May 6, 2008
The 2008 season has been very good for the IsoTorque equipped 350Z race teams. Rob Hines placed 1st & 2nd in two races at VIR in SCCA T2 class and Sean Farrah won the NASA TTA class at Texas World Speedway. Both Rob’s & Sean’s updates are below:
HINES GROUP MOTORSPORTS APRIL RACING REPORT
April 2008 Race Report
We took our time repairing the Nissan 350Z after all the damage from the National Championships in Topeka last October and painted the front end of the car and both rear fenders. Time slipped away from us so we didn’t have time to do a test prior to our first race of the season at VIRginia International Raceway which was a double national held 11 – 13 April in Danville, Va. Our Corvette sponsor from last year purchased a Honda S2000 car which runs in Touring 3 for Rob to drive so we again have two cars to race and qualify for the Runoffs this year. Thursday prior to the weekend was a test day and the Honda arrived at 8 am which was just enough time to put numbers on it and check it over. The car was built by a past national champion so it really was pretty well ready for the track. Rob was lapping below the lap record in the second session but some of that was because we had cool temperatures and engines love that. We also took the Nissan out and nothing fell off and the car ran lap times below times we turned last fall at VIR. The track is 3.27 miles long and is considered one of the top 3 tracks in the United States.
Rob qualified the Honda in T3 on the pole with 6 others cars in his class, including two other identical Hondas, for the Saturday race with a total of 46 cars in the race. After 14 laps Rob won, set a new track record, and thinks that this car can win the end of the year Championship in Topeka. On Sunday there was a Chevy Cobalt on the pole ahead of us by only .031 seconds so we had some strong competition for this race. Unfortunately he only lasted 3 laps before he had mechanical problems and Rob again won the race. So we had 2 wins for 2 races, a very nice way to start the season.
We had the class pole position for both races with the T2 Nissan 350Z with a time below the lap record but you only get a record if its’ set during the race. There were 49 cars in 6 classes in this race so traffic was going to be critical. We were the slowest class mixed in with Trans-Am type GT-1 Corvettes, American Sedans, GT-2, GT-3 & GT-4 & T-1 cars. Rob managed to put the Z car in 35 th place so we were mixed in with supposedly faster cars and happy that we have our Speedcom radios because that far back you cant see the green flag when the race is started. Long story, short, we won by 30 car lengths with the car running flawlessly. Sunday, we again had the T-2 pole and again in 35 th place with 50 cars qualified for this race. There were several cars that wrecked with one accident that left two cars in the middle of the track and unable to move off the racing surface, which caused emergency trucks to have to move them. And there was oil in that area due to the accident. Rob was blocked entering a corner by a slower Corvette and was passed by a Mitsubishi Evo in our class and as hard as Rob tried he lost this race by about one car length. VIR has three long straights which are perfect for the turbocharged Mitsubishi. So we just missed a perfect weekend but second place still adds points toward the Northeast Divisional Championship.
This year SCCA will allow a driver to register for two different Divisions if you are racing two cars, so we have registered the Honda S2000 in the Southeast and the Nissan 350Z in the Northeast Division. Its means we are going to have to do more traveling this year but also we get to race more tracks too. We think that one of the reasons that the Nissan is faster this year is due to the Torvec IsoTorque differential that we installed at the Runoffs last October. That part alone is probably worth about 1 second per lap at most tracks and 1.5 seconds at a track as long as VIR. We are looking forward to a new IsoTorque for the Honda when they develop one.
We also welcome back Nissan, Kumho Race Tires, Red Line Oil, JRZ Suspension Shocks, Speedcom Communications, Carbotech Brakes, Enkei Wheels, and of course Torvec for the 2008 season. Next race will be Summit Point, WV with the Nissan 350Z.
Sean Farrah
I just wanted to give you a quick update from the weekend. I led the pack all day sat in the Time Trials and was the fastest car overall for the day of all Time Trial classes. My previous best (from stopwatch) at TWS is in the 1:58's and I broke into the 1:57's that day. We only had two sessions on Sunday and on both of them I broke into the 1:56's with a 1:56.9 in the first and a 1:56.6 in the second. That firmly placed me in first for TTA but a 520hp C6 Z06 in TTU did beat me that last session. I was really expecting to get beat by the vettes all weekend long since TWS is a pretty fast track with them putting ~20mph on my on the front straight. I might have been able to shave a little more time on that last session but I had to pit after two laps due to a loose wheel. I had corded an RA1 the first session and swapped in a wider set of Hoosiers but the hubcentric ring didn't seat properly. I'd guess I could have shaved at least another half second with a full session, maybe more. The Hoosier definitely had more grip, I just didn't get a chance to really try them out.
The diff performed flawlessly and the longer I drove on it the more accustomed to it I became. I could really get on the throttle early and power through the turns, just took a few sessions to get used to it and build the confidence up.
Thanks again!
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