Element Tuning

Philip Grabow won the TT-Unlimited class setting the fastest outright time in the Whelen USTTC at New Jersey. © www.dwphotoworks.com

Subaru has been added to the list of manufacturers to win the country’s newest national time-trial series, the Whelen USTTC.

Philip Grabow convincingly won both days of competition in the TT-Unlimited class at New Jersey Motorsports Park (Millville, NJ), which saw record entries in the Whelen US TimeTrial Championship.

His Element Tuning prepared 670 horsepower 2006 Subaru STi, running Hoosier Tires, set the overall fastest time Saturday and Sunday. Grabow’s times of 1:26.072 and 1:26.333 were a staggering three seconds clear of his nearest rival, Steve Katz (Viper ACR), in the TT-Unlimited class.

Philip Grabow proved once again you don't need a Viper to win in the Whelen USTTC. © www.dwphotoworks.com

Commenting on the win, Grabow said:

“I really enjoyed running with NARRA. It was really nice for a change to run against some really fast cars [such as Viper ACR-Xs]. We took our very different Subaru, [which] somewhat seemed out of place initially but once the lap times kind of settled out clearly it was a car that belonged there.

It didn’t go perfectly for us. We did win, but the goal was really to set the fastest time of the weekend, period. But we had some electrical issues so it didn’t look like we’d be able to touch some of those Viper Cup car times.

This was a really well run, well organized event. The [class] rating was fair, the competition was good. The whole package was a top-notch event. It felt good to be a part of something bigger.

I’m definitely looking forward to running the next event at VIR [Virginia International Raceway].”

George MacDonald (Viper Competition Coupe) and James Booth (Viper ACR) shared the wins in TT-1, while Tim Jelle (Viper GTS) won both days in TT-2, giving Dodge the top step of the podium in every class apart from TT-Unlimited.

George MacDonald finished on top in Saturday's TT-1 competition. © www.dwphotoworks.com

TT-Unlimited championship points leader Carl Kafarowski, who won the class at both Chuckwalla and Sebring, could only manage fourth fastest both days.

The Canadian suffered from brake issues throughout friday’s free practice, and by his own account felt he was a day behind the competition, which he conceded was the strongest he had faced in the Championship since the inaugural round at Road Atlanta.

Kafarowski set his fastest time on Saturday and couldn’t match his effort on Sunday. Both days he was trumped by Steve Katz and Michael Von Quilich (Viper ACR-X).

Von Quilich was on ‘double-duty’. The North American Road Racing sanctioned event also featured the Dodge Viper Cup presented by Pennzoil, in which Von Quilich was also driving, along with the US Performance Driver Education program and the US GT Championship.

The biggest field of cars was in the TT-1 class. On Saturday a close, ‘david and goliath’ styled, battle played out between championship points leader Doug Wind’s four cylinder SRT-4 and George MacDonald’s 10 cylinder Viper.

MacDonald and his green “Lolly Girl” Dodge Viper Competition Coupe managed to take the win by just over a tenth of second, setting a time of 1:33:543 to Wind’s 1:33.647.

John Weigel (Viper ACR-X) completed Saturday’s top three in TT-1.

On Sunday James Booth (Viper ACR) stepped up to take the TT-1 class win, while John Weigel stepped up to out pace the Modern Performance sponsored Dodge SRT-4 of Doug Wind, who finished third.

Doug Wind finished second in Saturday's TT-1 class. © www.dwphotoworks.com

Tim Jelle topped TT-2 timesheet both days. On Saturday Scott Barton was second fastest followed by Canadian Michel Prevost. Sunday saw Edward Werry take second place in TT-2.

Tim Jelle won both days in TT-2. © www.dwphotoworks.com

Winners in each category are eligible for contingency prizes from Hoosier Tire and Cool Shirt®.

All the Action from the Whelen US TimeTrial Championship at New Jersey was captured using GoPro cameras by the Internal Production Group and will be broadcast later this year on GoRacingTV.com, hosted by motorsport television personality Tom Hnatiw.

Event results, images and news can be found at facebook.com/NARRAonline .

The next rounds of the Whelen USTTC will take place next month at Virginia International Raceway, July 8-10.

Just as we started to get the new car and myself sorted out our season is over but the new STi is performing better than we could have ever imagined.

New graphics from Speedesign look great. We wanted to do something new and different but keep that mean look the car had in all black. We couldn’t finish completely as the vinyl wouldn’t stick to the unfinished bumpers so we need to get those painted before the whole look is put together.

Rota DPT from WheelDude.com in 18×10 Matte Black hold the Hoosier 285s on very nicely!

New Sparco Circuit Pro Seats, Belts, and Steering wheel from OG Racing and Sparco USA keeping me safe.

One of the single largest and most critical improvements on the car is the Fulcrum Aero wing. John went above and beyond building us a reinforced with with improved double lap joint mounts.

Notice the heim joints for reduced stress on the mounts. The wing is also very easy to adjust because of this mount.

The final race of the NASA Mid Atlantic Championships was this past weekend at Summit Point Raceway. We updated our Element Tuning custom BC ER Series Coilovers with new valving and Swift Springs to increase front roll stiffness on the car in attempt to settle the rear end down under acceleration. We tested this at VIR warming up and ran a 1:59 which would have been good enough for 4th in the UTTC race so things were looking good.

On day one we set FTD breaking the old TTU lap record of 1:16.07 with a 1:15.4 lap but the cold track made it tough to get the heat I needed in my Hoosiers. On day two we tweaked the Fulcrum rear wing for about +45 lbs more downforce with only a 6 hp penalty in drag, dropped tire pressure on the driver’s side, and we adjusted the front and rear clickers on the BC coilovers. With the track temp coming up we were able to set a new TTU track record at 1:14.439!

Enjoy the video, From a 148 MPH Crash To A New Track Record:

Thanks,
Phil Grabow

Mazda’s Formula X Motorsports Festival Presented by Cooper Tires put on a great race at New Jersey Motorsports Park! It’s really exiting to be part of a bigger televised event such as this or GT Live that’s held with Grand AM.

There is just more excitement in the air! You can watch Time Attack, Mazda Formula Atlantic, Star Mazda, Playboy MX5 Cup, and even IMSA Lights. If you ever get a chance you should race one of these time attacks.

For the second year in a row, Element Tuning’s Mod class STi took the overall and Mod class win shaving almost 2 seconds off last year’s time running our new custom BC Racing ER series coilovers, GT Spec braces, and some new aero work.

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I actually really love driving my 08 WRX and couldn’t be more impressed with the new chassis. I knew it was fast but not this fast. I was expecting to run in the 1:25s since I was running street tires but a 1;23.8 blew me away. This time is also fast enough to break the current Nasa TTA lap record for Summit Point.

For the chassis I have the Element Tuning custom BC Racing Coilovers setup really well, GT Spec chassis braces, 6 Gun Ball Joints and bump steer kit, front and rear sway bars, Brembo STi front calipers, Dunlop 245/45-18 Z star Spec tires, and rear camber adjustment kit. All I can say is this car’s lap time are a reflection of it’s grip and not the power. The new chassis is impressively stiff and has so much more grip than the previous chassis.

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The Redline Time Attack series visited the Summit Point, Shenandoah circuit for round 6. The track with its interesting paving and lack of grip bit back claming at least 6 (2x S2000, 2x EVO, 1x BMW, 1x Scion) major crashes the track and a few close calls.

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GT Live 2008 at VIR was all about great competition, fast times, big crashes, and lots of mechanical problems. With practice and racing starting at 7 am or 8 am we were all greeted with cold and damp track conditions in southern Virginia.

Heading into the event and looking at the schedule we felt we had an advantage knowing this track pretty well. The problem however was that test sessions early in the year were cursed with rain and locked up wheel bearings. Regardless I knew we had a fast car, I knew the track layout, and I was confident the AMS EVO lap record would fall.

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