Catesby and I finished up our breakfast and proceeded to the track. Unbeknownst to us, the previous night’s rains had flooded the race gas storage tanks at Mid America Motoplex leaving us with just 91 octane fuel at our disposal. Although we knew that most of the fuel stations in the Mid West top out with 91 octane we didn’t expect the race track to be without some form of higher octane petrol.
With less than 20 minutes before the first round begins and no good options to choose from, I quickly unloaded the 200lbs of gear jammed into the back of the GT-R and prepared the car for Catesby. I then grabbed my laptop and heading to the gas station to fill up with 91 octane fuel with hopes I’d have enough time to put a quick road tune on the car. Over the years I have become accustomed to tuning with all kinds of fuels, including 91 octane. But retuning the car would take some time, which was something I simply didn’t appear to have. I decided to simply lower the boost to a level I knew would be safe and hoped for the best.
As soon as Catesby’s GT-R pulled away for warmup laps, I knew we were in trouble. The TopSpeed GT-R driven by Grand-Am Champion Leh Keen accelerated with authority, while the Forged GT-R clearly made do with low boost and poor fuel. It didn’t take a stop watch or transponder to know how we did. With little time, boost, or octane to spare we finished round one with an unusual 5th place finish.
As soon as Catesby came off the track, I grabbed my laptop bag and snatched the car from him. I had a few hours until the next session and was determined to recalibrate the ECU for 91 octane fuel. I left without saying anything other than "Don’t call me…I’ll come back when I am done!" As the road tuning began, I get a call from the Sleeper Racing team (ZR1 and 2013 GT-R) called me with the location of a 93 octane fuel station about 15 miles away. I immediately headed there and filled up 10 gallons of 93 giving us an effective octane of 92. I completed the tuning adjustments and return to the track.
The second round begin at 12:30pm and immediately I could tell the car was back to full song and had most of it’s vigor and despite the initial setup we pocketed another 2nd place finish with Leh Keen in the TSM GT-R taking home the 1st place prize. And I wanted to add a personal congratulations to Leh for some very fancy pants driving in the very tight left-right entry onto the front straight. I had a front row seat taking some photos and video and he had a good little dance going! So the Leh and Catesby show continues onward to Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Jennings, OK as we begin the 425 mile transit time
A few of you have asked me what my secret sauce was today that allowed our car to go from docile little pussy cat in Round 1, to a ferocious pit bull in Round 2. So here you go! Althought we were still down on power with my home brewed octane booster mix we closed much of the gap despite a lower boost setting.
I am sorry I wasn’t able to take photos of all the GT-R’s but I was pretty busy running around today. Still trying to figure out how to be in three places at once. Thanks for looking…stay tuned for more updates shortly!
Mid America Motoplex is a fun little track, and I snapped some photos of the action
Catesby’s shiny new helmet was the talk of the town!
