Nascar
Sprint Cup- Atlanta GA-Advocare 500- Jeff Gordon
Nationwide Series- Great Clips 300- Carl Edwards
Camping World Truck Series- Atlanta 200- Ron Hornaday
ARCA- Southern Illinois 100- Chris Buescher
K&N Pro Series- Eric Holmes
AMA Road Racing- New Jersey Motorsports Park- Blake Young
IndyCar- Baltimore Grand Prix- Will Power
World of Outlaws- Cottage Grove- Kraig Kinser
August 28th we were out at National Trail Raceway outside of Columbus, OH
bright and early for the Import Face-Off race. The overall turnout for this
event was crazy, a lot of people came out to this race. More spectators
than we have seen at any event so far this year, all full classes except
ours (Forced Induction Pro) which only had 4 total. We knew a few of the
guys out there from talking to them at other races (they live nearby) and
they were telling us how bad prep was at this track. This was the kick I
needed to finally try making an adjustment on the HKS suspension and made it
a hair softer. The first pass out, after hearing how bad the track was
prepped from all the regulars – 9.3@147 with a 1.375 60ft! – with the boost
controller off and lifting at the 330ft! This put us at the fastest import
car at the event.
Decided since there wasn’t really anyone fast there that we’d skip the 2nd
qualifying pass and just nail it in the first round. We had a few things to
change around in the ECU, got on the phone with Ray @ PFS, had him make me a
new calibration fixing a few issues and trying some additional changes to
see if I could make the trans shift correctly. Turned the boost controller
on and went up for the first round of eliminations, the bad track prep was
showing here – spinning to a 1.49 60ft and a 9.3@150mph pass.
Back in the pits, I made a few more changes to the ECU based on the
datalog from the previous run. We were quickly called back up for the
second (final) round of eliminations. Ended up winning with a 9.5@133mph to
an 11.5 from the other car. But more importantly I was able to use this
race to capture some very useful datalogs, helping track down the issues
we’ve had with the transmission.
Back home in MD this week we’ve been going over the log data and
brainstorming on the transmission issues we’re experiencing. We believe we
have discovered the problem and Ray @ PFS is making a custom part for the
transmission that we think will eliminate the issue. If the weather holds
out we will be taking the car out to do some test passes Monday.
Video:
9.32@147 qualifying pass – 9.54@133″>www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRbf1hNPssE
9.54@133 finals – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilyy7_j6mwQ
With five consecutive HKS Drag Series championships under our belt, the team here at CPL Racing had decided to take a year out from competitive racing in 2011. Firstly to take a rest from the rigors of championship drag racing and secondly to take some quality time to further develop our car without having the pressure of having to prepare for races in between developing the car.
For some time, two fellow racers and Guy here at CPL Racing, had been planning a feature race which would happen once a year and give any racer that entered the chance to compete for a significant prize fund. Given that any racing is expensive at a competitive level, a healthy prize fund is always welcome from the racers point of view and makes things more exciting for the spectators as it encourages the competitors to push that little bit harder and maybe take a few more risks than they otherwise would do. We also wanted to bring sponsors on board both to allow exposure for the companies and products already associated with racing and a few that were not. The prize fund would be made up of entry fees from the competitors and the sponsors that came on board.
We are pleased to say that this race finally came to fruition in August of this year, and the first of many U.K. FWD Outlaw Shootouts took place.
In the months that lead up to the Outlaw Race here at CPL Racing we spent a considerable amount of time and effort encouraging as many competitors to take part in the race. So having encouraged so many of the other racers in Europe to compete we realized mid-year that we could hardly sit this one out ourselves. So, just six weeks before the event we stopped development work on our car and put it together in the best state we could. There was absolutely no time to build a fresh engine so we had to dust the cobwebs off the same one that had done almost a whole seasons racing in 2010. We were not comfortable being in this position and putting it on the dyno for re-tuning was nerve-wracking. We did however manage an astonishing 939hp on the dyno using some of our new developments. This is well over 100 bhp in excess of what we had run in the car in 2010.
The Outlaw Race was scheduled to take place on Sunday 21st August 2011. We arrived at the track on the Saturday before for a couple of test runs up the track. Straight off the trailer we ran a 10.4 sec pass – but during this pass we had to let off the throttle a couple of times due to the car steering towards the wall. With just enough time for one more test pass before the big race the following day we warmed the car up ready and pulled to the start line. We launched, and this time the car pulled up the track in a straight line and a clean pass netted us an amazing 9.7 sec pass at 151mph. This was quick enough to secure the record for the quickest FWD car in Europe again (a spot that had been taken from us by a lightweight Vauxhall at the end of October 2010 with a 9.8 second pass). We were extremely happy with the 9.7 – not a bad result from only the 2nd run of the year!!!
Unfortunately, on checking the car over after the run we could hear a faint knocking coming from the bottom end of the engine, so we were unable to compete in the Sunday race however we knew we were already on borrowed time with this engine so were very grateful to have been able to get where we had the previous day.
The final race of the season was held last night at Limaland Motorsports Park with another gtreat crowd and car count, again as most of the season lady luck has been with us when it comes to the pill draw and nothing was different last night as we drew dead last again in the second heat so again we had our work cut out for us,we charged to the front and finished a good solid 3rd and that got us qualified for the feature and with the inversion that had us starting in the 8th position for the 25 lap feature,
since it was the last race of the season we thought we would try few different things and see what would happen and we got going good for about the first 6 -8 laps and things was looking pretty goo and jumped the cushion and lost a few spots and in the end we faded to finish 14th overall, not what we expected but we didn’t tear it up for the 10 lap king of the quater miles race
So for the 10 lap shootout we changed the car again and the car wa sreally nice now and in the 10 lap shootout it is pretty much a win it or wear it kind a race and on the first start we came out leading the race and for some reason the called the start back,not what we needed, on the second restart we ran side by side for 4-5 laps with us on the cushion and the other car in the middle and it wa shaping up to be a great race and then we got racing with another car in the picture and all 3 of us was going for the lead and few laps later we spun out,but the car was really nice!!!! so learned few things that will really help us out, but the season is over at limaland motorsports park for the year
our next race looks like we are canada bound for the canadian nationals in the middle of spetember and one more race at eldora speedway oct. 2
so till our next update thanks again for all your help and continued support and have a great day!! thanks. tim allison
-Cody Darrah, driver of the #91 Great Clips/Sage Fruit/ASE Maxim
Darrah had to work for the win as he started 12th when the 35-lap main event took the green flag. From the start it was obvious that Darrah had one of the top cars in the field as he sliced and diced his way to the front. Kinser started from the pole position and led the first 20 circuits until Donny Schatz muscled around him to take the lead in lapped traffic.
Schatz continued to pace the field until a late race red flag ended up being his downfall. As the cars tried to slow down, Schatz tangled with a lapped car, which sent the four-time champion to the work area. With Schatz off the track temporarily, Darrah assumed the lead and never looked back. Throughout the two green-white-checkered attempts, Darrah held on and even ran away from the back on the second one. Teammate Sweet worked his way around Kinser for second.
“If I would have been the boss, I would have fired me a long time ago,” Darrah said as he high-fived his crew in front of his #91 Great Clips Maxim. “We’ve been through a lot this year and this victory makes it all worth it. There are a ton of people to thank but first and foremost I have to thank Kasey (Kahne) for sticking by me and keeping a ride for me after I got injured last year and through all the things we’ve been through this year. I watched Steve (Kinser) on a few of those restarts and kind of learned a few things. We had an awesome car tonight. This feels amazing and I am so happy to be back in Victory Lane. I have to thank Great Clips too for sticking with me.”
On Friday night, Cody qualified eighth, finished second in his heat, eighth in the dash and eighth in the A-main event. Cody is currently eighth in the point standings.
-Paul McMahan, driver of the #83 HR Cattle/Roth Motorsports Maxim
Paul had two solid nights in Canada. On Saturday night at Castrol Raceway, he qualified ninth, won his heat, finished seventh in the dash and fifth in the A-main event. On Friday night, Paul qualified third, finished third in his heat, won the dash, led the first 17 laps of the A-main before settling for a fourth-place finish. Paul is currently fourth in the point standings.
-Brad Sweet, driver of the #9 Red Bull/Ollie’s Bargain Outlet/Sage Fruit Maxim
Brad Sweet turned in impressive performances both nights at Castrol Raceway. On Saturday night, Brad finished second behind teammate Cody Darrah. Brad qualified 11th, finished second in his heat and seventh in the dash. He challenged Cody for the win at the end, but settled for a second-place finish.
“This feels like a win to me even though we finished second,” said Sweet as he watched Darrah celebrate. “It’s a great team effort from everyone at KKR. Cody is a great driver and to see him over there means an awful lot to us. He’s one of my best friends. Our Red Bull/Ollie’s Maxim was great tonight and hopefully we’ll be in Victory Lane soon.”
On Friday night Brad qualified seventh, won his heat, finished sixth in the dash and finished seventh in the A-main.