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.
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.
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...
As a Lotus mechanic for the last 9 years and recently becoming a first-time owner, we were able to attend one of the days of the annual West Coast Lotus Meet this year! On Thursday, May 16, 2019, We participated in the trackday portion of the event, which was held at Thunderhill West, and hosted by Golden Gate Lotus Club.
If you follow us on social media, you know that we recently acquired a 2001 BMW 330i sedan. The car has already gone through some major transformation in the last couple of weeks. We're not sure where this car's origins are from exactly (it probably spent most of its life driving people to and from work, or the mall)…
JRZ recently released “095 edition” dampers to commemorate the first-ever JRZ shock designed and developed by company founder, Jan Zuijdijk, back in 1995. The “095 edition” dampers are available in two trims: double adjustable as the RS PRO, and with the addition of low-speed compression as a triple adjustable shock in the form of the RS PRO3. As a longtime JRZ partner, I was honored to be chosen as the recipient of and test driver for the world’s first ever set of RS PRO3 dampers; built for my 2016 F80 BMW M3 6MT, “Betty.”
Hey guys, Tom Tang here. I’m excited to write the first of many blog posts here on the Trackspec Autosports website. As you may have seen or heard, I’ve teamed up with Trackspec for the 2017 season and together we are campaigning my Honda S2000, “Irene,” in the NASA Super Touring series (in ST4 class).
The team hasn't been to Buttonwillow Raceway in a really long time, since March 2016 to be specific. We also rarely do trackdays on a Sunday, but yesterday, May 14, 2017, was a great day with OnGrid. This event was special because it was the first time that our Trackspec Autosports Honda S2000 “Irene” was debuting after a complete refresh during the off-season.
This past Saturday, March 18, we went to OnGrid's Thunderhill West trackday. Despite fears of wet weather, it only rained a couple minutes in the morning. The sun actually came out towards the end of the day.
This past Saturday, February 4, we went to OnGrid's Season Opener event at Thunderhill Raceway. The week before is always hectic at the shop.
We had an amazing time out at OnGrid's trackday at Thunderhill West. It was pretty hot, around the 90s, but it was also really windy so that helped. Everyone did really well and beat their personal records.
Co-founders of OnGrid, Marios and Sina, hosted their first event at Buttonwillow and it was a huge success.
If you've been following our shop, you know you can find us at any of the Bay Area racetracks. While this activity fits into our business brand (perfectly), we're mostly out here for fun. Whether you're out here with your daily driver or your fully built street-illegal racecar, you're here to have a good time. There's something about that adrenaline rush you get seconds before you're on the track; something about that feeling of control you have of your car; getting to know your car and its limits, getting to know your own skill level and areas for improvement, knowing when to back down and let others pass you by, and just being around other people who share that same passion for cars. Well, for those of you who don't know what it's like, we thought we'd share what a typical day at the track is for us.
Monday through Friday
7am to 4pm
