You know how I know I’m getting old? I went outside in the sun at Buttonwillow for about 40 minutes and had a headache for 3 days after! Fuck. I’m semi-joking of course but holy crap am I not equipped to be out in the heat these days. There was already a bit of hesitation on my part to even drive out to Buttonwillow for a track day but my friends requested my presence, so who was I to say no?…
Amir and Muoi from RSFuture decided to host a track day at Buttonwillow Raceway about a week ago so my good friend Robert Chew thought that it’d be a good idea to get some test laps in with his Tesla Model S P100D. It’s a project car he’s been trying to get products developed for through TDG and getting the car on the track would be great for research purposes. He didn’t have any expectations going into it in terms of lap times, it was more so just seeing what the car could do and what sort of limitations the electric vehicle has in a competitive environment. I posted a Vlog about it the other day, so make sure you watch that if you’re interested. It’s a bit of a departure from the usual cars we mess around with but it’s interesting and provides some good information…
The rest of my time at Buttonwillow was spent hiding in the shade. It was about 109 degrees by the late afternoon and I think it wore everyone out seeing as how many people left fairly early. I really tried walking around to shoot photos of some of the more interesting cars that were there but it was just so draining. There was a point when I even hopped into my car and drove around the track trying to get photos but so many people had left. What you’ll see today are just a handful of cars that were there that were parked near the Tesla. No real story there, it’s literally just some photos on track and off. Despite the heat, it actually felt pretty nice to be outside again and doing car stuff. I think we’ve all felt a little crazy just being stuck at home and not being able to do the things we enjoy. Hopefully as the year winds down we will have more opportunities to be out and about…
Even though I was out at the track mostly to do video, I really wanted to get some photos of the cars that were there since there was such a good variety of different cars present…
Muoi Tran’s Civic is continuing to evolve now with the Arios front finally on along with some C-West sides…
It’s so interesting to see a Tesla Model S on the track. I wouldn’t say it looks ‘out of place’ per se, but it certainly isn’t something you’d expect bein at Buttonwillow Raceway. The car did well early on but we just kept running into overheating issues so Amir, who was driving, couldn’t really get a good lap in…
Bryant Pham and Huy Ho made the trek down from San Jose to participate with their cars. Pham did well in his S2000, running a 02:02 best lap on CW13 while Huy was getting acquainted with his new set-up…
Dustin Williams from Legends Media recently completed his Spoon Sports-themed S2000 build, complete with the Mooncraft top and all. I think this is supposed to be a dedicated track car so he used this opportunity to shake the car down after installing the full catalog of Spoon products…
Big Steve from Falken Tire took the day off from work to get some laps in with his Civic hatchback….
Huy recently took his Rando aero off and decided to go a much more subtle route by installing a Exceed by Mode Parfume front lip along with 17-inch Desmond Regamaster EVO II wheels…
Undoubtedly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at Buttonwillow Raceway was seeing Riley Stair’s Pontiac Trans Am on the track. The last time I saw this build in-person it was the talk of the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Never thought I’d see the day when this car was actually driving at Buttonwillow…
Will’s crazy Lexus IS-F track car complete with carbon aero pieces, rear carbon doors, custom cage, and a massive chassis-mounted rear swan-neck wing ripping through Buttonwillow CW13. Pretty awesome that someone would go to such lengths with this platform…
A couple track shots of Dustin Williams and his Spoon Sports S2000…
I drove over to the restroom area and saw this S2000 tucked away near some trees. Owner could have been taking a shit, I cannot confirm…
The front-end of Big Steve’s Civic featuring Chargespeed front wide fenders and a carbon fiber Tactical Art front lip…
Huy Ho’s DB Integra sedan featuring a Japanese ITR front face, Exceed front lip, and B18C engine swap. This used to be Yuta’s daily and he was the one who did most of the work on this car, including the front end conversion and motor swap…
Funny story about the engine in this car is that it was originally delivered to our shop here in LA one morning when I was actually on my way to Japan. I had a flight to catch early that morning when a guy comes knocking on the door. My Uber had been called already, I was about to walk out the door when this delivery guy tells me that he has an engine to deliver. I was like “okay, but can we make it quick? I have a flight to catch.” So the guy proceeds to drop the engine off, meanwhile my Uber was coming, and he asks me to use the restroom. I assumed he just wanted to wash his hands since he was moving an engine and all so I obliged. The dude was in the restroom for 20 minutes after that and took a HUGE SHIT, nearly causing me to miss my fucking flight to Japan. Luckily the Uber waited and got me to LAX just in time for me to check-in…
Side profile shot of Bryant Pham’s S2000 on Exceed coilovers, 17-inch Desmond Regamaster EVO II wheels, Mugen hard-top, and a J’s Racing front half lip…
A few more of Riley Stair’s Trans Am. I wanted to get as many photos of it as I could since I wasn’t sure when I’d ever see the car again…
Tried to get some more photos of the TDG Tesla Model S P100D, running a full TDG carbon lip kit, KW suspension, and Volk Racing TE27 Ultra…
After we left the track, the Tesla had to be recharged again to make the drive back home so we stopped off at a Tesla super-charger about 10 minutes away from the track…
Again, we didn’t get to put down a good lap but we were happy with the data that we left with, and the car didn’t get fucked-up which was even more important…
That’s a wrap on this set. Thanks for looking!…
Wow fuck that delivery guy