Ryan Cheek Racing

Racecar has some new parts! Maximum Motorsports Caster/Camber plates and Whiteline Adjustable Front Swaybar Endlinks. 

Kyle and I did the installs and made a video. I am still getting the hang of videoing and editing, as well as wrenching. I get frustrated setting up the camera and trying to get everything in the frame, but I really enjoy doing the on camera stuff. We are using my phone to video and the DJI app for editing. Editing the videos on my phone is the bane of my existence and takes forever, BUT I love sharing the process of building a race car. Sit back and please enjoy our awkwardness!

I installed a Cold Air Intake and Tune on Racecar. Things didn't go as expected but worked out in the end. 

I took the car out for a ride after the install and I am really surprised at the difference. Advertised performance gains were ~30 hp & tq overall, but I was skeptical and wasn't really concerned about those types of gains. Yet, the car is a lot peppier! It has better throttle response and more pull in the upper RPMs. A very nice surprise and will make a positive difference on track.  

Here's the video from the install! 

After a 2 year break, I decided to take Hank, my 2017 GT, back out to our local autocross.

Highlands Sports Car Club is a small car club in WNC that struggles to find areas large enough, and accommodating enough, to hold autocross events. However, with only two small venues available to them, they annually hold two separate points-earning autocross series, with typically 10+ events in each series. Every event is well thought out, generally goes smoothly without typical small club issues (like not enough experienced staff, under-funded & old equipment, etc), and offers a camaraderie that I have found unmatched with larger autocross clubs. It's the club that I started autocrossing my "heavy-wont-turn" Mustang with and the club that helped fuel my motorsports passion. Over the last couple years I have been focusing on different areas of motorsports, but getting back to the people and small parking lots that helped build my skills and confidence behind the wheel has remained in my thoughts. 

As I look ahead to my 2021 season, which has SCCA Time Trials, and Hillclimbs on the roster for Racecar (my 2006 GT), a mid-week evening autocross that costs $25 (members) and is 20 minutes from my house, seems like a great opportunity for some adrenaline and to play with my daily driver. Which, btw, only saw 500 miles in 2020, and definitely needs to get out more. 

As I arrived to the first Night Series event of 2021, I saw some familiar faces and some new faces. All were welcoming. I came out mostly because I wanted to have some fun, but was worried I might not know how to autocross anymore. I was afraid I wouldn't remember the course, or I'd be hitting all the cones. Surprsingly, that is not what I should have been worried about. I was not prepared for the magnanimous differences between my two Mustang's power delivery & handling qualities!!! Quite sure there were some puckered buttholes on course as I full throttled, over rotated and veered towards corner workers. But, fear not, my skills aren't dead, and I successfully recovered each rowdy display of 'merica and didn't hit a single person!

Throughout my 5 runs, I continued to drop time which felt great and kept me pumped for the next lap. Unfortunately, I did kill some cones and took home a 39.2 as my fastest official time. I ran a 38.3 on my last lap, but a cone was called. Still not sure which cone I hit and the video doesn't really help. No worries, I'll be back and will run a 38.0 clean! 

Results: 

Class CAM-C: 1st/2

Overall PAX: 17th/70

Overall Raw: 21st/70

Smiles: infinite and still have one on today.

Car Modifications:

2017 Mustang GT Premium Performance Pack

Ford Performance Power Pack 2

Ford Performance Track Handling Suspension

Ford Performance GT350 Adjustable Exhaust by Borla

SVE Wheels 19x10

Michelin PS4S 295/30 (These are my old, very worn, tires from the 2018 season with over 15 auto crosses, handful of track days, and 14k daily driven miles)

Schroth Racing Quick-fit Pro 4point Harness (removable)

I've put together a video of each run followed by my corresponding IG stories, that I posted during the event.

We made it! Let's turn some laps at this beautiful iconic track!

We pulled into VIR at ~4:30 Friday afternoon. After a warm welcome from Courtney, who was my novice coach at TTNATS2020, we followed the North Paddock road around the rolling hills and took in the sunny landscape of VIR. Parking, unloading, and getting checked-in and the car teched took less than 30mins! I stuck around a little longer to catch a driver's meeting, then we headed over to the admin building to check-in for our room at The Lodge. Our room I much bigger than I expected, which was a nice surprise! Once unloaded at the room we went to dinner at the Oak Tree Tavern, also located on the grounds of VIR, and it was tasty!

I spent the rest of my evening sitting on the porch outside my room at The Lodge. The stars were out, the Spring Peepers were chirping, and there were bats zooming in & out of the glow from the nearby street lamp. As sat and tried to watch some incar videos of people driving VIR, but had to stop and take in the beauty, peacefulness, and significance of the moment. I had watched (on tv) many great racers go around this track. It's a track that is on nearly every driver's bucket list. And, here I was, staring at the curbing of T5, knowing ld be throttling hard as I clipped that apex and headed down the straight to the climbing esses. The feeling of gratefulness and excitement was overwhelming to say the least. 

I will be headed onto track on Saturday at 8:30 for some paced laps and then I'll have 4 track sessions throughout the day to learn and start setting fast times. Check out my stories for updates!

SCCA Inc. #scca #funwithcars #hagerty #womeninautomotive #PlayAllTheMotorsports