Well guys, it's been a year since we got the car started, went to FuelTech and dyno-ed it....
Man, what a year it's been.
Here is a recap of what we learned this year and what happened.
1. First thing first. If you want to a custom build like twin turbo, big single turbo, F3 procharger, roots style blower.
Always interview these shops/people and ask this simple question. Show me a car you've built with these mods and show me the "results". If they can't show you. Move on. They're trying to learn, use your money and learn on your dime.
The racing community has done these builds for over 40+ years. It's cookie cutter for them. Get away from these popup OEM Hellcat basic mod shops. My build should have taken 3 months from start to finish and not 1.5 years.
2. Please work directly with the parts manufacturers when designing and building your car. They want to talk to the owners and get a relationship with you. Give them your goals...like, "We what to put down 2200 whp to the ground in a 4200+ lbs car and run low 7's. Break world records, how can you help us achieve this goal?".
Because you're the end customer and they want to make you happy. Ask tons of questions, they love to educate owners.
Btw, when you're happy with their products or services. You tell other owners that have money and will spend it and will buy their products/services.
Last point on this….you might get some companies that might want to sponsor your build. Sponsorship does not always mean “free”. Take whatever you can get off the price. We’re happy with 10%.
3. If someone in the racing community like Carl Rossler, Marty Chance, Jake Sampson, Craig Thibeau, Bill Dailey (insert parts/racing guru here)...etc...tells you what to do and how to build it right. Please listen to them. They have more experience and will not lead you down a wrong path. They don't want you breaking or changing out their parts or going to another shop.
4. Only put the best parts and best builders on your car. If you want to save money and put inferior parts and less skilled people working on your car. It will cost you more money and time in the long run. Only partner with the best.
5. This was a hard pill for me to swallow and learn and I'm still learning.
Listen to the negativity when people say, you can't do this, you can't hook and keep up with a blower/nitrous build, it will take you a year to race this car and learn it. You'll never win again, you messed up and you should go back to your old build and follow what everyone else is doing.
Use it as fuel in the down times and btw.....it feels so go shutting up the naysayers and the trolls
LOL!!
6. This is a good one.... Don't get too high nor too low in racing. Don't chase the euphoria of winning. Just love the process of buy it, build it, tune it, race it, break it....DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN. It's easy to say, but once you change your mind set. You'll love racing even more.
7. This is a topic that's not talked about on forums.
PLEASE SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE with the community. When the trolls start popping off...just use the ignore function on this forum. Click on their picture and click ignore. There are more positive people that want to learn, share knowledge, and look for advice on what to do or what not to do.
So many racing gurus say..."I'm not getting on these forums, too many people <know it all> that have zero or no experience. So, they don't get on forums to help people.
I personally have learned so much from you guys sharing your builds, how to setup these cars, how to launch....
Everyone please keep sharing your knowledge.
Let's push this platform farther and farther.
