Ding takes on Mio-Ohio for #GRIDLIFE – Track Battle Rd1!!!

Posted on April 27, 2018June 1, 2018 by Konig Gfx

GRIDLIFE – Track Battle Round 1 – Mid-Ohio | April 14th and 15th

Mid-Ohio has always been a demanding and tricky circuit to tackle, and for this year’s Gridlife TrackBattle season opener it proved to be no different. However, for Fiona and I, just making it to the event was a victory all by itself…

Rewind to a weekend before Mid-Ohio, we arrived at Gingerman Raceway for a shakedown, to make sure both my highly-reworked S2000 and Fiona’s new-to-her E46 M3 would work as intended. Much to our surprise, everything that could go wrong, DID go wrong. My S2000 experienced some major oil pressure problems that left the health of the engine in serious doubt, while the M3 suffered a pretty serious fire after an off. Most of the driver-side wiring were toasted, as well as a couple of sensors for the engine/trans and some bodywork, but luckily the car survived mechanically and Fiona escaped unharmed. At the end of the weekend, we were left with two barely working cars and absolutely exhausted, but there was little time to breathe.

Calling the week that followed “hectic” is an understatement. Not only were we caught up in school commitments and exams, but we had to find a way to resolve the issues and ensure they are ready to race before the weekend. Huge thanks to our sponsor Brian of BaoHouse Racing, who was able to squeeze in a last minute check for both of our cars, as well as Mikey of Xenocron Tuning, who helped analyze the issues with my F22C engine and reassure me that it was luckily okay. Although there remained a few issues, we were out of time and had to set off for Mid-Ohio.

Pokemon onesie is now the official TeamARF team wear, because Fiona said so…

As we arrived at the track, we quickly realized that the weekend will be defined by a single factor: the weather. Every source suggested that the weekend will be filled with rain starting right around our first session, and Mid-Ohio itself is notoriously difficult in the wet. If we were to be successful this weekend, we would not only need a fast lap time, but to set that fast lap as quickly as possible.

Saturday morning, and the news was good. The track remained dry, but the forecast was not pretty. The pressure was on, and I came up with a sneaky plan… You see, in time attack, traffic is the worst nightmare. You can be 2 seconds faster than your previous best, and one slow car at the wrong point on track will completely ruin your efforts. In order to get as many clean laps in as possible, Fiona and I lined up early to be at the front of Group B, just behind Levi Brown in his incredibly fast TrackMod Civic EF Hatch. The strategy proved invaluable, as many of our competitors ended up stuck in a train of slower cars. With Mr. Brown ahead of me acting as a target and Fiona behind chasing me down, I settled down and gave it my all.

My lap was far from perfect, and the tire pressure setting had skyrocketed during the session, but we still banged in a 1:39.098, obliterating the old Street class record and a stunning 1.9 seconds faster than the next fastest car in Street, a Corvette C7. In fact, that lap would’ve landed me in a podium spot in any RWD category, whether it be StreetMod, TrackMod, or Unlimited. I was happy with that result, but not with the my lap. I knew the car had plenty left in it and I could’ve improved to a 1:37 by the next session or two. Fiona, meanwhile, went faster every lap as she got to grips with the M3 and Mid-Ohio, and managed a 1:48.372, 8th fastest in a highly competitive 17-car Street RWD field and also the fastest E46 M3 out of 3 entries in Street.

Unfortunately, our fun was cut short just before the start of the second session, when a light drizzle began to fall. However, it quickly turned into a monsoon that soaked the whole track and buried the hope of any dry running for the rest of the day. Sunday was much of the same, and although we had a lot of fun slicing and dicing in the rain, the time charts remained unchanged. I walked away with a victory, which was my goal right from the get go, but doing so before the others got a chance to does make it a little less enjoyable. Fiona, meanwhile, is also unhappy with the outcome. As much as I told her that it was a very valiant effort and a great first showing on a new track with a new car, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed, as she had prepared so hard for the event in the months before.

Overall, it was certainly a perfect start to the season for me in terms of results, gaining a lot of valuable points on the competition at a track we expected to excel at. Fiona’s performance is also getting better by the weekend, and we can’t wait to head down to Road Atlanta in three weeks for Global Time Attack!

Jackie is running Konig Dekagrams in 18×9.5 et 35mm all around in Semi Matte Black. The Konig Dekagram is Flow Formed.

Hard Times Racing hit the track at GRIDLIFE Mid-Ohio!

Posted on April 23, 2018April 23, 2018 by Konig Gfx

HARD-TIMES RACING AT GRIDLIFE TRACK BATTLE ROUND 1

2018 GRIDLIFE MID-OHIO | APR 14TH & 15TH

RACEDAY

“The first event each year is always the Hardest…”

After a 7 hour drive to Mid-Ohio, we unloaded all the cars and gear, made sure all the cars got through tech inspection, then we set up camp and got prepared for the next morning. Everyone knew we would have one, maybe two session to lay down a respectable time before the rain came, much easier said than done, the team was basically shaking down their new cars, Lester had never driven this track so he really had his work cut out for him. Sitting in the Silvia I had multiple concerns with over-heating due to the new front mount and ducting, I wasn’t sure if the wheels and tires would rub under load, was the grip going to be there? had I done everything right to have a safe car? I would soon find out the answers to all these questions, and as team captain my thoughts were about all my teammates and that they were going through the same thought process. As we started our out lap Mark led the team followed by Mike and Les as I brought up the rear. My goal was to load up the car a little bit more every lap, lap two Mike and Lester gave me the point by and I bumped the car up to about 65%, constantly checking the gauges, trying to put heat in the tires and listening for odd sounds or tire rubbing. About 3 laps in I felt a wave of relief fall over me, the car was working! A quick look at the solo showed that I had cut a 146.08 not a fast time but all things considered it had felt like I had just won! And with the gas gauge showing I was on fumes I pitted with a huge smile on my face! parked the car and anxiously awaited for my teammates to finish up and come back to the pits, One by one they started rolling in, it was hugs and high fives all around! I was one proud man. After the track high subsided a bit we started looking at times. We knew our street FWD guys we looking good and boy were we right! after one session Lester was sitting in first place with a time of 156.55 followed closely by Mike with a 159.34 putting hard times in 1st and 2nd. All eyes would turn back to the radar as the rain was going to hit sooner than later. During the cold track lunch break the rain started to fall. I was on slicks and knew that my day was over, Mike had also decided to leave his car in the pits for the rest of the day. Rain is a funny thing at race tracks, after it had poured for hours it was apparent the the dry times would stand for everyone that weekend, Leaving hard times on top of street FWD. The end of Saturday would see conditions improve from soaking wet and standing water to a damp track, and with this street FWD would see the late entry of a brand new civic type R, a car known in this class as a ringer car, Anthony Cuthbert would end up bumping Mike and Lester down to 2nd and 3rd. The sun set and some hard earned beers were shared as we all swapped war stories. But once again all eyes were glued to the radar. It was pretty clear that Sunday would see more rain and with more rain we knew the times from Saturday would stand. Lester and Mark would go out and practice their wet driving skills as the rest of the team watched. Then it would be time to collect some hardware and hit the road back to Chicago.

All in all it was a great weekend and even though we only had four of the seven Hard Times car out the tone had been set. Gridlife Mid-West will go down in history for us as it will be the first time that all 7 cars hit the track together, as always there is a ton of work to get done between now and then. I have said it before and I’ll say it again. You gotta be there to win!

Hard TImes Racing drivers list for Round 2 is as follows

Lester-Street FWD -Integra

Mike -Street FWD -Integra

Mark- Street AWD r32 GTR

James- Street RWD Mustang GT

Ben- TrackMod- RWD Mazda RX7

Sam-Unlimited RWD s13 180sx

Charlie- Unlimited RWD s13 silvia

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Hard Times Racing is a supporter of the GRIDLIFE event series. Konig is proud to provide quality wheels for part of the Hard Times Racing team!

Charlie Ensslin 240SX is running the Flow Formed Konig Dekagram in 18×10.5 all around w/ et18mm offset. The Konig Dekagram is Flow Formed.

Make sure to follow Hard Times Racing on INSTAGRAM!

James Houghton Sends It at Gridlife Track Battle Round 1!

Posted on April 19, 2018April 23, 2018 by Konig Gfx

JAMES HOUGTON AT GRIDLIFE TRACK BATTLE ROUND 1

2018 GRIDLIFE MID-OHIO | APR 14TH & 15TH

The weekend of April 14/15 saw the K-Tuned Time Attack Integra head South for the opening round of the 2018 Gridlife Track Battle series. As last year, the season opener was at the famed Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

But it was not an easy 2018 debut as James noted, “It was a very busy offseason for the K-Tuned Time Attack Integra. We always try to accomplish a lot of modifications for both speed and reliability but this winter/spring was definitely one to remember. We set many records in 2017 so we largely focused on improvements in reliability for 2018. With the many improvements were made to both our engine package, our wiring and electronics we were very excited to get out to our first event, even though it would be without the benefit of a track test beforehand.”

Mid-Ohio saw James once again compete in the Unlimited FWD class where he set the record in 2017 on his first visit to the track. Watching the weather forecast on the week leading up to the event the Kitchener, ON based team came prepared with rain tires as well as full complement of slicks just in case the called for rain did not arrive. After tech inspection, the weather radar was forecasting a dry first session and maybe the second. As this could be the session that would decide the whole event, the team discussed the options and agreed to go for it on slicks.

The slicks were mounted on the car and got in the zone for the first session. Although he didn’t beat his record from 2017 James put down a solid lap time of 1.28.9 which held up for fastest in class (Unlimited FWD) as well as Fastest Overall for the event.

Later that day the Gridlife team announced that they would start keeping track of wet track records as well as regular dry records in 2018. As the team had brought their rain tires they mounted them as the rain fell before the second session. James ran one of the fastest wet times of the weekend with a 2.00.0 and the fastest wet time in Unlimited FWD by a large margin! Houghton was excited after seeing photos of the K-Tuned Time Attack Integra in the wet, “I would never have believed the rooster tails that were coming off the car. We could see on the pit straight and from various photos taken all around the track that our aero was really working. I have to thank the guys at Professional Awesome for their input and my team for their execution of the Professional Awesome’s ideas!”

James continued by saying, “With all of our improvements to the car working well at Gridlife Track Battle 1 we can focus on more small changes leading up to the Global Time Attack event at Road Atlanta next month. To that end, we will be testing at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in a little over a week to help further dial in the suspension and aero package. Thank you very much for the support in the 2018 season, we definitely couldn’t do it without you! James”.

The team was very excited the Monday after the event when the newly announced Gridlife partnership with Autoweek published the first event report online with the team’s Acura Type R as the lead photo. View the article using the link below.

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James Houghton is running the Flow Formed Konig Dekagram in 18×10.5 front and 17×9 rear w/ et40mm offset. The Konig Dekagram is Flow Formed.

Make sure to follow James on INSTAGRAM!