C5 Z06 sets pole and scores multiple podiums on AP Racing Competition Brake Kit

We recently received a great race report from one of our Corvette customers running our Essex/AP Racing Endurance BBK on his C5 Z06. His car received a major overall in the offseason, and our brakes were part of the refresh. It sounds like his first outing couldn't have gone much better:

Quick Summary
The weekend of April 18th marked the first race for the rebuilt PA Construction Corvette. Quick summary, we took home a 4th place and 3rd place finish in ST1 racing, which included a pole position award and a hard charger award (most positions gained from start to finish). In Time Trials, we took home a 2nd place finish in TTU (unlimited class) and 1st place finish in TT1. And most importantly, the car was driven back on the trailer Sunday night.
The Build
This offseason, the Corvette went through a comprehensive rebuild aimed at creating a reliable but also, no excuses build for NASA Super Touring 2. The build included a forged LS6 motor with custom cam and headwork from American Heritage Performance. We added aFe Power Tri-Y headers to help the power band and put on some Trackspec Hood Louvers to handle all the additional heat. Additionally, Tway Motorsports installed all there custom aero kits and suspension updates from Pfadt Controls, as well as adding a 4 stage dry sump to increase the longevity of the motor.
The Weekend
Our game plan was to run in the Super Touring 2 race class, an 8 to 1 wt/hp class. The car makes a little more power than needed for ST2, so we detuned it a bit on the engine dyno. However, we discovered the Friday before that the engine wasn’t running correctly on that tune. Instead of heading home, we opted to run in the higher ST1 race class, which is 5.5 to 1 wt/hp, where our unrestricted engine tune was working fine. We would be hilariously out gunned in horsepower, but at least we'd be on track.
To my surprise, we were able to put the car on pole for the Saturday race with a 1:49.4. Seems the rest of the ST1 field was sandbagging in qualifying. After a snafu at pre-grid, part our fault for showing up late with only 1 minute to spare, we had to start at the back of the field. But not only the back of the ST1 group, the back of the BMW Club race group, who took a second green flag about 45 seconds behind our group. This sucked, but made a great opportunity for Robert to work on his racecraft. Buttonwillow is not an easy track to overtake. Starting from DFL (dead f*#^ing last as we like to call it), Robert moved the PA Construction Corvette from 33rd place up to 15th place overall, and finished 4th in Super Touring 1. It was great accomplishment.
Sunday morning, we experienced an electrical gremlin with the throttle body and missed qualifying. We traced it to either a bad connection or the throttle control computer getting heat soaked. We would start DFL in ST1, but at least with within the correct group, first green flag. The pole sitter set down a qualifying lap of 1:46.7, 3 seconds faster than any lap we put down all weekend. P2 through P5 had all set qualifying times in the 1:50’s, so expectations were to fight for a podium step.

The green flag fell and it was futile trying to beat the higher horsepower cars to the first corner. P4 and P3 were converted Nascar Trucks. Lots of power, no grip. I had to focus on my corner speeds to get around them. It took 2 laps to clear both of them, but by that time, P2 and P1 had checked out. Best I could do was get within 3 seconds of P2. I pushed hard, but the over drove the car a bit causing the A6 tires to go away. I had to back off to ensure our 3rd place finish.
Our first race weekend in the books. The car ran great on track, albeit the electrical issue and tune. Both have been sorted out already. Thanks to all our sponsors for the support to get us on track and be successful. We now have our sights set on Auto Club Speedway on May 16th and 17th!
~ Jim Tway
Tway Motorsports
#57 PA Construction Corvette

Follow along with the season on the Tway Motorsports Blog.