Great BT Representation @ Honda Challenge Thunderhill

What a great event it was for BlackTrax Performance. They had 4 cars representing: Liam and Graham Downey from Team Redstone Motorsports H2, Brandon Kraus from Roger Kraus Racing H1, Andrew Leach TT and Jim Markarian HPDE.







This was Brandon Kraus' 1st shakedown weekend. He won 1st on Saturday against Prima Racing's Andrie Hartanto. On Sunday there was another great race between the two of them. Unfortunately Brandon did not finish due to an oil pressure gauge problem which led him to pit. All in all it was a successful weekend for Brandon as he hit a 2:00.1 lap time, just about 1-2 seconds shy from his personal best with his original 4th gen Prelude. With the help of Andrie lending Brandon higher rate springs, Brandon was able to shave off another second off his lap time. We have high hopes that once this Prelude it gets dialed in, it will be a strong competitor against the K series engines in H1.



With the new addition of a adjustable wing, Andrew found was able to settle the rear of the car down but logged a slower lap time when he installed the front splitter. Removing he splitter, Andrew did his personal best of 2:06 in TT in his ~200hp full bodied 5th gen Prelude.

Jim Markarian had us set him with with Wicked Tuning front pillowball LCA's, new wheel size and offset with Enkei RPF1's and new Toyo R888's. Graham Downey and Jim took turns shaking down the car. "that car handle's great now" says Graham Downey.

Stephan Verdier wins Round 6 of Formula Drift

Photo by Steve Demmit

The final round was going to be a solid battle between Ken Gushi in his RWD Scion TC vs. Stephan Verdier in his Subaru Impreza. Ken leads and straghtens out right before the apex. The car appeared to be damaged. Gushi with what looked like a lost cylinder, forfeits to Verdier and Ryuji Miki takes third in his well tuned FD.

Photo by Steve Demmit

Photos by Jei Chang

Darren McNamara demonstrating tire blistering torque in his V8 powered Saturn Sky.

Dai Yoshihara posing with BC connecting rod in his hand.

Bay Area local Calvin Wan's FD.

Blacktrax S2000 Dyno Day Coverage

Please view the gallery for more pictures.

Special thanks to: Blacktrax for hosting the dyno day. DJ Joocy & DJ Kevin of Bayfunktion Ent. for coming out to provide music and also all the visitors throughout the day!


- Tom Nguyen of Fatlace.com

S2ki.com Dyno Day 7-25-09

BT will be hosting a 2nd Annual Dyno Day and car meet for S2ki.com. Exclusive to S2ki.com members and all S2000 owners. Event starts at 9am and ends when we fall over! Show us your keys and we'll show you something else......maybe a burger or hot dog :0)~

$50 for baselines, 3 pulls with Wideband A/F Monitor
$100 for 1 Hour Max. Tuning




For more details: http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=706738&st=0

JP Martinez S2000 Featured in Honda Tuning June 09 Issue

Congratulation's to JP for building such a beautiful ride and getting it featured on Honda Tuning Magazine June 09 issue. A mix of JDM rarity and creative touches really made this car a showpiece winner. Shane Sampson, member of the BlackTrax Fam did the custom paintwork on the valve cover which made it pop with the help of the Password JDM Carbon/Kevlar intake. For more pictures visit: http://www.hondatuningmagazine.com/features/htup_0907_2001_honda_s2000/index.html




















JP thanks all those who were involved in the build:

• Sherry Hernando


• Joaquin Leveriza


• Jon “Judy” Martinez


• Rob Thill, Zach Wong & crew


• Neil Martinez


• Vince Martinez


• Rodney Asistin


• Yves Cuyugan


• Vu Barnes


• Anish Ramrakhyani


• Jake Timoteo “Soapy Jake Approved”


• Jeff Wu


• Joey Kwan for the late night installs


• All my Bay Area S2Ki peeps for the help, insight, support & drive to keep going!


• Jei & Natalie Chang of Blacktrax Performance


• Shane Sampson – awesome valve cover work!


• Erik @ Multi-Craft Auto Body, Burlingame


• Collin & Adam @ Weksos Industries


• Tommy @ GoTuning.com


• Steve @ Password JDM

BT Time Attack Results 1:31.645 @ WSIR - Modified Class

Great results this weekend at the Redline Time Attack at Willow Springs International Raceway. It was our first shakedown since a new motor change and additional Wicked Tuning protoype suspension for the Z32 300ZX chassis. The initial plan at the beginning of the year was to pull the LS1 out in favor for an LQ9. Unfortunatly, the LQ9 we purchased had a bad cam bearing which took us out of that event. To make it to this event, Aki opted for the LM4 engine which is a smaller displacement engine at 5.4L. The lower displacement engine has other positive characteristics such as larger ports and a lighter rotating assembly. Combining this with a bigger cam we were able to rev this motor to 7k rpms which was helpful at the high speed track.

Items changed since the Ulitmate Street Car Challenge 2007:
-Weight reduction from 3400 down to 3000lbs wet with 190lb driver and 5 gal gas.
-Spherical bushing lower arms
-Carbotech xp 12 brakes
-LM4 engine tuned and raced on 91 pump gas making 350whp
-removed high flow cats (used for USCC 2007)
-APR GTC 300 Wing


The tires used this weekend were the same Khumo V700 Victoracers that were used almost wasted during the Gross Display of Horsepower challenge 2 years ago. There was some tread left so Aki opted to finish these tires at this event. With Graham Downey piloting the car, the shakedown practice laps were averaging 1:33-1:34. Ajustments made on the wing as well as tire pressures dropped Grahams lap times to a very best of 1:30 but unfortunately that was during practice. Best Time Attack Lap was 1:31.645 which resulted in 4th overall in Modified. This lap was done with a blown left rear shock and worn tires. Some of the cars we raced against should be competing in Unlimited. We'll keep sticking by the rules and shave our times. There's more glory in that :0)~



Big thanks to Graham Downey from Redstone Motorsport, and to our Sponsors:
Tire Rack
Golden Apple - Nex Suspension
Wicked Tuning
Carbotech Brakes
Redstone Motors

Keep your eyes peeled for more BlackTrax & Redstone racing. We're ready to make waves.

Race Report from Andrew Leach NASA TT @ T-Hill

Words from Andrew Leach:

Well April 25th and 26th 2009 was an interesting weekend at Thunderhill normal direction. I ran in Time Trials C class for the 3rd time this session. Winding up 3rd place on Saturday and Sunday to 1st place veteran Bob Blackwood who is a 25 year veteran to racing and with NASA and won Nationals last year.

When I got there on Saturday and pulled the car out of the trailer, the rear toe link had come loose and my rear driver’s side toe was completely out of my specifications. Luckily with my Wicked Tuning rear toe links from Blacktrax, the adjustment was easy. I adjusted it by eye and took it for a spin in the pits area and it seemed to be dead on.

Started the first session with front tire pressure at 30psi and rear at 29psi; ended up running a 2:11.6 with the rear end not holding on tight enough. Dropped tire pressure to 28psi front and 27 psi rear. Ran a 2:07.8 and the car held tight in late braking and exiting corners but still a little unstable at the entrance to turns 1, 2, and 5. 3rd session was run the same way but half way through the session the power steering blew the high pressure hose and my front brake pads broke off from their backing. I down-shifted my way in and installed new pads. Thank God that the rotors didn’t get messed up. I also removed the power steering belt and put silicon on the leaking hose to stop any extra leak.

Ran 4th session with no power steering and tire pressures at 27psi front and 26psi rear, when measured cold. Came in with a best lap time of 2:07.002.

Sunday started off at 45 degrees out and with no power steering and tire pressures at 28/27 front and rear. Ran a best of 2:05.967. Came in after 1st session and my alternator bracket had broken. I rigged up a tie-down strap to ratchet tight the belt by wrapping the tie down around the radiator support bracket and hooked onto the front toe hook. Continued to run this same way the 2nd and 3rd sessions. Came in after 3rd session and noticed the power steering line was still leaking so I called it a day.