0amanda@ridetech

The reason hotrodders come to these forums is for information…about suspension, engines, tires, brakes, wiring…ect.

The reason hotrodders drive and race their cars is to have fun…and to determine if the changes they have made are actually an improvement.

Imagine if there were an event that combined the two…an event where you would have direct, LIVE access to experts in the suspension, brakes, engine, (and several other fields); you could get them to look at YOUR car in person, ask their advice, potentially TRY their advice, then ask more questions (in person) about the results of that advice.

The Cars & Cones Road Tour might just provide that chance for you. The Tour starts on Monday May 2 at the DSE shop in Charlotte, NC, and ends on Friday May 7 at the RideTech shop in Jasper, IN. At each stop, we will be doing 4-5 hours of autocross fun, then retiring to the day’s sponsor’s facility for dinner and socializing. The next morning, we get up and drive 2-4 hours to the next stop…and repeat. Find out more here: http://www.fm3roadtrip.com/

Here is a short list of the people who will be on the tour, and what they might be driving:

Bret Voelkel, RideTech – (somebody has to be first on the list,right?) ’70 Buick GSX
Building cars since 1979, building suspensions professionally since 1996, driven many hotrods across the country, driven several thousand autocross laps…I still LOVE to talk about cars and try to help people improve them.

Kyle Tucker, Detroit Speed – ’65 Nova
GM suspension engineers Kyle and Stacey Tucker started DSE on the back of a pro-touring ’69 Camaro that they put THOUSANDS of highway miles on. They might be best known on an autocross track, but they also know exactly what it takes to make your car happy on the highway.

Rob McGregor – No Limit Engineering – ’65 Mustang
A mechanical engineer who spent time on the TRD Toyota racing program many moons ago, Rob has likely put more highway miles on a motorcycle and/or a hotrod than many of us put on our daily drivers. Rob is a real common-sense guy that tries to find the most efficient solution to your problems.

Chris Smith – Smitty’s Custom Automotive – ’70 Camaro StreetGRIP car –
While he is now known as the driver of the 48-HR Corvette and the RideTech shock tuner, he also builds lots of fast reliable hotrods in his Tiffin, OH shop. There is little Smitty can’t fix or prevent from breaking…a totally dedicated hotrodder who thrives on helping other hotrodders.

Britt Marolf – RideTech – 48-HR Camaro – Brit is the RideTech Special Projects engineer. He has 2.5 small children so he doesn’t get out much, but when he does, his autocross competitors know about it! Britt is also the guy to talk to if you want to build an all-wheel-drive Gen 3 Camaro…he knows all the ways that don’t work! Shock expert, air suspension expert, electronics expert…he’ll make your head swim with information that you never knew existed.

Chad Reynolds – bangshift.com– ’72 Chevelle StreetGRIP car – Some of you know him as one of the founders of Bangshift.com, others may know him from his announcing duties at Optima and Goodguys. Fewer may know that the reason he is such an effective announcer who needs no script is that he KNOWS this stuff…because he has lived it for the last 40 years! The only thing about hotrodding that Chad doesn’t know is a stranger. You’ll be kicking him off your leg!

Jeff Schwartz – Schwartz Chassis – ’65 Tempest – Jeff makes a living building kickass chassis for lots of different applications, AND has a history of building huge horsepower unique hotrods. Anyone remember a certain Ultima GTR with a twin turbo LS engine that made 1012hp and went well over 200 MPH? Not impressed yet? How about putting 40,000 miles on that car? Yeah, I was impressed, too.

Bruce Raymond – Raymond’s Performance Center – Bruce’s shop in Indianapolis is the support system for Ken Thwait’s VERY successful Optima Ultimate Street Car program. Yeah, they’re kinda smart like that. Bruce and his guys will be following along with the tour to provide repair services and general car building/maintaining/racing tips.

The Bonus…each sponsor will be giving away a LOT of product and swag. RideTech is giving away a full StreetGRIP system EVERY DAY. DSE, No Limit, Holley, Forgeline, Baer and others will be giving out similar prizes.

AND…after all of this…Ron Sutton will be presenting his first Suspension workshop of 2016 at the RideTech facility in Jasper, Indiana on Saturday May 7. For those of you who attended one of Ron’s workshops last year, you can attest to how much information is offered. Be aware that the information presented in the 2016 workshop will be significantly different than last year’s workshops.

2016 topics:
· Tips and tricks to measure the suspension and steering points in YOUR car
· Learn to evaluate your car’s geometry and understand it better
· Simple ways to improve your car’s grip and handling consistency
· Proven methods to create out-of-the-box winning suspension set-ups
· Master the recipe for ultra fast spring, swaybar, and shock combinations
· How to achieve amazing grip and corner speed in your current car…or any car
· Track day tuning to dial in your car for neutral, balanced handling

The Ron Sutton Seminar does have an extra cost of $329.00 [about the cost of ONE good tire] but it will likely be the best investment you have ever made in making you and your car faster and happier. [NOTE: You do NOT have to participate in the tour to attend the Sutton workshop.]

Soooo…the highlights:

1. Sign up for one of the last 20 spots left in the Cars And Cones Road Tour. You can enter for the entire week for $500 or just for a day at a time for $75/day. Note that the day rate does not include any autocross access or raffled prizes like the weeklong entry. http://www.fm3roadtrip.com/event-registration.html

Why? Have fun…learn things…have fun…win prizes…have fun!

2. Sign up for Ron Sutton Suspension workshop on May 7 at RideTech http://www.ronsutton-racetechnology.com/news/article.php?storyid=64

Why? Learn something…make your car faster and handle better…what other reason do you need?

0ridetechbret

I see that Sam Strano is going on this tour as well. There should be several Corvettes that make the trip. The 48 hr Corvette might make an appearance at the bowling green stop...and will be at the RideTech stop for sure.
Btw...you dont have to register to just show up and watch. Spectators are most welcome!