Ed Nazarian: 2010 Super Touring season opener – Big Willow Feb 6-7 2010

By Ed Nazarian

Socal NASA’s 2010 season opener was this past weekend, February 6-7, at Big Willow.  The last time I raced at Big Willow was May of 2009, so it’s been a little over 8 months.  I have been dying to get back out to Big Willow.  And the last time I drove my racecar on track was at NASA’s National Championship in September of 2009 at Miller Motorsports Park.  So it has been a good 5 months since I have driven it.  Main reason why I haven’t driven my racecar since then is because I was hit during the National Championship race.  Details are here:

Results: 2009 NASA National Championship

Beyond that I had some setbacks that delayed the prep work we needed to fix the damage.  But with a few really late nights during the week leading up to the races and we were able to get the car ready for the season opener.  It wasn’t fun, but we got it done.

Before I proceed I want to thank RRE and Robert Fuller from Robispec for their respective work.  I’m not going to bother with the details of all the work RRE and Robi did.  Simply put, if it wasn’t for their support and hard work none of this would have been possible.  The guys at RRE put in a lot of their personal time to patch up the car.  My friend Sean Bradley came over for a day and also helped out, thanks Sean!  Quite a few parts needed to be replaced and RRE as usual pulled their strings and hooked things up.  Robi then did his work accordingly.  He also applied the necessary alignment/setting adjustments at the track both days.  More than anything because it rained on Saturday, and ended up clearing on Sunday.  Furthermore, I want to thank Mike, Honda Robert, and Robi for being there both days (Sat/Sun), to provide me the support I needed.  It is such a major relief to have them there with me in the trenches.

Before I proceed with the weekend, one thing I’d like to mention is my turbo.  In a few recent threads I had noted that before leaving to race at the National Championship, RRE set me up with their GT3076 turbo kit to test out.  Upon returning I decided to go back to my OEM Evo 9 turbo.  Given my setup I am looking to make around 340whp.  That power range coupled with my OEM engine cripples the 3076.  It’s really unfortunate that I can’t further test it in race conditions because despite my limited experience, it appears to be a solid turbo kit.

As for the results, last place both days!  I am not sure why, but I say that with pride.  On a serious note, the season opener was a shakedown weekend for me.  Considering everything that has led up to this point, coupled with the weather conditions, it was a successful weekend.  I got out there, did what I wanted to do, and brought the racecar back unscathed.

Regarding the weather, the forecast was indicating rain on Friday and Saturday, with the potential of rain on Sunday.  Given the weather forecast it was a low attendance weekend.  It ended up raining pretty hard on Friday, and continued to rain on Saturday.  I don’t really have any experience in wet conditions, let alone any experience racing in the rain.  It was strange driving on track with my wipers on.  It was a good experience.

As for lap times, that data is pretty much useless to me at this juncture.  Either way, here are the results.  But before I proceed with that, I am really excited to note that the Mazda GT racecars have stepped things up big time.  Only 2 of the Mazda GTs were racing, but they ran some really solid ST2 times on Sunday.  If the season progresses like this, there is going to be some serious ST2 competition this year in Socal.

Saturday Super Touring 2 Qualifying times:
1.  1:42.664 – 98 – James Wagaman – Mazda GT
2.  1:49.545 – 00 – Jon VanCaneghem – Mazda GT
3.  1:51.774 – 415 – Ed Nazarian – Evo 9

Saturday Super Touring 2 Race results:
1.  1:34.390 – 00 – Jon VanCaneghem – Mazda GT
2.  1:35.393 – 32 – Team Cashin In – Vette
3.  1:35.412 – 98 – James Wagaman – Mazda GT
4.  1:44.513 – 415 – Ed Nazarian – Evo 9

Sunday Super Touring 2 Qualifying times:
1.  1:27.118 – 00 – Jon VanCaneghem – Mazda GT
2.  1:28.049 – 98 – James Wagaman – Mazda GT
3.  1:33.551 – 415 – Ed Nazarian – Evo 9

Sunday Super Touring 2 Race results:
1.  1:28.319 – 00 – Jon VanCaneghem – Mazda GT
2.  1:28.591 – 98 – James Wagaman – Mazda GT
3.  1:31.512 – 32 – Team Cashin In – Vette
4.  1:33.099 – 415 – Ed Nazarian – Evo 9

Thanks again to my sponsors for their continued support:

– RRE
– Robispec
– Girodisc
– South Coast Mitsubishi
– I’d also like to thank Honda Robert, Mike Welch, Robi, Sean Bradley, and Mark Homer for their help on Sat/Sun.