OTC Team Profile - Car #55

Will This Be The Year of The Flamemobile?
(click here for bigger)
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

The Drivers

Doug Hayashi Newport Coast, CA	Erik Messley Huntington Beach, CA	Wayne Mello Huntington Beach, CA

Your car is uh...infamous.  Tell us a little about it.

It is a 1992 Acura NSX that I purchased 11 years ago to be  uh...my daily driver garage queen car.  So much for that.  It all started with a couple of stupid decals that I put on the car, and it escalated into this.   It has a 3.0 motor that was recently rebuilt by Comptech, and has also has the Comptech supercharger on it, and an accusump and oil cooler that was installed by Shad. The motor currently has about 2000 feet of usage on it.  Right now it puts out about 370 HP to the rear wheels, and weighs in around 2650 lbs(I think).  I have the Comptech "Indy" Brembo brake system, PFC 90 pads, and big ass Brembo floating rotors to help haul the car down.  Penske triple adjustable shocks, EMI Racing monoballed suspension, Comptech rear non-compliance beam, and Dali sway bars keep the car on the ground.   Aero mods include EMI Racing front splitter, Dali rear wing, Science of Speed Rear Diffuser.   Wheels and tires are Technomagnesio and Kinesis 17x8 fronts, and 18x10 rears, running Hooisers.  The doors are made of carbon fiber, and weigh 3 lbs.   (Note: some of these parts might be swapped out prior to the OTC.  I ain't telling which ones yet.....)

Stronger, faster, and more reliable this  year?
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

A lot of people have been using the term, "Cheating Bastard" and "Dirty Cheating Bastard".  What is the difference between a Cheating Bastard and just being a Asshole?

A Cheating Bastard is a person that operates within a gray area of the rules using hardware, driving skills, or strategy, without being a blatant asshole.  And then rags on all the people that he crushed at the track, by telling them how he did it.  And then everyone else hits themselves in the forehead, saying "Doh! I shoulda thought of that!" 

For example:  A Cheating Bastard would sneak onto the racetrack the night before an event, walk the course with a flashlight, check out the lines, and put barely visible paint marks that only he would know about at his turn in point before each corner.   An Asshole would sneak on the racetrack at night and dump a little oil in strategic parts of a turn that only he would know about. 

Headquarters for Mega-wannabe Racing Conglomerate

A Cheating Bastard would tell his competitors that he is showing up with a "stock" sports car to race for a trophy among friends, and then pulls up with a trailer containing his "stock" sports car with $10,000 worth of brand new go-fast parts on them.   An Asshole would be someone that instigates a track day and says they are going to show up to the track with a car with $10,000 worth of news mods to kick everyone's butt at the track, but then never shows up for fear of getting whupped on by a guy with a stock car.

 Cheating Bastards are ingenious and clever, Assholes are just always Assholes.

Who are your co-drivers?

Wayne Mello, has been my partner in this disease for more than a decade, and you probably all know him by now if you are a reader of The NSX-Files.  Erik Messley, (EMI Racing) is our other co-driver.

Memorable moments from last year's OTC?
At the last minute, I put up the "Odds" for the winner of the overall Championship.  I had us to be the favorite at 3-1 and the PMUM/BP Viper Entry at 4-1.  We blew up a motor, NSX Modified got us back up so we could score some points at the final event, and we took 4th overall.  PMUM/BP took 2nd overall.  Some people may say that I was helped out by some Cheating Bastard tactics (Messley as co-driver), but I recall a bunch of people walking around at the OTC saying, "Doh! I shoulda thought of that!"

The NSX at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

Aren't you afraid of the competition in U1?
We ain't afraid of nothing!  But I won't make us to be the odds-on favorite this year for overall winner.  I'll post them to the OTC BBS as we get closer to the event.  The Radical guys pulled a good Cheating Bastard move, getting their SR3's in U1.  I hate it when people get the upper hand on me!  If PMUM gets his Viper Competition Coupe delivered in time to be tested and sorted out before the OTC, he is gonna be hard to beat also.  No telling what the hell the Ondrack/Salter team (the reigning Overall Champs of the First Annual Open Track Challenge) are up to with their "Fiero" entry in U1, but you can bet it is gonna the fastest damn Fiero the world has ever seen.  I will be closely inspecting their car, just in case they try to sneak in Schumacher's 2002 Chassis with a Fiero body on top of it.   Who knows, maybe all of us high tech U1 race cars will blow up, leaving it to Chavez's "stockish" Vette to take U1 and Overall honors?

The past years haven't been good for you and the NSX.  When you are just able to make it to the top Raceaflais rears its ugly head and slaps you down off the podium, or worse, turns you into a DNF.  What will you do differently this year?

We are doing our best, trying to fight off Raceaflais (Race-A-Flay-Us, the Greek God of Racing Chaos), and repeating what we did a couple of years ago in a futile attempt to appease the racing Gods. 

How is your DVD selling?
The NSX-Files Volume IV, titled "The Go-Fast Crackpipe" is selling pretty well.  Almost well enough that I could be motivated to come out with Volume V in way less time than the four years separating Volume III to Volume IV.  You can purchase it by going to the Pulp Store!  I am offering quantity discounts for those of you who would like to be distributors of the product. 

Be looking for this in your rear view mirror
 

How many hits do you get a week to the website?  Any changes in the near future?
I get about 1000-1500 hits a week from fellow track junkies looking for a fix.  No real changes in the future, other than to try to do daily updates from this year's OTC. 

You have something major up your sleeve that you aren't revealing yet.  What is it?
Cheating Bastards never reveal all their secrets in advance of track event, and especially until bets are made.  But I do have a plan on how to win our class, that I believe can be executed with a high degree of confidence.  But that will be revealed as we get closer to Game Day.  And I can take some bets on it.