Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
SOHO Motorsports - Newest Sponsor!
I am very proud to announce SOHO Motorsports as the newest sponsor for the #144 Time Attack G35. SOHO Motorsports is a wholesale parts distributer and tuning shop based in Charlotte, NC. They will be a very large part in preparing and tuning every aspect of the #144 G35. We plan on running competitively and winning on every level of racing with a goal of winning the 2011 Redline Time Attack Series. Be on the lookout for big things coming to the car in the coming months and offseason, the SOHO Motorsports G35 will be a force to be reckoned with in 2011!
CCR 12hr Race 2010 at City Center
This year CCR's infamous 24hr race had to be cut in half to a 12 hour race after the venue changed from Knights Stadium to the newest Charlotte lot, City Center. Even with half of the normal hours there was still plenty of time to get a lot of runs and play with setup. The course design was a great flowing course that had technical sections and fast straights, making it challenging and fun. After getting my work assignments done for the day around 4 pm it was finally time to start seeing what the #144 could do.
The 12hr race was set up differently than the normal CCR race. It was an open session style race, where as long as you had done your working assignment you could run as many laps as you wanted. You were allowed 5 official runs that you had to claim before you the run. Since we could claim runs at any point during they day there was more strategy involved than the average race, most people had claimed a good amount of there runs before I had made any runs at all around 4 pm and it looked as though in order to win Street Touring Extreme I would have to run a low 42 sec lap.
My first few runs the 120 degree surface temp on the track was too much heat for the cold RE-11's and the car was very loose. After playing around with tire pressure I finally settled on 36 in the front and 32 in the rear and it seemed slowly gain traction as the sun went down. Around 6 when the sun began to fall behind the trees, the track surface began to cool off and started to stick like glue to the somewhat warm tires. Confident with the track conditions and the car setup I decided to take my first official run around 6:30 and pulled a 42.517, good enough for second place at the time but I knew there was still a lot left in the car especially with the conditions being perfect. Unfortunately after this run we ran into a timing difficulty and as we sat waiting the tires and the track cooled of dramatically. After getting back on the track, the car was very loose and everyone was slowing down. I began to get worried at this point that my strategy was falling through and it was going to be nearly impossible to win. After putting down 3 more runs in the 42's I was still in second place with one official run left and only 10 minutes left in the race day, it was down to the wire and I knew I was so close to the win. On my fifth and final run I pushed it as hard as I possibly could around through every section and remained as smooth as possible, and when i got to the finish i pinned the throttle and came through the lights sideways and the scoreboards read the fastest time I had seen all day - 42.064 sec. The final lap was just fast enough to take 1st place in STX! Above is a video of my winning run, and soon I will be posting some photos from the event.
The 12hr race was set up differently than the normal CCR race. It was an open session style race, where as long as you had done your working assignment you could run as many laps as you wanted. You were allowed 5 official runs that you had to claim before you the run. Since we could claim runs at any point during they day there was more strategy involved than the average race, most people had claimed a good amount of there runs before I had made any runs at all around 4 pm and it looked as though in order to win Street Touring Extreme I would have to run a low 42 sec lap.
My first few runs the 120 degree surface temp on the track was too much heat for the cold RE-11's and the car was very loose. After playing around with tire pressure I finally settled on 36 in the front and 32 in the rear and it seemed slowly gain traction as the sun went down. Around 6 when the sun began to fall behind the trees, the track surface began to cool off and started to stick like glue to the somewhat warm tires. Confident with the track conditions and the car setup I decided to take my first official run around 6:30 and pulled a 42.517, good enough for second place at the time but I knew there was still a lot left in the car especially with the conditions being perfect. Unfortunately after this run we ran into a timing difficulty and as we sat waiting the tires and the track cooled of dramatically. After getting back on the track, the car was very loose and everyone was slowing down. I began to get worried at this point that my strategy was falling through and it was going to be nearly impossible to win. After putting down 3 more runs in the 42's I was still in second place with one official run left and only 10 minutes left in the race day, it was down to the wire and I knew I was so close to the win. On my fifth and final run I pushed it as hard as I possibly could around through every section and remained as smooth as possible, and when i got to the finish i pinned the throttle and came through the lights sideways and the scoreboards read the fastest time I had seen all day - 42.064 sec. The final lap was just fast enough to take 1st place in STX! Above is a video of my winning run, and soon I will be posting some photos from the event.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
GT Spec: Bracing of the Future
GT Spec makes chassis braces for nearly every single point on the car that could flex, from mid chassis braces to strut bars. They truly are what there tagline claims, the future of bracing technology and their products perform well and look amazing.
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| The front strut bar is one of the sexiest things on the car |
After purchasing a few pieces they offered for the car I was very impressed, but after Mark offered me a sponsorship he quickly sent me the rest of the parts needed to complete the car and the results were far better than I could have imagined. Before any of the GT Spec braces the car still had a good bit of chassis roll and never truly felt planted no matter what the sway bar settings were. But after getting the car on the lift I installed all of the parts and the fit and finish was absolutely perfect. Everything lined up perfectly and was very simple to install, not to mention the fact that these parts were absolutely beautiful, the signature GT Spec metallic blue and polished aluminum braces are one of the sexiest things on the car, too bad you cant see all of it without being under it because it truly makes for a pretty undercarriage. With everything installed I could tell GT Spec had done there homework and designed pieces that would work with aftermarket exhaust, as you can see from the way the massive Exotic Speed exhaust snakes it way through the braces perfectly.
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| The beautiful rear strut bar stabilizes the rear and looks amazing! |
The full kit of bracing included the GT Spec Front and Rear Strut Bar, Front and Rear Tie Brace, Rear Lateral Arm Brace, Mid Chassis Brace and Air Diversion Panel. The first time out with the new setup and using the same Time Attack course thanks to SWD and ZMax in Charlotte the car was a full 2 seconds faster and was absolutely glued to the track. The braces seemed to tame the 3600 lb G35 and made it feel as though I was driving a go cart, the responsiveness of the car was beyond anything I could have imagine and inspired confidence in nearly every situation on the track. Body roll in every direction was now non existent and the car was way easier to drive and put exactly where I wanted it to be. I cant say enough about how well these parts balanced the car and made it much more aggressive through the turns. For the low price that GT Spec sells these parts, they should be an essential to any one who races there G or Z or any other car they offer parts for. GT Spec is a quality company with quality parts but most importantly the parts they sell perform! Go to GTSpec.com and pick up some of theses parts for your car today!
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| Notice how little the car rolls on the stock suspension around this 180 turn |
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