We rolled into Buttonwillow Raceway Park for Round 2 of the Global Time Attack Pro Am Series with a desire for redemption. A year ago (Also Easter weekend) we lost a motor 3 turns in on our first lap of the season and that combined with the challenges that didn’t let us run much at Round 1 back in February, had us ready to go out locked and loaded to show what we could do in the new setup.
Photo thanks to SpeedDistrict / Cali Photography
After round 1 we spent 2 weeks building new parts and making repairs to make sure that Phoenix was ready for battle. Also, we called in for some help from our NorCal friends- bringing our friends Will and Eric down from the Bay area to help with driver coaching and setup. They both have helped out with he team before, but having them on site to help review setup changes and linework was a huge benefit. Buttonwillow has always been our strongest track, but it is always good to have some outside eyes on things when you aren’t sure what you should adjust next.
Photo from MotoIQ
We unloaded solidly, using the first session as a shakedown of the new oiling system, and to get our new Federal RSRR’s up to temp and broke in. We really love our Federal tires for this season – unlike the RS3’s we ran in previous years, the RSRR stays strong for an entire session, they don’t get greasy or slippery like the RS3 did after 3 hard laps. We discovered that we fixed the previous oiling problem, but managed to melt our exhaust siphon line, leading to us being pulled off track for smoking – or as Chris called it “poor man’s flow-viz”. The team was able to close off the siphon line for the day, and the smoke show gave us some data for adjusting the spoiler to make the car handle better.
The second session went better, running all the laps til we blew the dipstick out of the motor on the last lap. Let me tell you, suddenly getting a windshield full of oil in the Sweeper at BW is not on my list of things I want to do again. That aside, changes made to tire pressure and shocks helped dial Phoenix in and got her handling a lot better. With the car running strong and handling well, it is a lot easier to just focus on your driving line. The third run of the day was much better – with confidence high in the car, we were able to go deeper into every corner – until we found the limit of our OEM brakes in Sunset halfway thru the session, with a nice off thru the dirt. If you recall, in 2015 we ditched the stock cobalt brakes for the LSJ brakes all the way around. We run stainless lines, race pads and race fluid, but the LSJ single piston calipers just can’t hang with the added speed the car now carries. We are working with ZZP, Crate Engine Depot, and R1 Concepts to remedy that for Round 3.
Photo by Speed District / CaliPhotography
With one run left in the day. We went back out hoping to continue the trend of shaving time off the clock. Finding some clean air on track, Chris managed to take 2 more tenths off his best time of the day, before cooking the brakes and having to pull off. All in all, Phoenix continues to make great progress at each event, and aside from a few small bugs being worked out (which is to be expected with a setup like this) we are super pleased and looking forward to getting back out on track soon.
Photo by WWLC
We took 1st in Street FWD with a time of 2:04.568 – a new PB for the team, but we know we have a lot more in it once we can get the brakes sorted. Hunting that sub 2 minute lap for SLB this fall……
Photo by Amanda Gift Dienhart
We will keep digging and be ready for Round 3 in June back home in Willow Springs. Thank you again to Global Time Attack and Speed District for putting on a great event, and to all of our sponsors for their continued support to let us keep doing this!
A1 Higher Graphics – AEM Performance Electronics – Clutchmasters – Crate Engine Depot – Design Engineering Inc – Federal Tire – GoPuck – Kendall Motor Oil – Ogio International – Paul L. Whitney & Assoc. – Pit Posse – R1 Concepts – RockwellTime – Slick Products – ThatGMPartsGuy.Com – TJPerformance – TrackSpec Motorsports – ZZPerformance
