Hello DSMers ... For those that may have not been around the later part of the 2000's I'm Eddie Garrison and I raced a 2G DSM in road racing series called the Grand Bayou Race Series and NASA Pro Racing.

Due to some family issues and others that I will not go in to right now ... We had to shelve the car and the racing for a while. The TSi has not been fired in some time but with a recent move to Orlando, racing Karts in the area has fueled the racing fire once again.

The car is still in Pensacola (where we used to live) and as I said, has not been fired in some time. The goal now is to get it down to Orlando, partner with a shop here and begin the process of sorting the car out and get it running and racing again for the 2016 season. Hopefully it is not too far beyond getting ready and we will not have to start from scratch.

There is a lot of time, blood and money in this car and I would hate to not be able to get it back on a track. Worst case is that it doesn't pan out, we part the car and start on another race car build with the funds from that sale.

Anyway ... Just wanted to post this thread and see if any of the old faces were still around and racing still and hope to get more attention back on DSM road racing. It's been a while but I'm sure there are some still around.

Here are a few pictures of the car when we were racing with NASA Pro Racing at Road Atlanta....

Glad to hear you're still around! I had been wondering what happened to you and the car. Very cool that you're hoping to get the car back up and race it. Good luck and keep us updated

Thanks, Brian ... Yeah, somethings are best left personal is all. Looking to get the car down to Orlando soon and start getting it sorted to see what we have or what we don't have. Hopefully it's just a shake down and we can get it back up and running.

It was very strong in the last events I ran in back in 2009 so I'm hoping it's "simple" things and nothing major or major $$$$ to get it going. Shopping for garages this weekend to work a deal on work, storage and perhaps some money as well. But yeah, I'll keep the DSMers posted for sure on updates.

Is the series you raced in before still around or will you be looking for a new series to race in once you've got it running strong?

That series is still around in Louisiana, under a new name now called the Gulf Coast Racing Series. I chose that series as it was the closest to me when I lived in Pensacola. It was about a four hour pull, hauling the car and all.

I live in Orlando now so I'll look to run in the NASA Pro Racing series in 2016 at Sebring and Road Atlanta most likely in the Performance Touring class.

I remember when my friend Rick put the TRE trans in at Autocheck! I was loving that thing, man! Id like to see it again and Ive been getting my car slowly but surely set up to play at Road Atlanta. Any decent places in Florida to track? Havent found anything...

kchaazz said:

I remember when my friend Rick put the TRE trans in at Autocheck! I was loving that thing, man! Id like to see it again and Ive been getting my car slowly but surely set up to play at Road Atlanta. Any decent places in Florida to track? Havent found anything...

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Nice! Yeah, they did a great job for me on the tranny. Car is still in Pensacola ... Like I said, trying to get to Orlando when I can get to shake it down.

Nearest road courses in Florida are actually in Alabama and Louisiana. You have Talladega Gran Prix in Alabama and No Problem Raceway in Louisiana. Both within a four hour drive of Pensacola. Anything else in Florida is going to be here close to me in Central and Southern Florida like Sebring or Daytona.

Good to see you back Eddie. Hope you are able to bring some renewed road racing enthusiasm to the forum

By the way, what LSD are you running in that thing?

Ludachris - Thanks, Chris!! Hoping when we get the car down here and start posting more that will happen. Wouldn't mind finding other DSM road racers in the Orlando/Central Florida area and maybe start a small team if we can.

kchaazz - It's not a true "LSD" in the sense of an LSD .... It is a fully built Stage 3 TRE transmission with an LSD insert from, what I remember when I had the transmission built by them. Which was an excellent job and pretty quick turn around as well.

What a difference it made once we stepped up the power from the T-25 in the first season to the 16G in the second season. I blew the transmission and clutch when we went from 184 bhp to 284 bhp. Now I have full confidence the transmission is the best it can be for our application.

Cool, so its the Rip Grip then. So the insert really helps a good bit? I have had one of these in my hands before, and my friend installed one into his front dif on his FWD Laser, but I never drove the car before and after to test the difference. When I rode in it, it did seem to have less torque steer though, but he had also done the equal length axle mod before that.

Yes, it did help with the torque steer no doubt in tight corners on track for me as well. Their transmissions are awesome!! I highly recommend them to any DSMers out there.

I run a Rip Grip in mine as well, and have never experienced any issues with front inside wheel spin.

Ive got the TRE stage 4 with the addition of the EVO 3 5th gear. Its been quite nice so far.

Good to hear guys ... TRE built us a solid, solid transmission and has never given me any problems on track. I'm sure it is one of the only areas we will have no issues with when we start to shake the car down.

I am in the process of building my car towards road racing (I have 4 kids so its slow going) but I live 16miles from carolina motorsports park. And my brother is a racing instructor based out of jersey but he flys everywhere to race.
Not sure if you have raced at cmp or VIR. But those are the tracks im trying to set the car up for.
My transmission needs a rebuild and I wasn't sure who to go with as there isn't many road race dsm's out there.
Im also curious as to what suspension is best.
I have a 97 gsx. And what's on it now has to go.
If you guys ever head up this way let me know would love to come out and watch.

Well, TRE has been building my transmissions for...15 years ? I can't imagine going anywhere else.

How expen$ive are you willing to go on your suspension ? Guy Ankeney has already built Penskes for 2Gs, he can build another set no problem.

I have been meaning to build a set of Ohlins for my 2G, I just haven't had the time so far...

I've ran at VIR once before though not in a DSM ... I was running a Panoz GTS at that event with the SCCA in 2009.

My standard set up on springs is usually 650 lbs. (front) and 350 lbs. (rear) but I have a FWD and not an AWD so you may need to go heavier in the rear with the added weight.

Just as ACM stated, how much money can go to the suspension? To me, it's better for road racing to throw more money there than for speed needs. There is a reason Miatas are such great track cars with that small of HP under the hood. Most of them spend gobs of money on their suspension packages. That's where it counts in road racing. And I of course agree with him on TRE as that is who built my transmission and that thing is bullet proof.

Coilovers are a MUST as it gives you such a range to tune the suspension from track to track or how the car feels to you on that given day. We tune and fine tune on the suspension at every event seemingly after every run at times, even if we don't switch springs out at all.

Hey, I sympathize with you on trying to find money and time raising four children. That's cool with your brother. I did some HPDE instructing for NASA and the PCA back in 2008 & 2009 at No Problem Raceway in Louisiana. That was a lot of fun.

Builds don't always have to happen all at once. Believe me ... My car took the better part of two years to get to where it is now. It's a process when you're on a budget.

Although currently my plans for the car are to just race it when my brother comes to visit either of those two tracks, and maybe by myself on occasion so the suspension doesn't have to be over the top.
But there is one thing I hate doing and that's upgrading. Id rather spend more money and do it once and be happy. When the time comes to buy I would like to cap no more then $1500 (was contemplating feal suspension which I believe is around $1350 )

I am with you there on upgrading here and there. I would rather save for longer and get what I want/need that is correct in the end rather than waste money "just" to have upgrades and end up spending more money and time in the end.

Upgrading your suspension will not be a disappointment whatever route you go. Brakes & suspension are two HUGE upgrades I believe people that are just in it for speed over look. There is a reason that a Miata will pass a V8 on a track like nothing. There money was spent in the suspension and brake packages.

Yes, other cars may be faster, but can the car handle the power (physics wise) and can it stop that power? More often than not, the answer is no.

Not to mention if you will drive this car on the street, it will make it safer and more fun to drive

$500 BMW Lemons car races $150K Porsche Supercars and keeps up:
Prime example of what you are talking about. This is my brother driving one of his lemon cars at a track day.
sab0276 is his YouTube channel.

I was wondering two things as well, is running a moroso oil pan enough to take care of oiling issues?

And what size rims/tires and offset are best? I dont mind rolling fenders or even doing flares.

If you have questions about racing and/or building a car, please make your own thread to ask. Let's leave this thread for Eddie and his return to racing. We're all willing to help, but later on when someone comes to read about his return, they aren't going to want to sift through a bunch of questions to read all about it.

Welcome back, good to see another road racer, I am also in the process of building a 2g FWD.
We have a very good series going on here in Miami, we mostly race at Homestead and this year we have races scheduled at PBIR and Sebring, looking at Daytona next year.
At this past race we had over 100 cars registered and had to split the classes.
Check FARAUSA.com, if you have any questions I will be more than glad to help.
It is very competitive with top notch cars from all over.
Mandy

Are you running in this series, arrowhead?

From the looks of what is laid out in the 'Rules and Categories' section, my 2G DSM 2.0 Liter would be in the MP-3B class? The website rules and categories are a little confusing at first look. I'm sure I could contact someone with the series to see what class I would run my car in if we went into this series.

I did not see any other DSM's on the current registered drivers list and the numbers on that list differ from the number of drivers on the Points Standing list. But that's neither here nor there I suppose.

Glad to see a series close(r) to where we live now here in Orlando. Sounds and looks like it's a great series with very good turn outs. I would think/hope I could get a FARAUSA License with no issues with my racing background and the fact I have held two other competitive licenses in the past.

Looking though their website this is looking more and more like something I am very interested in.

For anyone interested, here is a video I found the other night of me racing this car at No Problem Raceway in the Grand Bayou Race Series. To put the speed in perspective ... On that long straight away, I hit around 120-125 mph before that little left/right deal to the chicane. Lap times are around 1:26 on this 1.8 mile 14 turn track.