Will was also fortunate enough (no pun intended) to receive feedback from Fortune Auto on selecting spring rates and dialling in the dampers for Buttonwillow. This really shows how committed Fortune Auto is to supporting their racers (plus they’re a sponsor of Global Time Attack, which is great to see), and it was especially helpful for PZ Tuning since Will and the crew had never been to Buttonwillow before. As Will further explained, “Our first time out on Buttonwillow made us realize how technically challenging it is. This is definitely a track were driving talent shows, really separating the men from the boys. Thursday Practice had us slowly getting up to pace. Having finished our 3rd practice session with a 1:55.62, we decided to shut down for the night – our neighbours in the Hankook EVO just blew their motor, so we played it safe to make sure we made it into the actual event. On the Friday of SLB, we were able to get a pretty decent rhythm on track. Traffic, though, was a bit of an issue, because with only 4 sessions you really had to be strategic to get a clean lap in.”
Will continued, “Session 1 had many cars off track, and unfortunately our fastest lap was only a 1:56. Session 2 we had started behind Ken Suen in Big Red. Having left quite a gap between our cars, I ended up catching him at the Esses and had to lift off by the final corner. A 1:53.1 had us quite excited, as this was only a couple tenths off the record with us getting backed up. Before session 3 we scrambled to replace the driver’s side axle, went out for our session and noticed that I was getting fuel starvation in a few corners so I had to go back in to refuel with only a few minutes left in the session. I went back out and got a decent lap, a 1:52.6, good for a New Class record. But Sportscar Motion just started to get some hot laps in, and they were only 1/10th of a second back!”
In Session 4 Will and his RSX got off to a blistering start, but he spun off in the high-speed esses and nearly got buried in the sandy runoff (which saved him from the nearby wall). As Will explained, “I headed back into the pits, weaving back and forth to get rid of some sand. Tony Szirka [GTA Tech Chief] had us go hard in reverse and slam on the brakes to empty even more sand. We had one more lap left, and every bump I hit dropped a bit of sand onto the ground, causing the car to be quite slippery on track. Arriving at the final corner I had a Mustang in front that I was catching quite quickly. I was able to use some of my previous Road Racing experience to set him up perfectly for a draft on to the front straight and across the line at 1:51.789! Then I had to wait out the SCM Integra Type R, but they only managed a 1:51.9, which gave us the win and the new Limited FWD record!”
When we asked Will if he felt there was more there, given how new he is to SLB at Buttonwillow, he had this to offer. “There was definitely some time left out on track – had we finished our fast lap we would have been in between a 1:49.8 to 1:50.0. The car itself was probably capable of a high 1:48 as is, but more seat time was definitely needed. I wasn’t as much surprised about winning our class, as we knew we went to the event very prepared for battle. I was, however, surprised we won without putting our best lap in, but we were fortunate that our closest competitor didn’t have a perfect lap either [SCM’s Integra was struggling with a number of issues throughout the event]. I honestly believe, though, if we both had our ultimate best laps we still would have came out on top.” Check out the video above for an in-car view of his record-breaking lap at SLB.
As for what’s next for Will and the PZ Tuning team, they’re actually working on a 2012 Honda Civic Si coupe, so although the RSX will remain battle-ready, their focus will be building an even faster Honda with the ’12 Civic for the 2015 Global Time Attack season. Will is talking about big horsepower, likely starting with the number 7. Looks like the Spoon Civic may have some serious competition next year and Rado’s Unlimited FWD record could be in very serious jeopardy. As for running in any local events, Will had this to say: “Any other events will be on a case by case basis. It would be great to run a local event again, but we’ll have to see if we can fit in this coming season. As GTA provides the highest levels of competition in North America, we feel it’s the ultimate challenge for our Time Attack cars!”
