Snail Heats Up In Atlanta

     The first round of Global Time Attack Pro Series is in the books. Road Atlanta was a beautiful track featuring high speeds, huge elevation changes, and close walls that makes any off track excursion a bit sketchy. Getting the SHOWKAR ready for the event was a mad dash. Having suffered some cooling system issues in previous races, the entire engine was torn down and gone through to ensure out 4000 mile round trip would yield solid results. Along with RA Worx, we managed to finish assembly with enough time to participate in a local NASA AZ Time Trials event for testing. 

                With a happy car, we finished the final pieces for Atlanta and packed up. Having personally been to the Atlanta Global Time Attack / Formula Drift event the past few years without driving, I couldn’t wait to get there and turn some laps. Until this time, the only laps I had under my belt in Atlanta were on Forza and one lap in a Toyota Prius rental car with drift fans screaming for me to do a burnout. ( A Prius wont do a burnout, I tried. )

                 We arrived Wednesday just before the gates closed to unload the SHOWKAR and get set up. Thursday morning, drivers were given a short practice session in the morning before the competition started Friday. During practice we recorded video and took baseline tire pressures and temperatures.

Road Atlanta is a two day event, and every session counts. The plan was to turn as many laps Friday as possible to learn the track and dial in the car. We took this opportunity to link corners and get an idea of entry/exit speeds without pushing into any of the fast braking zones for fear of pulling a Travis Dukes of Hazard moment like years past. We hit every session Friday, slowly knocking some time off our laps, but leaving a lot on the table for Saturday. Unfortunately in our final session Friday, we suffered an engine failure coming around turn 12 which also led to some oil leaking onto the exhaust wrap creating a small engine bay fire. Luckily Kyle Lewis “BroPhoto” and a few of our other favorite photographers were in the corner we pulled off in. Had it not been for them, the fire may not have been as manageable and I would still have been sitting in the car. Kudos goes to the master tow truck driver that was able to load my car onto the flatbed without removing or damaging any of the aero components. What a bad ass.

For now, we will proceed to build and improve for the future, while prepping the rest of the Snail Team for GTA Pro Am events and the next Pro race in New Orleans.

Thanks to my brother Steele, for making the long journey with me, Snail Driver Markos Mylonas for coming out and crewing for me, Rich Kim from RAWorx for the last minute prep, my amazing girlfriend Kasey, and everyone that came out to support the team and Global Time Attack. If all goes well, Road Atlanta 2016 will field 4 Snail Cars on track!

A huge thank you goes to all of our sponsors and supporters!! 

Whiteline Flatout

Turbosmart USA

Turbo by Garrett

CSF Radiators

LIC Motorsports

Forge Motorsport

APR Performance

Fortune Auto Suspension

JE Pistons

Mothers Polish

Brian Crower

Hankook USA

Rays Engineering / Mackin Industries

Fathead Fabrication

For the full image gallery by “Brophoto” Kyle Lewis, click the link here.

Written by: Taylor Wilson