October 10, 2014
Sopwith Motorsports will enter the GT Challenge Series road racing double header at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit late this month to round out a competitive but frustrating 2014 season.
Engineer Cliff Gottlob, former podium finisher at the 24 Hours of Daytona and club racing expert, is preparing the Boschett Timepieces/Hoosier Tire 1975 Datsun 280z for the October 25-26 weekend. The car has won 10 amateur races with 29 podium finishes in the hands of driver Stephen Cox.
The original Datsun 2.8 liter inline 6-cylinder engine is also being prepped with compression testing, fuel pressure testing and better breathing capacity.
In their previous appearance in the GT Challenge Series race in late August, Sopwith qualified second and was leading the race with 7 laps to go when the engine overheated in Oklahoma's 106-degree temperatures. The team also raced at Hallett in 2013 only to be hit and spun out while running in first position.
“It's frustrating but no, I don't really feel like this track owes me anything,” Cox said. “I've won a bunch of races here and got two titles in the series so I can't complain. If anything, the burden is on us to show up with a better prepared race car and to qualify better. If the temperature is a hundred degrees, we have to show up with a car that can go the distance in that environment. If we don't want to get spun out while we're winning the race, we have to put more distance between our car and our competitors.”
Sopwith's Datsun competes on Hoosier DOT racing radials, with support from Impact Racing and Boschett Timepieces. A video wrap-up of both events will appear on Sopwith's YouTube page on October 27th.
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