Another day of competition behind us on OneLap of America 2012! Today was not without its challenges. Last night the little town in Iowa got pounded with rain. The racers showed up to the track this morning to a wet slippery surface. What that means is that the morning (fastest) goups go out and run on a damp track subsequently drying it off for the rest of the field.

Not only that, but the team pulled up to the track only to find out that there was no race fuel to be had. Normally that wouldn't be a huge deal except the only thing offered at the pump in Iowa is 91 octane. With no time to hunt for anything better Doug was forced to re-calibrate the car to the crappy fuel giving up gobs of power.

With overcast skies and a chilly 20mph north wind the top 5 cars were let out first to battle around the track drying it off for the rest of the field. Usually this type of thing results in the leaders getting knocked down that event's leader board, however that wasn't so much the case for the TSM car. During Doug's morning re-tune he had also made sure to calibrating the car in order to ensure the power was delivered in a way as to not shock the traction limited tires. Then it was Leh's turn to shine. He piloted the car around the wet track leaving his closest competitor an amazing 8 seconds behind, even given their dry track advantage. The closest GT-R was Catesby in the Forged Performance car coming in over 15 seconds behind.

Here are a couple pictures showing how wet it was for the morning session.







With the morning event behind us we turned our sites to making sure we weren't caught in the afternoon. The conditions would be dry for us in the afternoon but we were still down on power do to the 91octane fuel. There was always the option to tune on E85 for the event, however without the time to run a full tank of E85 through the car to ensure the fuel system is flushed of 91 its simply was not safe to push the car on it. So off to Advanced Auto Parts we went for some good old octane booster. While that certainly wasn't the optimal solution, and surely didn't yield power of even straight 93, it was better than nothing.

As the afternoon session rolled around Leh geared up to take the track. With the morning defeat we were sure the competition was going to bring their A game. Leh would have to push the car a little harder to ensure a victory. Lining up for the standing start the cars tore off into the distance for 3 flying laps around MidAmerica Motorplex. Slicing around the corners like a knife and pulling down the straights like a freight train, Leh put 4.9 seconds between him and Catesby in the Forged car! With that victory it has spread our overall points lead to 50 points after day 2.

As if the back to back wins weren't enough, after Leh pulled the TopSpeed GT-R off the track him and Doug were congratulated by several track workers on the new production car track record....nice little bonus!

Overall we are very happy with the way the car is performing so far. There is lots of racing and tons of transit driving ahead of us so stay tuned to more updates from Hallett Racing Circuit tomorrow morning.

Here are some pictures from the day...I will also have some in car video up for you guys later tonight hopefully.

 

The team is at the racetrack getting ready! Doug has already taken the car out to make sure the calibration is spot on for the fuel they got at the track (100oct I believe but i'm not sure) It's slightly overcast skies and in the 50s so the car is liking the cool air.

I will update you guys as to how the first session goes, we will also be doing a live interview with the team following the mornings run.

Here is a little information about Hallett Motor Racing Circuit so you guys can see where we are running.

Hallett Motor Racing Circuit is a 1.8 mile, 10 turn Road Racing course in the rolling Osage Hills of North Eastern Oklahoma. It is located 35 miles west of Tulsa, Oklahoma

Hallett has over 80 feet of elevation change and is considered Technically Difficult. It has wide, grassy run-off areas and zero concrete or Armco barriers

Track Map





Also, we will also be doing a live interview with the team following the mornings run. @ www.topspeedtuned.com/onelap

 

I just got word from Doug that the first session looked good! He said that the TSM GT-R sounded awesome and looked very fast. We unofficially beat out the Forged car but i'm not sure the margin yet.

After pulling in Doug pulled the traqmate data to find we ran a 1:19.8 during the first session at Hallett! ... if you know anything about that track you know that is FAST!!!!

More details to come & we will be interviewing Leh shortly @ http:\\Top Speed Motorsports Live at OneLap of America

 

After the first session Leh downloaded to Doug how the car felt and the decision was made to make a few small tweaks for the Hallett track.

We will see how they effect overall time in the second session.

Here is a quick cell phone shot Doug took for me.

 

Here are the official results form the morning session. We have made a few suspension adjustments for this next session so we will compair the times this afternoon. Catesby wheeled the Forged Performance car very well coming within 2.6 seconds of Leh in the TSM GT-R. Competition only pushes us harder, so we welcome the challenge

Afternoon session starts in just a little bit so stay tuned.

 

Little download from Doug Wilks our tuner:

The TopSpeed GTR had another great day to add to the books!!

Everything about today was text book One Lap. Got to the track early enough so we didn't have to scramble. Race fuel was open and ready for us to top off our tanks. I hand plenty of time to find a very nice back road to verify everything was happy for the areas altitude density. Due to the cooler weather today we were seeing a peak of 23psi, which is a tad bit higher then I would have liked to see since we are still using the stock map sensor.

With everything checked off on our pre-race list the TSM GTR was lined up in the P1 position on grid for the first session. Now I have to admit that I am very competitive, maybe too competitive depending on who you ask. But this morning watching both the GTR's duke it out was AWESOME!! Catesby was wheeling the crap outa the Forged GTR, very very impressive watching him slide the back end all the way out and never lift coming onto the front straight. This guy can drive with the best of them.. Seeing the cars this morning flying around the track and absurd street tire defying speeds reminded me why I love my Job.

When all the dust settled and race gas cleared the TSM GTR took the P1 spot in this morning session.

After every event Leh and I do a brief download of how the car was responding on track. We decided to make a front ride height adjustment and leave everything else alone (power aero wise)

As of right now I am not sure the exact standings for the second session but I feel we did pretty good. This year has been a really fun cat and mouse game for me, trying to figure out how much we need to give to stay ahead of the next competitor while maintaining a level of safety.

In the end we have put another 2 events behind us and yet again increased our lead from the nearest competitor.

 

The official results are in, and it looks like the chassis adjustments by Doug & Driving juice from Leh paid off. We pulled the Forged GT-R by 7 Seconds overall in the afternoon session.

Interestingly enough we ran this track during the 2010 OLOA in our Porsche GT2 and were a full 10 seconds slower than the GT-R! That GT2 was no slouch so that is really saying something about the GT-R...that car is FAST!!!

Here are the official standings from the afternoon session! I'll have some pictures up for you guys in a bit!




OVERALL STANDINGS

 

Well today was another awesome day of competition. The GT-Rs are standing their ground and even moving up the field, finishing very well at Hallett Motor Circuit. The first round of racing revealed us in first place with Catesby Jones 2.6 seconds behind. Catesby has really shown himself, this year especially, to be a fierce competitor, he is in our opinion one of the best One Lap competitors to date.

With round one behind us Leh downloaded the feeling of the car to Doug in order to brainstorm if there were any improvements to be made. With a couple hours before the afternoon session the team decided a small suspension change was in order. Off came the front wheels and Doug went to work lowering the front of the car just enough to give it a little more front grip. As the second session rolled around the car was ready to roll. Leh picked it up a notch from the first session running over 3 seconds faster overall then in the morning session. Catesby Jones in the Forged Performance GT-R fell of a little over a second leaving us with a total gap of 7 seconds on second place.

Another day of racing past, then loaded up for the 600 mile drive to CO to run High Plains Raceway tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more updates in the morning and some in car video from the last couple days as well!

Thanks for following the events progress...here are some pictures from the day at Hallett!

 

Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

 

Great pics, keep them coming.