Driving Ambition Goes Racing.

[DrivingAmbition]

Hi Guys,
I thought I would show everyone some pictures of the NSX race car we built for Steve Ghent and Kip Olson to drive this year. This car will be competing in SCCA San Francisco Region at all of the Region events. Kip will drive the car in the SP class and Steve will drive it in the ITE class the only difference in the classes it the tires (DOT vs open tires) allowed. Yesterday we passed our technical inspection (got our log book) and next weekend is the on track novice licensing school. Our first race event will be the end of March @ Sears Point. This is the same car that Kip finished 2nd in the Redline Time Attack Finals in. Cheers, Shad.

 

[DrivingAmbition]

More Pictures.

 

[RP-Motorsports]

Shad, will you be staying on the west coast exclusively with the car, or are any midwest events on the horizon? SCCA Runoffs would be sweet, or even NASA @ Mid Ohio.

Tom

 

[DrivingAmbition]

More pictures

 

[Dtrigg]

GREAT looking car.

 

[NSXrunner]

Very nice and clean! I like the fact that you folks stuck with the basic set up and didnt go widebody style. Kudos and best of luck that the car wins lots. :smile:

 

[NSX R-GT]

any spec for this car?
what size wheel is it?

 

[BioBanker]

that IS a great looking car and what is under its skin looks awesome, too!

One thing that I dont understand is why people would choose an NSX for such a project. I do understand the upside from its mid engine and incredible chassis, and I bet that alone is the answer, but NSXs are so easily unrepairable, no?

It seems to me that it is just a matter of time before any dedicated car hits the wall. Why choose a car that cant be fixed over one that can?

 

[Dtrigg]

that IS a great looking car and what is under its skin looks awesome, too!

One thing that I dont understand is why people would choose an NSX for such a project. I do understand the upside from its mid engine and incredible chassis, and I bet that alone is the answer, but NSXs are so easily unrepairable, no?

It seems to me that it is just a matter of time before any dedicated car hits the wall. Why choose a car that cant be fixed over one that can?

That's a great question. Looking forward to learning the answer.

 

[Kip Olson]

Biobanker,I hope that we don't have those issues but the NSX is repairable but it just has a smaller volume of body men that have the knowledge to work on them. As far as why the NSX? You are correct. My NSX is about as far as anyone has taken one and still kept the full interior. It also handles pretty well as far as most around our area are concerned. But as I hope you will see @ NSXPO in Oregon, This car Shad built talks to you like no other vehicle I have ever driven. Consider the fact that with significantly less tire, 300+/- less RWHP, and a stock body that produces less downforce, and my first weekend in the car, it came within 3 tenths of a second of matching the Factor X beast with Billy Johnson (A REALLY GOOD DRIVER). He is far in excess of my talents, but my point is that Shad has done such a GREAT job of highlighting the cars talents that we were able to show what these cars are capable of with a rookie driver. Just my .02 cents

Kip Olson

 

[DrivingAmbition]

Hi Guys,
Tom, we only plan on running the west coast SCCA Regional events and some other track events (NSXPO, TEAM racing, Track-Master etc.). There is no national SCCA class the car is legal for with the twin turbos (so no Run Offs). We might make it out to a couple of the Redline Time Attacks money and time permitting. Yes, the NSX is as repairable as any other car but it will cost more to fix than most. Why build an NSX race car? #1 We love the NSX and #2 passing a Ferrari 430 challenge car with a 17 year old car. Priceless........Shad

 

[Ponyboy]

Wow, beautiful cage and cf doors. I can't believe that's what I noticed first when the whole thing is...wow. Great job, Shad and co.

Thank God there are still guys who track their NSX.

 

[liftnot]

Biobanker,I hope that we don't Consider the fact that with significantly less tire, 300+/- less RWHP, and a stock body that produces less downforce, and my first weekend in the car, it came within 3 tenths of a second of matching the Factor X beast with Billy Johnson (A REALLY GOOD DRIVER).

Wow! Great job with the car Shad. Good driving Kip. This is very impressive. I thought this car was boosted, being only .3 slower than Factor X. Hope to see it on track in person some day.

 

[BioBanker]

Kip, from what I (and the rest of us) are hearing, YOU are also one hell of a driver. That said, I hear what you're saying.

Kudos to you for stepping up with your own personal car.

I PROMISE you that you will see me, and a bunch of other Torontonians, way out on the left coast at XPO. We are shipping our cars out.

I may just ship mine back home through Shad.

 

[john@johnhudakracing]

Wow! Another one ready to go!! Sweet! Looks like a great well prepped car and a summer of fun! Congrats Shad. That's a labor of love there. Should be a unique and fun ride for your customer this year. Have them get some in-car video during the race and post up for us!!

Question thou. Do your local officials allow you to extend the cage to the front shock towers, unlimited cage contact points, go high boost FI, etc.. for a regional ITE entry? I was told by my regional tech inspector that all was a no-go without getting bumped up to GT, whereas you get grouped with 500rwhp trans-am tube frame cars which isn't a lot of fun. With twin turbos that must be a beast... is that in an extended class like ITE-O?

I get my annual inspection, SCCA log book, etc... this weekend and the first scheduled race to get my novice license is apparently at the end of next month! Three down and I can get my area competition license!

It would be great to get everyone together at some future event.

Best of luck,

John

 

[NSXAMG996TT]

Shad- your posting has prompted me to cancel half my morning appointments just so I can drop off my car for more track goodies, and of course check out the other cars in your shop. Cheers.

 

[titaniumdave]

Beautiful work Shad! Your years of experience and knowledge really shine through!

Can't wait to see it in person!

Steve and Kip, have fun this weekend getting your racing licenses. Make sure you hold back a bit so they don't bump you up to the pro ranks Kip!

 

[NSXDreamer2]

Will it be on up coming American Touge by Hot Version if there's one this year?? If I remember right, Kip's red one is "the Devil" (Champion) for the first year. Seems like this car will be a good comeback?

 

[L8apex32]

Wow, neat build.

What are your thoughts on racing in NASA? Is that big in your area?

The current GCR doesn't list IT-E anymore, but has IT-R and IT-S. Is IT-E outside of the GCR?

 

[john@johnhudakracing]

The current GCR doesn't list IT-E anymore, but has IT-R and IT-S. Is IT-E outside of the GCR?

That's because it is a regional only class. Extension of the touring rules. Challenge cars, Miata monster V8's, etc... Essentially unlimited whereas it doesn't place with another established class.

Points do not count toward national run-offs.

 

[92 white 0650]

Re: Say what?

Well, well, well, it's about time. Now the real test will be to keep looking pretty while going fast in traffic with guys who aren't so gracious with point bys.

I'll be instructing this weekend at the licensing school, so you boys can leave the cash in a brown paper bag under the RF fender of my RV. :wink:

 

[SMGNSX]

Re: Say what?

Well, well, well, it's about time. Now the real test will be to keep looking pretty while going fast in traffic with guys who aren't so gracious with point bys.

I'll be instructing this weekend at the licensing school, so you boys can leave the cash in a brown paper bag under the RF fender of my RV. :wink:

Well Ted,
You know we are not big on point bys anyway
I will be looking forward to your bag:biggrin: I have to run in group 1 and Kip is in group 2. One of the instructors at the Tech Sunday told me that I would be out there with the newbie drivers with little to no experience and we are running the short track, also I was not going to be very happy driving my car with all of them. The true test will be can I follow for so long and go so slow for so long and if I am lucky I won't fall a sleep, I told him I would be fine.

My car "bitchen" and I can't thank Shad and Kip enough. I can't wait to see Kip running my car in Super Production with the real fast guys finally he will be pushed into greatness.:biggrin:

See you Friday,

Steve

 

[Hrant]

Not to pile on, but Kip is indeed a great "humble" driver, but so is Shad ....... yesterday at our club meeting at RPM go-karting here in Sacramento (we had about 40 people show up!!), both Kip and Shad had the lowest times. Shad came with a duffel bag that has his Nomex suit, racing shoes, helmet, and who knows what else ....... he won the final race hands down - though he didn't see the repeated pointed black flags in the final race; but by then, Kip had already left the building so the smack between the two continues ..... :biggrin:

Some of us are still nursing the more than usual hard hit real bruises ...... :tongue:

 

[brandonsan]

Not to pile on, but Kip is indeed a great "humble" driver, but so is Shad ....... yesterday at our club meeting at RPM go-karting here in Sacramento (we had about 40 people show up!!), both Kip and Shad had the lowest times. Shad came with a duffel bag that has his Nomex suit, racing shoes, helmet, and who knows what else ....... he won the final race hands down - though he didn't see the repeated pointed black flags in the final race; but by then, Kip had already left the building so the smack between the two continues ..... :biggrin:

Some of us are still nursing the more than usual hard hit real bruises ...... :tongue:

Shad is good at karting because he races a Bugeye Sprite. There isn't a big difference between a Sprite and a kart. :biggrin:

 

[docjohn]

He also ran pro miatas or at least the spec class.