RealTime PR 2003 Recap and 2004 Season
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HC Racer H5
Joined: May 2000
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From: KCK
RealTime PR 2003 Recap and 2004 Season
Team wins three races, honored as "Crew of the Year"
December 24, 2003 - Saukville, Wis.
RealTime Racing driver Pierre Kleinubing and Acura ended the SCCA Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship season in second place for Driver's and Manufacturer's Championships, respectively.
Kleinubing has finished first or second in Touring Car championship points every year since his 1997 debut with RealTime Racing. He won the championship in his rookie year, and repeated in 2000 and 2001.
The team is now enjoying a few days of well-deserved rest for the holidays before focusing on the start of the 2004 season, and a renewed quest for a fifth 'makes' title for Acura, and a fourth driving championship for Kleinubing.
In the first full season for the new Acura RSX, Kleinubing won races at Mosport, Lime Rock and Road Atlanta, was on the podium five times, and had one pole position.
The Mosport win came in only the fourth start for the RSX performance car.
The team's 2003 success was exceeded by only one other driver and manufacturer, yet it was a year when the team was sorely tested. Long-time friend and RealTime crew chief, Jerome Zimmermann, died in a July highway accident.
Jerry was our heart and soul, Kleinubing said. The rest of the crew is an excellent group of self-starters, but you can't lose your leader so suddenly, a week before a race 2,000 miles from the team's home, and still perform as if nothing happened. Although we had a couple of bad finishes, we recovered and ended the season with a win and a second place in the last two races.
When the season ended, with their ability to tighten their circle and do what they did best, the RealTime Racing crew was named Touring Car Crew of the Year by a vote of their competitors.
Zimmermann was further honored by a new award, the Zimmermann Cup, presented by SCCA Pro Racing to an outstanding crew chief in the series. The inaugural award went to Dax Raub of 3R Racing. A replica of the award was presented to the RealTime team.
Two Californians, Kevin McKee and Zac Mazzotta, both rookies to the Touring Car Championship, joined RealTime Racing in 2003. In a second Acura RSX, Mazzotta finished 21st among more than 65 drivers who scored points during the season, with a best performance of 11th in the final two races; while McKee was 23rd in points with a top finish of 14th in one of the team's Integras. Veteran Fred Meyer also made two starts with the team, before re-retiring.
The RealTime Racing Touring Cars are sponsored by the Acura Division of American Honda, Red Line Oil, Eibach Springs, BOSCH, Sparco, Hella, Gemini Technologies, Goodridge, Brembo, Hawk Performance, and Acura Genuine Parts.
December 24, 2003 - Saukville, Wis.
RealTime Racing driver Pierre Kleinubing and Acura ended the SCCA Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship season in second place for Driver's and Manufacturer's Championships, respectively.
Kleinubing has finished first or second in Touring Car championship points every year since his 1997 debut with RealTime Racing. He won the championship in his rookie year, and repeated in 2000 and 2001.
The team is now enjoying a few days of well-deserved rest for the holidays before focusing on the start of the 2004 season, and a renewed quest for a fifth 'makes' title for Acura, and a fourth driving championship for Kleinubing.
In the first full season for the new Acura RSX, Kleinubing won races at Mosport, Lime Rock and Road Atlanta, was on the podium five times, and had one pole position.
The Mosport win came in only the fourth start for the RSX performance car.
The team's 2003 success was exceeded by only one other driver and manufacturer, yet it was a year when the team was sorely tested. Long-time friend and RealTime crew chief, Jerome Zimmermann, died in a July highway accident.
Jerry was our heart and soul, Kleinubing said. The rest of the crew is an excellent group of self-starters, but you can't lose your leader so suddenly, a week before a race 2,000 miles from the team's home, and still perform as if nothing happened. Although we had a couple of bad finishes, we recovered and ended the season with a win and a second place in the last two races.
When the season ended, with their ability to tighten their circle and do what they did best, the RealTime Racing crew was named Touring Car Crew of the Year by a vote of their competitors.
Zimmermann was further honored by a new award, the Zimmermann Cup, presented by SCCA Pro Racing to an outstanding crew chief in the series. The inaugural award went to Dax Raub of 3R Racing. A replica of the award was presented to the RealTime team.
Two Californians, Kevin McKee and Zac Mazzotta, both rookies to the Touring Car Championship, joined RealTime Racing in 2003. In a second Acura RSX, Mazzotta finished 21st among more than 65 drivers who scored points during the season, with a best performance of 11th in the final two races; while McKee was 23rd in points with a top finish of 14th in one of the team's Integras. Veteran Fred Meyer also made two starts with the team, before re-retiring.
The RealTime Racing Touring Cars are sponsored by the Acura Division of American Honda, Red Line Oil, Eibach Springs, BOSCH, Sparco, Hella, Gemini Technologies, Goodridge, Brembo, Hawk Performance, and Acura Genuine Parts.
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From: Virginia (Besieged)
This reminds me of some of the rumours involving the Acura TSX in World Challenge.
The TSX's image got a big boost when Spoon's Ichisima made some public comments supporting the car's suitability for racing, and then went on to campaign and win a NASA race on the west coast w/their own Spoon TSX.
Now I heard that King is working on a TSX.
Think RealTime has one undercover somewhere?
I've been hearing a lot recently from the traditional Japanese tuners about the EP3 and DC5 being basically the bus/van chassis.
The TSX's image got a big boost when Spoon's Ichisima made some public comments supporting the car's suitability for racing, and then went on to campaign and win a NASA race on the west coast w/their own Spoon TSX.
Now I heard that King is working on a TSX.
Think RealTime has one undercover somewhere?
I've been hearing a lot recently from the traditional Japanese tuners about the EP3 and DC5 being basically the bus/van chassis.
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HC Racer H5
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 4,261
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From: KCK
i heard that realtime is going to use a tsx and drop the rsx...the engine in the tsx has so much power potential and a lot of torque
our tsx pulled through the appilation mountains on I68 without any need for a downshift...that's 6 degree inclines in 6th gear at only 2,500rpms!
the race that the spoon tsx dominated was the 25 hours at thunderhill and it finished ahead of m3s and even some vettes...just shows how much potential this car has
by summer hondata will have a reflash ecu and it should increase power to 240-250hp and 230lb ft tq (similar to what they got on the rsx type s reflash)...the type s will now run high 13s wiht the reflash and an intake
our tsx pulled through the appilation mountains on I68 without any need for a downshift...that's 6 degree inclines in 6th gear at only 2,500rpms!
the race that the spoon tsx dominated was the 25 hours at thunderhill and it finished ahead of m3s and even some vettes...just shows how much potential this car has
by summer hondata will have a reflash ecu and it should increase power to 240-250hp and 230lb ft tq (similar to what they got on the rsx type s reflash)...the type s will now run high 13s wiht the reflash and an intake
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From: Someplace with cones=AUTO
Wow that was short lived. I thought they would need another year of tuning for the RSX.
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From: So. Cal
Originally posted by George Knighton
The TSX's image got a big boost when Spoon's Ichisima made some public comments supporting the car's suitability for racing, and then went on to campaign and win a NASA race on the west coast w/their own Spoon TSX.
]
The TSX's image got a big boost when Spoon's Ichisima made some public comments supporting the car's suitability for racing, and then went on to campaign and win a NASA race on the west coast w/their own Spoon TSX.
]
