Tony Ave Racing

 

Ave’s Trans Am career has seen him capture numerous accolades, including two back-to-back Trans Am Championships.   He snapped Tommy Kendall’s consecutive fast qualifier record and has set multiple track records for the TA class along the way.  Tony Ave has done it all and is indisputably one of the most talented drivers Trans Am has seen in recent memory. 

 

Every time Ave’s on track he’s a threat to win it all; however, even with all his talent and skill behind the wheel, for the 2013 Trans Am Season, Tony Ave directed his talents elsewhere, leaving the driver’s seat to focus his energy in a different direction, towards Tony Ave Racing. 

 

So far, it’s impossible to argue with the results.  In the eight rounds of racing that Trans Am has completed this year, Tony Ave Racing has won six.  The number becomes even more impressive when you realize that the team has won ten of the last 13 races and compiled 20 podium placements, while never featuring more than two drivers in a race. 

 

The effort has featured current TA points leader Doug Peterson, in the #87 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet Corvette, Paul Fix, in the #4 StopFlex/BeebeRacing /PME/Lamers Chevrolet Corvette,  Tomy Drissi, in the #4 The Counselor – Oct 25th Chevrolet Corvette, and Ave himself, making a few cameo appearances in the #4 Lamers Motor Racing/PME Engines/RPX Chevrolet Corvette.  It is a mix of talent and machinery that has constructed one of the most impressive streaks in Trans Am history. 

 

What may be the most worrisome fact for the rest of the TA class is Tony Ave Racing is only getting faster, and it’s more than just track records.  Now sit down with Tony Ave as he shares learn the ins and outs of Tony Ave Racing, what the team is planning, and a look at the TA platform. 

 

“We’re currently building four more new TA cars—a combination of Corvettes and Mustangs,” Ave said.  “I expect two, maybe three of those cars, to run all of the races next year, or at least most of them.  We’ll have at least two full-time cars in Trans Am for Tony Ave Racing, but I’m hoping for three or more.”

 

“We’re still very focused on the TA platform,”  Ave continued.  “We’ve had some drivers come forward talking to us about taking care of their TA2 cars, but for now I’m holding off because we’re getting so much attention in the TA class. Which is great.” 

 

“We always want to see interest in the TA class.   You have to understand what these cars are; they’re legitimately in the same realm as Daytona prototypes and LMPCs, and when you compare the cost of those platforms, TA costs pennies on the dollar.  We put an engine in a car and barely have to look at it for five races.  When I won the Championship twice, we only used one set of tires per week; and then we used the same set for practice the next week.”

 

“The TA class is never going to be as inexpensive as the TA2 class, nothing is, but for the level of car that you’re driving, these are a fraction of the cost of other series or classes.  I’ll put it this way, we’re looking at running a prototype in the Daytona 24 Hours, and the budget to do so is more than a full season of Trans Am and GT1 racing combined.  The perception of TA cars being expensive is just that, a perception—you have to put some perspective to it. The TA cars, when it comes to bang for the buck for horsepower, it’s untouchable in racing.”

 

“The key to it is simple.  The guys who start with the right stuff, who buy new cars or really good cars that have been maintained properly, even though the cost of a new car will be higher to start with, are way ahead of guys who try to buy a sixty or eighty thousand dollar car on the hopes they’ll be able to compete.  They end up spending more money on repairs and parts and will never be able to get from there to here.  That’s a guy who should really look into TA2.” 

 

Tony Ave Racing does more than just the simple building and maintaining of TA cars; Ave and his team are constantly working on developing and improving the TA platform. 

 

“When I bought out Riley & Scott, which was the most successful manufacturer of TA cars, I bought the design, the fixtures, the jigs, everything… so we had the best possible starting point.  But before we even did the first car, the tires changed.  They’re bigger than they used to be, and the car was designed around the smaller tires in both diameter and width.  So I built the car around these tires, which are the same ones we’re running to this day.  We quickly developed an advantage because we did so much more than just slip on some new tires and changing the ride height.  We moved everything around so it was still in the right place and space for where the chassis is.  We moved the steering rack and changed the steering geometry completely.  Once again, it became a major advantage.  There are some places where you’ll be just fine running the old geometry, but there are also places where, especially on long runs, it doesn’t perform as well.  At those places, you’ll see us get 10 to 15 seconds on some cars.”

 

“We eventually took things a step further when we redid the shock packages for these tires.  Then we added the bigger engines, because years ago when we had the smaller engines they had a lot more horsepower than they were meant to, so adding a bigger engine obviously helped, but that led to changing the rear end of the car . . . how it puts the power down and the rear suspension, which is now completely different than it was.”

 

“That was a change we started making at the end of 2011.  What we had, for example in 2009, versus what we ended with in 2011 and then the current platform is completely different.  Most of the frame looks the same, but almost none of the other bolt-on parts would fit.”

 

“We’ve spent so much time and effort on these cars and changes.  We’re constantly tinkering with the engines, doing more than just rebuilding it; we’re trying new things.  When they instituted the 8600-rpm rev limit rule, that really changed how we built our engines.  So we moved the torque and other things around to take advantage of that.  I used to have engines that made all their power above 8600, so we made some major adjustments.  Now our engines go faster with less horsepower because of how we increased the torque.”

 

While Tony Ave Racing is powering ahead, do not expect to see Ave back in the seat full time for some time.  He insists he’s busy enough as it is. 

 

“In Trans Am I’d like to be able to have someone in one of our cars that can win the title, which is always our goal, so I won’t have to drive.  I’d love to drive, but I just don’t have the time.  With our schedule, between club racing, pro racing and all the teams we support in all the series we support, I’ll be at the racetrack for a minimum of 21 weeks, and that’s just for racing, that doesn’t include testing or anything else we might do. “ 

 

For those contemplating Trans Am, or who are on the fence, Ave has a very straightforward answer:   “For the drivers who are thinking about Trans Am and TA cars, or even TA2 or TA3, you really just need to talk to the guys who are here, racing with us now.  Come drive a car and visit the paddock. I’ve raced everything from Indy Cars to Sprint Cars, and there is nothing as much fun as racing in a TA car.  It’s that simple.”