The challenge of NASA Time Trial is never more apparent than in the run-up to the NASA Championships. Every detail counts, from the power output of the engine and the weight target you must attain, to the setup and driver preparedness.
Yes, you can put the car on the dyno and hit a number, but the elevation at Utah Motorsports Campus is roughly 4,400 feet above sea level, so lots of NASA TT competitors are doing those dyno pulls, which are empirical, and then adjusting power levels according to correction factors, which are theoretical. Those correction factors are well established by the Society of Automotive Engineers, but it’s just one of those critical details that you simply have to get right. Getting it wrong could mean a DQ.
That’s the beauty and difficulty of Time Trial, the hundreds of details off track that help reduce times by often as little as a few thousandths of a second.
The 2024 NASA Championships is playing host to a record number of competitors, 84 at present, and this year’s event will be the most competitive in NASA history. There’s a lot on the line, so we caught up with a few Time Trial competitors to see how they have been ramping up for this year’s Championships event.
Time Trial 1, Clayton Yates
Clayton Yates competes in Time Trial in the NASA Utah Region, so he is plenty familiar with the track. With a bit of a home track advantage, Yates has been focusing heavily on the car.
Yates recently tested his C7 Z06 Corvette on UMC’s Outer Loop, and found a few issues to fix after replacing the clutch, addressing some valve train problems and installing a new camshaft. He took his car to UMS Tuning in Phoenix to maximize the power output for the weight he is targeting. He got some help from his friend Dave Schotz, who has 14 NASA Championships titles to his name, so he’s probably a good resource.
“It’s going be pretty tough competition, and I don’t like to enter into any race thinking I don’t have a good chance of winning, so I want to try to win. Obviously the problem is everybody else also wants to try to win, so I’m just trying to really, really maximize that power to weight, take advantage of every pound and horsepower I can without going over,” Yates said. “We were going to do kind of a lightweight setup, run the car really light and then low on power. But Utah is a bit of a unique track. It’s kind of a horsepower track, so I added a little more weight so we could put in a little more power. So, yeah, making about 650 horsepower and about 3,700 pounds. So, relatively heavy.”
That tuning on the dyno in Phoenix required using those correction factors because Phoenix is about a 1,000 feet in elevation compared with 4,400 at UMC. Yates used those dyno sessions to maximize torque and the test sessions on track to dial in his suspension and aero settings.
“We sat down and figured out the best power to weight and then went to UMS in Phoenix and got everything we can out of it without being over,” Yates added. “So that was kind of the goal.”
Time Trial 2, Troy Coates
Time Trial 2 driver Troy Coates is the only competitor driving to Utah from the NASA Southeast Region. He said he’s making the long trip west to keep a promise.
Not long ago, Coates lost his wife to lung cancer, and during his time by her side in her five-year battle with the disease, he had no time for motorsports. Also during that time, his late wife made him promise he would carry on in his passion for racing.
“This is me keeping a promise,” Coates said. “She’s spent the last two years making me a promise no matter what, I would finish my car and go racing.”
This is Coates’ first season competing in NASA Time Trial and his first Championships event since coming up through the HPDE ranks. His car, a 2018 Ford Mustang GT350C — the C is for Coates — was built to letter of NASA’s Super Touring rules, which also govern TT, using an all-stock 5.2-liter flat-plane Ford Voodoo engine and powertrain, including the ECU and its tune. And that’s exactly as he wants it.
“I’m not dealing with different tunes or anything like that. It just makes it real simple. I’ve built the car around the performance of that motor and transmission combination from the factory,” said Coates who had knee replacement surgery last November. “So, I’ll be a newbie at the track. First year, first time ever at that track. I’ll be the old guy with aftermarket replacement parts installed.”
Time Trial 4, Caitlyn Singler
NASA Utah TT4 driver Caitlyn Singler has been making changes to her car in the run-up to the NASA Championships in an effort to get rid of bothersome understeer. She’s been dealing with it all year and now has improved turn-in and midcorner grip.
For her part, she has been racing at UMC all season long, but also doing a lot of sim racing and working on different braking techniques. As we all know, those last bits of speed and reductions in lap times almost always stem from braking. She knows TT4 is going to be extra competitive at this year’s Championships because it’s the largest TT class with 19 cars on grid.
“Even just this season, TT4 group just here in Utah has been really great and really competitive. I think I’ve grown a lot as a driver from the competition,” Singler said. “Looking at my times, I think I’m actually going to be really competitive.”
Time Trial Unlimited, Carlos Mejia
NASA SoCal TT racer Carlos Mejia is bringing his C6 Corvette Z06 to compete in Time Trial Unlimited in this year’s Championships. He knows he’s going up against some fast drivers in slick prototypes, so he is going to tackle that problem with a refurbished engine and fresh tires. Oh, and a blower.
“So, I went ahead and I put on an A&A supercharger on my Corvette,” Mejia said. “And at 5 pounds of boost it’s got 700 horsepower. I just got a different pulley for the lower, because I have underdrive, so I want more boost. So, maybe I have 7 pounds of boost instead of 5 because I need more boost up there in Utah because I can lose a couple pounds.”
Mejia also has added done significant aero testing this year and added cooling capabilities so the car stays cool at increased boost levels at UMC’s 4,400-foot elevation. Drivers of those prototypes might want to keep an eye out for the yellow Z06 with The Joker on the side.
