Superlap is only a few weeks away and is shaping up to be a good one. From what I am hearing the turnout will be very good with the potential for new records in every class. The car with the best chance of setting a new overall record and going into the 1:39s is the current record holder, the Factor X Motorsports Development NSX:
Cyber Evo 2012 build
If you haven’t heard of the Cyber Evo, you probably don’t pay much attention to Time Attack. It is possibly the fastest car in Time Attack and was the development platform for the Voltex body kit:
Notice how I said “was.”
This week in videos
Well I certainly have been lazy about getting new posts up on here. I suppose that happens when you start a business to try to make money. Anyhow, it’s spring and that means more motorsports. In the last few weeks we have had Global Time Attack’s season opener and Buttonwillow, some NASA race weekends, Formula D, and the LBGP. Formula D means my favorite drifting-related-web-video-series, Behind the Smoke, is back at it again. Ok that might actually be the only drifting related web video series but anyway here is the newest episode:
Up next is a short video from Ryan Upham’s NASA season debut:
Unfortunately this year has not been great for Ryan and after a long delay in getting suspension parts he suffered a catastrophic engine failure at the event. If anyone has an EVO shortblock sitting around I’m sure he would be interested.
Speaking of engine failures, Christian Rado had a pretty good one last weekend in the FWing Scion 2.0 and caught it on video:
Results from the event are up on Global Time Attack’s website here:
http://www.globaltimeattack.com/2012-rd-1-buttonwillow-raceway-park-apr-21-22-2012/
From what I hear it was incredibly hot out and that combined with the first event of the season where teams have many untested and incomplete changes meant neither GST Motorsports or FXMD were able to come close to the track record or their previous best times. GST is back to their all black color scheme, and has a new rear-mount radiator setup:
photo by Sportcar Motion
Despite the conditions, Berk Technology was able to set new Street and Limited RWD records in their 135i thanks to some new Aero parts, the new Hankook Ventus TD, and Carl Rydquist:
photo by Sportcar Motion
Sportcar Motion has a ton of great pictures of the event on their facebook page so I suggest heading over there to check them out.
things you should know about knock off parts
I’ve been following a thread on the Subaru forums for a couple weeks now about a guy who bought a header from a company called Batlground Motorsports in Atlanta. While Batlground claims that this header is their own production, it appears to be made by a place called privatelabelmfg, which may or may not actually be the same people.
Here’s a picture of the header:
People you should know: Matt Dennison
On thing I’ve been meaning to do for a long time is feature people from the motorsports world who I arbitrarily decide deserve extra attention. Matt Dennison, who I’ve known for a couple years now, is one such person. Matt has a pretty cool evo that he uses to drive the kids to school and race with sometimes:
The mid-engined quattro that never was
I just came across this old article about a replacement for the Audi group-b rally car that, had the project and group B stayed alive, would have taken the Lancias and Peugeots and everyone else to school.
NASIOC’s Top Scoob – race car edition
Top Scoob is a monthly contest put on by the member’s car gallery section of the NASIOC Subaru forums. Normally I don’t pay it too much attention because that particular section has a lot of people who are more into looks than performance, to put things nicely. This month is a bit of an exception because it’s for race cars only, with a mix of privately owned and shop cars from all over the world. If you’re a member, I’d suggest heading over there to vote for your favorite Subaru race car. Here’s a breakdown of the entrants:
Tony Wisenhahn / Turn in Concepts:
Subaru BRZ GT300
And for comparison, here’s the new BRZ GT car as shown on autoblog
Subaru Legacy GT300
Nothing particularly new about this car since it’s raced for two years now, but the mechanicals should give us a hint of what the new BRZ GT300 car will be like. I would expect the biggest change to be the external body work for next year.
Subaru BRZ
The BRZ was just officially released, and user hachiroku over on FT86club posted these pictures from the Tokyo Auto Show:
