***FT-86 SpeedFactory's Road to the 86 Expo***

[FT-86 SpeedFactory]

As you can see, the trip out to Vegas was quite a long haul for us in the Midwest. It surely was worth it, but we really wanted to sweeten the deal being so far away from home.

Luckily for us, The Berk Technology FT86 Cup had a competition the day after the 86 Expo. This was taking place at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, CA, approximately 3 hours away from Vegas. We couldn't help ourselves to some more driving and competition



For those that don't know, the Berk Technology FT86 Cup is a time attack series that frequents tracks in the SoCal area and is stricly for FR-S/BRZ cars. Multiple classes are setup and you get to hot lap the track and your fastest lap gets put up against the competition. It is sponsored by some of our great vendors that support this forum, Berk Technologies( @Corner3garage ), CounterSpace Garage( @CounterSpace Garage, @CSG Mike ), and @robispec were all on hand with prizes and support for everyone that was there to compete. Awesome to meet you guys!!!! Wish I would have gotten some pics of everyone and their cars...next time



































The track definitely lives up to it's nickname of "The Fastest Road in the West"! It flowed so well and you were consistently in high speed areas carrying speed and momentum was crucial to a good lap time. Not to mention going into turn 8 and 9, which separates the men from the boys. Turn 8 is a bumpy right hand turn that you take flat out at speeds varying from 110-115mph, in our cars, that takes you into Turn 9 that is a decreasing radius right hand turn that is visually deceptive. Turn in for turn 9 is much later than you think it should be and at the speeds you are entering it at, you don't want to make a mistake. I am sure that I never got this corner right the entire time I was there.

Jeremy and I were both in the "Under" class for the Cup and temps were in the 100s with the sun shining all day long. Conditions were not ideal for blazing fast lap times and being new to the track, we were not expecting to fare well. I ended up with a 1.39.669 in the red car and Jeremy was chasing the silver car all day, messing with setups and he never got truly comfortable, which resulted in a 1.42.194. We had to leave before our last Redline time attack session and before any of the awards because we were a couple hours away from our hotel room, but Robispec did send us a text saying I had won the under class for the day, which I found hard to believe....We are waiting on the official results on this one.

Here's a couple videos for you guys to take a ride with us Big shout out to @AlvinT@Borla for giving me a ride around the track to give me a few pointers in some of the tricky sections of the track

Yo in the red car
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGU97F9rLsg&feature=c4-overview&list=UUhDYhVRjSigVidaiCXsgzNQ"]FT-86 SpeedFactory - Willow Springs 06/16/13 - 86 Challenge - YouTube[/ame]

Jeremy in the silver car
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cz8XyH4khE&list=UUhDYhVRjSigVidaiCXsgzNQ"]FT-86 SpeedFactory - Willow Springs 06/16/13 - 86 Challenge - YouTube[/ame]

After the Cup series, we end up in Ventura, CA for the night. We have a nice dinner and relax on the balcony of our hotel room overlooking the pier and the Pacific. Not a bad way to relax after a track day.

That's all for now, but, again, it's not all. We have our return journey home and make sure we make the most of it by stopping and enjoying some sites on the way

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by FT-86 SpeedFactory

I spy Quirt Crawford...

[bestwheelbase]

Great thread, love the photos!

[ichitaka05]

Nice write up. Congrats on winning the time attack! I knew you guy's cars are fast!

[OICU812]

I enjoyed the journey and was not even there, very cool guys!

[Deep Six]

Thanks for sharing guys! Great having vendors who actually get immersed into the culture and become part of the community.

[zaptorque]

This thread is awesome and should be a sticky.

[AlvinT@Borla]

Nice read on your long road trip and congrats on both of your wins in AX and 86 Challenge. Good to spend time with both you guys @ WSIR. Don't forget we drive this year-round and you're always welcome to drive in December where ambient dips below chilling 35F . Sorry I had to leave track early on Fathers' Day.. I have a fun canyon drive to Ventura that's more entertaining than the hwy.

Looking forward to reading the rest of the trip...!

[Mr.]

**BuMp** BUMMPSSS** great great pix

[FT-86 SpeedFactory]

Alright guys, this will be the last update for our journey, the ride back home. Being on the coast and being car guys, we decided that it would only be fitting to take a journey up the Pacific Coast Highway. When would we be out to the coast again with both cars??? We had to take advantage of it!! (Little did we know that we'd be back for 86 Fest 2 in August, at the time)

So after a Monday morning of answering emails, pms, and order entry, we grabbed the coffee and headed for the highway. We really didn't know what the expect when we got there. I guess I was just looking for great weather and a great view. I, surely, was not disappointed and the winding road that is PCH was spectacular when we weren't stuck behind traffic. When we got to open up the cars on the winding bits of PCH, it was any gear heads heavenly bliss. The blind corners, downhill second gear hairpins, the exhaust notes of both cars echoing off the mountain walls, ocean-side view, and the sunshine through the open windows was surreal.

































This amazing road took us into Monterey, CA. We decided it was time to start headed back east, but we stopped for a little lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. Monterey's earliest fishing pier that established the commercial fishing industry.

























With the seafood settling in our stomachs, we set out for a brutal drive into Reno, NV for the night. We ended up getting in pretty late and didn't do much of anything once in the hotel. Wish we could have seen some of the little sites around the "Biggest Little City in the World", but we had to stay on schedule to minimize down time away from the office.

Leaving Reno we blast east on I-80. Nothing much but windshield time in the desert with Red bulls in the cup holders and beef jerky in between our teeth. It was quite the boring drive, but we knew what was coming over the horizon. The Mecca of speed was about to blow our minds. The Bonneville Salt Flats is the home of Speed Week where gear heads from all over the world compete to set some of the fastest land speed records on the planet.

This place was out of this world. It is tough to comprehend the shear enormity of the flats. You see mountains on the horizon and you think to yourself, well that doesn't look too far away....little do you know that headed east when you enter the flats the closest mountain in 20 miles away!

Before we get the "What was your top speed?!?!?!" questions, I will just give you the answer right now. 100 mph was the fastest we got on the flats

The surface is compacted salt and the top surface of about an 1/8th inch is moist. It is like nothing we have ever driven on and our cars, surely, were not setup for this type of driving. Heading towards the 100mph mark and the cars were just not stable. Pretty much felt like you were hydroplaning or on black ice at these speeds. Since we had several hundreds of miles left to travel, we decided to err on the side of caution.

We still had a blast!!!













































Of course, we had to prove to you guys we did some runs out there

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BI7F4VA7n8"]FT-86 SpeedFactory V2 Exhaust Fly By - Salt Flats - YouTube[/ame]


Well, that is it for the journey. Even though we were still a day away from home, nothing really exciting happened and it was just us cruising down the interstate.

Thanks for reading everyone!!!! Can't wait for the next time we get out to meet everyone and catch up with the people we have already met:happy0180:

[M-17]

To bad this journal had to come to an end. Very good stuff huys. Well now there's always next year though.

[ichitaka05]

Sounds like I'll be seeing you guys at 86Fest in Aug!

Salt flats... It's pretty close to my area. Like my info, it's middle of nowhere lol

[FT-86 SpeedFactory]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

Sounds like I'll be seeing you guys at 86Fest in Aug!

Salt flats... It's pretty close to my area. Like my info, it's middle of nowhere lol

For sure, can't wait to be back in August!

[Hindi]

This thread is one of the many reasons why speed factory is one of the best, if not the best, vendor on this forum!