tuning menu - Ken Gilbert

SUPER LAP BATTLE FINALS
racing not only Formula Atlantic cars,
but jets! Regardless, for any team to
come out with something this gnarly
on their first ever road-going car build
is extremely impressive.
On the other end of the spectrum,
I was stoked to see Ken Chitwood’s
S2000 freshly outfitted in its only-onein-existence
prototype Voltex aero kit.
Looks aside, the car is very timid but
extremely well-balanced, everything a
time attack car should be. To say this
car was popular amongst point-andshoot
camera toting pit goers would
be a severe understatement. The car
drew crowds around it so large that I
eventually gave up on attempting to
photograph it until it was on-track and
bystander free. The new look is really
sharp and led to some incredible times.
After finishing some staged
photoshoots I went back to the pit
area and chatted with a few of the
teams until the BW trademark pink
evening sky faded into night. Spending
a night in Buttonwillow always leads
to one thing, dinner at a certain BBQ
restaurant that will remain nameless.
The dinner has become a staple of
SLB for what I can only assume to be
two factors: it allows enough room for
everyone to sit at the same restaurant
and it’s essentially the only non-fast
food option. The menu in front of you
is poised to deliver culinary empty
promises. Imagine flavorless beef jerky
served at room temperature with some
BBQ sauce slathered on it and you’ve
virtually experienced WRBBQ.
After waking up malnourished
at the crack of dawn I was only a
Starbucks stop away from heading
the track. When I arrived, the teams
were already well underway preparing,
tweaking and fine-tuning the cars to
get every last drop out them for the
single fastest lap. The competition
was sure to be fierce and there were
many records placed on the chopping
block for the cars to slash away at.
Unfortunately some mechanical failures
took out two class front-runners early
on. Loi Song’s Sportcar Motion EG
hatchback, recently rebuilt to Unlimited
class specs, suffered an engine failure
and an off-track excursion that left
little of the front end intact. The
previous Unlimited FR record holding
BC/C-West carbon S2000 also was
unable to come out to play as Tyler
McQuarrie had to stand by idly
watching his record being stabbed at.
Four teams looked like they had a
fighting chance at nearing the overall
record of 1:43.523 set by HKS in
2007. Sierra Sierra, FX Motorsports,
Crawford and AMS all looked like they
would get very close. The fastest three
64 SUPER STREET FEBRUARY 2010
NEW SFR RECORD-1:56.762
www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com
YIPPIE!