Due to all sorts of scheduling issues, my first track day of 2026 ended up being in July. I ran at both NJMP Lightning and Thunderbolt with S2K Takeover alongside EMRA.
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| Starting the day in the wet |
It had been raining quite a bit during the morning but thankfully it dried out by the time we got on track. During the first session, I felt something on the car but wasn't sure what it was. Turns out the front sway bar arm that had fallen off on my way to NYST year fell off again, this time completely. I was obviously not going to attempt to reinstall it and have it fall off a 3rd time so I disconnected one of the endlinks from the rear sway bar to have some semblance of balance. I'm going to replace this with a brand new sway bar, this time not as big as the oversized one I had from the car's BSP days.
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| Front sway bar arm that decided to peace out |
This year I made some massive changes to the car over the winter. We put in MCS 2-way adjustables with 850/750 springs, I added an AP Racing BBK with Carbotech XP10 pads, I switched to the new Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RZ 255/40/17 all aruond on new Volk Racing 17x10 wheels and I replaced my PasswordJDM intake with a J's Racing intake. Surprisingly, even with no sway bars, the car handled exceptionally well. I was a bit tepid during the first sessions to feel out the balance but once I gained confidence I was able to put in good lap times. The smaller snorkel of the J's Racing intake also allowed more air to make it to the radiator allowing my engine to run cooler or rather, to cool down more quickly after a hard run. I ran ok times at NJMP Lightning but not faster than last year. The tires hadn't achieved full grip yet and the same was true for my new brakes so I wasn't able to push as hard as I wanted.
NJMP Lightning - 1:21.26
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| NJMP Thunderbolt |
NJMP Thunderbolt - 1:35.23
