2010 One Lap of America
2010 Posters
It is that time of year when we break the website, clean off the table and start all over again to get ready for a new season. Before we close out the year we want to take a pause to thank everybody who made it possible for us to put this team together.
In 2009 Tim and Stephen came up with the idea making posters for our sponsors, highlighting the epic moments of our journey. The posters were well received and we knew we wanted to make it happen again this year.
Building almost a tradition, we are really proud to be sending out our 2010 posters to everybody who sponsored the VR4 around the country. We are waiting for USPS to deliver some more shipping tubes to get them all out, but you should see something in the upcoming weeks.
Though you might want to get your hands on one these for yourself, the only way is to sponsor the car. It is much cooler to know they are hanging in only a select few garages around the country.
Thanks again for your help in 2010 and we are excited to bring you into the 2011 season.
0A change in the lineup
RochesterDSM team announcement.
The RochesterDSM team, after a long and lengthy struggle, has decided to make a change for the 2011 One Lap of America race. In 2011 the 1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR4 which has served us proudly, will be parked and in its place will be Steve’s 2008 EVO X. This was not an easy choice for us as we have enjoyed not only the power, performance, and fun the VR4 offers but the support of the entire VR4 and DSM community along the way. In all honesty as much as we love the VR4 it was the connection the car had to the DSM community we feared loosing the most. But, as with all things cool, there comes a time when a change is needed. The VR4 is a competitive, fast, and fun car but it is also almost 19 years old and has over 217,000 miles on the clock. Most of those miles have been racing miles and the platform is showing its age. Last year we suffered through a transmission failure pre-launch, a blown head gasket, a rocker arm that flew off, wheel bearing failures, and brake issues. Most of those problems were obviously the result of a limited budget but even with more support the car was full of weak links that come with age. That’s where the EVO X comes into play. At our disposal is Steve’s EVO X brand new and ready for racing right out of the box. In its stock form it can corner right along side the VR4 and with some upgrades it can be as good or better in a strait line too. The VR4, in all its glory, is a still an 18 year old car that only 3000 were brought into the country. That makes marketing a huge uphill battle. Most, if not all, the major DSM part suppliers have long ago moved on from the DSM/VR4 platform and have for years only produced new parts for the EVO platform. Racing the EVO X in the 2011 One Lap of America brings us into the modern day along with our sponsors.
This does not mean the VR4 is being mothballed. Tim is still racing the VR4 and has quite a few upgrades planned so we can all look forward to his build blogs and race updates. In the next couple of weeks the RochesterDSM team will have some pretty exciting announcements as we team up with some powerhouse Mitsubishi and other well known shops and manufactures.
We want to be sure that as we park the VR4 we personally thank the people and shops that helped make it successful and by far the most popular car in the 2009 and 2010 One Lap races.
Ryan Hertz who along with the fine folks at www.galantvr4.org have come through time and time again not only with financial support but with parts, supplies, advice, and a place to sit and great home cooked food to eat at the races. Some of our best memories are of the people we’ve met along the way. The cheering section at Autobahn, the home cooking at Road America, and meeting Curtis for the first time somewhere in Tennessee when he brought us the upper control arms we needed to finish the race.
Garfield Wright who brought the full power of TunersNation.com to (www.tunersnation.com) help us with the parts we need, money to help the budget, and some really cool work behind the scenes to help bring other vendors to the table.
Curtis the man, the myth, the legend. What can we say? In the 2009 when we broke a rear upper control arm our rookie One Lap was finished before it even really got heated up. We sent out a SOS via the Internet and out of nowhere Curtis comes to the rescue with parts he sourced from his own car. From there we have built a great friendship and partnership and Curtis is responsible for a lot of what “is” the One Lap VR4. There is not a single person who sits in the VR4 who isn’t just blown away with his killer gauge plates and custom logo’s. His work on the wing pylons, with little notice, no time, no budget, and without having the wing to work with, is his Pièce de résistance.
Emery Kapral and Street tuned motorsports (www.streettunedmotorsports.com) who personally opened up his shop, mechanics, and his tuning expertise to bring some real power to the VR4.
Thomas Dorris, who provided us with the ECMlink V3 which is by far the best damn tuning tool on the planet. (www.ecmtuning.com)
Art Hoffman / Forced Performance (www.forcedperformance.com) / teamNABR.com …Art loaned us his personal FP3052 turbo to give the VR4 some real bite and the fine folks at Forced Performance provided us with the warranty basically saying “go beat the hell out of the turbo and if you break it we’ll fix it”…The turbo was flawless and easily made 385whp on a conservative tune.
Pina Motorsports (www.pinamotorsports.com) who sent us a set of there built-proof chrommoly upper control arms and along with Tunersnation.com a set of rear suspension bushings that totally transformed the handling of the VR4.
Gabor (www.gabormayer.com/) who provided all the killer vinyl for the VR4 that made it the most photographed car the last two years including some shots in Motor Trend magazine.
Autobhan Tom who donated a set of adjustable cam gears that made all the difference in the way the VR4 grunted out of the corners.
www.throttlebodys.com who put a killer TB on the car and has, by far, the best customer service on the planet.
Wilson Performance (www.rhwracing.com) who loaned us a trackmate camera system for killer in car track footage with speed and g-force displays.
Harry Blanchard at www.three-speed.com/ who’s scatter sheild protected our ass and who’s support helped us make it all happen.
These fine folks helped make it all happen…
East Rochester Public Library Staff
Children’s Medical Group
Joe and Wes from Prodigy Surgical
Finally we thank our friends, family, spouses who help us, support us, and put up with us as we lived our dreams in the trusty VR4.
We look forward to our new adventures in the EVO X and we’ll be sharing it all with you. There are some really cool projects in the works as well as some new partnerships to go along with our current sponsors. Stay tuned…this is going to be epic!
Tim Harper / Stephen Burke
I hate the Mitsubishi Evolution X…
There. I said it. I hate it. I hate it like girls hate blondes with big boobs and short guys hate tall guys. There is just something about the car that rubs me the wrong way. After the Fall DE at Watkins Glen I now know why I hate it. The car is a cheater…a dirty rotten cheater.
Mitsubishi rolled out the EVOX as a clean sheet redesign over the EVO9 and for the first time in 20 plus years the 4G63 was not part of the equation. Replaced by a newly designed all aluminum 4B11T turbo charged engine it sports 291hp and 300ftlbs of torque. The engine features variable valve timing on both cams and a 16g style turbo slightly smaller then the previous one in the EVO9.
The real news is the chassis and the drive train and new full-time AWD system called S-AWC which uses an active yaw control to send a different amount of torque to any wheel at anytime. I’ve seen and experienced similar systems in Corvettes but until this Fall I have never been a big believer in what they can actually do.
Lets rewind to early October. Steve, my One Lap co-driver, has just been promoted to the instructor group which means he and I will be able drive in the same group again. We haven’t done that in years and because of a particularly over eager course worker giving me the blue flag of shame I frankly don’t like to talk about it. But this time it was going to be fun. I was piloting the One Lap car which has a distinct Hp advantage over the EVOX so being passed shouldn’t be an issue.
In the morning session on the first day Steve and I were able to get out on the track together and as expected the One Lap car’s Hp advantage allowed me to easily pull away from the stock EVO. Without a lot of wheel to wheel action to speak of I didn’t really have much of an opinion of the X. The rest of the first day Steve and I were not able to be on track together again. The One Lap VR4 was also having some issues with power that I tracked down to a failing fuel pump. It just didn’t want to make any pressure so I just babied it around the track feathering the throttle to control the knock and prevent any catastrophic failures.
By the second day I was ready to give up as the car could no better then 45-50psi of pressure no matter what. As in any car if you don’t have fuel you don’t have power. I covet track time so I just went out and practiced trail braking and giving passing signals. On the third and what would be my final run of the event, Steve grabbed Mike to show him how the EVO drives and I managed to tag along behind him.
At first Steve was driving his normal perfect line. It’s like he’s playing a video game out there. There was no way I was going to pass Steve with no fuel pressure but I was determined to at least keep up. I have my pride you know. So after a few laps I am struggling to keep up. Steve just doesn’t make mistakes and the EVOX goes around a corner with as much grip and speed as the One Lap VR4. Even though I’ve poured my heart into making that the best handling VR4 on could, it was just about even with the new EVO. So I make my peace with reality. The EVOX is just a great handling car and when driven by somebody who knows how to drive it’s a pretty good match for me. What happens next is just not fair.
Steve turns on the active yaw control or whatever black magic he has and proceeds to demonstrate to Mike its uncanny ability to save your ass. Steve begins by entering a turn off line, way to fast, and trail braking. A combination that would send me into the wall. The EVO just turned the corner. I can tell by his exit speed that he was on the gas the whole way. Repeat that for the next corner…same crappy entry..same result. The car just turns and goes. Great the car can save you but here is where it gets painful. Even with his God awful line I still can’t catch him. In fact I can’t even gain any ground on him. No matter how bad he drives the car just goes like snot.
I didn’t learn about the use of the Yaw control until those two giggling idiots rolled themselves out of the car. Grins from ear to ear…its not fair. Some of the things they did out there should have put them into the wall and yet the car just hustled itself around the track. What is this world coming to? Can anybody now just hop in a car and tear up the track? Where is the justice? Where is the humility gained from struggling, learning, pushing yourself?
I had enough. I put the ailing VR4 on the trailer and went home. I hate the EVO X…I really, really do.
1The oldest trick in the book
This is proof that it doesn’t matter if you have a killer car, if you won your class at this years OLOA, and even if you finished in the top 10, you can still fall for the one of the oldest tricks in the book. And we are not talking about a land war in Asia folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF13ADyxXWc
…and now featuring another angle!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvgY2w9yABo
Sean and Chris Extreme Makeover (race team edition)
How do you describe jealousy and envy into words without adding too much cynicism towards two of your closest friends?
Chris and Sean were handed an amazing opportunity last year at the end of One Lap of America, which has lined them up with not only a free ride for 2011, but also the chance for them to oversee the build up of a full prepped car for another team.
While I contend that they no longer need money to go on their One Lap adventure next year, the rest of us peasants need to scrape together some publicity out of their little arrangement. I can only do so by leaking information when I hear it.
How does this sort of thing happen?
Take two rather wealthy individuals who were running in the 2010 One Lap of America but knew nothing about track driving and less about cars. Have their car break somewhere on the first event and insert our prepared and helpful team members to get them moving and back on the road. Then proceed to outdrive the baggezus out of the two under-prepared and over-wealthy individuals, who happen to be in the same platform car as our team.
The result is that Chris and Sean are the personal driving trainers and project build managers for this teams car, with a relatively unlimited budget to make it all happen.
Where’s this race car?
Somewhere in the Midwest a new Evo X was purchased new from the lot, dropped off at it’s shop of transformation, and is currently going an overhaul to become what can only be described as ridiculous. Trust me, as soon as I get some spies in place to get me photos, we will make it happen.
Spy Photos
Sean currently has a garage full of tires and wheels so that they can “test” out various compounds at the track. We are
all headed to Watkins Glen on Monday with the Niagara region PCA, so expect this story to unfold. However, even Sean couldn’t resist posting up that about that, but he snuck it onto the RocLife website.
http://www.roclife.org/forums/showthread.php?95931-Snky-Snky
Chris and Sean can no longer be considered for a grassroots award, nor can they be considered an underdog team. Some may say they can no longer wear the American Flag on the car, since they are building a car for the Canadian team. While they may need to have specially made helmets to fit around their swelling craniums, the opportunity couldn’t have happened to a better group of friends.
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