N1 Racing Blog

2011 Video Documentary Filming: Episode 1

2011-05-07T04:49:00.000-07:00

Last night marked the first time that we met with our videographer Nick Cahill, owner of Cahill Films at the shop (N1 Concepts Inc. in Hayward, CA) to begin filming Episode 1 of our 2011 N1 Racing 5-Part Video Documentary.

From left to right: N1 Concepts Street-Spec DC2 K20 Type R, ATS Japan x J's Racing x N1 Concepts DC2 Type R Super Taikyu Race Car, N1 Racing Unlimited/Super Modified Class Time Attack S2000 aka "Maria"

The plan is to release a total of 5 episodes during the year that highlight our team, our build process for increasing Maria's level of competitiveness in the Unlimited/Super Modified Class, tuning, testing, and racing while overcoming the challenges that we face when campaigning our Honda S2000 with what is easily the smallest budget out of any other Unlimited/Super Modified Class team in Redline Time Attack, Super Lap Battle, and Global Time Attack.

From left to right: N1 Racing Mechanic Chris Le, N1 Racing Crew Chief Johnny Ngo, N1 Racing Driver Andrie Hartanto

We hope to show people that a properly set up S2000 can be just as fast when pitted against higher horsepower race cars (primarily AWD) and we're confident that our world-class driver, Andrie Hartanto, is up to the task. It also helps that we enter into the 2011 season with some of the best sponsor support that we could possibly ask for from Hankook Tire USA, Brian Crower, AFI Turbo, RAYS Engineering, and CT Engineering.

From left to right: N1 Racing Videographer Nick Cahill, N1 Racing Crew Chief Johnny Ngo

Mocking up our new AFI Turbo manifold and 3076GTX turbocharger from Garrett

The goal for last night was to test fit our new engine (an N1 Concepts built Brian Crower F2.47L) along with our new turbocharged setup that comprises of AFI Turbo manifolds and downpipe, TiAL 38mm wastegates, TiAL blow off valve, and a 3076GTX supplied by Garrett. Cooling is provided by a unique Air-to-Water system from CT Engineering.

Checking the fitment within the engine bay

The entire team working hard late into the night

Our target is to develop a reliable 450-550whp (nearly double that of what we won the 2010 Redline Time Attack Super Modified RWD Championship with).

Our new AFI Turbo intake manifold compared to our custom box that fed the Toda Individual Throttle Bodies from our naturally aspirated engine

Checking the clearance before installing our new throttle body

From left to right: N1 Racing Mechanic Andrew Eng, N1 Racing Crew Chief Johnny Ngo, N1 Racing Driver Andrie Hartanto, N1 Racing Mechanic Christopher Le

We ended the evening feeling rather accomplished and therefore decided to celebrate by knocking back a few beers and hanging out in our newly remodeled showroom (we love RHD JDM Type R's). What do you think?

From left to right: N1 Concepts JDM RHD Spoon Sports spec EK9 Civic Type R, N1 Concepts JDM RHD DC5 Integra Type R

Stay tuned for updates next week as we'll be building & installing our new CT Engineering reinforced LSD!

Introducing our newest sponsor: CT Engineering

2011-04-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

Good morning! We're incredibly excited to introduce our newest sponsor: CT Engineering. Our team will be working together with the talented engineers at CT to produce exceptional winning results in all of our upcoming racing endeavors from now on.

This week, our S2000 will be equipped with the CT-Engineering Competition Reinforced Differential Housing in anticipation for the significant increase in horsepower that our new forced induction engine will be making. We're looking forward to testing this new setup in early May at Infineon Raceway and Thunderhill Raceway in preparation for the upcoming Redline Pro Time Attack race in June.

Stay tuned as we update our progress along with detailed photos! In the meantime, be sure to head on over to the CT Engineering website to learn more about their incredible race-proven products:
www.ct-engineering.com

New Intake Manifold From AFI Turbo Arrived Today!

2011-01-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

Maria+3076GTX+AFI Turbo=Win.

Be sure to check out the official AFI Turbo website!

Our 2010 Championship Trophy has arrived!

2011-01-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

Our 2010 Championship Trophy (plaque), fresh from the guys over at Redline Time Attack:

The entire N1 Racing team would like to thank all of our incredible sponsors: Hankook Tire, J's Racing Japan, Brian Crower, Mackin Industries & Rays Engineering. Special thanks go out to GST Motorsports, City Tire Online, AFI Turbo, Kraftwerks USA, Toda Racing, Laboratory 17, DNR Performance, and EFI Tuner Andy Chan. We couldn't have done it without all of your generous support!

Less than sixty days until the 2011 season starts. We're working hard to improve Maria (our S2000) so we can defend our championship title during this year's Redline Pro Time Attack series!

N1 Racing in the new 2011 J's Racing Calendar!

2010-12-22T00:43:00.000-08:00

Check out the awesome new J's Racing 2011 Calendar featuring our 2010 Redline Time Attack Championship winning S2000 (Maria) along with the ATS Japan x J's Racing x N1 Concepts DC2 Type R.

Special thanks go out to Mr. Murakami at J's Racing Japan, Paul at Hankook Tire USA, Brian at Brian Crower, Eddie at Mackin Industries & RAYS Engineering, Mike & Josh at AFI Turbo, John at City Tire Online, Mike and the gang at GST Motorsports, Oscar Jr. & Oscar Sr. at Kraftwerks USA, Vanessa at CP Carrillo, and everyone else who have supported us along the way. Merry Christmas and we look forward to seeing all of you in 2011!

Be sure to purchase your copy from N1 Concepts in early January - vsit the online store for details: www.N1Concepts.com

Merry Christmas from AFI Turbo!

2010-12-16T17:16:00.000-08:00

Santa, err, AFI Turbo sent us some gifts today for testing. We're anxious to have everything together by January. Stay tuned for details!

N1 RACING WINS 2010 REDLINE TIME ATTACK SUPER MODIFIED RWD CHAMPIONSHIP!

2010-11-17T22:52:00.000-08:00

November 17, 2010 – The N1 Racing team finished the 2010 Redline Time Attack season of competition on Sunday November 14, 2010 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California with a commanding lead in the Super Modified RWD Class and was awarded the 2010 Championship win after securing 139 points (more than double that of the next Super Modified RWD team).

This was an incredible accomplishment considering the team competed the entire season with its S2000 being powered by a 231whp naturally aspirated F2.3L engine. Driver Andrie Hartanto pushed the car to its limits each weekend and the team worked together to overcome many obstacles throughout the season in order to finish on top amidst fierce competition.

The entire N1 Racing team would like to thank all of its incredible sponsors, Hankook Tire, J’s Racing Japan, Brian Crower, Mackin Industries and Rays Engineering. Special thanks to GST Motorsports, City Tire Online, AFI Turbo, Kraftwerks USA, Toda Racing, Laboratory 17, DNR Performance, and EFI Tuner Andy Chan.

The team will be working hard during the next few months with its existing sponsors as well as new sponsors for the upcoming 2011 season of competition.

For more information regarding this press release, please contact N1 Racing Team Principal Tom Tang via email: tom@n1concepts.com

N1 RACING PLACES 3RD PLACE UNLIMITED FR DURING 2010 SUPER LAP BATTLE FINALS AT BUTTONWILLOW RACEWAY PARK

2010-11-11T08:27:00.000-08:00

UNLIMITED FR CLASS 3RD PLACE FINISH WITH 1:51:055

November 11, 2010 – The N1 Racing team competed in the 2010 Super Lap Battle Finals at Buttonwillow Raceway Park running the Clockwise 13 configuration on Wednesday November 10, 2010. The day began early, as there would be only one practice session allotted per group before the teams would proceed directly into the three timed sessions in the afternoon. This meant that the competition was incredibly intense and that the pressure to do well was felt by all of the drivers and teams in attendance.

The N1 Concepts/Hankook Tire/Brian Crower/RAYS Engineering S2000 piloted by driver Andrie Hartanto was able to turn lap times in the mid to high 1:52 range during the morning practice session. However, it was during this session that the team began to notice a power delivery issue (Hartanto reported that the car felt as though it was bogging down at corner exits). Unfortunately, given the tight schedule between timed sessions, N1 Racing mechanics Johnny Ngo, Andrew Eng, and Chris Le were unable to track down and remedy the issue before the end of the day. They were however able to work with Hartanto to improve the car and squeeze out a few more milliseconds.

By the end of the final timed session the S2000 had recorded a lap time of 1:51:055, an incredible achievement given that this placed the car in 3rd in the Unlimited FR class, as well as 8th place overall for the day! Keep in mind that the N1 Racing S2000 is running a naturally aspirated F2.3L engine producing 231 wheel horsepower (measured on the GST Motorsports Dyno).

As always, the N1 Racing Team would like to thank all of its sponsors, N1 Concepts, Hankook Tire, Brian Crower, RAYS Engineering, AFI Turbo, J’s Racing Japan, and Kraftwerks USA for making this year possible.

Visit N1 Concepts online: www.n1concepts.com

Photos and videos will be posted soon! We're waiting on a few photographers to email us content. Please be sure to check back.

For more information regarding this press release, please contact N1 Racing Team Principal Tom Tang via email: tom@n1concepts.com

Plum Chan gets dirty on top of Maria...WHAT?!

2010-11-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

If the title of this post didn't grab your attention then you don't belong on our blog. Hahaha. Just kidding! All jokes aside, in case you're still confused, Maria is the name of our S2000. We named her after Maria Ozawa, the super bangin half-Japanese porn star. The reasons were simple. Our car, like Miss Ozawa, was born and raised in Japan (in this case, Osaka instead of Hokkaido-don't ask us how we know that, haha). And like Miss Ozawa, our S2000 (often very clean and appealing to look at) also knows when to get down and dirty, especially during race weekends.

Plum Chan, on the other hand is the adorable name of the J's Racing decal that we happen to sell (www.n1concepts.com), who for the past three weeks has been helping us to cover some boo-boo's on the right side of Maria.

Stay tuned as we prepare Maria for the upcoming Super Lap Battle at Buttonwillow Raceway in less than four days! Following that we'll be at the Redline Time Attack Finals at Auto Club Speedway. Wish us luck!

Update as of Sunday November 7th:

N1 Racing Takes 2nd Place at Infineon Raceway!

2010-10-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

N1 RACING SECURES 2010 REDLINE TIME ATTACK CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE IN THE
SUPER MODIFIED RWD CLASS WITH A 2ND PLACE FINISH AT INFINEON RACEWAY

SUPER MODIFIED REAR WHEEL DRIVE CLASS 2ND PLACE WITH 2:39:764

October 25, 2010 - The N1 Racing team continues to pull ahead in the 2010 Redline Time Attack Championship Series in the Super Modified RWD class with a 2nd place finish during Round 9, held at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California this past weekend. With only the final race remaining at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday November 14th, the team has ensured that they will be awarded the 2010 Redline Time Attack Championship Title with a commanding lead over the Super Modified RWD class.

The weekend would prove to be difficult for the N1 Racing team, beginning with a last minute engine failure that occurred during a tuning session at approximately 10PM on Friday October 22nd. The team had originally intended to debut this new F2.47L engine the following morning, but with the unforeseen setback they were forced to immediately revert back to the F2.3L engine that had been powering the car all year long. This meant that the N1 mechanics worked all through the night to finish the car in time, and incredibly enough, the S2000 arrived at the track by 8AM Saturday morning, ready to race.

Saturday practice began with all of the teams struggling to put down fast laps in harsh rain conditions. N1 Racing driver Andrie Hartanto was only able to record one lap due to the fact that the team did not receive full-wet tires in time. Therefore Hartanto went out during the 3rd Advanced practice session with the rain at it’s lightest since the morning on Hankook Ventus Z214 C91’s and recorded a 1:55:717, which would be the seventh fastest lap time of the day overall. Heavy downpours in the afternoon prevented any other teams from recording lap times below the two-minute mark, and in an effort to preserve the S2000 for the time attack sessions the following day, the N1 Racing team decided to pack up and get some much needed rest.

Sunday morning opened with even heavier rainfall than the day before, leaving most of the Super Modified class cars running qualifying lap times between 2:24:xxx and 2:40:xxx. The N1 Racing team received Hankook Z222 RS-3 tires in the morning, which although far more effective in the rain than the Z214’s from the day before, still proved to be inadequate due to the heavy downpour. Hartanto was only able to record a best lap time of 2:39:764 during the Record Assault Time Attack session, putting the N1 Racing S2000 in 2nd place behind Brandon Davis’ 1st place lap time of 2:16:555 in the ACS SPEED World Challenge GT Mustang.

The entire N1 Racing team would like to thank all of our incredible sponsors, along with John from City Tire Online, Josh and Mike from AFI Turbo, and last but certainly not least, Mike, Tommy, Earl, Jeff, and Keith from GST Motorsports. The team would not have been able to succeed without each and every one of you this season. Thank you.

Moving forward, the N1 Racing team will continue to improve its S2000 in preparation for the 2010 Super Lap Battle Finals as well as the 2010 Redline Time Attack Finals. Both events fall within a four-day span, so it will be a very exciting finish to the team’s 2010 calendar of competition. However, with exceptional support from Hankook Tire, Brian Crower, J’s Racing Japan, and RAYS Engineering, the team is confident in it’s ability to achieve winning results and is anxious to finish the year strong.

Visit N1 Concepts online: www.n1concepts.com

For more information regarding this press release, please contact N1 Racing Team Principal Tom Tang via email: tom@n1concepts.com

Final preparations before this weekend's Redline Time Attack at Infineon Raceway

2010-10-22T13:48:00.001-07:00

Adjusting our suspension to compensate for the rain:

New SEIDOYA GT-600 rear pads:

The N1 x BC F2.47L fires up for the first time!

2010-10-21T18:04:00.001-07:00

HUGE thanks go out to Brian Crower, Hankook Tire, J's Racing, RAYS Engineering, Comptech USA, and our great mechanics at N1 Concepts Inc.

Stay tuned for videos tomorrow - we'll be on the dyno at GST Motorsports!

Ready to fire up!

2010-10-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

Update: 2:55PM

2010-10-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Snug fit. =P

Update: 10:18AM

2010-10-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

Beam me up! =P

Update as of 4:30AM this morning

2010-10-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned as we fire it up this morning!

Finishing the assembly of our new Brian Crower F2.47L race motor

2010-10-20T23:51:00.001-07:00

It's 11:52PM, and with only 3 days to go before Round 9 of Redline Time Attack we're anxious to finish the installation of our new Brian Crower F2.47L motor into our S2000. As of today the weather forecast for Infineon Raceway is showing rain, so we're going to be making some adjustments to our car tomorrow in order to better prepare for the weather.

Stay tuned for more details as we work our asses off to get everything done in time. Huge thanks go out to all of our sponsors, especially to Hankook Tire, Brian Crower, Comptech USA, and to our good friends & fellow teammates over at GST Motorsports who will once again be generous enough to let us use their dyno before the big race weekend.

N1 Racing begins building new Brian Crower F2.47 engine for our S2000!

2010-09-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

We were super excited to receive a shipment from Brian Crower today. The contents included all of the components necessary for our new BC F2.47 13:1 compression engine to power our S2000 for the remainder of the 2010 season. Here's a sneak peek. We'll be posting detailed build photos soon! HUGE THANKS to Brian and the team over at BC. N1 x BC for the win! Support us by bookmarking www.BrianCrower.com

Open Track Day at Thunderhill: Photos & Recap

2010-08-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a long day at Thunderhill and oh, what a day it was! Once again we drove up to the track with barely any sleep the night before. This time we were joined by our long time friend Mike Wong (from Dimensional 1 Racing) who helped us wrench on our K20 Type R powered Honda Fit and ATS x J's Racing DC2 Type R until almost 5am.

Most of you are probably familiar with our DC2, however you might not know too much about our Honda Fit. The car began in 2006 after we imported it from Japan and became the first in the United States to perform a K20A swap (an accomplishment that would be featured in Super Street later that year). 3 years later after being campaigned as a show & drag car we decided to give the Fit a break and focus on our S2000 program. However, we recently decided that it was time to update the Fit for circuit duty as a car that we could drive for fun, and so we worked to install HKS Hipermax Dampers, large APP brakes in the front, and a new K20A Type R engine with LSD transmission.

The end result was totally worth it. We were able to make adjustments to the car, collect valuable data, all while having a blast. The Fit was piloted today by our Team Principal, Tom Tang, along with Mechanic Andrew Eng, Norman Tong, and our S2000 driver: Andrie Hartanto. The DC2 was piloted by our Chief Mechanic, Johnny Ngo, and Mike Wong. We also had a few guest passengers during some of the sessions (including the lovely Miss Courtney Diep from NOS Energy Drink).

All in all, it was great to spend some time away from the shop in a track environment that lacked the pressures of a race weekend. We're looking forward to hosting more track days with Limitless Motorsports in the near future, so stay tuned.

Special thanks to our customer and friend Will for lending us his seatbelt buckle. Sweet dreams buddy! Haha.

ALSO: The Stig drives for N1 Concepts. Say what!? Haha.

Octane Report: A Lap of Buttonwillow with the N1 Concepts S2000

2010-07-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Joey Leh for a fantastic writeup of our car. Click below to see the video in 720P (recorded during one of our practice runs while we struggled with mechanical issues at the 2010 Season Opener of Redline Time Attack).

Click here for the full writeup.

Video of our N1 Concepts x ATS x J's Racing DC2 Type R at Thunderhill!

2010-07-23T11:33:00.001-07:00

Huge thanks to 8For16Destiny for making such an awesome video!

Look for us to bring this car back out to Thunderhill in 2 weeks. For more information see the post below:

N1 Racing will be co-hosting an open track day at Thunderhill Raceway with Limitless Motorsports on Tuesday August 17th!

2010-07-10T17:26:00.000-07:00

Join us as we celebrate the 2 year anniversary of Limitless Motorsports by hosting an open track day together at Thunderhill Raceway on Tuesday August 17th from 8am-5pm.

Presented by Limitless Motorsports, N1 Concepts, TunerPlayground, NOS Energy Drink, Fatlace, Bob's Donuts, and Blox Racing - this event will feature full track grip, skid pad drift, vendor midway, FREE ice-cold NOS Energy Drinks, model ride alongs, water gun fights, and more!

We will be running our S2000 Time Attack Race Car and DC2 Type R Time Attack Race Car all day long. Be sure to come out and support your local shops and have a great time!

Space is limited. $165 for grip. $65 for drift.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TODAY!

Need parts, service, or advice on getting your car ready for this event? Visit us online: www.n1concepts.com or call us at 510.487.8889

N1 Racing to debut ATS x J's Racing DC2 Type R at Thunderhill tomorrow!

2010-07-07T03:06:00.000-07:00

We're excited to be testing our ATS x J's Racing DC2 Type R tomorrow at Thunderhill Raceway. Stay tuned for in-car videos, photos, and more!

N1 Racing Secures Partnerships with Brian Crower & Kraftwerks USA!

2010-06-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

We're extremely excited today to reveal the two new presenting sponsors who will be pivotal in N1 Racing's program for the remainder of the 2010 season and through 2011:

Brian Crower - Brian will be supplying us with his exceptional engine components as we work together to develop a high horsepower naturally aspirated engine (look for the BC 2.47L Stroker Kit, Valves, Full Race Camshafts, Valvesprings, Retainers, and more). This engine will be powering our S2000 as we strive to break the current 1:49:xx NA lap record set at Buttonwillow C13.

www.BrianCrower.com

Kraftwerks USA - Much to our pleasant surprise, Oscar Jackson Sr. and Oscar Jackson Jr. told us that they've been "waiting for the right team with the right program to come along". Therefore we feel incredibly honored to be partnering with them as they supply us with their awesome supercharger systems. Together we will work to push our S2000 beyond class wins and towards overall wins and outright lap records.

www.KraftWerksUSA.com

We'll be posting more information soon. Also look for us to begin documenting our engine build process next month!

Any inquiries regarding this topic or the N1 Concepts x Hankook Tire x BC x Kraftwerks x Rays Engineering S2000 should be forwarded to N1 Racing Team Principal Tom Tang via email: tom@n1concepts.com

It's alive!!

2010-06-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday after the Super Modified Time Attack Session #1 Record Assault:

As of 30 minutes ago:

Johnny, Drew, and Linh - you guys are freaking awesome! We're almost back in business!
Go Team N1! =D