APM Racing’s challenge at Laguna Seca

I like to introduce a big challenge by one of the 5ZIGEN users today. As I mentioned in this blog before, Tommy Chen of SpeedTrialUSA entered SCCA Speed World Challenge TC2 class from AMP Racing sponsored by AutoWorld. It sounded bit tough and bitter debut to the World Challenge. But, it was a big step for him and his team. We are looking forward to seeing him in next season. Following is the race report from APM Racing.

APM racing & Tommy Chen finish their first Professional Road Race together at World Challenge Season Finale

APM Racing & Tommy Chen finish their first Professional Road Race together at the World Challenge Season Finale in the Touring Car 2 Class at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca October 11, 2009.

Monterey, CA.- An amazing and demanding course known to many as Laguna Seca that challenges the drivers and their cars by the mere mentioning of the track, APM Racing partnered with Tommy Chen of Speed Trial USA made history by being the first Mazda RX8 to compete in the SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge Series Finale. This first pro-race entrenches the long lasting relationship between team APM Racing and driver Tommy Chen have together.

It’s just the beginning but rookie Driver Tommy Chen has fulfilled his life long dream to compete in a Pro-Race along other professional status drivers. Piloting the race prepped Touring Car 2 class STUSA/APM Racing RX8 which is normally seen on the club racing circuit of SCCA (show room stock class) took up the challenge to compete in the newly created class by SCCA early this year. With a mere 4 months of preparation, STUSA and APM Racing converted this humble street car, show room stock of an RX8, to the current race prep vision it is now.

With the newly established SCCA World Challenge Touring Car 2 class, there are still new rules and regulations being implemented, nothing has been set in stone and is still currently being reviewed for the 2010 season. While the regulations and restrictions were vague or being in the “gray area”, APM Racing and STUSA have done their best to push the limits of SCCA’s rules for building a car from stock form into a race car in the Touring Car 2 class. It was crystal clear we were unable to do any type of real engine modifications, the Mazda RX8’s 1.3L Renesis had to be kept stock but we were allowed a cat-less set up on the exhaust side of things. Thus, we had decided to concentrate on improving the weight, handling, braking and overall balance of the RX8.

First and foremost, APM Racing started setting up the brake system. SCCA regulation would not allow us to use a Big Brake Kit set up, so instead we opted to use APM Racing’s very own heat treated OEM replacement sized brake rotors. In combination with HAWK Brake pads and APM Racing steel braided brake hoses, driver Tommy Chen was able to brake late constantly and consistently and per his own words, “the brakes were always there.”

For handling, Tommy Chen preferred the use of JIC suspension for this particular course. The car performed well during practice and qualifying with the fine adjustments the team had made. Tommy Chen was able to build his confidence in attacking the corners and especially the “cork screw” portion of the track with the APM Racing brake set up and the JIC suspension.

Finally during race day, the team had encountered an electrical bug in the early morning, we quickly managed to remedy the issue to get Tommy Chen and his RX8 to the starting grid. During the race, the electrical problem was still there however Tommy Chen was still able to work around it. Tommy was able to pull a respectable 1:49.818 and overall finish the race in full. According to SCCA the newly established Touring Car 2 class should be off the Touring Car class pace by roughly 5-8 seconds. The RX8 was off by 10 seconds.

APM Racing and Tommy Chen are very optimistic regarding the new rules and regulations for the upcoming 2010 season. Hopefully SCCA will allow us to have more power so we can be more competitive with the regular Touring Car class. According to one of the SCCA officials, “This was the first time we ever had a Mazda RX8 run in Touring Car, we do not have any real data, nor can we gauge where the regulations should fall upon the RX8.” Hopefully the data that SCCA Pro Racing collected from our race will help allow us more engine modifications so we can be more competitive next year, along with further fine tuning of other areas of the race car as well.

The SCCA World Challenge Series at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca race is set to be nationally broadcast on SPEED on Tuesday, November 3 at 2 p.m. EST.

APM Racing is now off to another exciting project called Super Lap Battle at Button Willow, CA on November 11th 2009, with our time attack ready Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8.

APM Racing and Tommy Chen would like to thank the following Sponsors:

AutoWorld
Address: 8808 Mission Dr., Suite#109, Rosemead, CA91770
Tel: 626-285-1608 Fax: 626-285-6390
http://www.autowld.com/

5ZIGEN USA, Inc
17022 Montanero Ave. #2 Carson, CA 90746
Tel: 310-608-5575 Fax: 310-608-5559
http://www.5zigenusa.com/english/index.html

AIT Racing
738 Epperson Dr.
City of Industry, CA 91748
Tel: 626-820-1370 Fax: 626-820-1371
http://www.aitracing.com/shop/

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