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.
What a weekend!!! We were invited to pit crew for Team Lotus Cup USA - PB Racing at NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Before I write about our experience, here are some facts about the race: Race was 11am Saturday, November 3 until 12pm Sunday, November 4. 66 Entries. We had 1 car out there: Lotus Elise Cup PB-R.
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.
This past Saturday, on May 7, OnGrid through yet another fun and smooth event at Thunderhill West. Three factors made this day incredibly fun: 1) It was almost everyone's first time at this section of Thunderhill, 2) the track is short and windy, and 3) it was slippery due to on and off rain.
Co-founders of OnGrid, Marios and Sina, hosted their first event at Buttonwillow and it was a huge success.
This weekend, Jon had the opportunity to provide track support to Ten Pedal Motorsports' driver, Frank Cusack, who was participating in the Formula Car Challenge, a spec racing series presented by Goodyear and put together by SCCA (Sports Car Club of America).
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.
On Saturday, December 19, Speed-Dynamics hosted their 1-Year Anniversary at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA. While there was much anticipation and excitement for the event, many were worried bad weather and rain would take over the day.
Trackspec Autosports joins customers and friends for a fun day at the track with SpeedSF. Jon achieved his personal best at 1:45.5 in his daily driven VW Golf R. Our customers, Andrew, Jeff, Sam, Brian, Fred were also there with us.
We teamed up with Speed Dynamics to provide free basic trackside support. Had a lot of fun and looking forward to future track events.
Monday through Friday
7am to 4pm
