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The final 2009 S2K Challenge event was held on 11/7/09 at Streets of Willow (CCW) track in the Willow Springs International Motorsports Park. SOW is a very popular track for the S2000’s because it is a highly technical track with plenty of low/medium speed corners and elevation changes. Weather was perfect, with a high of 72F for the day. Ripe conditions for fast lap times.









The standings coming into the final event were extremely close making the participants’ performance at this event crucial for the end-of-the-year final standings. The level of competition has been extremely close throughout the season and it was very exciting to see the series culminate to the final event at SOW.

In Street Class, Nam Yoon dominated the field with a blazing 1:26.776 in his lightly modified S2K. Is was a full 5 seconds faster than Nam’s first SOW CCW event back in March…awesome improvement! Coming in at 2nd and 3rd were William Chen (1:27.515) and Joel Perez (1:27.545) respectively.



In Modified Class, Mark Tsai barely managed to dethrone the Streets of Willow Guru, Michael Tsay (1st place winner in the first two SOW S2K Challenge events). Mark Tsai achieved a blazing lap time of 1:25.017 which narrowly edged out Mike Tsay’s 1:25:084. Lucky Ed Lee managed to squeak out a 1:26.012 good for 3rd place.



Sponsor prizes ranged from:
Berk Technology 70mm HFC
Berk Technology 70mm test pipe
APR Performance Front Canards
APR Performance 30% S2K product coupon
Free dent pulls from Mike’s Ultimate Dent Removal

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The 2009 Series has been an amazing experience for all the S2000 track enthusiasts. We achieved our goal for creating a level playing field for track enthusiasts looking for a bit more adrenaline than a typical HPDE event. Friendships among competitors have been forged and the collective learning experience created an environment in which all competitors’ performances have steadily improved throughout the year. Cheers to all the participants this year!

Celebration dinner at the Golden Cantina after the event:





The sponsors have been very generous and contributed to a large prize pool that was distributed to our top placing participants. We thank all the sponsors for all their support this past year!







Nam Yoon - Street 1st Place: T1R 60RT Titanium Exhaust (A&J Racing)
Emilio Cervantes - Street 2nd Place: Full Custom Body Kit (Vision AutoDynamics)
Joel Perez - Street 3rd Place - GT Bumper (APR Performance)



Mark Tsay - Mod 1st Place: Racing Spec EVO Damper (Buddy Club)
Mike Tsai - Mod 2nd Place: Newly developed 6UL S2000 Wheels (949Racing)
Si Tang - Mod 3rd Place: Single Pipe Exhaust (Berk Technology)

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My experience as a participant: My first time at SOW with R-Comp tires (NT01). Similar to my experience last month at Big Willow, running on r-comps is like driving a completely different car! The level of grip is amazing, the slides are more progressive and predictable, and can last a few more laps longer than street tires.

I was averaging 1:26’s - 1:28’s in the first three practice sessions, and during my Time Trial session, I gave it my all. My lap timer showed a 1:26.0 on the first lap and I decided to go for broke and see if I could do a 1:25.X and MAYBE edge out Mark and Mike. As you can see from my video…I lost valuable time sliding around too many corners on the second lap and only did a 1:26.3. A link to my video and my GPS data:

CLICK TO WATCH MY VIDEO!!!

Ben22

VitaRenovatio

After my first session, the best I could do was a 1:29.98 which I thought would be somewhat competitive. Then I took a look at the timing sheet, and found out that William was doing a 1:27.7 his first session out! Shortly afterward, I saw Emilio pull his trailer into the paddock (and his car had previously done a 1:25). Eddie's times were about the same as mine, but I figured he had about 200 pounds worth of sandbags in his trunk and magically he'd go about 3 seconds faster in the Time Attack! I knew that this pretty much eliminated me from podium spot and I became really sad.

Second session out, I worked on connecting the course better, transitioning better, and figuring out which corners to sacrifice in order to set up for the next one. I looked at the G2X plots to figure out which sectors were faster and why, etc. My best lap for the second session was a 1:27.9, and my theoretical best according to the G2X software was a 1:27.236. I looked at Timing and I saw that William had just done a 1:27.2--the same as my theoretical!

My third session out, I pushed really hard and tried different approaches and different lines. At the very last lap, I clocked a 1:27.233. Surely this would be competitive now. The G2X said my new theoretical fast lap was a 1:26.424 (though I'm not sure how realistic that was). I looked at the timing sheet, and my heart sank when I saw he had just done a 1:26.4. No matter how much faster I got, William was always a step ahead of me. There just wasn't enough time to learn the course and I was disappointed. To make matters worse, before the Time Attack session (which was immediately following lunch), William said that I was driving the wrong line in two places, and I was losing about half a second or more because of it. He refused to tell me what the correct line was until after the Time Attack!

I slipped Aaron a $20 to fudge the exit order so that I would be immediately behind William . But seriously, during the outlap I tried as hard as I could go close the gap between me and William so I could follow him and see what he was doing differently. Unfortunately, I wasn't sent out early enough and William was always a couple corners ahead of me.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VPVB4Qm7IE [/media]

I ended up with a 1:26.772, which was good enough for 1st place in Street class. Luckily for me, both William and Emilio said they made a lot of mistakes. William forgot that a 70mm HFC was on the line and Emilio's tires were shot. Eddie forgot to remove his 200lb sandbags from his trunk. Just kidding!

Here are my G2X plots if they're helpful for anyone.


GPS MPH Plot - Check out those blazing fast upshifts! William should be proud.


Lateral G Plot

Thanks again to Ed, Aaron and the rest of the S2000 Challenge committee! Thanks to this series, I got a lot faster this year and went from complete n00b to a halfway decent driver. Made a lot of friends and learned a lot more than I ever imagined from them. Can't wait till next year!

VitaRenovatio

That Amuse S2000 is sick! What kind of lap times was that beast doing?

bellwilliam

Lol. In my defense, after TA, I did let Nam sit in my car and I drove the proper line. I went faster with him as passenger than TA. I just can't handle the TA pressure. Seriously, u drove very well, with the crappy line, u still could do a 1:26s. I bet with right line, u would be doing 1:25s.

Ben22

I need some serious help too! William, Nam, pls do ride with me, or let me ride with you

VitaRenovatio

You just gotta ask, Ben! I'll do anything you want. But I was being dead serious when I was really confused about this track, as evidenced by my crappy lines. All I would do is teach you how to drive it poorly. William, Emilio, Mark and Mike are the ones to ask for advice.

f20kills

I crack under pressure too lol..
Good driving everyone!!