Houghton sets new Unlimited FWD record at TMP

CSC3 Recap

Antigravity-sponsored driver James Houghton gets a handle on his Garrett turbocharged K-Tuned/Lavigne Motorsports Acura Type R at the two-day Canadian Sport Compact Series event at Toronto Motorsports Park on July 21/22. Unlike many of his fellow racers Houghton did not get much track time before having to lay it on the line in Saturday’s Time Attack shootout. He and his hard-working team have been busy since the last CSCS event making updates that would maximize the change to the Garrett turbo. He said,

“We got the changes made and headed south to our tuner Jeff Evans early Friday morning. The car went on the dyno and made an impressive 809 wheel horsepower and 565 foot pounds of torque before we loaded up and headed home to get the car race-ready for Saturday. Arriving in Kitchener at 5am I have to thank Eric Lavigne and Mitch Hemmen for all the work they did before and after the tuning trip. Without all their hard work and dedication we could not been able to compete in day one of the two-day event.”

The hard work paid off as Houghton and the Type R quickly got close to their previous track record and probably would have broken it, if a temperature warning had not flagged an overheating issue. His time was good enough for the class win but James had to give his best to Beven Gray in his Unlimited AWD Subaru who lowered his personal best and took Fastest Time of the Day.

Sunday dawned wet with the forecast calling for better weather once the noon hour had passed. With nothing to gain by running in the wet Houghton sat out the early sessions and lamented the third CSCS event with wet weather. Not that he has an issue with the wet, having set FTD at the previous two events. After going over the data from the Racepak IQ3 James was happy with the tweaks the team had made for Sunday and was looking forward to the shootout. Imagine his surprise when on the first hot lap he saw Beven Gray sitting on the outside of turn one. This indicated that the FTD was now possible as Beven had not completed a flying lap but it actually made James even more determined to lay down a number. And indeed he did, besting his previous UFWD record of 1:11.027 by a huge margin and setting the new mark at 1:10.202.

“I am really happy with re-setting the record, we have not looked at the Racepak data yet but hopefully it will indicate a nine is possible. The move to the Garrett turbo has allowed us to move forward performance wise and I can only thank all our product partners for their help. Setting this new record is not down to one component, it is the sum of all parts working together as a package. This new record is for everybody associated with the Acura Type R team, thanks again.”

The next event for the team is the Grind House, August 20th at Shannonville Motorsports Park.