NASA's Hyperfest @ Summit Point Raceway June 2008

Hi again, I'm back from the craziness that is Hyperfest. Hyperfest is an event run by NASA Mid Atlantic every year at Summit Point raceway. There is a lot more going on when compared to a typical race weekend, they have a car show, drifting, stunt bikes, rollover contest and much more. As far as racing goes I guess the only difference is the amount of people who register (we had almost 60 cars on track per race group) and the fact that this is a spectator event.

Saturday morning we were the first group on track at 8:00am. Practice went well but the track had some serious surface issues in turns 1,5,and 6. It seems that the repaving they did last year was getting chewed up and had some areas resembling rumble strips. The choice was to go way off line to avoid them or just try to drive right through it. By the time qualifying came around I felt OK at best on what the best line was. So I went out to qualify and was able get 2nd for the start, just behind the Hondaworks EK of Kevin Helms.

The race was a rolling start for this weekend so Kevin set the pace. I was cruising in 3rd gear but soon realized it may have been better to have started in 2nd. The green was out and off we went. Kevin got a couple lengths on me down the straight but I was able to brake later and keep it close. Kevin's car seemed to be faster from turn 1-5 range but I seemed to gain a bit back in the latter part of the track. After a few laps we started catching the back of the pack which consisted mostly of Miata's. Lap after lap there was lapped traffic, once we got through one pack we came up on another. Kevin was fast, he was able make his way through the traffic a bit better and hold onto his position for the win, I finished 2nd, just 2 seconds behind him. Overall I'm happy with 2nd and realize that had I done a few things differently I may have been able to take the win. I did however put down the fastest lap during Saturdays race with a 1:23.227.

Sundays race turned out to be a repeat of Saturday with exception for the fact that I had gotten back to Kevin's bumper only to miss a shift and fall right back out of the battle for 1st. I finished 2nd again.

Both days Kevin and myself were able to break away from the rest of the pack and set our own pace. I came out of the weekend feeling good about the race because IMO, Kevin Helms is the fastest H1 guy in the county and we are able to keep pushing each other to be faster and better racers.

Here is a link to my incar video of Saturdays race. Enjoy! http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=679181782039811767

Greetings to all,

A quick update from the J.W. Racing camp. This past Saturday June 14th 08, we were stretching out my Desert Rock colored coupe, practicing and doing some testing for the upcoming Redline Time Attack next month at AutoClub Speedway. We will be running FF Unlimited representing Password:JDM and our many other sponsors.Though I was the only FF Honda out there practicing, It turns we were not the only ones thinking about the TimeAttack; Crawford was out in their 500hp 08 STi wagon, and a few other cars were testing the track in the scorching 100 degree California sun.

My car worked very well in the heat, and ran cool as a cucumber proving my water and oil cooling systems are capable of the most extreme. My car set-up is fairly neutral and I was happy with how it worked with very consistant laptimes. The engine and gearbox were flawless as well with our Gear-X final drive. We have a few things to adjust on the car for the Time Attack to be dialed, but the car is capable of running well. I hope to have a good showing and have fun testing myself as well as pushing my car to the limit of grip. If you dont know you should. Come on out to California Speedway July 19th and 20th and support you local racers, it should be great event with the Js gathering car show and a vendor row as well.

Back to the track, I know you all like pictures, so here you are. Pardon these vintage looking photos, they were the only ones I got of the day. Thanks to my pops with his camera that uses film. No memory card here LOL.

Last, I would like to add we have a 89 Si hatchback show car project we are starting. A JDM EF9 SiR front conversion from Password:JDM has started us off in the right direction. I hope to have more updates of this car soon.

Look for another update next week from Buttonwillow with NASA. I hope to be running with the race group for the first time as well as testing a new Airdam/Splitter combo that should work very well. Thanks for looking and letting me share.

'Till next time,
Cheers

Justin-

Pocono North Course 5/31/08-6/01/08 - Chris Drabouski

I just got back from my second race weekend of the season. This event was hosted by NASA Northeast and located at Pocono raceway in Pennsylvania. Even though I only live a little under 2 hours from Pocono this was my first time racing on this track. Pocono Speedway is famous for the Tri Oval design that many NASCAR fans would be familiar with. There are quite a few infield configurations offered but this weekend we raced on the North course.

Saturday morning we arrived at the track but were greeted with some rain showers. I had purchased a new set of 17x8 wheels along with some 235-40-17's RA1's for some testing to see what setup would be fastest. With the track still wet we lined up on the grid. As soon as I started my first lap of practice I heard the rear tires rubbing. So I went back to the paddock to see what I could do. I quickly realized that I would need to lose the rear spacer and do some more rear trailing arm modifications if I were to make the 17's work. After some grinding and some alignment changes I went out for qualifying. The car felt good but I still didn't know the track. I ended up qualifying 2nd in class.

We had a mixed field of cars and us H1 drivers were gridded only by time. Scot Burner in his S2000 had qualified 1st in H1 but was starting in 7th overall and I was in 13th overall. The start of the race was a mess, about 5-6 cars all went off in turn 1 with an Evo losing it's front bumper in the middle of the track, luckily I made it though clean. After a few laps Scot Burner got squeezed out of turn 1 and I was able to get past before he got back on track. After about 15 laps they threw a red flag and stopped the race due to the amount of crashed or disabled cars scattered around the course. Crazy. Anyway, I was able to take the win for H1.

Sunday was a much better day. The weather was nice, blue sky's and 70's. Now I was feeling confident with the course and the cars setup. I tried a few more suspension settings and was getting faster. I qualified 1st in H1 with a 59.7 and 9th overall, Scot had a 1:00.0 and was starting in 11th. The race started clean with everyone getting through turn 1 without incident. I had a pretty good lead on Scot but after a few laps I saw him gaining. After catching up to some lap traffic Scot was able to get up to me. We were nose to tail the rest of the race but I managed to keep him behind me and take my 2nd win of the weekend. My fastest lap was a 59.5 during the race.

This proved to be a excellent weekend and a good warm up for Hyperfest at Summit Point Raceway in a few weeks.

-Chris