A few weeks back, Eric M called to ask if he could leave Doug’s SM for John R to drive at the EMRA event. Knowing how precious time is for Eric who had volunteered to tow the Piñata AND knowing that I won’t be able to drive much, if any in 2018, I offered use of my Honda.
I was pleased that John agreed since it gave me a kick in the pants to move stuff around. My initial concern was to tie off the gauge sensors that I decided to replace with electrical units. The next concern was which set of tyres needed replacing.
As D-Day hit. I realized that the inclement weather meant rain tyres. I have 1 sets but the mounted set was at a friend’s shop. Eric and John were kind enough to perform the overdue oil change and transport the car to the track.
After the group dinner. John rode with me to collect the rains from my friend. Given the POURING RAIN, we made the command decision that John would take my Land Rover in the morning and I would force myself to drive the Mustang.
By the time I arrived on Saturday, John had figured out that I hadn’t changed the REAR tyres since one had corded. Ack! Not a good way to make friends or influence people. Fortunately I have friends at Summit Point so I dragged John to another friend’s shop to pick out 4 slightly used 15” R7s (we only needed 2 BUT I wanted to cover my bases).
Unfortunately John missed his last session BUT he now had 6 treaded tyres, 4 mounted and in the car, 2 unmounted spares and 4 mounted rains. At least John got a good lesson in how NOT to mount tyres – I learned from one of the best, Paul @ Radial Tyre and I’m fairly certain that I’m the poster child for doing it wrong.
All the drama aside, GIGANTIC KUDOS to John. The Honda was the first FWD that he’s driven. Unlike the Mustang, the Honda (as evidenced at last year’s Dyno Day) is the incredible torque less wonder. Like a rotary, the Honda has to be “on boil” constantly or it’s an absolute slug. The other huge change for John is the fully independent suspension and the 2500# weight compared to the 3500# bulk of the Mustang. Of course, the Honda has no driver aids like ABS which makes the car much more elemental.
John handled the Honda with aplomb-no drama, no whining. Congratulations on a Job Well Done!!
– Matthew –
