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Kenny Tran
was disappointed but not disheartened. "We decided to use the new
Turbo combination to get more power, and we have to do make some changes
to the fuel and ignition curves in the Motec computer." He explained.
"Normally we get three qualifying runs and that would have been more
than enough for Bob Norwood to collect some data and make the required
changes. As it turned out, the rain meant that the NHRA had to reduce
the qualifying sessions to a single pass. We took our best shot but we
didn't make it and we ended up losing in the first round of eliminations."
"We have
got a six-week break before the next event in Las Vegas and we will be
spending a lot of time testing new developments and getting ready to make
a charge for the second-half of the year. We are still within striking
distance of the factory GM and Mopar teams and we will be doing our best
to run them down."
The early
exit from the event opened the gap between Tran's Quaker State® Honda
Civic and Mike Crawford's second placed Dodge Neon but Tran is still in
a position to challenge for championship honors.
The real story
of the season so far has been the success of the automatic transmission
equipped, GM and Mopar entrants. The advantage of the automatics has been
consistant passes and minimal breakages. With this in mind Jotech Motorsports
are aiming to be the first auto-equipped Honda team in the Hot Rod class.
Crew Chief
Tony Palo explained: "The five speeds that we and everyone else with
a Honda uses are amazing in terms of durability. We are making at least
five-times the power that the five-speed is designed to handle and they
have coped very well until this season." He said. "The difference
now is that we are making more power and we have also increased the traction
so now the transmissions are starting to break under the stress. We have
been breaking at least three transmissions at every event and every race
that we have lost has been down to a transmission failure. The GM and
Mopar teams have proved that the automatics can cope better and we are
working hard to come up with our own automatic transmissions. We are working
with a couple of manufacturers on the development and we hope to be testing
fairly soon."
With the team
now in intensive R&D mode the next few weeks will be challenge for
the entire team but Tran is optimistic. "This break gives us the
time to do some serious testing and get ready to show what we can do.
The Vegas event should be a milestone for the team and we are all very
excited about the new developments that we are working on."
The next event
will take place on July 25-26th at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Contacts:
Jotech Racing: www.jotechracing.com
Quaker State Oil www.quakerstate.com
RaceWorks www.raceworks.net
NHRA www.nhrasportcompact.com
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