Tom Tang 8/24/22 Tom Tang 8/24/22

P2 and P5 in ST4 for our E46 M3 on the Yokohama A055

This year seems to be just flying by. We last raced at the end of March, and since then the team has been busy with a wide variety of cool projects at the shop. Personally, my calendar has been filled with work, travel, and everything in between. One event in particular that transpired during this time was the official launch of the Yokohama A055 tire.

Tom Tang 3/29/22 Tom Tang 3/29/22

First Race Of The 2022 Season For Our New E46 BMW M3

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…

Jon Vo 11/24/21 Jon Vo 11/24/21

Trackspec's K24 Exige- Global Time Attack

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.

Tom Tang 10/14/20 Tom Tang 10/14/20

One-Two Finish at the 2020 NASA Pro Racing Season Finale

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.

Jon Vo 8/25/20 Jon Vo 8/25/20

Two Race Weekends in August and First Win Of the Year

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.

Jon Vo 7/23/20 Jon Vo 7/23/20

Trackspec's Exige S240 Project: Part 10, K24 Swap (3)

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.

Tom Tang 6/22/20 Tom Tang 6/22/20

Second podium at the second race of the year

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.”

Jon Vo 6/11/20 Jon Vo 6/11/20

Trackspec's Exige S240 Project: Part 10, K24 Swap (2)

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.

Jon Vo 5/10/20 Jon Vo 5/10/20

Trackspec's Exige S240 Project: Part 10, K24 Swap (1)

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..

Jon Vo 4/18/20 Jon Vo 4/18/20

Trackspec's Exige S240 Project Part 9, Brakes

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.

Tom Tang 3/6/20 Tom Tang 3/6/20

Hard-charged our way onto the first podium of 2020

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.

Jon Vo 2/13/20 Jon Vo 2/13/20

Trackspec's Exige S240 Project Part 8, Roll Cage

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.

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