NASA Midwest: Autobahn country club south course July 17th and 18th
This past weekend was the NASA midwest Autobahn south stop, It was a good weekend with a great turn out. The big factor at this event was the HEAT!! 90's both days with out the heat index. The weekend started good with qualifying fastest car in TT-U and fastest car overall. As we began the first times session I went out with the car feeling good. I made mistake in misjudging my tire pressures, as the track had gotten hotter and I was driving harder the pressures crept up way to much and within the second lap the car began to push really bad. As the afternoon progressed the times got slower and it was now clear that the winning times for both days would be set in the earliest morning sessions. So for day one I took 3rd with a 1:32.962
Day 2 I had high hopes for dominating and was hoping to really fix the small issues from the day before and hopefully drive the car without the horrible understeer. I drove the car as hard as I could, but there was just nothing left in the tires. All the abuse from the day before had really melted the slicks and they just didnt have the grip left in them to set any blazing laps. This day I only broke into the 1:35's which was good enough for 5th in a sea of corvettes.
All in all the the car ran with out issue, no more over heating thanks to the guys at GRD and the new head gasket. And finally no more slipping clutch thanks to Exedy racing Clutches. I want to thank all my sponsors for first off making the qualiy parts that you do, and for giving me the oppertunity to represent for you track side!
AMS annual Track day: Autobahn country club July 10th
July 10th was the AMS annual track day at Autobahn country club in Joliet Illinois. AMS had contacted me earlier in the week and was in need for an extra instructor, I was more then happy to help and share some trackside knowledge. Here are a few pics of the car ripping around the track, thanks to AMS for the oppertunity and am excited to help out again next year!
NASA Midwest TT-U debut May 15-16
May 15-16 marks the NASA season debut for the HamFLeX.com evo! The event will take place at Putnam Park in Indiana. I have never been to this track, but I am looking forward to it. With all the bugs worked out of the car I am not only looking to win in the TT-U class but break every track record in the process! I will have a more detailed update as I am currently adding a few more parts to the car to make the evo even more reliable!
Redline Time Attack New Jersey Motorsports Park Review:
The first Redline Time Attack east coast event is over and in the record books! As posted earlier the first east coast event was held at the New Jersey Motorsports Park on the their Lightning course. The track was awesome, the weather was awesome, and the people there were awesome.... now had I only tested my car at home before driving 16hrs east to race!
Before I get into the actual write up I want to thank all of my sponsors, but just as much I want to thank Professional Awesome, DENT Sport Garage, and Fortune Auto! All of which were huge a help, lending me time, tools, and help as for this event I traveled all the way to New Jersey solo, and just getting the car to turn a lap time would not have been possible with out them!
On with the event, As I said before the weekend is in the record books and the HamFLeX.com EVO takes the 5th place spot.. All in all I hoped for better, but with zero seat time in the car and zero testing NJMP was were the car would first see the track in 6 months, and with a completely new set up. From the first session I started having minor problems, nothing huge just small things you will encounter from an initial shake down. But the one problem that finally was found was a leak in the recirc valve routing, this obviously causing the car to break up extremely bad at partial throttle. After fixing this with just enough time to sneak out onto the track in the novice run group I was able to do my first hot lap, and by hot it was as the car proceeded to over heat! It was not a huge issue just an air pocket in the cooling system, and as the day came to an end all the problems were fixed and I was anxious for Sunday to finally get some seat time and see what the car would do!
Sunday morning was beautiful and the track conditions were ideal. As I set up for grid the car drove good, the new suspension and set up was amazing and the car has never handled so well. After 3 laps though the car was over heating again. I started to hear a hint of an exhaust leak as well, as I pitted I noticed the o2 housing was being held by only two bolts! I tightened up as much as I could and sourced the paddock for extra bolts but came up short. With exhaust gases dumping directly on the radiator I was able to get 2 to 3 laps at best before temps rose to an unsafe level. As the first Time Attack session came they combined all Modified and Super Modified cars together. With seriously only 8 to 10 honest laps of hard driving I was surprised to be grid 9th. As the session got underway and after the first warm up lap I noticed as I flew down the front straight and began to brake for corner one that the brake pedal was not solid or consistent in any means. And it continued to feel that way the rest of my time on the track. I managed one lap at 1:14.8 or in that range and that was in an extreme catious mode as I did not trust my stopping power. I got off the track right away and into the pits where the guys at Professional Awesome helped me bleed the brakes and get everything ready for the 2nd and final timed session. As we grid again for the second Time Attack the car felt good, the brakes were perfect and it was time to through everything I had at the track. Well with the brakes working I was driving at 10/10's leaving nothing behind, as the lap was easily my fastest yet and I was driving as hard as I could the car was in the red and over heating before I could even finish one lap. I let off and broke early in numerous areas and around the final banked corner the temps were somewhat lower. As I exited the final corner on to the front straight I was back on the gas and passed the stop/finish with a 1:13.091. The temp gauge was back in the red but the car cooled down quickly and no damage was done. My time was good enough for 5th, and I was happy enough to realize that 3rd through 5th were all within 1 second.
All in all the weekend was a constant battle, and no easier was it that I headed out there alone. I want to thank all my sponsors once again as every part on the car worked out great, just lack of a shake down test day limited the car's performance. The 2nd east coast event will be here June 12th and 13th at the Autobahn Country Club and it is my home track! The car will be ready, I will have more seat time in this set up, and I look forward to what the weekend will bring!Redline Time Attack East coast opener... 3 days away!
Well 24 hours from now and I will be on the road to the Redline Time Attack season opener in New Jersey! The car is currently at GRD perfromance where they are working on all the final race preperations for a reliable event. I have been suoer busy, but all the hard work will begin to pay off a few days from now! Pictures to come soon, along with an entire write up after the event!
See you all at the TracK!!!
2010 Redline Time Attack season opener April 10th - 11th:
April 10th and 11th officially kicks off the 2010 HamFLeX.com race season! Redline Time Attack will be hosting the first East Coast series event at New Jersey Motorsports park. The Evo has been coming along great and should be at 100% by this event. I am extremely excited to see what maddness will stem from the off season and all the Modified entrants!
2010 NASA Midwest season opener April 17th - 18th:
April 17th and 18th kicks off the NASA Midwest Time Trials series for 2010. This year will exciting as I look to give all the TT-U cars a good fight for the top spot!! This first event will take place in St. Louis IL, at Gateway International Raceway. I am familiar with this track so I hope I can spend more time focusing on the setup vs. learning the track! Cant wait to see everyone trackside, and if you recognize the car and I stop by and say HI!
2009 NASA TT-S Nationals:
HamFLeX.com Evo/Ryan Upham ranks 5th in the country in TT-S at the NASA Nationals!!! Hey everyone just wanted to do a small recap from the NASA Nationals last year, which took place September 10th-13th at Miller Motorsports park in Tooele Utah.
It was a great event and I can honestly say that Miller Motorsports park is by far the nicest track I have ever driven on! The event was a decent one with only minimal problems, although problems are still problems and they never happen at a good time. We fought suspension setups all weekend, mainly from running tires with so much more grip then usual we just didn't have enough time to set the suspension up. All and all we ended up with a 5th spot on a National level, so I cant complain to much about that!
Big thanks to all my sponsors and family who made the 2009 season a success!
