With 3 races left out of the 12 race Koni Challenge series, Kensai Racing's #76 Acura TSX of Karl Thomsom and (NSX owner) Billy Johnson were 6 points down on the #95 Turner BMW 330i in the championship.
With a large crowd in the tens of thousands gathering at one of the most famous street races (race done on public roads shut down for the weekend), Billy Johnson and Karl Thomson finish second in the ST class putting them a mere 4 points behind the #95 BMW in the championship with two races to go!
The team's #75 TSX qualified 4th and made a hard press for the front in the early stages of the race. The #76 Sporting its new, aggressive matte-black on hyper orange paint scheme qualified in the 13th position, and decided to gamble with a greatly different pit strategy.
"This track is by far the hardest tracks on brakes" -notes Thomson "losing our brakes was more of a matter of when, rather than if". With this in mind, the Kensai guys decided to pit the #76 on the second lap in order for Johnson to be able to turn quick times by himself in clean air. This allowed the #76 TSX to gain time on the leaders and the whole field without having wheel-to-wheel battles and over-working the brakes.
Kensai was hoping for a traditional yellow to bunch the field back up so Johnson could be in striking distance of the lead -which never happened. The race remained green from flag-to-flag. By the time all the pit stops were made, Johnson was 40 seconds behind the leader and a mere 15 seconds in front of the #95 Turner BMW. With over 16 cars, over half the field retiring from brake failures, the lead #31 I-Moto TSX, Kensai's #76 TSX of Johnson, and the #95 Turner BMW were the only cars on the lead lap.
With 10 minutes to go, Johnson knew something wasn't right. "I had a lot of brake pressure and pedal feel but it wasn't that consistant." noted Johnson. With three laps to go, the brakes failed: "Guys, something is seriously not right... yea, I lost the brakes". At most tracks, while still being a huge issue, brake failures can be limped to the finish line. But this is a street course. Walls everywhere, no run-off room or room for mistakes. Traveling at 120mph and having to slow the car down to a 25mph corner was a huge challenge placed on Johnson.
Three laps remaining, 15 seconds behind Johnson is the #95 BMW they are battling for in the championship, Johnson has no brakes, the brake pedal just drops straight to the floor, pumping the brakes is to no avail. Johnson was able to slow the car by downshifting into lower gears, sparks and smoke were flying out of the right front wheel due to the brake pad backing plate grinding on the rotor. "The brake pedal was useless, the last lap i gave up completely on using it, when you pressed the pedal, it felt like brake fluid was just squirting out the other end" noted Johnson.
Two laps remaining, now 10 seconds behind Johnson is the #95 BMW closing in fast. The tight corners of the track were no problem for Johnson, but hauling the car down from 120-25mph with the gearbox alone was not an easy task. "I couldn't just put down the straights, otherwise the BMW would catch me, I just had to figure out how to get the car in the lower gears to slow it down..."
Last lap, the #95 BMW is now a mere 8 seconds behind Johnson, he can see the #76 TSX is having problems and is doing everything he can to catch him. "It was tough, every straight i could see him getting closer. The gearbox was starting to go from all the abuse and not upshifting correctly" said Johnson. Johnson turns the last corner on to the front straightaway, with the #95 BMW only 4 seconds behind him to take home 2nd place in the Street Tuner category - with no brakes!
"I was glad to see it was all over once I saw the checkered flag. Losing the brakes is never a good thing, but on a street course, it's usually the kiss of death" said the relieved Johnson.
This confirms the 2007 Championship run as a 2-horse race between the #76 Kensai Racing Compass360.com/Skunk2/Hawk Brakes Acura TSX of Karl Thomson and Billy Johnson, and the #95 Turner BMW 330i of Adam Burrows and Trever Hopwood. Thomson and Johnson are only 4pts behind the #95 Turner BMW going into the last two races, Miller Motorsports Park and the season-finalie 6-hour race at VIR.
More info can be found at:
http://grand-am.com/News/Article.asp?ID=8994
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/grandam/39562/
I would like to thank Team Kensai Racing (www.kensairacing.com) for building and prepping amazing cars. Of course Compass360 (www.compass360.com) and Acura.
With a large crowd in the tens of thousands gathering at one of the most famous street races (race done on public roads shut down for the weekend), Billy Johnson and Karl Thomson finish second in the ST class putting them a mere 4 points behind the #95 BMW in the championship with two races to go!
The team's #75 TSX qualified 4th and made a hard press for the front in the early stages of the race. The #76 Sporting its new, aggressive matte-black on hyper orange paint scheme qualified in the 13th position, and decided to gamble with a greatly different pit strategy.
"This track is by far the hardest tracks on brakes" -notes Thomson "losing our brakes was more of a matter of when, rather than if". With this in mind, the Kensai guys decided to pit the #76 on the second lap in order for Johnson to be able to turn quick times by himself in clean air. This allowed the #76 TSX to gain time on the leaders and the whole field without having wheel-to-wheel battles and over-working the brakes.
Kensai was hoping for a traditional yellow to bunch the field back up so Johnson could be in striking distance of the lead -which never happened. The race remained green from flag-to-flag. By the time all the pit stops were made, Johnson was 40 seconds behind the leader and a mere 15 seconds in front of the #95 Turner BMW. With over 16 cars, over half the field retiring from brake failures, the lead #31 I-Moto TSX, Kensai's #76 TSX of Johnson, and the #95 Turner BMW were the only cars on the lead lap.
With 10 minutes to go, Johnson knew something wasn't right. "I had a lot of brake pressure and pedal feel but it wasn't that consistant." noted Johnson. With three laps to go, the brakes failed: "Guys, something is seriously not right... yea, I lost the brakes". At most tracks, while still being a huge issue, brake failures can be limped to the finish line. But this is a street course. Walls everywhere, no run-off room or room for mistakes. Traveling at 120mph and having to slow the car down to a 25mph corner was a huge challenge placed on Johnson.
Three laps remaining, 15 seconds behind Johnson is the #95 BMW they are battling for in the championship, Johnson has no brakes, the brake pedal just drops straight to the floor, pumping the brakes is to no avail. Johnson was able to slow the car by downshifting into lower gears, sparks and smoke were flying out of the right front wheel due to the brake pad backing plate grinding on the rotor. "The brake pedal was useless, the last lap i gave up completely on using it, when you pressed the pedal, it felt like brake fluid was just squirting out the other end" noted Johnson.
Two laps remaining, now 10 seconds behind Johnson is the #95 BMW closing in fast. The tight corners of the track were no problem for Johnson, but hauling the car down from 120-25mph with the gearbox alone was not an easy task. "I couldn't just put down the straights, otherwise the BMW would catch me, I just had to figure out how to get the car in the lower gears to slow it down..."
Last lap, the #95 BMW is now a mere 8 seconds behind Johnson, he can see the #76 TSX is having problems and is doing everything he can to catch him. "It was tough, every straight i could see him getting closer. The gearbox was starting to go from all the abuse and not upshifting correctly" said Johnson. Johnson turns the last corner on to the front straightaway, with the #95 BMW only 4 seconds behind him to take home 2nd place in the Street Tuner category - with no brakes!
"I was glad to see it was all over once I saw the checkered flag. Losing the brakes is never a good thing, but on a street course, it's usually the kiss of death" said the relieved Johnson.
This confirms the 2007 Championship run as a 2-horse race between the #76 Kensai Racing Compass360.com/Skunk2/Hawk Brakes Acura TSX of Karl Thomson and Billy Johnson, and the #95 Turner BMW 330i of Adam Burrows and Trever Hopwood. Thomson and Johnson are only 4pts behind the #95 Turner BMW going into the last two races, Miller Motorsports Park and the season-finalie 6-hour race at VIR.
More info can be found at:
http://grand-am.com/News/Article.asp?ID=8994
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/grandam/39562/
I would like to thank Team Kensai Racing (www.kensairacing.com) for building and prepping amazing cars. Of course Compass360 (www.compass360.com) and Acura.
