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GOTO:Racing Dell™ Equallogic GT-R Gets Podium Finish in Redline Time Attack Debut

11/15/2009

GOTO:Racing Dell� Equallogic GT-R takes a Podium at Redline Time Attack from Brian Lock Racing on Vimeo.

A blown tire at 170 mph could not stop the Dell™ Equallogic GT-R from capturing its first podium finish in Redline Time Attack competition. Brian Lock drove the R35 racecar to a laptime of 1:38.6, just 6 tenths off of second place, despite the cars huge weight disadvantage. Autoclub Speedway's long straights and banked NASCAR turn 1 and 2 really played to the strength of the GOTO:Racing machine which is power and grip. Many spectators were amazed at the speed of the GT-R. In the oval during the Super Session it easily caught the overall winning car, making up multiple cars lengths by the end of NASCAR 2. Unfortunately the FXMD NSX's weight advantage was to much for the GT-R in the infield and Brian could not quite catch him by the end of the super session.

The weekend was anything but smooth however. Major handling and braking issues plagued the Dell Equallogic GT-R all weekend. The biggest issue was on the brakes where the rear differential was causing a lot of problems. "I could not trailbrake the car all weekend, I was giving up so much time into the corners," reported Brian Lock, driver of the Dell Equallogic GT-R, "Out of the corners the stock GT-R diffs were just not working. Wheelspin was causing a bad oscillation and I had to wait so long to get on the throttle."

All of these problems added up to the car making up all its time on the oval and on the brakes (in a straight line that is). "The car was amazing on the brakes, right until the point of turn it," commented Brian, "once we get this rear diff figured out, and we stop killing the motor by locking up the inside wheel while trail braking, this car will be competitive for a win even with its weight as is." The scary thing is the GOTO GT-R was just over two seconds off the winning pace set by the AMS Evo and the FXMD NSX even though it caries a solid 1000 more pounds. Steve Lock, GOTO:Racing's crew chief commented, "The scary thing is we have only just begun to tap the potential of this car. There is way more power left in the engine, tons of weight to be shaved, and plenty of work to do on setup. When we get this thing sorted it is going to be the car to beat."

The handling issues seemed small in comparison to the tire blowing out at 170 mph. After reviewing the video it appeared that something was ran over on the front straight right before the tire blew. "It was pretty scary, when you are pulling those kind of G's, it is your worst nightmare to have a failure like that. I am just glad I kept the car out of the wall, " said Brian Lock. Luckily only minor damage was done to the GT-R, the crew was able to repair most of the damage and get the car back on track.

After the first time attack session, with only one hot lap completed and the blow out repairs done, the GOTO crew found themselves only 1 second off the Sierra Sierra Evo for second place. The decision was made with the consent of master tuner Tim Bailey, to turn up the power to a level not tested on the dyno. "I had complete faith in Tim," said Steve Lock, "If he said it was safe to turn it up then it was safe to turn it up." Brian reported the power to be incredible. Unfortunately with the chicane cones moved this session to require a lift of the throttle, and with a toe issue caused by the exploding tire, Brian was only able to shave off another .4 seconds to settle for a 1:38.6.

Even with a car that they new should be in second place, the GOTO crew knew a podium in the cars debut race was a great result. Brian proved that the car was faster than the Sierra Sierra Evo by passing him around the outside in NASCAR 1 during the Super Session. GOTO had to rise above some serious adversity to even get to the event, and work through more issues at the track to make the podium. In the end, everyone was happy.

This event marks the end of a whirl wind of a summer. The GOTO:Racing GT-R was only a hope and a dream in April of this year. The crew had a crazy summer of building the car, scraping for funds and parts sponsorships to get the car on track and tested, and worrying further that with a tested and running car no title sponsor would come on board to fund Super Lap and Redline. GOTO:Racing is extremely proud of the cars performance, and is very grateful for the support of their amazing lineup of parts sponsors. And of course a huge thanks to Dell Equallogic for the title sponsorship that let all the hard work of the summer not be wasted.

Click here to see all the pictures from the weekend

The 2009 season would not have been possible without the support of the following sponsors...

Sheedy Crane - www.sheedycrane.com/

Dell™ - www.dell.com

GT:R Fabrication - www.brianlockracing.com

North American GTR Owners Club - www.nagtroc.com

Nissan Motorsports - www.nissanusa.com/nismo/

MODE racing - www.moderacing.com

COBB Tuning - www.cobbtuning.com

HB Speed - www.hbspeed.com

Forged Performance - www.forgedperformance.com

JRZ Suspension - www.jrzsuspension.com