by Ross Miller (driver of the PTUNING/Lustine Scion tC):
Last weekend the PTuning Team packed up and headed out for the last east coast event of the season. Round 6 was held at Englishtown raceway in Englishtown New Jesery. Recovering from our setback at CMP was no easy task, but we are still on the road to success, and a second consecutive Redline Championship. As many of you know we had motor problems at CMP resulting in a DNF, our first ever. Morale was down, and with our small budget dwindling we thought the season was over. Instead of quitting and giving up the chance to so something great, we acquired a stock motor, and ran that at Englishtown. Down nearly 200 horse power, the team soldiered on.
The weekend proved to be an interesting one, as the tropical storm Danny drenched the track with rain. We arrived early Saturday, registered, setup and waited to offload the car in hopes of clear sky's in the afternoon. Just before the drivers meeting we met a representative from Manley, our newest sponsor. He was very eager to see our car and what it could do. That moment would never come as the showers covered the track with water, so much that parts of the track were actually submerged in several inches of water. The one saving grace of the day was the Redline Truck Attack! Trucks were enlisted to help "dry off" the track, and the 7 crazy drivers got some good track time and put on one heck of a show. A cross between a race and drift show broke out shortly after the first lap and all the drivers had fun! The track dried off very little when the rain stopped, and it was decided because of the state of the track and the car, the Time Attack tC would stay in the trailer till Sunday. We packed up and headed to the hotel and dinner with fellow competitors.
Sunday started chilly and damp, the car was performing well, but i could not get heat in the tires or get the car to rotate. We played with the setup of the car all day which is challenging due to the nature of the track. The track was very bumpy in several places, and had very tight turns. Much like and Autocross course, it was very technical with only small straights. After the two practice sessions the car was ready, and producing some fast lap times. The first time attack session seemed like a blur, while i was hitting my marks and trying to be patient and turn a good time. a 1:15.7 was the best time during the first round but I knew the car and I had more! The practice following we took out more rear wing, and added more toe out on the rear to help rotation. The second time attack session was horrid, and i could not seem to hit any of my marks or produce a good lap. However, that 1:15.7 would be more than enough to take first place in Modified FWD. After the second time attack session the car was asked to compete in a "togue battle" with the Dent Sport Garage Sti driven by Ron Adams. With similar times the battle would be close, and the action would be non stop! It was everything we thought, and the battle raged for 4 heated laps. We squeaked out a victory, over a tough competitor and both of us had a blast!
All and all it was a good weekend with good friends, at a fun event.
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