It was a great week at the 2012 OneLap of America event. TSM took home the overall win in our track prepped Nissan GT-R. Click on the images below to download a hi-res wallpaper for your desktop.
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Well we had another great day on the 2012 One Lap of America. 3 P1 finishes back to back spreading our lead to 90 points overall. There are still 6 events left before the fat lady sings, so anything can happen!
There was lots of dicing in the field today actually which made for some good racing. The number 15 car of SpeedConcepts stepped up their game and TIED Catesby Jones in the Forged Prepped GT-R this morning. In the second session they continued to put the pressure on them in the afternoon finishing just 4 TENTHS of a second behind. The SpeedConcepts GT-R is climbing up the leader board going after the Chariots of Palm Beach 2012 GT-R!! Should turn out to be an interesting battle for 3rd place.
In other news the AOK Networking GT-R of Bob Knoerzer (“NAGTROC CAR”) driven by Co-Driver Derek Heim took SECOND place in the evening AutoX beating out Catesby Jones by almost 2 TENTHS of a second!! Very cool stuff! Great job to the new comer team of AOK Networking! Also proved to be pretty good for us spreading the points gap 5 points more between us and the Forged Performance car.
The team now has a 650 MILE drive to the next stop in Brainerd MN! It’s going to be a LONG NIGHT!
Here are the official results from today’s events, along with the final standings. We have TONS of pictures below so check them out. Thanks for following guys!!
~Cicio
Ok guys today’s events are over!
The first session was won by almost 10 seconds making the second largest spread yet! Leh and Doug did an amazing job today getting the car ready for the track. Leh said that the track was very low on grip this morning and was confident he would have more to work with this afternoon. In this morning session he ran a 1:53.7 @ Great Plains Raceway in the TSM GT-R & a 1:53.3 this afternoon. The afternoon showed the TSM GT-R top on the boards once again, this time by almost 9 seconds as well.
The reports from the team are that the car is running perfectly but everyone is getting pretty tired. The event will for sure take a lot out of you by the end of the week.
The team is currently loading up for the 335 mile drive to Mountain Park Hastings in Hastings, Nebraska!
Below are some pictures from the day, and here is a video from Leh in the wet @ MidAmerica…watch this guys hands correcting that big car around the track.
Well today was another awesome day of competition. The GT-Rs are standing their ground and even moving up the field, finishing very well at Hallett Motor Circuit. The first round of racing revealed us in first place with Catesby Jones 2.6 seconds behind. Catesby has really shown himself, this year especially, to be a fierce competitor. He is in our opinion one of the best One Lap competitors to date.
With round one behind us Leh downloaded the feeling of the car to Doug in order to brainstorm if there were any improvements to be made. With a couple hours before the afternoon session the team decided a small suspension change was in order. Off came the front wheels and Doug went to work making a small setup change to slightly improve the overall balance of the car. As the second session rolled around the car was ready to roll. Leh picked it up a notch from the first session running over 3 seconds faster overall than in the morning session. Catesby Jones in the Forged Performance GT-R fell off a little over a second leaving us with a total gap of 7 seconds on second place.
Another day of racing past, then loaded up for the 600 mile drive to CO to run High Plains Raceway tomorrow.
Stay tuned for more updates in the morning and some in car video from the last couple days as well!
Thanks for following the event’s progress…here are some pictures from the day at Hallett!
Some feedback from Doug:
“The TopSpeed GTR had another great day to add to the books!!
Everything about today was text book One Lap. Got to the track early enough so we didn’t have to scramble. Race fuel was open and ready for us to top off our tanks. I had plenty of time to find a very nice back road to verify everything was happy for the area’s altitude density. With the cooler weather today we were seeing a peak of 23psi, which is a tad bit higher than I would have liked to see since we are still using the stock map sensor.
With everything checked off on our pre-race list the TSM GTR was lined up in the P1 position on grid for the first session. Now I have to admit that I am very competitive, maybe too competitive depending on who you ask. But this morning watching both the GTR’s duke it out was AWESOME!! Catesby was wheeling the crap outa the Forged GTR, very very impressive watching him slide the back end all the way out and never lift coming onto the front straight. This guy can drive with the best of them.. Seeing the cars this morning flying around the track at absurd street tire defying speeds reminded me why I love my Job.
When all the dust settled and race gas cleared the TSM GTR took the P1 spot in this morning session.
After every event Leh and I do a brief download of how the car was responding on track. We decided to make a front ride height adjustment and leave everything else alone (power aero wise)
As of right now I am not sure the exact standings for the second session but I feel we did pretty good. This year has been a really fun cat and mouse game for me, trying to figure out how much we need to give to stay ahead of the next competitor while maintaining a level of safety.
In the end we have put another 2 events behind us and yet again increased our lead from the nearest competitor.”
Another day of competition behind us on OneLap of America 2012! Today was not without its challenges. Last night the little town in Iowa got pounded with rain. The racers showed up to the track this morning to a wet slippery surface. What that means is that the morning (fastest) goups go out and run on a damp track subsequently drying it off for the rest of the field.
Not only that, but the team pulled up to the track only to find out that there was no race fuel to be had. Normally that wouldn’t be a huge deal except the only thing offered at the pump in Iowa is 91 octane. With no time to hunt for anything better Doug was forced to re-calibrate the car to the crappy fuel giving up gobs of power.
With overcast skies and a chilly 20mph north wind the top 5 cars were let out first to battle around the track drying it off for the rest of the field. Usually this type of thing results in the leaders getting knocked down that event’s leader board, however that wasn’t so much the case for the TSM car. During Doug’s morning re-tune he had also made sure to calibrate the car in order to ensure the power was delivered in a way as to not shock the traction limited tires. Then it was Leh’s turn to shine. He piloted the car around the wet track leaving his closest competitor an amazing 8 seconds behind, even given their dry track advantage. The closest GT-R was Catesby in the Forged Performance car coming in over 15 seconds behind.
Here are a couple pictures showing how wet it was for the morning session.
With the morning event behind us we turned our sights to making sure we weren’t caught in the afternoon. The conditions would be dry for us in the afternoon but we were still down on power due to the 91octane fuel. There was always the option to tune on E85 for the event, however without the time to run a full tank of E85 through the car to ensure the fuel system is flushed of 91 it simply was not safe to push the car on it. So off to Advanced Auto Parts we went for some good old octane booster. While that certainly wasn’t the optimal solution, and surely didn’t yield power of even straight 93, it was better than nothing.
As the afternoon session rolled around Leh geared up to take the track. With the morning defeat we were sure the competition was going to bring their A game. Leh would have to push the car a little harder to ensure a victory. Lining up for the standing start the cars tore off into the distance for 3 flying laps around MidAmerica Motorplex. Slicing around the corners like a knife and pulling down the straights like a freight train, Leh put 4.9 seconds between him and Catesby in the Forged car! With that victory it has spread our overall points lead to 50 points after day 2.
As if the back to back wins weren’t enough, after Leh pulled the TopSpeed GT-R off the track he and Doug were congratulated by several track workers on the new production car track record….nice little bonus!
Overall we are very happy with the way the car is performing so far. There is lots of racing and tons of transit driving ahead of us so stay tuned to more updates from Hallett Racing Circuit tomorrow morning.
Here are some pictures from the day…I will also have some in car video up for you guys later tonight hopefully.
With the 3rd place finish on the wet skid pad and the win at the South Bend Paved Oval, Leh Keen and Doug Wilks brought the TSM to Autobahn Country Club for the 3rd and final event of the 1st day of racing at the 2012 One Lap of America. The competition brought their A game but the TSM team brought the TSM GT-R in with the overall win edging out Catesby Jones in the Forged Performance GT-R by 2.069 seconds. Overall, it was a fantastic start to OLOA leaving TSM at the top of the overall leader board with a 20 point lead.
From Leh:
“We are heading West to Mid America. We had a great day and the TopSpeed GTR is feeling Real Nice.. This is the first day so we stayed clean and mistake free.. Took it easy if you will…. Its important to get a good start.. We did well in the Wet Skid placing 3rd and then won the little oval track and Autobahn!! We finish the day with a 20 point lead overall…”
Next up is a 9 hour drive to be in Pacific Junction for the Mid-America Motorplex events. Racing starts at 8:30am so be sure to check out the live feed at topspeedtuned.com/onelap and check out the standings and pictures below from Autobahn today. We are looking for another great day of racing.
Top 5 Finishers at Autobahn
| 1 | 3 SSGT1 Big Bore |
TopSpeed MotorSports 2010 TopSpeed MotorSports GTR Douglas Wilks – Alpharetta Ga USA Leh Keen – Charleston USA |
4:33.436 | 4:33.436 | 375 | |
| 2 | 10 SSGT1 Big Bore |
tangerine associates 2010 Nissan GT-R Catesby Jones – Fort Lauderdale Fl - |
4:35.505 | 4:35.505 | 370 | |
| 3 | 4 SSGT1 Big Bore |
2009 Nissan GT-R Todd Treffert – Sarasota FL USA Tyson Timperley – Glendale |
4:42.687 | 4:42.687 | 365 | |
| 4 | 5 SSGT1 Big Bore |
Winsor Corvette 1999 Chevrolet Corvette Eric Winsor – St. Paul MN USA Bob Winsor – St. Paul USA |
4:45.049 | 4:45.049 | 360 | |
| 5 | 7 SSGT1 Big Bore |
Chariots of Palm Beach 2012 Chariots of Palm Beach GTR Hugh Bate – W. Palm Beach FL USA Craig Kahle – W. Palm Beach USA |
4:51.362 | 4:51.362 | 355 |
Top 5 Overall Standings
| 1 | 3 SSGT1 Big Bore |
TopSpeed MotorSports 2010 TopSpeed MotorSports GTR Douglas Wilks – Alpharetta Ga USA Leh Keen – Charleston USA |
5:15.822 | 1115 |
| 2 | 4 SSGT1 Big Bore |
2009 Nissan GT-R Todd Treffert – Sarasota FL USA Tyson Timperley – Glendale |
5:27.588 | 1095 |
| 3 | 10 SSGT1 Big Bore |
tangerine associates 2010 Nissan GT-R Catesby Jones – Fort Lauderdale Fl - |
5:19.415 | 1090 |
| 4 | 15 SSGT1 Big Bore |
Team CVM 2010 Dodge Viper ACR Chuck Veth – Branford CT USA Christie Veth – Branford USA |
5:42.809 | 1060 |
| 5 | 7 SSGT1 Big Bore |
Chariots of Palm Beach 2012 Chariots of Palm Beach GTR Hugh Bate – W. Palm Beach FL USA Craig Kahle – W. Palm Beach USA |
5:36.855 | 1035 |
So the first event this morning was the wet skid pad. The wet skid usually ends in a pretty scattered field, as a lot of FWD cars do very well. This year the huge tires on the GT-Rs helped them stay up front. The SpeedConcepts car took the overall win with a .922 G run. We followed in 3rd place behind a well built CRX with a .851 G rating. The Forged Performance car took 6th place with a .839 getting beat out by an ACR Viper as well as a Mazda Miata.
The second event was only minutes away at the South Bend Motor Speedway oval. 3 laps around the short oval only added up to a little over 40 seconds. When the TSM and Forged car took to the track there were cheers and clapping coming from the stands. The two cars tore around the oval after each other like a mini GT-R Nascar!! After 3 flying laps the results showed TSM in the lead by 1.5 seconds. TSM running a 41.535 & Forged running a 43.071.
With no time to waste Doug, Leh & LC loaded the car and headed for Autobahn…3 events in one day then they start the 9 hour drive to MidAmerica!!
Look for an update from Autobahn in a few hours…meanwhile here are some photos from todays first two events.
don’t forget to follow our feed @ http:\\www.topspeedtuned.com/onelap
As many of you may know, one of our favorite events every year here at TSM is Brock Yates’ OneLap of America race. This race is one of the more unique events in motorsports that we have ever been involved in. The rules are simple, yet brutal. The race demands the utmost respect, requiring the most out of every car and its drivers. It extracts potential, while shining light on all your weaknesses! It does not slow down for you, nor does it give second chances.
As an individual the race challenges you in so many ways, not only as a driver, but physically, mentally, and emotionally. Eight to ten days of non-stop driving across the country from track to track. Late nights and early mornings, fighting your opponents, the clock, the points board, weather, and at times…your car! Forced to learn tracks during just one morning walk, and expected to perform to the maximum potential of the car and yourself. It’s an experience we feel every racing enthusiast should have.
As a company we feel it’s the ultimate test of quality, longevity, craftsmanship, design, and innovation. We must build a car that not only has the potential to be one of the fastest street driven cars in the country, but also will withstand a four to five thousand mile road trip, with a scheduled twice a day beating thrown in there. The power must be enough to beat the clock and set the fast time, but not so much that you sacrifice reliability. Suspension tuning must be done with the utmost attention to tire life without giving up performance. A well-rounded, reliable car is a must! A car that will go around a road course, through an auto-x, or down a drag strip faster than most race cars, yet then throw your suit case back in the trunk, turn on the AC and some beats, and start an eight hour drive to the next event.
There are no trailer queens at this event. There are no supporting semi trailers, pit crews, extra parts, or even spare tire setups. There is only you, your co-driver and the car you drove in with. You run what you brung and if you fail, break, crash or use up your tires…you lose! There is nothing quite like it!
Please follow our live web feed at www.topspeedtuned.com/onelap
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- TSM OneLap Nissan GT-R
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- TSM OneLap Nissan GT-R
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- TSM OneLap Nissan GT-R
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- TSM OneLap Nissan GT-R
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- TSM OneLap Nissan GT-R
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- TSM OneLap Nissan GT-R
With the amount of GT-R owners switch over to the Michelin PSS after the stock run flats we decided it was time to get you guys some hard data. We teamed up with Michelin USA and they were kind enough to supply us with several sets of tires for back to back testing. Prior to the stock sizing being released for the GT-R it was very popular to run the 285 square setup for may GT-R owners. Whether the car was full street or street/track many people were seeing great results from this setup.
The purpose of this test was to really see the difference between the stock tire and the PSS. Michelin was very clear with me that the exact results were to be totally public whether good or bad…they wanted the community to have back to back, real world data.
So I went to work, I needed to find a completely stock GT-R (harder than I thought it would be) to use for testing and employ professional driver Leh Keen to give us the back to back driving precision we would need for an accurate test. With all that gathered up we headed for Roebling Road in Savanna to start testing.
The test was performed using three different setups, on the same car, back to back, with the same driver.
Track: Roebling Road Raceway
Car: 2010 GT-R BONE STOCK
Driver: Leh Keen
Setups
#1
Stock Bridgestone Potenza RE70
Sizes:
255/40/20 (F)
285/35/20 ®
#2
Michelin Pilot Super Sport (PSS)
Sizes:
255/40/20 (F)
285/35/20 ®
#3
Michelin Pilot Super Sport (PSS)
285/35/20 (F)
285/35/20 ®
Here is the feedback from driver Leh Keen concerning the three different setups.
Stock Potenza staggered – This obviously is a great tire for dry conditions. It works very well on the GT-R as it was designed specifically for the GT-R. This is a proven setup that the factory has chosen. It is a runflat and has a very stiff sidewall. I know this tire does not last long with normal road use. It is also horrible in the wet and noisy on the road. Compared to the factory sized PSS setup the Potenza was 0.1 seconds slower in lap time. The Potenza did not quite have the overall grip of the staggered PSS but did show more response from the front and better balance although still had a bit of push. The threshold of lateral grip held a bit longer than the PSS but then had a quicker release rate. The sharpness of the front helped with understeer and this gave the car better balance then the staggered PSS. The front would simply respond to inputs better resulting in a better balance in the car. Although the time was 0.1 slower on the PSS, the car was nicer to drive and “felt” better on the factory setup.
PSS staggered – The PSS showed great overall grip but lacked balance. The 255 just doesn’t seem to be as aggressively built as the 285 relatively speaking. That said it was 0.1 quicker due to overall grip and was easier to drive with push being the determining factor. The response was dull from the front and would easily slip into a push. The threshold of grip had a steady fall and was smoother than the Potenza. It was easier to find the limit of the tire and go over it. The PSS “talks” to you more and tells you its limits easier. The rear 285 easily overpowered the front 255. The PSS is great in the rain also and has less road noise.
PSS Square – This was awesome. This setup “fixed” the understeer that the stock and staggered PSS setups had. The front responded well to steering inputs and had the overall front grip to make the car turn. Although not as sharp as the Potenza the general front grip made up for that. Overall grip increased but only marginal the big difference was the balance. The time was a full 1.0 second quicker using this setup! 80% of that time increase was thanks to the better balance in the car. Actually I would say the car was almost perfectly balanced (for a completely stock car). Slight understeer in lower speed corners with slight oversteer in entry to med and lower speed corners, which is simply a GT-R character trait. It was easier to find the limit of the tire and that resulted in a great overal feeling and confidence. I was very impressed with this setup and was surprised to see how much quicker it was.
Overall we are we were very happy with the performance of the PSS. The tire lasts longer, rides better, and is just as fast or faster than the factory setup. I want to personally thank Michelin for the opportunity to doing this testing for them and look forward to more real world/track research in the future. The new combination that Michelin just released (285/295) will be tested hopefully in the coming weeks. While it may add a little more push to the car we are hoping the increased rear grip will compensate for that and translate into lap times. If for no other reason the 295 simply looks better on the car
Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I am sure that all of the information you guys need isn’t totally covered in this writeup, but we are here for that. Leh and myself will be answering questions that come up so don’t hesitate. I had the guys put together a little video for the community as well as some pictures….see those below.
We also have a huge stock of all the tested tires. Everything is in the building and ready to ship. So if anyone is looking for a PSS setup please shoot us a PM, email, or just call the shop.
Thanks for the continued support, we hope this writeup aids some of you in your decision making process.
~Team TSM
On March 9, 2012, TopSpeed Motorsports took a customer’s 2010 GT-R down to Roebling Road Raceway in Savannah, GA for the car’s chassis and suspension tune. Erick flew down for the day to meet his car after it received some new parts at the T|S|M shop.
2010 Nissan GT-R
Custom T|S|M tune
JRZ Suspension
Boost Logic Intercooler
Boost Logic Intercooler Piping
AMS Down Pipes
TSM Products Y Pipe
GReddy Exhaust
Grand Am Champion Leh Keen started taking laps in the car early morning and by mid morning, the car was already turning faster times thanks to the feedback from him and the adjustments made by the TopSpeed Motorsports team. The end result was a balanced car that Erick can take back to his local track and turn faster lap times. At T|S|M, we make faster cars through parts and setup to insure the best possible driving experience.
Erick weighed in on his thoughts from the day.
I want better lap times.
My 2010 GT-R is an incredible track car, but I wanted it to be better. I’ve given this a lot of thought. Every year Nissan improves the current GT-R and every year I think about getting the new one. I’ve gone through this cycle three times now. If I upgraded it would be better, but in less than a year Nissan will start talking about the next one with a little more power and some other refinements and mine wouldn’t be “the best” anymore. I also like the idea of having something special, perhaps something that is best suited for my needs and capabilities.
The One Lap of America is an incredible event. I’m not much of a motorsports spectator, but for some reason I’ve always liked One Lap. A few years ago GT-Rs started competing and I started rooting for them. Last year I started following the Topspeed team of Doug Wilks and Leh Keen on Nagtroc. I watched them live from my office as they raced around Daytona at 180 mph. I took a day off work to drive 3 hours south to see them in person at Autobahn where they clinched the 1st place victory. They destroyed the competition. As a fellow GT-R owner, they made me proud. I was and remain truly in awe with the combination of the tuning prowess from Topspeed and Leh’s superhuman driving skills.
This got me thinking. What if I could get Topspeed to tune my car and then have Leh Keen spend a day dialing it in just like they did for One Lap? Even better, what if I traveled to Georgia to watch the whole thing and then have Leh show me what the GT-R is truly capable of and give me a few pointers in my own car. Well my friends, that is exactly what I did.
What I ended up with is a car that not only makes buckets more power, but handles significantly better than before. Understeer? Gone. The sound? Amazing. Even better, after watching Doug and Leh tune my car for half the day and watching the lap times keep getting better, I have absolute confidence that I am getting every last penny worth of performance from all of my upgrades.
But the best part without question was the experience. There really is no way to explain the feeling of riding around the track in a Topspeed tuned GT-R as Leh Keen defies physics. I wish there was some way I could show my gratitude, but all I managed was, “Unbelievable. I don’t have words.”
This forum has been a huge resource for me over the years. I hope sharing my thought process and experience will in some way give back to anyone who might be in a similar situation.
If anyone has any questions, please don’t hesitate.
Cheers,
Erick
Over the past couple of weeks, TopSpeed Motorsports has gotten in 1 2012 Porsche GT3 RS and 2 2012 GT3 RS 4.0′s for tunes, track setups, alignments, custom exhaust and some other mods to get them ready for track days. The 2 GT3 RS 4.0′s are out of 160 cars total. It is one of the rarest and most sought after Porsche’s in the world.
Each of these cars had their own set of needs based off of the customer. The highlight of the set is the new custom TSM exhaust on the RS that produced one of the best sounding exhaust notes we have ever heard to date. More on that custom exhaust and how you can get on on your RS will come soon.
Click on the image for a hi-res version for your desktop.
This matte white vinyl wrapped Nissan GT-R came to us with all of the supporting mods minus the motor and turbo kit, but wasn’t running at its full potential. Making less than 500whp with full bolt on’s the owner decided it was time to step up the game and send his car down to us from New Jersey. We were very excited to transform this car into something our customer can enjoy and extract the full potential of the parts chosen.
We were very happy with how this build came together. We removed the aging matte white vinyl and re-wrapped the car in protective matte film wrap. The film was impressive to all of us including the customer, you can really still see the lines and pearls pop through the film to create a great contrast.
Even with the stock tranny the GT800 performed very well making 738whp and 654 tq. We kept the torque turned down in order to preserve the factory clutches. The New Volk G12 wheels look just awesome on the GT-R, especially with the matte film.
Here are some photos of the car all finished as well as the dyno graph…..enjoy!
Mod List
- HKS GT800 Kit
- TSM Built Motor
- Carrillo Rods
- CP Pistons
- H11 Head Studs
- Balance Assembly
- TSM Race Tested Tolerances
- Speed Density Conversion
- TSM ECU Calibration for 93oct & Race Gas
- Matte wrap removed – replaced with Matte film
- ADV1 Wheel Package (Street)
- Volk G12 Wheel Package (Track)
- KW Sleeve Kit
- S2 CarbonWorks Coolant/Catch Can
- Custom Painted Engine Bay
- Toyo R888 Tires
Wallpaper Downloads for Matte White GT-R
Click to download
Front Fisheye Shot | Engine Bay | Black and White
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- TopSpeed Motor GT-R Dyno Graph
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- TopSpeed Motor Nissan GT-R Motor
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- TopSpeed Motor Nissan GT-R Motor
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- Matte White Nissan GT-R Rear
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- Matte White Nissan GT-R Front
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- Matte White Nissan GT-R Front
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- Matte White Nissan GT-R Front
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- Matte Protective Film GT-R
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- TopSpeed GT-R Engine Parts
The date is set for TopSpeed Motorsports first instruction day with the Champs!!
As many of you know, we work very closely with Championship Grand-AM driver Lehman Keen. Through that relationship we have also become friends with his Brumos co-driver Andrew Davis.
In 2012 TSM will be taking advantage of these great friendships in order to help our customers graduate to the next level in their driving skills. While both Leh & Andrew are very busy they have made it a priority to join us for several instruction dates throughout the year. We here at TopSpeed are very excited to be able to offer driving coaching from both drivers of the Championship winning Brumos Racing Porsche 2011 Team! We feel honored to be a part of this opportunity and to be able to bring it to our customers.
The first of this series of days will take place at Roebling Road Raceway in Savannah, GA on Jan 13th 2012. Leh and Andrew will be offering instruction and the TopSpeed crew will be there for support for everyone involved. I will be limiting this first event to 10 participants to see how it goes. I want to make sure that everyone gets plenty of one on one time with both instructors.
The cost for the day on track including the instruction will be $595 per person. That includes a fully open day on track with your car as well as instruction. If you are interested in attending please let me know as soon as possible. This even will fill up VERY fast!
If you have any questions about the details please feel free to email me @ cicio@topspeedtuned.com
We will also be staying Friday night for dinner and social time @ the Hawthorn Suites
Hawthorn Suites
4 Stephen S Green Drive
Savannah, GA 31408
912-966-0020
They do offer a Special Rate
Please contact me if you would like me to hold a spot for you.
~Cicio
TopSpeed Motorsports
Track Map
| Hey guys,
I wanted to do a post about one of our current builds that I figured may be interesting and helpful to the community. This 2011 STI Limited came to us with some catastrophic engine failure (Rod through the top of the block) It was in bone stock form when we got it, but isn’t going to stay that way for long. This car is getting the full treatment! Everything is absolutely top notch with no real expense spared. We have already pulled the motor and sent the heads to be prepped for the cams and valve train…we will start assembling the block next week to get this build underway. THE PLAN: -TSM RR1 Built Short Block *CP Coated Pistons -TSM Street Heads -ARP Head Studs -TSM/AMS GTX35R Rotated Turbo Kit -Borla CBE I will post pictures of the build up as it happens for you guys, the car should be really strong when she is done! Here are some pictures of the car with the motor out, and just some of the parts that are going in her. |
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Ok well we just kicked out the second of the three Alpha9 builds that have to be done by the end of this month. The third one was just started on and needs to be cranked out so we can send the car back to Cali for Sema.
I didn’t get any pictures of this car on the dyno because we were in a bit of a rush to get it tuned and out the door. The customer wanted to go to the drag strip lastnight and see what it would do. I did however get a couple pictures of his personal roll back that he picked the car up on which was pretty cool. BTW Check out this dudes custom Honda CBR1000 (Sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures. The interesting part about this build is that we did a minimal mod path for the customer because thats what he wanted, but it still made awesome power. The dyno graph below is using the factory BOVs, upper IC piping, and muffler!! We were very impressed with the results on MS109! The other thing we did a little different on this car was the boost levels in first/second gear. Normally we set the customer up with lower boost in first and second in order to keep the tires planted on the ground, and increase safety, however this customer wanted nothing to do with low boost anyplace, and didn’t really care about safety LOL His words to me were “My buddy has a worked ZR1, and I don’t care if I have to break this thing to beat him” Gotta love friendly competition right? !!! His goal is to run 9s on the stock motor/tranny then build it with a Boost Logic kit. That being said he called me this morning and said the car went 10.31 @ 141 spinning all the way through 3rd gear Drag Radials have needless to say been ordered MOD LIST -AMS Alpha9 Turbos *STOCK IC PIPING & BOVs
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Hey guys,
I just figured I would update you with some info on some of the builds going on in the shop…
Its seems to be the month of Alpha9s here at TopSpeed this month. Last week we completed the first one of three in the shop.
This particular car is one of the sexiest GT-Rs I have laid eyes on! Very tastefully done mods, it just looks and sounds amazing!
This is a local customer, so I will be doing some video work with the car next week and will post it up for you guys.
This is the highest HP Pump gas Alpha9 we have seen yet…the car is very strong! (Graphs Below)
MOD LIST
-Alpha9 Turbos
-Forge Motorsports Actuators
-AMS Downpipes
-AMS Resonated Y-Pipe
-Garage Active CBE
-ID1000 Injectors
-Aeromotive Fuel Pumps
-HKS Intercooler Piping
-HKS Intercooler
-Cobb AP Speed Density Tune
-Cor Wheels
Thanks for looking guys, and feel free to ask any questions you may have.
~Cicio
TopSpeed Motorsports
| This customer had completed his goal of dipping into the 10′s with an HKS LegaMax exhaust and HKS resonated midpipe installed. At the strip, the car ran a 10.98 @ 123mph which was very respectable, however like any enthusiust…we all want MORE!
After consulting with him several times about his goals we set a plan of action and shipped him some go fast goodies! Mike has worked on his own cars for years, and wasn’t about to change that now, so all of the installs were done by him in his garage with us for phone support when he needed it. This is the first step toward our goals for the car and we were very excited to see how the 2012 responded to some nice cool corn running through her veins! On 93 Octane @ 18.5 PSI the GT-R made 555.52whp|557.24tq and on E85 the GT-R made 601.49whp|630.77tq We were very pleased with the results and Mike is happy with the car. “I couldn’t hold my head up when Doug punched it”- Mike Mod List: On a funny note on 93octane the ID2000cc injectors were at a whopping 36% duty cycle! |
We were very pleased with the results.
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Today @ TopSpeed Motorsports, we have a very busy and exciting day ahead of us. We thought it would be fun to update this thread throughout the day with our progress on today’s small project car…. a beautiful Red 2012 GT-R!!
The days events will go as follows: -Morning Baseline BASELINE DYNO RESULTS POSTED Currently one of the main hurtles Cobb is facing with their ALPHA software is the ignition/knock control in the ECU. As I am sure many of you know that is a pretty crucial aspect of safe tuning. That being said Doug has the control over some of the logic as it relates to knock in the ALPHA software. In order to further the R&D with Cobb, and ensure that our customer gets the most out of his tune safely, Doug pulled out his det cans to dig a little deeper into how the car is truly reacting. He uses this technology very often when tuning for international race teams in South America due to the lack of knock control on their standalone ECUs!
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~Cicio
TopSpeed Motorsports
| Parts are really starting to roll in for the Datsun now. The full Arizona Z Cars suspension kit showed up this week so the test fitting has begun. Most of this will have to come back off before we do a few needed repairs to the chassis, however we want to check clearances and make sure everything will mesh first. The Arizona Z Cars parts are quite frankly beautiful, the machining and fit is excellent. It looked great on their website but it looks even better in person. Some of the rod ends and pillow balls they choose to use on their kit aren’t quite of the standard that we usually use, so some of those will be getting replaced.
It may be hard to see in the photos but the control arm mounts have been totally hand fabricated in Double Sheer and welded to the chassis. This provides more clearance for the headers and is much stronger. The Mustache bar in the rear is waiting to provide a home to the Carbonetics rear diff thats coming in. It will be housed in a Infinity Q45 diff housing that has been totally rebuilt. Stay tuned for more updates next week. Here is a teaser wheel picture!! |
| TopSpeed Motorsports gives Godzilla some extra muscle!!
Just wanted to share with you guys a recent build we just completed. The customer brought us his 2009 GT-R in bone stock form looking for more. We sat down, went over his driving habits, power goals, and what type of racing if any he wanted to do with this particular GT-R. Turns out a fun weekend car with the occasional drag day thrown in there was what he had in mind. The target was around 700whp with the possibility for a 9 second pass given the right fuel and tire combo. After reviewing all of the turbo options the mutual consensus was the AMS Alpha 9 upgraded turbos. The AMS Alpha 9 turbos deliver usable power while retaining factory like spool and reliability, which is exactly what we were looking for. The AMS parts coupled with a few things from our TSM Products line made for one mean GT-R! We did a few things a little different on this build than the others. First off we tested the new Aeromotive fuel pumps in the factory GT-R basket to provide plenty of fuel for a possible E85 upgrade in the future. That modification worked flawlessly and we would recommend it to anyone. Secondly the customer wanted to retain the factory muffler and tips in order to keep the car as “sleeper” as possible (we assume it had a little something to do with the girlfriend as well The rest of the modifications were pretty straight forward, and install in a weeks time by one of our Nissan techs BrandonB. After a TSM custom tune by our in house tuner Doug Wilks the car put down an astounding 758whp! Our customer was very happy with his new setup. We have plans to take the car to the strip in the very near future, so stay tuned for the drag slip! Thanks for reading guys, feel free to ask any questions or add any comments you may have! Dynograph & Pictures below ~Tyler MOD LIST: -Alpha 9 Turbos FUTURE PLANS: |
| Doug Wilks & Leh Keen clenched the OneLap title once again this weekend in South Bend. Team TopSpeed dominated the event once again, sweeping all of the OLOA Road Courses! Being 500 points in the lead by the dry skid pad event the guys decided to have a little fun. Below is a video of Leh doing RWD drifts in the R35 GT-R after Doug removed the front drive shaft.
I wanna say a big thanks to all of our sponsors: AMS I will be posting more videos and pictures as I edit them throughout the week. ~Cicio |
Here some in car for you guys!! 1:55.4 at Daytona International Raceway on STREET TIRES!!
Quoted from Doug:
We have made GRAND-AMs web page..
Car is running perfectly and were headed to Barber for out next event. Leh is currently driving now… for those that don’t know we are holding another competition. Details can be found on our Facebook page FaceBook/TopSpeed Motorsports
We will be giving away another limited edition OLOA KillFire sticker, and announcing the winner on our live web cam.
Thanks again for everyones involvement its been awesome, the amount of viewers and web hits massive.
Doug
In case you guys wanted to watch the direct video of the driver interview, here it is
| Well today is another day…The team is at Circuit Grand Bayou Road Course in New Orleans, LA today getting ready for more racing. Yesterday was the longest day of the event….Daytona International until mid day, then to Gainesville Dragway into the evening and then a 500+ mile drive to New Orleans!!
The last I heard it was 4am and they still weren’t to the hotel yet. Yesterday was very successful…we won both events at Daytona and then set a new OneLap record at the drag strip. Right now we are sitting in first place overall with the Porsche PDK in second, and the GT-R of Catesby Jones in 3rd. Below is a quote from Leh posted lastnight and a few pictures from Daytona. Don’t forget we will be live later this morning @ TopSpeedTuned/OneLap ~Cicio *Quoted from Leh: Hey guys this is Leh… We JUST hit the road and have a 8 hour drive ahead of us…. its going to be a loooooooooooong night…. we have some 5 hour energy’s waiting for us in the glovebox for later… We won both road race events at Daytona then went to the drags and won that too!!!.. there is also a bracket race thing but we opted to just break out on our 2nd run… so we could hit the road… some people are still there racing!.. they will have a later night then us….
At Daytona we tested a drag strip map during some parade laps…. which was a pretty good bit higher boost then what we have been running on the road courses so far.. We ran that map for the drag strip and it started to break up… Onelap is tough because you only get one shot at the events… the leaded fuel we have been running is getting to the plugs…. So we may change them soon…… i lifted out of it and ran a 10.6 at 124…. the car was def on its way to a low 10 pass..!… We ran the road course map we have been running the entire event for the bracket race and did a 10.8 at 132 with a 1.8 60′…. Pretty strong road course map!! ha!.. car is very impressive…. After onelap we will take it to the strip with some fresh plugs and run a good # for you guys.. im pretty interested… i will try to get some pics up from daytona.. we also have incar video from daytona in HD.. Oh yea.. and a 10.6 is a new Onelap Record..! |
TopSpeed Motorsports GTR takes P1 in morning session at Daytona running a conservative pumpgas map of 18psi we turned a 1:55.9 lap time.
Forged/Catesby GTR suffered another mechanical issue on the last lap of the first session. But I don’t think it will hurt them as bad as last time.
Stay tuned… were still streaming live and will be for the entire day today.
Just to put it in perspective, Grand-AM race pace is 1:52-53s…
~Cicio
Well I’m sorry for the delay in status updates, I have been doing track support for a couple other customers this weekend and didn’t have any internet access. Now I am actually at CMP with the team right now getting to watch the car run.
Since the wet skid we have taken first place in every event so far. At Summit Point the TIC Subaru did a very good job, but suffered mechanical issues in the second session.
However other than that one event, the Forged performance GT-R driven by Catesby Jones has been pulling up second most of the sessions. He hasn’t gotten any closer than 5 seconds behind us as of yet, but they are working on the car to try to dial it in.
After CMP we drive to the BMW test track for one session then the team packs up for the LONG drive to Daytona International Speedway.
I will be doing a better job of keeping you updated from hear on out. I also have some HD in car video that I will get up later tonight.
Here are some pictures from the last two events.
~Cicio
| This year you can be part of the action real time!!! TopSpeed Motorsports is taking you in car with Leh Keen & Doug Wilks for their 8 day journey from track to track around the US! OneLap of America is such an awesome, unique event, and this year we wanted to bring the action to you. Last year we won the event in our Porsche GT2, but this year we wanted to make it more interactive and interesting for you guys. Follow the link below and you will not only be able to view in car live webcam for the entire event, but also keep track of exactly where the car is on google maps and chat LIVE with the team as they drive. We will be doing interviews and live video blogs on a daily basis to let you know how the car is acting, what challenges we are running into and how we are stacking up to the competition. Click, Log In, Chat, Interact, and enjoy the ride… ~Cicio
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Well Doug and Leh are off to South Bend Indian for sticker day tomorrow.
I wanted to share a little update because I haven’t had time to get on here for a few days… I will be launching a pretty fun interactive live feed page tomorrow during the sticker session that I think you guys will enjoy. We are all pretty excited about it. All the little details I will save for tomorrow… Below are some pictures of the graphics scheme as it sits. Of course there are lots more stickers to go on the car, for all of you familiar with OneLap you know all about that. I look forward to bringing you guys not only live updates, but also lots of good video and media along the trip. One of the best things about OneLap is following it for the entire week…if anyone is in the area for any of the events please come out and say hello to the team. Again thanks so much for all the support and kind words…this build has been tons of fun, and will continue to be developed OneLap here we come…. Go Team TopSpeed!! ~Cicio |
We were at Roebling Road Raceway yesterday in Savanna, GA testing the car. Changes from the last test include, sways, turbos, and supporting mods.
We wanted to start out the day strong as the track falls off toward the middle to end of the day. I have traqmate data and video that I will put up for you guys when I get home, but for now just info.
After adjusting tire pressures, playing with sway bars, and working more with the aero balance, the car set a fast lap so far of 1:14.7
Leh, Doug and I are very happy with how the car is running. The AMS Alpha turbos gives it just what it needs up top while keeping the torque at a manageable level.
Just to give everyone a frame of reference as to just how fast a high 14 is at Roebling…
The previous GT-R record was a 1:18.7… A full 4 seconds slower! While beating the record by that larger of a gap is a great accomplishment its still not an apples to apples compairison. The previous record was set on R888 “street tires” while we were on a full NON r-comp 300 treadwear Michelin PSSs.
Here are the pictures from Roebling Raceway yesterday. We didn’t have alot of hands with us, so the on track pictures are limited, but I will have fastlap video up for you guys shortly!
Enjoy…
-Cicio
Ok Gents and Ladies….very sorry I have not had the time to update this thread. We have been just slammed in the shop. Trying to finish Two Alpha builds right now with deadlines, so our personal play time has been limited on the OneLap GT-R.
However with the test day coming up next week we figured we better drop the motor….
Time for TURBOS!!!!
Just snapped a few pictures…Lots more info to come through the weekend. All the body work is painted and looking awesome…she will be 100% track ready by Monday night.
Enjoy the pictures…
P.S. Leh is running Long Beach this weekend…tune in if you have time.
~Cicio
Boxes and boxes and boxes of parts.
The parts are finally starting to roll in for the Datsun Project so an update is in order.
One ultra trick item that was purchased for this project was a Quarter Master 5.5 inch triple plate clutch. Its ultra compact and will allow us to run a reverse mount starter and a very compact bellhousing. This will allow us to wrap the headers and exhaust down and around the motor in a much tighter fashion. Heres a view of the complete kit, keep in mind that this clutch is smaller than a dollar bill, its remarkably light.
There were lots of transmission options and while it would have been perfectly acceptable to put some wild dog box tranny in this car it really just doesn't suit what this customer wanted. We choose to go with a proven winner and install a Tremec TKO-600. The TKO transmission is still a syncro style transmission but its designed to take some serious abuse.
The “Decision”
427 dry sumped inches that could
We put a lot of thought into what would work best on this car as far as the drivetrain goes. There are many factors to consider when choosing a engine for a project like this. What is the intended use, who will be using it, are they an experienced driver\mechanic, what is the end goal peak power or a huge wide powerband?
We had a long consultation with our customer and after much discussion he agreed that a built LS7 was the way to go. We were pretty excited about this decision to say the least, its exactly what we wanted to do and we were happy that he agreed.
We consider ourselves to be very good at a lot of things and have built a lot of engines but we have never built a LS7 for endurance racing. The owners here at TopSpeed are firm believers that you do what your best at, and staff your weaknesses. That being the case we are lucky to have some very good friends down the street at MTI Racing that have done quite a bit of LS7 work…and by quite a bit I mean they are some of the best in the business. Reece Cox and the crew at MTI came up with a package that will give our customer everything he wants in a engine. Strong, reliable and very low maintenance for a race engine. Here’s a short list of the engine specs below.
LS7 block
Callies Rods
LS7 Crank
Mahle Pistons
MTI CNC Ported LS3 Heads
MTI Custom Grind Comp Cam and Lifters
KSTech Timing Chain
ARE Dry Sump System
Target Horsepower for this project is just over 500whp. This engine will get us there and leave plenty of room to spare.
Stay tuned for more pictures as parts begin to roll in.
-Matt
The Datsun Project:
We at TopSpeed were recently approached by a client to do some work on a vintage Datsun 240z race car. The customer was having some tuning issues with the standalone in the car and brought it to us to sort out. While we were assessing the car our client mentioned that he was considering an LS swap at one point. After a few meetings and some discussion it has been decided that we would do a LS swap on the car rather than fix the existing issues.
The customer wants big power and reliability for running endurance events. Much of the parts still have yet to be chosen will it be a LS1 or a LS7, 5 speed or 6.
Everyone at the shop is very excited about this project. Its a little different than what we usually do here at TopSpeed and we think its a good chance for us to show off our versatility, and fabrication talent.
We will be updating you with pictures of the parts and the progress as it happens.
Here are some pictures of how the car came in.
Enjoy…
-Matt
After doing some testing on the car this weekend at Road Atlanta we are getting really close to dialing the car in. While the testing at Road Atlanta wasn’t perfect this weekend do to traffic on track I still feel like we made progress in learning what the car needs. Turn 12 gave us the extreme conditions we needed in order to test the support with the stock shocks, and the esses confirmed the fact that the car still has a bit of aero balance to worked out. We knew going into the weekend that a NASA event wasn’t the best place to turn a lap time, but there was progress made, and we had fun! As you can see from the Traqmate data the second lap this session was a 1:30.6. It was actually his first hotlap on Saturday as well as the first time the car had been on Road Atlanta. In turn 6 Leh got hung up by a Mustang that threw his line off for 7 as well. Then coming over 11 there was also a car he had to work around making entry to 12 a little off. We were running the car in HPDE3 & 4 because they were the only groups open on late notice. I want to thank the people from NASA Jim and Julie for getting us on track last min. They were very helpful even though we may have disrupted their DE just a tad since we were running 15 seconds faster than 99% of the field. :shiftdrive: ~Cicio Session#1 Saturday | Lap#2 |
Here are just a couple pictures from VIR.
~Cicio
Leh Keen:
Doug Wilks:
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| Well we are headed home from VIR so I figured I would update you guys.
We are happy with the data we did get today, however we aren’t able to report as much feedback as we would like. Just after lunch we broke out the JRZ suspension to get it installed. Half way through the install we realized that there were some crucial spacers missing from the kit. While we did our best to “make something work’ after just a couple laps Leh reported that the car just didn’t feel right. Between that and the rain coming our way we decided to call it a day. The crew reinstalled the factory suspension and are headed back to Atlanta now. I want to thank Bryan from JRZ for taking the time to come down to provide support…next time just bring a complete kit We were able to feel out the car and get some aero ironed out. There is for sure a little time left in the car even on the factory shocks. Our next test will be in a few weeks at Roebling Road in Savanna. Here is the traqmate video from the 1:59.0 we ran in the second session. Enjoy… ~Cicio |
Well the car is on the scales getting a final setup for the track tomorrow. The day has gone pretty well, but was not without its trials. I would have to say the biggest one being the front tire/wheel combo that doesn’t fit :0
We are going to be testing on the brand new Michelin PSS. If all of the testing is accurate these tires are going to be awesome. They tested 2 full seconds faster than a PS2 yet hold a higher treadware rating. They were just released, but only in very limited sizes. One of the available sizes however is a 315/35/20. That tire seemed to meet our criteria so it was the weapon of choice. However we had no way of knowing that the PSS 315 measures more like a 335 with a 12.8inch tread width!!! :doh:
With the Password:JDM fenders we were planning on running the +15mm offset Volk G2s with the PSS 315s square. When we went to set the car on the ground however, the tires hit the fenders.
That being said we had to do some mad scrambling to figure out a solution….turns out the rear wheels being 10.5inches wide with a +25 offset fit the front fenders just right.
While its not the perfect solution, or the prettiest one, it works! Which is all that really matters. We will come up with a more permanent fix after the test.
I will make a more complete post when I have some time, but here are some pictures of the car for now….
multi colored, different wheels, and the car still looks MEAN! 
~Cicio
| Well its a late night here at the shop getting ready to leave for the test day tomorrow afternoon. I figured I would share some pictures with you guys while the fab team is working on welding the wing uprights.
Front end is pretty much ready to go, Dodson tranny fluid is in and HKS cooler is full…ARP extended wheel studs are in, new brakes are on curtsy of Endless & Stillen! (more on that later) Tomorrow a couple more packages come, then we button the car up ready for the 400ish mile drive to VIR….Yes thats right…we are driving the car to the track. This girl is no trailer queen! Well here are some pictures, I will write a little more official update tomorrow. Oh and P.S. ……Evidently Leh and his girlfriends dog Turbo really like canards!! **See Last Pictures for Proof ~Cicio
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| So I received clearance to announce some exciting news about next weeks test day for the TopSpeed Motorsports GT-R.
Next week we will be going up to VIR with some friends that are renting out the track for the entire day. There should be That being said we will be testing product from our newest sponsor JRZ Suspension. Now….while I am sure you guys have We started this build out tell you guys we were in this to help the community and truly determine what makes the car Go Faster…. I want to thank JRZ Corporate and Bryan Hise from JRZ USA for this opportunity, and the sponsorship. He will be trackside with I am doing my best to get as much in car data for you guys as I can. |
Hey guys, we have been crazy slammed here at the shop so we have been trying to spend the late night hours working on this project. Here is the first test, I have one more I am working on I should have posted later this week. Also weather permitting we will be at the drag strip this saturday for some stock turbo quarter mile numbers.
Doug
This will be the first of many tests to come…
For this test we will installing and testing the new Invidia EL Race header, and uppipe. This is the latest Invidia design using larger primary runner diameters in an equal length package. It also has yet to be tested back to back so we figured this would be a good first test to share with the community.
In an attempt to make this an accurate comparison we wanted to be sure to maximize the potential of the car before and after the install, as well as do same day testing. For this test the TopSpeed 2011 sti was baselined with a full Invidia turbo back system using a catted downpipe. Once the baseline dyno tune was completed and the car mapped for the parts already installed we moved the car onto the lift for the header and uppipe install.
Prior to installing headers or uppipes we prefer to wrap them in heat wrap. From years of testing we have found that heat wrap plays a major role in subaru’s. It helps keep the IAT’s down, as well as increasing spool and power delivery. If you have the chance to wrap your headers and uppipe do it as there really isn’t a drawback in doing so.
Installing both the header and uppipe were straight forward and we give them a TopSpeed fitment of A++. Everything lined up perfectly… as expected since we chose to use all exhaust pieces from one manufacture and not mix match pieces. Included were all bolts and gaskets needed, we chose to run factory gasket on the heads instead of the supplied ones in the kit.
Now the part everyone wants to see…. the dyno graphs and data
Run#14 is with the header, uppipe, TBE and custom tune
Run#09 is just the TBE and custom tune
It is quite obvious that the header and uppipe allow the car to make more power from the above before and after dynograph. What isn’t so obvious is with the new header and uppipe the car actually made less boost for most of the dyno pull. This is because of many different factors. Mostly though it can be summed up that the header and uppipe have made the engine a more efficient air pump and the stock VF turbo is not able maintain the CFM required. Even still less boost doesn’t mean this is a bad header. Because now we are able to run more timing on pumpgas safely because of the drop of exhaust density and egt’s
Here are the boost plots and timing plots from both runs so you can see the differences. Notice on the boost plot it is down about 1psi from 4k up, yet we am able to run 3deg more timing through most of the rpm range.
Boost Plot
Ignition Timing
At the end of the day we think this is an amazing header. Anything that allows the motor to breath better and make more SAFE power gets a TopSpeed thumbs up.
We will also do this test again when we upgrade the turbo as we expect the gains with that test to be even better.
We will be stocking these so if interested give us a call..
Thanks,
TopSpeed Motorsports
| As I said in my last post the car has been under the knife this week getting ready for her first test week after next. Doug and the teem have been working some late nights in order to ensure the car is ready for its madden voyage in partial OneLap trim. Everything is a work in progress at this point, and coming along nicely.
We started out the week with a “To Do” list that looked something like this: Aero Power Cooling Wheels&Tires We installed the HKS cooler first and as always with HKS product we were very impressed. The fitment on it is absolutely perfect It comes with every bracket, rubber grommet or bolt you could ever want. Every line clears by just enough, and fastens in place securely. The core, ducting, and replacement washer fluid tank are great quality and also fit perfectly. I will update you on how we feel the unit performs after the test. While the bumper was off it was on to the AMS FMIC. This thing dresses to impress from the time you open the box. Fit, finish, and quality are amazing. It comes with all the new IC hardware that replaces factory bolts as well as the lower intercooler piping. Installation was time consuming, but very straight forward, and fitment was flawless. We have yet to put the car on the dyno, or test on the street, however our experience with AMS in the past leads us to believe that performance will be just as impressive. As you can see in the pictures below the fab work is just mock up at this point. Still lots of work to do there. We are custom building our own uprights for the carbon wing. While we won’t have time for tunnel testing both Doug and Leh have enough experience in this area to be very confident in what the car needs. After several templates and placements the one you see below is fairly final. The front splitter was a signature on the GT2 last year. The custom peace made the front of the car work so well that we had to increase the rear wing size. After the race last year I had countless calls from Porsche owners asking me what it would cost to replicate it. Well what works…works, so we have constructed a similar design on the front of the GT-R this year. The only notable difference is the under tray portion. The underside of the GT-R works differently than the Porsche did to create downforce, so our new designed kept that in mind. The rest I will let you guys see in the pictures below. The car will continue until its phase 2 completion and ready for testing. We will not be installing the AMS turbos for the first test, but the rest of the car will be close. Enjoy the pictures and please feel free to ask any questions you have. I can get Doug or Leh in here as well to answer the more technical questions if you guys have them. Thanks for following ~Cicio |
| Ok guys, sorry for the lack of updates the last little bit. We have been slammed with customer projects leaving very little time for the OneLap build. However thats all changing this week as the car goes under the knife for some crucial additions in order to get ready for our first test day. …. More on that later.
The news for today is a new sponsor that has come on board. All of us at TopSpeed including Leh would like to thank ENDLESS brakes for coming on board with the project! In 2010 Leh worked closely with EndLess during the 12 hour of Sebring race Lots more to come….. ~Cicio |
Here is a little more eye candy for the day….
Wrong offset???
| As some of you may have seen, exciting news has just because public for the TSM OneLap project. AMS has come along side of us with a full sponsorship. The car will be proud to wear an ALpha9 badge! We have worked with AMS on other in house projects and know that their products are second to none! With their Alpha9 kit on the car we will be able to run the car at a much higher power level without having to push the limits of the factory components.
We along with Leh would like to thank Eric, Martin, and all the guys at AMS for backing this project! |
| First little “photoshoot” of the car… I wanna thank Leh for taking time out of his busy schedule to take these pictures! He is a pretty damn good photographer for a race car driver
I guess “step 1″ is done with the build.. Now on to bigger and better things.. but until then.. Here is some eye candy to hold everyone over… |
| Just as a little update for you guys…..
This next stuff isnt exactly necessary but we thought it would help the looks of the car… Along with minor aero benefits…. MCR front lip The ZELE skirts look fantastic and quality is just as expected… 10 out of 10… The MCR is very light and a tru carbon part… Just a cover really though… weave is ok…. i give it 7 out of 10…. Leh will be doing a photoshoot of the car with the new lowered stance and Carbon bits soon and should have the pics up Thursday!… ~Cicio
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| Ok gentleman its time for the next step….suspension! After Leh drove the GT-R at VIR a couple months ago he as very impressed with the dampening of the factory shocks. While we know there are several great options out there for shocks, we also feel that the car has tons of potential utilizing the factory suspension. Given the fact that OneLap is a street tire event only, we think that the stock dampers will be adequate to handle the adjustments needed to maximize the car. If however we were running this event on slicks or some type of r-compound tire there may be more need for the adjustability of an aftermarket damper.
That being said we had a few options. There were a couple different spring setups such as Eibach and Swift to consider, however we really felt that height adjustment and spring rate were going to be crucial to the end setup on the car. That left us with really only one option, the KW sleeve kit for the GT-R. Over the years we have done a lot with KW on our personal cars and our race cars, so we are excited to see how these are going to perform on the GT-R. We will be doing testing at several different tracks, with different variations of areo. Depending on those results we may experiment with further setups. Its yet to be determined, however both JRZ and Moton have shown interest in the project so there may be some back to back tests done at VIR in March. Part of what we want to learn during this build is what actually makes this car faster. We want to give the community true results. If we feel there is time left in the suspension after testing with Leh, then we will invest in some aftermarket dampers to test that theory. I am sure Leh will be happy to jump in here an answer any handling/ride questions about the KW’s as well. Here are some pictures of the parts and install. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. Thanks guys. ~Cicio |
Ok gentleman (maybe a lady or two ) The first modification for the OneLap GT-R is complete. We have built several different Y-Pipes for customers in the last 6 months and each one teaches us a little more about the flow characteristics of the GT-R exhaust. Taking that knowledge, we started testing several different configurations with runner lengths and merge locations to find what works the best. The end result is this prototype that has the best flow characteristics of everything we tested.
Here is a picture of the Prototype TSM Y-Pipe off the car….I will have installed pictures and dyno numbers for you tomorrow.
Thanks and Enjoy…
| As many of you may know, one of our favorite events every year here at TopSpeed is Brock Yates’ OneLap of America race. This race is one of the more unique events in motorsports that we have ever been involved in. The rules are simple, yet brutal. The race demands the utmost respect, requiring the most out of every car and its drivers. It extracts potential, while shining light on all your weaknesses! It does not slow down for you, nor does it give second chances.
As an individual the race challenges you in so many ways, not only as a driver, but physically, mentally, and emotionally. Eight to ten days of non-stop driving across the country from track to track. Late nights and early mornings, fighting your opponents, the clock, the points board, weather, and at times…your car! Forced to learn tracks during just one morning walk, and expected to perform to the maximum potential of the car and yourself. It’s an experience we feel every racing enthusiast should have. As a company we feel it’s the ultimate test of quality, longevity, craftsmanship, design, and innovation. We must build a car that not only has the potential to be one of the fastest street driven cars in the country, but also will withstand a four to five thousand mile road trip, with a scheduled twice a day beating thrown in there. The power must be enough to beat the clock and set the fast time, but not so much that you sacrifice reliability. Suspension tuning must be done with the utmost attention to tire life without giving up performance. A well-rounded, reliable car is a must! A car that will go around a road course, through an auto-x, or down a drag strip faster than most race cars, yet then throw your suit case back in the trunk, turn on the AC and some beats, and start an eight hour drive to the next event. There are no trailer queens at this event. There are no supporting semi trailers, pit crews, extra parts, or even spare tire setups. There is only you, your co-driver and the car you drove in with. You run what you brung and if you fail, break, crash or use up your tires…you lose! There is nothing quite like it!
In 2010 we took home the OneLap of America Championship in our Porsche GT2 with Doug Wilks co-driving for Leh Keen. It wasn’t without struggle, but we emerged with a 15 event road course sweep! While the victory was sweet Doug and I quickly started thinking about defending our title in 2011. For 2011 we have once again teamed up with Leh Keen to start our TopSpeed OneLap project car. The weapon of choice….a 2010 Nissan R35 GT-R!!! It’s no secret that the GT-R is a very well rounded machine. The car does everything well, which is precisely what OneLap demands. The goal….find and extract every ounce of speed and potential that the car has. Over the coming months we will be testing multiple setups and configurations for the R35. Doug, Leh and the TopSpeed team will be experimenting with suspension tuning, aerodynamics, power levels, tire setups, braking, and weight reduction. We will be working with our in house fabrication guys developing parts to set this car apart from the field, as well as working with several company sponsors. As this project/thread progresses we will be bringing you all of the results and data from tests that will directly relate to making a street GT-R into the ultimate track animal! It’s not every day a performance shop has the opportunity to develop a street car with someone as seasoned as Leh Keen behind the wheel. From a setup standpoint the feedback and suggestions that he gives after just a few laps in a car are extremely valuable! We have learned over the years in working with Leh that it takes driving a car beyond its limits, exposing its deficiencies, to Go Faster… While the ultimate goal may be another TopSpeed OneLap victory, we are no less excited to find and share data that will help make YOUR car as fast as it can be! After all, business is as much a process of giving as it is of getting. Here are some initial photos of the car bone stock, the upgrade process will start VERY soon! |
