Hi Larry:
Prior to buying my race-prepared Pantera I had a street car that I took out fairly regularly. Here's a short, off-the-top-of-my-head list of where to start with your Pantera track days.
1. Have an upgraded oil pan. The stock pan is not made for track driving and oil starvation and possible catastrophic damage is a very real possibility without one of the pans that all the various Pantera specialists sell.
2. Install high-performance brake pads and bleed your brakes with fresh high-temp brake fluid.
3. Take the car to a real Pantera specialist for a thorough checkup of all the various mechanical functions. It'll ensure you don't find yourself spending your whole weekend sitting on a bench watching others having fun.
4. Buy a set of special racing tires. Dozens of Pantera owners have old, aftermarket 15" wheels in the backs of their garages that can be had for almost nothing. Buy a set of Hoosier slicks size 225/50ZR15 and 275/50ZR15 (
www.tirerack.com) and find someone you can con into hauling them to the track for you. Don't drive on the street with the Hoosiers unless you live next door to the track. Track tires - especially if you run crappy old BFGs on the street - will do more to improve your car's performance and your fun than anything else you can do. Street tires - even really good ones like Michelin Pilots on 17" Campy clones - are much less communicative and progressive and can really be a handful on the track. Your car will be much more benign and fun to drive with the Hoosiers and will help more than any shock or sway bar change you can make.
5. Attend a driving school. If you can afford to go a school that lets you beat on their own cars that's certainly the first choice. I went to the Bondurant school in AZ and wouldn't have traded the experience for anything. But if can't make that investment and have never been on the track before I highly recommend that you avoid one of those for-profit open track events - even if they say they'll provide instructors - and go to a designated driving school such as those put on by the various BMW, Porsche or vintage racing clubs. I've been to all three and, trust me, I learned a ton. You don't need to worry about not having one of the club's makes; they LOVED seeing my old Pantera come off the trailer instead of their boring usual cars. Let me know where you live and I'll get you some contacts.
Hope that gives you some idea of where to go next. Drop me a line if you have any questions or need clarification on any of this.
Matt Merritt
Burbank, CA
mmerritt@eventvehicles.com
