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CJ Automotive Group
27
Jul

Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street Attend Mustang Week!

The Gotta Have Builds team has been busy over the past few months modifying and racing Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street, but haven’t been to too many car shows or big Mustang events. Well, from July 16-22, that changed, as Rick and Tommy headed to Myrtle Beach to correct that at Mustang Week 2012!

With over 2,500 Mustangs in attendance for a wide variety of different activities, Rick and Tommy were able to show Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street at the Meet-n-Greet, the 7th Annual Car Show, and the Southeast’s largest Mustang and SVT Cruise-In! Plus, they raced in the Autocross and at Drag Night!

Read the full story of the trip and all about the Mustang Week activities, below the jump.

Rick and Tommy had been waiting for weeks for their trip to Mustang Week. However, with Bill going deep in eliminations with Gotta Have It Race at The 7th Annual NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing in Joliet Illinois, they had to wait to leave until Steve and Bill returned to town with the car. Once Gotta Have It Race made it back to CJ’s, Rick and Tommy had to remove the drag wheels and tires for a set of factory wheels and put in a street tune with the SCT X3 Power Flash Programmer before they could depart for Mustang Week. They finally got everything swapped around and packed into the cars (including the Race Star Wheels with drag radials) and set off for Myrtle Beach around 6 p.m.

Gotta Have It Street and Gotta Have It Race resting on their way to Mustang Week!

Gotta Have It Street and Gotta Have It Race resting on their way to Mustang Week!

With their late start, they had to make up time and drive later into the night. Once they got below Richmond, Virginia, though, they were able to stop, knowing they would avoid the Richmond/Washington, D.C. traffic in the morning. Once Rick and Tommy got back on the road on Tuesday morning, they waited until they got to North Myrtle Beach before stopping to get the cars ready for that afternoon’s Meet-n-Greet at the Palace Theater at Broadway at the Beach. Each car got a bath to remove the last 500 miles worth of road grime, then the Race Star Industries 17″ x 4.5″ Dark Star Wheels and Race Star Industries 15″ x 10″ Dark Star Wheels were put back onto Gotta Have It Race. The car looks so much better with the big 275/60-15 Mickey Thompson Drag Radials and M&H Racemaster Front Runner 185/55-17 Drag Tires, compared to the stock 19” wheels and tires.

Rick and Tommy arrived at the Meet-n-Greet a little late, and the place was PACKED! They couldn’t believe how many Mustangs were there, especially since it was only Tuesday! Luckily, they were able to find a pair of spots towards the back of the lot. Once they parked the cars, they walked around a little bit to check out all of the other cars. When they were talking around, Rick and Tommy had a chance to check out the new 2013 RTR Mustang in person, plus a Gotta Have It Green convertible!

Wednesday’s Mustang Week activities included an autocross race and fun runs at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Once Rick and Tommy got to the track, they met up with Greg from CJ Pony Service, who was at Mustang Week with his red 1999 35th Anniversary GT. The event organizers had a small and very tight autocross course set up, so Rick and Tommy each took Gotta Have It Street for a few runs to see how they could do. Greg also took his GT on a few runs of the course.

Rick driving the autocross course in Gotta Have It Street. Greg, from CJ Pony Service, driving the autocross course.

Vaughn Gittin, Jr. was there with one of his drift cars, and put on an incredible show around the Speedway. He was easily able to drift his RTR Mustang completely through the turns and ended up going through a complete set of tires in only 5 minutes!

We even got Vaughn Gittin, Jr. to take a photo with Gotta Have It Street!

In the afternoon, Tommy took Gotta Have It Street for a couple of laps around the full half mile banked track. The track officials put out tires in the corners to keep the speeds in check, but Tommy was able to get Gotta Have It Street moving pretty good around the track. The Eibach Coil-Over Damper Pro-Street-S Kit, Eibach Adjustable Anti-Roll Kit and BF Goodrich KDW II 255/35-19 and 275/35-19 Tires helped to keep Gotta Have It Street planted on the track throughout Tommy’s laps.

Tommy taking some laps at Myrtle Beach Speedway.

Tommy taking some laps at Myrtle Beach Speedway.

To finish off the evening, Rick and Tommy went to downtown Myrtle Beach and took Gotta Have It Street and Gotta Have It Race into a parking garage, where both the Skywheel and some fireworks were in the background, making for some fantastic photos!

After some lunch downtown on Thursday, Rick and Tommy made the 1.5 hour trip to Darlington Dragway. They got there at the peak of the afternoon heat, so they let the cars sit for a few hours to cool. Tommy was the first to race, and he took Gotta Have It Street up to the staging lanes. This was going to be the first time that Gotta Have It Street has been raced on street tires. Unfortunately, Tommy was not able to find any traction, and the car just spun through first and second gear, even though Tommy was pedaling the throttle. Without any traction until he got halfway down the track, Tommy was only able to run a pass in upper 14 second range. After another attempt down the ¼ mile, even with a small burn out, Tommy produced the same results: no traction and a 14 second time slip.

It was getting later in the evening and Gotta Have It Race had been sitting for a few hours, so Rick decided to attempt a pass. He was hoping that he wouldn’t have traction issues with his drag radials. After a good second gear burn out, Rick staged Gotta Have It Race and brought it to 4500 RPMs. After the light turned green, Rick let the clutch out, put the accelerator to the floor and sat at the line while the tires spun! He was able to get out of the throttle to stop the spin, then back into it for a 1.95 60’ time, but the run was wasted when he missed 3rd gear. Once he got back to the pits, Tommy and Rick heard that rain was on the way. Since Gotta Have It Race only had drag radials and front skinnies on, they sped out of there in hopes of making it back to Myrtle Beach before the rain hit.

One of the biggest parts of Mustang Week is Friday’s huge car show! Mustang Week only offers 600 car show registrations, and they go quickly, so Rick and Tommy felt lucky to get their hands on one registration. They decided to put Gotta Have It Street in the show field, while Brian and Andreas from Redline Tuning gave them the opportunity to put Gotta Have It Race in their booth. When they parked Gotta Have It Street in the show field, they were lucky enough to park just behind Greg from CJ Pony Service’s 1999 GT and the 2004 supercharged Saleen belonging to Sean from CJ’s Sales Team. Tommy and Rick hung out for the day, checked out the cars, answered questions about the Gotta Have Builds Mustangs, and visited the displays from JLT Peformance, Silverhorse Racing, Race Star Industries and Barton Industries.

Rick and Tommy finished off Mustang Week on Saturday afternoon by taking part in the East Coast’s largest Mustang Cruise-In Again, they put Gotta Have It Race in Redline Tuning’s tent and parked Gotta Have It Street in the midst of the show field. At 3 p.m., the winners were going to be announced for the previous day’s show, though, unfortunately Gotta Have It Street didn’t win any awards. Shortly after the awards were announced, Rick and Tommy swapped the factory wheels back onto Gotta Have It Race and started the 500+ mile ride home. They hit some heavy rain on the ride back and, even with the wide, aggressive BF Goodrich KDW II 255/35-19 and 275/35-19 Tires on Gotta Have It Street, and the BMR Front Sway Bar Delete and BMR Rear Lower Single-Adjustable Control Arms on Gotta Have It Race, both cars handled the trip without the slightest hint of a problem.

After such a great week, Rick and Tommy are already getting excited to come back to Mustang Week next year. With some of the plans that are in store for both Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street, they are certain that they will win an award in the car show next year.

Meanwhile, both Gotta Have Builds cars are going to be displayed in Central PA on Sunday! Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street are headed to Central Dauphin High School for the 1st Annual Central Dauphin Car Show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Plus, don’t forget that Customer Appreciation Day is right around the corner, on August 11! Hope to see you at any of our upcoming events!

Here are the parts that we have installed so far on Gotta Have It Race:

Here are the parts that we have installed so far on Gotta Have It Street:

20
Jun

Gotta Have Builds: Back from Milan, MI with a New Best Time

Last month, the crew from CJ Pony Parts took Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street to the NMRA event at Maryland International Raceway and had such a great time, that we decided we wanted to do as many NMRA events as possible. The next event scheduled was on June 14 & 15 in Milan, Michigan. Our 2013 Mustangs and the Gotta Have Builds Ford F-150 Raptor geared up and hauled the crew out for out next race weekend!

Both Gotta Have Builds Mustangs got some great work done over the time between MIR and Milan, and were ready to be put to the test, again. With some Test-n-Tune runs before qualifying on Friday night, the 11s evaded Rich & the Gotta Have It Race 2013 Mustang GT. Saturday would bring a new day, with the chance at setting a new best time and putting one of the Gotta Have Builds into the 11s…

Read the full story of the trip out and our race results, below the jump.

At the last NMRA event, both Gotta Have Builds Mustangs were bone stock, except for a Barton shifter (MS41) in Gotta Have It Race. With our time off between NMRA races, we wanted to have a few of the typical mods done to both cars for Milan, to really up our chances of a great run in Michigan.

Gotta Have It Street’s upgrades since our last time out include a 93 octane tune from SCT, which was loaded with an SCT XCAL3, a lowered stance from an Eibach Pro Street Plus coil-over system and a set of Maximum Motorsports Caster Camber plates with a BMR adjustable panhard bar to complete the installation for the lowered suspension. We also installed a set of Ford Racing SVT Performance Pack wheels with BF Goodrich KDW II tires to finish off the new, lowered look. We knew the suspension and wheels were not going to help us get down the track faster, but it sure made Gotta Have It Street look killer cruising out to Milan.

Gotta Have It Street - 2013 Mustang GT - CJ Pony Parts

Gotta Have It Race received the biggest updates before Milan. We started with JLT’s Series 3 intake, painted in Gotta Have It Green, and a tune from JLT Performance for our SCT XCAL3. We also installed Flowmaster’s Hushpower catback, which really made Gotta Have It Race sound like a proper Mustang. At previous track events we had found that with the stock suspension, there was a fine line between getting a good launch and bogging the launch, or blowing off the tires. We decided to add some suspension pieces from BMR to help us get better and more consistent launches. The first suspension piece we added was a BMR front sway bar delete, which allows the front end to come up higher and smoother, while transferring weight to the rear wheels. With the rear suspension, we installed a set of BMR adjustable lower control arms with the rear lower control arm relocation brackets. The new rear suspension will help to control the rear axle during our 4500RPM launches.

The most recognizable change with Gotta Have It Race since the last time we were out, is the vinyl wrap that was designed by CJ’s own Dan Nelson and installed by Stoner Graphix. With plans to leave for Milan on Thursday after work, we were very happy to get Gotta Have It Race back from Stoners, right around lunch-time!

Rich, Rick, Tommy and Steve loaded Gotta Have It Race into a CJ’s car trailer and hooked it up to Rich’s 2011 6.2L F-150 Raptor. Before our crew left, we decided to throw in some Race Star Industries wheels, Barton shifters and Flowmaster exhaust to add to our display in the Manufactures Midway at Milan. We left CJs at around 6:30 PM Thursday night with Gotta Have It Street in the lead, followed by the Raptor towing Gotta Have It Race and headed west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Gotta Have Builds convoy drove well past midnight and stopped near Toledo, OH to catch some ZZZs. The team was back on the road early the next morning and started heading to Michigan with a planned special stop before heading to Milan Dragway.

Gotta Have It Street - Roush Headquarters

Gotta Have It Street @ Roush HQ

Before we got to the track, it was decided that a small detour towards Livonia, to see our good friends at Roush Performance, was needed. When Gotta Have Builds arrived at Roush HQ, they met with Joseph Mitts and Brian May, who gave us a tour of the facility. CJ’s got to see the Roush production line where they build the famed Roush Mustangs. Roush had quite a few Gotta Have It Green 2013 Mustangs in the production line that day, being converted to Roush Mustangs. Rich and the team even got to checkout Roush’s F-150 Raptor test mule, which had a Roush TVS blower on it! Needless to say, our guys were all very impressed with the facilities at Roush and the hospitality of Joseph & Brian. Thanks, guys!

After the Roush HQ detour, it was only a short drive to Milan Dragway and the fun that awaited our crew. Once CJs got to the track, we unloaded Gotta Have It Race from the trailer, swapped the Race Star Industries wheels onto Gotta Have It Street and setup our display in the Manufactures Midway between Roush (what are the odds?) and Ford Racing. There were still a few hours until Test-n-Tune started, so all three Gotta Have Builds vehicles enjoyed some prep time. We had to install the appropriate race numbers and class decals on Gotta Have It Street and the F-150 Raptor before we could go racing. Rick was registered to race Gotta Have It Street in the Roush Super Stang class, with Rich registered to race Gotta Have It Race in the Roush Super Stang class, as well. Tommy was racing the Raptor in the Detroit Locker Truck and Lightning class and Steve was the designated media guy for us, all weekend.

CJ Pony Parts - Milan Display Tent

Gotta Have Builds setup at Milan Dragway

Test-n-Tune started in the middle of the hot afternoon, on Friday. Rich was anxious to get a run in Gotta Have It Race with the new BMR suspension. Gotta Have It Race went 12.21 @ 114.21 MPH, with an easy 1.88 60’ time on the first pass of the day. The track easily handled Rich’s mild launch and the car went as straight as an arrow, so it was clear that CJ Pony Service had the BMR suspension setup correctly. For Rich’s next pass, he lined up against Rick, who was making his first pass of the day in Gotta Have It Street. Rich was able to improve the launch on Gotta Have It Race with a 1.81 60’ time, but he touched the rev limiter on the 2-3 shift and only ran a 12.32 @ 113.65 MPH. Gotta Have It Street only ran 12.63 @ 110.05 MPH with a 1.93 60’ time. The heat combined with the drive to Milan seemed to take out just a little bit from Gotta Have It Street.

The Milan NMRA Ford Nationals was scheduled for just Friday and Saturday, so qualification runs started Friday night and ran until almost 10pm. As the sun went down, the hope was that the temperature would come down as well and allow everyone to make some faster passes. With the conditions improving as it got later, our guys started feeling like this was the perfect time to try and get our first 11 second pass in Gotta Have It Race. At about 8pm, the Roush Super Stang class made their first qualifying passes. Gotta Have It Race went first and ran a 12.12 @ 114.23 MPH with a 1.74 60’ time. With three passes in a row for Gotta Have It Race with good launches, it was clear that the newly installed BMR suspension was providing much more consistent starts. Rick ran a 12.50 @ 112.57 with a 1.91 60’ time in Gotta Have It Street. That was just .01 of a second off of Gotta Have It Street’s best time of 12.49.

For the last pass of Friday night, Rich was really feeling like he could get that 11 second time slip with a good clean pass. Gotta Have It Street and Gotta Have It Race were lined up together, once again. Rick ran a very consistent 12.51 @ 112.52 with a 1.93 60’ in Gotta Have It Street. Rich had a little bit too much wheel spin on the launch with Gotta Have It Race and ran a 12.07 @112.49 with a 1.89 60’ time, just missing an 11 second pass. If he would have been able to get a 1.80 60’ time, Gotta Have It Race would have easily been in the 11s. The 11s would have to wait until Saturday.

CJ Pony Parts got back to the track early Saturday morning and the Roush Super Stang Class was called to the staging lanes just after 9am. The temperature and humidity were still in our favor, but we knew it was going to get very hot in the afternoon, so if we were going to get that 11 second pass, it had to be now. Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street lined up side-by-side for the first pass of the day. Rich had a GREAT launch with a 1.76 60’ time and with the help of the installed Barton shifter, he was able to bang every gear perfectly and run an 11.97 @ 112.21 MPH! Finally, an 11 second pass! Gotta Have It Street ran another consistent 12.52 @ 112.72 MPH with a 1.92 60’ time. Check out the above video of Gotta Have It Race’s 11 second pass!

After the adrenaline rush of hitting an 11 second run, the Gotta Have Builds crew was ready for eliminations to start! Tommy had run a best of 15.33 @ 90.36 MPH in the cool weather the night before in the F-150 Raptor, so with the automatic dial-in of 0.1 quicker than your best pass he had a dial-in of 15.23. The guys that run the Detroit Locker Truck and Lightning class are very competitive and we knew Tommy was going to have trouble getting close to a 15.23 in the heat, in the late afternoon.

Ford Raptor - Milan MI - CJ Pony Parts

Gotta Have Builds Ford Raptor vs Bob Cochran

Tommy’s qualifying slot put him up against our good friend, Bob Cochran, who is a previous series champion. Needless to say, Tommy didn’t stand a chance against Bob, who cut a great light and won easily. Bob went on to finish in the runner-up position at Milan.

Rick and Rich were up next in the Roush Super Stang class. Gotta Have It Street was running consistently in the 12.50 to 12.54 range all weekend long, so Rick decided to dial-in at 12.51. Gotta Have It Race was not as consistent, so Rich went with a 12.19 dial-in. The first round of eliminations for Roush Super Stang is made with random pairings. Rick in Gotta Have It Street was paired against Brent White and his 2013 Gotta Have It Green Roush Stage 3 Mustang. Brent finished 8th in points last year so Rick knew he had to get a good light and make a clean pass to have a chance at winning. Rick was able to cut his best light of the weekend, a .082 reaction time, but Brent bettered him with a .058 reaction. Unfortunately, the heat must have gotten to Gotta Have It Street, as it ran a 12.65 which allowed Brent to get the win by .12 of a second. Rich in Gotta Have It Race drew an even tougher opponent in Larry Firestone, who finished 5th in points last year. Rich cut a decent .125 reaction time and a nice 60’ of 1.75, but his race was all over when he missed 3rd gear.

Gotta Have It Race - Milan MI - CJ Pony Parts

Gotta Have It Race vs Larry Firestone @ Milan, MI

With all three of the CJ Pony Parts drivers losing in the first round, our event was over much sooner than we had hoped. Even with the early eliminations, all our guys had a blast at NMRA Milan. You can expect to see the boys from CJ Pony Parts with the Gotta Have Builds fleet at the next NMRA event in Joliet, Illinois July 12-15th — The 7th Annual Nitto NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl!

Here are the parts that we have installed so far on Gotta Have It Race:

Here are the parts that we have installed so far on Gotta Have It Street:

30
May

More work, then more racing for Gotta Have Builds!

Our Gotta Have Builds cars have been busy this past week, getting some new modifications and then visiting Cecil County Dragway!

Our new JLT Cold Air Intake in Gotta Have It Green!

Our new JLT Cold Air Intake in Gotta Have It Green!

Last week, we started our first round of power mods to Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street. We installed two cold air intakes from JLT, one in Carbon Fiber and one that is painted Gotta Have It Green. We also installed two XCAL3 tuners from SCT. We loaded each SCT XCAL3 with base 93 octane tunes and with 93 octane tunes for a JLT Cold Air intake. The JLT Cold Air Intake installations were a breeze and took practically no time. Our install video for these JLT Cold Air Intakes will be coming soon to CJ’s YouTube channel!

Next, we installed both of the XCAL3s and loaded the 93 octane JLT Cold Air tunes into both cars. Unfortunately, neither tune was perfect, and we definitely did not want to race either car until those tunes were perfected. So, the day after we loaded the tunes, we gave Jay from JLT a call, and he got us on the right track with a great 93 octane JLT cold air tune for our manual transmission Gotta Have It Race. Thanks for the help Jay! Since we were not able to get the automatic transmission 93 octane JLT Cold Air tune perfected for Gotta Have It Street, we decided to remove the intake and load a base 93 octane tune in Gotta Have It Street for our trip to the track on Saturday.

Bright and early on Saturday morning, Rich, Rick and Steve loaded up both sets of Race Star Industries Dark Star wheels with drag radials, some tools and a tent into Rich’s 2012 Ford Raptor and started the 1-1/2 hour trip down to Cecil County Dragway with Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street. We arrived at the track around 9:30 a.m. and proceeded to unload the truck and setup our pit area. We also met up with our good buddy Brent and his 2011 5.0L Race Red GT. Once we were setup, we put our 17″x4.5” Race Star Industries Dark Star wheels with 185/55-17 M&H Racemaster Front Runners on each car. Gotta Have It Race was prepped with 15″x10″ Dark Star wheels with 275/50-15 Mickey Thompson ET Streets, which fit perfectly because we used BMR’s Rear Sway Bar Relocation Kit. Gotta Have it Street was prepped with 17″x9.5″ Dark Star wheels with 275/40-17 BF Goodrich drag radials.

The last time we had Gotta Have It Race to the drag strip was on May 12th at Cecil County Dragway. If you remember, Bill was able to go 12.05 @ 116 MPH that day. Gotta Have It Race used the same wheels and tires, but only had a base tune that was used to raise the rev limiter so that we wouldn’t hit it in 4th gear before we got to the finish line. With a full tune installed with our SCT XCAL3 plus the addition of our JLT Cold Air Intake and Flowmaster Hushpower full catback, we were hoping to get a much better time.

CJ's 2013 Mustang – Gotta Have It Race

CJ's 2013 Mustang – Gotta Have It Race

Even though it was still only 10:15 in the morning, it was very hot and humid already. Rich knew that he was going to have a challenge if he was going to beat Bill’s time in Gotta Have It Race, especially since he had not had the chance to take Gotta Have It Race down the track at all yet. Rich started his first pass by working on Bill’s recommendation of launching Gotta Have It Race at 4500 RPM and letting the clutch slip just enough without letting it bog. On the first run, it seemed that 4500 RPM was just too much for the track and the Mickey Thompson tires to handle, as Rich had instant wheel spin and only managed a 2.41 60’ time on his way to a 13.42 @ 113.6 MPH. Rich kept working on his launch, trying to find the best combination of RPM to launch at with just the right amount of clutch slippage. Thankfully, Rich had no problems with the shifter during his maiden passes in Gotta Have It Race, and found the Barton shifter and shifter bracket allowed him to power shift without having to worry about missing a gear.

By the time that Rich found the right combination of RPM and clutch slippage to get a good 60’ time, it was 1:30 in the afternoon and the heat and humidity were in full effect. He was able to make two decent back to back passes: 12.24 @ 114.1 MPH with a 1.84 60’ and 12.21 @113.9 MPH with a 1.85 60’. Earlier in the day, Rich set a new best for MPH with a 116.76, which beat our previous best of 116.05. We know that the new JLT Cold Air Intake and SCT XCAL3 tune are making good power, and even with the additional heat and humidity, we were able to post a new best MPH.

CJ's 2013 Mustang – Gotta Have It Street

CJ's 2013 Mustang – Gotta Have It Street

Gotta Have It Street had not been to a track since the NMRA event at Maryland International Raceway on May 6, where we ran a best ET of 12.89 @ 104 MPH and a best MPH of 12.93 @ 109 MPH in completely stock trim. Rick made the first pass at 10:15 a.m. and ran what would be our best time of the day for Gotta Have It Street, a 12.49 @ 112.35 MPH with a 1.93 60’. That first run of the day was a big improvement over our previous best time. Even with the additional heat and humidity, we were able to knock off 0.4 of a second and gain over 3 MPH with just a 93 octane tune from our XCAL3! The tune helped improve the throttle response for Gotta Have It Street and increased the shift points from 6400 RPM to around 6800 RPM, which kept the 5.0L Coyote engine in its power band longer.

On the first run of the day, Rick brake torqued Gotta Have It Street at the start line. With the stock converter, we could only get the torque stall up to around 2000 RPM. Rick hot lapped the car because he wanted to see if he could get a better launch (and ET) by trying to flash the torque converter instead of brake torquing. The second run used that launch technique and produced an almost identical 60’ time, a 1.96 on the way to a 12.54 @ 112 MPH. We let the car cool down for a little bit, hoping that it could cool enough to make up for the rising heat and humidity. Just before noon, Rick made another pass and went 12.51 @ 112.4 MPH with a 1.96 60’. It was not an improvement, but gave him three passes that ranged from 12.49 to 12.54. Consistency like that is going to come in handy when Gotta Have It Street races in the Roush Super Stang class at the NMRA event in Milan Michigan in a few weeks.

Overall, we were very happy with the trip to Cecil County Dragway. We had a new best ET and MPH for Gotta Have It Street and Rich got some valuable seat time in Gotta Have It Race and set a new best MPH, despite the heat.

This weekend, if you are in the area, make sure to come to CJ’s Pony Trails cruise on Friday morning, June 1, and stop by our booth at the All-Ford Nationals on Friday and Saturday to see Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have it Street in person!

Our pit crew for Saturday at the track...

Our enthusiastic pit crew for Gotta Have It Street and Gotta Have It Race on Saturday.

Here are the parts that we have installed so far on Gotta Have It Race:

Here are the parts that we have installed so far on Gotta Have It Street:

9
May

Both Gotta Have Builds compete in the NMRA Ford Nationals!

After so much anticipation over the past few weeks, this past weekend, May 4-6, the CJ Pony Parts team was finally able to get Gotta Have It Race and Gotta Have It Street on the drag strip!

Gotta Have It Street, making its way to Harrisburg.

Before we get into the events on the track, though, Gotta Have It Street finally arrived on Friday, May 4 after quite an adventure to get it here. Throughout the previous week, the CJ’s team had been in constant contact with Hoffman Ford, trying to make sure Gotta Have It Street arrived in time to make the trip to the track over the weekend. On Wednesday, we were put in touch with a regional Ford representative, who found Gotta Have It Street on a train heading to Philadelphia. Our friends at Hoffman Ford contacted a colleague at a dealership near the rail yard, who contacted an employee at the rail yard. He was able to secure Gotta Have It Street for us, once it was unloaded from the train.

Now that we knew where it was, we needed to pick up Gotta Have It Street and get it to the track! Hoffman Ford helped with that, too, by securing permission for us to drive it from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, then sending one of their staff members to drive our CJ’s team member to Philadelphia. They left Hoffman’s around noon on Friday, picked up the car and made it back to Harrisburg around 4:30 p.m. After that, Gotta Have It Street just needed to be prepped and inspected, then it was cleared to head to the track! It was quite an adventure, but we are thankful to all who were involved, especially Hoffman Ford, for their work in delivering Gotta Have It Street!

Now onto the weekend at the track!

Gotta Have It Race is about to start a pass on the drag strip.

Gotta Have It Race is about to start a pass on the drag strip.

After a late night Thursday that was spent detailing Gotta Have It Race and our 2011 Ford Raptor, both left on Friday morning for the 12th annual NMRA Ford Nationals at the Maryland International Speedway! After arriving around 1:00 p.m., both vehicles got registered and passed the tech inspection. For the weekend’s races, both Gotta Have Builds Mustangs were registered in the Roush Super Stang class, while the Raptor was in the Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning class.

Gotta Have It Race made its first pass later in the afternoon, on a hot and humid day with a corrected density altitude (DA) of 1872 feet. For the first pass, the car was completely stock, aside from the Barton Short Throw Shifter. On stock tires, Gotta Have It Race’s best run was 13.20 @ 108 mph.

Later that evening, the Race Star Industries Dark Star 17″ x 4.5″ front drag wheels and Dark Star 15″ x 10″ rear drag wheels and Mickey Thompson ET Street and M&H Front Runner tires were installed. The weather cooled into the 60s with the corrected DA dropping to 1081 feet. With both the weather and tire changes, Gotta Have It Race did much better. It’s quickest pass was 12.79 @ 107.1 mph, though it did go a little faster on a 12.84 @ 108.77 mph pass. During the evening, we found that we were hitting the rev limiter in 4th gear, 100 feet before the finish line which cost us some time.

After the evening passes, Gotta Have It Street arrived.

The first picture of both Gotta Have Builds together!

The first picture of both Gotta Have Builds together!

The next morning, we made one minor modification to Gotta Have It Race: Using an SCT iTSX tuner, the rev limiter was raised from 7000 RPMs to 7500 RPMs. No other changes were made to the car. Gotta Have It Street also had to have the Race Star Industries Dark Star 17″x4.5″ front wheels and Dark Star 17″x9.5″ rear wheels with 275/40-17 BF Goodrich Drag Radials quickly installed. Then, Gotta Have It Street needed to be run through track registration and the tech inspection. After all that, racing could begin for the day!

Gotta Have It Street is about to start a pass on the drag strip.

Gotta Have It Street is about to start a pass on the drag strip.

Gotta Have It Race improved on the times from the day before significantly, with the best pass being 12.39 @ 111.97 mph. Gotta Have It Street came out of the gate strong for an automatic Mustang, with the best pass being a 12.93 @ 109.04, though the team felt that the low RPM shifts (around 6500 RPMs) of the automatic were robbing tenths of seconds off the time. Finally, the Raptor ran a 15.62 @ 89 mph, which was pretty good considering its massive size.

On the final day of racing, the weather was perfect in the low 60s with low humidity and a corrected DA of 212 feet. All three CJ’s vehicles competed in their first round of competition and were eliminated, though they all recorded decent times. The Raptor went first and ran a 15.73 @ 87 mph, but lost to an experienced racer who finished 7th in the class the previous year. Gotta Have It Race went next and ran a 12.22 @ 109.43 mph, while Gotta Have It Street ran a 12.895 @ 104 mph, though the driver got off the throttle a little early to avoid breaking out, which cost him two tenths of a second.

With everyone being eliminated, Gotta Have It Race made a few more passes to get a better time. That afternoon, we ran a 12.08 @ 111.29 mph, our best pass of the weekend! Check out the video of our fastest pass!

Overall, we’re very pleased with the performance of all three CJ’s vehicles, especially Gotta Have It Race’s fast time on Sunday. More races are coming up soon, so keep checking back!

The CJ Pony Parts team standing by their vehicles.

The CJ Pony Parts team standing by their vehicles.

4
May

Gotta Have It Race gets its first modifications!

We made it less than one week before we started making a few modifications to Gotta Have It Race. Of course, we did have to get ready for the track this weekend.

Gotta Have It Race 2013 Mustang GT

On Wednesday, several CJ’s team members got down to work installing four parts for Gotta Have It Race’s big unveiling at the track this weekend:

First, the team got to work on the front wheels and tires, which was very easy: Just remove the old and swap in the new!

The next task was the BMR Swaybar Relocation Kit. It took a little longer, but with the experience of CJ Pony Service, was no big deal!

Then, the rear wheels and tires went on:

Finally, the Barton Short Throw Shifter and Barton Shifter Bracket were installed:

The stock shifter being removed.

 

The new Barton Shifter being installed.

Check out a few shots of the finished product:

We’ll be providing much more detailed videos and blogs on these installs soon, so check back in a week or two when they are ready to go!

Today, Gotta Have It Race and our supporting 2011 Ford Raptor are on the road for 12th annual NMRA Ford Nationals at the Maryland International Speedway! They will be arriving shortly, and will be participating in qualifying runs later today. Unfortunately, Gotta Have It Street will be a little late to the party–we just picked it up!

Gotta Have It Street is almost here....

Gotta Have It Street will arrive in Maryland late tonight/early tomorrow for qualifying runs tomorrow.

We’ll share results next week, upon their return, so you’ll want to keep checking back.

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