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.
The team arrived back in Colorado Springs on Saturday, June 15th and we were greeted at COS airport by some really cool window artwork promoting this year’s race. After leaving the airport, we immediately headed over to our home-away-from-home: Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs and we were met with another fun surprise; this year’s “Signature” car, a BMW Z3M coupe and “Parade of Champions” car, a new BMW i5 M60 electric performance sedan. The liveries for both cars were unique for the 102nd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Legendary PPIHC Hall Of Fame Inductee, Clint Vahsholtz, was this year’s driver of the “Parade of Champions” car; which meant that after the race on Sunday he would lead all of the competitors down from the summit of the mountain back to the start-line. It’s an incredible honor, and I can think of no one better for the job considering Clint has raced Pikes Peak 30 times. And out of those 30 times, he’s won his class 24 times and he was King of the Mountain in 2020. Wow!
Following several successful planned test days at our home track of Sonoma Raceway in April and May, we finally arrived at the first Official Test Weekend ahead of the 102nd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC). This weekend took place on Saturday and Sunday June 1st-2nd, and as a rookie I was informed by the event-organizers that my performance across both days would be evaluated in order to make a final determination of my eligibility to race on June 23rd. No pressure or anything, but game on.
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.
When Trackspec had been open for a year, we hosted a 1-Year Anniversary party (in 2015) and open house to celebrate the occasion. When the shop turned two (in 2016), we did a 2-Year Anniversary party.
This past Saturday, April 7, we hosted our very first Trackspec Tech Talk, "Handling 101," featuring Shinoo Mapleton, owner of InoKinetic. Being in the Lotus industry for several years, Shinoo offered his knowledge on car handling, for Lotus Elise, Exige and Alfa 4C.
We had our first 2-hour Enduro Gokart Race this past weekend on May 27, 2017 at LeMans Karting in Fremont! ...There were 41 drivers, 11 teams. With most of the participants being experienced trackday drivers and a couple professional racers and karters, I decided to sit this one out as I wasn't in the mood for a blood bath that day.
We started our 3rd year in business on a high note, with some amazing new developments, partnerships, and huge goals. So we've decided to host an annual BBQ meet and greet for our sponsored drivers and some of our partners. Wanted to give everyone an opportunity to network, eat some good food, and have some fun in the sun. So on Saturday, February 25, the rain clouds finally took a break so that we could enjoy some outdoor BBQin' and drift trikes.
On Sunday, November 20, 2016, we hosted our 2nd Year Anniversary Party. Despite the rain, it was an amazing turnout (surprisingly!). If you've been with us before Trackspec even started, you knew our official start date was not even close to November 20. I know the came a little late this year, thus the rain. BUT WOW, that didn't stop most of you and we were quite honored to have you all here.
On October 13, 2014, we had our grand opening. All types of car enthusiasts showed up and we all had a great time. We had delicious pork belly baos and sliders catered by Konjoe Burger Bar, with some homemade lumpia and pancit.
Monday through Friday
7am to 4pm
