HP Autowerks podium finish at first Redline Time Attack

[HP Autosport]

November 23, 2009

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HP Autowerks podium finish at first Redline Time Attack

Fontana, CA, November 15, 2009
HP Autowerks enters their tuned BMW 335i Sedan in their first Redline Time Attack event at Autoclub Speedway..

In a class full of lightweight, flashy, two door coupes, who would have given the subtle white four door sedan a second glance. HP Autowerks took their years of tuning experience, and created a powerful and balanced track car from an unsuspecting platform. Knowing that the car had huge potential, HPA entered the car in its first Redline Time Attack event at Autoclub Speedway in Fontana in the RWD Street class. With Jeff Tyler behind the wheel, HPA was confident that the BMW could post good numbers. With only two timed sessions in the event, Jeff Tyler made the best of them. Reaching speeds over 160+mph, Jeff posted an amazing third place time of 1:52:811 against a class of 10 other competitors. Out of 50 vehicles in the overall class, the HPA BMW 335i was the fastest BMW of the day.

"The car is a beast"
(Jeff Tyler)

HP Autowerks BMW 335i Sedan
GIAC Stage 2 Beta
Berk Technology 3" Downpipes
Borla Exhaust
Code3 Performance Intercooler
3.46 Quaife
Stoptech Trophy Sport
Vorshlag Camber Plates
TC Kline Double Adjustable KONI
Swift springs with thrust bearings
Full M3 Suspension Conversion Kit
Yokohama AD08 Neova

HP Autowerks is dedicated to offering customers the highest level of personalized automotive services and repairs for your Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Mini, and Volkswagen vehicles. Our professional and experienced team is here to assist you with all of your automotive needs. Located in Santa Barbara CA, we are not just an online store, but a full-service repair and tuning facility specializing in Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Mini, and VW performance upgrades. Our technicians are not only Master ASE certified, but Mercedes factory trained with Master and Master Guild certification. Rest assured that you and your vehicle will receive the best attention possible. HP Autowerks has recently expanded with a performance only location at 523 Garden St. in Santa Barbara.

[Evolution Racewerks]

Congrats guys!

[J Tyler]

Hi all,

First I would like to say a big “Thank You!” to the owners of HP Autowerks for giving me the opportunity to compete their E90 335i in the 2009 Redline TimeAttack Series Finale at AutoClub Speedway. I had an absolute blast and can't say “thanks” enough!

HP Autowerks and I entered this series-finale event with only one test day under our belt, and no competitions together; while all of the usual top competitors have been running this series all year long. With our one test day at California Speedway, we knew we were competitive with last year's times as we ran a 1:56 without pushing very hard; but we had no idea how things would play out this year. From my racing experience this season, I knew that everyone was much faster this year (about 2-3 seconds faster) due to constant car development & improvement. So personally, I was not expecting to take home a trophy!

After the test day, we decided that the overall chassis balance had too much oversteer in two key areas of this track – the quick chicane transitions, and when putting power down coming out of the low-speed corners. The Roval configuration we were running is the exact same one used by the GrandAm Rolex series, and it has several low-speed (2nd and 3rd gear) corners leading on to long straightaways where getting power down to the road is crucial. Having gobs of horsepower & torque is great, but if you can't put it to the ground (especially at a track like this) you are losing lots of lap time. Since this 335i is first and foremost a street car, we decided to do a mild increase in front spring rate (up by 50lbs/in) while making some significant adjustments to the dampers. I knew that these changes would be a step in the right direction, but we really had no idea how much of a difference it would make or how we would stack up against everyone else in the competition.

On the day of the competition, we ran a few laps in the morning practice sessions – just enough to confirm that the dampers were set up correctly, for me to get comfortable with the car again, and to make sure everything was working properly. There is a lot of prep work that goes into a competition like this, and HPA had everything down to a T: brakes bled, pads bedded, tires shaved & balanced, pressures set; they even had a dyno graph handy so I would know the exact RPM to shift at.

During the actual TimeAttack competition, we were gridded up based on our practice time. Since I hadn't put together a 10/10ths lap in practice in the interest of saving the tires, we were gridded up roughly mid-pack out of about 30 cars total in the Street Class. In the competition, you get 3 laps to nail down your best time, and it is open wheel-to-wheel passing (Redline lets about 10 cars on track at once). For my 3 laps, I did two 'hot' laps with one cool-down lap for the tires in between. The main requirement of the Street Class is that you must run on “street” tires, meaning treadwear 140 or above. No R-Compounds here. When I came back into the pits, Harold told me we had done a high 1:52 and a low 1:53 on the two hot laps – incredible! I couldn't believe it at first, and went to the timing officials to make sure they had the right transponder linked to our car

The 1:52.811 ended up placing us solidly in trophy territory, by 0.8s over 4th place. I was thrilled, and very impressed with the ability of this 335i. To put that time in perspective, GrandAm Rolex GT racecars run ~1:44's at California Speedway. The HP Autowerks 4-door 335i, with full interior/stereo/AC/etc and on street tires and 91 octane pump gas, did a 1:52. Like I told Harold, “this car is a beast!!” I have driven all the latest BMWs: E60 M5s, E9x M3s, you name it -- and if I had the choice, I'd be driving this one as my daily hands-down.

Harold asked me to post my favorite part about this car, but that is a very hard thing to do! The brakes are unreal, something I have never experienced in a road car. At the end of one straight, I have to go to 100% braking at ~140mph down to about 55mph for the corner -- and this car does it with zero fade, instant bite, and under perfect stability thanks to HPA's solid chassis setup. At that speed, most cars wander & squirm a bit, and take time to bite; this one just plants itself. The chassis is equally up to task, as HPA decreased the stock-BMW flex deformation with their M3 suspension arms. These add stability as well as outright cornering grip due to an increased range of alignment adjustment. Finally, the engine & drivetrain: because of the HPA 3.46 LSD, the gear ratios are much more appropriate for a performance car. With the lazy stock ratios, there is a big drop in RPM when upshifting to the next gear. This car's gear ratios allow me to always be at the right RPM when exiting a corner. They also got us to ~160mph at the end of the front straight. As everyone knows, these engines are very torquey, perfect for street driving. With the 3.46 LSD, they seem to do alright on the track too


Here are the complete results from our class:

1st - 1:50.692, Jeremy Croiset, MCS Motorsports/Berk Tech/KW Turbo MR2
2nd - 1:51.617, Robert Choo, DSPORT/Hankook/Vortec Supercharged S2000
3rd - 1:52.811, Jeff Tyler, HP Autowerks 335i
4th - 1:53.640, Manly Kao, TrackHQ/Buddyclub/Toyo/APR Lotus Elise
5th - 1:54.909, Mike Bonanni, Berk Technology 135i
6th - 1:56.451, Kenny Chieu, Kinod MR2
7th - 1:56.857, Mike Bonanni, DoubleDown Motorsports 370Z
8th - 2:00.000, Eddie Lim, KW
9th - 2:05.179, Mike Haddad, Haddad Motorsports
10th - 2:05.180, Matt Johnson
11th - 2:05.348, Gregory Haye



And some more pictures:







- That was in 3rd gear







The Elise that we beat for 3rd place, a good buddy of mine:













Thanks for reading

[J Tyler]

Originally Posted by Evolution Racewerks

Congrats guys!

Thanks Fred

[Billj747]

Congrats good buddy, and contrats HPA!

FYI, back in 2005, Grand-Am Koni Challenge Cars (Previously Grand Am Cup)

GS cars ran mid - 1:48's

ST cars ran mid - 1:55's


Very impressive times in the 335 for a street car on street tires!



Billy

[VMRWheels]

Congrats guys! I was also there campaigning a 92 Civic in SFWD class.

-Charles@VMRWheels

[Evice]

335 vs 135 --- himm 2.1secs !!

[Cris]

I know Mike Bonanni (drove the Berk Tech 135i and drove his personal 370Z) before he started serious racing. Nice guy, used to do weekend get togethers, and we even started the Las Vegas 350Z Club when I was stationed there.

[J Tyler]

Originally Posted by Billj747

Congrats good buddy, and contrats HPA!

FYI, back in 2005, Grand-Am Koni Challenge Cars (Previously Grand Am Cup)

GS cars ran mid - 1:48's

ST cars ran mid - 1:55's


Very impressive times in the 335 for a street car on street tires!



Billy

Congrats to you to!! - Billy won the overall event with a prototype-like 1:36.1.

Originally Posted by VMRWheels

Congrats guys! I was also there campaigning a 92 Civic in SFWD class.

-Charles@VMRWheels

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by Cris

I know Mike Bonanni (drove the Berk Tech 135i and drove his personal 370Z) before he started serious racing. Nice guy, used to do weekend get togethers, and we even started the Las Vegas 350Z Club when I was stationed there.

Yea Mike's a cool guy

[Proper Motion LLC]

Wow great times. Whats the record for a N54 car @ Laguna Seca?

[M.Bonanni]

Congrats again to Jeff & HPA! Very good performance!

[J Tyler]

Originally Posted by 09AlpineTTSedan

Wow great times. Whats the record for a N54 car @ Laguna Seca?

I don't know... Harold?

Originally Posted by M.Bonanni

Congrats again to Jeff & HPA! Very good performance!

Thanks for the kind words, Mike

HPA has done a really good job with this car. 1:52 is unreal for a fat, 4-door, comfortable daily driver on street tires

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by J Tyler

I don't know... Harold?

Well, my best in the car was 1:47 before the slight increase in front spring rate, larger rear contact patch, and GIAC flash.

By how fast Jeff is at ACR, he is easily capable of 1:40 or possibly 1:39's at Laguna Seca with our project 335i.

Already looking into getting Jeff to Laguna Seca for some testing.

[BerkTechnology]

Originally Posted by HP Autowerks

Well, my best in the car was 1:47 before the slight increase in front spring rate, larger rear contact patch, and GIAC flash.

By how fast Jeff is at ACR, he is easily capable of 1:40 or possibly 1:39's at Laguna Seca with our project 335i.

Already looking into getting Jeff to Laguna Seca for some testing.

Harold, I'm coming to you for some more suspension upgrades!! hahaha

Great showing at your first RTA event!

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by BerkTechnology

Harold, I'm coming to you for some more suspension upgrades!! hahaha

Great showing at your first RTA event!

We are here to help when you are ready!

Thanks again!