Posted by Cosworth USA on Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Press Release from AQ Motorsports/HarmanMotive

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JC Meynet and the AQ Motorsports/HarmanMotive Team went racing this past weekend. They had some great results while utilizing a Cosworth 2.6 stroker longblock assembly in their STI.

Here is the press release that we received today:

Sunday August 2 2009 California Speedway, Fontana CA, Superlap Battle/NASAcompetition

In a typically hot SoCal summer day in Fontana, the team of JC Meynet and AQ Motorsports/HarmanMotive enjoyed another successful day of racing.

The team decided to race this event in order to do some testing of new modifications to the car and to prepare for the Redline Time Attack finals in November. This would be our only summer time race until the season gets busy for us again in the Fall.

Our day started off with a modest run in the first session where we managed a 1:47 flat in traffic (beating the old track record of 1:47.6) We then went out in the 2nd session with clear track and did a 1:44.6 on our well used tires that had already won 2 events for us. Unfortunately, another competitor in a well built Corvette had dropped the track record to a 1:44.3! The previous record holder was racing too and improved on his own best time with a 1:45.6 but it was not enough to preserve his record.

With the day getting hotter (track surface temps were approaching 130) we got ready for our 3rd session. After a few chassis and driver "adjustments", we headed out with some fresh tires. We managed to click off a 1:43.5 in our 1st lap, easily securing the TTU/SLB win and track record. We pulled into the pits so that our time would stand (our times would be eliminated if we put 4 wheels off course during the session so we elected to pull in order to preserve our times).

We are very happy with our car's performance, especially after all the heat issues we have had this year. We even upped our trap speed to just over 170mph from just under 160mph last year with the same power level through better corner exit speed and cleaner yet more effective aero. We also are using a data acquisition system that has really helped JC analyze and adjust his driving in ways not possible otherwise as well as being able to monitor the changes and improvements we make to the car.

The net result of our race is a new NASA TTU track record and win along with the Superlap Battle track record and win (this was a event within an event).

Our next race will be at Spring Mountain in Pahrump (near Las Vegas) in late September where we already have wins and 2 track records.

Check out this video from Willow Springs. Look for a sliding JC at the 2:07 mark.
http://speedhunters.com/archive/2009/08/04/video-gt-gt-desert-attack.aspx

Thank you to everyone who gives so much of their time and effort into our program as well as our sponsors: