TopSpeed Motorsports T|S|M Prepares for OneLap 2012 **Pictures&Video**

Early April marks that time of year here at TopSpeed Motorsports where we wrap up final preparations for the One Lap of America.

T|S|M is very excited about our One Lap of America program this year and would like to once again share it with the community. In 2012 we will again be campaigning our 2010 Nissan GT-R, driven by none other then our "ALL-STAR" setup team of Doug Wilks and Leh Keen. In 2011 the T|S|M GTR ran very well clenching the Overall Victory early with a day to spare. Even still after last years win the team here knew we still had some time left on table so we got to work.

Starting in January the crew went back to the drawling board, stripping the GT-R of most of its modifications removing the transmission and motor along the way.

With the odometer now just a tick over 26k miles we knew it was time to retire the factory motor and transmission. They have served us well running almost 700whp now for over a year and countless track days but it was time. We knew that without a doubt we would run one of our road race specific engine builds. Then ship out the transmission to let the man himself Shep rebuild it. It's always nice to have the comfort of knowing your motor and transmission can take anything you can throw at it.

With the motor and trans out we decided to upgrade the turbo's to our "RR1 GTR" stock turbo package. These are ball bearing billet wheel stock location turbo's that retain a nice and quick response but not so quick as to shock the tire on corner exit, all the while holding power to redline. As for the trans Shep gave it the full Dodson Sportsmen treatment with zero leak piston seals and his stamp of approval for its 26k doctor check up.

With the big things taken care of it was time to test some new supporting mods. We contacted our boys at Boost Logic, who were nice enough to offer a sponsorship for the parts we needed! We have been using their parts for years and were excited to test out their GT-R line. The Boost Logic Intercooler, 3" race intercooler piping, 3" intakes, oil cooler and other miscellaneous parts were installed on the car. The entire combination installed perfectly and has performed amazing on track, offering great cooling and reliability.

Not wanting to leave any stone unturned our next stop was aero and chassis! Last year we ran on stock shocks with KW Sleeves wit Stillen sways that performed flawlessly. This year we knew the chassis was going to need some more support. Given our winning track record and ability to provide feedback with pro driver Leh Keen, JRZ teamed up with us and supplied a custom valved set of RS Pros for the event. The JRZ RSpro's along with Stillen sways gave us everything we were looking for and the adjustment to make quick changes for different tracks.

"You guys can expect a full write up from me and Leh about the differences between the two setups in the next few days."

Aero Aero Aero!! The GT-R loves Aero! In 2011 year we built a custom splitter and wing with Stillen canards to help the front. While we were able to balance the car very well with that setup there was much more to be had. This year however our team, headed by Doug built a new front diffuser that makes much, much more front downforce. The T|S|M front diffuser works more of the under body aero on the car allowing greater overall downforce with less drag. This allowed us to balance out the car with a new T|S|M rear wing, increasing mid corner speeds and high speed stability over our 2011 aero package.

"RESULTS"

The first setup test was April 10th, 2012 at Roebling Road Raceway in Savannah… we tested there last year so we already had a baseline for the car with a lap time of 1:14.70. After just a few laps in the morning it was clear that the upgrades were not in vain. The car performed very well, besting last year's fastest lap by well over a second on the same tires and running a 1:13.40 lap time!!



TopSpeed will be offering live video coverage from every track just like we did last year, only with a few more added twists. Look for announcements on our blog concerning media coverage.

We will be battling against major companies such as: Champion Motorsports, GMG, Forged Performance, JoTech Motorsports, Roush and many more! The battles should be very close and lots of fun this year so keep an eye out for updates as the start of the race approaches.

I also want to thank the companies that have come behind us with sponsorship support.

*Michelin USA
*Boost Logic
*Shep Trans
*JRZ
*Stillen
*Bride
*Cobb Tuning
*Motul Oil
*AMS

Check out a little video footage of the car at Roebling this week as well as a few pictures below! We hope you follow our progress and enjoy! As always we are here to answer questions, provide feedback and help anyone who needs it, so if you have questions about the car, setup, differences or anything else please don't hesitate to ask!


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Good luck guys. Lots of good competition this year. Be safe, stay awake, and have a blast.

 

Here are some more pics before the crew left for TireRack:

 

That vinyl job looks like a shop.

 

fixed for joo


and liking the new graphics. still need another Kill sticker!

good luck this season TS and Leh

 

Hey guys,

Here are a few pictures from sticker day from Team TopSpeed. The field looks very stout this year with several fast contenders. SpeedConcepts really stepped it up with their GT-R as well as Forged Performance coming out with guns blazing. Bob's car looks great as well!

The guys settled in getting the stickers installed and tires put on yesterday which all went very smooth. Today is the first 3 events. I'll update you as the results come in.

Todays events are the following:

#1 Wet Skid Pad
#2 South Bend Motor Speedway Paved Oval
#3 Autobahn Country Club

Here are some pictures from decal day, also don't forget to check out our live feed @ http://www.topspeedtuned.com/onelap

 

Results from the oval have us in the overall lead.

Forged took second place with a 43.071 while TSM ran a 41.535!!

Leh & Doug say the car feels GUD (Leh's words ) ... they are currently at Autobahn waiting for the event to start in the next hour.

GT-Rs 1,2,3 BABY!!

Here are some pictures for you guys from the morning session.

 

Well its Sunday morning and racing has already started today....

Yesterday was a great starting day for Team TSM, with the 3rd place finish on the wet skid pad and the win at the South Bend Paved Oval, Leh Keen and Doug Wilks brought the TSM to Autobahn Country Club for the 3rd and final event of the 1st day of racing at the 2012 One Lap of America. The competition brought their A game but the TSM team brought the TSM GT-R in with the overall win edging out Catesby Jones in the Forged Performance GT-R by 2.069 seconds. Overall, it was a fantastic start to OLOA leaving TSM at the top of the overall leader board with a 20 point lead.

From Leh Lastnight:

“We are heading West to Mid America. We had a great day and the TopSpeed GTR is feeling Real Nice.. This is the first day so we stayed clean and mistake free.. Took it easy if you will…. Its important to get a good start.. We did well in the Wet Skid placing 3rd and then won the little oval track and Autobahn!! We finish the day with a 20 point lead overall…”

Lastnight was a 9 hour drive to be in Pacific Junction for the Mid-America Motorplex events. The team got in late but got some decent rest. This morning was an early morning to the track to double check everything on the car. Doug also had to re-calibrate the ECU for the 91 octane fuel in the midwest, because the track didn't have any race gas....should make for some interesting events today.

The track is a little damp this morning from the thunder storms lastnight so the later groups will have an advantage. Us and Forged are out first however so i'm sure there will be a small battle with traction.

I'll update you guys when I know results from the first event.

Stay tuned for updates, but in the meantime here are some pictures from yesterday at Autobahn.

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Way to kill it this morning....wow 8 second lead last race. Keep up the good work.

Did you guys decide to not pull the trailer? I don't see it in the rear highway shot.

 

I am petty sure one of the rules of one lap is that you have to drive the vehicle to and from each event. You can pull it to Tire Rack for the start but the car has to make it on its own power to/from each event.

 

You are incorrect sir unless they have changed it recently. I'm talking a small pull behind trailer to load only tools and perhaps a cooler. When I saw Doug and Luke a few years back there were a bunch of competitors pulling small trailers. Shoot even in some pic you can see the hitch and ball.

 

We were going to pull a small trailer for luggage but Doug decided not to at the last min.

Here is the official release for today....thanks for cheering us on guys!!!




Another day of competition behind us on OneLap of America 2012! Today was not without its challenges. Last night the little town in Iowa got pounded with rain. The racers showed up to the track this morning to a wet slippery surface. What that means is that the morning (fastest) goups go out and run on a damp track subsequently drying it off for the rest of the field.

Not only that, but the team pulled up to the track only to find out that there was no race fuel to be had. Normally that wouldn't be a huge deal except the only thing offered at the pump in Iowa is 91 octane. With no time to hunt for anything better Doug was forced to re-calibrate the car to the crappy fuel giving up gobs of power.

With overcast skies and a chilly 20mph north wind the top 5 cars were let out first to battle around the track drying it off for the rest of the field. Usually this type of thing results in the leaders getting knocked down that event's leader board, however that wasn't so much the case for the TSM car. During Doug's morning re-tune he had also made sure to calibrating the car in order to ensure the power was delivered in a way as to not shock the traction limited tires. Then it was Leh's turn to shine. He piloted the car around the wet track leaving his closest competitor an amazing 8 seconds behind, even given their dry track advantage. The closest GT-R was Catesby in the Forged Performance car coming in over 15 seconds behind.

Here are a couple pictures showing how wet it was for the morning session.







With the morning event behind us we turned our sites to making sure we weren't caught in the afternoon. The conditions would be dry for us in the afternoon but we were still down on power do to the 91octane fuel. There was always the option to tune on E85 for the event, however without the time to run a full tank of E85 through the car to ensure the fuel system is flushed of 91 its simply was not safe to push the car on it. So off to Advanced Auto Parts we went for some good old octane booster. While that certainly wasn't the optimal solution, and surely didn't yield power of even straight 93, it was better than nothing.

As the afternoon session rolled around Leh geared up to take the track. With the morning defeat we were sure the competition was going to bring their A game. Leh would have to push the car a little harder to ensure a victory. Lining up for the standing start the cars tore off into the distance for 3 flying laps around MidAmerica Motorplex. Slicing around the corners like a knife and pulling down the straights like a freight train, Leh put 4.9 seconds between him and Catesby in the Forged car! With that victory it has spread our overall points lead to 50 points after day 2.

As if the back to back wins weren't enough, after Leh pulled the TopSpeed GT-R off the track him and Doug were congratulated by several track workers on the new production car track record....nice little bonus!

Overall we are very happy with the way the car is performing so far. There is lots of racing and tons of transit driving ahead of us so stay tuned to more updates from Hallett Racing Circuit tomorrow morning.

Here are some pictures from the day...I will also have some in car video up for you guys later tonight hopefully.

 

My bad, I thought you meant pull the car on a trailer

Back to the awesomeness of TSM @ OLA!

 

Thanks guys!

You were correct about not being able to trailer the car, but yeah Cedric was talking about pulling a little utility trailer.

Tomorrow should be a fun day. I can't wait for the car to get back so I can play with it all these pictures are driving me crazy...I miss her LOL

 

It just goes to prove one thing and all the haters can just shut up about the pro driver.....it's not only the driver that matters but also the tuner has just as much to do with success. Had Doug not been able to put such a good tune the results could have been much much different.


Teamwork is what it's all about....keep up the good work. INSANE lead so far.

 

The team is at the racetrack getting ready! Doug has already taken the car out to make sure the calibration is spot on for the fuel they got at the track (100oct I believe but i'm not sure) It's slightly overcast skies and in the 50s so the car is liking the cool air.

I will update you guys as to how the first session goes, we will also be doing a live interview with the team following the mornings run.

Here is a little information about Hallett Motor Racing Circuit so you guys can see where we are running.

Hallett Motor Racing Circuit is a 1.8 mile, 10 turn Road Racing course in the rolling Osage Hills of North Eastern Oklahoma. It is located 35 miles west of Tulsa, Oklahoma

Hallett has over 80 feet of elevation change and is considered Technically Difficult. It has wide, grassy run-off areas and zero concrete or Armco barriers

Track Map



Aerial view

 

I just got word from Doug that the first session looked good! He said that the TSM GT-R sounded awesome and looked very fast. We unofficially beat out the Forged car but i'm not sure the margin yet.

After pulling in Doug pulled the traqmate data to find we ran a 1:19.8 during the first session at Hallett! ... if you know anything about that track you know that is FAST!!!!

More details to come & we will be interviewing Leh shortly @ www.topspeedtuned.com/onelap

 

The car sounded wicked at WOT on the straight stretch.

 

i thought you had to use the Michelin tires for OLOA? They letting Yokohama sponsor tires now?

 

You must use a tire that Tire Rack sells off their shelves.

 

You can buy ANY tire that Tire Rack sells as long as its 140 tread-ware or higher.

 

You have always been able to use Yokohama its what I ran in 07

 

After the first session Leh downloaded to Doug how the car felt and the decision was made to make a few small tweaks for the Hallett track.

We will see how they effect overall time in the second session.

Here is a quick cell phone shot Doug took for me.

 

Are the Michelin tires a better choice? Why would you guys use the PS tires over the AD08s?

 

Every car is different. The PSS is a better choice for a heavier car for sure. I have them on my bugeye now and i really like them but for me im not sure they are as fast as the AD08. Ill get some lap times this weekend at little tally and then switch to the ad08.

 

Well first off they don't make an AD08 in a 20" tire for the GT-R, secondly the PSS is crazy sticky for its 300TW rating, and while we don't have any direct data comparison I don't think it would be faster than the 315 PSS, and certainly wouldn't have the life.

 

Here are the official results form the morning session. We have made a few suspension adjustments for this next session so we will compair the times this afternoon. Catesby wheeled the Forged Performance car very well coming within 2.6 seconds of Leh in the TSM GT-R. Competition only pushes us harder, so we welcome the challenge

Afternoon session starts in just a little bit so stay tuned.

 

Official results are not in yet, but hand timed Leh & the TSM crew pulled off P1 again this afternoon. Leh said the adjustments felt good on the car, and he turned up the driver juice a little to cut a FULL SECOND off his fastest lap from the morning run. A 1:18.8 was his fastest lap.

I'll update you more when official results are posted. The team is now packed up and hitting the road for a 600 mile road trip into Colorado!!

I'll get some pictures up ASAP.

~Cicio

 

Front Doug:

The TopSpeed GTR had another great day to add to the books!!

Everything about today was text book One Lap. Got to the track early enough so we didn't have to scramble. Race fuel was open and ready for us to top off our tanks. I hand plenty of time to find a very nice back road to verify everything was happy for the areas altitude density. Due to the cooler weather today we were seeing a peak of 23psi, which is a tad bit higher then I would have liked to see since we are still using the stock map sensor.

With everything checked off on our pre-race list the TSM GTR was lined up in the P1 position on grid for the first session. Now I have to admit that I am very competitive, maybe too competitive depending on who you ask. But this morning watching both the GTR's duke it out was AWESOME!! Catesby was wheeling the crap outa the Forged GTR, very very impressive watching him slide the back end all the way out and never lift coming onto the front straight. This guy can drive with the best of them.. Seeing the cars this morning flying around the track and absurd street tire defying speeds reminded me why I love my Job.

When all the dust settled and race gas cleared the TSM GTR took the P1 spot in this morning session.

After every event Leh and I do a brief download of how the car was responding on track. We decided to make a front ride height adjustment and leave everything else alone (power aero wise)

As of right now I am not sure the exact standings for the second session but I feel we did pretty good. This year has been a really fun cat and mouse game for me, trying to figure out how much we need to give to stay ahead of the next competitor while maintaining a level of safety.

In the end we have put another 2 events behind us and yet again increased our lead from the nearest competitor.

 

The official results are in, and it looks like the chassis adjustments by Doug & Driving juice from Leh paid off. We pulled the Forged GT-R by 7 Seconds overall in the afternoon session.

Interestingly enough we ran this track during the 2010 OLOA in our Porsche GT2 and were a full 10 seconds slower than the GT-R! That GT2 was no slouch so that is really saying something about the GT-R...that car is FAST!!!

Here are the official standings from the afternoon session! I'll have some pictures up for you guys in a bit!

 

Well today was another awesome day of competition. The GT-Rs are standing their ground and even moving up the field, finishing very well at Hallett Motor Circuit. The first round of racing revealed us in first place with Catesby Jones 2.6 seconds behind. Catesby has really shown himself, this year especially, to be a fierce competitor, he is in our opinion one of the best One Lap competitors to date.

With round one behind us Leh downloaded the feeling of the car to Doug in order to brainstorm if there were any improvements to be made. With a couple hours before the afternoon session the team decided a small suspension change was in order. Off came the front wheels and Doug went to work making a small setup change to slightly improve the overall balance of the car. As the second session rolled around the car was ready to roll. Leh picked it up a notch from the first session running over 3 seconds faster overall then in the morning session. Catesby Jones in the Forged Performance GT-R fell of a little over a second leaving us with a total gap of 7 seconds on second place.

Another day of racing past, then loaded up for the 600 mile drive to CO to run High Plains Raceway tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more updates in the morning and some in car video from the last couple days as well!

Thanks for following the events progress...here are some pictures from the day at Hallett!

 

Love the pic of the Evo X offroading! (and love the Kill sticker bomb)


Catesby is a great standup guy and a great driver.

Keep up the teamwork guys.

 

Today's Battle Field!!

www.highplainsraceway.com

From their website


High Plains Raceway will become one of the nation's great tracks and facilities. With its rolling terrain, it will be a memorable and challenging circuit. The facility is located on U.S. Highway 36, 17 miles east of Byers. This is only 60 miles (and less than one hour) east of metropolitan Denver with numerous accommodations within 20 miles of the track.

To reach the track, exit I-70 at Byers (exit #316) and then take Highway 36 due east for 17 miles.

As can be seen from the topo lines in the image above and as portrayed on the diagram of elevation changes shown below, the terrain is not flat! And that is the real "beauty" of the site. It has marvelous rolling terrain features creating several elevation changes of up to 70 feet.

TRACK MAP

 

Great results guys - way to dominate! Hope you finish as strong as you started.

 

Ok guys today's events are over! We have no official results from the afternoon session but we are confident we took P1 based on hand timing.

The first session was won by almost 10 seconds making the second largest spread yet! Leh and Doug did an amazing job today getting the car ready for the track. Leh said that the track was very low on grip this morning and was confident he would have more to work with this afternoon. In this morning session he ran a 1:53.7 @ Great Plains Raceway in the TSM GT-R & a 1:53.3 this afternoon.

The team is currently loading up for the 335 mile drive to Mountain Park Hastings in Hastings, Nebraska!

I will post official times/results when I get them....in the meantime here are a ton of pictures from today!

 

Official times from this morning session in CO!

Afternoon session results should be up in an hour or so .




Here is the overall for the event so far! Still a close points battle!!

 

IN CAR VIDEO FROM MIDAMERICA MOTORPLEX!!!

Morning session, wet track, 15seconds faster than the closest car in the run group!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKVHV3NXbeo

 

The coolest thing is that Topspeed has sponsored the entire OneLap event. Can't imagine that was cheap but OneLap has done so much for them and it's awesome to see the Topspeed logo on every car.

 

Thanks man! You are right...that wasn't cheap

 

How does the High Plains Raceway compare to Road Atlanta with the elevation changes?

And Congratulations on the results so far.... kind of expect nothing less from you guys. Pretty used to you guys winning at this point.

 

yeah...guessing the guardrail won that round

 

Yes we were very sorry to see this! We never like to see onelappers have misfortune

 

Well we had another great day on the 2012 One Lap of America yesterday. 3 P1 finishes back to back spreading our lead to 90 points overall. There are still 6 events left before the fat lady sings, so anything can happen!

There was lots of dicing in the field today actually which made for some good racing. The number 15 car of SpeedConcepts stepped up their game and TIED Catesby Jones in the Forged Prepped GT-R this morning. In the second session they continued to put the pressure on them in the afternoon finishing just 4 TENTHS of a second behind. The SpeedConcepts GT-R is climbing up the leader board going after the Chariots of Palm Beach 2012 GT-R!! Should turn out to be an interesting battle for 3rd place.

In other news the AOK Networking GT-R of Bob Knoerzer ("NAGTROC CAR") driven by Co-Driver Derek Heim took SECOND place in the evening AutoX beating out Catesby Jones by almost 2 TENTHS of a second!! Very cool stuff! Great job to the new comer team of AOK Networking! Also proved to be pretty good for us spreading the points gap 5 points more between us and the Forged Performance car.

The had a 650 MILE drive to the next stop in Brainerd MN lastnight and are all pretty tired this morning, but we will march on!!

Here are the official results from yesterday's events, along with the final standings. We have TONS of pictures to post on our blog in addition to the ones here so check them out.

TSM BLOG

here are less half of the pictures.

 

I heard the Forged car is out, can anyone confirm?

 

According to Catesby himself they are not at the first event this morning.

Any idea what happened? So unfortunate but such is OneLap.