Intro | 2024 has been an enjoyable year for Ridetech, especially on the show circuit. Many great events, from Good Guys, to NSRA Nats, Hyperfest, and others have had the team hard at it. But some events, where we can hop behind the wheel and put our products to the test, like NMRA World Finals & Holley Ford Festival in Bowling Green, KY, hold a special place for us. Held at historic Beech Bend Raceway, the event is the culmination of the year’s NMRA drag racing competition plus the action-packed entertainment Holley brings to bear. Their automotive lifestyle add-ons like drifting, burnout competitions, off-road activations are an enthusiast’s dream. But of particular interest to us were their Grand Champion and autocross competitions.
We attended Holley Ford Festival last year as a vendor, highlighting our latest suspension offerings for Fords, namely our SLA front suspension for Fox Body Mustangs and teased our complete rear IRS conversion which just released early this year. We displayed those components mocked up on a white Fox Body shell in our booth.
This year we returned excited to showcase that same Fox Body shell. This time we no longer had to pull it on and off the trailer manually. Over the past several months we’ve turned the car into a fully functioning race car. The 1985 Ford Mustang features a host of race-ready components, giving it a real edge in the realm of autocross and road course competition. You can read up on our previous installments on the Fox build here. We were stoked on graduating to not only telling but also showing how well these components function on track with parts that our customers can order right off the shelf for their own projects.
Also competing in Grand Champion competition this year was our 2018 Mustang GT (S550). It’s a great representation of the street performance category, sporting our recently released performance HQ coil-over system, front and rear adjustable sway bars, and RTR wheels wrapped in performance Michelin tires. Outside of that it’s a stock Mustang GT. While it may not be sporting a manual transmission, the selectable shift 10-speed automatic still provided an exceptional time on track.
Settling in | Thursdays at Ford Festival are fairly chill for competitors. Drivers can check-in early and tech their vehicles, getting admin related items out of the way so they can focus forward to the coming competition. We couldn’t recommend Thursday’s early driver check-in opportunity enough.
While drag racers were busy working through Thursday’s Test-N-Tune schedule, our team setup the display trailer, getting everything ready for the next few days. One of our awesome “Blue Oval” friends, Autumn Schwalbe was generous enough to let us host her Mustang Fox Body in our booth in between runs on the autocross.
Her car is a fitting example of a how a streetcar can benefit from the Ridetech treatment. It’s sporting our SLA suspension in place of the factory MacPherson design out front. Out back our bolt in IRS conversion is in full force, along with S550 Mustang calipers, rotors, and a Super 8.8 S550 center section. Shortened S550 axles complete the ensemble, transferring power to the pavement via Weld wheels and sticky Nitto tires.
Reality Sets In | While competitors had geared up for a wild weekend on track, Mother Nature made sure we all added ‘wet’ onto our characterization of the weekend. Late Thursday afternoon, remnants from Hurricane Helene manifested over the local area dropping record amounts of rain. Over the weekend three inches of rain fell over Warren County, tremendously affecting the Ford Festival schedule.
NMRA drag racers were unable to compete in their final classes due to the constant rainfall and degraded track conditions, but the efforts of NMRA staff did not go unnoticed. Many hours were spent on track by NMRA team members, unfortunately to no avail.
That also meant changes for Grand Champion competitors. With drag racing out of the equation, the competition morphed into the following:
- Friday’s rain limited short autocross configuration
- Saturday’s longer configuration (due to slightly improved conditions)
- Sunday’s standard 3S Challenge.
Our team was also doubly affected by the rain, as our Fox Body was unable to compete. Our induction filtration system for the Engler stack injection system was still in process and running the car without would have proved fatal for the engine. The risk was too great. That said, the Ridetech S550 was still able to participate. Following is the event recap through my eyes piloting the car through the competition.
Day 1, Friday | The first day of competition kicked off with a driver’s meeting and course walkthrough, in which drivers navigate the course on foot to familiarize themselves with course layout. This served to reduce the need to learn the course at speed, and typically contributes to fewer driver mistakes. Regardless of experience level, all drivers benefit from this exercise.
Promptly at 9:30 AM, the first group of drivers took to the course. With Ford Fest being a younger event, there are less competitors which translates to more drive-time, allowing competitors to maximize the amount of runs they can make. Each driver received approximately four runs in the AM session and four runs in the PM session to finish out the day.
In a normal Grand Champion event (one not involving an actual monsoon), all Grand Champion competitors would meet up in the drag staging lanes Friday evening for the drag race portion of the competition. Depending on the size of the field, each competitor would be granted three passes, or one hour, to record their fastest elapsed time on the ¼ mile drag strip at Beech Bend. While rain snuffed out our chances of getting on the 1320 for a few passes this time around, some GC competitors that aren’t dedicated drag racers (myself included), weren’t too concerned.
It was my first time competing in a Ridetech equipped car since joining the company late last year. Being fresh, I was eager to both get experience in the car and put on a good showing for the brand on track. For context, I’ve attended a couple of high-performance driving schools over the years and have participated in several performance driving events, but most of my driving experience comes courtesy of Sony PlayStation and Gran Turismo, ha! Additionally, most of my experience has been had on fully dry tracks. This weekend’s track surface was quickly becoming quite slippery.
And slippery it was! My best times were had with “AdvanceTrac” and “TCS” switched disabled. The course was short enough that the 6R80 transmission could be shifted into “Sport” mode and, utilizing the steering wheel mounted shifter paddles, second gear could be selected and maintained for dependable throttle application. ABS was a god send, allowing later braking with more confidence.
The first several runs on Friday’s short course were indeed a learning experience, but soon enough times started to drop for most everyone on track with each passing lap. Following the the morning session, I was surprised to see that I was only down to sixth place in the Late Model GC category. Thirty-eight cars were on the grounds making laps, meaning we were performing in the top 15% of the field! As we took to the track for the last half of the day, despite finding some additional time savings on track, others did too, and I secured the fifth fastest lap (30.857 seconds) for the day.
Ahead of me:
- Sam Strano (EcoBoost powered Mazda RX-8 | 28.335)
- Josh Huff (2019 Ford Mustang EcoBoost | 30.107)
- Jeff Cox (2010 Ford Mustang GT500 | 30.208)
- Ron Schoch (supercharged 2016 Mustang featuring a wicked set of Alcon brakes | 30.574)
With the final runs of the day safely completed, Friday was a wrap, and I was looking forward to seeing how Saturday would unfold, despite another 100% rain forecast.
Saturday | Day 2: Saturdays are without a doubt the most well attended day at Ford Festival. The venue is typically full of spectators and it’s usually harder to move around the event. While I anticipated little to no crowds due to the rain, I was surprised to see the blue oval community our in respectable numbers. They’re a die-hard bunch, and we enjoyed a full house at the display trailer, where they checked out the Fox body and other products. On track there a considerable amount of folks watching the grand champion competition unfold from the stands despite the falling rain.
Thankfully, Saturday’s weather cooperated enough for track staff to open the course to a longer and faster configuration within Beech Bend’s 3/8-mile oval. After the driver’s meeting and course walkthrough, helmets went on and cars lined up on grid awaiting our release for first passes on course.
The longer configuration was without a doubt the most enjoyable to drive, namely due to the extra time I was able to enjoy behind the wheel. Track conditions were also more favorable. Drivers enjoyed more speed through the center of the course as well. I came out of the gate well initially, securing the second fastest time* (*with no cones or penalties) after the first lap. From there, everyone started dialing in their driving and tighten things up and the lap times started dropping.
My times thankfully dropped too; however, I ended up clipping a cone on one run and for some reason couldn’t nail down how to negotiate a specific gate during a couple of runs, missing it completely. So my fastest time on the board at the close of the AM session was only down to a 49.219 and others had already far eclipsed that “performance”. It was going to come down to what I could pull off in the afternoon session.
As Grand Champion competitors filled back in at grid after the lunch hour, rain continued to spit off and on. And it also became evident that whereas many competitors had elected to pass on attending a rainy event, more had turned out for the slightly better conditions Saturday had to offer.
One of the enjoyable aspects of Grand Champion and autocross at Ford Festival is the “Autocross Shootout”. It takes the five fastest autocross competitors of the day (Saturday in this case) and pits them all together in a 3-run competition. Each competitor’s individual runs are added together plus any cone penalties that are incurred (+2 seconds per cone) for their final time.
Russell Wood from Louisville, Kentucky showed up Saturday in his black widebody Fox Mustang. He performed well all day, ultimately edging me out of the Top Five fastest times. Great driving Russell! Giving it my all-out effort, I secured the fourth fastest lap of the day for individual Grand Champion Late Mode class, but my lap only proved to be the 7th (48.531) overall.
Autocross Shootout Results:
- Sam Strano (2005 Mazda RX8 w/turbocharged Duratec engine)
- Jeff Cox (2010 Mustang GT500)
- Jordan Schoch (2016 Ford Mustang)
- Russell Wood (1990 Ford Mustang)
- Jordan Welch (1998 Ford Ranger)
ABOVE IMAGE CREDIT: Dave Belm
Day 3, Sunday | The final day of Grand Champion competition brings about a dynamic shift. If you didn’t get a good autocross time in during the first two days, your out of luck. On Sunday the 3S Challenge replaces the autocross as the main attraction inside the oval.
In the middle of that footprint, two lanes for straight line acceleration are constructed out of a timing light and cones. At the opposite end of the oval, drivers must be hard on the brakes before navigating a 180-degree turn away from one another as the cars head into a an increasing radius corner just before braking to a complete stop in a “stop box”.
Those who can’t completely stop inside the box receive a DNF (did not finish) for that run. 3S Challenge laps are over in a blur, most being accomplished in well under 15 seconds for competitive drivers. Not matter, as it’s an absolute blast for drivers to fine tune each input to pilot their car to the limits of its capabilities. Drivers must successfully complete drives in both left and right lanes to add up to a total time of their fastest left lane and right lane runs.
To be frank, I thought I was going to have an easy time performing well here. The weather was much better on Sunday, with track conditions improving each lap. And I was driving a car with ABS, so I felt like I had it made in the shade. Reality meant most other Late Model Grand Champion competitors had the same benefits as I.
When the mist settled here’s how 3S Challenge competition finished out.
- 1st | Sam Strano | Mazda RX-8 | 28.180 seconds
- 2nd |Randy Rosner | 2016 Ford Mustang | 28.253
- 3rd | Jeff Cox | 2010 Ford Mustang GT500 | 28.371
- 4th | Ron Schoch | 2016 Mustang | 28.973.
- 5th | Ridetech Mustang | 28.981 seconds.
Reflection | Looking back over the weekend, we regretted not being able to share the Fox Body on track. While we strive to control all variables, weather is one that continues to elude everyone. Regardless, we were still able to have the car onsite and it was able to participate in a photoshoot for an upcoming magazine feature in the coming months, so stay tuned for that.
Special thanks goes out to several of our friends and partners that helped get the car to where it is now, including Bowler Transmission, Engler, Ultimate Headers, Haltech, SPEC Racing Engines, Forgeline Wheels, Wilwood, DeWitts Radiators, and Kumho Tire. Overall, we’ve built out a car that will be exciting to campaign in 2025.
And we were still able to get out on track in our S550 and represent the brand well. On the S550 side of things, we’ll always take an opportunity to share our premium products for the late model muscle car category. This application is also a direct bolt-on to the current generation S650 (2024+) platform and enhances the performance capabilities of the car without compromising on the ride quality that daily drivers appreciate on their commutes.
Hope you enjoyed the read or the video recap. Come out and see us next time!
