Red, loud, and proud! Ernesto...
Red, loud, and proud! Ernesto Roco's '98 Cobra recently earned him the '05 AIX West (American Iron Extreme) championship. The heavily modified SVT hammers the West Coast road courses with Griggs Racing suspension bits and Tiger Racing roof and front fender skins. Royalty Auto Body in Santa Monica, California, gets the credit for making the Rio Red snake look as good as it runs on the road course.
In addition to the SLA, a Griggs adjustable front antisway bar dials out the understeer that plagues all Mustangs. In back, the remainder of Griggs' special tricks is put into place as a cam-bered 8.8 rear with 9-inch Ford housing ends holds 3.73 gears and a Torsen LSD. There is no rear sway bar.
Incredibly, even with his less-radical AI engine, Ernesto has been extremely competitive in the AIX fields. His most current conquests to date include a stellar 1:28.0 lap time on the big track at Willow Springs and a 1:53.7 at Buttonwillow. The Reseda, California-based racer has even won the '05 NASA AIX West championship. So not only does he know how to build a car (which he has practically done all on his own in his garage), but he also knows his way around a set of turns.
As an aside, you should be aware that Ernesto has managed to carefully whittle the car's weight to an anorexic 2,500 pounds, wet. AIX requires a 2,700-pound minimum, so with driver, the car is barely legal for weight. Future plans call for another 100-pound weight reduction and the subsequent addition of ballast, so he can move the weight where he wants it.
Soon, Ernesto will step up to a complete AIX engine and look for the horsepower necessary to stay at the top in 2006. Thanks to his wife, Pam, he's been blessed with a supportive family that understands his late-night obsessions with cotter pins, lug nuts, and grease. It paid off in 2005, and hopefully, it will work out for him this year. After all, it's not getting to the top that's hard--it's staying there.