Racetech History
November 18th, 1994: Bryan Redeker purchases a 1984 Mustang L. Work starts right away to restore the car.
June 1995: After only having a license for 24 hours, Bryan drives the car to Grand Rapids where it placed 5th at its first car show.
May 1996: The Mustang is displayed at the Indiana SAAC car show for the first time.
September 1996: Mustang featured in the magazine, Mustang Illustrated
October 1996: Bryan Redeker along with Ken Sharkey and Nic Hunter compete in a road rallye. This marks the first competition event, and the last time the car would operate with a 2.3L engine.
December 1996: Work begins to remove the 4 cylinder engine and 3-speed transmission.
April 1997: Installation of a 302 CID V8 with a manual transmission is completed.
May 1997: Bryan picks up a 1st place at the Indiana SAAC car show, and then competes in his first autocross the following day after winning a 1st place at the car show.
August 1997: Bryan pilots the Mustang for the first time at GingerMan for an open track event. Fastest lap ran was a 2:05:xx.
April 1998: Racetech Engineering is founded and begins work on an 1988 Escort GT. This would be the first FWD car to be modified by Racetech.
May 1998: Bryan competes in the Indiana SAAC road rallye, ties the record for the longest distance traveled due to a navigation error.
July 1998: Bryan competes in the American Muscle Car Challenge at GingerMan, but retires early due to carburetor trouble.
May 1999: Brandon, along with Bryan as navigator, compete in the Indiana SAAC Road Rallye with the Escort Type RS.
August 1999: Electrical issues ground the Mustang from daily driver status.
March 2000: Bryan takes delivery of a new Focus ZX3; work begins within hours of its arrival to prepare it for track use. The ZX3 would be the basis for all competition events from spring of 2000 until fall of 2005.
April 2000: Racetech Engineering is renamed Racetech Performance.
August 2000: Racetech Focus displayed at the SVT Experience at Ford’s World Headquarters.
October 2000: Bryan enters the Focus for an open track event at GingerMan. The event would be the first open track event for the Focus. Brandon also enters the event in the #22 Escort Type RS. This would also be the first event using FWD cars.
May 2001: Racetech competes with the Focus in the Indiana SAAC Road Rallye, places 3rd. The engine on the #22 Escort Type RS suffers a catastrophic engine failure on the return trip, and is retired from service.
June 2001: Bryan begins to compete in Solo 2 with the Focus, places 8th in STS in the car’s first autocross. Click on the results link for a complete listing of all the autocross results.
September 2001: Racetech Focus ZX3 is on display at the Import Nationals at Route 66 Dragway.
February 2002: Racetech Focus featured in Import Racer magazine.
May 2002: Bryan and Brandon compete again in the Indiana SAAC Road Rallye, but only place a 2nd. The team was penalized for arriving at the end of the stage too quickly.
July 2002: Racetech fields a 2 driver autocross team with Bryan driving as car #7, and Brandon driving as #22. Bryan picks up a 2nd in FSP, and Brandon scores a 4th in his first drive in the Focus at the WMU autocross event. The team would compete together for the remainder of the season.
August 2002: Bryan runs a 1:47.xx at GingerMan with the Focus ZX3, using BFGoodrich G-Force T/A R1 tires. The team cracks a new set of Brembo rotors while attempting to record their fastest time. Currently, the 1:47 is the fastest lap record for the team at GingerMan.
May 2003: Bryan and Brandon try one more time to win the Indiana SAAC Road Rallye. Victory eludes the team again, and they have yet to compete in the event since.
September 2003: Racetech fields a 2 car, 2 driver autocross team comprising of Bryan driving the #7 FSP Focus ZX3 and Brandon driving the #22 HS 1993 Escort GT. Bryan picks up a 1st, and Brandon scores a 4th at Grattan Raceway.
February 2004: The team attempts ice racing for the first time running a 2 car, 2 driver effort at GingerMan. Bryan scores a 2nd in the FWD class with the Focus, and places 5th out of 72 cars overall. This was the only time the team attempted an ice race.
July 2004: Brandon takes delivery of a 1998 SVT Contour.
July 2005: Racetech pulls the 1984 Mustang out from retirement for testing at the GVSU Solo 2 event. Data and notes from the testing would serve as the basis for developing the current CP car.
September 2005: The Focus ZX3 is sold and replaced with a 2003 SVT Focus. The Contour and Focus would compete together in GS for autocrossing until the Mustang is completed.
May 2006: Racetech begins the teardown and disassembly of the Mustang.
November 2006: The engine, drive-train, interior, and suspension parts are all removed from the Mustang. Brandon begins work on welding the uni-body and repairing rust damage.
December 2006: Racetech works with Josh Vink of ReFab LLC to develop laser cut sheet metal reinforcements for the chassis.
May 2007: Racetech completes stage 1 of the Mustang project, and puts the car on a thousand mile road test just two weeks after the engine is installed.
June 2007: The team tests at GingerMan with the Mustang for the first time since being rebuilt. Bryan pilots the car around the track at a consistent lap time of 1:50 in order to gather data. Brandon analyzes the data in order to make decisions on what changes should be made to the car for the remainder of the season.
July 2007: Bryan and Brandon run the SVTOA HDPE in Group 2 at GingerMan Raceway. The Mustang was outfitted with an upgraded aerodynamic package, along with revised brake cooling ducting and brake cooling fans. All of the brake cooling upgrades were not enough to keep the brakes cool enough to operate at their proper level. Lap times suffered as the brakes overheated. Bryan suffered an “off-track” excursion coming off turn 3, damaging the left rear wheel, ending the event. The data collected from the event has lead the team to decide on upgrading the brakes with larger rotors.
September 2007: The final autocross of the year was held at My Import Auto Center, and the air temperature could not have been worse for the team. Temps in the morning were only a few degrees above freezing with mostly cloudy skies. The course set-up was very tight, and the cold temps would mean the tires would not be able to gain traction. Under these conditions, the Mustang did not perform well.
November 2007: Work begins on the installation of 13” Brembo brakes with twin piston aluminum PBR calipers. The installation of the larger brakes is requiring changing the spindles over to a new design with integrated bearing hub and changing over to 5-lug wheels in all 4 corners. A Maximum Motorsport Bumpsteer Kit is also being installed, along with Steeda X2 extended length balljoints. The Bumpsteer Kit requires the spindles to be modified to accept a 5/8” bolt instead of a tapered seat tie-rod end. Churchill Technologies handles the CNC machining of the spindles, and modifications to the rear brakes.
January 2008: As the front brakes are being completed, work turns to the rear suspension. The rear axles were replaced with standard length 5-lug units, and the modified rear brake rotors were now adapted to the axles. With all 4 corners utilizing 5-lug bolt pattern, the new wheels can be test fitted. The front wheels will now be 1998 Cobra 17” x 8” cast aluminum and the rears are 1995 Cobra R R58 17” x 9” cast aluminum.
February 2008: The rear suspension is upgraded with a Maximum Motorsports Panhard Bar, with aluminum rod. The front suspension is also upgraded with Maximum Motorsports Coil-Over Kit. The conventional springs are replaced with Hyper-Coil 2.5” x 10” 275 lb/in springs mounted on lightweight aluminum sleeves. The Maximum Motorsports Bumpsteer Kit is also installed, which replaces the factory tie-rod ends with extruded aluminum tie rods with spherical rod end and aluminum alloy shims.
March 2008: Advan Racing A032-R tires are mounted to the new aluminum wheels, and test fitted to the car. With the car able to be moved, welding begins on the Maximum Motorsports Full Length Sub-Frame Connectors.
April 2008: Welding has been completed on the subframe, and work now turns to aligning the suspension.
May 2008: A bent and twisted passenger side spindle has caused the car to be grounded until a replacement can be found and machined. The team will miss 3 autocrosses due to the bent suspension component.
July 2008: The first autocross for the team in 2008, and also the first major failure. During the 2nd run at GVSU, Bryan is forced to retire early with a failed front suspension. In front of a large crowd, the Mustang limps off the course with a broken front passenger-side balljoint. The car is hauled via a flatbed trailer back, where the part is welded together. While the car is being repaired, Bryan extends the front fenders 2” to help with wheel/tire clearance.
November 2008: The factory k-member and control arms are removed and replaced with a tubular k-member and arms from Maximum Motorsports.
February 2009: Removal of the upper control arms begins, as well as the installation of the Maximum Motorsports HD Torque Arm.