| 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 |
Category: OneLap of America 2011
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
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. |
| 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! |
