Initial report
I can't believe it has taken this long, so I'll even comment on that. If you plan on having someone else do any work because you think it will speed things up or get things done to a higher standard than you may finish things, think again. Your own obsession will drive you better than money will drive another.
This is the first time I really got o drive ANY GT40, so this was answering a long lingering question of how it was going to be. And I was thrilled by the result. The driving position is just fantastic. You are very central in the car, the view is excellent, the wheel and controls are spot on. I could easily do a long highway drive, and likewise I felt positioned better for track driving than in anything else I have been in. You can see right in front of the car with the subtle fenders to each side. I will add a headrest, and probably some sort of dead pedal.
I drove it (lightly) for about 25 minutes, it was about 65 degrees out. I do not have the AC in. We did insulate the crap out of the center tunnel, and I have reflective shielding on the back of the firewall. I do not have the flip-out window panels in yet, so the windows were "open". I did not get hot, which surprised me.
You probably don't need 550 hp. It's pretty cool, it's truly scary. Throttle response from the LS7 with the Kinsler system on it is insane. We still have some tuning to do. The idle is not perfect and some of the lower rpms still need smoothing. It is not as loud in the cabin as I thought it would be (in the video my GoPro has the solid back because it typically mounted on the outside of my formula car).
The transaxle was worth it all. Getting the shifter right is tough. Several "kits" I have driven (including our Cobra) have been really left wanting in the shifter feel, some are downright balky. Using the Ricardo with the OEM Ford GT shifter makes a butter smooth action, very positive, perfect. We do not have the pedal heights set yet, and combined with the throttle response, heel-toe shifting was tricky to match. But once we get it set and get to where the car is being driven harder, it's going to be really nice.
Turns out the steering rack was bad. It was binding horribly on my first drive. It's now 4 years old and there is now a quicker ratio rack. We will be switching it out and adding the bump steer kit to dial in the steering. Once we scooped all the bushing material out of the rack and got it to where it would move, the steering really was pretty decent, about what we have been able to get out of our Cobra (with a lot of work). I am very particular about steering feel and I am not going to stop until it is really good.
For better or worse, my wife just decided she liked her first track event, so this car may see more track time than I expected. So stiffer springs are probably in order as these are the street weights. I don't mind a bone-jarring ride on the road, so I won't consider that a compromise.
RCR40 First test - YouTube
I can't believe it has taken this long, so I'll even comment on that. If you plan on having someone else do any work because you think it will speed things up or get things done to a higher standard than you may finish things, think again. Your own obsession will drive you better than money will drive another.
This is the first time I really got o drive ANY GT40, so this was answering a long lingering question of how it was going to be. And I was thrilled by the result. The driving position is just fantastic. You are very central in the car, the view is excellent, the wheel and controls are spot on. I could easily do a long highway drive, and likewise I felt positioned better for track driving than in anything else I have been in. You can see right in front of the car with the subtle fenders to each side. I will add a headrest, and probably some sort of dead pedal.
I drove it (lightly) for about 25 minutes, it was about 65 degrees out. I do not have the AC in. We did insulate the crap out of the center tunnel, and I have reflective shielding on the back of the firewall. I do not have the flip-out window panels in yet, so the windows were "open". I did not get hot, which surprised me.
You probably don't need 550 hp. It's pretty cool, it's truly scary. Throttle response from the LS7 with the Kinsler system on it is insane. We still have some tuning to do. The idle is not perfect and some of the lower rpms still need smoothing. It is not as loud in the cabin as I thought it would be (in the video my GoPro has the solid back because it typically mounted on the outside of my formula car).
The transaxle was worth it all. Getting the shifter right is tough. Several "kits" I have driven (including our Cobra) have been really left wanting in the shifter feel, some are downright balky. Using the Ricardo with the OEM Ford GT shifter makes a butter smooth action, very positive, perfect. We do not have the pedal heights set yet, and combined with the throttle response, heel-toe shifting was tricky to match. But once we get it set and get to where the car is being driven harder, it's going to be really nice.
Turns out the steering rack was bad. It was binding horribly on my first drive. It's now 4 years old and there is now a quicker ratio rack. We will be switching it out and adding the bump steer kit to dial in the steering. Once we scooped all the bushing material out of the rack and got it to where it would move, the steering really was pretty decent, about what we have been able to get out of our Cobra (with a lot of work). I am very particular about steering feel and I am not going to stop until it is really good.
For better or worse, my wife just decided she liked her first track event, so this car may see more track time than I expected. So stiffer springs are probably in order as these are the street weights. I don't mind a bone-jarring ride on the road, so I won't consider that a compromise.
RCR40 First test - YouTube