New Season - Autobahn

The season opening event at Autobahn a couple weeks ago was a blast! Always great to get back on track from a long winter break. The weather was slightly cool and very windy, but it was sunny and dry so we absolutely couldn't complain. Jumping back into the pace of things we took 3rd both days. Check out video below to get a glimpse of the weekends action!

Master Transfer

We'd like thank our newest sponsor, Master Transfer, for supporting us going into the 2012 season! 

Master Transfer was started by George & Jack Master and has been in operation since the late 1940’s. We started as a small local cartage company with 5 trucks and it stayed that way until 1998 when Chad and Mark Master took over the business.  With their vision and drive, they have grown Master Transfer into a full service On Demand & logistics company servicing twelve Midwestern states with over 120 trucks and 250 trailers.  As we continue to grow with the help of our valued customers, you can be assured that Master Transfer will continue to stay on top of industry trends and lead the way.  Whether you need one pallet across town or a truck load across state lines, MASTER TRANSFER IS YOUR ON DEMAND SPECIALIST!

Check out their site at www.mastertransfer.com

Road America - End of Season

The last event of the season couldn't have gone any better! Two first place finishes and a new track record!

This was our first time at Road America, and it was quite the track. First, there is the scale of the track, 4 miles track on almost 650 acres of land. Then there is the intensity and speed of the course. Three main straights which we were reaching 140mph or more followed by tight 60-80mph corners. 

Friday was a test and tune day. So, we just spent the day learning the track and building up speed. The car felt great. The power band was amazing with our smoothed out tune from last time, the rebuilt transmission was shifting buttery smooth, and the Hoosier tires were sticking like glue.

Saturday, we started off first thing in the morning with Time Trials being the first run group out at 8am for a warm-up session. Four laps later, we set a 2:33.716 lap time, almost 3 seconds faster than the rest of the TTB group. We were shocked by how fast the car was running, as was everyone else. After a quick post-session meeting and a short break, we were back on the track. This time we were even faster, we posted a 2:32.894 and setting a new TTB track record! The next session of the day was a hot one, nobody was able to beat their previously posted lap time. Now since this was the last event of the season, and the championship banquet was that night, NASA split Saturday into two events. Saturday morning being the first event and the afternoon being the second event. This was so the final championship points could be earned and added to decide the winners before the banquet. So, the first session of the afternoon event, we posted a 2:34.748. Not quite as fast as we were in the morning, but still enough to put us at the top. At this point, the track was hotter, the car was hotter, and the tires had taken quite the beating. Road America is very tough on the cars. The second session of the afternoon, last of the day, we pushed as it as fast as we could. We put down a 2:34.350 and squeezed out first for the second event, with second place putting down an almost identical 2:34.354. 

Check out the pictures and videos pages as they have been updated with stuff from Road America

Transmission Rebuild - Update

It's been a while since the last update to the blog. That would be due to the fact that the car has been in the shop this whole time without any real updates, until now. The good news is that the transmission is finally repaired and working better than ever. The bad news is that due to unforeseen engine problems, we missed this past weekends event at Autobahn.

After the transmission was rebuilt and put back in the car mid last week, we strapped it to the dyno to check things out. We found that the car was running really low on power, about 50whp and 70tq lower. Diagnostics and troubleshooting ensued. Unfortunately we didn't find the problem in time, but believe the source of the problem has been found and should be resolved tomorrow. For now though, we are all set on making it to the last even of the season at Road America.

Transmission Rebuild

Yesterday we brought the car over to RS Motors to start tearing out the transmission and begin the rebuild. This will probably take a few weeks however as transmission is taken apart and inspected before we order any replacement parts. The next event is not until mid September though, so we should have enough time to get everything worked out in time to make it there.

We're looking forward to getting back out on the track and really putting the new Hoosiers and BC Racing Suspension coilovers to the test. For the brief time on the track at the last event though the car felt terrific with tons of grip and amazing handling. Once the car is back together we have no doubt the car is going to run very strongly.

Weekend at Autobahn Raceway

The weekend started with a bang. We arrived at Autobahn around 5pm and found a nice grassy spot of paddock to setup on. We quickly walked over the the HAVOC Motorsport trailer to find our two new sets of Hoosiers waiting for us. Luckily we were able to get our new tires mounted up Friday evening rather than having to rush to get them done Saturday morning. After that we setup our tent and did some last minute camber adjustments to the car.

Saturday began as any other race weekend. An all-hands meeting followed by a quick TT group meeting before heading out onto the track. We rolled onto the pre-grid at 9am with our new tires, suspension, and new tune on 110 octane excited to start the day. While going full-throttle down the back straight on the first hot lap, the car briefly hesitated and threw up a CEL while instantly jumping into limp mode. Obviously that session's lap times were shot. We come in and reset the ECU after the session and check on everything trying to figure out what happened. The second session followed the same course as the first. After that session we decided to try and get a hold of our tuner at RS Motors in MN. Thankfully we were able to get him directly on the phone and started troubleshooting the car. Pulling the codes we found our car was hitting the overboost threshold for some odd reason. He quickly retuned our map and emailed it over so we could do a reflash on the fly at the track. Big kudos to Ron at RS Motors for working with us over the phone to figure out our problem, reflash the car, and get us back on the track! Unfortunately we missed our third session while getting the issue of the morning worked out, but were plenty ready to hit the 4th session and put down some good lap times. The 1st hot lap into the session went great. Our tune problems from the morning all gone, and the car running with full power again, we were pushing it hard! As we rounded corner 9 in 4th gear and got back on the gas, it suddenly popped out of gear. Quickly slamming the gear back in place 4th gear popped out again. Trying again once more carefully ensuring it was fully in gear only resulted in the same. 4th gear was dead. With 4th being a primary gear at Autobahn, our weekend was shot and our lap time from our 1 hot lap of the day just wasn't enough to hold up against our toughest competitors.

A transmission rebuild is now in order and we're not sure yet which path we will take to accomplish that, or how long that will be. The next event on the schedule is at Autobahn the weekend of September 17-18, which we will try to make happen. So in the  mean time, we will continue to post any updates as they happen. Also, there are more pictures from this weekend posted over on the Pictures page.

Suspension Install

Old strut (top) vs new strut (bottom)

Well, our new suspension arrived just in time for the holiday weekend. Thankfully just in time for next weekends event at Autobahn too. All the pieces were safely packed inside one big box, with each piece being individually labeled. We jacked up the car and started to get to work Saturday afternoon. The old coilovers came out without giving us any trouble. Disassembly went just as easily, but took some time as we had to screw each of the three locking rings off the threaded body of the shock. Then we carefully pulled out the new shocks and springs and proceeded to rebuild the coilovers with the new components. The rebuild was without any surprises, and extra time being taken to make sure we set the ride height the same. Now we just get to wait for next weekend to test these bad boys out!

A few more pics over on the pictures page