The state motto might be ‘Virginia is for lovers’, but over the past weekend, surely it was for lovers of all high-end and high performance sports cars, as Virginia International Raceway (Alton, VA) played host to rounds 9 and 10 of the 2011 Whelen US TimeTrial Championship.

Sunday also saw George Whelen match his father’s Saturday performance to take the top step of the GT-Unlimited class podium- his first ever win in the US GT Championship’s premier class.

The weekend was expected to be a battle between two different breeds of horsepower- that of boost four-cylinder turbos and big American made cubic-inches. However, a surge of late entries not only gave the VIR rounds of the Whelen USTTC a record number of competitors, but another type of contender. Exotic European thoroughbreds joined the large contingent of American muscle and fast-fours that usually make up the Whelen USTTC ranks, and they certainly made their presence felt.

The bright orange Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera of Jim Booth wowed spectators and competitors alike as the V-10 screamed around the challenging 3.37 mile VIR circuit.
Booth dominated both days of competition in the TT-1 class, posting a 2:06.77 on Saturday before turning up the heat on Sunday to set a 2:04.172.
Interestingly, Booth also participated in his V10 Viper on Sunday but could only manage a 2:05.666, confirming the Lamborghini’s superior price tag over the Viper is indeed warranted.
Booth’s nearest rival was Doug Wind. Given that Wind’s weapon- a Modern Performance tuned turbo Dodge SRT-4- couldn’t be further from the Lamborghini in every way, shape and form, it was impressive that his times were only just over a second slower around one of the longest and fastest tracks in North America.
And while Wind could only manage second place on both Saturday and Sunday, he stamped his authority- albeit only by two tenths on Sunday- on TT-1 championship rival George MacDonald (Viper Competition Coupe), who finished third both days.

George MacDonald finished third both days in TT-1.

And while the strong points haul extended Wind’s TT-1 championship lead, MacDonald has now fallen behind Tanya Mazyk (Dodge Viper) who, all season, has been quietly building a solid points tally.
European might also proved too strong for the turbo fours and American muscle in the TT-2 class.
Alex Reznikov set a blistering 2:04.164 pace on Saturday afternoon in his black Porsche 997 GT3- a time that beat that of Booth’s Lamborghini on Saturday.
It was too much for David Tenney’s Dodge Neon SRT-4, who finished second, and Tim Jelle’s Dodge Viper GTS, who was third fastest in class on Saturday.

Reznikov didn’t match his Saturday pace on Sunday, however it was still enough to fend off the competition. Jelle, however, found nearly two seconds to close the gap, leapfrogging Tenney to take Sunday’s second placed trophy. Tenney finished third.

The SpeedSouth Corvette of David Leonard won Sunday’s TT-Unlimited competition. © NARRA

Again though, the fastest times of the weekend came from the TT-Unlimited class.
Philip Grabow and team from Element Tuning again threw down the gauntlet to the nation’s top tuning houses. On Saturday their heavily modified Subaru STi was the only car on Saturday to break the 2 minute mark, setting a 1:58.890. The fast-four was a staggering 6.5 seconds faster than the V10 might of TT-U championship points leader Carl Kafarowski’s Dodge Viper ACR, who set a 2:05.682- his personal best of the weekend. John Weigel, in another Viper ACR, finished third.

However all was not lost for American muscle, as a new contender entered TT-Unlimited for Sunday.
The Leonard brothers David and Tom, from SpeedSouth Active Power Racing, had brought their Corvette all the way from Pelham, Alabama to compete in the Whelen USTTC’s sister series, the US GT Championship. After blowing a transmission on Friday evening, their weekend looked bleak. However, the hard work of sourcing and overnighting a new transaxle to the circuit, and installing it with their backs in the Virginia dirt, paid off. Not only did they score two podiums in the USGTC, but they took the time-trial series by storm.
With brother Tom racing,

SpeedSouth’s Leonard brothers pose with their Whelen USTTC and USGTC trophies from VIR. © NARRA

David took the helm of the Corvette in the time-trial competition on Sunday morning. In a salute to the might of cubic-inches he ran over one second faster than Grabow’s Subaru, to set a 1:57.643. The time not only meant SpeedSouth was the new top-dog in town but would also take home the first place trophy in Sunday’s TT-U competition.

With over-heating and electrical issues plaguing Grabow’s Subaru, he had to settle for second place, while Carl Kafarowski took the third step of the podium.
And while by 4pm the competition runs had come to a close, Element Tuning had not given up in their quest to extract more from the STi. With the issues fixed, but on a far from perfect heat-soaked afternoon track, Grabow went out for the final session. While slightly bitter-sweet, Grabow showed what the Subaru was capable of, running a staggering 1:55.996- nearly two seconds faster than Leonard’s Corvette.

So while SpeedSouth’s cubic-inches may have taken home the trophy, one could argue the boosted four-cylinder of Element Tuning’s Subaru still reigns supreme in the Whelen USTTC.
All the action from the weekend 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. The battle of the countries best engine tuners, and some of the world’s fastest cars in the Whelen US TimeTrial Championship will continue next month at Motorsport Park Hastings, Nebraska as part of the 2011 Super Sports Car Weekend.

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

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.

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

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.

I was really happy to pull the win off given we had transmission problems. Something happened in practice on day two and the transmission wouldn’t select 1st or 2nd gear, which really isn’t a big deal, but whatever caused that would sometimes prevent the transmission from shifting at all. I simply had to coast through a few corners with the clutch in until I could grab a gear.

Having already managed a 1:29 on R888 tires in “Mod” class I was comfortable the time would hold for the win. With a new front splitter installed and some under aero work this year I decided to try to reduce some drag on day 2 by removing the front canards and reducing the angle on the rear wing. Reducing the angle on the rear wing didn’t have any major drawbacks (it was looser but not hard to control) but removing the front canards removed front bite in the slower corners. The car felt slower to me but due to traffic in practice I couldn’t determine the real lap time.

With a transmission acting up and nothing to loose I asked if I could put some “Unlimited” tires on for an exhibition pass. I haven’t run these tires all year long as I just didn’t have enough seat time in the car to feel the need. Once I hit the front straight braking zone and then the first turn I couldn’t believe how much more grip I had and was going way too slow. LOL! Unfortunately the transmission was really acting up but I was able to muster up a 1:27.123. Even with the problems I really under drove the car to that time. I know 1:25s should be possible.

At the last minute on Sunday, 2008 Volkwagen TDI Cup driver John Shim had an interest in racing the Element Tuning 2008 WRX “Street” class car. Having set great qualifying results for NJ I knew he didn’t need to learn the track and could just focus on driving. Using up practice session one bedding in the brakes he was only able to get about 20 minutes in the car before the main event. Before the race John said he thought he could run the last turn flat out. I said, “I don’t think so. There’s no downforce on this car.” He didn’t listen and on the first time lap spun entering the front straight. LOL! Basically loosing a fast lap for both time lap one and timed lap 2 he only had one lap to put it together. Like Danny Sullivan at the Indy 500 John spun and won! He was able to muster a 1:39 taking the AWD “Street” class.

Unfortunately this transmission failure took me out being able to run the Redline Autobahn event but I’ll be ready for the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge at VIR in July.

You can find a many more pictures and news here:

http://urbanracer.com/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=3847&z=1

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.

http://www.elementtuning.com/Videos/Element08WRXSummitRecord1.wmv

Power Mods:

Stock Engine
Element Hydra EMS 2.6
Element Hydramist
Element Header
Element Uppipe
Element GT52
Element Downpipe with 3″ High Flow Cat
06 STi intake manifold
06 STi TMIC
Modified Stock Injectors
TurboSmart BOV

Chassis:

Suspesion: Element Tuning Custom BC Racing
Braces: GT Spec
Ball Joint: 6 Gun Racing
Bump Steer: 6 Gun Racing
Wheels and Tires: TR Motorsport 18×8.5 Dunlop Z Star Spec 245/45-18
Brakes: Front STi Brembo, Pagid Yellow. Rear: OEM
Sway Bars: Front and rear still testing
Camber: Rear camper bushings

We limited the power on this car to 350-375 whp on pump gas and Hydramist and 375-400 whp on 100 octane and Hydramist since it does have a stock WRX 5 speed and clutch. No doubt the car is heavy since the only weight saving mods it has involved removing the junk in the trunk. LOL!

I now need to work on the brakes a little more along with more front aero work. I want to keep this a true street car so I’m limiting myself to what I’m willing to do but I think I can shave another second off the car without resorting to unbearable suspension or more power.

Simple effective mods!

Spirits were high going into this event but we knew there would be tough competition ahead of us with the Topspeed team, Robispec, DTM, and Forged.

James keeping the sponsors happy and setting tire pressures.

Element Tuning had one of those close calls. The story of the weekend was to either run the “jump” or to run the chicane. After the street and mod classes refused to run the chicane the unlimited guys decided that we would run the jump to ensure that the overall win stayed in the “unlimited” class. I was braking before the jump in the practice sessions to simulate running the chicane and not jumping the car but in one session I jumped it. I must have landed on one wheel because I bent the tie rod and broke the tie rod end link. Luckily I maintained control around the carousel which took out a number of cars.

Lucky for us our number one competitor Topspeed gave us a set of tie rod ends from a Whiteline kit and salvaged our weekend. You’ve heard this story time and time again and really we all try to help each other get to the main event. Thanks, Doug! Eddie and James from the Element crew went to work on replacing the tie rod ends and set the alignment the best week could. The bump steer corrections were off with this kit which made for a different feel but I managed well enough. What we failed to notice was that the wiring harness going to the ABS had rubbed the tire during the accident and tripped the ABS fault. Having very little experience racing without ABS I locked them up through the tricky 11-13 section and ran off into the grass. The track was certainly taking its toll on us and the other competitors.

At the end of day one we were lucky enough to slice our way through traffic to run a 1:32 in practice setting the fastest time of the day. On race day I elected to not even run this car in practice for fear that the track was still out to get me. LOL! I instead to the time to get some practice in our “Street” class 2008 WRX.

We didn’t have much time to get this car setup but it has an assortment of Element Tuning goodies: Hydra 2.6 EMS, GT52, Hydramist, Uppipe, Header, Downpipe, 950cc injectors, and has an STi intake manifold so I can run an STi TMIC. I’m currently running a set of off the shelf BC coilovers with some custom spring rates we were able to source at the last minute while we wait on the custom valved set. This car was raced at 19 psi on pump gas with the Hydramist using Dunlop Z Star Spec tires. As you can see we’ve fitted a 2008 Sti front bumper and fenders to the 4 door WRX. As soon as we can get some fiberglass side skirts we’ll have them molded in for a clean look.

After practice the OEM rear brake pads were gone and we were again scrambling for parts. To the rescue were some AutoZone Duralast brake pads that didn’t fit. LOL! Eddie was off to Chris Rado’s rig to grind them into shape. After that and some hand filing I had a car to race.

Doing double duty by racing two cars had me sweating but for the first competition this car did well and I was just edged out by a 10th or two by the Robi Spec EVO for 3rd place. Only being 2 seconds out of first place (1:40 to winning 1:38) I see no problems putting this car into the winning form. This is my true daily driver, baby seat and all. LOL!

For the Unlimited class and overall win, it was going to be an all Subaru show with TopSpeed running a 1:33 in there first time session to our 1:31. Both of us were sandbagging a little saving the cars for the main event but the goal was to break into the 1:20s. As we set out for the last time session it was obvious the track was in really bad shape (debris and fluid every where and the outside lines full of marbles) and the extra power added proved to be difficult to hook up. Having escaped disaster twice in one weekend I really wasn’t able to drive the car to its full potential and like Doug has mentioned, this track requires restraint. You’ll see in the video as I exit turn one where I lost the race to Luke Russell who posted a lap time 4/10ths quicker than our 1:30.xxx.

http://www.elementtuning.com/Videos/Redline%20Time%20Attack%20Shenandoah%202008%20web2.wmv

We put up a good effort and despite the setbacks came out with a strong finish, 2nd overall and only 4/10ths out of an overall victory. With our car at 2880 lbs it’s time to get serious if we want to win the overall so the car could stand to loose 200-400 lbs to run with the winning teams’ weights. Congratulations to all the winning teams and we’ll see you next time.

06 STi Mods:

Element Tuning Hydra EMS
Element Tuning Hydramist water injection
Element Tuning Time Attack Engine
Element Tuning Big Valve Heads
Element Tuning GT65 Turbo Kit
Element Tuning Fuel Surge Tank
Element Tuning 3″ SS Exhaust
1000cc Fuel Injectors, rails, regulator
TurboSmart E-Boost 2
TurboSmart Megasonic BOV
TurboSmart Ultragate
JIC Custom FLT Suspension
JIC Rear Lateral Links
JIC Rear Trailing Arms
Seibon Carbon Doors, Hood, and Trunk
Clutch Master’s Clutch, Element Tuning spec
Prodrive GC010 and GC050 18×9.5 Wheels
Hankook SC91 and SC71 275/35-18 Tires
StopTech 355mm brakes
Cusco rear diff
6 Gun Ball Joint Extenders
Swaybars (various)

08 WRX:

Element Tuning Hydra EMS
Element Tuning Hydramist
Element Tuning 3″ SS Exhaust
BC Coilovers (custom spring rates)
TurboSmart Dual Port BOV
TurboSmart Boost Tee
Whiteline Sway Bars
TR Motosports Wheels 18×8
Dunlop Z Star Spec 245/40-18
Brembo Sti front brakes
STi TMIC
STi Intake Manifold
Modded Stock injectors

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.

As we set out for practice on Saturday we cruised around the track trying to keep heat in the tires on the cold and damp track. With a 1 hour practice session we didn’t fuel the car up enough and it started fuel cutting and I also ran it out of water (for the water injection). The good news was that with the cool temps and the low boost I was able to turn 14 laps without any overheating issues. Lolly gagging around the track in low boost resulted in a great time of 2.00.38 good enough to set the fast time for both Friday and Saturday’s practice. Knowing we had 100 hp left on the table we were very confident the win was within reach.

With the car fueled up and water tank filled we lined up for Time Attack 1. As I came onto the front straight the car was laying over at 6k rpm. I realized that when I ran the Hydramist out of water I forgot to prime the system and purge the air out of the line. I thought the fail safe was cutting in and my non-water injection map was too rich so I cruised around and finished out the session. Overall the times did not change much and Topspeed, Crawford, and Element were all hovering in the 2:00-2:02 range. The BC/Cwest S2000 continued to have mechanical issues resulting in misfires. Since they were lean on supplies making the trip from California we gave them all the tools and duct tape they needed.

With only two sessions each day there really wasn’t much option to test so we purged the water injection lines, adjusted our tire pressures, performed the regular maintenance and called it a day.

For Sunday’s 7 am practice session we decided to pull the rear sway bar to try to fight the rear wheel hop we’ve been experiencing at the last few events this year. The bottom line is that it didn’t fix the issue enough and it slowed down the car’s transition response sending me a little off course at 140 mph through the uphill esses. Worse was that the car was still shutting down at 6k rpm. As I rounded the last few turns I see that James Elterman has stuffed the Takata Sti into the tire barrier hard at the end of the back straight. This would have to be the worse place to loose it at speeds can approach 180 mph. Luckily I saw him out of the car and I knew he wasn’t hurt.

I called into the pits and we pulled the car off the track to find the real issue. With 30 minutes before the race I hooked my laptop up to data log the Hydra to see what was going on. I noticed two things, one it was running lean on top and the other was the DBW throttle was closing after 6k rpm. The lean out was likely due to me running out of gas on the last lap of the first practice session. The Aermotive A1000 pumps are really sensitive to this and the cavitation can destroy the impeller wheel. Luckily the fuel pressure wasn’t dropping enough that I couldn’t just bump up the fueling in the map to offset this. Knowing we had some sort of DBW failure but only 5 minutes left until race time we quickly inspected, and uplugged wiring in hopes something came loose.

It was time for the final Time Attack and the times leading up to this were Topspeed with Luke Russell behing the wheel in the 2:00, Crawford STi with Tarzan at 2:01, and BC/Cwest S2000 with Tyler McQuarrie at 2:04 and Element Tuning at 2:00. I knew the times would fall by at least two seconds and if our problem wasn’t solved it would be a long shot to beat even our practice time. To make matters worse we hear the DSG 240SX blew a motor before our session laying oil down from turn 1 through 4 sending an S2000 into the wall hard.

Also off in a separate incident was another Honda that contacted the tire wall.

As I headed out on my warm up lap I let the Element STi rip and unfortunately the car was shutting down at 6k rpm. With only a 1k rpm powerband and being limited to 6K rpm I knew there was little chance at a win or even 2nd place for that matter but I wasn’t about to give up. As I come around for lap 1 I get a call over the radio, 2:04, and as I coming around for the second lap I see Luke pulled over at oak tree (they blew and IC pipe), then I pass the Tarzan in the Crawford car putting down the back straight (I heard he missed a shift and 9800 rpm later the engine was hurt), and I hear, “2:02 go faster over the radio, so I knew I had to push it! Here is the final lap video: (sorry same music as last time..under the weather and lazy  )

http://www.elementtuning.com/GT%20Live%202008/Element%20GT%20Live%202008.wmv

I pushed it as hard as I could and blew a couple turns trying. With such a short powerband, water splashing onto the window since the overflow tank cap popped off, and the car laying over at 6k rpm it was so difficult to drive but I managed a 2:01 on my last lap. A far cry from a likely sub 1:58 lap if the car was healthy.

Congratulations to Topspeed and Luke Russell for taking the overall with a 1:58 and to BC/CWest and Tyler McQuarrie for taking the championship with a last turn pass after Luke’s manifold cracked.

Also I have to thank Jim and John for all their help and hard work this weekend on the Element Tuning STi. With the exception to the mechanical failure things went incredibly smoothly given how little time was available to setup the car. Also a big thanks to Mark at GT Spec for getting us the chassis braces with such little notice.

With only “Modified” and “Street” classes allowed we took our 2008 Subaru WRX sedan for “Street AWD” and we swapped the tires on our STi to R888 and put the passenger rear windows back in for “Modified AWD” and headed to the event.

We were surprised to hear that there were no separate run groups so I had to give up sessions so I could get time in both cars. The Thunderbolt circuit was really hard to master and it actually never happened as the carnage continued as it had a few weeks earlier at Summit Point. As I entered the carousel with Witt Staples driving the Altantic Motosports’ EVO in front of me I could see at the end there was a car off in the mud. I’m not sure what happened but Witt lost it at the end of the decreasing radius turn, went off, and hit the EVO X that was sitting waiting to re-enter the track.

Interestingly there were three flag stations within view of the first car off the track and I saw no yellow flags. It’s a new track and I don’t think the corner workers are up to pace yet. Even during one of my races they yellow flagged two laps instead of just the warm up. I’m sure they will get them up to pace soon but the performance for this event was unacceptable. This session was black flagged and the driver and passenger were sent off to the hospital. Luckily 3 cracked ribs and a sore neck was the extent of the injuries so we were all happy to hear they would be fine.

With one hot lap in practice session one, we learned nothing about the new tires or the track layout. As we headed out for practice session two a car blew its engine and drove around the track on line. OMG give me a break! With only 2 hot laps off the track we came for a 45 minute clean up before the Formula Atlantic race. I don’t think they were too happy about that. LOL!

Because of the shortened schedule due to delays they only ran the top 15 cars so our 2008 WRX was not allowed to run the final timed session on day one. In the end the track was so covered in dirt from the Formula Atlantic guys it really was tough to ring the cars out so we cruised around to a 1:33 which was good enough to keep us in 1st place overall with James Elterman following closely in 2nd place overall. At this point I was still not comfortable with the track layout or the car.

For day two things looked a lot better on track as the track crews were sweeping dirt off between sessions. Since all the delays and surprises on day one Redline decided that all sessions would be timed and counted for overall. With no time in our 2008 WRX we ran the first session with that car setting the pace for the “Street” class finishing with a 1:39 for 2nd overall in “Street” to an SRT4.

The 2008 WRX felt fantastic and was so easy to drive. We are running an Element Hydra 2.6 EMS, ET Hydramist, ET GT52 turbo, modified stock injectors, STi TMIC and intake manifold, header, ET FEW Uppipe, ET 3” DP with 3” high flow cat for power mods. The suspension is fitted with Element Tuning spec BC Racing Coilovers, front and rear sway bars, 6 Gun Ball Joint Extenders and Tie Rod Ends, and a camber adjustment kit in the rear. We are running STi Brembo brakes up front and Dunlop Z Star Spec tires.

We are running the STi bumper and front fenders also.

With the 08 WRX handling great there was no need for more time in that car so we ran the STi Time Attack car for session 2. We lined up based on qualifying time and I made hay while the sun was still shining and let her rip to a 1:30 lap while catching traffic.

Here is the video: FormulaX Element Tuning Fast Lap

The car was still pushing badly which you can hear in the video so we made some tire pressure adjustments to improve things. I felt like based on this run I could go another 2 seconds quicker without the traffic in full time attack mode.

For the final timed session it was double duty running the 08 WRX and then the Time Attack STi. As I headed out I pushed on the very first timed lap but as I came around the carousel the yellow flags were being waved so I slowed down only to cross the finish line with the green flag out. Ok, so I picked up the pace for the next lap and the car felt good but I knew I could go faster and then I caught traffic on the next lap. OMG, LOL! I pull into the hot pits and it was right into the STi.

As soon as I started for my first timed lap I knew something wasn’t right. The car was pushing horribly in the front. On my last session the rear of my car felt really good with only 34 psi of pressure so I dropped the front down to the same but this was the wrong way to go. I think the R888s needed the low pressure in the rear to build heat but in the front when I dropped the pressure the sidewalls were folding over and the tires were overheating. I normally run a Hankook C71 or C91 tire that can handle really low pressures due to the stiff sidewall so it appeared to be the right thing to do. Luckily for me I was able to slightly improve my time by a 1/10th of a second running a 1:30.83 lap.

Luckily for me one lap was all I needed in our 2008 WRX running a 1:39.092 good enough for 1st overall in “Street” taking home the $1000 purse. In Modified we held on to the win over James Elterman in our STi to take the overall win and the “Grand Champion” check for $1500.

This was one of those tracks that is not easily mastered so I’m looking forward to future events here and also the move back to a more familiar setup in the “Unlimited” class. $2500 goes a long way to making this event worthwhile and I hope Formula X continues with this type of event piggy backing off of other professional motorsports.

The weekend started out with lots of last minute changes unfortunately. With SEMA so close there wasn’t enough time to get our new suspension prior to heading to CA but Jon at JIC Suspension graciously worked on Sunday to get us the custom suspension we so desperately needed. All I can say is that Jon really knows his stuff and we analyzed our currently setup, discussed its shortcomings, and came up with revised settings.

With new dampers and springs rates I was skeptical but how can you question a team with so many “Ulimited” class Time Attack Wins? I went with it and we also installed a set of JIC rear trailing arms and lateral links to provide stiffness, response, and to allow for more adjustability in the future.

Some new front brake pads for the StopTechs and some fresh fluid had our brakes optimized.

Front JIC coilovers installed and new camber settings completed up front. A huge thank you goes to Dan at Prodrive America for working on the car and allowing Element Tuning to utilize their facility.

With the work completed we headed off to Button Willow Raceway. The 2007 Toyota Tundra is just an absolutely awesome truck and ran flawlessly the entire 6000 mile trip. The quote of the weekend was, “I can honestly say I have never pulled anyone over for doing 85 mph in the Carpool lane towing a car.” LOL! I guess that’s not allowed in CA.

With Hankook’s tire mounting machine malfunctioning we were left high and dry without tires to run practice. It was all up to me to wing it on a track configuration I had never driven nor seen on video. At least I was able to get 6 laps in the configuration run for Super Lap with my old Hoosiers to get used to the new setup. Since I hadn’t run that configuration either and we managed a 1.52.88 with 60 whp more available we were in high spirits for the next day’s race.

With no practice I lined up behind Russ War as I knew I can learn from his lines and pace off of him as long as possible for the 5 lap Unlimited battle. It wasn’t meant to be for Russ as he broke down on lap two black flagging the race. They gathered us back into the pits and it was up to Element Tuning to carry the banner for Subaru against the Works and RobieSpec EVOs.

With the Works EVO the entire front straight away ahead of us I set out to close the gap knowing if I did I would have the win. As the laps unfolded I could see I was closing the gap. With such a long time attack and another event to run the next day I was only running 23-24 psi leaving 100 whp on the table but since it didn’t appear I needed it I just kept knocking out the laps on low boost.

As every lap passed I started to learn the track and push harder. I was still however struggling in a couple of the fast and blind sections where I knew I should be going much faster. As the checkered flag waived we were within a couple car lengths of the Works EVO and I knew we had it in the bag….or did we?

I think we did more driving for this photoshoot than we did racing.

Chatting during the looooooonnnnggggg photoshoot:

Oh well missed another practice session for Super Lap. LOL!

Did Element Tuning win it for Subaru? No……hmmmm this will go down in history as the most creatively scored 5 lap race in history. They didn’t count my last two fastest laps but instead included my warm up lap and the black flag lap?????

Watch the video and you be the judge:

http://elementtuning.com/Videos/Hankook%20WRX%20vs.%20EVO%20Time%20Attack%20Web.wmv

All in all I was happy to be invited and the Hankook tires are absolutely awesome. No doubt about it they are a very fast tire. A big special thanks has to go out to Armin Ausejo from World One Performance who captured the event with his incredible photos, Garret Alpers from World One Performance for his support of Element Tuning’s Time Attack Car, Dan at Prodrive America for all his hard work to make sure our car always made it out to race, and to Jon at JIC Suspension for all his incredible suspension knowledge and for taking time out of his Sunday to help Element Tuning.

So far an overall win isn’t looking too good but I hope to uphold the Subaru honor. Here are mostly likely the fastest cars running at this event.

Michael Skeen: Muscle Milk Trans AM series Corvette (Grand AM and Trans AM series driver)

This tube chassis car is no joke and has lapped VIR Full at 1:48. I believe these are 2600 lbs 650 whp cars.

Danny Popp: Corvette Z06 650 HP (Multiple SCCA and NASA championships)

This car finished second overall in the first VIR UTTC. With 650 hp now he should be in the 1:55 range. He has run 1:59 at VIR with just under 400 hp.

Bill Riley: Riley Technologies Track Day Car (Basically a Daytona Prototype with 500-650 HP)

I don’t know what this car will run buy DP cars can run 1:46 laps at VIR.

Phil Currin: Dodge Hemi Charger

This car has lapped in the 2:01 range.

Phil Grabow: Element Tuning 2006 “Unlimited” Time Attack STi (you know me)

We have about 600 whp but I have never been able to let this much power loose at VIR. At the Redline event last year our DBW throttle failed but I ran 2;00 in practice with 400 hp. I’m gunning for a 1:56-1:57 this year at 600 hp as we’ve improved the suspension and aero package on the car.

There will also be a Porsche GT2s, Ferrari 430s, GT500s etc. It’s going to be an awesome event. I actually wish I could spectate but I know we’ll be very busy!

Stay tuned for updates!

Update:

What a great time and thank you NASA Mid Atlantic and Grass Roots Motorsports for hosting such an awesome event.

I think there ended up being 56 cars on track for GRM UTTC practice prior to the groups being split and it was nearly impossible to get clean laps. I managed a 2:07 in traffic securing me a spot in group 1.

For timed session one nobody new each other’s lap times but we had a grid order and I was about 14th from what I remember. After timed session 1 the Element STi was now 6th overall with a 2:00.X. Things were looking promising given I was running a lower boost setting and worn out tires. The DP car was 1st followed by Skeen’s Trans AM Corvette, Challenger, Popp’s ZO6, another GT vette, and Element Tuning STi. Fast company indeed! More to come.

Update:

With temps in the mid 90s it was really tough on all the competitors. During timed session one I did only a few laps, ran two cool down laps, and then tried to do a hot lap at low boost but the tires were just wasted. When I pulled off there were chunks missing!

I was getting a little too much compression coming out of “hog pen” entering the big bump into the main straight and a little wheel hop exiting turn one. For timed session 2 we bumped up the compression a little and a little more rebound dampening in the rear on our custom BC ER Series coilovers. We also installed a fresh set of Hankook C91 compound tires and planned to run at maximum power.

As I staged for timed run 2 it was almost an odd sight. You had the Riley DP car, Skeen’s Trans AM Corvette, Currin’s Challenger (which by the way I found out does 0-150mph in 7 seconds ), Popp’s Corvette, another GT Corvette, and the Element STi. As we took off it was so cool to see those cars in front of me and they were so loud parts on my car were rattling from the sound! I so wanted to stay tight on them so the speed would be caught on film but since the Corvette in front of my was within a few hundredths of a second and I was planning on gaining two seconds I had to hang back for my timed runs. After a 5 min first lap (DP driver was going 25 mph ) it was full on!

The brand new tires were pushing really badly on the first lap but started to come to life on lap two. As I enter “Oak tree” I miss a shift really badly and over rev the engine (how bad? All the way around ) and as I hit the back straight I know something’s wrong as the Hydra has gone into the backup safety map. Thinking I might be able to reset the ecu and continue on I turn the car off and back on….too bad I forgot that drops my power all the way down to about 400 ish until the E-Boost is turned back up. Even after turning the car off/on and running the lower boost I lap at 2:00.197 but that would be the end of it. As I entered turn one I could feel something was wrong with the engine and as I was putting around it shut down but I was able to pull off in a safe area so the race could continue. Initially we thought everything from a head gasket to oil starvation but late in the day we found evidence that the ARP rod bolts broke. How do we know? The rod cap was sitting on top of the block (but bearing surface looked perfect). It’s looks like it was the person behind the steering wheel’s fault.

In the end I wasn’t able to improve my time much and was also under my goal. After talking with two of the fastest teams they were running 1.5-2 seconds a lap slower than they normally run due to the extremely high temps. We’ll have to wait for cooler weather in October to really push the car to my goal of 1:57. Here’s how it finished out.

1- 1:44.956 M. Goosens Riley DP

2- 1:50.474 M. Skeen Trans AM Corvette

3- 1:53.652 P. Currin Challenger

4- 1:54.165 D. Popp Raft Corvette

5- 1:59.128 C. Gelston Corvette

6- 1:59.717 B. Watts RRT M3

7- 1:59.727 I. Steward Porsche GT2

8- 2:00.197 P. Grabow Element STi

9- 2:00.742 S. Bennett Ferrari Challenge 430

10- 2:00.881 N. Goldrich GT2

11- 2:01.873 M. Swain Ariel Atom 3 (this thing was fast on the straights!)

12- 2:02.288 P. Faessler Paul’s Automotive Eng Mustang (featured in GRM)

Ok this goes on 57 places but to the Subarus:

22- 2:10.916 B. Miller Rev-Tech GC8 STi (600 hp, dog box, 35R, blown head gasket)

26- 2:11.628 J. Mathews 04 STi (ET built block, 300 hp, ET custom BC Susp)

54- 8:23.891 L. Keen Top Speed 08 STi (500 hp, Hoosier, suspension component failure)

57- A. Palmer GC8 (Shop Varsity but I don’t know anything about this car or what happened).

Here is some in-car video of timed session two where you’ll be able to see some of the sickest track cars in the US!

http://www.elementtuning.com/GRM UTTC/Element GRM UTTC Web.wmv