Obsolescence to Obsession – Tales of the Rented Mule (FPRS GT350 Track Attack #14)

[rocsteady]

Yeah, that thread is where I pilfered the pic of the solid lines and I have forbidden myself from looking at the list of goodies from the FP350S. My heart, and my wallet, are not equipped to deal with this list at the present time. You and the Mule have already got me and my budget into dangerous territory. Fun, but dangerous...

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[Muligan]

Welcome to season three of Tales of the Rented Mule.

Last season was a blast and will be hard to top, especially since 2024 is going to be a bit more low-key due to other projects and plans. As with previous years, this season gets its own theme and it's now a tradition around here to use a "DOH" moment from the prior year.

Some of you may remember the Canadian adventure of last season, where the Mule and friends headed to the Great White North and spent a few days ripping around a very wet Mosport. Well, you may also recall this picture from that epic trip........

So, as the saying goes........

I hope that having it displayed prominently will help me remember that cars actually seem to accelerate when running on the green surface, as opposed to the black one.

Now that we've dispensed with that, what's happening around the stable these days? Well, the Mule awoke from its slumber today and was moved into position for a quick once over, some fresh fluids, and a brand new set of Yokohoma slicks (stickers that I heat cycled at the last event of 2023) on the bronze forged Apex wheels. I also installed a rollbar mount for the Go-Pro that Mrs. Muligan bought me for Christmas, so this will be the first year with onboard video - hopefully without preserving a record of me doing something stupid. Then again, next year needs a cool tour name, I guess.

So why the rush? Well, in just a few short days we'll be headed to Road America. The forecast is for some well deserved nice weather - mid-60s and sunny. That ought to be perfect for developing horsepower and warming the one-year old pavement sufficiently to provide good grip.

As of now, the trailer is loaded and waiting for departure time. More to come in the after-action debrief, so check back soon.

Here's wishing all of you a happy Springtime!!!!!

P.S. Drop by the paddock at any of the events this year and, if there still available, grab a limited edition Mule shirt...... you'll be the envy of all those Camaro owners.

 

[Muligan]

Season III Kick-Off Report:

We’re back from a wonderful weekend at Road America with MVP Tracktime. Mark Pfeffer, the organizer, is a class act and always puts on outstanding events. Highlights include beautiful weather, hanging with lots of car buddies, a paddock full of incredible cars, meeting new friends (including a few from this forum), great food, and one very fast track.

New Friends:

Hats off to @Sargent1 and his friend who made the trip all the way from down south to run this weekend. After they released us from the staging area, causing a land rush as everyone raced for a prime paddock spot, I was surprised to find myself heading into the track right behind him (I recognized the rig from his posts here on the forum). After such a long haul, I’m so glad he was able to experience some perfect Wisconsin springtime weather..... cool mornings, sun (mostly), and light breezes….. great for making horsepower and grip.

@GT350Keith and @Lorne34 both made the trip, too, got some Mule seat time, and shared their experiences with the track and their cars. Sorry if I terrified either of you with my driving.

Best of all, our forum brothers each went home with ’24 Mule tour shirts – rock ‘em with pride, guys!

Fast Times:

As for me and the Mule, we had our best outing at Road America yet. My previous best lap time was a year ago when I did an “unofficial” 2:32 flat (based on video from @Goz To 11 when we were doing some lead-follow). Saturday was dedicated to shaking off the cobwebs from winter and giving rides, but come Sunday morning, it was time to see if the conditions were right for digging a bit deeper.

After heavy rain overnight, the morning brought a dry track with temps in the mid-40s. Unlimited sun meant it was warming up quickly, and since the leaves are just popping out there wasn’t much shade to keep the track from getting some temp in it. The Mule was in the first group to run each day and we gridded among the fast guys up at the front, with just a few cars ahead of us, and rolled out onto a relatively green track.

After a slow warm up lap, we headed into turn 14 (the last corner leading to the loooooong front straight) and dropped the hammer. The guys up ahead were already climbing the hill, but we reeled them in pretty quick and by the time we were heading down the next long straight into turn 5 we were the caboose on one very fast train. Going through turn 5, the car immediately in front of us decided to turn more than 90 degrees – in fact, he went a full 180 and ended up mid-track facing the wrong way. The Mule slowed, but didn’t break stride, and I just opened the wheel a bit and took the exit wide with the passenger side tires on those very rough alligator teeth, then we were back on the gas headed up the hill towards the blind turn under the bridge. The rest of that session was spent chasing down the other cars that were ahead of us, which resulted in a new personal best – 2:29.90. After thirty-one years of running at Road America, I finally dropped into the 2:20s!!!!!

The second session of the day was even better, though, as I chased down and passed quite a few cars (had a great run with a Viper until he gave up and pointed me by) and then set my sights on one of the many Porsche GT2/3/4 cars. It took a couple of laps, but I finally made it to his bumper and then, as we headed up the hill on the front straight, I got the first ever point-by from a car of that caliber. Here’s a shot of my lap times from that session, with the second, third, and fourth laps being the fastest….. and giving me another new personal best.

But, then this happened……..

Ain't Nobody Home:

After a really fast run from the Kink to Canada Corner, I rowed down through gears from 5th to 3rd, hit the apex, and began the climb up to turn 13. But, when I went from 3rd to 4th, it felt like the shifter (MGW) didn't engage 4th gear. Sure enough, as I let off on the clutch and eased onto the throttle, the revs just jumped and it was in neutral...... back on the clutch, blip the throttle, into third, through the corner under steady throttle, then tried 4th again..... nuthin'. Repeat the process to get back into 3rd, arm held high out the window, around turn 14, and onto pit lane.

Oh well, reverse was continuing to cause issues (popping out when letting off the clutch), but I was reluctant to dig into the repairs for what was more of an inconvenience. I’m taking this as a sign of something better, though, as it's likely I would have kept pushing. Maybe this is proof that God looks out for fools and mules and it was His way of telling me to cool it and head on in for the day.

Next Up:

We're off to Gingerman in August, again with MVP Tracktime. I guess it was a good idea that I’d planned an abbreviated season this year, as I'll have time to address the transmission issue and a couple other things (like that cool carbon fiber hood).

Check back soon for an update on repairs / improvements and to see what other adventures await the Rented Mule.

Mule out.

 

[Sargent1]

Chris,

Very nice to meet you Sunday. Thanks for the T shirt, thoughtful gift I wasn't expecting. I appreciated the tips also for the following sessions. First time at Road America was fantastic. We did ~2800 miles round trip and were blessed with good weather and no issues along the way. As with most great experiences in life, it's the people that make it so good and this was exactly that. Enjoyed meeting the forum members though I didn't get to meet all the GT350 guys there. I'll also plug MVP Track time. Been running with Mark's organization since 2009 at Road Atlanta. He's given three free track days to my veteran friends when they were still active duty. I think it's very cool he does that. Class act. I look forward to seeing y'all at Road Atlanta in November.

Regards,

Chris Sargent

 

[tosha]

@Muligan , if you ever plan to attend Mosport again sometime, please shoot me a DM. Would be great to stop by and say hi in the paddock. I usually try to take all calendar events with Trillium, but I missed the one you have attended last year in favor of the Glen around same dates.

Was great to read your experience and also great that turn 4 gave you just a small brown moment, you did well .Gotta approach this track with respect and humility.

 

[Lorne34]

Season III Kick-Off Report:

We’re back from a wonderful weekend at Road America with MVP Tracktime. Mark Pfeffer, the organizer, is a class act and always puts on outstanding events. Highlights include beautiful weather, hanging with lots of car buddies, a paddock full of incredible cars, meeting new friends (including a few from this forum), great food, and one very fast track.

New Friends:

Hats off to @Sargent1 and his friend who made the trip all the way from down south to run this weekend. After they released us from the staging area, causing a land rush as everyone raced for a prime paddock spot, I was surprised to find myself heading into the track right behind him (I recognized the rig from his posts here on the forum). After such a long haul, I’m so glad he was able to experience some perfect Wisconsin springtime weather..... cool mornings, sun (mostly), and light breezes….. great for making horsepower and grip.

@GT350Keith and @Lorne34 both made the trip, too, got some Mule seat time, and shared their experiences with the track and their cars. Sorry if I terrified either of you with my driving.

Best of all, our forum brothers each went home with ’24 Mule tour shirts – rock ‘em with pride, guys!

Fast Times:

As for me and the Mule, we had our best outing at Road America yet. My previous best lap time was a year ago when I did an “unofficial” 2:32 flat (based on video from @Goz To 11 when we were doing some lead-follow). Saturday was dedicated to shaking off the cobwebs from winter and giving rides, but come Sunday morning, it was time to see if the conditions were right for digging a bit deeper.

After heavy rain overnight, the morning brought a dry track with temps in the mid-40s. Unlimited sun meant it was warming up quickly, and since the leaves are just popping out there wasn’t much shade to keep the track from getting some temp in it. The Mule was in the first group to run each day and we gridded among the fast guys up at the front, with just a few cars ahead of us, and rolled out onto a relatively green track.

After a slow warm up lap, we headed into turn 14 (the last corner leading to the loooooong front straight) and dropped the hammer. The guys up ahead were already climbing the hill, but we reeled them in pretty quick and by the time we were heading down the next long straight into turn 5 we were the caboose on one very fast train. Going through turn 5, the car immediately in front of us decided to turn more than 90 degrees – in fact, he went a full 180 and ended up mid-track facing the wrong way. The Mule slowed, but didn’t break stride, and I just opened the wheel a bit and took the exit wide with the passenger side tires on those very rough alligator teeth, then we were back on the gas headed up the hill towards the blind turn under the bridge. The rest of that session was spent chasing down the other cars that were ahead of us, which resulted in a new personal best – 2:29.90. After thirty-one years of running at Road America, I finally dropped into the 2:20s!!!!!

The second session of the day was even better, though, as I chased down and passed quite a few cars (had a great run with a Viper until he gave up and pointed me by) and then set my sights on one of the many Porsche GT2/3/4 cars. It took a couple of laps, but I finally made it to his bumper and then, as we headed up the hill on the front straight, I got the first ever point-by from a car of that caliber. Here’s a shot of my lap times from that session, with the second, third, and fourth laps being the fastest….. and giving me another new personal best.

But, then this happened……..

Ain't Nobody Home:

After a really fast run from the Kink to Canada Corner, I rowed down through gears from 5th to 3rd, hit the apex, and began the climb up to turn 13. But, when I went from 3rd to 4th, it felt like the shifter (MGW) didn't engage 4th gear. Sure enough, as I let off on the clutch and eased onto the throttle, the revs just jumped and it was in neutral...... back on the clutch, blip the throttle, into third, through the corner under steady throttle, then tried 4th again..... nuthin'. Repeat the process to get back into 3rd, arm held high out the window, around turn 14, and onto pit lane.

Oh well, reverse was continuing to cause issues (popping out when letting off the clutch), but I was reluctant to dig into the repairs for what was more of an inconvenience. I’m taking this as a sign of something better, though, as it's likely I would have kept pushing. Maybe this is proof that God looks out for fools and mules and it was His way of telling me to cool it and head on in for the day.

Next Up:

We're off to Gingerman in August, again with MVP Tracktime. I guess it was a good idea that I’d planned an abbreviated season this year, as I'll have time to address the transmission issue and a couple other things (like that cool carbon fiber hood).

Check back soon for an update on repairs / improvements and to see what other adventures await the Rented Mule.

Mule out.

Sorry about the 4th gear Chris, did you end up purchasing a spare Trans from Ford when you purchased the mule?

 

[Muligan]

Sorry about the 4th gear Chris, did you end up purchasing a spare Trans from Ford when you purchased the mule?

Negative - just didn't have room or weight capacity to bring it home with everything else I had to haul back from CMS.

I'm going to first dig into whether it could be an issue with the MGW shifter. If not, then I'm going to look at alternatives for a new transmission and keep the current one for a rebuild to have on the shelf.

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