LIC Motorsports takes 1st Place and Class Record at GTA Finals

LIC Motorsports was back on the Time Attack scene at this past weekend’s Infineon Raceway/Global Time Attack (GTA) event Finals for 2011.  The event was held over the course of 2 days (Friday and Saturday) and it saw an array of interesting weather throughout.  Before LIC even made it to the event, they had the cards stacked against them…here is a brief rundown of the chaos and outcome.
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In wanting to not rush things and do due diligence the LIC Motorsports race car was fitted with a few new items to get it prepped for an all out war at the upcoming finals.  The decision was made to run a new motor case, pistons, bearings, upgraded GTX turbo, equal length headers, custom up-pipe, and higher capacity oil pan (still using last year’s crank/rod assembly).  Upon early completion of these items the car was to be recalibrated by Tim Bailey of COBB Tuning Surgeline.  The car got its final tune approx 2 weeks before the scheduled GTA event at Infineon Raceway.  With about 1.5 weeks remaining until the event, LIC decided to test the motor and ensure all was well as the motor was making fantastic power prior to heading to the event in a few days.  The outcome of those results started a whirlwind for the crew.  It was discovered that as a result of running this new found power levels, it was too much for the stock case and that the motor would need to come out and be redone.  So Adam and Noah made a quick decision, 1- to continue and fight the odds and attempt to make the event, or 2- to call it quits.  The decision wasn’t a cut and dry easy one, as SEMA was on the horizon and would tie up 3 days that were very much needed during this time.  The crew made the decision to push forward and do their best to make it happen.

With SEMA now behind them, they ran into logistic issue after issue.  Which included parts not showing up on time (due to shipping issues with carriers), parts arriving incorrect, and just plain ole running out of time.  The crew pushed themselves at 22+ hrs per day for days until finally the motor fired up with about 10 hrs to spare until the event.  No sense of relief could be had; as it left another serious issue still at hand…the motor would need to be broken in at the track (not ideal).  For those that don’t know, GTA is a no holds barred event, every time a competitor’s car hits the track those times count.  There are no practices, no freebee’s that are given just because one isn’t ready.  It’s a come prepared or your competitor will have an edge on you.  Clearly it was going to hit the track at a disadvantage from the get go and to make matters worse; it was raining for Fridays event.  LIC had to resort to using old tires for this event as they lacked a tire sponsor for support this season, so 1.5 year old Nitto NT01’s would have to do; not the greatest for laying down any wet times let alone racing on top tier level with others using brand new sticky tires.

Friday was an absolute mess courtesy of the weather but not all was lost for Friday, as LIC had the secret weapon….driver Gary Sheehan of COBB Tuning.  Gary is a very accomplished and skilled driver with tons of seat time in Subaru’s and to top things off; he loves to drive around in the rain.  Gary was sent out in the first session to “break-in” the motor only and report back with feedback.  The second session arrived and it was still dumping rain, which made for a very wet track but Gary was allowed to add in some more boost and give it a good romp here and there if he was able to keep traction.  By the time session 3 arrived the track was about 80% dry but still was a mini lake in a few turns, especially turn 10.  Gary was able to pull off an impressive 1:47.723 and put the car into the #2 spot, all while running on used/bald tires from last year’s racing effort.  As Friday winded down the decision was made to take the car back to the shop and make some adjustments to the alignment settings (only reason this was done at the shop was because UMS Tuning ran into a transmission issue and LIC offered up the use of the shop to accommodate that team whom traveled from Arizona to be at this event).

Saturday was upon the crew and it was yet another late night in the shop while the UMS crew prepped their car for the last day of the event.  The weather had decided to let up fairly early in the morning but the cold temps kept the track soaking wet for the morning session.  As the sun came up the track started to dry out for the teams and the notion that it would all be laid on the line came to light.  The rivalry for LIC Motorsports and 034 Motorsports was starting to take off.  Gary and Christian Miller (034 Motorsports driver) are driving partners in another race series and know each other’s in’s and outs, as well as being good buddies with one another.  Session 1 of the day was lead by 034 Motorsports with LIC being 1.2 secs trailing behind.  The two teams battled back and forth for all session of the day, literally swapping places with the #1 and #2 spots, pushing each other to drive better, drive faster, and ultimately who would reign supreme.  The 3rd session saw LIC move into the #1 spot with a new class track record of 1:41.888, beating out 2nd place by over 1.3 secs.  The final session of the day LIC decided it was time to turn things up and go for a deeper track record, if possible.  All too often teams talk about using a low boost map, or not using the high boost map…well the boys wanted to test the car in a real life scenario and see what it could do at full tilt.  The final run saw an impressive 9 turns from Gary on his out lap but coming off of turn 9 and into turn 10 the LIC Motorsports car suffered its first ever mechanical failure on track, it had rod #3 snap in two; sending a hole through the top of the block and ending the opportunity to improve on the already new track record set by themselves and impressive win for the Limited AWD class.

Even more impressive was the feedback given by driver Gary Sheehan, “I was very impressed with how much improved the LIC Motorsports STI was from last year.  The car was so much more refined and easier to drive coming out of the corners. The power was just awesome, leaps and bounds above 2010, pulling hard and clean all the way to redline with no drop-off as a session went on. Engine temps never went above the mid-180’s, and it was clear that the guys at LIC had their thermal-management down pat. The tune by Tim Bailey from COBB Tuning was spot on and it was a thrill to wind out the revs in every gear. The engine sounded so sweet!”

“Weather and circumstances kept us off the track as much as we would have liked, and we only got about four timed hot-laps on a dry track all weekend. With a little more testing and chassis tuning time, I think this car easily has another second or two left in it. I am very excited to see how far this car has come along and glad to see all of Noah and Adam’s hard work pay off. They deserve it!”
The team really looks forward to getting the car back together and replacing the failed component with a stronger beefier part that will withstand the rigors the team plans to run from here on out.  The data collected and future for the LIC Motorsports Time Attack car are one to be on the lookout for.

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LIC Motorsports would like to thank its sponsors:
COBB Tuning /  Hawk Performance /  Wheeldude /  WORLD Racing /  RallySport Direct / Lost Summit Films /  Go Pro ​