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This past weekend saw the LIC Motorsports crew back at its first race of the 2011 season. As many know the future of LIC racing this year looked very grim but after a new racing organization, Global Time Attack (GTA), approached LIC they decided to charge full force in preparation to make the event. With only about 5 weeks of time before the event the Levy boys went hard at work to make some subtle but efficient changes to the vehicle. First on the list was to get some weight out of the car and get the center of gravity lower. Given the limited time frame it was decided to swap the 4 doors, trunk, rear fender flares, and roof to all lightweight dry carbon components. These new LIC Motorsports dry carbon pieces only weigh in at 35lbs in total. In addition the front and rear knuckles were all redone and over 8 lbs were removed vs. the previous version. These new LIC Motorsports components carried incredible weight savings vs. the older parts used. The rear rotors were also swapped out to lightweight ones, which saved an additional 12 lbs from previous ones. Other items were replacing the side windows to lexan, putting in a larger race seat and swapping the steering wheel, new fire suppression system, head restraint, and additional supports for the roll cage. Only items touched on the motor was the new WORLD Racing TBC-1 boost controller and having Tim Bailey, from COBB Tuning Surgeline, retune the vehicle. Very last on the list was to adjust the livery to one that was more fitting for those involved with the effort for the 2011 season. The event was to be Saturday and Sunday but LIC wanted to test the car on an open test day that Friday to ensure all was working as planned. Friday's test day was somewhat flawless, only major issue was a broken windshield from debris which caused the crew to scramble to get it replaced first thing AM before racing began. The fellas from Snail Performance were able to get Safelite on site for early install, a big thanks goes out to them for the help. This chaos didn't help being very tired from driving through the night to make it to the track on time but that's racing, at least at LIC. As Saturday rolled around lots of familiar faces were present from the previous years. Also a nice overall change was to be seen as well as GTA has partnered with NASA; which brings a whole other level of fellow enthusiasts and all tiers of competition. GTA's new format is one to get used to but has its advantages and disadvantages. In previous competition it was typically Saturday that was a test and tune day and Sunday was competition. In GTA it's the opposite, every lap counts on Saturday and Sunday so you must be able to gauge your competition as well as, weather, time of day, etc. It's more of a strategic chain of events now; you must really think about when you should go and lay down your best lap times. Saturday was uneventful for the most part, Russ Warr (Driver for LIC), was just getting acclimated to the car and being in the driver seat again. Russ had not driven on track or in a race car for just about 1.5 years prior to this event, so he needed to come up to speed and quickly. Russ was able to get his lap times down to a 1:25.943 for GTA and as if that wasn't enough LIC was having him pull double duties and running in NASA's time trial racing circuit. They were entered into TTR, which is fully unlimited vehicles and crazy built machines, for example Chris Rado with WORLD Racing was running his FWD Scion in it. The crew took a 2nd place win on Saturday running R-compound tires in TTR and closed out the day and got prepared for Sunday's race schedule, which was to be as chaotic as the previous day. Sunday everyone had awoken to pretty hefty winds and a very cold early morning track, this was expected according to the projected forecast. LIC continued to push on and better their times throughout the day, constantly doing a tad better and only with making small incremental changes to the car. LIC finished out the GTA event with a time of 1:25.423, which was good enough for a 2nd place win in the Limited/AWD division. When it was time for TTR, LIC decided it was time to fight a fair fight and threw on some Hankook Z214 C91 tires to go attack the class and see if they could better there times over the inferior r-compounds from the day before. With only 2 laps to get it done, LIC was able to pull off a 1:23.136 and good enough for a 1st place finish. The car, crew, driver, and motor from last season worked fantastic. The LIC Motorsports team endured 3 rigorous days of abuse on track laying down over 60+ laps in total, which is unheard of for any Time Attack team. There is a good sense that the team is on the right track as the car will see continued subtle changes and more effective time dropping components until it reaches its projected goals. LIC Motorsports would like to thank its sponsors: COBB Tuning / Hawk Performance / Wheeldude / WORLD Racing / RallySport Direct / Lost Summit Films / Go Pro LIC Motorsports Time Attack STi Specs Model: 2004 STi Weight: 2781 lbs. (Wet), 3011 (Loaded w/ driver) WHP: 550 Torque: 450 Fuel: e85 Motor: LIC Motorsports 2.5L Longblock Turbo Kit: GT35R Turbo w/ LIC Motorsports Custom IC Piping, Perrin FMIC Fuel Supply: Fuel Safe 12 Gallon Cell, Turbo XS Surge Tank, Dual Bosch 044 Pumps, Aeromotive Fuel Rails Tuning: Cobb Accessport, WORLD Racing TBC-1 Boost Controller Injectors: Injector Dynamics 2,200cc Drivetrain: ACT Clutch, Cusco LSD (Rear) Suspension: Triple Adjustable JRZ (Custom), LIC Front/Rear Knuckles/Control Arms (Custom) Brakes: Front Brembo 6 Piston 350x34mm BBK, Rear Brembo (stock), Hawk Performance DTC-70 Pads Exterior: G-Stream 68" Rear Wing, LIC Fender Flares/Splitter (Custom) Wheels: Wheeldude.com Rota T2R 18x9.5 +38 5x114.3 Tires: Nitto NT01 275/35ZR18, Hankook Z214 C91 275/35/18
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 The new LIC Motorsports livery has been released, just in time for the crew to head out of town to their first race of the season. This race takes them to Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, CA. The event is being hosted by Global Time Attack in conjunction with NASA and it appears it's going to be a stacked competition for everyone. The guys at LIC Motorsports look forward to jumping back into the mix, as they've been hard at work on transforming there 2004 Subaru STi over the last 5 weeks in preparation for this event. While they were transforming the race car in person, Jason Dakins up in Canada, was also hard at work getting Adam and Noah's design of the LIC Motorsports race car converted in Forza Motorsports 3. Forza Motorsports 3 is a game in the XBOX gaming system and Jason was the one who won the livery competition back in 2010 when Takata and LIC did a online design contest. For a limited time only you can get the new LIC Motorsports livery in Forza Motorsports 3 by searching for "DAKINS124", after this limited time is over it can be purchased in the Forza Motorsports 3 storefront. LIC Motorsports would like to thank the loyal sponsors, fans, and customers who make what they do possible. Wish the crew luck! |
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