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Category Archives: Time Attack / HPDE / HSAX

Event coverage from Time Attack, High Speed AutoX, or HPDE. Big Track Stuff!

Honda really did build an awesome car.  And what better event to take this car to than Optima’s Search for the Ultimate Street Car.

As some of you know, this S2000 (also nicknamed “Ice2k”) has been driven hard by a few of us. Eric got some serious hang time, Mike plowed it into a rock of ice, Shane and Kirsten went through a few snow banks, and Andy’s done most of the above. This car has also been the “training” car for many and has been used for driver development. It truly is driven hard and driven 80 miles round trip to/from work daily. It loves every minute of it.

So when we heard Optima was searching for that Ultimate Street Car, we figured we better participate with the best street car we know of.

The week prior, we gave the S2000 all the missing attention from the past year. New windshield, radiator, A/C system, newer shocks, Hawk brakes, new RS3 tires (borrowed from Mike), some new fluids, and to top it off, a new front bumper. Oh and let’s not forget its first ever coat of wax.

Friday at noon Eric and I departed Stevens Point and headed to Michigan. Dodging some traffic jams in the Chicago area brought us to MIS in just over 8 hours.   After a trip to one of the most interesting taverns I’ve been to, we called it a night.

Saturday Morning- For some reason we found ourselves at a car wash. I don’t know what this was about but Eric tells me the judges like a clean car. After spending too much time at the car wash, we drove to Michigan Speedway which was a really far 2 miles away. Instantly upon our arrival we felt a bit out of place in our cheap little Honda. Got the car through tech and received our mandatory sticker pack.

First up, Speed-Stop Challenge. This was a 300foot drag race followed by a 180 degree turn-around and a 3 cone slalom with a box at the end. You must stop inside the box without overshooting it or the run becomes a DNF. The best I could muster in the S2000 was a 15.0. This was good enough to secure 2nd place.

Next was the Autocross. I felt much more at home here and was able to pull off the 1st place win with a 31.5 run.

There was also a Design & Engineering competition, which I pretty much failed at. The Honda did have all required street car amenities but lacked any creativity due to its almost bone stock-ness. I scored pretty low in this.

The last competition of the day was the Road Rally. This was a 60 mile trip to the Lingenfelter private collection. It wasn’t a difficult competition but it’s one that can ruin everything if you don’t make it there before the deadline (or get pulled over by the police). We made it and received full points here. Then we ate next to millions dollar cars.

Sunday, the BFG Hot Lap on the road course. This is what it really came down to. In order to win the Vegas Invite, I needed to secure a 1st place on the road course. It wasn’t looking to good either as I only had 200hp to work with on a very open course with several big straights where the power could be put to use. I spent most of the day driving as hard as I could, reviewed data to find any lost time, and taunting the competition.   In the end it was a very close battle but I was able to sneak out with the 1st place win on the road course with a 1:29.96.

So, it seems like the 365Racing crew will be making a trip down to Vegas in November along with some of our good friends of the RSMotors racing department. We are looking forward to trip!

Sadly this is the only NASA event we may get to all year.  With the addition of ChumpCar, our schedules and pocketbooks lack any surplus.  So we had to make this a good one, and we did.

We left Stevens Point around 5pm and headed for South Beloit.  Blackhawk is our closest track so it was a pleasant 2.5 hour drive.

Filled up the fuel drum with precious E85 and hit the road.
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We got to the track, found our usual spot, and setup camp for the weekend.  Just in time for the perfect trackside sunset.

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Saturday Morning-  Rain and thunderstorms were in the forecast, but the most we saw was some very light rain.  Hardly enough to make the track fully wet.  We both went out and got up to speed knocking off a few seconds each session until we got comfortable.  The quickest lap times are usually put down in the morning when the air is cooler, but with the added rain, it made each session a gamble.

Andy and the Evo put down a 1:13.1 lap which beat the old track record by 2 seconds, but then the following sessions a Lotus took it with a 1:12.5.  From here on out, this was the time to beat, but the best we could do with the Evo remained the 1:13.1 for today which secured 2nd place.

Eric and his newly acquired Z06 did amazingly well.  Even on the Continental slicks he was able to put down a 1:17.4.  Maybe next year we’ll have some better tires on it and he can really turn up the heat.

Results from Saturday: http://timingscoring.drivenasa.com/NASA_Midwest_Region/2014%20-%20Official%20Results/Blackhawk%20Farms%20-%20July%202014/July%2012%20TT%20Merge.pdf

Saturday evening was spent mostly under the EZ-Up until we found a nice garage for shelter.  Eric found a cracked rear rotor on the vette.  Few phone calls later we found one 15 minutes away.  Also Mike spilt stuff, no surprise there.

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Sunday-  Weather was looking perfect with sun and cool temps.  The best laps come in the morning, so A-Game switch was turned to high and tire pressures were set to low.

The first session out was a bit of a throw away session.  The track was still damp in spots from the overnight rain, but by our 2nd session is was in perfect condition for a fast lap.  2nd session was THE session.  Andy put down a 1:12.93 and Eric set is best lap to date with a 1:17.11.  Session 2 also consist of another new overall track record, by a Mustang.  This isn’t your normal mustang, its nearly quadruple digit HP Mustang and put down a blazingly fast lap of 1:11.3.

With the temperature raising, the conditions for a faster lap become less.  After session 2, we found that the Hoosier tire pressures on the evo rose from 32psi to 45psi hot.  Way to high for Hoosier, so we dropped them down to 30psi (still warmish) and gave it one more try.  While this did help with grip level, the hotter air temp makes for less power.  Session 3 became the new best lap time for the Evo but not by much, 1:12.92.

We also had a guest to the 365Racing team, Tom Hille.  He ran Sunday with his Evo and put down a fast lap of 1:16.49.

Sunday Results: http://timingscoring.drivenasa.com/NASA_Midwest_Region/2014%20-%20Official%20Results/Blackhawk%20Farms%20-%20July%202014/July%2013%20-%20TT%20Merge.pdf

Some Driver POV Videos:

Eric:

Andy:

More Pictures:

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