493 replies to this topic

[[email protected]]

**EDIT: 4-28-11 [ON THE ROAD HEADED FOR ONELAP]

Well Doug and Leh are off to South Bend Indian for sticker day tomorrow. They are on the road now to get there for sticker day tomorrow.

I wanted to share a little update because I haven't had time to get on here for a few days...

I will be launching a pretty fun interactive live feed page tomorrow during the sticker session that I think you guys will enjoy. We are all pretty excited about it.

All the little details I will save for tomorrow...

Below are some pictures of the graphics scheme as it sits. Of course there are lots more stickers to go on the car, for all of you familiar with OneLap you know all about that.

I look forward to bringing you guys not only live updates, but also lots of good video and media along the trip. One of the best things about OneLap is following it for the entire week...if anyone is in the area for any of the events please come out and say hello to the team.

Again thanks so much for all the support and kind words...this build has been tons of fun, and will continue to be developed

OneLap here we come.... Go Team TopSpeed!!

~Cicio















ORIGINAL CONTENT

As many of you may know, one of our favorite events every year here at TopSpeed is Brock Yates' OneLap of America race. This race is one of the more unique events in motorsports that we have ever been involved in. The rules are simple, yet brutal. The race demands the utmost respect, requiring the most out of every car and its drivers. It extracts potential, while shining light on all your weaknesses! It does not slow down for you, nor does it give second chances. As an individual the race challenges you in so many ways, not only as a driver, but physically, mentally, and emotionally. Eight to ten days of non-stop driving across the country from track to track. Late nights and early mornings, fighting your opponents, the clock, the points board, weather, and at times…your car! Forced to learn tracks during just one morning walk, and expected to perform to the maximum potential of the car and yourself. It's an experience we feel every racing enthusiast should have. As a company we feel it's the ultimate test of quality, longevity, craftsmanship, design, and innovation. We must build a car that not only has the potential to be one of the fastest street driven cars in the country, but also will withstand a four to five thousand mile road trip, with a scheduled twice a day beating thrown in there. The power must be enough to beat the clock and set the fast time, but not so much that you sacrifice reliability. Suspension tuning must be done with the utmost attention to tire life without giving up performance. A well-rounded, reliable car is a must! A car that will go around a road course, through an auto-x, or down a drag strip faster than most race cars, yet then throw your suit case back in the trunk, turn on the AC and some beats, and start an eight hour drive to the next event. There are no trailer queens at this event. There are no supporting semi trailers, pit crews, extra parts, or even spare tire setups. There is only you, your co-driver and the car you drove in with. You run what you brung and if you fail, break, crash or use up your tires…you lose! There is nothing quite like it! HISTORY OF ONELAP (If your interested) In the early 1970's Brock Yates, senior editor of Car and Driver Magazine created the now infamous Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash; a flat out, no-holds-barred race from New York City to Redondo Beach, California. Setting out to prove that competent, well trained drivers can indeed safely navigate the American highways at speeds somewhat in excess of the posted limits, Mr. Yates created a spectacle reminiscent of the days of the barnstorming pilots. But after five successful events with none of the slaughter and mayhem predicted by the safety nazis; five events where the continent was ultimately traversed in 32 hours 51 minutes, Mr. Yates decided that he had made his point and it was now time to cash in with writing the screenplays for Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit II. (And, to be honest, Yates recognized that it was only a matter of time before some militant, safety-crazed prosecutor would bring him up before a grand jury.) Brock then set out to create a motorsports event that was accessable to the average Joe while capturing the excitement, lunacy and romance of the Cannonball without the threat of being called to testify in front of a Senate sub-committee. And so, in 1984, the first CAnnonball One Lap of America was run with the start/finish in Darien, Connecticut. That year, the format was simple: circumnavigate the lower 48 United States and "guess Brock's mileage." The team that came closest to Brock's distance won. Brock is the first to admit that this format had its flaws and expected 1984 to be the first and last One Lap. To his dismay, he was flooded with inquiries requesting entry in the following year's event. A kinder, gentler successor to Cannonball had been born. From 1985 through 1991 One Lap was run as a series of Road Rallies while lapping the U.S. Under this format, competitors were scored on the basis of following a set of precise instructions defining both route and speed. Thus there was a perfect time for each car to be at any given point throughout the Rally sections. A competitor was penalized for being either early or late to a Rally check point. Lowest score (fewest penalty points) won. Increasingly, Brock would also throw in a couple of autocrosses. These moderate speed events were run against the clock on courses set up in parking lots or on race courses with rubber pylons judiciously placed to keep the speeds down. Feedback from the competitors was enthusiatically in favor of more and faster speed events. Said Yates, "If these idiots had their way they'd be driving three abreast at Charlotte!" Idiots or not, Brock listens to the One Lappers and starting in 1992 put the Cannonball One Lap of America on the format it uses today: Nearly twenty-four hours a day driving with competition taking place as time trials on race tracks throughout the country. The event, as it always has been, is foremost one of endurance and vehicle preparation. No support crews are allowed. The tires that are used on the street are the same ones that are raced on (one set per team). Although scoring is based on performance at the race tracks, the vehicles and their drivers must survive over 5000 miles of driving interspersed with the finest meals available at gas station convenience stores. Personal hygeine takes a holiday and friendships (sometimes marriages) are stretched to the limits as these competitors battle fatigue, weather, traffic and the demands of high-speed competition with both unknown amateurs and seasoned professional drivers like Parnelli Jones, Price Cobb, John Buffum, Elliot Forbes Robinson and Hurley Haywood. In 2010 we took home the OneLap of America Championship in our Porsche GT2 with Doug Wilks co-driving for Leh Keen. It wasn't without struggle, but we emerged with a 15 event road course sweep! While the victory was sweet Doug and I quickly started thinking about defending our title in 2011. For 2011 we have once again teamed up with Leh Keen to start our TopSpeed OneLap project car. The weapon of choice….a 2010 Nissan R35 GT-R!!! It's no secret that the GT-R is a very well rounded machine. The car does everything well, which is precisely what OneLap demands. The goal….find and extract every ounce of speed and potential that the car has. Over the coming months we will be testing multiple setups and configurations for the R35. Doug, Leh and the TopSpeed team will be experimenting with suspension tuning, aerodynamics, power levels, tire setups, braking, and weight reduction. We will be working with our in house fabrication guys developing parts to set this car apart from the field, as well as working with several company sponsors. As this project/thread progresses we will be bringing you all of the results and data from tests that will directly relate to making a street GT-R into the ultimate track animal! It's not every day a performance shop has the opportunity to develop a street car with someone as seasoned as Leh Keen behind the wheel. From a setup standpoint the feedback and suggestions that he gives after just a few laps in a car are extremely valuable! We have learned over the years in working with Leh that it takes driving a car beyond its limits, exposing its deficiencies, to Go Faster… While the ultimate goal may be another TopSpeed OneLap victory, we are no less excited to find and share data that will help make YOUR car as fast as it can be! After all, business is as much a process of giving as it is of getting. Here are some initial photos of the car bone stock, the upgrade process will start VERY soon!

Here are some pictures of the car ready for the first test...








Completed body work and aero

Edited by TopSpeed, 08 May 2011 - 08:03 AM.

[Turbo911cm]

subscribed. Look forward to reading more!

[DocNrock]

Interesting move, Leh going from a Porsche to a GT-R. That drive he had must've impressed him more than I thought from his post.

[seanm]

Interesting move, Leh going from a Porsche to a GT-R. That drive he had must've impressed him more than I thought from his post.

Well, if you want to win....

[DocNrock]

Well, if you want to win....

He won in the Porsche, but then again, Will's car DNF'd the event.

[Turbo911cm]

Yep, it will be interesting for sure this year with the move from Porsche to GT-R, especially after you just won with the P-Car. I am sure Will is chomping at the bit, waiting for this year's event

Edited by Turbo911cm, 30 December 2010 - 04:40 PM.

[STI2EVO2GTR]

What tires will the car be using?

[[email protected]]

He won in the Porsche, but then again, Will's car DNF'd the event.

No offense to Will or the "onelapgtr" but we were way faster then them in the Porsche GT2.

From the beginning Catesby was a better match and showing with his GTR.

The GTR we are building for the next OLOA is going to be even faster then this years winning GT2. So I hope everyone is ready to step it up, because we plan to.

As for this thread expect no BS sales... wanna be road racer warrior setups will be sold or applied here. Only legit results of real products that work... So don't expect us to push 5k coilovers... unless the results are verified and worth it... the same can be said about aero setups.


I think its time the GTR community had a real Motorsports oriented shop setup a GTR, with a real pro driver. That gave honest and real feedback as to what really works... and not what everyone "feels" works since the car now has a more stiff platform with less body roll or a hella flush wheel and tire package.


Again... check back often... this should be an interesting thread to follow.

Edited by [email protected], 30 December 2010 - 09:35 PM.

[ESCUE Polo]

I'm very excited for your build

[[email protected]]

What tires will the car be using?

We have been playing around and testing on multiple new tires.. and have more testing still before we can make that decision.

Edited by [email protected], 30 December 2010 - 09:44 PM.

[rcalcaide]

This is going to be an awesome thread!

[Adam81]

This should be great for the community. I am rooting for you guys!

[P. Lier]

Doug,

Are you going for a 3 lap wonder or a GT-r that can run a 30 min session @ Sebring in August without overheating. I hope it is the later.

Peter

[cj350]

This will be a fun thread to follow Good Luck guys

[KINGLEH]

Oh.. Cmon peter... you know the answer!... : ] my question is.. now that you know a GT2 can win overall.. will you and the wheel come out to play?

Doug,

Are you going for a 3 lap wonder or a GT-r that can run a 30 min session @ Sebring in August without overheating. I hope it is the later.

Peter

[KINGLEH]

So i am VERY excited about this.... The drive at VIR is what really did it for me.... I had drivin a GTR in early 08.. The silver car that was in all the magazine tests... I was impressed but didn't think the feel would translate to the track as well.... So after my drive at VIR we put a plan together.... TopSpeed did an amazing job with their GT2.. Building it just right for the matter at hand.. Smart engineering... This is the same method they will use for the GTR... Try stuff, figure it out, Do what works.. Get results....

This car is so good from the factory... So much engineering from Nissan.. its very good in stock form.. It squeezes out all of its potential for what it has to work with.. I have heard of people changing things and the car goes slower... handles worse.. harder to drive... I'm really interested to find out what this car likes.. what it wants.... what makes it Go Faster....

[CatesbyM]

It will be a fun One Lap for 2011, anything can happen.

Interested to see where you go with your car.
I will be making some changes as well and will start testing in the spring. This will be a little different from last year where we prepped the car in 2 weeks and had 2 days DE days to test the basic set-up then drove it to the start.

Now Peter... i doubt any GT-R with a ton more power would last at Sebring in the summer with track temps above 140 for 30 minutes, perhaps i will be wrong. There is some good stuff being developed to combat the heat this thing generates.

Either way if a hopped up well driven Viper ACR shows up and it remains dry for a week, as it did last year, Leh and I will both be praying for rain.

Hope you all have a Happy New Year!

[KINGLEH]

so pumpd your running again.... And you know there will be rain!.. there ALWAYS is.....!?!....... : ]

It will be a fun One Lap for 2011, anything can happen.

Interested to see where you go with your car.
I will be making some changes as well and will start testing in the spring. This will be a little different from last year where we prepped the car in 2 weeks and had 2 days DE days to test the basic set-up then drove it to the start.

Now Peter... i doubt any GT-R with a ton more power would last at Sebring in the summer with track temps above 140 for 30 minutes, perhaps i will be wrong. There is some good stuff being developed to combat the heat this thing generates.

Either way if a hopped up well driven Viper ACR shows up and it remains dry for a week, as it did last year, Leh and I will both be praying for rain.

Hope you all have a Happy New Year!

[P. Lier]

Oh.. Cmon peter... you know the answer!... : ] my question is.. now that you know a GT2 can win overall.. will you and the wheel come out to play?

Leh,

GT2 is gone to a new home. The $$$$ race is more than this old boy can play in so I got a bone stock 6GT3 which I may bring out. You know the 6GT3 is fast it whipped your Cayman GT-r in 08. or was that a deer. Besides if I am not running for the overall I can drive a couple of events and have fun, not just be a transit driver.

I think it will be a real fun year in 2011 with you and Catesby battling it out. Of course if a well driven and prepped 997.2 PDK Turbo shows up it could be a real thorn in the side of the GT-r along with the Viper.

re: Heat management, it could be an issue @ Daytona in May as FL is known to be warm then and you have your foot planted for a long time.

Peter

[KINGLEH]

it was BOTH!!!!.......... i love the run what you brung style of OLA.... The heat thing will resolved... Daytona may be the ultimate test....

Leh,

GT2 is gone to a new home. The $$ race is more than this old boy can play in so I got a bone stock 6GT3 which I may bring out. You know the 6GT3 is fast it whipped your Cayman GT-r in 08. or was that a deer. Besides if I am not running for the overall I can drive a couple of events and have fun, not just be a transit driver.

I think it will be a real fun year in 2011 with you and Catesby battling it out. Of course if a well driven and prepped 997.2 PDK Turbo shows up it could be a real thorn in the side of the GT-r along with the Viper.

re: Heat management, it could be an issue @ Daytona in May as FL is known to be warm then and you have your foot planted for a long time.

Peter