Transition to W2W

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:03 am

Looks like the Track Forum hasn't had much traffic lately. Maybe this will liven it up a bit.

As some of you know, I bought a one-owner bone stock 2003 C5 Z06 with 25,000 miles a couple of years ago. If you so please, I'll detail in pictures the transition of the car from Garage Queen, to ASP Time Trial racer, to TTA Time Trial racer, and now to PTA Wheel-to-Wheel racecar.

Shortly after purchase in 2009 at home in the garage:

First event at CMP in October 2009: Still on the original stock Goodyear Supertires. They lasted all of Saturday. By Sunday I was running Morris' street tires.

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:08 am

A couple of months later the weekend after Thanksgiving, I took it to Road Atlanta on Saturday with Chin Motorsports, drove to VIR on Sunday and ran the Asphalt Ventures event on Monday.

Road Atlanta: first track session (for this car) on R-comps (NT01s)

It was driven by me, Dawn, Stacy and Chuck at VIR right up to sundown, in the rain, with the headlights on:

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:10 am

The following Spring, things started getting serious with the car and running Time Trials with THSCC in the ASP class. In went the rollbar, seats, harnesses, and fire extinguisher. Still a street driven car with occassional trips to work or around town.

Seats, harnesses, etc:

On grid at CMP:

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:18 am

In the summer of 2010, I ran my first TT with NASA at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the TTA class. Stepped up to Hoosier A6 tires in order to be somewhat competitive.

Charlotte:

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:22 am

Later in 2010, I really started driving the car hard and started putting up respectable times and getting within sight of the podium on occassion. I think I even won a couple of 3rd place tires in 2010. For comparison, my laps at VIR dropped below 2:10 for the first time, well into the 2:08s on nothing more than A6s, sways and pads. You can see here I learned what it means to get EVERYTHING out of the car on the first flying lap. Low psi in the tires and foot flat to the floor.

The highlight of the year was I won the ASP Championship with THSCC and the Driver of the Year Award. Thanks!!!! I learned all of my asphalt skills in the THSCC HPDE program.

Grid at CMP:

VIR T15:

VIR Oak Tree:

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:27 am

In the winter of 2010, the weight reduction plan began. Carpets, door panels, hood liner, head liner, headlights, etc. all made their way to the auction block.

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:32 am

For Spring of 2011, a goal was set: Compete in TTA at NASA Nationals at Mid-Ohio in September. A plan of attack was created with a series of events and support from the likes of David Farmer, PCMforLess, Discount Tire, family, friends, etc. The car was setup with a much more aggressive alignment, a little more rake and a retune to go with the lighter weight. The car started feeling REALLY good.

VIR March of 2011: lap times fell to 2:06s

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:35 am

By mid-summer 2011, the results were looking good with a couple of wins in NASA TTA. Even set a lap record at Charlotte with a 1:18, blowing away the previous record by over 2 seconds.

The name here gets most of the credit!!!

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:45 am

In July and August, the Z06 again went under the skillful knife of this shadetree mechanic. More weight reduction was in order. Out came the windows, window motors, OEM seat belts, smaller battery, AC condensor/compressor/lines/etc, and on and on.

The car was now light enough that I ordered 50lbs of lead ballast for the rear cradle from a fellow NASA racer. I still needed more weight to meet minimum 3118lbs, so I installed a cool suit cooler. David set up the car once again with maximum camber front and rear, some prototype poly shock bushings of his design, etc. The car then went off to Alvin at PCMforLess for a detune. Yes, he pulled power out of the car to meet the 8.7 horsepower:weight rule (adjusted 8.4 for running 275s and being under 3150lbs).

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:48 am

By September, I had the car cleaned up and ready to head to NASA Nationals at Mid-Ohio.

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

awesome job kevin. welcome to thunderdome!

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:54 am

At Nationals, my goal was to be at least midpack and I had my eyes set on 7th regardless of how many cars were in the field. I knew from looking at the TTA drivers, there were six cars and drivers faster than me. Three of them had been beating me all year long in the Southeast and MidAtlantic. If I could pull out a 7th, I would be happy.

It rained for most of the four day event, but it was great to be there. I actually got a bit of TV time. With all of the changes, the car felt different, but GOOD!!! Having only been on Mid-Ohio once before, it still took a couple of days to get up to speed. Add in dodging rain drops, and it was interesting.

On the final day, the weather cleared and I was finally able to lay down my fastest lap of the event. One of the guys normally faster than me had engine trouble and I passed him in the standings for 6th. That's ok, he went on to win the National PTA (w2w) championship on 7 cylinders.

So for my first Championship visit, I was 6th out of 14. I am very proud of that. LOTS of very good competition. The level of car prep and skill was amazing. I was absolutely outdriven by 5 other guys. But by looking at their cars, I was also outspent. I had less car prep and dollars invested than the two guys behind me and WAY less than the guys in front of me.

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:55 am

Thanks, Jason!

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:00 am

For this past Fall and with the new setup, I revisited VIR, Road Atlanta and CMP. After spending hours studying video and TraqMate data, I had a new mission: brake later, be smoother, stop sliding the car, make the most of the new setup. My times at EACH of these tracks dropped.

So with 2011 come and gone, I accomplished my main goal which was to compete at Nationals. Along the way, I set some new personal bests:

VIR: 2:05.5 (TTA lap record is 2:03.9)
CMP: 1:40.5 (TTA lap record is 1:40.2)
Road Atlanta: 1:34.x (TTA lap record is 1:31.x)

Set the lap record at Charlotte: 1:18.x

Won a couple of races: 2x at Charlotte and 2x at CMP

And won 12 new Hoosier tires via the contingency program. Thank goodness for that. My winnings were in excess of $3800 for the year.

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:08 am

The plans for 2012 are shifting to Wheel-to-Wheel with the Z06. I plan to race in enough NASA Performance Touring "A" class w2s races to qualify and w2w race at Nationals next September. Along the way, I want to get enough Time Trials in so I can "double up" and TT and PT at Mid-Ohio.

In December, what little remaining interior there was in the car came out and a proper 6pt cage with NASCAR door bars, dash bar, etc. was fabricated by BJ at Genesis One Automotive in Cumming, GA.

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