UTCC Race Report!
Well, we made it back! I wanted to thank everyone for their support, especially our sponsors that helped supply many of the products that makes our GT-R among the fastest street legal GT-R in the country.
Track conditions at VIR were outrageous. I thought I had seen it all, but 100F+ ambient anf 87% humidity made for harsh racing conditions. Just about everyone was a couple seconds off their "normal" times, and our GT-R was no exception.
Friday started out very rushed and hurried, as we gridded late for the warm up. After spending 3 laps dicing through slower cars and traffic (66 cars on track simultaneously) I finally got some open track but blew an intake coupler off before completing a timed flyer. So with no real practice to speak of, we convinced the UTCC officials to allow us to start our timed session behind the Viper ACR X. In retrospect, this is precisely where we finished.
When the green flag dropped, I found myself closing in on the bumper of the ACR X going into T2, but my cold slicks just didn't want to bite, and I gently spun off into the grass and managed to stay out of everyone's way. Since a four off at UTCC DQ's you for the session, I simple went back into the pits to check the car and regroup.
Now that we had that of the way, the pressure was really on. In the second timed session, I played it safe and wanted to get comfortable with the new slower spooling turbo, the slicks, and the track conditions. Setup on the car was perfect, and we made no changes at all to the shocks, bar, or tire pressure other than bleeding off a few psi all around. I managed a very safe 2:02.
The third session began at around 3pm, and track temps were much hotter than the earlier sessions. I knew that to get on the podium, I would need to shave another couple seconds off my time, while doing it in much worse and hotter track conditions. At the end of the day I did just that, and managed a 2:00.3 which was enough for 2nd in class, and 4th overall out of 66 drivers. As Peter mentioned, the 3 cars that finished with faster times in the 1:54 range were all full race cars with very high power levels, lightweight chassis, and pro drivers. The Forged GT-R weights 3650lbs w/o driver, and still retains much of it's interior, AC (which was really nice in the pits), power windows, and glass. Our car is still tagged, titled, and insured and can be enjoyed on public roads, and is driven by little ol'me.
The car ran without a hiccup to speak of, and was very fun to drive. The Willall splitter added some much needed front end grip, and held up to 170mph+ speeds on the back straight, and took curbing like champ. The AMS billet turbo upgrade gave us sooooo much more top-end it was frightening. Bryan Hise from JRZ was on hand to help with setup and lend a helping hand, and of course, HRE with their gorgeous custom C90 18X10.5 and 18X12 wheels framed the Hoosier R100 slicks perfectly.
And in a refreshing change from the norm, this event had some awesome contingency prizes! We earned a $1000 AEM Gift Cert, and a $750 HRE Gift Cert. That's some icing on the cake!
It's good to be back, and thank you the kind words and support. I had a blast, and this event is something I will remember for many years to come. Special thanks to the entire Forged crew for building not only FAST, but very reliable cars that can perform flawlessly on track.
