2019 Super Lap Battle Breakdown

The 2019 Super Lap Battle at Circuit of the Americas is now in the books, and it was a great event for DSX Motorsports.

Going to a new track for the first time usually comes with a bit of a learning curve, and starting out on Saturday, the main goal was just to become familiar with the track enough to start working on improving lap rimes. In addition to learning the track, there were a few new set-ups that we were testing, not the least of which was the Ninelives Racing Rear wing that we were developing.

For the first session, Ryan went out with APR GTC 350 wing that he had previously run and started to get a feel for the track. During the first pit session, the 68" Ninelives Racing with our up-rights was put on the car, and Ryan went out for the next session.

The wing performed well initially, but a few other problems came up. Somehow 2 ARP wheel-studs snapped, and cut the session a little short. From that point, the studs had to be replaced, and at the same time, an issue with the rear differential was also diagnosed, so we had to swap out the R180 as well. Fortunately Zach from ZF Design was on hand to help with that. Somewhat surprisingly, the car was ready to go out for the next session, and the car started to pick-up some pace.

The rest of Saturday went well, right up to the last session of the day when the power steering pump failed. This cut the session short again, and the team started to look for a solution to get the car ready for Sunday.

We were lucky enough to run into someone from the Rally Ready Driving School that said we could borrow a power steering pump if we took it off of one of their cars, so after driving out to their school, and back, the power steering pump was installed, and we only missed the first session of the day.

All in all, Sunday went smoothly after that, and Ryan definitely started to get faster through the day. By the end, Ryan put down a time of 2:36.4 seconds which put him in 11th place in Street class. Considering the mechanical issues that the team had to work through, and the fact that this was his first time driving at Circuit of the Americas, we are really happy with this time. Not to mention that this time was with a 2.0 liter engine that is only making about 270 hp which means that Ryan in one of the lower powered cars in his class.

We are really happy with the performance of the Flatirons Tuning/Ninelives Racing wing as well. Stay tuned for more information on when that will be available.

It was a busy weekend, but it was great time and the track at CotA was amazing. A big thanks to Ryan and DSX motorsports for letting us tag along, and now we can't wait to get back!