TopSpeed Motorsports - OneLap GT-R Project Begins!!!

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 our customers cars as fast as they 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!

 

this is gonna get good. real good.

 

good luck as always guys. cant wait to see progress, and perhaps during testing at Roebling again?

 

Oh man. This is going to be awesome. Can't WAIT!

 

Very Cool. Sounds like there is going to be some big ATL shop rivalry this year for sure now.

BTW. Where do a I get a Money Tree like Top Speed has?

 

Create cars with proven results like they have and there's your money tree...

This is going to be fantastic and very good.

 

Thanks guys, we are excited about it for sure! Should be a fun build and a really good race this year. I will update you guys with the first part soon. Doug is doing a little different design, and building it!

Oh...and I don't think we are the ones with the money tree

 

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....

 

Good luck with it guys, should be a very formidable car.

 

No it WILL be.

 

O.O Talk about a interesting start for new years.

 

Happy New Year guys!!

Doug and the boys are gonna be finishing up the first custom TSM part for the car in just a little while. I will be posting pictures as soon as I can.

~Cicio

 

Pics???

 

Ok gentleman (maybe a lady or two ) The first modification for the OneLap GT-R is complete. We have built several different Y-Pipes for customers in the last 6 months and each one teaches us a little more about the flow characteristics of the GT-R exhaust. Taking that knowledge, we started testing several different configurations with runner lengths and merge locations to find what works the best. The end result is this prototype that has the best flow characteristics of everything we tested.

Here is a picture of the Prototype TSM Y-Pipe off the car....I will have installed pictures and dyno numbers for you tomorrow.

Thanks and Enjoy...

 

nice, very nice!

 

thats a very nice looking y pipe......Doug do the welding/fab work? does it merge to twins to one entrance? I know nothing about how GTR exhaust and FI is routed.

 

Yea.. I actually have been playing around with different runner lengths (primary runner before the merge). This one is what I found to work best as far as power goes... Also we noted that the exhaust's sound changed quite a bit and has a much smoother tone... much like an EQL header on a suby.

I fabbed it all myself.. our "production" pieces will be much nicer.

 

Well that actually looks pretty dang good Doug!

 

Ok guys, Y-Pipe is reinstalled and the tune is complete!! The car is making great power for the limited mods and sounds awesome!

We got a few boxes today so the next update will come soon. Today has been pretty eventful for the "LehSpeed" <--- GT-R!

Here are some pictures of the Y-Pipe on the car along with dynographs.....enjoy

HIGH AND LOW BOOST

 

wow, i can't beleive i missed this thread! um, more please...

 

Ah so the y-pipe is where the two downpipes merge? Cats there in stock form? Looking good and a KILLER midrange tq gain!

 

I promise we are working on it...we can only add parts to her so quickly, and still try to make customers cars fast

 

Yes and a muffler

 

Ok gentleman its time for the next step….suspension! After Leh drove the GT-R at VIR a couple months ago he as very impressed with the dampening of the factory shocks. While we know there are several great options out there for shocks, we also feel that the car has tons of potential utilizing the factory suspension. Given the fact that OneLap is a street tire event only, we think that the stock dampers will be adequate to handle the adjustments needed to maximize the car. If however we were running this event on slicks or some type of r-compound tire there may be more need for the adjustability of an aftermarket damper.

That being said we had a few options. There were a couple different spring setups such as Eibach and Swift to consider, however we really felt that height adjustment and spring rate were going to be crucial to the end setup on the car. That left us with really only one option, the KW sleeve kit for the GT-R. Over the years we have done a lot with KW on our personal cars and our race cars, so we are excited to see how these are going to perform on the GT-R.

We will be doing testing at several different tracks, with different variations of areo. Depending on those results we may experiment with further setups. Its yet to be determined, however both JRZ and Moton have shown interest in the project so there may be some back to back tests done at VIR in March.

Part of what we want to learn during this build is what actually makes this car faster. We want to give the community true results. If we feel there is time left in the suspension after testing with Leh, then we will invest in some aftermarket dampers to test that theory.

I am sure Leh will be happy to jump in here an answer any handling/ride questions about the KW’s as well.

Here are some pictures of the parts and install. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Thanks guys.

~Cicio

 

is that some orange gasket sealer on top of the strut?

 

No sir...sure isn't

 

sry... we don't cover our builds in orange gasket sealer like some

 

This next stuff isnt exactly necessary but we thought it would help the looks of the car... Along with minor aero benefits....

MCR front lip
ZELE side skirts









The ZELE skirts look fantastic and quality is just as expected... 10 out of 10...

The MCR is very light and a tru carbon part... Just a cover really though... weave is ok.... i give it 7 out of 10....


Leh will be doing a photoshoot of the car with the new lowered stance and Carbon bits soon and should have the pics up Thursday!...

 

First little "photoshoot" of the car... I wanna thank Leh for taking time out of his busy schedule to take these pictures! He is a pretty damn good photographer for a race car driver

I guess "step 1" is done with the build.. Now on to bigger and better things.. but until then.. Here is some eye candy to hold everyone over...

 

Beautiful. Those skirts and lip really transformed the looks of the car!

 

Hmm. You guys weren't anywhere near Windy Hill/Powers Ferry on Tuesday, were you? lolololo
Just wondering. A GTR was behind me as I was getting on to 285, with the same paint.
(Although, yes, GTRs are getting a little common.)

 

That wasn't us, but it was a customer of ours actually.

That customers car is actually here now for some upgrades right now Pulling the motor on it next week.

 

Hahah. That's awesome. It was oh so clean.
I saw a white GTR on the way to work a month or so ago, but it was dirtied up.

 

bump

 

Any updates?

 

Good ol Charleston SC! I recognize a few of them.

 

I haven't updated this in a while for you guys....here is some of the progress


As I said in my last post the car has been under the knife this week getting ready for her first test week after next.
Doug and the team have been working some late nights in order to ensure the car is ready for its madden voyage in
partial OneLap trim. Everything is a work in progress at this point, and coming along nicely.

We started out the week with a "To Do" list that looked something like this:

Aero
-Front Canards
-Custom front splitter
-Rear wing
-PasswordJDM fenders

Power
-AMS intercooler
-Exhaust
-Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors

Cooling
-Tranny fluid flush
-HKS DCT Cooler

Wheels&Tires
-Volk G2 20x11.5 Square
-Tires TBA


We installed the HKS cooler first and as always with HKS product we were very impressed. The fitment on it is absolutely
perfect It comes with every bracket, rubber grommet or bolt you could ever want. Every line clears by just enough, and
fastens in place securely. The core, ducting, and replacement washer fluid tank are great quality and also fit perfectly.
I will update you on how we feel the unit performs after the test.

While the bumper was off it was on to the AMS FMIC. This thing dresses to impress from the time you open the box. Fit,
finish, and quality are amazing. It comes with all the new IC hardware that replaces factory bolts as well as the lower
intercooler piping. Installation was time consuming, but very straight forward, and fitment was flawless. We have yet to
put the car on the dyno, or test on the street, however our experience with AMS in the past leads us to believe that
performance will be just as impressive.

As you can see in the pictures below the fab work is just mock up at this point. Still lots of work to do there. We are custom
building our own uprights for the carbon wing. While we won't have time for tunnel testing both Doug and Leh have enough
experience in this area to be very confident in what the car needs. After several templates and placements the one you see
below is fairly final.

The front splitter was a signature on the GT2 last year. The custom peace made the front of the car work so well that we had
to increase the rear wing size. After the race last year I had countless calls from Porsche owners asking me what it would cost
to replicate it. Well what works…works, so we have constructed a similar design on the front of the GT-R this year. The only
notable difference is the under tray portion. The underside of the GT-R works differently than the Porsche did to create
downforce, so our new designed kept that in mind.

The rest I will let you guys see in the pictures below. The car will continue until its phase 2 completion and ready for testing.
We will not be installing the AMS turbos for the first test, but the rest of the car will be close.

Enjoy the pictures and please feel free to ask any questions you have. I can get Doug or Leh in here as well to answer the
more technical questions if you guys have them.

Thanks for following

~Cicio
TopSpeed Motorsports

 

Whoaaaaaa. Looking great guys! Do you guys plan on replacing most of the panels with CF?

Oh yeah. You guys should try making the splitter with plywood. It worked wonders for Jeremy Clarkson & Friends.

 

You really need to think to yourself before you post..."How will this comment benefit the community and others?"

 

Please stop with junking this awesome thread.

 

Here are some pictures of the progress on the front splitter. Turns out we are going to be building a custom front lip to work together with the splitter!! In the words of my designer "Its gonna be good"

 

Is it just the pic or is that fender not lining up with the bumper? Oh wellz I will see it personally in 2 days anyhow :wiggle:

Or is there a turn signal in that spot I'm seeing?

 

Must of finally gotten a reach around

Nice job guys! This car looks like it will be a monster!

 

that license plate is great, definitely adds power