I wasn’t originally planning on attending this event, but all the stars aligned and Austin ended up being a stop on a road trip. I made it to the first Formula 1 and MotoGP events at the Circuit of the Americas, so I suppose it’s fitting I go to the first Super Lap Battle USA event there too. I only had about two hours to browse around, so here’s a quick glance at a few of the cars along with some other activities around COTA that day.
Cole Powelson in the Lyfe Motorsport GTR knocked out the fastest time of the day with a 2:07.181. This car has gone through many iterations and we last looked at it in 2016. An AMS Performance Alpha 10X turbo kit currently powers the car and massive cooling is required to keep the power consistent during lapping. The two intercoolers each get a direct shot of air from the side openings. The Alpha 10X turbo kit uses Garrett GTX Gen2 turbos with 58mm inducers.
The center front bumper opening feeds a pair of oil coolers with the air getting ducted out the hood. To go along with the AMS Performance Alpha 10X turbo kit are the AMS Performance carbon fiber intake manifolds.
The hood features the ducted vent to the oil coolers along with louvers for general engine bay venting. The two NACA ducts feed some cooling air to the hot turbo oven areas similar to the stock hood.
More coolers are located in the rear corners of the car. Lots of power with an AWD drivetrain needs a lot of heat rejection capabilities.
6 comments
That NC Miata is what my NC Miata wants to be when it grows up
Honest question? Is there a lack of participation / competition going on at this event? Doesn’t seem very many serious competitors for the top spots.
Looks like a total of 46 cars were entered. In reading comments on various forums, it seems the high cost of entry due to it being at COTA deterred some from participating. That said, I think the notable cars missing were the Professional Awesome Evo, PZtuning Civic which seems was in Japan and just set the Tsukuba FF track record, Chris Boersma Civic, Can-Jam STI. RS Motors Evo. Could any of them have beat the Lyfe GTR? Not so sure…. would have been interesting for sure. Hopefully they all make it out next year.
Great article on a great event. I’m positive that this will become a standout event that draws everyone. SuperLap Battle USA, well done on taking what must’ve been a huge risk and making it happen. Khiem, so glad you were able to get there!
Not too sure that radiatior on the Miata is going to be effective. Even though you have high dynamic pressure at the stagnation point on the front bumper, it the streamline would have to turn something like 80 degrees, into another high pressure zone under an unvented hood. I’m sure it works but it probably adds a ton of drag. I hope he builds a ducted hood vent eventually. Or you could do what Ferrari did recently with the 488 Pista and vent beneath the car. Ferrari claims 10% better cooling and 7%less drag. Another bonus is that the rear gets cool air instead of hot air which is denser, with less turbulence and entropy so the rear wing or spoiler becomes more efficient. The CoG is better too.
I had to know what was going on with the SR3 Radical suspension. Found a pretty fascinating message chain. The original inventor chimes in at the end.
The nik-link uses a bell crank to compress the top of the coil over as well as the coil over compressing from the bottom a-arm. This gives more shock travel to control the spring they say. The ARB is a tubular bar bent downward at one end and is mounted across the chassis connected to the bell cranks on either side. When the suspension moves the bar bends (bows) causing roll resistance.
ubrben (Automotive)
27 Jul 04 17:50
This is what I hate about the whole patenting system. The ‘nik link’ is identical in concept to the front suspension system Andrew Thorby designed for the early 90s Van Diemen Sports 200 car. He subsequently used the design on the Lister Storm LMP
LMP900 (Automotive)
4 Aug 04 13:25
I did indeed use it on the Van Diemen and the Lister. There are a number of benefits, but on the front of the Van Diemen (and presumably the Radical) it allowed the good motion ratio of a pushrod linkage with the chassis simplicity of a simple double A-arm/coilover layout. Didn’t realise it was patentable though….
Andy