Project TA90 V2 - Street Modified Time Attack Build

RRKnight said:

Man I just watch your latest video and I love the carbon hood. You mind sharing the information where I can get a hold of one? I'm in Toronto Canada and I think they are in my area right?

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Yes sir. The hood is part of our collaboration with Spage Sport, I’ll be making a separate update post later today or this weekend or something ha. Getting pictures ready. But yes it is made in kitchener, Ontario, and will be available in Carbon and fiberglass with or without the main vents. There will be extra fender vents as optional extra.
More details to come!

I should be studying for an exam tomorrow but too much has been happening and an update is definitely needed ha!

First off, The PhD Racing x Spage Sport A90 Supra aero kit was finally completed. We brought the car to Spage Sport, where Alex worked 50 hrs straight to pump everything out and installed before the car was due to ship out to Cali for Global Time Attack. It was awesome seeing the man work up close, the attention to detail was unbelievable.


Here is the front lip test fitted on the car. The final production version will have a bottom side and can be simply put over the existing front plastic lip and installed in place using the factory push pins.

After this, the chassis-mounted foam-core carbon splitter, trunk-mounted rear swan-neck GT Wing, and the 2-piece bonded dry carbon vented hood was installed. Every carbon part on this car will be made available for purchase through us at PhD Racing, pricing info coming soon.



The process of making these carbon fiber parts was absolute art and I made a video showing all the process, materials, and the attention to detail, check it out if you're interested.


We will have more street-oriented products coming soon, including a less aggressive rear wing and side skirts and so on. Hope to show you guys soon!

JackieD86 said:

I should be studying for an exam tomorrow but too much has been happening and an update is definitely needed ha!

First off, The PhD Racing x Spage Sport A90 Supra aero kit was finally completed. We brought the car to Spage Sport, where Alex worked 50 hrs straight to pump everything out and installed before the car was due to ship out to Cali for Global Time Attack. It was awesome seeing the man work up close, the attention to detail was unbelievable.

Here is the front lip test fitted on the car. The final production version will have a bottom side and can be simply put over the existing front plastic lip and installed in place using the factory push pins.

After this, the chassis-mounted foam-core carbon splitter, trunk-mounted rear swan-neck GT Wing, and the 2-piece bonded dry carbon vented hood was installed. Every carbon part on this car will be made available for purchase through us at PhD Racing, pricing info coming soon.

The process of making these carbon fiber parts was absolute art and I made a video showing all the process, materials, and the attention to detail, check it out if you're interested.


We will have more street-oriented products coming soon, including a less aggressive rear wing and side skirts and so on. Hope to show you guys soon!

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A stunner

Sorry guys, this update has been long overdue, but I think it's too good not to share.

With the car put together in about 10 days, we were hilariously out of time. Without any chance of even street testing (plenty of snow fall in Michigan/Canada), the Supra was loaded into a trailer and shipped out to California, for Global Time Attack at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. The aero parts stood up to the snow test ha.




We flew into LAX the day before the event, still with a lot on our to-do list. Although we had the Cusco harness bar installed and it was approved for use in GTA, I didn't like the flimsiness of the bar and its mounting locations. Considering my own driving history in the A90, I decided that a proper roll bar was the way to go for this build. Studio RSR was able to give me a good deal on their multi-point roll bar, and I actually requested that a few of their cross bars (for reinforcing passenger side) to be removed for weight-reduction purposes. The install was quick and took around 30 minutes, and although the car gained around 40~50 lbs of weight, I was very happy with the additional safety.



Alex from Spage Sport also flew in from Canada, and brought with him brand new dry carbon fender vents. They were designed to extract as much wheelwell pressure as possible, and installation involved trimming our massive carbon fiber hood (a bit painful to watch) and riveting in the new vents. For the future the vents can be bonded into the layers for a much cleaner look, but this is a prototype and we didn't have the time. In addition, the plastic fender liner pieces had to be trimmed, but it was a very simple job and didn't affect the rest of the fender liner's rigidity.



With that complete, we moved on to swap out the smaller Base rear brake system for the larger rotor & caliper from a Premium. I don't have pictures from this part but it was a sizable difference, and the pad shapes are completely different also. After that was complete, the rear pads were upgraded to CounterSpace Garage C11 compound to withstand the additional abuse on track. Fluids used was Endless RF650.

With final preparations complete, we rolled up to the paddock of Buttonwillow and readied ourselves for competition. It wasn't smooth, but my god was it epic. That will be the next part!

Car looks fantastic Jackie! Excellent work!

The car looks menacingly beautiful. Do you mind listing all the modifications done to this day ?

Any big brake kits (just a thoughtful advantage) in the near future to help with faster lap times ?

Q8_TwinTurbo said:

The car looks menacingly beautiful. Do you mind listing all the modifications done to this day ?

Any big brake kits (just a thoughtful advantage) in the near future to help with faster lap times ?

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We actually just installed a new BBK from Neo Motorsport, and I'm very excited to test it out, but the weather hasn't been cooperative lately. The Neo kit should be track-oriented and more budget-friendly set up than the Brembo or the AP Essex kits, and mine is still a prototype kit that they can rework the piston layout to improve the performance in the near future. Definitely won't be 4k USD per axle ha.



The full modification (at GTA Buttonwillow spec) list is as follows:

275/40/18 Yokohama ADVAN A052 on 18x10.5 +40 Titan 7 TS-5
Reinharte R2 Coilovers (10k front, 20k rear)
Eibach Front Sway Bar
SPL Adjustable Arms (Full set)
Motorsport Hardware Lug Stud & Bolt Kit
KW EDC Cancellers
OEM Premium Rear Brake Upgrade
CSG C2 Front, C11 Rear Brake Pad
Endless RF650 Brake Fluid
PhD x Spage Sport Supra TA90 Aero Kit (Splitter, Lip, Vented hood, rear GT Wing)
AMS Performance downpipe
AMS Performance tune
Studio RSR Roll bar
Sparco Evo QRT seats (driver & passenger)
Sparco 6-point racing harness
Raceseng Tug View tow hooks
BRIDE seat rails
Antigravity H5-30-RS Lithium Battery

Jackie,

Thank you for taking the time to list the modifications that you have done to this day. Wishing you all the best in the future. Be safe.

This part: Global Time Attack Finals @ Buttonwillow Raceway Park!



Saturday morning. It was clear that we weren't the only Supra on the grid for this year's GTA Finals. There were a total of eight A90s entered across the 4 classes, and five of them (us included) were in the most competitive Street class with a total of 30 cars. Seeing the HKS widebodied car and the Evasive SuperStreet car in person was cool, but we were razor focused on our target: finishing the event as the fastest A90.





Almost immediately, things weren't looking great. Having had zero test time, the car had much improved cornering abilities but the balance was very off, resorting to terminal understeer almost everywhere. What's worse, on our second practice lap the traction control flicks on by itself and I had no way of switching it off on track. The TC made the car misfire like crazy every corner, to the point where I feared that it would cause severe engine damage, so any chance of running with TC on was out of the question. Later in the weekend, my dash and infotainment display with randomly turn off with a warning that the rear E-diff will not be functional.



Nevertheless, we preserved. To combat the handling issue, we switched out the rear springs from 18k to 20k and raised the rear ride height, as well as trimming out the rear wing angle further. But for the electric issues, we had no real way of dealing with them other than disconnecting the battery, letting the car hard cycle, then reconnecting the battery. We suspected the dash & diff problem was related to our lithium battery (I opted for a 30 Ah battery instead of the largest 60 Ah for weight-savings), but again, no real solution on the spot other than keep trying to do laps and pray to god that the car stays functional for our fast laps.



Elsewhere in the paddock, electronic interference bothered almost every modified A90. The worst sufferer was likely the Evasive car with Dai Yoshihara, which could not even get out of the pit lane without triggering traction control. A few cars, however, didn't seem to suffer the same TC problems, and one thing they shared was upgrading with lowering springs only while retaining the stock dampers. Somehow for me, even though we did upgrade to coilovers, I would be able to squeeze out a single lap of balls-out attack mode before the TC turns on and we'd have to lose the rest of the session, so the plan was to make those single attempts count.



Easier said than done, considering it was only my second visit to Buttonwillow, and it's the first time we've ever driven the modified Supra. With small changes every session, the car was getting better and better. The soft marshmallow feel of the original car was gone, and in its place is a tightly-strung circuit weapon that is accurate and precise with my every input. With every flying lap, my times dropped further an further. 2:17 -> 1:54.6 -> 1:52.9, then on Sunday morning, we went out and did a 1:50.4. I had expected the car to run a 52-53, but a 50 was just incredible.



We kept pushing, and the car gave us more. Very next session, I was on a flyer, but had traffic and had to go around the outside of a Porsche GT3 at 100 mph at Riverside, one of the fastest corners on the whole track. I pushed on to clock in a 1:50.059, hundredths away from the 1:49 that we dreamed about so much. Sadly the Supra refused to cooperate to give me anymore chances, and as annoyed as I was, I'm pleased with our time. Not only did we finish the event as the fastest Supra A90 by 2 seconds, but we finished 4th overall in Street class, behind an Evo and two crazily powerful STI's. Just phenomenal, especially considering the car was put together in 2 weeks and shipped out with no testing at all.



The whole thing felt like a dream. Mentally, it was a huge relief. The burden of crashing the grey V1 car felt like it just evaporated off my shoulders and I was able to move forward once more. Of course, we'll continue to push on with developments on the red car, and I hope I'll have a lot more stories to tell very soon!

JackieD86,
Congratulations on becoming the fastest Supra during the Global Time Attack Finals @ Buttonwillow Raceway Park. Great outcome although you had no time for prepping the car to suit the track. Nonetheless, a great achievement. Job well done.

How much more confidence did the new Big Brake kit give ? Was there a great difference in stopping power coming from the stock brakes with only upgraded pads and oil fluid ?

I guess the A90 Supra's electronic gremlins will be sorted out eventually.
Great photos and good driving. Stay safe.

these cars look nuts on the track.

loving it mate, keep it up. hopefully see you on the track down under some point

Outstanding. Nice job with the car and the driving.

Main thread is updated!

Q8_TwinTurbo said:

How much more confidence did the new Big Brake kit give ? Was there a great difference in stopping power coming from the stock brakes with only upgraded pads and oil fluid ?

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The Buttonwillow event was ran without the BBK upgrade and we haven't had any track time due to weather, so I don't have much to share yet. Hopefully I can answer that very soon!

MA617M said:

hopefully see you on the track down under some point

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We'd love to come to World Time Attack Challenge at Sydney Motorsports Park in the future! It'll be a very costly event but it's the pinnacle of Time Attack so I'd love to make it happen.

Outstanding achievements sir

Hopeful tc issues are done with soon for you to enjoy all laps

Thanks for sharing details

More updates on the TA90!

We're preparing for our next event, Super Lap Battle USA at Circuit of the Americas on 2/15-16. This is the big boy Formula 1 track, and always a highlight on our calendar. A few things to highlight from our previous event, the car lacked a bit of front downforce, the handling could be a little more balanced and less understeery, and we needed to get on top of the electrical module's problems. So let's get on that one by one.

Spage Sport took the car over for a full rework of the front splitter. The mounting brackets were adjusted, a new filler pieces was bonded into the splitter, and front carbon endplates are installed on the sides of the splitter. It is very much pushing the limits of what the rulebook allows, so we'll be bring a grinder to the tracks just in case it's a little bit too much ha. Spage was also busy working on the vented front fender piece, but unfortunately it wasn't ready in time. Meanwhile, the guys as C17 Media gave the front of the car a fresh layer of wrap and design. Very much inspired by the GR, but with our own color scheme and a bit of inspirations from the TS010 prototype!




We'll be making suspension changes on Tuesday, then working on powertrain the rest of the week with AMS Performance. Stay tuned!