TopSpeed Motorsports T|S|M Prepares for OneLap 2012

Early April marks that time of year here at TopSpeed Motorsports where we wrap up final preparations for the One Lap of America.

T|S|M is very excited about our One Lap of America program this year and would like to once again share it with the community. In 2012 we will again be campaigning our 2010 Nissan GT-R, driven by none other then our "ALL-STAR" setup team of Doug Wilks and Leh Keen. In 2011 the T|S|M GTR ran very well clenching the Overall Victory early with a day to spare. Even still after last years win the team here knew we still had some time left on table so we got to work.

Starting in January the crew went back to the drawling board, stripping the GT-R of most of its modifications removing the transmission and motor along the way.

With the odometer now just a tick over 26k miles we knew it was time to retire the factory motor and transmission. They have served us well running almost 700whp now for over a year and countless track days but it was time. We knew that without a doubt we would run one of our road race specific engine builds. Then ship out the transmission to let the man himself Shep rebuild it. It's always nice to have the comfort of knowing your motor and transmission can take anything you can throw at it.

With the motor and trans out we decided to upgrade the turbo's to our "RR1 GTR" stock turbo package. These are ball bearing billet wheel stock location turbo's that retain a nice and quick response but not so quick as to shock the tire on corner exit, all the while holding power to redline. As for the trans Shep gave it the full Dodson Sportsmen treatment with zero leak piston seals and his stamp of approval for its 26k doctor check up.

With the big things taken care of it was time to test some new supporting mods. We contacted our boys at Boost Logic, who were nice enough to offer a sponsorship for the parts we needed! We have been using their parts for years and were excited to test out their GT-R line. The Boost Logic Intercooler, 3" race intercooler piping, 3" intakes, oil cooler and other miscellaneous parts were installed on the car. The entire combination installed perfectly and has performed amazing on track, offering great cooling and reliability.

Not wanting to leave any stone unturned our next stop was aero and chassis! Last year we ran on stock shocks with KW Sleeves wit Stillen sways that performed flawlessly. This year we knew the chassis was going to need some more support. Given our winning track record and ability to provide feedback with pro driver Leh Keen, JRZ teamed up with us and supplied a custom valved set of RS Pros for the event. The JRZ RSpro's along with Stillen sways gave us everything we were looking for and the adjustment to make quick changes for different tracks.

"You guys can expect a full write up from me and Leh about the differences between the two setups in the next few days."

Aero Aero Aero!! The GT-R loves Aero! In 2011 year we built a custom splitter and wing with Stillen canards to help the front. While we were able to balance the car very well with that setup there was much more to be had. This year however our team, headed by Doug built a new front diffuser that makes much, much more front downforce. The T|S|M front diffuser works more of the under body aero on the car allowing greater overall downforce with less drag. This allowed us to balance out the car with a new T|S|M rear wing, increasing mid corner speeds and high speed stability over our 2011 aero package.

"RESULTS"

The first setup test was April 10th, 2012 at Roebling Road Raceway in Savannah… we tested there last year so we already had a baseline for the car with a lap time of 1:14.70. After just a few laps in the morning it was clear that the upgrades were not in vain. The car performed very well, besting last year's fastest lap by well over a second on the same tires and running a 1:13.40 lap time!!

TopSpeed will be offering live video coverage from every track just like we did last year, only with a few more added twists. Look for announcements on our blog concerning media coverage.

We will be battling against major companies such as: Champion Motorsports, GMG, Forged Performance, JoTech Motorsports, Roush and many more! The battles should be very close and lots of fun this year so keep an eye out for updates as the start of the race approaches.

I also want to thank the companies that have come behind us with sponsorship support.

*Michelin USA
*Boost Logic
*Shep Trans
*JRZ
*Stillen
*Bride
*Cobb Tuning
*Motul Oil
*AMS

Check out a little video footage of the car at Roebling this week as well as a few pictures below! We hope you follow our progress and enjoy! As always we are here to answer questions, provide feedback and help anyone who needs it, so if you have questions about the car, setup, differences or anything else please don't hesitate to ask!

2012 One Lap of America T|S|M GT-R Testing Session with Leh Keen - YouTube

 

Best of luck one one-lap guys!

 

Thanks! Stay posted for the link to our live feed during the event!

 

Good luck guys. I had a chance to see the car race last year at CMP in SC. Really quick with Leh behind the wheel! It will be even better this year with the modifications.

 

Here a few more pictures before the crew left yesterday:

 

Hey guys,

Here are a few pictures from sticker day from Team TopSpeed. The field looks very stout this year with several fast contenders. SpeedConcepts really stepped it up with their GT-R as well as Forged Performance coming out with guns blazing packing active aero, built motor/tranny..big turbos and all! Gonna be fun to race them.

The guys settled in getting the stickers installed and tires put on yesterday which all went very smooth. Today is the first 3 events. I'll update you as the results come in.

Todays events are the following:

#1 Wet Skid Pad
#2 South Bend Motor Speedway Paved Oval
#3 Autobahn Country Club

Here are some pictures from decal day, also don't forget to check out our live feed @ Top Speed Motorsports Live at OneLap of America

 

Results from the oval have us in the overall lead.

Forged took second place with a 43.071 while TSM ran a 41.535!!

Leh & Doug say the car feels GUD (Leh's words ) ... they are currently at Autobahn waiting for the event to start in the next hour.

GT-Rs 1,2,3 BABY!!

Here are some pictures for you guys from the morning session.

 

Well its Sunday morning and racing has already started today....

Yesterday was a great starting day for Team TSM, with the 3rd place finish on the wet skid pad and the win at the South Bend Paved Oval, Leh Keen and Doug Wilks brought the TSM to Autobahn Country Club for the 3rd and final event of the 1st day of racing at the 2012 One Lap of America. The competition brought their A game but the TSM team brought the TSM GT-R in with the overall win edging out Catesby Jones in the Forged Performance GT-R by 2.069 seconds. Overall, it was a fantastic start to OLOA leaving TSM at the top of the overall leader board with a 20 point lead.

From Leh Lastnight:

“We are heading West to Mid America. We had a great day and the TopSpeed GTR is feeling Real Nice.. This is the first day so we stayed clean and mistake free.. Took it easy if you will…. Its important to get a good start.. We did well in the Wet Skid placing 3rd and then won the little oval track and Autobahn!! We finish the day with a 20 point lead overall…”

Lastnight was a 9 hour drive to be in Pacific Junction for the Mid-America Motorplex events. The team got in late but got some decent rest. This morning was an early morning to the track to double check everything on the car. Doug also had to re-calibrate the ECU for the 91 octane fuel in the midwest, because the track didn't have any race gas....should make for some interesting events today.

The track is a little damp this morning from the thunder storms lastnight so the later groups will have an advantage. Us and Forged are out first however so i'm sure there will be a small battle with traction.

I'll update you guys when I know results from the first event.

Stay tuned for updates, but in the meantime here are some pictures from yesterday at Autobahn.

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off to a good start indeed, sub'd for more updates!

 

Thank you sir! We have lots of racing left, anything can happen on this event