The look was quite a hit at the track and we got compliments the entire weekend. We’re quite proud of it and very happy with VBD’s work. Big thanks to Trevor, Jon, and Wes for their hard work. The guys at VBD can absolutely do great work…give them a shout to see what they can do to your track car: www.vbdgraphics.com

On to the more important stuff of the weekend…the racing. Saturday’s weather was absolutely perfect and the lap times were fast among the entire American Iron field. The PAS Racing RTR was struggling a little bit to find the perfect setup coming from a much faster track like VIR. Summit Point always is a challenge to get the car happy right off the trailer. Some tweaking is always needed and this tweaking came in the form of some texts directly to Filip of Cortex Racing. Within minutes he had feedback and a plan of action of how to make this Cortex-equipped Mustang do what driver Chris Cobetto needed it to do.

The adjustability of the Cortex Racing Precision Suspension pieces on this RTR really did the trick and we went from a very ill-handling, tight racecar to a much more neutral and happy car that Cobetto could pitch around with confidence. HUGE thank you to Filip for his input and support. Can’t ask for more than that!

With a qualifying position of 5th for Saturdays race Cobetto was hoping the fixes were going to work, and they absolutely did. Cobetto slowly worked his way up to the lead throughout the 25min race and found himself out front when the checkered flag was waived in front of Robert Korzen who drove a super clean race the entire time. A win for Saturday was in the bag.

Sunday was a little different. Qualifying was cloudy, colder weather with us placing 2nd to Steven Kent on the pole. The race was a different story. Seems we can’t escape a weekend without some sort of precipitation. The race on Sunday was a wash out. Not until the very end did the rain lighten up, but it was still a race full of sliding around and wipers going on full speed.

The race for the lead between Cobetto and Kent went on for several laps back and forth with them changing positions a few times. At the very end it was Steven Kent who got to the line first with Cobetto placing 2nd.

As always a HUGE thanks to all our sponsors for their continued support:

- Mustang RTR
- CorteX Racing
- HRE Wheels
- Baer Brakes
- Hawk Performance Race Pads
- Exedy Clutches
- OG Racing
- VBD Graphics
- Grassroots Motorsports Magazine
- C&R Radiators
- Rockland Standard Gear
- Ford Racing
- Sparco

What do you think?

We hit up Summit Point for the first event with the new look this coming weekend April 27-28.

Round 2 – March Madness at VIR

After a very humbling start to the season the entire PAS Racing crew knew we had some homework to do and needed to come back strong in March to prove we were going to put this car back out front. Between the damage we sustained and the ABS issue that we were scratching our heads on, the month between the Feb and March event flew by extremely fast.

The next thing we knew it was a few days away from the event and we were running out of time. While at the body shop we took this time to convert the car form it’s original 2011 body work to the more updated 2013 body and we think it turned out absolutely great. We have a full livery planned for this and will be debuting it in a few weeks, so the look for this race was 100% temporary to carry us through the weekend.

Time was tight for what we needed to get done between events and without nailing down the fix for sure on the ABS we decided to go the safe route and installed a strut style Cortex Precision Racing Technology Xtreme-Grip Track front end. With putting the stock engine cradle back in the car we returned the front hubs and ABS system back to stock and it worked perfectly. The custom JRi double adjustable front shocks performed great and complimented the CorteX Watts link out back very well.

When we arrived on Friday we wanted to shake the car out for some test laps since we just had replaced the entire front suspension and still needed to test the ABS system at speed. Everything worked out great and every little change we made to the car made it go faster. So fast in fact that during our last test session driver Chris Cobetto clicked off a 2:05.347, the fastest this car has ever lapped around VIR! The car was happy and we were really looking forward to a full weekend of racing.

Saturday morning was cold, but dry. The track was fast and packed with cars for qualifying. Without getting a full clear lap we qualified 2nd behind Steven Kent. As the green dropped the Thunder group got bunched up with an AI-X car getting a wild ride through the grass. This race proved to be an exciting one with the front 3 cars going nose to tail down the front stretch drafting going into turn 1.

Sunday was a flash back from the February event with weather starting with rain, then sleet, then snow, and back to a mix of all 3 every few minutes. It was absolutely freezing…literally..and the track conditions were horrible. The goal was to stay on track and during qualifying we managed another 2nd place starting position behind Steven Kent. The race was actually quite close as Steven Kent was driving absolutely amazingly in the rain staying out front for many laps until getting into a big slide going up the uphill esses allowing Cobetto to get a run on him going down the back stretch. From there Cobetto stayed out front for the remainder of the race clinching our 2nd win of the weekend!

Huge thanks to Filip at CorteX Precision Racing Technology who scrambled all month long to make sure we got what we needed to get back on track and put the PAS Mustang RTR back up front. And the work isn’t done just yet. The ABS fix is IN and the SLA front suspension will be going back on the car for April at Summit Point which we are really looking forward to. The tight and more technical Summit Point will be a great test for the new suspension.

Thanks,
-kevin@pas

As usual Friday was a decent day. Sunshine and above average temps, but that was just a tease as Saturday brought frigid temps and SNOW. Our test time on Friday was cut short due to an extremely unpredicted brake failure of our ABS going out completely, leaving Cobetto scrambling going into Turn 1 and making contact with a fellow racer. Mechanical failure of this sort is something we definitely did not or could ever predict and we brought the car back to the pits for diagnosing and testing of the ABS system.

This slide resulted in a little bit of front end damage…

As well as a totally smoked brand new Toyo RA-1…

Not exactly the start we were looking for.

This was the first event for our Mustang RTR to wear the full CorteX Racing SLA front suspension as well as rear Watts Link. We were definitely pumped to try out this new setup and dial in the new JRi shocks, but with the issues that popped up right off the bat, going full-tilt-boogie around the track just wasn’t going to happen. The ABS issue was not something we could fix at the track, so we had to make due for the rest of the weekend.

The mix between cold temps and super aggressive brake pads made it nearly impossible for driver, Chris Cobetto, to modulate braking without locking up. If you eased into the brakes they wouldn’t gain temperature and lock up, if you jumped on them hard to get temperature in the pads, they still locked up. It was a tricky situation and it wasn’t worth the risk of hurting our car or someone else’s’ further in the process of testing.

Saturday morning was horrible conditions as predicted. Rain turned to snow, snow turned to slush, and overall it was completely freezing. Literally. We set the car to a full-rain setup, blocked off all the brake ducts in attempt to keep heat in the brakes, and Cobetto went out for some very slow pace laps to further feel the car out. As he was just starting to get comfortable again the car locked up going into Turn 4 without warning and the car slid into the tirewall. Only cosmetic damage in both incidents for us, but its enough to put a damper on the opening weekend of the race season.

After some liberal use of duct tape, stomping the splitter off the car, and throwing some fresh decals on, the conditions were worsening and we decided to skip qualifying all together and would gladly start from the back of the pack. Our car was not the happiest it’s ever been and we are thinking big picture for the season, not just one weekend at a time. In the race we started 6th and finished 3rd after tip-toeing through the snowy corners and iced over straightaways.

Sunday was less wet, but just as cold. Plus windy. With the track being on the dry side it was time for us to salvage what little testing we could get out of this weekend for our new suspension setup. Even though the car was lacking front aero, we knew we wouldn’t be setting a track record, but we still needed to get the important driver feedback to see how the CorteX/JRi combo feels. After qualifying the mood was better. Feedback from Cobetto, even though still obviously not being able to use the brakes nearly as much as he is used to, was very happy with the car in the corners. The car turned in great and he also mentioned that he could jump on the power earlier than ever before and the car seemed planted and willing to do what he wanted. Even with braking WAY before his normal marks and without any front aero whatsoever we still managed to click off a 2:08 which is quite telling to what is to come this season. The fastest AI car in the very same race was only a second faster than us.

For the race on Sunday we started 3rd and finished 3rd after battling for a few laps with Robert Korzen, a fellow CorteX Racing Suspension Watts Link user, that we installed last season. Both races this weekend were won by Steven Kent which puts him out front in points this season already to a solid lead.

2nd place both days – Robert Korzen:

1st place both days – Steven Kent:

Should make for an interesting season as I can promise you PAS Racing is not going to let this bad luck continue into it’s second event. We have some body work to do as well as lots of homework, but rest assured we will be on the attack March 23rd when the green flag drops. This PAS Racing Mustang RTR will have a fresh new look and a determined driver and crew to get back to the TOP of the podium.

The PAS Mustang RTR will soon be fully converted to a CorteX Xtreme SLA front suspension with their custom, gorgeous, Competition weight RADIAL-X front spindles as well as K-member.

The rear suspension will consist of the best of the best Xtreme-Grip Watts-Link.

We are taking the adjustability to the next level as we step up into the CorteX Racing world of Mustang suspension pieces.

All these shiney new go-fast parts are going on the car this weekend and we can’t wait to dial the new setup in at VIR at the first event of the 2013 NASA Mid-Atlantic season on Feb 15-17th!  More photos of the entire system installed to come.

Thanks,
-kevin

-kevin

For 2012 we knew we needed to go bigger and better. We had our initial season under our belt and it was time for the training wheels to come off. With all our success in 2011 getting noticed, in stepped our new main sponsor and partnership with Vaughn Gittin Jr’s company, Mustang RTR. A new design for the PAS Mustang and a new future was born in the very beginning of the race season.

Not only was the look of the PAS Racing machine a big hit with everyone, but with new support from Kenny Brown Performance Suspension and Moton USA we continued racking up wins and lap records. The partnership between the two worked very well and throughout the season we learned how to make the car work better and better between VIR and Summit Point.

Part of the complete redesign of the PAS American Iron racecar also included picking up some new faces and sponsors to the mix as well as getting a clean start from one of our loyal sponsors from 2011. Moss Muscle was new to the PAS Racing program in 2012 and helped promote the effort all season long while building a great relationship with PAS as not only a race team, but a local shop and installer. HRE Performance Wheels took our beat and battered R40 race wheels and gave them a facelift by checking them all over, giving them a clean bill of health, and a new color to go with the new look. These wheels are absolutely bulletproof race wheels. HRE is the “industry standard” for a reason.

We can’t say enough on how tough and reliable these wheels have been. No matter how hard driver Chris Cobetto is on them, they just keep rolling on. Rub them down the side of another Mustang at 80mph. No biggie. Hop them over curbing at 130mph. Not a problem. Slide them into a gravel trap backwards at 100mph. Don’t care. Well, the crew cared…that was a lot of gravel removal. But the wheels shook it off, didn’t bend or gouge or break and balanced out perfect every time. You can’t ask for better!

All season long we had absolutely reliable brakes from the combination of Baer 6R calipers and Hawk race pads. Cobetto’s confidence in the braking system of this Mustang went through the roof as he punished pads and rotors all season long hauling this car down into the corners, even out braking some much lighter competitor’s equipment. The amazing support from Baer and Hawk is a partnership PAS racing is looking forward to continuing into 2013. We love their products and incredible support!

Throughout the 2011 season we had issues with a mysterious power loss and thankfully between our good friends at Ford Racing and a new friend we were tipped off on by Vaughn Gittin Jr., we finally got all the problems ironed out. After being put on the dyno at almost every single race that we won, we were never over our horsepower limit and never under weight. 100% legal, 100% of the time. We had some amazing battles with all the guys in the Mid-Atlantic Region and have the battle scars and broken GoPro cases to prove it!

We also had some fun in 2012 for all our fans. Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Chris Cobetto went head to head on track to settle the dispute between what is faster: Drift or Grip. The video went viral and definitely made for some interesting conversations. If you haven’t seen it, check it out here by clicking on the screen shot below:

We even had some time between races to meet up with JR at a Mustang show/drift demo to check out what he does and show off the car to some that don’t get to make it out to the track. That was a lot of fun to be there and support Mustang RTR on all sides, street, drift, and road racing!

When it was finally time to pack everything up and head to Mid-Ohio for Nationals we were determined to come home with a victory. The entire PAS Racing team was heavily motivated and ready to battle, but as always the Ohio weather had other plans. Arriving with minimal testing time ahead of us, what we really didn’t need was rain. And rain was what we got. The time we had on track in the dry we were making big changes to see what worked and what didn’t and we were making great progress as the lap times were dropping lower and lower. Then of course on race day, it rained.

All our work went out the window, the rain setup went on the car, and with a decent starting position, overall things were still looking promising. As luck would have it though during the race the PAS Mustang RTR had some rear contact from a competitor and was forced off into the land of no return at China Beach. Not able to drive out, we lost two laps down to the leader, but in his competitive nature Cobetto wasn’t about to pull in. Instead, even while battling for 16th place Cobetto put on some of the best racing of the whole race stealing some TV time from the lead pack while dicing it up way in the back.

The car returned back to PAS a little beat, bruised, and pretty filthy, but we left nothing on the table and had no regrets. The amount we learned throughout the entire 2012 season is even more than we could imagine after doing for a full season. Each weekend taught us something. Each win got us closer to our goal. Each time we got a call from a sponsor congratulating us it made us push harder.

At the end of the 2012 season we won 10 out of 12 points races and clinched back to back Mid-Atlantic Region American Iron Championships. We reset our own lap record at VIR with a 2:05.834 and ran even FASTER than this during qualifying in October. I can assure you 2013 will be even bigger, better, and faster! We already have a few things in the works…it’s going to be a good year!

-Kevin

The week of Nationals is always a stressful one no matter how much you think you’re prepared. We just left Summit Point with a win after testing several different things to attempt to learn a little more about what may work at Mid-Ohio. Our car seems to be very happy at VIR, but when we take this relatively heavy car to the tight and technical turns of Summit Point we definitely have to maximize every advantage this Kenny Brown AGS 4.0 Suspension and Moton coilovers combination give us.

We arrived at Mid-Ohio on Monday Sept 3rd to unload for a long week of testing and qualifying races leading up to the big Championship race on Saturday morning. As predicted, the Ohio weather had a different plan for us as it rained Tuesday and kept us from doing any real suspension tuning. We still managed to go out and do a little bit of work in the rain, but the day was mostly a wash.

Wednesday the sun was out, the track was drying and we were looking for a few dry sessions to see how we stand up to the very tough competition that comes to Mid-Ohio for NASA Nationals. Every session meant big changes to try and make this car as happy as possible on a track we’ve only seen once before, but with an entirely different suspension in every way. Big changes meant trying to maximize our on-track time since our 2 test days got cut to 1, so we had to do what we could with what we had.

Thursday is the first of two qualifying races to determine our starting position for the big Championship race on Saturday. Morning practice proved that we had made some progress in the right direction Wednesday as we were closer to the competition than we had originally thought. The competition had gotten noticeably faster since last year though and we still had plenty of work to do if we planned on running up front. We qualified 3rd for the Thursday Qualifying race and ended up finishing 2nd behind defending champion, Dean Martin. We actually finished in the 3rd spot, Dean 2nd, and Alec Udell in 1st, but Udell was then DQ’d for having too wide of track width in impound after the race. It was a honest mistake of forgetting to remove wheel spacers after swapping wheels, but it still placed him at the back of the field. Dean moved to first, we moved to 2nd.

You’d think we’d be happy with those results, but for Friday we made even more drastic changes to the Moton 3-way adjustable coilovers in attempt to find more speed. Dean had come from dead last, charged through the field in a very similar fashion as last years Championship race, and ended up in front of us by many seconds with Udell being even further out front. We needed more speed. We needed lower lap times. We needed more testing, but we were out of testing. Friday’s schedule is the same as Thursday. Practice, qualifying, qualifying race. No room for error and barely enough time to test changes.

The changes actually made the car easier to drive said Cobetto, but everyone had stepped up their game even more. Even though we were running faster, we qualified 7th for the following race. The race was on a dry track and was fairly clean. While charging hard and trying to pick up positions, Cobetto dove into the keyhole under TJ Bain, jumped on the Baer 6R brakes a tad bit too late and couldn’t get it whoa’d down in time, going off and losing 5-6 positions. He made 1 or 2 of them back, but we ended up finishing 10th.

For Saturday the average of your two finishing positions for Thursday and Friday determines your starting position for the Championship race. Between the mixups of everyone’s previous finishing positions it placed us 4th for the big race. We were definitely happy with this as it was important to stay up front and not let the super fast guys disappear from the field. Once again though, Mid-Ohio’s weather had other plans as it stormed all night and into the early morning attempting to destroy all strategy and homework we attempted to do all week.

Early morning practice went well in very wet conditions. The Performance Autosport Mustang RTR was actually a second faster than the rest of the field as Cobetto found his happy place in the wet line and was pushing harder and harder. The race was still damp enough for a wet chassis setup and rain tires, but drying quickly.

For us the championship race was full of ups and downs. The decent starting position and Cobetto’s confidence in the wet had us positive from the start, but an early mistake from another driver punted us off track, ripping our rear bumper half off the car and bending the rear axle. The damage wasn’t enough to put us out of the race, but it definitely changed the way the car was driving. Under braking the car was very darty and hard to control at the limit. Cobetto was doing his very best to continue to make up positions while struggling against the car, but eventually the car and the wet conditions got the best of him. Sliding off into China Beach the #4 was buried in the gravel trap for 2 laps while he waited to get pulled out.

After being removed from the gravel trap Cobetto still continued on to get the best finishing position as he could, even stealing some TV time on SpeedCastTV as he battled for 16th position. Cobetto never gave up and raced all the way to the checkered with a damaged car, covered in dirt and mud, rear bumper flapping in the wind. As Cobetto climbed out of the car he was apologetic for the less than stellar finishing position, but there was no need as the entire Performance Autosport crew knew how hard we had all worked for this week and that anything can happen in racing. It wasn’t our year to stand at the top of the podium, but this just gives us more motivation to bring on the competition even harder next year.

Congratulations to Dean Martin for another great race and championship for the 2012 season as well as all the competitors this year. It was great racing with you all and we had a great time.

To watch the entire American Iron Championship race go to: SpeedCastTV – NASA Nationals 2012 Saturdays race

To see more photos go to: Performance Autosport’s Flickr gallery for NASA Nationals 2012

Thanks,
-Kevin

The PAS Racing/Mustang RTR crew rolled into Summit Point Friday just as it started raining.  Thankfully the rain did not stick around and we ended up having an amazingly pleasant weekend of racing with great weather.

This was exactly what we needed as this is our last regional race weekend before we pack up and head to Mid-Ohio for the all important Nationals.  Since Summit Point is much like Mid-Ohio in many ways we were using this weekend to test many different things to see how the car would react.

Saturday’s practice was the first time on track with some pretty big changes and the car wasn’t completely happy.  More changes were made, but in qualifying we managed a 5th place starting position.  The car was better during the race, but we were on some very heat-cycled tires and the grip was just not there.  After battling with Todd Nunn for 2nd place we ended up finishing 3rd with Beau Dunnivant running away with the win in his fox body that definitely favors the more tight and technical Summit Point course.  Congrats to Beau and Todd for some great clean racing!

Sunday had us going a little bit more in the right direction.  A lot of brainstorming went on Saturday night after not being completely satisfied with the car’s handling and more changes were made, including switching to a fresher set of tires.  During qualifying Cobetto was definitely more happy with the car’s ability to go around the track and the times showed it.  We qualified 1st for the race and Cobetto and the team decided to make a slight change just as test before going to grid before the race.

The change made everything work a little bit better and Cobetto managed to lead flag to flag and take the win for Sunday, just proving how much a car can change with a little bit of brainstorming and tinkering.  We actually ran well over a second faster in the race than our fastest lap all Saturday.  The car had transformed and in the process we learned a lot about what makes the car work a little bit better.

None of these winner stickers would be possible without the awesome support of ALL our awesome sponsors.  Huge thanks always goes out to Mustang RTR, Kenny Brown, HRE Performance Wheels, Moss Muscle, Baer Racing, Hawk Performance Brake Pads, Ford Racing, Moton Suspension, C&R Radiators, OG Racing, Sparco, Exedy Clutches, and Grassroots Motorsports!

Next up will be Nationals at Mid-Ohio!  Stay tuned as we ramp up for our biggest race week of the entire season!

Here it is, bone stock after bringing it home from the dealer…

And soon after PAS converted it into a 2013 Mustang RTR…

More coming soon on this shop car project including all the mods that we’ve done to it on top of the Mustang RTR conversion as well as our trip to the Ultimate Track Car Challenge at VIR.

Thanks,
-kevin