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The stock hood is lightweight aluminum so there was little to nothing to be gained by going to a carbon fiber vented hood. Yes, the APR vents installed in the stock hood look a bit nicer than my hacked S2000 hood. So, it was much cheaper (remember that budget!) to cut up the stock hood and insert the APR vents. About those lights…
In driving, how far you can see dictates how fast you can drive safely. As the cars race through the night, massive lighting power is required to allow the drivers to see as far ahead as possible to go as fast as possible. The lights are from Baja Designs LED; if they are good enough for the pitch black of the desert at night, they should be good enough for the road course.
The hood is secured with AeroCatch latches for a number of reasons I can think of. Have you ever struggled to find the stock latch under a car hood? Those seconds matter in endurance racing. Have you ever had the stock hood latch system fail? I have, the cable snapped. Not being able to open the hood sucks. Oh yeah, the 2008 Evo X hood latch lever was notorious for failing. Let me tell you just how much fun it was using a set of pliers to pull on the cable from under the dash. So, the AeroCatch latches are faster and better for securing the hood down as there are two of them installed. Plus, I bet they weigh a good chunk less than the stock metal hood latching stuff in the engine bay and then the cable and pull lever under the dash. So weight saved, faster, and safer!
This duct is used to direct air to the brakes. The ducts were disconnected in the other picture of the front wheel.
The front splitters THRW fabricated in-house were not on the cars as the cars had just been pulled off the trailer coming back from the Thunderhill. More alumalite was used to duct air through the radiator to improve cooling.
The guys at THRW fabricated their own cold-air airbox for the intake. DEI gold reflective tape was used to prevent radiant heat transfer to the airbox. An oil catch can was plumbed to the valve cover.
