FlatOut With SuperCars @ Roebling Road

   Its not very often when our #44 SOHO Motorsports Time Attack G35 is on track with anything other than track cars these days so when we get a chance to attend an event like a Flat Out Motorsports Track Day we never say no. Flat Out offers tons of track time at some of the best road courses in the south east at one of the best costs out there. But to make it even better the entry list is usually limited to a very small number of about 40-60 cars total and most of those cars are supercars. I don't use that word lightly either but damn if most of the car's tracking alongside us weren't true supercars. From multiple Audi R8's and Vipers to a full fleet of race prepped Porsche Cup cars and even some fully built Lamborghini's. Walking through the paddock on Saturday morning was pretty damn impressive and the group of guys running were all great fun and true automotive enthusiasts.

   This Flat Out event was in Savannah, GA at Roebling Road Raceway which is actually pretty close to us here in Charlotte, NC at only about a 4 hour drive. With the new additions to the car after NJMP we knew we needed a quality test weekend to make sure the car's overheating problem was fixed and also use the track time to further dial in the G35 since we have had limited quality track time this season. Unfortunately just as in NJMP the weather gods did not want to cooperate and nearly all day Saturday it was raining. Not to let that ruin our test weekend we went ahead and tracked all day anyway and had a blast doing it. With plenty of wide open track thanks to the small run groups we quickly realized that our mid season adjustments had fixed all of our problems and I could say for the first time all season the #44 G35 was at 100%. Unfortunately on Sunday we did end up having an issue with a power steering pump failure at the end of the straight away around 150mph but no damage was done and the pump which was still the 8 year old original was replaced with a new one. We had a blast at the event and look forward to future Flat Out events next year.

Mid Season Mods at Parlett Laboratories!

   After leaving NJMP with the car still having overheating issues I decided to visit home in Maryland for some family time and also to put the #44 G35 in the Parlett Laboratories garage (dad's garage where he used to build blown alcohol dragsters) and address the issues that had been haunting the cooling system making us overheat just a few laps into each race. With the help of my mechanical wizard father and fabrication genius Eddie Vines from Waldorf Stainless we brainstormed a plan that would allow more air to each cooling component. Our theory was that with the new front end setup the Mishimoto radiator was not getting enough clean air because the inter cooler and oil cooler were in front of about 50% of its surface area. Combine that 50% of pre-heated air before it touches the radiator along with the 20% reduction in width from our previous radiator setup (new one was smaller in width to allow for new turbo config) we quickly realized what we needed to do and got to work.

   Our first decision was to move the oil cooler from the front grille opening to the bottom passenger side bumper opening which happened to be the perfect size. Placing the oil cooler here we sacrificed our ability to use brake ducts on this side of the car but with our Stoptech Trophy Series brakes and our time attack strategy of only a few laps a time we found the ducts unnecessary on our last few outings. With placing the oil cooler here it gave the radiator 30+ sq. in. of extra surface area in front of the radiator allowing more direct cold air in. Along with this simple adjustment we changed the grille shroud and made the block off plate around the edges an inch thinner all the way around allowing for another 30+ sq. in. of clean air throughout.

   Next we raised the radiator as much as possible to get it away from the intercooler and into more clean air. But with low hood clearances on the G35 we were only able to gain about 1.5 inches total but that little bit gave us over 25+ sq. in. more undisturbed air to the top of the radiator. At this point in the process every inch of gave us a mile of cleaner air. Along with raising it we pushed the radiator back toward the engine another inch or two in an effort to leave room for us to add block off plates to channel the air to the entirety of the radiator while also deflecting the hot air that has already passed through the intercooler below. After placing the radiator in the optimal position we gave it even more room by repositioning the intercooler about 2 inches lower along with tilting the top side of the intercooler forward by about 30 degrees.

   With the radiator now located higher and further back and the intercooler lower and tilted forward we gained a ton of room in front of the radiator. Now all we had to do is methodically figure out the best way to channel the air from the front grille openings to the appropriate cooling component using aluminum diversion panels. First we placed a panel on the left and right side of the wider grille opening that tapers directly to the edges of the radiator core while also blocking the air from escaping around the turbo system.

   Along with diverting the air from the sides we placed a large panel from the bottom edge of the grille to the bottom edge of the radiator core utilizing the extra room we gained from tilting and lowering the intercooler. Lastly we placed a flat diversion panel from the top of the grille to the top of the radiator. These four panels on each side of the radiator create a huge sealed air box from the grille directly to the entire surface area of the radiator, supplying massive amounts of undisturbed cold air to the radiator all while diverting the hot air that has already passed through the intercooler away from the engine compartment and under the car. Eddie had outdone himself on everything but the panels took the cake and the final result was nothing short of amazing. With the new positioning of cooling components and the absolutely awesome new diversion panel setup we knew that the overheating problem would no longer be an issue.



   Now that the cooling system issues were seemingly fixed we addressed the next issue on the car; the wiring. When we rebuilt the car we rushed through some of the wiring organization and never got time in our race schedule to reorganize everything. In our Parlett family OCD way's my brother Matt, from Computech, and I re-wired the entire Computech Datamaxx Data Acquisition System and all of its dozens of sensors along with addressing the factory harness in the engine bay and under the dash. After nearly a full week of electrical work of taking out the old and re-wiring and organizing the results were amazing. We had simplified the factory harness a ton by removing nearly all of the unneeded wires saving weight  (nearly 8 lbs haha) and most importantly cleaning up the under dash/hood mess that drove me nuts. But the shining gem of that week of electrical work is the stunning organization of every wire on the car from the engine bay to under the dash to even the data system under the center console. Everything is labeled, bundled, secured, organized and placed to perfection and its a shame that the wire loom in the engine bay and center console inside cover all of that beautiful work by Matt. Along with the re-wiring we changed the switch panel setup to feature a few new things and also installed our newly supplied eBoost 2 Boost Controller from our awesome sponsor TurboSmart and I also put in a newly updated version of the Computech LCD Dash.



   With the main stuff done we also addressed a few more issues. We replaced our old and seemingly forever slow leaking fuel cell (still cant find the leak) with a brand new ATL Fuel Cell and custom caged in surround. Created a new intake for our Turbo By Garret GTX3582R turbo featuring a K&N reverse cone filter. Added a new Moroso oil catch can and a much larger custom coolant reservoir with a pressure release line on the window cowl (similar to NASCAR) so if the car does over heat it stops spraying dangerously on the front right tire and rather on the side of the car and visible to me while driving. And lastly but certainly not least the engine bay and trunk were repainted and all of the old lines and hoses on the car were replaced to stay ahead of the curve on degrading OEM parts just like the 5 P's of Racing suggest: Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Okay maybe that was 6 P's haha.

   The result of the three weeks of work from everyone involved left us very satisfied upon completion not only because it all looked amazing but when we tested the car a few weeks later at Roebling Road in Savannah, GA all of our issues seem to be resolved! Everyone that helped fix the car I cant thank enough, it was absolutely amazing to finally work on the G with my family just like we used to on dragsters when I was a child, in fact we renamed the shop Parlett Laboratories in the process haha. I learned a ton, had a blast doing it, enjoyed spending time with family and to make it even sweeter the car now runs perfect. Bring on the next race day!

For more info on the parts and components we run on our #44 G35 please visit The Car page.

Super Street and Modified Oh My!

   That's right! I can proudly say that I have now had my car in the three biggest car magazines in the country. The #44 G35 was featured in DSport Magazine in early 2012 in a six page article and now thanks to our great sponsor Turbo By Garrett I can also say that the G has been in Super Street Magazine and Modified Magazine! Garrett used an image they took of the #44 G racing at the Global Time Attack Road Atlanta race this spring and made a badass full page ad supporting the team, driver, GTA series and amazing Garrett GTX3582R turbo we use in our race car.

   Be sure to go out to your local news stand or grocery store and get the most recent August 2013 issues of both magazines on page 15 in Modified Magazine and on page 71 in Super Street Magazine. We are proud to be a member of the 2013 Garrett team and would like to thank them for choosing our car as the vehicle feature for their ads and thank them for making such an awesome product! Be on the lookout for an upcoming Whiteline Suspension ad featuring the #44 G35 as well, more details later.

Update!: The Whiteline Suspension Ad has just been released as well and can be found in PASMAG, DSPORT Magazine and Grassroots Motorsports upcoming issues. Here is one of the few different versions that will be featured.

Introducing FourtyFour Apparel

 

   That' Brand new company and brand new design, the FourtyFour apparel line is officialy launched as a branch off of KPR in an effort to bring automotive apparel to the world. Our first product are these FourtyFour Summer 13' Hat! Made from high quality Flexfit 210 flat bill hats featuring embroidered FourtyFour logo on front and KPR logo on rear. Available in two flexfit sizes that will fit any head from huge to small. These things are badass and only made in a limited quantity, so get yours today by visiting the KPR Store!

Hot, Wet and Dirty in New Jersey

   This season along with running Global Time Attack, NASA events and our normal schedule of Z and G specialty events through SOHO Motorsports we also have decided to run another series; The NARRA US Time Trial Series. NARRA runs all over the country and each race weekend is a double header with one race being Saturday and the other Sunday. Unfortunately our schedule has conflicted with running the NARRA series until now half way through the season at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

   It would be the first time we raced at New Jersey Motorsports Park and the car was still relatively untested since we fixed the issues we had after Road Atlanta so I was inevitably anxious about the race. On top of the car concerns NARRA has a slightly different set of rules that doesn't limit tire type for any of there classes and is mostly based on power to weight ratio. This was good for us as we had a perfect 6.25:1 ratio for the TT1 class but it was also bad because everyone was running on slicks whereas we would be on our sponsored Hankook Ventus TD 80 tread wear tires. We knew having success in NARRA would be difficult but to sweeten the deal and make the long trek worth while we also had a third race that same weekend with Real Time Attack running simultaneously on Saturday. With RTA the rules are much more similar to GTA's rules and our car fit perfectly in the Modified RWD class. With three races in one weekend and a weather forecast full of rain we knew it would be an interesting weekend.

   Along with a new track and new series it would also be the first time my parents would be at a race to watch. On my way north from NC I stopped at home in MD and we made the final leg of the journey to NJ in the terrible weather left over from a tropical storm moving through the region. If the insane rain on the way up was any indication of the weekend we knew we were in for a crazy one. From the moment we left to the time we woke up Saturday morning it was raining cats and dogs. Either way I was ready to race, my dad was ready to crew chief and I was just glad to have them there.

   After the drivers meeting and by the time the first session of TT started the rain had gone from a downpour to a heavy drizzle but the damage from the rain had already left its mark on the race course. On our warm up lap it was obvious the NJMP Lightning course had some drainage issues and there were rivers of flowing water on nearly half of the turns and not a dry spot on the racing surface. My initial thought was; "Well i'm glad I don't have slicks like everyone else". My second thought was how awesome of a course this was and I couldn't wait to get around it at speed no matter what the condition. With the first lap nearly over and everyone stacking up for the group start (yup NARRA makes us group up on the starts for some reason)  it became very obvious this was going to be an interesting few sessions of action.

The green flag quickly flew and some of the 25+ fastest time trial cars in the region ripped down the soaking front stretch and once we all got to turn 1 the trouble began. With the way all of the cars are  grouped up on the start and the conditions of the track immediately cars ran out of room and tires ran out of traction and from the first turn and two following laps there was nearly 4 spun cars and a few wrecks all over the track, not to mention horrible traffic for those of us starting in the middle of the pack. The session was quickly ended by race officials and the cars were cleaned off the track and in good time because my over heating issues from Road Atl seemed to be haunting me again. With a few quick pit fixes of the cooling system, tire pressure and sway bar adjustments we were ready for the second session and hoping the problem was fixed.

   Carnage from the first session had everyone a little bit more patient and spaced out on the start of the second session but accidents due to the rain and traffic still remained an issue. Stuck behind some lower classed cars two wide by two wide it made it difficult to get a clean lap but the one we did only had a few turns were we were held up leaving us with not the best time but something decent for the weather. With the conditions I was happy to get anything I can, unfortunately after the first real lap we got in the #44 G35 the engine began to over heat to 220 again and much to my dismay another red flag on the track because of another accident in a precarious position.

   Frustrated with the weather, traffic and possibility of damaging the engine I came in from the session and parked the car and began the long process of addressing the issues we had with the cooling system (but thats a whole story in itself). With issues on the car that could be catastrophic if gone unchecked we decided to call our weekend early and hope that the one semi-clean lap we had would be a decent enough result to get us on the podium some where. In NARRA TT we came in 4th in TT1 for Saturday and in Real Time Attack we were lucky enough to have gotten 1st place in Modified RWD. Be sure to check out the photos and video from this event and be sure to read the follow up article about the solution to our overheating problems.

Carbotech Brake Pads Join the #44 Team!

   We are proud to announce that North Carolina's own Carbotech Brake Pads have joined the #44 SOHO Motorsports Time Attack G35 team and will be supplying our brake pads for the coming seasons. Carbotech is one of the most prominent and easily the best brake pad company on the market with applications for everything from street to autox to time attack and everything else. They have an extensive collection of different pad compounds as well as make pads that work for nearly all oem and aftermarket brakes systems.

   Our Stoptech Trophy Series big brake kit (6 piston front, 4 piston rear) provided by Assaultech Performance is an awesome setup on the G but was always lacking that consistency with the various brands of pads we had tried. After talking with the guys at Carbotech about what tracks we run at and the conditions the brakes currently see after each session we determined that the Carbotech XP12 compound would be used on the front calipers and the XP10 compound would supply the braking friction for the rear calipers. This setup would provide and excellent initial bite, torque, balance throughout the braking zone and high fade resistance making it the perfect setup for our G35.

   I installed the braked pads right before our NARRA US TT race at New Jersey Motorsports Park but due to poor weather conditions and over heating issues our weekend was cut short not allowing me to truly test the brakes and push them as hard as I can. Although it was soaking wet the whole weekend the brakes were still awesome in the rain and unbelievably consistent. Once I have had thorough track testing with the pads I will do a review for the new KPR Reviews page. Until then check out Carbotech Brakes website