[Throwback] David Haagsma's SPE800 & Win @ GTA 2016 RD1

Hey folks,

As some may know, our website has been down for a very, very long time. But let's not get into that debacle. With our blog being tied into the website and the website being pretty much nonexistent, we've decided to post some blog posts on here to share with you guys and to keep you guys in the loop of what we've been up to.

Sometime last year, we were approached by a gentleman by the name of David Haagsma. David is a 23 yr old professional ATV champion with a mindset not only to have fun, but to have fun winning.

Last September, David chose our SPE800R package. The SPE800R package is a revolution of our SPE750 package which became extremely popular after our appearance on Jay Leno's Garage in 2012. Boy, how time flies. Anyway, the SPE800R package features an SPE Spec custom 3.8L long block mated with our fully machined IHI billet turbos. More details on the package will be available to the public once our site is up and running.

Let us begin when David dropped his GT-R off for the SPE800R build.

Our techs immediately began tearing everything down.

Our engine builder works so fast that we missed the engine assembly! Sucks for the viewers, but great for us! Haha.

Motor back in!

Due to our upgraded race intercooler being much larger than stock, modifications had to be done to the Phoenix Power bumper.

Fancy JRZ's and Phase2 arms were installed during the time the engine was being assembled.

The ugly and uncomfortable CBA seats were replaced with a pair of Sparco seats with help from Sabelt harness' to keep David sturdy and safe while out on the track.

It was September 18th, 2015 when we stayed at the shop until 10pm-ish to deliver David's GT-R for him to attend RD4 of GTA (Global Time Attack) at Willow Springs the following Sunday.

On the Monday after, David greeted us with great news, taking 1st place in the Limited AWD class. We then knew he was hooked and wanted to continue competing in the GTA series.

David brought his GT-R back to us to have a few carbon goodies installed in time for GTA Super Lap Battle.

At Super Lap Battle 2015, David set a base PB of 1:52.274.

During SLB, David experienced a lot of understeer. To reduce this, he purchased a pair of PasswordJDM wide front fenders to run a square setup.

20x12 +20 and 315/30/20 in front looks gnarly!

But hey! It doesn't stop there. Shortly after completing the fender install, David came back for more!

For serious stopping power, David went with the RPS carbon-carbon brake rotor and pad setup. Just look at them!

With the existing Phoenix Power front splitter bolted directly to the front bumper, it was not capable of high speeds on the track. The downforce of the splitter kept pulling/warping the front bumper down which resulted in the center duct to rip off completely. Because of this, a custom APR Performance carbon honeycomb splitter was made and our techs blueprinted a bracket system for it.

While walking around the car, I noticed a small detail which I extremely enjoyed. David had a bodyshop mold the PasswordJDM bumper cap to the Phoenix Power bumper.

Having 3 track days on the SPE800R package, we are very confident that this package is the best all around track package for those of you wanting to bump up your power with a built block at an affordable price.

Thanks for looking!