Race Updates

The Hankook Tire / JIC USA Motorsports Team Sets an All-Time Course Record at the Redline
Time Attack in Buttonwillow, CA!

(Downey, CA) The Hankook Tire / JIC USA Motorsports team yet again packed their bags and headed north to Buttonwillow Raceway in Buttonwillow, CA for round 2 in the Redline Time Attack Series. This course has been regarded as the gold standard on Time Attack since its arrival in the United States. Many teams have traveled to this famous raceway to set their targets on the course record, which was held by the Cyber Evolution 8 driven by Eiji "Tarzan" Yamada several years ago. The Hankook Tire / JIC USA came in with a mission; a mission to win this event and break the course lap record.

The Garrett-powered Nissan Silvia S15 was selected, since it is the vehicle that has been chasing the record for couple years now. The Silvia came in with several exterior and aerodynamic 'tweaks' to allow to corner better and accelerate out of the corners with precision. Also returning was Tyler McQuarrie whom has piloted the S15 more than a few times for Time Attacks and has been preparing to break the course record. The team was given a target time of 1:49.00 which would be a personal record and very close to the actual course record of 1:48.906.

Saturday was the day for practice, testing, and tuning for over 120 cars that were in attendance to flex their muscles on the famous Buttonwillow Raceway. On the first run for practice, the Hankook Tire / JIC USA Silvia took off in with a strong start. After its first lap, Tyler pulled in with some noise coming from the back of the Silvia. The team was forced to cut the practice session short and brought the vehicle back into the pits for assessment. After assessing the issues, it was pin pointed as being the differential.

Tyler suited up and headed out to the track to get a feel of the new LSD that was installed and headed out with preliminary laps showing lap times within the expected 1:50.xxx range. It was determined that some slight alignment changes and setting adjustments would allow the team to get into the 1:49.00 realm. Other teams in the class were bringing in lap times at around 1:53.00 and higher, so the direct competition did not allow the crew to lose focus of the objective, to beat the course record.

Main event day was on Sunday and the team was more focused than ever knowing that the goal was easily obtainable. Lap times were being clocked at around 1:50.00 which was getting closer and closer to the 1:49.xxx goal. Suddenly, within the third lap, Tyler seemed to slowed down and then he came to the pits. The crew chief recognized right away that the power steering fluid container was boiling and Tyler noticed that steering had become harder and it felt as though the power steering has given out. This was due to the fact that the JIC USA team decided to put wider tires in the front to give it better grip. With more friction and grip on the front from the Hankook Ventus Z214 C71 tires, this made it extremely stressful on the power steering system.

After the power steering system was fixed and first round of Time Attacks began, Tyler set out to the track for his first timed runs. During one of his runs, he achieved the lowest lap time of 1:50.017 which was the fastest of the day so far in the whole event. This meant that their goal was just around the corner.

The crew came in and mounted a fresh set of Hankook Ventus Z214 tires and got ready for the second round of Time Attacks. The crew sat back in confidence that this will allow Tyler to get into the 1:49.000 range. On his second lap, the team noticed Tyler pushing extremely hard and two of the team's stop watch timers recorded a 1:48.748, at the same time with identical times. Tyler headed back to his pits after an exhausting session without power steering and waited for one of the crew members to come back from the control tower with the official time slip. The crew huddled around the time slip and it was official, the team had achieved a record setting lap time of 1:48.766 which was officially the fastest lap in Time Attack format at Buttonwillow which was the most sought after record beating the notorious "Cyber Evolution 8".