Projects & Featured Cars
We're gearing up for the 103rd running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, June 22, 2025! Team Trackspec is back and ready to race to the clouds, with Tom Tang behind the wheel once again.
It’s been a while since we had an update on this car and a lot of people were starting to wonder what happened to it. Between the many obstacles to overcome, developing some custom parts, going back and forth on decisions, the owner of the car (and myself) having two having kids, this became a sideline project in the shop. Our usual chats shifted from the K20 swap to sharing our experiences raising two young children. Although progress was made slowly throughout, I wanted Part 3 to be the final part of the blog.
On a Saturday evening earlier this year, I stopped by the shop and unexpectedly saw an Evora in our parking lot that looked like it had been in an accident. I later received an email confirming this, and it had been towed in for an evaluation.
“Have fun. Don’t die. Finish. And then run a respectable time." -@tomchutang // These were the straightforward, and yet powerful goals Tom set for himself as he faced the 2024 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for the very first time. Join us for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes journey with Tom and his dedicated team as they tackle one of the most challenging and legendary races in the world with their Eibach powered, AiM Sports Data and JRZ Suspension equipped E46 BMW M3 on Toyo Tires, built by Trackspec Autosports.
Over the 2023 winter holiday break is when things got really serious for our Pikes Peak car. We used the downtime to get a lot done, including a full rebuild of our Drexler rear diff.
It’s been over 3 years since I put the Honda K24 into our Lotus Exige and it was the first car that I made an engine harness for. Although the harness was reliable and never gave me any issues, I felt that my harness building skills have improved much since then. What I really wanted to do was get rid of all of the unused wiring and the mess under the dash.
Picking up from where we left off in Part 1…over the past few weeks we have continued to work on ensuring our BMW E46 M3 survives the thin-air and increased cooling demands of Pikes Peak. I sourced a KSR hood vent (thanks Ken) which is the perfect size to serve as a ducted exit for the v-mounted intercooler. We also added an inlet to the driver side carbon fiber lens to feed the hungry Active Autowerke Rotrex C38 supercharger.
Back in March, we announced our plans to tackle one of the most difficult motorsport events in the world; the 102nd running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2024. In preparation for this grueling challenge; which will test us as a team, me as a driver, and the car we build over a distance of 12.42 miles and around 156 turns on the way to a summit elevation of 14,115 feet, we decided to spend the next year taking our time to thoughtfully plan for a successful race to the clouds. While my mental-state and physical conditioning are equally important, for purposes of Part 1 let’s just focus on what most people care about more…the car!
I am thrilled to announce the return of Toyo Tires to our race program for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. I have had the pleasure of working with Toyo for many years previously, and this partnership renewal marks a commitment on both sides for shared success.
You’ve probably already seen the results online, 3rd in class (E1) and 9th overall. But what you don’t know are all of the details, the drama, the trials and tribulations and the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this past weekend. Fortunately, that’s what this blog is for…so please, read on.
Before doing anything K-swap related to the new chassis, we started by transferring parts over from the original tub to the new one. Since this was a low mileage car, it wasn’t difficult selling the drivetrain. Timing worked out perfectly as there was another Elise in our shop needing a motor due to a failure.
Thanks to the power of smart phones and social media, Jon and I were reminded that we were at Sonoma Raceway exactly 1 year ago for the first race of the 2021 season when an unfortunate accident resulted in our E36 BMW M3 race car being totaled. At the time, we felt two things. Relief, because Jon was safe and uninjured. But also disappointment, because we had just finished a complete refresh of that car and we were looking forward to a full season of racing…
A few months ago, we decided to register for this year’s 2021 Global Time Attack and Super Lap Battle Finals at Buttonwillow. The Exige wasn’t built for time attack, but we thought it would be a fun place to compete and see how capable the Lotus with a K-series really is; even if it is heavily outgunned in its class (because of the rule set, the car falls into Limited, a class that normally sees cars with forced induction engine setups making well over 600whp). We decided to set our own goal of a sub 1:50 lap, which may be the first naturally aspirated Elige to do so. The best time this car had done previously at Buttonwillow 13CW was a 1:51.7 on Falken RT660s.
Back in February of 2020, our longtime Lotus customer reached out about potentially building an Elise from the ground up. The idea was to build a car to his exact specs, a reimagined Lotus Elise. The plan was to buy a brand new tub chassis from Lotus and hand-pick, or fabricate, custom parts for one goal: his perfect “streetable” track day car. Most of the drivetrain and miscellaneous bits would be taken from his current 2011 Elise.
With the 25 Hours of Thunderhill postponed to 2021 (thanks, COVID) the final race weekend of the year took place at Buttonwillow in the form of a double header, Super Touring sprint racing and a 3 hour and 15 minute night endurance race as part of the Western Racing Endurance Racing Championships. We were able to use the month of September to properly prep both the Lotus Exige and the E36 BMW M3.
We went into the month of August feeling excited for two reasons. First, our K24 swap was finally complete on the Lotus and after a solid shakedown at Laguna Seca in late July by Graham and Tom -- it was finally ready for wheel-to-wheel action. Second, we would have 2 race weekends take place relatively close to each other, August 1st and 2nd at Thunderhill and then August 22nd and 23rd at Sonoma.
In part two of the K24 swap, we were left waiting for the header to arrive. We ordered a Hytech 4-2-1 header specifically made for this swap, which took a little over a month to get, but was well worth the wait! It fit perfectly. Other than trimming the J-pipe to length it needs no modification to fit any muffler designed for this chassis. Once fitted, all we had to do was make an extension harness for the wideband o2 sensor.
The first race of the 2020 season feels like a lifetime ago...and not because it was way back in February, but because the world as we know it has changed dramatically over the past 15 weeks. COVID-19 caused just about everything to shut down...businesses, offices, parks, restaurants, schools, and what can best be described as a “normal way of life.”
When we left off in part one of the K24 swap, we had the engine in the car and started getting things connected. Although it seemed like it was close to being done, there was quite a bit left to do. We decided to keep the factory dual oil coolers. This may change in the future, but we wanted to make sure the temps were stable even on extremely hot days. Moving along on the track is one thing, but following closely behind another car in “dirty air” and it can get hot pretty quickly. Because these cars are known to over cool engine oil, we installed a thermostatic sandwich plate with a 200F thermostat to help maintain proper temps.
If you grew up in the 90s and were into cars, then you’ve heard of the Honda B-series engine and how amazing it was. It was the “hot rod” engine of its time and my gateway into modifying cars. The planning, researching, parts sourcing, building, and then seeing how it improved the car’s performance is what got me hooked. In the early 2000’s, Honda came out with something even better..
In Part 8, we were waiting on a driver net before we could have the tech inspection done. The Schroth net with the new quick release mechanism that we originally ordered was still undergoing testing and its availability was severely delayed. So, we went with a equally good option- Safecraft.
We love the start of every race season because it represents new possibilities. In winter of 2019, we decided that 2020 is going to be a year where we’ll be more focused on endurance racing. While we love the NASA Super Touring (sprint racing) series, we realized we enjoy enduros even more. As a team, we are aiming to win (our class), podium, or at the very least finish the 25 Hours of Thunderhill with my E36 BMW M3, “Heidi.” So, that’s what we’ve set out to do.
With a year of rebuilding and developing the Exige behind us, we were excited to begin our “winter project,” the roll cage. When the car came back from the last track event of the year (a very wet Laguna day), we gave it a good wash inside and out before getting into it. We also had to do some homework and make sure that what we build is safe and legal for the the local sanctioning bodies we plan to race with. We followed NASA’s Club Codes and Regulations handbook as a guide.
At the last two-day track day at Buttonwillow with Speed Ventures, shifting in the Exige started to get notchy. It would sometimes be difficult to get into gear, but we kept driving it. By the last session of the day, we were not able to get the car into gear after pulling off into paddock. If the engine was off, it would go into all gears, so we suspected it to be a failed clutch that was not fully disengaging...
Fuel starvation is a well known problem with this platform. It’s mostly noticeable on long left hand corners because the fuel pick up is on the left side of the tank. It’s typically not an issue if I keep the fuel tank full, but every time our got down to about 70%, it would starve. This can cause a lean condition and be harmful to the engine, especially with forced induction.
Over the years, my good friend Nick Cahill (who happens to be an award-winning filmmaker and national geographic cover photographer) has helped me tell stories through video about my passion for motorsport (which he also shares) and the Honda S2000 race-car I built from the ground up. Last October, I had a nasty rollover crash at Sonoma and while I was able to walk away unharmed; the car was a total-loss. This season, I debuted a BMW E36 M3 which has presented a new set of challenges. That's when Nick and I got together to brainstorm the idea of creating a short-film about this next chapter, and more importantly; the incredible people and companies who make everything possible. Watch it here:
The Exige S is known for heat soaking and extremely high IATs (intake air temps). The stock intercooler is mounted on top of the hot engine and doesn’t get nearly enough airflow through the small roof scoop. It also doesn’t help that the hot air from the radiator exits in front of the windshield and makes its way into the roof. There are some things you can do to help like a larger intercooler, additional ducting from the side scoops, larger roof scoops, or adding fans to the intercooler…
This past Monday, June 24, we decided to take a team day-off to go to the track with Golden Gate Lotus Club. In addition to drives, meets, and fun outings, GGLC hosts great track & autocross events. Only three run groups, so you get SEVEN sessions! Not to mention, they always offer snacks, coffee, fruits, and sometimes even lunch!
After nearly a year of anticipation, preparation, and planning the 2025 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was finally here! On Thursday June 12th, we finished loading up at the shop and after a nice dinner with the team, Jem and I got on the road for the 2 day drive from Fremont to Colorado Springs. We had a fun road-trip, stopping in Flagstaff for a night of rest along the way.