Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Redline Time Attack Finale at Auto Club

Yea! The Fontana Nissan Racing team was back in action with both the Nissan 350Z and the GTR at the season finale of the Redline Time Attack Series.

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The 350Z was sporting a new engine after suffering a failure at the Willow Springs event in July. Look for a new chapter in the Technical Corner detailing the changes made in the new engine.

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Naoto, our engine management guru from Sakata Motorsport Electronics was on hand all weekend to monitor the new engine and insure the safety of the motor.

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Engine builder Chris Schroeder, right, takes offense to a comment concerning horsepower and torque in the new engine.  Engine builders are by nature a touchy bunch. Best to steer clear of them.

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Crew chief Eric Meade, right, and fabricator extraordinaire Glenn Evans had the 350Z ready for every session.

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Mike Cronin reported the car had good power and was able to post some really fast times right away.  In the time attack, Mike took 1st Place in the Super Modified RWD class with a blistering lap of 1:41.369!

super session start

Mike started the Super Session, a wheel to wheel 5 lap battle, in second place.  Every lap he was able to ride the bumper of the Cobb GTR throughout the infield portion of the track, but could not make the pass on the oval. Being down 300 horsepower to the Cobb GTR made it tough! Watch the entire Super Session video on the home page of the fontananissanracing.com website.

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The trusty Fontana Nissan GTR once again performed flawlessly.  Mike was able to post a great time of 1:42.738 in Sunday’s Time Attack, good enough for a 2nd Place finish in Modified AWD!

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Kerryann De La Cruz took her Nissan Race Shop.com  R32 out for it’s first track experience.

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Scott Vanderheide, performance parts guy at the Nissan Race Shop.com wants to find out who installed the steering wheel on the wrong side of the R32. It’s ok Scott, we will find the culprit.

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Overall, it was a great weekend with fantastic warm windy weather, fast cars, lots of Nissans both on and off the track, and a 1st and 2nd place finish!! Can’t ask for much more than that.

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Some parting eye candy for your viewing pleasure. The lovely outgoing Miss Redline 2010 Novella Nikita! We will miss you!