The anticipation for this weekend started at Super Lap Battle last year with a transmission failure ending my day last November I could not wait for my chance to get back to Buttonwillow. The Awd and Overall record was reset to a 1:53.0 by Brian Bengali in the Massimo Power Evo at SLB 2013 which just a few years ago would of been unthinkable in a street class car.
Going into the weekend it was unknown how the repaving of Buttonwillow would also effect the lap times and after the first session many people were commenting on a loss of grip.
The second session showed that dirt was a major factor in the loss of grip in the first session by overall the major change that would allow for faster lap times would be the changes to the berms.
Practice on Saturday went well allowing me to get comfortable setting up new lines with the track changes as well as giving some ride alongs and helping some others out in learning the track.
During the test day we decided to change to a new Project Mu brake pad which is the first time this year we have had to which is amazing getting 8 months of hard abuse on a set of pads. One great surprise is how easy the Project Mu 999 pads were on our rotor, in years past other pads were destroying rotors just as fast as the pads.
Although while we went in to change the pads we found an issue with the brake ducts so we ended up pulling them out and running without them. After that change we went into our aero package and made some slight adjustment to our APR Performance rear wing trying to gain every advantage possible.
Finally Sunday was upon us, the pressure was on and the push to accomplish the goal was in everyone’s eyes! After setting a qualifying time of 1:55 we knew the time was there and all I needed was to get on track and have it open up to do the work. Although as we learned when we pushed the car hard it was so hot outside that the car started to heat up after the first hot lap, basically saying get it done in one lap! Even though our water temps were climbing the oil temps were solid thankfully we are using a Killer B Motorsport Pan with extra oil to help in these situations.
Even though the crew looks like they are sitting back relaxing they were working hard all weekend making sure every component was perfect! I cannot thank these guys enough for their efforts.
I went out and pushed as hard as I could putting my right foot through the floorboard (almost) as you can see watching the video here.
I apologize to my fellow competitors for going 2 wheels off on the exit of bus stop, but I was giving it my all.
I was able to finish the first TA session with a 1:52.769 setting a new AWD and Overall Street Class record and putting a bar that much higher. I cannot wait to see what we can accomplish in November at Super Lap Battle!
Thank you to all my sponsors and supporters!
Yimi Sport Tuning
Full-Race Motorsports
Borg Warner
Scat Crankshafts
JE Pistons
Supertech Performance
Killer B Motorsport
South Bend Clutches
Wasp Composites
Swift Springs
ACL Race Bearings
Mil Spec
APR Performance
Rays
Project Mu
AP Racing
GTSPEC
Whiteline
Fuel Injector Clinic
Outfront Motorsports
SoCal Porting
Aeromotive
GSC Power Division
Koherent Chassis Workz
Koherent Chassis Workz
Mothers Polish
Mothers
Jager Racing 