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Gates311.com / AMS Performance / Nitto Tires Evo X – Race Report

Event: Redline Time Attack! Autobahn – June 20th-21st, 2009

Redemption.

On June 21st, 2009, Ryan Gates dominates the Modified Class at Round Three of the Redline Time Attack! series. Ryan took victory in the Modified AWD Class as well as capturing the Overall Modified Class Championship with a time of 1:30.7, more than 2.3 seconds faster than the nearest competitor.
After a forgettable Round Two, Ryan was determined to make up for lost time at Round Three. Once back at AMS Performance HQ, Eric and Ivan from AMS quickly got to work addressing the problems on the car. The issue from Willow Springs turned out to be a failed secondary fuel pump, which was caused by an electrical short of some sort. Ivan buttoned up the wiring throughout the car to make sure everything was correct and thankfully the car was back up and running. Testing at Autobahn was next.

We joined AMS on Friday before the Redline Time Attack! for testing at Autobahn to run the car and make sure the car was back to 100%. Just a few short sessions later, we were very satisfied with the car and pulled in for the day.

Saturday was practice day for us running the Time Attack on Sunday. We ran the practice sessions conservatively and focused on chassis setup. Bryan from JRZ was out at the track with us and with just three sessions, he perfected setup with ease. After the third session, we left the car alone and prepared for Sunday’s Time Attack sessions.

Race day came and we were well prepared. In Sunday’s first practice session, Ryan went out to make sure the car was running perfect and to determine his grid position by posting a lap time. Ryan posted a lap very conservative lap, knowing there was much more in the car…about 6 seconds more! Everything was in place, the first Time Attack session was up next.

Ryan was on grid and awaiting the start of the Time Attack session with confidence in the setup. Once on the track and up to speed, Ryan went 100% on his first timed lap. The lap was very smooth and Ryan flew onto the front straight to cross the finish line with an impressively quick lap time on 1:30.781. Ryan took a cool down lap in preparation for the third and final timed lap. The third lap went smooth but Ryan kept it very conservative and posted a time of 1:32. The next closest competitor was 4+ seconds back, with a 1:34.

Ryan sat out the second Time Attack session, confident his lap time was more than fast enough to take the win, and it was. The fastest lap was posted by Sharif A. in his modified R35 GTR, a 1.33.091. A fast time, but still 2.3 seconds behind Ryan’s very impressive time of 1:30.7. With that, Ryan took the victory in Modified AWD Class, and secured the Overall Modified Class Championship at Autobahn. Ryan will be competing again with Redline at Nashville on July 26th, look for a similarly impressive performance.

Ryan Gates would like to thank the following sponsors for their incredible support in 2009:

• AMS Performance
• Nitto Tires
• K&N Engineering
• JRZ Suspension
• etnies
• Carbonetic
• Girodisc
• Seibon Carbon
• Forced Performance
• Double Down Motorsports
• Evasive Motorsports
• Voltex

More photo’s and a preview of a full video (coming soon!):

Video:

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/A…f-ce145a0cb573

Bryan from JRZ and Ryan, happy with the setup and the win

This past weekend was the NASA Midwest Blackhawk Farms event. Prior to this event I have only ever done HSAX at this track, so I was excited to see what I could lay down in a flying lap. This event in my class TT-S held some stiff competition, Geffery Swatelle who currently owns every track record in the midwest and who is a repeat top finisher at National events was in attendance. So knowing this I knew this would be no walk in the park, but I wouldnt want it any other way!

Day 1:

The event started off with some heavy rain that eventually calmed down to a constant drizzle. I missed qualifying and was forced to go into the first timed session In last place. After a cautious wet session on slicks I managed a 1:44 and some change which was good enough to grid third for the first afternoon session. It was a very long and dry two hour wait till we hit the track but when we did the track conditions were almost perfect. I spent the whole session glued to Geffrey’s bumper untill we hit traffic. Timed runs after first dry session dropped down to 1:16.7 for Geffery and a 1:17.1 for myself. I was very impressed with my times as my best HSAX to date was a 1:19.1, but back in the pits I was running over 40psi and had to make some obvious adjustments. Back on the track for session 4 Geffery led the way out, after hot lap 1 Geffery went wide on turn 7 into the front straight and it was a drag race! it took the whole straight but I managed to take him on the inside into turn one! After the session ended the times were 1:15.4 for Geffery and 1:15.7 for me. I was amazed my car achieved these times, at this point and the remainder of the event we were the two fastest cars in Time Trials. Are times never dropped below this as a race group accident caused a shortage of track time in session 5. Geffery and his Z06 were fast enough for first and I was happy with an extremely close second by three tenths of a second to a very experienced driver like him.

Day 2:

After a very competitive day 1 I was ready to take a first! Qualifying was looking good as I put many lengths on the cars behind me as I headed out first! 4 laps in, coming out of 3a’s quick left I applied the brakes for a hard right and locked them up and slid off the track. I noticed right away all three indicator ACD light were on and knew there could be some major set backs ahead. realizing that my ACD was in limp mode and that many other systems were affected I pitted the Evo. After many attempts and phone calls I was forced to retire the event after putting a 2:07 to obtain some points. Ben Grham made it out and was running in TT-S as well, posting times in the 1:17′s. I believe he secured a second place finish! Geffery doubled the weekend with back to back firsts and I loaded up my trailer….

Amazing weekend with more problems than I like, but that is racing. I cant thank my sponsors enough, AMS, Stance suspension, and Girodisc once again supplied quality and reliability! Running times that many people said may not be achievable on a stock turbo, it was one hell of a weekend and I am looking forward to future events with NASA and the Nationals more than ever!

Event: Redline Time Attack! Willow Springs – May 30th-31st, 2009

A Tough Weekend

After weeks of preparation, I made the solo trek from the AMS Performance headquarters in West Chicago, IL to Willow Springs Intl. Raceway in Rosamond, CA for Round Two of the 2009 Redline Time Attack! Series.

Upon arriving to the track late Friday afternoon, I set out to run a few test laps with the new setup on the car, that included a prototype AMS Turbo kit, an AMS built rollbar, AMS Carbon headlights, a Carbonetic Triple Carbon clutch and a new Voltex front lip. The car ran beautifully for a total of 3 laps, until the test day was shut down. Heading into the Saturday practice day with Redline, things were looking positive.

Saturday morning arrived, and the track was green at 9:00 a.m. for the first practice session of the day. I was one of the first on track, but after two short laps the car’s ABS system and S-AWC system randomly failed. Entering Turn 3, unaware of the issue, I was hard on the brakes and spun the car while locking up the brakes. No damage occurred, but I immediately headed into the pits to check the issue.

After looking over the car, no solution was found, but the check ABS/S-AWC lights were gone. I headed out for the 2nd practice session with a positive attitude. Unfortunately, the car still wasn’t running correctly. After completing a warm up lap, I resumed full speed. That same lap, while running hard thru Turn 9 the car lost all power causing the steering to lock up along with the engine shutting off. Luckily, I was pointed straight and was able to coast off track.

After being towed into the pits, I searched for the cause of the problem. Over the next 7 hours, I tried everything possible to get the car to start to no avail. With the track was closing, I headed back to the hotel confused and hoping for a solution before the Time Attack sessions on Sunday morning.

Back at the track early Sunday morning, I was on the phone with AMS President, Martin Musial, desperately trying to figure out the problem. Unfortunately, the cause of the problem (electrical?) couldn’t be found in time to compete in Sunday’s Time Attack sessions. Trying to salvage something out of the weekend, I was able to get the car moved into the front of the spectator area so the car was still in front of the public eye all day.

So after a 30 hour drive, I was only able to complete a total of 5.8 laps on track, none of which counted for any points in the Time Attack. Looking forward, the main focus is to get the car back up and running before the next Redline Time Attack! at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, IL on June 20th-21st, 2009. We’re confident the car will be back to 100% and will be in even better condition than ever before the Autobahn event. Look for plenty of very strong finishes in the near future.

I would like to thank the following sponsors for their incredible support in 2009:

• AMS Performance
• Nitto Tires
• K&N Engineering
• JRZ Suspension
• etnies
• Carbonetic
• Girodisc
• Seibon Carbon
• Forced Performance
• Double Down Motorsports
• Evasive Motorsports
• Voltex