Lateral-g Forums - Join the OPTIMA Batteries OneLapCamaro Team for the 2011 One Lap of America!

The 2011 Tire Rack One Lap of America is now a week away and the OPTIMA Batteries OneLapCamaro Team of Mary Pozzi and James Shipka is getting ready to take on the challenge of long miles, serious competition, and – by the looks of things this week – the weather. This year’s event will cover over 3,650 miles in 8 days with 18 individual competition stops including wet and dry skid pads, an autocross, some drag racing, and lots of road course racing. Starting in South Bend, Indiana this year’s course will take us down the East Coast as far south as Daytona Beach before heading across the panhandle to New Orleans and finally turning North for a couple of long days crossing through the Mid West to return to South Bend just a week after we left.

The OPTIMA Batteries OneLapCamaro Team has made a lot of changes over the winter, hoping to take our performance up a notch without sacrificing reliability:

We’ve installed a new Rick’s Stainless fuel tank featuring Carl Casanova’s VaporWorx fuel pump and controller; with the multiple pickups and surge tank design we’ve been able to run the OLC hard in testing with less than 2 gallons of fuel in the tank with no starvation issues.

We’ve switched over to RideTech’s new Triple Adjustable coilover shocks, softening the shocks while increasing the spring rate to make the car more compliant and increasing the range of adjustability.

We’ve installed massive Baer 6R brakes on all four corners, the 6-piston calipers and 14 inch rotors giving us additional stopping power with better pedal feedback for a more confident braking feel.

We’ve moved to new C93 style wheels from HRE Performance Wheels for reduced weight and increased strength. The 18” fronts and 19” rears will allow us to use state-of-the-art supercar tires and look simply awesome on the car.

We’ve incorporated new ZR1-style wheel bearings up front; SpeedTech Performance was able to modify the low-deflection hubs to work with their ATS Spindles and we’re ready to take on the high banks of Daytona with confidence.

The OPTIMA Batteries OneLapCamaro Team has also had to scramble a bit due to some unforeseen carnage in the months and weeks leading up to our departure. While bedding our new Baer brakes a valve stem attached to our TPMS system broke, flattening a front tire. Fortunately the Run-On-Flat feature worked as advertised (saving our new HRE wheel) but the passenger side front tire needed replacing with less than 50 miles of use. Then, just a couple of days later our clutch was reduced to a smoking, warped hulk at the Editors Challenge Autocross at the Goodguys show in Del Mar. The unexpected destruction left us with only seven days to rebuild and nut-and-bolt the car before heading to the Long Beach Grand Prix – our final stop before loading the OLC and trailer up and making the long journey east.

And now, with only a week to go Mary and I are left to think – or over think – the race ahead of us and question our mental, physical, and mechanical preparation… After running our parade laps at Long Beach before the World Challenge race we found a couple of trickles of coolant pooled on the splitter… is this something? nothing? a leak or just some residual fluid? Have we forgotten anything in the trailer… our spares list is pretty extensive but is there something missing? Are we really prepared to run on these tracks… our exposure to them is more or less limited to ESPN, Trackapedia, and YouTube. What is the weather going to do… and how are we going to deal with it?

The ultimate question though is… are we ready for this… I hope that we are.
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I have been asked a couple of times over the last week if we will be looking for help and support like we did last year… if we will be selling T-shirts again… if there is any way for people to follow our progress as we race. To answer those questions…

Volunteers - We are definitely looking for potential volunteer support during the event. This is a long race and knowing that there are forum members somewhere nearby - on the off chance that we need their help - goes a long way for our peace of mind. You can check out our route map here – 2011 OPTIMA Batteries OneLapCamaro Route Map – and if you are close to where we’ll be running, feel free to collaborate with the map and drop a pin with our member name, real name, or email. Also please email your name, address, and contact information to [email protected]. We’ll keep your information with us and if we run in to problems will call you if we’re in the area.

T-Shirts - We will be doing T-shirts again – we’re just a bit behind right now but will hopefully have something to show everyone soon – we’ll keep you posted.

Live Tracking - You can follow our progress during the race live this year at www.OneLapCamaro.com/live/ - we’ll have real time GPS tracking and regular blog entries on the page and we hope to have live video feeds from time to time – cell service permitting. The Live page is still being finished up but should be done Monday or Tuesday next week - be sure to check it out and stay tuned!

Donations - Last year we were fortunate to have a number of friends and forum members who helped to offset our costs – food, gas, etc. - and this year we are hoping to turn that generous show of support to help a very worthy charity – Autism Speaks / Cure Autism Now. We would appreciate it if you would show your support of the OneLapCamaro Team by making a donation here - Autism Speaks - 2011 OneLapCamaro – and help to find a cure for Autism. We’ve set an ambitious goal of $5,000 for this year and would really appreciate your help to reach it.

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We couldn’t be doing this without the help and support of our sponsors – OPTIMA Batteries, Hellwig Products, Baer Brakes, HRE Wheels, Camaro Performers, RideTech, FM3 Performance Marketing, Rick’s Stainless, VaporWorx, Carter Hickman Designs, SpeedTech, International Aero Products and, of course, Pozzi Racing. We appreciate sincerely appreciate their confidence and support in making this possible.