure got it done fast. I wish I had your support team. Those guys are amazing.

Like Scott, I'm also very curious as to how your new coupe performed.

[vnmsss]

In regards to lap times, I've not pushed it in those terms yet. I'm still out there on track religiously watching the guages and feeling out the car's handling. My other Coupe is an IRS car, and with this one being a 3-link, I'm feeling out the car's performance and handling charateristics, and working up to the speed. I typically make one adjustment and then take her out on track for a few laps, and then back in for the next adjustment and check.....In eight on-track sessions with the car, I haven't run a full 30 minute session yet (and I'm good with that)....It's a new car, and there's lots to attend to.

My early read on the car's handling is that it turns in very well, and tracks out nicely. The "out of the box" performance was very impressive, and much improved over where I began with the other Coupe....We've learned a lot and applied all of it to this car....;.) Things to work on include: Under hard cornering, I can feel the weight transfer more than I'd like, and others can see the corners dipping slightly, so I'll be moving up (a bit) in spring weights. I'm still running the street set-up (550's front and 450's rear), so moving up in spring rate will indeed help. The Factory Five sway bar is a nice addition, and really helped with balance on track. I'm still breaking in the engine, and since the suspension is not fully tuned, I've not attempted to hammer it through the turns, but acceleration on the straights is very smooth and linear, and once the car is set-up appropriately, I know it's gonna be one sweet ride (it already is!).

[xlr8or]

That sounds like the initial setup is pretty good then and you just need to dial in the details. On my coupe it had a similar feeling of good on turn in and tracking out when I went to Chuckwalla. I really enjoy when a car can track out of the corner well and be predictable as you mash the pedal back down to the floor.