Prima Racing & Andrie Hartanto: Super Lap Battle Unlimited RWD Champions

For Prima Racing, the 2014 racing season has been one of notable success. It has been one in which the team had overcome numerous setbacks and challenges. After Prima Racing claimed title of SCCA National Champions, it was anticipated that team would have the chance to sit back and revel in its accomplishments. However, team principal and driver, Andrie Hartanto, had another surprise for the team when he entered their Honda S2000 into the Super Lap Battle Time Attack in the RWD Unlimited Class.

Hartanto and Prima Racing are no strangers when it comes to time attack with Hartanto having competed in prior years while piloting numerous cars. “We’ve been there before, but this year it hasn’t been a focus for us. We’re doing this totally for fun,” Hartanto commented. “Plus, I’m interested to see how a purpose-built race car does in an event that places a major emphasis on horsepower and aerodynamics. Yes, we have both, but not nearly to the extent that a lot of the serious competitors have,” Hartanto explained. “I’m not as concerned about winning as I am curious as to see how we’ll do.”

The Unlimited Class is one that is truly befitting of the name. It is not uncommon for cars to boast over double the power of Prima Racing’s Honda S2000, even with the supercharger package installed. In the Unlimited Class, some cars are built to such extremes that any more than a handful of laps driven at full speed may prove too risky.

Preparations for the event were minimal; install the CT Engineering supercharger, bring whatever used tires that appeared to have acceptable wear and then make the drive south towards Buttonwillow Raceway. Given the lighthearted nature of the team’s entry, they elected not to run the Thursday test day and instead arrived on Friday solely to compete in the event.

The morning’s practice session went reasonably well, however the one major issue plaguing the team’s performance was the close-ratio gearbox of the Quiafe sequential transmission.

“I didn’t anticipate that we’d run out of gear as often or as soon as we did. The car is awfully quick here and I’m bouncing off the rev limiter of 6th gear in five different places on the track. The amount of speed left on the table is pretty painful. It’s enough that it’s costing us multiple seconds’ worth of time,” Hartanto remarked.

After reviewing the data with Blacktrax Performance’s Jei Chang, they elected to increase the 2.2 liter engine’s rev limit from 8400RPM to 9000RPM which would allow for longer periods of uninterrupted acceleration. The situation had improved following the second session, as the number of places Hartanto ran out of gearing was reduced from five to three and also saw nearly a two second improvement in the team’s fastest lap.

“I would estimate that we’re still leaving at least two seconds behind. It would be nice to have a seventh gear, or more practically, we should have installed the other differential with the longer final drive,” Hartanto admitted, shaking his head.

“I realize I said we were only coming here for fun, but now that I realize that we have a chance to win, I wish we could have made a few changes ahead of time. Judging from the data and how long we’re not accelerating, I’d say that under ideal settings a lap well into the 1:45 range is easily possible, probably faster than that even,” Hartanto ruefully explained.

Despite the additional time still left in the day, the team elected to pack up and call it a day. The shorter gearing had made for a frustrating day as the team’s speed was limited regardless of what they attempted to do.

“There’s nothing more that we can do. It’s a bit of a disappointment, but now we know. There is still a lot left on the table, but we can still be pretty happy at what we accomplished today given the scrubbed tires and short gearing,” Hartanto said as the team packed up and headed for home.

“I should have known better!” Hartanto lamented. “We showed up for fun, but once things got started, man, I really wanted to win. Racing drivers race to win. It probably wouldn’t matter what event we were in, we would still fight to win, no matter what. At least we had fun!”

It wasn’t until later on the drive back up to the Bay Area that Hartanto and the team learned of their good fortune; they had won the Super Lap Battle RWD Unlimited Class. The win came as a surprise given that there was still three or more seconds that could have been shaved off of the 1:48.8 winning lap time.

“Total surprise,” Hartanto commented when asked about the result. “It’s a shame we didn’t even stick around for the awards, but we assumed the rest of the field would overtake our fastest time. In the end, it’s great to end the season on a high note with another win. I’m so proud of everything our team has accomplished this year. There’s no time for rest, though. We’ll be hard at work and back for more for next season with hopefully even more challenges.”

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Sponsors – Prima Racing’s 2014 Championship-winning season is brought to you by CT Engineering, Supertech Performance, Wicked Tuning, Rota Wheels, Carbotech Brakes, Hondata, Stitch Tech Designs, Drastikk Industries, Ignited Soul Apparel, Speed SF, Blacktrax Performance, Exedy Clutch, APR Performance, Twincam Motorsports, Penske Racing Shocks, and QuickJack.