LS to compete in "One Lap of America" race!!!

Breaking news:

The OLOA LS has a 4.6L 2 valve supercharged engine rated at 375hp and 380 ft-lbs of torque. It has an automatic transmission though not a LS transmission. It has a Torsen torque-sensing locking differential. It also has a Mustang Mach 1 shaker hood scoop on it. The supercharger is putting out a modest 6 pounds of boost since reliability is more of a concern than total horsepower output for this event.

Front brakes are from a Mustang Cobra. Shocks may be the LLSOC Project Car Leda shocks with Eibach springs.

For those of you who were at Mania (annual LLSOC event) you will recognize the car since it was the "Winged Wonder" that was at the Show-N-Shine and at Waterford Hills. See what happens when engineers blow up an engine?

I need to stress that this is just an engineering study vehicle. There are no plans to put this into production.............yet. Depending on how things go, LLSOC will be the impetus behind getting Lincoln to listen to enthusiasts. More details on that to follow.

LLSOC is making a decal for the roof of the vehicle. The LS team definitely wants LLSOC to be shown loud and clear. LLSOC has also been authorized to be the ONLY site showing the videos of the in-car camera and will have FORD.COM pointing to our site. Dealers will be notified that if anyone of their customers are interested in seeing the OLOA LS to come to www.llsoc.com.

There will be LLSOC volunteers who will pick up the video tapes at each stopping point each day to overnight them to LLSOC so they can quickly edit them and stream them on the site.

It is also been confirmed that the OLOA LS will be at MANIA 2004. There should be room to ride in it since it will have the standard seats in it.

The OLOA LS team will be wearing LLSOC shirts for all 8 days of the event.

More details as they become available.

Links:
www.llsoc.com
www.onelapofamerica.com

On March 29th , the car has a date with a camera. I'll be sure to update you all with pictures, If I can. I saw a sort of sneak peek of the car last July and let me tell you, it can turn a corner! The only thing it REALLY needed was power, which it now has. Will it be enough to best a WRX STi? Who knows?? The first race is on Apr. 30, in South Bend, IN. I'll be there to help support the team. In addition, my name will appear on the car as well as many others' who financially supported the cause! This may be "the last chance" to convince those guys at Lincoln there is a large pool of LS enthusiasts who want to see a production Hi-Po version of the LS to "school" the CTS-V. If you can make one (or more) of the races on the schedule, please do so!

GO LINCOLN!!!

The photo shoot was moved back a couple days to allow time for final "dressing". Maybe next week!

The first race day is in South Bend, Indiana at the Tire Rack skid pad. There will likely be a caravan from Dearborn, if you can make it, you're welcome!

Oh boy... More complications. The photo shoot was back again. This time to the third week in April. There were problems with some of the sponsor decals and the team found out that a CTS-V is also entered, though in a different class. After that news, they decided to up the ante with further improvements. Once the new decals arrive and the newest round of improvements are complete, we'll hopefully get to see some pictures.

FINALLY, some news!
The specs for the car have been released. It has a '04 Roush Stage 3 Mustang engine in it. 430 hp! There's lots more at the official page:
http://www.llsoc.com/V2R1/OLOA/default.asp Check it out! Pictures still haven't been released, but it's my understanding that they were taken this weekend at an undisclosed location.

Picture time!! This is just the first batch to come rolling in. Keep checking back as the page will be updated regularly. http://mirror.llsoc.com/?page=images

I don't know if anybody is reading this, but the link above has been updated several times since I posted it. Lots of pictures and videos.

The race started Friday afternoon. I was there. The LS placed 4th OVERALL, behind three Porche 911's. Needless to say it was first in it's class, while the Cadillacs were 30th and 33rd overall...

That's the good news. There's also bad...

They blew the engine from an overheating problem on Saturday. The team spent the whole night replacing it somehow and are back under way. The overeheating is still a problem and they are working on a fix.

DAMN! If only they could keep the engine cool, we could do some serious damage out there.

My fingers are crossed.

The team has reduced the overheating problem by installing a new higher-capacity radiator. They are also spraying water on the fins with a rigged system of pumps, reservoirs, and nozzles to further reduce temps. The grills, a little sheetmetal, and foglights have been removed as well. They claim they are running around 80% of their available power and placing mid-pack overall in points. They are just over half way and lost a LOT of points for the no-starts this weekend. Things continue to improve and these guys are giving everything they've got. If you have the time, come out to South Bend this Satuday morning and help cheer them on. They really need some support after all the hell they've been through.

The team had nothing but trouble from the second day. Nearly continuous overheating problems until the last couple races kept them from pushing the car to its limits and once the engine was sorted out, the tranny decided to act up by throwing codes instructing the engine to enter limp-mode as well as lots of gear-hunting. The team gave up over a thousand cumulative points because of the engine failure and gave up another 500 or so because of transmission problems. They finished with 3030 points. Add 1500 to make 4530 points and they would have finished in ~26th place overall and ~5th in class. These men put forth a Hurculean effort to even FINISH the race, let alone place 49th overall.
People are stumbling all over themselves to praise the Firestone brat for his efforts to finish after a wreck at Road America. Bah. The REAL heroes of this year's One Lap are Chet, Matt, and Jaime from Team LS. Take it to the bank.