2015 One Lap of America

Zauskycop

Sorry about this being a bit late (by a day) but here is the first day update. Just got done with our morning sessions at MAM and did well. Car is a bit twitchy, wish I went XP10's in front instead of 8's all around. Getting used to the PSS, but did well in morning session. Jason is busily studying my video and goes this afternoon. Videos will be posted as soon as we can upload to youtube.

A Week in the Life of a One Lapper - Day 1
I find myself on the road in the middle of Iowa as night falls and finally getting my mind wrapped around what I want to write for day 1. So much has happened over the last day or so, and I want to try to express all that we've seen...
First, some background. In January of 2014, my wife and I bought a used 2012 Nissan 370Z, which became HER car, with the express permission that It would be run in the 2015 One Lap of America. That meant 2014, and some of 2015, became my window to prepare this car for the trials and miles that make up the One Lap. The list is long of parts added, removed, modified and worked on so this car would (hopefully) be trustworthy. Well, yesterday was the culmination of all this time as we arrived in South Bend, Indiana, for the welcoming party for the One Lappers (often referred to as the Lap Dogs).
It was a nice little gathering as some South Bend fire trucks came out, a SWAT vehicle, and some other various public relations vehicles to welcome the One Lap cars at the official hotel. Many of the cars made it, and almost all of them took the opportunity to apply their decal packets so they wouldn't have to do it the next morning....I know we did!
So Jason Cange and I (Tracy Ramsey) woke up this morning to a glorious day that would eventually find its way into the 80's which is, by northern standards, a pretty darn nice day for May 2nd.
We headed off to the Tirerack for the first event and registration. I would be remiss not to thank the Tirerack for their continued support and sponsorship for the One Lap of America. Some quality car enthusiasts work here and love helping out drivers of all kinds. Enough free advertising! We prepared the car by first emptying out the back of the car of our supplies, tools, clothes, etc etc that we will carry with us all week.
We also took this opportunity to check out our competion in SSGT2, Big Bore...which means Sports Cars, Under $50,000, over 3.5L ORIGINAL engine size. Aftermarket updates are a free for all! It appears that we have some older C5 and C6 Corvettes, and many new Mustangs..and one Challenger in our class. One of the Mustangs was built by Gas Monkey Garage and puts out 700HP!!! That is about double of what we have so we knew we would have our work cut out for us.
Knowing that it is a wet skid pad, and having experience in my Spec Miata, we decided to disconnect the rear swaybar in an attempt to keep the car balanced, and be able to transfer the weight to the outside tire better. That was the only real change we did along with lowering our tire pressures a bit under recommendation from one of the Tirerack specialists I have known for a long time.
57 cars took to the the Wet Skid pad and we hoped that our Michelin Pilot Super Sports would be all of the wet tire that it is made out to be....and it WAS! GTR's did well but it was a Viper that took the win, with a Porsche mixed in there. The 370Z exceeded our expectations and we took home a 13th place overall finish, with a 2nd place in class!! No real time to celebrate as we had to pack the car back up (you really wouldn't believe how much we can fit in the back of this car!) and hit the road for Omaha NE, and the next leg of the OLOA at Mid American Motorplex! Off to the hotel for a few hours of sleep and to the track in the morning.
Don't forget to follow Team Blenderblaster on Facebook, and follow our results at www.onelapofamerica and click on the 2015 One Lap, and then results. Until tomorrow, good night!!


Tracy Ramsey