Jeff started as a PAS customer by merely using our dyno while Steve (TunedbyFrost.com) tuned his Corvette track cars.  He normally runs with NASA as an instructor and participates in their Time Trial program as well.  While he was at the shop getting his Corvette tuned he walked around and realized we aren’t just a Mustang shop.  We had several GM’s in the shop at the time including a few Corvettes.  He already knew of our road racing background with the Cobetto American Iron Mustang, so it was a natural choice to start bringing his cars to PAS.

His two weapons of choice are now frequently found under the roof of Performance Autosport, both being very prepared C5 Corvettes.  This Corvette is more than just your average Corvette track car though.  This yellow car is a factory-built C5R.  It’s been in more endurance races than most people could even stand to watch in a life time.  This car is a work horse pure and simple.  It’s been to Daytona.  A couple of times.  Thunderhill.  For 25 hours.  It’s been driven, wrecked, and rebuilt more than your everyday car you may run into in the paddock of Summit Point or VIR.

When working on this car we quickly realized you don’t just call up a parts store and say “Yea…I’ve got a C5R here…I need a…”  No.  You make the part.  Or whatever you are looking for takes a lot of digging to find.  If something breaks, there really isn’t anyone around that still knows these cars well enough to have something on the shelf.  So, when Jeff brought his car to us for some chassis setup work and to fix a few leaks we ended up having to redesign the entire fuel cell compartment because the custom fuel cell in the car was not able to replicated in a realistic amount of time and without a large amount of money.  Being an endurance car the fuel cell was quite large and the bladder was custom shaped to take advantage of every inch of fuel space, but since the car will no longer be run for 24-25hrs straight we talked to Jeff and decided we’d go with an off-the-shelf fuel cell design with just slightly less capacity.  The fuel cell box was fabricated, the car was properly aligned and a full chassis set up was performed, and the car was sent off to the 2011 Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge where Jeff ran the fastest he’s ever ran in this car with a 2:04.

At one point on Saturday the heat was so intense that the carbon fiber hood of this C5R decided to completely buckle under the pressure of hitting near 150mph on the back stretch.  Other than scaring the crap out of Jeff the car was unharmed and he dropped the car off with us at our pit to give him a track-side fix.  A few hood pins and a pair of holes in the hood later the car was good to go and the pressure under the hood was released.  Proper vents will be added to clean it all up.

Funny sidenote: Releasing the pressure under the hood of the car made such a drastic difference in aero balance that the first time Jeff threw the car into Turn 3 at VIR, he spun.  Something he’s never done before.  The car turned in so much better without all that built up air under the hood that it over-rotated and caught him by surprise.  Some shock setting changes and a rear wing angle change dialed this into a much more manageable level.

We love taking care of all of Jeff’s track toys and hope to keep him happy and on track for many years to come.