Ok, I must tell you (but I think that you guys are smart enough to have found out by yourself) that everything that I said until now is happened in the past. More than a year ago. In fact, with the Kawasaki ZX14R engine, and all the other improvements that we'll see in this post, the Fury ended the 2017 LLCC Challenge season with an outstanding second place in her category. In front of her, just a rocket on wheels called Roadrunner LM1. Behind, everybody else. And with everybody we mean cars like Lotus Exige, Lotus Elise, Caterham R500, KTM XBow, Alfa 4C... Pretty fast things. But talking just about the tip of the iceberg will not do justice to the car, and especially to the driver and creator of this little monster.
So, to do a season wrap up, we can start with the beginning, and the beginning is the shakedown at the Tazio Nuvolari Circuit, where the car has been tested with the new engine for the very first time. And the improvement is incredible… 1'23"96 with the ecu still to be completely tuned, while the same car, with the old engine and in the same conditions managed to do a 1'30". It is absolutely self explanatory. Okashi San done a great job. And I'll let you enjoy the thrill ride without any other words:
Still alive? Well. I just can tell that I really envy that guy.
Next date with a race track for the Fury is the first race of the LLCC Challenge, at the Franciacorta Circuit, where, despite a series of youth problems, it took an unforseen second place, behind the above mentioned Roadrunner LM1 (never heard about that car before… but that thing seems very interesting. Maybe there is material for another blog post in the future.. mmm...).
The Roadrunner LM1 is that kind of orange wheeled sole fish, parked next to the Fury...
Second race of the season, at the Misano Circuit, by night, with some improvements to the cooling system (one of the major issues in the first race was the tendency of the engine to dangerously increase its working temperature) and a new shifter lever, more comfortable than the very hard to pull mechanical paddles. And first victory. Okashi San managed to end the race on the highest step of the podium with the best average time of 1'50"244. Second place for the same Roadrunner.
The Championship continues outside of the Italy's borders, at the Grobnik racetrack, in Croatia.
Here the Fury proved to be a very tough girl. Or, technically speaking, the Kawasaki ZX14R engine proved to be very very hard to kill. In fact, despite a boken sandwich plate and a consequent unexpected delete of the oil cooler, and despite the fiery hot croatian summer, Okashi San ended second, behind the same Roadranner LM1 (this thing must be fast…). And without overheating! Result made possible even by the addiction of a Lotus Exige S1 rear wing, that reduced understeer at high speeds.
Sorry, no video footage of this race, but you can tell that the day was pretty hot just looking at Okashi's face...
Taking advantage of the summer stop of the Championship, the Fury received a carbon made passenger side cover (sorry girls, no more shotgun runs), an engine rebuild, with some improvements by Byte Therapy Motor Sports, and delete of a pair of undesired balance shafts… not to mention a new, Lamborghini Blancpain GT, bigger wing. So big that it is indeed wider than the car itself! But, the LLCC Challenge rules, impose that any aerodynamic appendage must not exceed the width of the car. So, well. Why not make the car wider? This has been accomplished with four Audi A4 Allroad fender flares.
And the Fury immediately became faster. At the point that at the subsequent race, it was the fastest car on the track. Okashi San was about to score a first place when… the fuel tank suddenly broke, spilling fuel and causing a retire for obvious reasons.
In the last entry of the Championship, al the Mugello Circuit, our little monster ended the race with a second place, just behind the usual Roadrunner LM1. A second place in category (third overall), is an incredible accomplishment, for a car built just ahead of the first race of the season. Take a look at how fast this thing is become, and how fast a car must be, and how good must be the driver, to arrive in the upper part of the standings in the LLCC Challenge.
And now...now is time to talk about the serious business…. wait for the next entry, because the Fury is sharpening the blade for the 2018 seson! Stay tuned guys!
