(972) 530-3335 311 E. Buckingham Rd. Garland, TX 75040
NOPI World Import Challenge - Oct. 9th & 10th, 1999
Click on pictures to enlarge
DAY 1:
Finally, a full 2-day event here in Texas. All the big names were scheduled
to arrive, with the Front Wheel Drives battling for a $10,000 purse and
us Rear Wheel Drive Imports fighting for a mighty $2500 prize which was
eventually reduced to $2000. Some of the RX-7s in attendence were Steve
Kan in his Veilside-Single Turbo 3rd gen, ProTech Auto's 3rd gen, MZM's
3rd gen, Marcus Williams/APEXX's 3rd gen, Brian Cain's Turbo II 2nd gen,
Sean Ali's Turbo II 2nd Gen, and a few other RX-7s of which we didn't
catch their names (sorry!).
Our plans were to leave the shop early Friday evening with the RX-7.COM
car in tow and arrive in time for plenty of rest before the Saturday qualifying
sessions. Unfortunately, the car decided to start acting up and not run
consistently on the street. After MANY hours of testing and tuning on
'Circuit de Garland', the car was finally loaded up at 4am Saturday morning
and we headed out to Houston Raceway Park located in scenic (and freshly
scented!) Baytown, Texas.
As we passed the halfway point to Houston, our faithful tow vehicle began a rhythmic tapping noise which was quickly dismissed as "an exhaust leak, nothing to worry about". Half an hour later our little exhaust leak had turned into someone playing a snare drum under the hood. As we decided to pull off the road, the engine finally decided it had enough and promptly threw a rod which, as we discovered later, split the crank into 3 pieces which collected in the oil pan. So there we sat, middle of the night in nowhere Texas on the side of the highway. Fortunately for us, we have a great crew and great customers who were willing to help. As we sent out our distress called, Chuck (a crew member) and Cesar Mora (a great customer) came to our rescue and towed the trailer down to Houston as our crippled truck was towed back to Dallas.
When we finally arrived at the track, the first rounds of qualifying had
already finished. We decided to get in a few practice runs but our problem
resurfaced again as the PMC piggybox box started having electrical gremlins
and causing the car to literally shut off in the run. Exhausted, somewhat
defeated, and ready for some food and sleep we headed back to check into
our hotel rooms and start fresh tomorrow. This, however, was not meant
to be our day and our hotel reservations had been cancelled. I won't even
mention the place we ended up staying but I think I still have a rash
from that place!
DAY 2:
The
first round provided it's share of excitement and the 3 RX-7.COM cars
paired off against their competitors. First up was Brent's '93 R1 versus
SGP's 300ZX. Brent's RX-7 stormed off the line and stayed in front of
the 300ZX for an easy victory. Unfortunately, Brent's 11 second run got
him disqualified as he did not have a NHRA legal roll bar (something I'm
sure he'll add before the next event). Because of this disqualification,
the SGP car moved into the semi-finals. Next up was Andy's 1980 RX-7 versus
the incredible white MKIV Supra. Andy posted yet another 10 second time
against the Supra for the victory. Credit to the Supra though as he's
posting some very impressive numbers for a street driven, street tire
car. Last up for the RX-7.COM crew was Ari's RX-7 versus the 2nd generation
RX-7 Turbo II sponsored by Alamo Autosports. The Turbo II posted it's
best ever time of 11.97 but was unable to match Ari's run of 10.7 @ 132mph.
Congratulations to Chris and Alamo for a job well done as their Turbo
II is getting faster at every event.
As
the sky grew darker and the temperatures dropped, we were ready for the
second round of Quick 8 Eliminations. With Brent's RX-7 disqualified,
the 3rd gen Supra of Lance of MTI in Houston was paired against SGP's
300ZX. Lance is no newcomer to the Quick 8 and his 10 second run ended
SGP's day and advanced him into the final round to face one of the RX-7.COM
cars. Which RX-7 would face Lance was soon decided as Andy lined up against
Ari. The tension was high as both cars were running mid 10's and there
was no way either one was going to back down and let the other take an
easy victory. As Andy fully staged, Ari pulled up slightly too far and
heavily deep staged. As the tree came down Andy launched hard to get the
hole shot on Ari who was afraid of redlighting due to being deeply staged.
Unfortunately for Andy, his reaction time was .003 seconds quicker than
perfect that resulted in a red light which handed the immediate victory
to Ari. This didn't mean the race wouldn't go on though as Ari launched
his '93 RX-7 in chase of Andy. Andy tripped the 1/4 mile lights in a mere
10.64 seconds at over 130mph as Ari screamed through for a 10.55 second
time. Obviously both gave it their all as this was the fastest time of
the day for both. Even with his redlight, Andy was quite pleased with
his performance stating "Considering this is the first time the
car's been on the track since last season, back to back 10's is great!
We've just begun tuning in this entirely new setup and the car has alot
more in it...ALOT more." When asked about what changes were planned
for the next event, Andy said, "More tuning, take it to a few
testing sessions to work out some bugs and I'll probably put the nitrous
back on the car. I want faster times, 3rd place isn't where I want to
be!"
| Ari's RX7.COM car | Andy's RX-7.COM car | |
| R/T | 0.913 | 0.497 |
| 60' | 1.506 | 1.641 |
| 330' | 4.309 | 4.514 |
| 1/8 | 6.683 | 6.882 |
| MPH | 98.76 | 103.36 |
| 1000 | 8.818 | 8.919 |
| 1/4 | 10.558 | 10.642 |
| MPH | 130.32 | 130.18 |
Finally,
as midnight neared, we were ready for the final round of the Turbo Magazine
Quick 8. The stage was set for a great battle. No matter how you preferred
to look at it; Supra vs RX-7, Houston vs Dallas, Piston vs Rotary, this
was going to be a good, close race. As the two cars slowly pulled to the
line, the crowd grew quiet in anticipation. As the light fell, both cars
shot out of the hole with near exact reaction times. They were dead even
until Ari missed 3rd gear completely and Lance's Supra pulled ahead. Ari
finally got it back in gear and pushed ahead to finally catch up and pass
Lance before the end for a narrow victory. A great race indeed. Happy
with the win and for setting the fastest import time of the day, Ari said,
"We're glad to see consistent 10 second passes out of the car
to back up the 10 we ran at the last event. The car was on all day but
my driving wasn't good. I didn't feel in tune with the car all day as
I was missing gears and hitting the rev limiter. The car seems to have
low 10's in it if we can make a clean pass.". When asked about
plans for the next event, Ari stated, "The car is still using
the same stock motor we've been using since we bought the car from a customer
over 2 years ago which is simply unbelievable. We've worked hard to find
the combination of bolt-on parts which just work right with eachother
that anyone can buy and install without going into the motor which was
our goal. Now, as much as I'd love to push the car deeper in the 10s using
that stock block, I think it's time to step up to the next level and put
in a ported motor, swap out the stock ECU for a Haltech and go faster."
Lance's Supra ??@??? |
AWD Eclipse ??@??? |
Brent's RX-7 ??@??? |
SGP 300ZX ??@??? |
Ari's RX-7 10.73@132 |
Chris's Turbo II 11.97@115 |
Andy's RX-7 10.81@128 |
MKIV Supra 12.01@102 |
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Lance's Supra ??.??@??? |
SGP 300ZX ??.??@??? |
Ari's RX-7 10.558@130.32 |
Andy's RX-7 10.642@130.18 |
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| Lance's Supra 10.810@128.25mph |
Ari's RX-7 10.763@135.13mph WINNER! |
Thanks also to our sponsor, GReddy and for the trackside support from Haltech.
NEXT EVENT: NIRA Texas Import Nationals on August 22th, 1999 in Dallas, Texas. This is the big Supra vs. RX-7 event so make sure to come out. This might be the event of the season!!!
Car Specs - Ari's 1993 RX-7
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Car Specs - Andy's 1980 RX-7
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Aaron's '94 RX-7 
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Cesar's '93 RX-7 
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Flauta's Rotary Starlet Ari's car Launching 
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