A Quick Letter Of Thanks From The Hi Octane Racing Team
Well after months of preparation we finally made it to the infamous Tsukuba circuit on December the 5th. With over 20 keen Australian fans there to cheer us on we recorded a time of 59.6 seconds with a top speed of 218kmh. This placed us well inside the top 20 of 60 cars. Quite an achievement when you consider that Mark had never seen the circuit before let alone driven on it and the fact that we had only ONE NEW set of intermediate tyres, hardly the correct compound for a circuit that would be lucky to reach 15 degree track temperature (the ambient temperature on the day was between 5 and 15 degrees). Unfortunately all semi slick tyres need to be pre-ordered weeks in advance so we could not purchase tyres on the day and therefore Mark was forced to drive on the limit with what little grip we had. We also had some other gremlins sneak in that have never raised their ugly head on home soil. Firstly we had a spongy brake pedal that can be put down to absorbing moisture in the container during transit and also some serious wheel alignment issues that again can be traced to tying down the car in the container. Once these issues where resolved the car certainly made its presence known with some blisteringly quick laps and an awful lot of attention in the pits with many of the top Japanese tuners sneaking over to see what makes the black rocket from down under tick. Because of the support shown by the public we thought it would only be fair to share our experience with you, so we organized for IGNITION DVD to come along so you can see first hand what it is like to take our humble little race team to what many would consider the absolute Holy Grail of Time attack events in the world. This will be available in your local newsagent early next year so be sure to look out for it. If you are overseas and cannot purchase this send us an email and we will arrange to send you a copy. The event was won this year by the awesome M speed R34 GTR with a time of 54.48 showing how far the top teams from Japan have advanced in the past five years. Five years ago a 59.6 second lap time would have placed us well inside the top ten and next year will be even harder but one thing is for sure, we will be there! Have a safe Xmas and we will see you all in the New Year. Click Here To View Gallery More and more photos will be added over time.
Well Guys and Girls, the last 2 weeks have been very busy for us here at Hi Octane and for the boys in Queensland preparing parts for the car and getting it together. On Tuesday the engine was together and in the car ready to go, so after a run in on some back roads we headed to the dyno to get a proper tune. Unfortunately the dyno was on its last legs and gave up mid way through tuning. Despite all efforts from the boys at C’N’J we were unable to get the dyno fixed. Luckily we had time to plan some 2WD tuning incase the parts for the dyno did not show up. After all options were exhausted including trying to fly the part up overnight we headed for the 2WD dyno. With some light tuning done we headed home and started to apply the new decals. With the new war paint on the car the decision was made to go to Queensland Raceway on the Friday and try and do some on track tuning.
Bill from C’N’J Motorsport came along and spent most of the day with us working on the car as hard as he could. Our hats go off to the boys at C’N’J for all the time and effort they have put in to help us to get where we are now. Once we were happy with the tune of the car we headed out for some fast laps, and they were fast laps.
Mark was driving like a demon all day and bettered all our previous PB’s. On the Sprint Circuit we ran 53.84 beating our PB of 55.1, on the Clubman Circuit we posted a 57.2 but Mark was held up a bit by other cars, without the hold up we believe we will see a 56 second lap. The National Circuit saw us post a 1.16.6 on which we were held up a fair bit and believe the car has a 1.15 in it without the hold ups. Our previous PB on the National Circuit was 1.17.9 so there was a big improvement made with the new setup. Comparing these times to our times on other tracks should see us run into the 1.37’s at Eastern Creek and a 1.03 at Wakefield Park. What’s even better was that all these times were run on semi slick medium compound tyres, track temperature was also 52 degrees!
Late in the afternoon we had a power steering belt come off. We are now checking pulley alignment and making an idler pulley to help stop belt flap. We are hoping to get some more testing in at Morgan Park next week and then we have the Austosalon Circuit Battle on the 25th for the final shakedown. After that we pack the car up and put it in a container for shipping early next month.
We would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the build of the car for all their hard work and also everybody following the build and supporting us in Japan.
Update *26/09/07*
Well the car is finally back together with its fresh paint, roll cage & Carbon Fibre doors, testing has begun with the GTR getting on the rollers for the first time with the dry sump to make sure its working properly and to check our tune. With oil pressure and tune double checked we headed out to the track. We were pleasantly surprised after a few laps with the dry sump, new PWR Radiator & chassis setup. Finally we were seeing normal temperatures across the board, Coolant was below 100 and our oil temps were down from the usual 130 to 90-95 degrees. The chassis is now much stiffer and the car feels brilliant mid corner and under brakes. We saw lap times drop by around 1 second compared to our last outing at Queensland Raceway. After some very pleasing results we headed back to the shop to get the car back on the dyno with some new fuel and injectors. Once the injectors were fitted it allowed for the tuning to be much more controlled. Next we swapped fuel from VP 109 to Sunoco GT Plus & found that power figures were almost identical with very little tuning changes. Our brand new Ohlins coil overs have been fitted and the ride height dropped by 15mm to allow more camber and a lower centre of gravity. Also a new exhaust setup now sees the unwanted gases exit the side of the car in true race car style. We should see the new engine fitted and tuned early next week and we will be straight out to Queensland Raceway for testing. We also have a Custom Carbon Fibre boot lid on its way to us to help aid our weight loss program.
Well after several months of negotiations we are proud to announce the Hi Octane Racing R32 GTR of Mark Berry and Russell Newman is entered in the “Rev speed Time Attack” at the infamous Tsukuba Circuit in Japan on December the 5th. It is an exciting time for all involved and is certainly the first time any international entries have been accepted to what is really the Holy Grail of the Time Attack racing and the place where it all started. To put you in the picture we will be competing against the likes of HKS, JUN, Tomei, RE Amemiya plus all the other big Japanese tuning houses and to make it all the more exciting, we have also been advised that at least two cars from the UK have also been accepted making this a truly international event.
As we are now going to take on the best that Japan has to offer we have had to burn some serious midnight oil on the black beast to bring it up to “world class” spec. Firstly we have had to put the old girl on a serious diet and get to a race weight of around 1300kgs. The first thing to go is the heavy doors which weigh near 30kgs each replacing them with wet carbon units that weigh in at 6kgs. The passenger seat has been removed and all other road going items also bound for the dumpster. A full Chro-moly cage is now also being installed. Click here for build pictures. The car has now been corner weighted and the street spec coil overs have been removed and hand made remote canister Swedish made Ohlins shocks have been ordered through tuning mystro and ex pat Aussie, Steve Bijok at Arabian Automotive Technologies in Dubai ( www.aatuae.com ). Steve will also be part of the crew in December and his knowledge will be of great value to our team.
With the weight out of the car our attention is turned to the engine and the new engine will be filled with only the best components to ensure absolute reliability under race conditions. Starting with the new 4 stage Hi Octane Racing dry sump system ( Pic 1, Pic 2 ) we then sourced a new GT500 block, fitting a new Tomei full counter crankshaft, Tomei H beam connecting rods with L19 bolts and Mahle pro series pistons creating a super light rotating assembly capable of sustaining 10,000rpm. The head has been fitted with new spec Tomei camshafts and springs before being fitted with a 6 throttle Hypertune inlet manifold and Turbosmart Race Port BOV and Fuel Regulator. Click for new engine specs.
With huge success in previous guise which was basically a modified street car the car should be a serious weapon in race format and with Mark Berry’s unquestionable ability behind the wheel we are hope full of putting Australia on the Time Attack map. With support now in place from numerous Australian companies including Turbosmart, ACL Race Series, PPGearbox, CNJ Motorsport, Ross Tuff-bond and Hypertune aswell as our supplier in Japan Trust/GReddy and the reliability maintained with Royal Purple Racing Lubricants you can be assured we are going to be leaving an impression when we take on the masters at their own game! Keep checking back for regular updates
Special Thanks
C ‘N’ J Motorsports have been working on our GTR from the beginning when the car was first built, After initial discussions we decided with Bill and Kelvin's help that we would run an Autronic ECU and CDI modules to try to achieve the maximum results possible. Our plan's for the car were always to try to achieve maximum power output down low and achieve very little lag which is not what a GTR is well known for when you try to achieve high power figures, but with the tuning ability of bill and Kelvin that Is the result that they were able to achieve. Bill and Kelvin have been able to tune our car safely and still achieve massive power and throttle response, our car has never had detonation issues and the engine bores always look in exceptional condition upon inspection. There is no doubt the consistency and undeniable speed this car has produced has benefited from C ’N’ J's experience and wealth of tuning knowledge.
With different engine configuration changes over the last 3 years, bill and Kelvin have always maintained the highest level of consistency with the tuning of our GTR. & With many late night trips to the dyno for a final check before race meetings Bill and Kelvin have always been able to help us achieve the results we have aimed for.
The guys at CNJ have been able to attend test days with us to do data logging allowing for the maximum results possible from the GTR’s power plant.
They will also be making there way to Japan with us in December to help as much as possible with the changing conditions of an international circuit.
Russell, Mark & the Hi Octane Racing Team would like to thank C ‘N’ J Motorsports for there continuing efforts and support with our GTR.
Hi Octane Racing Team
