This 350Z sounded really good on-track, but it seemed to have some handling issues. The car was fast on the straights, but it was under-steering really bad. We did tell owner Hector Nunez, Jr. to give the MotoIQ Garage a call so we could help him out with his chassis set-up. We’re sure we could get this Z to rotate properly! Hector received a 0.4 second penalty since he was running rep wheels…a big no-no at the Hellafunctional Showdown. Even with the handling issues and handicap, he was able to squeeze by Austin’s WRX STi with a 33.098.
Anthony Jackson came back for round 2 with his 2005 Infiniti G35. Though the G could use a little TLC in the paint department, it is a nice example of a performance oriented daily driver. Anthony is a Hellafunctional Showdown veteran now and his experience from the first event helped him overcome the 0.7 time penalty (rep wheels and overall paint/fitment of panels) and get into the 32’s. Though his overall score was a 32.863, his best clocked time was a 31.332 around our Left course.
At the first round of the Hellafunctional Showdown presented by KW we noticed all of our driver’s best laps were around our Left course. So we took some extra time to measure the turn-in points coming off the banked ovals into the inside courses this time to ensure they were equidistant. We thought this would take care of the trend we noticed, but it did not! Drivers were still telling us they felt the turn-in points were in different places. Since we measured the turn-in points we knew this was not the case. So what was the problem? We feel it is a difference in visual cues that is affecting our drivers. The visual cues or landmarks you’re looking at on the inside when you’re coming off the bank are quite different. The wall on the inside is shorter on the Right course (Course 2) and it makes drivers want to turn in sooner than they should, which is also causing them to start slowing down a little sooner than they should. At our next event we will be adding identical cone markers on both courses at this turn-in point to help with this.
If there was a furthest traveled award, it would most definitely go to William Dresser and his 2003 Evo IX who are from Boston! The Evo was our most heavily penalized participant at this round, with a full 1 second penalty. To his defense, just a few hours before the event William was hard at work swapping a blown turbo so cleanliness was not exactly at the top of the priority list. Thankfully he was able to make it out and lay down a very respectable 30.394. His judged course, which was his average of both courses plus Hellafunctional penalty, was a 32.267.
The newest car in the show belonged to our friend Joel Butzlaff from Whiteline who brought out his 2017 Civic Si. His mods consist of a Whiteline 22m rear sway bar with Whiteline upgraded end-links and a CARB legal Hondata Flashpro. With zero penalty points, his average time around our courses was 32.076 which was good enough to land him in the middle of the pack.
I know there is a show aspect to this whole competition, but adding pretty arbitrary penalties to a completely objective measurement such as lap time seems pretty counterintuitive to the “function over form” motto… perhaps it would’ve been better to separate the two.
Also the stated penalty is meant to not penalize those that have kept their car stock or near stock as stated, but there’s several heavily modded cars who didn’t not get penalized for being “clean,” whatever that means.
You need not look at this event as purely on-track competition. This is an attempt to combine elements of a car show which is completely arbitrary, and elements of motorsport competition which is black and white. If you have a better way of accomplishing this, we’re all ears. Besides, the time penalties are quite small and almost insignificant. Try to have a little fun with it man.
7 comments
most of those cars are slammed….more like hellaunfunctional slowdown…style does not make you fast. pick one.
I don’t see a single slammed car in any of the pictures.
Let me know when you wanna race!
LOL! That’s what I’m talking about!
I wish there was an event like this closer to me on the east coast. I’d probably not be competitive but I still want to try!
I know there is a show aspect to this whole competition, but adding pretty arbitrary penalties to a completely objective measurement such as lap time seems pretty counterintuitive to the “function over form” motto… perhaps it would’ve been better to separate the two.
Also the stated penalty is meant to not penalize those that have kept their car stock or near stock as stated, but there’s several heavily modded cars who didn’t not get penalized for being “clean,” whatever that means.
You need not look at this event as purely on-track competition. This is an attempt to combine elements of a car show which is completely arbitrary, and elements of motorsport competition which is black and white. If you have a better way of accomplishing this, we’re all ears. Besides, the time penalties are quite small and almost insignificant. Try to have a little fun with it man.
If you want total competition, come out to one of our Track Challenge events.
https://motoiq.com/trackdays/