Builds>>chris Rado’s ’09 Time Attack Scion Update

If you have been following Speedhunters regularly, then you've likely read about Chris Rado and the World Racing team's adventures with their Scion tC time attack car. The team has been hard at work redoing the car for the 2009 time attack season, and I just spoke with Chris a bit about some of the updates they are doing to for the new season. From what he's told me, this car will truly be bringing American-built time attack cars to a whole new level.

Anyone will tell you that a capable time attack car should have a complete balance of horsepower and handling. Horsepower has never been an issue for World Racing, but after pushing the stock Scion chassis components to their limit with the previous setup, the new tC is being significantly beefed up to handle the 800 ft lbs of torque that it's making.

The 2.7+ liter stroker engine will be seeing a slight power increase from last year's car, but again making sure the rest of the car can stand up to the power has been the most important aspect of this build.

It's hard to believe that somewhere under all of that madness is something that has its roots in the engine under the hood of that beige Toyota Camry parked down the street…

If you have read the blog entries Chris made last season, then you know about the transmission troubles that plagued the team last year. With an all new heavy duty Xtrac six-speed sequential transmission, the new setup should be both durable and faster than the normal transmission on the old car. To get things rolling, a standard floor-mounted shifter will be used, but later it will be converted to a steering wheel-mounted setup.

The most significant changes are coming to the body and chassis. Chris says that the new car will be between 400 and 500 pounds lighter than the old one. The stock Scion tC has a glass roof that weighs in 160 pounds, and that has been removed and replaced with a carbon panel that weighs about 10 lbs.

On the previous setup, the wide wheels and tires were putting so much stress on the tC's stock hubs and wheel bearings that Chris would have to pump the brakes before each corner, adding precious seconds to each lap. The new car will feature custom hubs and spindles that should easily handle the 10.5" wide wheels and 275 width Hankook tires.

And finally we have the car's new aero setup. Here you can see the new and improved (and gigantic) wing that's been mounted on the rear. The unlimited class has no rules on aero parts, so you can expect to see some wild-looking parts on the new car. There are also plans for a front spoiler, which I've been trying to visualize in my head. When Chris was talking about the car's new aerodynamics he said "Do you remember the days of the winged Can Am racers? Well, those days are back"…

The car should be completed mechanically in about two weeks and it will undergo some shakedown runs before being disassembled for paint. Chris says the official competition debut for the new car should be at the Redline Time Attack event at Willow Springs in May.

(We apologize about the confusion over the photos in the earlier version of this post)

Check out Chris Rado's Speedhunters blog entries here and here for more info on this project.

Photos from CH Autophoto

-Mike Garrett

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1

NICE !

We'll see how it turns out.

2

Why campaing a car that doesn't come close to factory production ?

3

wow cant wait to see this in action. that rear wing looks like it can supply enough downforce just on shear mass. huge

4

@ tobar - Heaps of series are like that. From drag cars to Super GT to Le Mans. Lucky to have anything besides the shape of the roof the same :)

5

What a complete waste of time and money.

6

@mc, hopefully not...we might see an awd or rwd scion tc develop from this

7

I think this is cool. Hopefully Scion uses some of these ideas (awd or rwd) and wider body, etc on future designs of the Tc.

8

this car actually going to be running? or is it just going to be sidelined most of the time?

9

This car will be racing in two weeks

10

I just re-read what Mike posted......800 ft/tq?????

When do American realize that power is NOT everything? The EVO CTR230R demolished the Button Willow racetrack with "only" 560 hp......(and so did Tarzan's STi).....

11

Alex you got it right.



Those guys can drive, Rado can't.



It's not about power it's about the driver. Go look at SuperLapBattle results.. that says a lot.

12

Damn that might be true Rado isn't a better driver than Tarzan but atleast he is making an effort. He is doing something that most people will never do. Damn appriciate it.

13

Pistonhead Joe said:



@mc, hopefully not...we might see an awd or rwd scion tc develop from this

-

THAT would be awesome. The current wrong-wheel drive setup....not so much.

14

"wrong"-wheel drive, "fail"wheel drive... this is getting old. EVERY car forum has people that say this and it started ever since drifting became popular everywhere else besides Japan. With the right set up FF cars can perform extremely well... just not at drifting lol!

15

you gotta appreciate all types of drivetrains ryoga. AWD, RWD, FWD doesnt matter, its the person whos behind the wheel that matters most. though it would be nice to have an awd or rwd tc.

16

Just to clarify for some of you every piece of this car except for the transmission is a factory Toyota part and those Japan based AWD cars don't run stock gear boxes either. Also the only reason for so much power is this there is no way with FWD to put ANY real power even 450hp down to the ground coming out of a low speed turn... especially up hill so there are many tracks and places on all tracks where we are at a disadvantage to RWD or AWD. The only time we use more then 550hp is on straights to make a little up for what we lose in certain corners. This car runs 7different boost or Hp stages based on speed and where we are on the course. I hope this helps some of you understand the method to some of our madness.

17

Just to clarify for some of you every piece of this car except for the transmission is a factory Toyota part and those Japan based AWD cars don't run stock gear boxes either. Also the only reason for so much power is this there is no way with FWD to put ANY real power even 450hp down to the ground coming out of a low speed turn... especially up hill so there are many tracks and places on all tracks where we are at a disadvantage to RWD or AWD. The only time we use more then 550hp is on straights to make a little up for what we lose in certain corners. This car runs 7different boost or Hp stages based on speed and where we are on the course. I hope this helps some of you understand the method to some of our madness.

18

scion is your sponser, campain a car that buyers can identify with. like the saying "win on sunday , sell on monday"



19

Rado can't drive ??? Are you mad? The guy set lot's of track records and drives for a living! What about you? I understand that some may think that the car is overkill but it is an open class car and as such it should push to the limits...it would be pretty boring if the car's didn't go to the extreme. Good on ya' Rado.

20

"scion is your sponser, campain a car that buyers can identify with. like the saying "win on sunday , sell on monday"



Ignorant? Not too sure why you are attacking this but I would hope you go after all the PROs in the world of motorsports. Does a Ferrari F1 car look like any ferrari you have ever seen on the street? What about the Dodge TOP Fuel Funny Car? Does that resemble a Dodge Charger?



The fact is you don't seem to understand the corporate side of things. Your given factory backing to go out there and put on a show and go fast and draw attention. Not to build a car like everyone else. There are tons of pro class cars in the time attack, drift, & drag scene that do not comply with looking factory or campaign the engine platform that the factory production car came with. Especially in the drift/time attack arena now that it has grown there are tons of pretty much 3/4 tube chassis cars out there (ALLOWED BY RULES!). Now onto Rado's tC. Does an xtrac, wide body, & 295 tire make this car overkill??? Yeah their are some crazy little trick things in the tC it seems. But would you be complaining if they went out there with a street class car sponsored by scion and didnt go fast? No! You'd be laughing and asking, "Why are they even sponsored?" WORLD Racing does tons of things to reach out to the SCION community on a daily basis if you didn't know that. Take a look at their website http://www.descendant-racing.com. They make street turbo kits and performance accessories for scion street enthusiast. Seems like they just like going racing for fun and help to support SCION at the race tracks.



Please be respectful next time you talk to someone that has done a great deal for the industry and has helped tons of people throughout his time involved

21

All the hater in this thread make me laugh. At least Scion, and Rado are trying something and stand behind theyre products. Unlike Honda, who decided to stop in Formula 1 for lack of funding. In my eyes it was the fact they sucked, and it was hurting theyre image, especially with Toyota outpacing every race weekend.

22

I think world racing is doing a bad ass job. I do not see Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Subaru getting involved like that. I see TOMEI, CUSCO and a numerous of other cars that instead of being sponcered from the factory are sponcered through the aftermarket shops that they come out of. Mostly all from japan also. and the cars that claim are from here originally came from Japanese tuners and tweaked here. good job for scion and world racing. they are doing things different.

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