Bittersweet Victory at Global Time Attack Finals 2022

This Lyfe Motorsport built, Innovative Tuning tuned R35 Nissan GTR has won events and set records for years, but as time moves on and other teams continue to advance their projects and build new cars, the challenge to keep an older and very heavy build on top continues to grow.

In this video you’ll see how Innovative Tuning works with the team to optimize not only engine, transmission and all wheel drive system control via the Motec electronics onboard, but also data analysis, driver coaching, and race engineering. From deciding how much of 1200 horsepower we can use on each portion of the track, to the timing of when the tire blankets come off the car right as the driver takes the car on track, all the details matter.

Global Time Attack Finals at Buttonwillow Raceway in California is a top time attack event in North America so we were pleased to beat the team’s prior best, pull off another Unlimited class and Overall win, but it was a bittersweet victory as we were unable to break the track record despite recording blisteringly fast lap segments.

Time attack is all about running one perfect lap, or as close to perfect as you can get. We made few driver errors in one session, track conditions weren’t ideal in a few other sessions, we only had a few sets of sticker tires due to cost, but ultimately what caused our final lap to fall short of the record was the failure of a power steering pump failure out of the blue. The driver Cole did a fantastic job to minimize damage to the car. He even finished the lap with dirt covered slicks, running a time faster than any other car that weekend and tenths of a second from the record.

Post lap analysis showed before power steering failure sent the car off, we were over a full second quicker than record pace, giving the team confidence that this old build can still peek out from under the covers and take top honors if the mood strikes.