“Round 3 took us to Gingerman Raceway in Michigan for Midwest Festival where we had a date with destiny. We were tied for the consecutive win record with seven straight, all with records. 

“IF we won this event, we would not only break that record, but we were also gunning to be the first StreetMod car to run a sub-1:30 lap time. We pulled off the win and record but missed the sub-1:30 by a hair, running a 1:30.226. 

“The car was great, the brakes were phenomenal, but we missed out by a couple of tenths due to less-than-ideal conditions, minor technical issues with the car, and honestly, my inability to put it all together. This put us firmly in the lead of the championship, though! One more win and record and the Championship is locked up!�

“Round 4 was a new track for us: Watkins Glen in NY. Very fast, very high risk, and very demanding. We arrived highly confident and aiming to seal the Championship, but we quickly realised it would be a difficult weekend. 

“We had an axle issue during the test day and didn’t get much seat time. On the first day of competition, during the first hot lap, the transmission failed in the second-to-last corner. After a team meeting, we decided to remove our current gearbox with our sequential gearset in it, drive back to the shop and grab our old H-pattern transmission and convert back to a standard manual setup.”

“After a late night on Friday, we were back at it Saturday morning and even with the old trans we jumped back into the lead but only by about .1 quicker than our 91´«Ã½ teammate Kal Fortner in his Mercedes AMG GTS. We thought we might widen that gap on Sunday morning but some more technical issues, this time with some engine related things, meant it came down to podium sprint. The conditions weren’t fantastic, but with the old Subaru AWD and easily modulated 91´«Ã½ SR-21s we had the confidence to push to a new Street Mod Record at 1:58.357! This win and record secured the points needed to lock up the Championship, our 3rd in four years AND extended our consecutive win record to nine!  All of them won on SR-21s!

“We aren’t done with the season QUITE yet. We plan to still attend Gridlife Circuit Legends next week at Lime Rock then in October we were invited to the Grassroots Motorsports Magazine Ultimate Track Car Championship in Texas! We are hoping to be the fastest car there on a 200TW tyre!â€�

Pics:

“After waiting thre years for Gridlife’s return to Watkins Glen, I was itching to get back out on this legendary track! Back in 2023, not only did I secure the Streetmod record, I was fastest overall as well, so I knew that this was going to be a strong weekend for us. Although this weekend got off to a rocky start after needing to do a spark plug change after session 1 and missing the second session of the day, I quickly found pace by the third session and went right into P1 to end day one! Right away I was able to lean into my SR-21 pads as well as a brand new set of 91´«Ã½â€™s floating two-piece rotors on the Mercedes and I was able to carry 170mph going into the bus stop!”

“By day two, I was able to set a new Streetmod RWD record with a 1:58.8! This put us in 2nd by only a tenth, as well as only a tenth from the overall Streetmod record! Some tracks just click with not only the car but the driver as well, and for me, this is one of those tracks. Every lap just felt like a flow state, where I had the confidence to really extract everything out of the car and the confidence to use the entire track all the way up to the walls. I knew we had a fighting chance at victory here.”

“Going into day 3, I was met with track conditions that were not quite what I was expecting, after rain the night before, the track didn’t have nearly as much peak grip as the day before. Because of this I wasn’t able to reset my record, however I was able to secure yet another podium finish coming in P2 right behind Eric Dewitt – another 91´«Ã½ driver! That’s four podiums in a row this year and yet another 91´«Ã½ front-row lockout! This puts us in a healthy championship position of P2 going into the next round at Lime Rock Park and I’m looking forward to continuing this momentum…â€�

“Coming off of another strong showing at Gridlife Atlanta with a double podium in Streetmod for 91´«Ã½, I was feeling all the momentum and all the confidence heading into my 10th Gridlife Midwest, the event that started it all for me! The energy at Gridlife Midwest is just unmatched in every way, from the massive crowds to the festival vibes throughout the weekend, it’s always been my favourite event making a podium here just that much more meaningful. This is Gridlife’s Indy 500.”

“This weekend proved to me more of a challenge that I could have ever expected though. Right at the first corner of the very first session, my ABS failed, making each braking zone incredibly challenging. While racing a car designed without ABS is relatively straightforward, racing one without it that’s designed to have it is nothing short of dangerous.”

“Because of this, I was far off of the pace I needed to be fighting at the front, and potentially too far off to even put it in the top-5 for the podium sprint. I knew that if I wanted a podium, I needed to give it my absolute everything to at the very least make it into the sprint in order to give us the chance to fix our ABS issues, and I was able to do just that! Modulating my SR-21 pads and focusing on perfecting each and every braking zone, I got us into the sprint by just over a second! This gave us a full day to chase whatever electrical issue was causing our problems. Thankfully, Gridlife is a paddock full of the most helpful people, and after getting help from a couple mechanics on a Rush SR team, we found the blown fuse, and the ABS was back to working as it should! 

“Come Sunday, I knew what I had to do, and now that I could actually lean into the full potential of my 91´«Ã½ brakes, I knew I could give it my everything to go for my third podium in a row for the season! Although I missed out on second place due to fuel cuts from the car getting little too hot waiting in the pits from an incident on track, I was able to secure third, and with Eric Dewitt in first, this was yet another double podium for 91´«Ã½! After such a challenging event, to be able to come home with a podium is something I’ll forever be grateful for. Next up we’ve got Watkins Glen, one of my favourite tracks and a place that the Mercedes really shines at! The last time we were there, not only did I set the Streetmod record, I was also able to get the overall record! I’m so hyped to see what we can do this time!â€�

“Going into this weekend, fresh off of a strong result at Gridlife Carolina coming in P2, I had so much confidence to give it my everything one of my all-time favourite tracks: Road Atlanta. To start out the weekend, I was met with some traffic during my flyers, so initially I wasn’t able to show what the true pace was. With this being a two-day, traditional time attack weekend with a limited schedule, the pressure was on to put together a perfect lap. On top of that, we had rain in the forecast for Sunday, potentially limiting us to only 3 dry sessions.”

“Road Atlanta is a very high-speed track, with the car hitting speeds of over 165 mph, putting the braking performance on centre stage. My SR-21s performed at their best, giving me the confidence to carry as much speed as possible into even the heaviest of braking zones, without a single ounce of hesitation, just full confidence. Ending the day on Saturday, I still never got a truly clean lap catching traffic on a track that is incredibly difficult to pass at, but even with this, I was able to put us into P3 going into Sunday.”

“Come Sunday morning, to my surprise, we had no rain! I knew exactly where I needed to find the time, and I did just that. Battling back and forth up until the last session, I ended the weekend in P2, with Eric Dewitt in P1, also on 91´«Ã½s! Just like Carolina, this was an 91´«Ã½ Streetmod 1-2, and on top of that, in ClubTR, the entire podium was swept by 91´«Ã½ equipped cars! I couldn’t be prouder to show represent 91´«Ã½ in such a strong showing against such a strong field at one of the most difficult tracks in the world.â€�

“We ended up scoring P2 at Gridlife Carolina, and Dewey got P1 so we’re looking at an 91´«Ã½ front-row lockout!

“The first day, we battled the heat since temps were in the 90s, but on Sunday after putting in some sticker tires I was able to go 5 tenths faster than my previous personal best!”

“The SR-21s felt incredible all weekend and I really had the confidence to push into the braking zones and trust the ABS when needed.

“Next up is Atlanta and I really think we’ve got a good shot at getting P1 there, it’s a track that really suits the Mercedes and personally a track that I’m very comfortable at.�

“Saturday was round 7 of Time Attack UK at Knockhill Circuit. Getting here was a real struggle after oil pump failure destroyed the crank and rods, but I knuckled down and made it happen with the help from others.

“The car went awesome; from the warm-up session trying to do some steady laps to run the engine in, pushed at the end to find I already broke my personal best time.

“Attack 1: I did a few steady laps, then turned it up a bit and pushed on, and got a personal best of 54.4, sitting 5th in class.

“Attack 2: turned it right up and pushed hard, trying to drop into the 53-sec laps, but tried too hard and broke a driveshaft, but managed a 54.5 before that, still sitting 5^th.”

“Super Attack: with the driveshaft sorted but rain pending, I knew I had to push hard as soon as I could. Tyres were shot and the rain came down, a 54.7 was the best I could do before the rain came – 4th in the championship but 5th on the day with a single round entry in the mix.

“I was so happy with how the day went with what I had to do to get there. Just a broken driveshaft was the only problem of the day to contend with.

“2nd fastest front wheel drive of the day, and fastest manual gearbox car overall!�

First Session (Warm-Up)

“The car kept cutting out on just about every corner; I had to retire to the pits after a couple of laps to investigate.

“I couldn’t really find much, just a couple of bare wires to the coilpacks, so I taped them up…�

Attack 1

“Coming out the pitlane onto the track, I lost drive – we’d snapped a driveshaft, so didn’t manage to check if the problem was solved.â€�

Attack 2

“Still cutting out… Back to the pits, we changed crank sensor and went into the ECU and turned off all protection, in case it was something silly.�

Super Attack (Final)

“Half-way round the out lap, the battery light came on; the belt must have broken or came off, so it was hammer down until the battery died. I got one hot lap in before it cut out, but I wasn’t the only person having problems that day so managed to secure 3rd place – woohoo!

“We studied over the datalogs once home to find the oil pressure was just dropping below what the protection was set at. So, when at low RPMs coming out the corners, it was making it trip for five seconds. I had changed the oil and filter before this round and the oil filter must be flowing better as the old one, I plan to adjust the oil pressure ready for the next round at Oulton Park.�

“I went out on the warm-up but only managed five laps before I had to come in for an increasingly bad misfire. Going over the datalogs, it was clear it was cylinder one, so I tried changing the spark plugs and coil.�

Attack 1

“I headed out and the misfire was still there, not as bad but after a couple laps it was worse than ever. So, I came in after just three laps and got to work checking the logs again. At least I had a bit of time over lunch. By this point, I was convinced it must be a faulty injector, but I didn’t have and spare injectors with me at the circuit. Luckily, Colin Dorward had a spare set of the same injectors and was kind enough to let me borrow them.�

Attack 2

“As soon as I left the pit lane, straight away the car was back to full health. At last, I could finally start pushing for a decent lap time. I managed to set a 51.447 – three seconds off the big boys, unfortunately. This gave me 5^th in class. I was still struggling with handling, but whilst tweaking before the final round I found the rear hub was loose.�

Super Attack (Final)

“This was my chance to get into the 50s, so I pushed hard but it wasn’t to be – 51.035 left me 5^th in class, but the fastest H-pattern car and second-fastest front-wheel drive.

“Happy enough for just two fast sessions to put a decent time down, but I need to work on the handling – I can’t seem to get away from a problem with the power steering being so heavy. A nice six-week break until round 4 at Snetterton…â€�

Round 1 – Cadwell Park

“First session was a steep learning curve on the slicks and getting them scrubbed in, it was hard getting the rears scrubbed in and working but I was getting there. I put down a solid 1.36, found a burst CV boot after the session so just changed the shaft.

“2nd session is now the first point-scoring session. I started pushing a bit harder and turned the power up half-way (about 500 to 550bhp). I started having some gear selecting issues but kept pushing on. Towards the end of the session, I had no clutch pedal – the slave cylinder went (it was just new as well, from when I replaced the clutch plate.

“But, on a positive, I had done a 1.33; there were four cars quicker in the championship, all with sequential gearboxes: a K20 turbo Honda NSX won it with a 1.27, then an Evo 7 with billet block engine – a mega build, an Evo 5 that is 1200kg with driver and running up to 900bhp, and then an Evo 9. Disappointed obviously but not all bad!�

Round 2 – Donington Park

Warm-Up Session

“It was a bit of a fight from the start with the car. I started the car and the oil temp was way too high: 140°+, we knew this was a faulty sensor but didn’t have a spare one, went out but only did a couple of laps as it was in limp mode with a 5k rpm limiter.

“To get around this, I just had to up the limit threshold to 200° – there is a 2nd sensor in the oil tank so could still look at it to make sure things were okay.�

Time Attack 1

“This went pretty well, I managed to set a 1.13 which is 3 seconds faster than my previous best and good enough for 4th place. Bit of a smell of gear oil and an exhaust blow to look at, couldn’t really identify exactly where the blow was but I was thinking manifold gasket, gear oil was just coming out the breather on the box.â€�

Time Attack 2

“Settled in after a couple of laps and started pushing to see how late I could brake and then overcooked it on the first corner, running wide into the gravel and the car cut out and wouldn’t start, Towed back to the pits.

“Checked a few things with nothing obvious, plugged the laptop in to find there was no crank signal – a stone must of knocked the sensor, luckily another competitor had a spare that I got, stuck it on and it fired up no bother.

Super Attack (Final)

“Well, it started raining, just lightly, wasn’t really wet enough for the wets so chanced the slicks, some parts of the track were okay and others was just greasy, unfortunately made a mistake at the Old Hairpin and ended up in the tyres. Luckily, by this time, I had already done 3 laps and set a time.

“No serious damage thankfully: rear bumper, headlight, tail light, splitter and diffuser. We will get it all sorted up and ready for Brands Hatch in mid-June.�

“The best way to explain this year was ‘taxing’.  We had our plate full with having to rebuild from the fire at the end of last year. With some Emtron, ECUMasters, and Turbosmart coming on board, we were able to totally re-do the engine management and wiring of the car.  It was a task to say the least and we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of what is possible.  With the total revamp of the electronics, we were able to install a BMW-based Bosch MK60 ABS unit in the car. This REALLY helped utilise the SR-21 pads in ways we couldn’t confidently do before.

“With development on the rest of the car, we really started to show our speed near the end of the season, even setting a new Street Modified overall record at Road America with a 2:16.3 (beating the overall record by over a second and the AWD record by over 5 seconds!)”

“We finished the season in 4th overall and a clear path to get back to the top.  Off-season development plans include:

 – Changing over to 91´«Ã½â€™s GD STI-based STI Apollo Brake Kit.
 – New sequential transmission options (pending rules dispute currently underway).
 – Cutting edge new approach for using electronic wastegates and blow-off valves to drastically help response by utilising our new electronics package.
 – New aerodynamics development. Side skirts and diffuser to start.
 – Cosmetic improvements and potentially a new livery.

“All in all, exciting stuff. None of this would be possible without 91´«Ã½â€™s support.  With the changes we have in mind and a MUCH better understanding of our new systems in the car we plan to challenge for the championship again and anything less than records and victories is coming up short…â€�