Hey there Guys and Gals and welcome to this months TDR! FJD Performance yet again ran a private track day with Signature Wheel, Ford Performance Racing School and Griggs Racing *eeeeee!* (fan girl moment…). This time around we found ourselves visiting Big Willow at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, CA.
Unfortunately due to scheduling FJD Performance did not make an appearance at this years Fabulous Fords, but we plan to be there next year. We did however meet up with some friends from Codfod Autosports and Madd Retros/Motorsports.
Starting off Monday we got around the big boys from Griggs Racing and made some new friendships as well as rekindled old ones with friends from previous track days. Just by happenstance Jonathan Winker of Recon Racing was in the area, so we had to invite him out to the track! It was an absolute pleasure getting to meet him and share some knowledge, and we look forward to sharing the track with him in the near future!
This time around we ran in the advanced group, but the advanced group at this event was with drivers from the Fast as Fvck group in the last one! Drivers like Steve Libby in his GR40 Cobra and the guys from the Ford Performance Racing School in their FP350S blessed FJD Performance with their incredible speed on track, but in reality we just tried to get out of their way. We were completely humbled and honored to have been running with these guys, and to also have been considered a good enough driver to have been asked to instruct the Beginner group and help in lead follows. A hallmark for FJD Performance for sure.
Our first on track was an easy one getting to find the lines and get an idea for the track. By the end of the warmup session we did the lead follow with 4 guys behind us from the beginner group and come the 2nd session 101 was in the tank with the race tune loaded up! The 2nd session of the day gave us our 2 fastest times of the day with a 1:40.465 and a 1:40.783. Theoretically we could have seen a 1:39.647 based off all of our fastest sectors in that second session, but we averaged about a 1:42 throughout the rest of the day.
The Mare did great on track, but we were running into overheating issues after that 2nd session and found the coolant tank was boiling out coolant from the cap. Thankfully this was before Jonathan had to fly back, so Frank got to share some thoughts with him. On average we saw the temp getting up to the “A” in Normal, so we would back off and return to the paddock early in the remaining sessions we ran. In addition to the heat issues – and this isn’t really an issue – we were not able to get the car up past 120mph on track! Now this could have also been an added factory from the winds, but it looks like the time for some more aero on the Mare is slowly creeping up!
All in all the day was an absolute blast and we can’t wait to get out there again with this crew of drivers! Enjoy these photos taken by our good buddy Rob Gluckman!
FJD Performance 
Super pics guys, makes me wanna have a go mmmmmm.
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