Once the Borg Warner 67mm turbocharger was installed on the IPGparts.com True Street Civic the goal was simple....an 8 Second Pass. Heading up to the World Cup Finals in November of 2014 the team thought they had the combination to make it work but could only run a best of 9.03 @ 166mph during the event. More passes, more data and more troubleshooting was on the agenda as the team continued to work through the issues holding them back.
First it was fuel supply. A Weldon Racing 2345 fuel pump was installed to alleviate that and back to the track they went. 9.0-9.1 passes at 152-157mph weren't what they were looking for. The data logs showed a boost fall off in 4th gear so back the shop they went to find the boost leak. A pinched wastegate diaphragm and a hairline crack in an intercooler pipe were repaired and off to the track they went again. This time all the boost was there but they just couldn't put the power to the ground and more 9.0-9.1 passes in the mid 160mph range were achieved. There were 2 great takeaways from the testing though as the team had developed a solid, consistent car to enter the next race with and repeatable passes meant changes could actually be measured now.
The GRS-Motorsports SFWD Shootout at Orlando Speedworld on March 29th, 2015 brought beautiful weather. The crew at Orlando Speedworld gave the competitors a great surface to run on and it was destined to be a great day of racing. Driver Robert Mapps suited up and the team brought the car to the line without one change from the last time they had been out testing. The idea was to make 1 pass on the setup that they knew well and then make some changes from there to work on getting the car down the track more efficiently with Chris Harris of Xenocron Tuning on the keyboard remotely. A 1.54 60' time wasn't the best to start off with but the 5.93 @ 133mph 1/8th mile time showed the track was there and just like that the goal was met. Mapps drove the car out the back end to a 8.84 @ 169mph 1/4 mile pass. Not only did the team get into the 8s but they got well into the 8s and new vigor has been ignited.
The rest of the day didn't go as planned for the team as a couple of more 9.1 @ 167mph passes wasn't enough to get very far in the race but progress was made and lessons were learned. Now it is onto the next event (the GRS-Motorsports.com SFWD Shootout on April 25th-26th at Orlando Speedworld) as 2015 is shaping up to have great potential for the IPGparts.com True Street Civic.
