Open Track Challenge 2004

Here are the pictures, up at last. At least the good ones that is, and a few mishaps have been 'hidden' away from public eye until all is clear insurance wise.

I started out turning wrenches for two guys in Unlimited 2 and Unlimited 3 cars last year. This year, I did the same for a Touring 3 and an Unlimited 3 car until the U3 car spun a bearing. These are all S2000's btw. And the competition was very rough this year. The Evos were definately a huge hit in the T/U 3 classes, but only one of them drove home at the end of the week, out of the six that started.

Over the prior week, the stories and draining nights, I could share quite a bit, but there's a helluva lot to absorb in our experiences. We've learned a bit more about this car this year than we did last year. Last year, we had two cars at 2250lbs. in U3 and 2350 in U2. The latter was supercharged, hence the class+1 rule applying here. This year, at 2550, the Touring 3 S2000 made its way to a fourth place finish in the T3 class, out of 12 entries. That isn't bad considering the competition. But as far as the S2000's go, on street tires, we set track records for ourselves. However, with a few rear wing changes, gear changes, some trick *shhh* suspension pieces and tactics running on only single-adjustable Ohlins - we did damn well.

Here are the pictures, which aren't on the fastest server, so give it time.
http://www.buymeaferrari.com/gallery/otc04

Other pictures can be found from links on the forums at the OTC website here: http://www.opentrackchallenge.com

Soon, OTC will be coming to closer venues near myself, or even near those of you on the East Coast. Those are all in the works at the moment.

If you have any questions, comments etc., feel free to ask or share. Hope to see a prancing horse out at one of the event soon. As for this year, only one 355 showed up. He only heard of, but never ventured to Fchat, and I believe only ran one of the NASA HPDE sessions during the afternoon dryspell at Sears Point...er...Infineon Raceway.

below: just a few pictures to get your taste buds wet. And the last one, to get your curiosity going.
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It was removed. We were expecting a replacement, but opted against it by the early morning hours of the first day. The engine spun a bearing and during the cold dark night in Vegas, while everyone else was partying on Saturday night, we were pulling the motor out. But we did it in a fashion of removing it along with the transmission, front suspension and front crossmember. After removing the engine in the morning, loading it into the trailer, it was just easy to transport the car with the front suspension back on it. We ran out of room for extra tires, so... I opted to put two of the 18x10's under the hood.

Yes, it is in the works. I'll talk to you soon about this.

 

Brian, I know what you mean when it comes to tires. The other thing about keeping 140 treadwear or above = cost. Well, last year, we budgeted ~$6500 for tires (all slicks) for 7 days of racing + one day of practice. This year was considerably less. We came across some cheater tires - they are sumitomos that Doug (nsxfiles.com) had on his S2000 last year. They are a mere 80 bucks a tire, as opposed to the 170 a tire for the OEM S02's (which is a specific compound/tread pattern/etc. on the Hondas, sticker than the Porsche OEM S02's and different than the Fcar's OEM S02's). So, maybe rules can change or adapt with tires being 'from factory spec.' But that would still put you up in GT or at least T1 classes with Viper GTS's and the like. Time will tell.