Ticket-to-Ride Explained

Ticket to Ride is Motovicity’s premiere showcase event where our customers can get in the action to win a 2013 Ford Mustang GT with a trunk full of the latest brands of performance parts from Vibrant, Exedy, StopTech, KW Suspension, Whiteline Performance, Royal Purple, Gates Racing, Sparco, STACK and BBK.

As we collect parts for our Ticket To Ride 2013 Ford Mustang, our focus has turned to the suspension.  In our last segment of Ticket To Ride, we looked at some sway bars, braces, 4 link geometry correcting links and a Watts link from Whiteline to make sure that the Motivicity machine is well on its way towards world class cornering performance.

The next stage of our suspension overhaul—replacing dampers and springs—is where most of the handling magic happens. Our project 323is was purchased with 60,000 miles on it and we switched to H&R Sport springs and fresh OE shocks and struts at about 80,000 miles.  Having reached 150,000 miles, however, it was now time to replace the OE dampers again, but why go stock when you can go better?  Much better!

It's time to open up the Whiteline catalog and order some suspension parts! In this edition of the Ticket to Ride Spotlight, we'll take a look at Whiteline Suspension's extensive parts listing for the Ford Mustang. 

The BMW 3-series has been widely accepted as one of the best handling cars for many decades.  That holds particularly true for the E36 chassis, which had some nice technological advances in suspension layout over its E30 predecessor, and could also still be considered fairly light and "tossable" by modern standards.  Of course, ending production in the late-90s, the E36s have grown a little long in the tooth... 

The most basic engine upgrade most Ford Mustang enthusiasts will target are the exhaust manifolds, as they are not only a great way to unleash some ponies from under the hood, but they can also brighten up the engine bay. For emission legal performance, you can't beat the Tuned Shorty Header offered by BBK.

A few months ago we visited KW Suspensions' factory in Germany to learn about the development of  their new 3-way adjustable Clubsport coilovers.  We feel that the 3-way Clubsport is a pivotal product for KW.  It promises the flexibility in tuning of expensive elite Motorsports only shocks that are priced out of reach of most enthusiasts in a package that is 50% less than the custom uber dampers.

Some might argue with only 304 hp the V6 Camaro's engine output  should be where to start the upgrades, but we do not agree. The 5th generation Chevrolet Camaro may have been given all the underpinnings of a great sports car, but it was still designed to appeal to the general consumer and that translated to a squishy ride with lots of understeer.

Racing is hazardous to your health.  With a helmet on, one of the most immediate dangers to your continued existence on this planet is a basilar skull fracture. So we install and test the Head and Neck Support (HANS) Device along with Sparco's HANS specific harness.

Without forcing you to read about our Nissan Titan's transmission woes, basically the trucks major problem is that the transmission temperatures get very high when towing going up long steep grades. To cure our transmission overheating woes, we install a PLM Titan transmission oil pan and fill it with Royal Purple.

Project GD STI - Getting it Slowed Down

The Subaru GD STI comes with pretty good brakes from the factory. This means we would have to be careful when it comes to modding them as it would be easy to worsen the performance with a poorly engineered brake upgrade. We selected Stoptech's Trophy STR big brake kit.

A lot of times a pre made exhaust just wont do it.  You might want to make a big diameter turbo exhaust for a car that never came turbocharged.  You might want to make a special exhaust for your own special requirements. In our case we wanted to build an exhaust for our SR20VE powered 92 Sentra SE-R.

In the last installment, we tightened down Project Mustang 5.0's chassis with Whiteline sway bars and strut bracing, dramatically increasing its tarmac-holding capability and making the chassis much less prone to being "upset" in quick transitions such as slaloms. Now, we're going to turn to the rear suspension.

When we got a call from KW Suspension asking if we would like to visit their facilities in Germany, we felt like Charlie in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he found that golden ticket for a tour of that wonderful place.  If you don't know who or what KW is, they are the makers of some of the best suspensions available for both the tuner and the professional racing market.