Pics: Mustang GT350R-C At Lime Rock

[DW Burnett]

Ford factory-backed race team Multimatic is on a massive roll. After a decisive home turf win at Canadian Tire Motorsport park two weeks ago, the team pulled into Lime Rock Park this weekend armed what would again prove to be the deadliest weapons in the Continental Challenge GS field: their pair of Ford Performance Mustang Shelby GT350R-Cs.

These new Mustangs are scary fast. After Mosport they were saddled with 50 lbs. of extra ballast to try and slow them down. Didn’t work. Despite missing qualifying because of an electrical problem, Billy Johnson and Scott Maxwell drove their #15 GT350R-C from dead last to take the win at Lime Rock, with the sister #158 Mustang right on their heels.

Incidentally, the team probably would have swept the front row at Mosport too, but the no. 15 GT350R-C was knocked off track during the race and destroyed. The winning #12 car they brought to Lime Rock was a “body in white” just two weeks ago, screwed together literally at the last minute.

An engine specialist from Roush Yates racing - who we’ll call “Charles”, because his name was Charles - told me that they take the same 5.2 liter, flat-plane crank Voodoo V8 that is in the upcoming street GT350 and simply bolt on a dry sump oil tank before they drop it in the race car. If so, that is one hell of a motor. Still, I may have noticed a little glimmer in his eye as he spoke about it that implied there were a lot of secrets how wasn’t divulging about this new race car.

One thing that isn’t a secret: the Multimatic Mustangs are straight up killing it in the Continental Challenge and earning new fans, including me. I’m a Mustang owner (who tracks his 2012 GT at Lime Rock), so it was super exciting to get up close and watch these cars dominate this race. I was definitely cheering for the GT350R-Cs from behind my lens. I’ll be watching the rest of the season, good luck guys.

For the full gallery of GT350R-C goodness, head on over to my original post on puppyknuckles.com. Thanks for reading.

Sponsored

 

[DruidBlack]

Great pictures!

Curious to hear more about this:

An engine specialist from Roush Yates racing - who we’ll call “Charles”, because his name was Charles - told me that they take the same 5.2 liter, flat-plane crank Voodoo V8 that is in the upcoming street GT350 and simply bolt on a dry sump oil tank before they drop it in the race car. If so, that is one hell of a motor. Still, I may have noticed a little glimmer in his eye as he spoke about it that implied there were a lot of secrets how wasn’t divulging about this new race car.

 

[Grimace427]

DUDE!! :hail::hail::hail::hail:



That is exactly the level of photography I hope to achieve one day.

Can you talk about your camera/lens/settings?

 

[Todd15Fastback]

Amazing pictures! Good info too.

 

[DW Burnett]

DUDE!! :hail::hail::hail::hail:



That is exactly the level of photography I hope to achieve one day.

Can you talk about your camera/lens/settings?

Thanks Grimace. My gear for the track is Nikon bodies (D750 and D600) and basically a whole bunch of 2.8G lenses: 14-24, 24-70, 70-200 VRII, and the big enchilada the 400mm 2.8. I'll throw a 1.4x tele on the 400 to get up to 560mm if necessary.

As far as camera settings, it all depends on what kind of shot I'm trying to get, but I almost always am in manual mode with auto ISO. That way I can play with aperture and shutter speed on the fly and the camera takes up the slack automatically with ISO to get close on the exposure.

I shoot RAW also so I have a lot of dynamic range to screw around with in post (usually Lightroom).

 

[Grimace427]

So essentially your carrying around the equivelant cost of a new car in a camera bag? Haha!!

400mm f2.8 is what, $10,000?

 

[Backorder]

So essentially your carrying around the equivelant cost of a new car in a camera bag? Haha!!



400mm f2.8 is what, $10,000?

Same thing I was thinking lol I think the most expensive lens I have is ~$1700 then again I'm not as good as him so I can't justify paying more lol

 

[5.0 435]

I like how the slower camara speed shows the blurred background which shows motion. Cool .

 

[Grimace427]

Same thing I was thinking lol I think the most expensive lens I have is ~$1700 then again I'm not as good as him so I can't justify paying more lol

I've been saving up to grab the 70-200 f2.8 that he has already, my birthday is today and my dad gave me a 'free purchase coupon' at a camera store so we might be able to go 50/50. I've seen used ones right around a grand. I'm all about action shots so that would be perfect and DW Burnett's skill is definitely something to look up to!

I like how the slower camara speed shows the blurred background which shows motion. Cool .

Definitely! A super skilled photographer like DW can pan on their subject to blur the background while keeping their subject sharp, increasing the sense of speed. I've tried this with dogs in a park and 90% of my shots are hilariously off. :lol:

 

[JohnZiraldo]

Great reporting and pictures. Way to go!

Were you able to pick up any chatter about the difference in the performance of the GT350s for the first session and the second after the driver change? Scott had a great run up to about 5th place (maybe 4) then just sat there slowly losing time to the Stephenson Camaro until they were both about 10 seconds back from 1st. Not exactly scarey fast at that point.
After the driver change and some bad luck for the Stephenson team, (window net, bump to the grass), the Mustangs took over and never looked back.

Did you pick up any scuttlebutt in the pits? Were tires an issue? Do you think the Mustangs were sandbagging for the first session other than Scott's charge? Without the window net, the drive through penalty, and the bump to the grass for the Camaros, would the Mustang have done so well?

I am thinking that the Mustangs got lucky at Lime Rock or were sandbagging. It was the Camaros that appeared to need a BOP adjustment.

Thoughts?

 

[prevent34]

Somebody really knows how to shoot movement.

 

[Stuntman]

Almost everyone's fastest laps were early in the race.

 

[DW Burnett]

Great reporting and pictures. Way to go!

Were you able to pick up any chatter about the difference in the performance of the GT350s for the first session and the second after the driver change? Scott had a great run up to about 5th place (maybe 4) then just sat there slowly losing time to the Stephenson Camaro until they were both about 10 seconds back from 1st. Not exactly scarey fast at that point.
After the driver change and some bad luck for the Stephenson team, (window net, bump to the grass), the Mustangs took over and never looked back.

Did you pick up any scuttlebutt in the pits? Were tires an issue? Do you think the Mustangs were sandbagging for the first session other than Scott's charge? Without the window net, the drive through penalty, and the bump to the grass for the Camaros, would the Mustang have done so well?

I am thinking that the Mustangs got lucky at Lime Rock or were sandbagging. It was the Camaros that appeared to need a BOP adjustment.

Thoughts?

These are all very good questions. The Camaros definitely didn't have the day they were looking for.

I asked Billy Johnson what made the difference between the two cars and the two stints, having driven right around the sister car, and he just said "different setup". Which might be a nice way of saying "driver mod".

It looked to me like the Nissans were a little better on tires over the long run, they were really coming at the end, made it exciting to watch the battle for second place.

 

[DW Burnett]

So essentially your carrying around the equivelant cost of a new car in a camera bag? Haha!!

400mm f2.8 is what, $10,000?

Well, a lousy new car, yeah. Ha!

I have the 400mm f2.8G, which is the outgoing model, used they are still not cheap but 4 or 5K cheaper now than the the brand new 2.8 ED which is 12K. :doh: The ED is 2 pounds lighter and a little better balanced. The G is a monster, weighs 10lbs. The difference between the two is almost imperceptible in terms of image quality.

Had to sell some old guitars to move into that lens but it was worth every penny. One of the all time great sports lenses ever made.

Here's a 400mm pan at 1/25 (sorry about the awful Facebook compression)

 

[DW Burnett]

Oh and Grimace - your 5.0, 6m, 3.73, black/saddle was EXACTLY the combo I was looking for when I bought my 2012. Still wish I had that saddle interior!

Sponsored