Unloading Irene.

The Prima Racing & TunerPlayground Motorsports Team went up to Thunderhill Raceway this past weekend for the first shakedown session of the year with our newly revised S2000 race car. The car had undergone some serious changes over the winter, with the most prominent being the new paint: a Porsche GT3RS Signal Green courtesy of 19th Autobody Center (thanks Jihoon!) in Daly City.

Saturday February 18th. We left the Bay Area around 4pm in the afternoon and arrived at the Motel 6 Willows just shortly after sunset. The team decided to enjoy an early dinner followed by some very exciting UFC match ups on Pay Per View. A couple of the guys stayed up afterwards to have some beers, but for the most part we all turned in early, anxious for a very busy day ahead.

Sunday February 19th. The team awoke just after 6 in the morning for a short tow over to Thunderhill Raceway. We were one of the first to arrive and set up our pit area under the first canopy in the paddock. Crew Chief Chris Le and Team Mechanic Bao Vu were quick to unload and setup, finishing a few of the livery updates to our S2000 (lovingly named “Irene”) just before the talented film crew from MHMM Productions arrived.

We had a very busy schedule to follow for the day. The team’s focus was to log data on how the car handled with professional driver & Team Technical Director Andrie Hartanto behind the wheel. Andrie spent most of the morning making incremental adjustments to the suspension settings in order to properly dial the car in for Thunderhill. Meanwhile, Nick Cahill and Trevor Jackson from MHMM Productions began to familiarize themselves with Irene while sitting down with Team Manager Tom Tang to review details for the film. The trio had already spent countless hours planning specific shots, but wanted to ensure that nothing would be missed.

The team was also in for a pleasant surprise. Just before noon, we were visited by some old friends: Mike from Auto Innovations, Pat (who needs no introduction), and Jimmy, former crew member for the Prima Racing team. Together, Pat, Jimmy, Mike, and our Hospitality Coordinator Lee-Anne Ostby worked to lay out quite an impressive spread of snacks, beverages, and delicious barbecue items. The team was very excited to devour hot links, pineapple chicken sausages, and cheeseburgers featuring grilled onions, melted cheese, grilled mushrooms, and oh yes…BACON.

The afternoon sessions went by very quickly with Andrie clearly outpacing every other car on the track as he pushed Irene noticeably faster and harder than earlier in the day. It was also very entertaining to watch the MHMM crew hard at work. They stayed right there with Andrie, capturing incredible footage every step of the way with their vast array of high-tech equipment from inside the car, outside the car, and also trackside.

Bao ran out of gas on the way to get gas. <br>Mike Ostby's Honda Fit Roadside Assistance to the rescue!

We definitely ended the day on a high note. The car performed very well and we knew what needed to be done next. Plans have already gone into place in order to make the necessary changes before our testing dates in March. We’re also very excited to see the first episode from MHMM debut. Check back soon for that update!

Andrie thinking about how the car handled immediately following a session.

PS: Be sure to visit MHMM on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mhmmproductions

Oh and last but certainly not least, please visit our awesome partners on the right side of our website! We would not be able to succeed without them!

This weekend, Andrie Hartanto has the full driving duty.  The first practice is used by Andrie to get familiar with the track.  The last time Andrie drove this track was in 2003. This is definitely one of the tracks that Andrie drives at the least (2011 being the 3rd time ever).

Andrie was able to grab the pole position, despite not yet being fully comfortable.  He was still building his confidence gradually.

The race was pretty uneventful as Andrie lead from flag to flag to capture the first win of the season for Andrie, and a second win for the Prima Racing team.

Sunday is much more exciting.  As he grew more confident, Andrie is able to cut his time by one second under his personal best the previous day.  Things are looking up and we’re optimistic that we will be going faster on Qualifying since Andrie felt he still left a lot of time on the table.

Qualifying came, but immediately Andrie reported he couldn’t find 6^th gear most of the time.  It really ruined the rhythm and this resulted in slow lap times.  After a few laps, Andrie tried his best.  But being a very fast track, Andrie is in distinct disadvantage by not running 6^th gear.  Still, Andrie was able to narrowly grab the pole position.

The race is much more exciting.  As first we were told the grid was inverted, and the H1 class will be starting behind H2.  This means we will have to work through traffic.  The start was pretty chaotic as it involves faster cars starting behind slower cars.  Two laps in, we were greeted by a surprised on turn 8.  Someone had dropped oil and most of us didn’t see it.  Andrie reported he saw Benny who was right in front of Andrie lost it, followed by Andrie and couple more cars behind.  In total, we saw 6 cars go off because of the oil.  It was a really scary off, as it happened at the fastest section of the track and cars were travelling in excess of 120 mph.  Andrie was slow getting back to the track since his engine died.  He rejoined dead last, but was able to work himself up and capture another win.

Next up we will be back in Northern California, at the beautiful Infineon Raceway.

Don’t forget to keep supporting us by supporting our sponsors.  Click on their links to the right.  We couldn’t do this without them.

In Round 2 of the race weekend, Telly was able to pilot the TSX to a 1st place finish in HC1. Andrie, on the other hand, started 23rd out of 30th in an inverted grid, and he smartly worked his way through the field during a one-hour race and finished an impressive 4th out of 30 cars after chasing former Pro Spec Miata Champion Barry Hartzel around the track.

Our next event will be the Honda Challenge weekend at Willow Springs Raceway in May.

The week started off on Wednesday for testing.  Qualifying races were on Thursday and Friday, and the big race on Saturday.  Your grid position for the Championship race was determined by your results from the qualifying races on Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday

Today is the day for Hartanto to get re-acquainted with the track, and it was also a shakedown for the car as it was the first time back on track ever since the crash at Infineon back in June.   Hartanto is quick to form, posting a competitive lap times and reporting car is behaving great after the first session.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go smoothly as in the middle of the 2^nd session, Hartanto was reporting a slipping clutch, and ended the test day early.

In our hasty diagnosis of the problem, taking into account previous circumstances, we ruled out the clutch slave cylinder because we had just put on a brand new one.  When we put the car back together after the crash, we noticed transmission fluid was leaking from the clutch side of the transmission due to a cracked case, so we thought the clutch was slipping due to transmission fluid on the clutch disc.  To cover all our bases, we decided to switch out the current transmission for the spare one.

We swapped the transmissions, put a new clutch on, bled the clutch, re-aligned the car, and crossed our fingers and hoped for the best for Thursday, the first official day.

Thursday

Morning warm up went without a hitch.  Car was performing fine for the moment, however, Hartanto was slower than the previous day.  At the briefing, he mentioned he liked the previous transmission better.  We debated to put the other transmission back, but finally decided to stick with it to make sure we didn’t rush or miss qualifying session.

Qualifying session end up to be a non session.  When a car caught fire in the first lap and took a while to get it cleaned up.  The qualifying session was cancelled and the qualifying race will be gridded based on the morning warm up.

Bad luck striked again during the qualifying race.  After 2 laps, Hartanto reported a clutch problem again.  Similar what he experienced yesterday.  He tried to kept going but a lap later, he reported a complete lost of drive.  The car can’t accelerate even when the foot off the clutch pedal and the transmission in gear.  He was able to cruise it into the pit and ended his race early.  This is a big blow on the first official day.  As we will be qualified as DFL, and will hurt our grid position on the final race.

After the transmission and clutch swap with brand new units, we still have the same problem.  The only logical solution is either the master cylinder or slave cylinder.  Upon close inspection, we found out the slave cylinder does not retract after a prolong usage, thus rendering clutch being depressed all the time.   We missed diagnosed the first time due to the part being a brand new unit and we didn’t suspect, it was the issue.   We were lucky that it is a simple problem.  However, it is still hardwork for the team as we decided to put the original transmission back since Hartanto prefer that transmission.

Friday

Fingers crossed, we went out for morning warm up on Friday.  After qualifying, it seemed like we had all the bugs with the car figured out, but were seeing really high intake air temperatures from the data.  Hartanto was able to record a blistering pace with 2:11.740.  A time that will hold as the fastest time for the week.

We decided to remove the driver-side headlight to get some airflow straight to the airbox for the qualifying race.  This worked at the start, until Hartanto was ‘meatball’ flagged near the end of the race.  All the turbulent air had wiggled and broken the bumper mounting tabs loose, and ruin the bumper and splitter in the process.

Hartanto finished off the qualifying race with a win despite the bumper almost falling off.  We spent the rest of the day fabricating extra brackets and support to hold the bumper and front splitter in place, as well as put the front headlight back on.  This boost our starting position for the final race and it felt great to be back on top.

Our grid spot for the big race: 7^th.  But it sure does beat having to start in last place.

Saturday

Today is the big day.  The car was still working fine after morning warmup, so that was good news.  Starting 7^th on the grid meant that Hartanto had a lot of ground to make up.

After a great start, Hartanto was able to make it up to 2^nd for a brief moment behind Downey, before overtaken by Kraus and dropped to 3^rd again.

Downey and Kraus were pulling away battling for 1^st, while Hartanto and Shanfeld were battling for 3^rd.  A safety car brought out due to a bumper falling off in the middle of the track brought the pack all back together again.

On the restart, Hartanto had a great running charge, and was able to make it up to 1^st by the final corner, but lost position to Downey.  Hartanto was able to stay in 2^nd for a bit, then Kraus crept back up to reclaim his position.

The high intake air temperatures we were experiencing made our car low on power as the race drew on.  Hartanto let Shanfeld by hoping to be pulled along so that they could both catch up to Downey and Kraus in the lead.

Unfortunately, this plan didn’t work out and we ended up finishing in 4^th.

After a long, demanding week, we couldn’t have asked for more.

Thank you Honda Performance Development for all the support and the hospitality during the week.

Thanks to all our sponsors, none of this would be possible without any of you!

The weekend started just like any other weekend.   Saturday morning became a rush to get the new front splitter installed and getting the car ready.   Nothing really heavy, just the typical small stuff to put on after transport, and small setup stuff to ensure the car is ok and ready.   Saturday was pretty relax with lack of competitors.  We used the day to get Hartanto re-acquainted with the car, the track, and to find a good setup for the car.    The day progressed well with Hartanto finding good setup and improving his lap time every time he goes out.  The new engine sounded healthy and seemed to perform well and provide ample of power. 

Going into the weekend, Hartanto was confident that he would be able to pull a victory going wheel-to-wheel with Kraus.   Kraus’ Prelude has a weight and power advantage over us, but Hartanto felt our car’s setup was more suited to the technical nature of Infineon, as opposed to the long straights of Thunderhill.   Hartanto’s confidence on Saturday was reflected upon his qualifying result on Sunday.   We were able to out-qualify Kraus by a little over 1 second to grab pole position for the race.

For the race, Honda Challenge was gridded behind USTCC, and the traffic from the standing start allowed Kraus you get by Hartanto a few turns into the first lap.  Traffic between Kraus and Hartanto widened the gap between the two.  By the time Hartanto was able to get past the slower cars, the gap was around 7 seconds.  With a clear track in front of him, Hartanto was able to close the gap, gaining about 1 second per lap on Kraus.

That was, until the 6th lap. Hartanto was coming out of turn 8a (the esses) gaining on Kraus quick, when disaster struck.   Something had broken on the car at that point, and Hartanto lost control of the car.  Instead of turning in for turn 9, the car went straight off into the wall.   I was all the way up at the top of the grandstands watching the race, and even I could hear the sound of the impact. Even now, I still can’t come up with the words to describe how I felt.   Just describing the accident again is extremely difficult.  You can see the video here.

Hartanto just walked away from the accident with bruises.   Nothing can beat his “Oh well that’s racing” attitude, and determination to get the car fixed and back out there again.  I always remembered he told me that the best racing driver crashed due to fault of his own or the car.  It is just part of the game.   As of right now, the car is at RedZone Performance getting repairs done, and hopefully we’ll have it up and running for Thunderhill in August and Nationals in September!

Round 3 and 4 of Honda Challenge was held at Infineon Raceway. I must say it was one of those “weekend to forget” for Prima Racing, especially for Telly. On Friday practice, first, Telly managed to find the outside wall on turn 11. Luckily, the damaged to the car mostly cosmetics. We did a quick fix in the paddock, pulling the fenders out, realigning the bumpers and panels, as well making some emergency bracketry so the car is functional as well as aesthetically acceptable.

However, Telly’s bad luck didn’t stop there. A few session after, he mis-shifted and this resulted in a blown engine a few laps later.  We didn’t expect this and didn’t bring the spare engine with us.  It is however available back at Prima racing HQ.  So, we packed it up and head back to do the engine transplant.  The transplant team consists of Jimmy, me and Telly.  We all tired and work through the night.  This was not a good idea, surely enough we made a costly mistake that we found out the next day.

Saturday morning, with the new engine, Telly went out for first practice.  He came back a lap later reported of unusually high water temperature.  Which, suddenly reminded me that none of us remember to put water in the radiator.  Crossing my finger and hoping it hasn’t damaged the engine, I decided to add water and bleed the system and see how it goes.

At the paddock everything seem to work ok.  With the water now inside the radiator, the temperature seem to be at ok range.  Still, we weren’t sure what will happen once the car hit the track.  All we can do is hope for the best.

Unfortunately, we damaged the engine pretty bad.  In Qualifying session, Telly dive back to the pit after just one warm up laps reporting again high water temperature.  We did a quick inspection and found out that the oil system is now saturated with water.  I think we’ve blown the head gasket, or the head or the black is warped so they can’t perform a good seal.  Just like that, our weekend has ended.  It was a weekend to forget.

The next month, we regrouped and faced another challenge.   April is the only month where Prima Racing has to be at 2 places at the same time. There is the Redline Time Attack at Las Vegas and Honda Challenge at Thunderhill. We decided to have Telly race the full weekend at Thunderhill, while I headed to Las Vegas with N1 Racing.

It was quite an exciting weekend for us in Vegas.  We know this is one of the track that we can shine.  A technical track that rewards a good handling car and good driving skills.  All we hope is a reliable car after the tough weekend at the season opener.

It all started well.  Friday test day was nice and we were able to clock in a respectable time.  That is until the rear end took a dump and we do not have any spare parts.  Tom, the team principal tried to locate replacement part locally to no success, so we called back to N1 in the bay area to ask them to drop the spare parts to GST who would be leaving to Vegas is a short while.

When we got a hold of the spare rear end the next day, the team quickly did a replacement and I was able to get back on the track just before lunch time.  It was really an swesome job by the team which enable me to get the much needed practice.  We were able to improved and gave a good show for the locals.

Sunday, the day where it all counted, we were able to pull it off and win it, despite tough competition.  You can read the official press release here.  It was definitely one of the proudest moment in my career.

Back in Northern California, Telly also has his own successful weekend.  He qualified 2nd on both days (Round 5 & 6 Honda Challenge race), but managed to grab his first win for Round 5.

With good weekends on both part, that means we are leading the championship points in both Redline Time Attack and Honda Challenge!

With good results, I headed to Asia for some overdue vacation. I went back to my motherland, Indonesia for the first time in 14 years. It was an interesting 3 weeks and a very relaxing time. Those 3 weeks were the first in a long time that my mind was totally free from racing and any work related.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I came back to the US just in time for our Honda Challenge Round 7 and 8 at Llihrednuht (Thunderhill in reverse configuration). With my mine refreshed, I was ready for the Challenge. Telly took the driving duty on Saturday and captured his second win for the season from outside pole.   I had a less successful race and only managed a second place finish, the same place I started the race.

At the time I wrote this blog, Round 9 and 10 of Honda Challenge will have concluded.  However, I’ve decided not to include it in this blog, instead will have a dedicated article.  Some of you might have heard that I got into a big accident and damaged the car pretty good.  That would be correct.  However, the car is now at RedZone Performance.  In the hand of the most expert and who I trusted thoroughly.  I have no doubt that Brandon will pull some magic and have the car repaired and will perform better than ever.  I will try to give more frequent update on the matter.  Stay tuned!

SUPER MODIFIED REAR WHEEL DRIVE CLASS 1ST PLACE WITH 1:42:733

N1 Concepts is proud to announce it’s racing team’s 1st Place finish at Round 3 of the Redline Time Attack Series held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Outside Road Course. This was the second race in the West Coast series, which meant a consecutive win for N1 (the team also finished 1st Place at Round 1 in Buttonwillow just a month before). This result means that N1 Racing remains in the 1st Place Position as Points Leader in the Super Modified (Unlimited) RWD Class.

It was a difficult battle all weekend long as N1 Racing faced off against tough competition in the form of the 2009 Series Champion, FX Motorsports Development, and it’s NSX. However, driver Andrie Hartanto was up to the task as he displayed incredible skill in piloting the S2000 around the technical Outside Road Course.

Friday’s intense practice sessions of running in the high to mid 1:44 range led to a broken differential. However, with an amazing show of teamwork, the N1 pit crew were able to receive help from the great guys at GST Motorsports who brought down two spare differentials early Saturday morning from N1′s shop (the two are located minutes apart in Hayward, CA). Once the S2000 was up and running again, N1 was quickly able to make further adjustments, dropping the lap times down to the low 1:43 range.

On Sunday morning, Hartanto was able to begin dipping the S2000′s lap times into the high 1:42:9 zone. During the first Time Attack Session N1 recorded a blazing 1:42:7 lap time which would become the 1st Place Super Modified RWD time (FX was unable to record a better time in the second Time Attack Session of the day). This time was also fast enough to place N1 Racing as 3rd Place overall in a field full of turbocharged cars with more than three to four times the horsepower! We slotted just behind GST’s AWD Monster, and Rado’s 1000+ HP Two-Winged Monster.

The N1 Racing Team plans to further improve the S2000 in preparation for Round 4 at Auto Club Speedway next month (May 29-30). Stay tuned for details!

The first day started off wet with some rain drizzles in the morning.    Andrie opted not to participate in the first practice session since it is risky.  Also, since the race will be run in dry conditions, there is no point to run in the wet when the setup will be totally different for the dry race.  The rain stopped by 10AM and the track is mostly dry by the time qualifying rolls around.  During qualifying, Andrie was able to capture the pole, albeit with slower lap times due to some part of the track still being wet.

In the Round 1 race, Brandon Kraus took the lead with a fast start, with Andrie following close behind.  Andrie was able to use race traffic to his advantage and made a pass to recapture the lead.  A short while later, while giving Andrie a hard chase, Brandon suffered a mechanical issue and was forced to retire.  As a result, Andrie was able to cruise to victory for the first win of the season.  This is a great way to start the season for Prima Racing.

For Round 2, Telly Chang took over the driving duties.  Since Telly is new to the car, his first practice session was intended to get him comfortable with the car.  It was obvious that Telly was struggling as he spun on the first lap after hitting a wet section of the track.  The next qualifying session for Telly was also a challenge, when Telly locked up the brakes and end up stuck in the mud off turn 3.  This happened on the 2^nd lap of the session and he spent the rest of the session sitting idle in the mud and waiting for the tow truck to come pull the car out.

Telly’s race itself was pretty uneventful, since there was no competition with Brandon Kraus having retired due to mechanical issue the day before.  The good news is that Team Prima Racing is 2 for 2 to start the season, and we’re happy to take the wins anyway we can get it.

Exedy signs sponsorship deal with Prima Racing for the 2010 season

San Francisco, CA (March 25, 2010) – Prima Racing announced today that it has signed a sponsorship deal with Exedy for the 2010 racing season.  As part of the agreement, Exedy will provide parts and support to help Prima Racing with its motorsports racing efforts in 2010.

“We have been using Exedy clutches for the past 2 years and they make a great clutch for circuit track & road racing applications for cars like our Acura TSX and Honda S2000,” said Andrie Hartanto, Principal and owner of Prima Racing.  “We are grateful and excited to have them on board as a sponsor and partner for the 2010 season.”

Prima Racing currently campaigns an Acura TSX and a Honda S2000 for racing and time attack competition.  Prima Racing is entering its 6th season in competitive motorsports racing, and the team’s sponsors now include Exedy, Rota Wheels, Carbotech brakes, Supertech Performance, RedZone Performance, Wicked Tuning, Stitch Tech Designs, and Hasport.

Exedy (Japan) was founded in 1923 and its clutch manufacturing business and prominent brand name Daikin Clutch are known throughout the world for supplying quality powertrain products. Exedy is a world leader of performance sports and racing clutches, and Exedy’s advanced engineering and patented innovations have made them the leading OEM manufacturer in the world for clutches and other powertrain components. To learn more about Exedy, please visit http://www.exedyusa.com/

So, what have we been doing to the car during the off-season? We’ve learned a lot last year and obviously we tried to implement what we learned and hope to see it bears some results in 2010 racing season.

Firstly, we made some improvements to our engine mounts. The reason is because our new header, will not clear the existing Hasport mount. With the help of Hasport, we modify a few Hasport off-the-shelf mounts so our new header fits well. In addition we were able to shed about 10 lbs.

In engine department, we changed the header, intake manifold, air intake box and lots and lots of dyno tuning trying to extract as much power as we can.

Of course we do not neglect the chassis. We went over and made improvements to our suspension and we needed to make the car lighter if we want to be competitive in Honda Challenge H1. We are way overweight with a minimum weight of 2770 lbs, compared to allowable 2450 lbs + 75 lbs (remote canister damper), + 30 lbs (cage) = 2,555 lbs. With a lot of work, we were able to lower the minimum weight to 2725 lbs.

Few days ago, the crew and I get to do final preparation and play with our newest tool, geometry plates! I saw this first used by a few ALMS teams. Obviously theirs, looks much better and much more expensive, but ours works as well. This tool enable us to do alignment more accurate and quicker. All the arms and any adjustment can be reached without crawling under the car or have to remove wheels or other parts.

All of this changes are still within the rule of Honda Challenge H1 class.  While we are able to extract more power, everyone else will be able do the same, and we are still at a disadvantage being the heaviest chassis with 170 lbs over the minimum weight. Hopefully by doing a lot of development, we can stay ahead of the curve, thus the competition.