There is no passenger seat in James' Integra Type R but, thanks to VR technology that Chris Stewart from GridLife put in James' Car, you have the ability to move the mouse around to change the direction you are looking. This is during James' fastest lap at SuperLap Battle. Turn the volume up a little bit (not too much though, as this is a loud car!) and enjoy. Video Credit: Chris Stewart – GridLife.

2013 and 2015 saw the Integra leave SuperLap Battle quite battle weary and scarred from incredibly high speed offs that gave spectators whiplash as they cranked their heads to see what was happening. 2016 the car left Buttonwillow in pristine condition and, with just a quick wash plus one splitter end plate, it was off to be on the floor at PRI. All of the work on suspension and aerodynamics kept the car on track … and out of Buttonwillow's sand traps.

Heading to Buttonwillow James was looking for lap times in the 1:42 to 1:44 range. He got right in the middle of that with 1:43.559. The Buttonwillow experience was absolutely fantastic and the competition with long time friend and neighbour William Au-Yeung was, as always with these two competitors, intense. Pushing the intensity to a fevered pitch was losing the transmission on the first timed lap of the first timed session of SLB's two day event. Eric went into overdrive and pulled the transmission. While it has been flawless for three seasons that in itself tells you that this tranny is three years old. The final drive was toast. A second stock transmission was waiting in the parts trailer for just such an occasion and it was dismantled to get the needed replacement parts. The Type R was back together and ready for day two action.

At the CSCS finale James took on all comers, including Sasha Anis in his RWD CSCS record setting OnPoint Dyno 350Z (seen in the background), as James was going for the overall track record. And a cash prize to the driver capturing it. James beat the OnPoint Dyno Z but missed the overall record by 0.140 seconds. You literally cannot blink that fast.

Day 2 at Buttonwillow was great. The car was running well. Putting down times that were well ahead of the Spoon Civic and within reach of the Vibrant Civic from PZ Tuning. However, there was a slight glitch preparing for the final hot session – in which the K-TUNED car got James the best time of the event. The car went out with one new front tire and one old one. They could not get the new passenger side front to seat. It was just one of those Murphy's Law things where, with time running out, they had to make a decision and ran with an old tire. Even with the old tire they still managed their best time of the event. 1:43.559 is an incredibly fast time. Unbelievable Time. But a heart wrenching 0.194 seconds behind William Au-Yeung's 1:43.365 time in the Vibrant sponsored PZ Tuning Civic. What an amazing battle and what an incredibly close finish. If they were running on track at the same time it would have been a photo finish. That is racing – you are always wondering if there was time left somewhere.

Right now the roof is being cut off of the car. Boersma Racing has a pretty cool carbon fibre roof weighing about two pounds ready to go in place. This pic was taken right at the beginning stages of the project and there is still much work to be done.

Prototype StopTech calipers that are lightweight units are going to be on the car. No doubt K-Tuned will have something new for the car in the season ahead – in addition to the new coil overs with even higher spring rates that are already on the way. This is necessary to be prepared for the higher downforce rates that Professional Awesome has in the works for the Type R. There is no question that Eric will have some ideas that he will want to implement. What will 2017 look like? All I can say is that, with James and Eric working with a fantastic team of sponsors and supporters, it will be fast!