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Let us help you go faster with our engineering services and suite of products

We specialize in race car part development and are the architects behind some of the fastest time attack cars in North America. Additionally, we have created some of the best bang for your buck products to help shave seconds off of your lap time. Are you building a car and need design and consultation help? You’ve reached the right team. We can improve your aerodynamics, suspension design, safety solutions and much more.

Enjoy our latest podcast episode, presented by FueLab, here!

Professional Awesome’s High Downforce Diffusers, combined with guidance on my aerodynamic package have led to Street Mod records at the following tracks:

Gingerman Raceway – 1:35.638
Autobahn South – 1:30.808
Pikes Peak International Raceway – 59.829
M1 Concourse – 1:09.838

Shawn Krebsbach

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What an awesome product,  really helped reduce front end lift in corners.

Evan Krantz

Recent Posts

Quick Tech Tip: Do You Need an Oil Cooler?

You might think you always need an oil cooler for your track car, but that’s not the case. Let’s explore when it’s essential and when it adds unnecessary complexity. Before making any modifications, it’s crucial to test your setup. Resources like time and money are finite. Oil cooler kits can cost between $300 and $1500 and require a few hours for installation. A straightforward way to determine if you need one is by using a temperature gauge in your oil system. If you already have an oil pressure gauge, adding a temperature sensor (like these from Bosch) is ideal. Many modern sports cars come with oil temperature sensors, but basic models may not. You can easily install one using a sandwich plate on the oil housing. Today’s synthetic oils can withstand high temperatures well. As a rule of thumb, consider adding an oil cooler if your temperature reaches 270°F or more. Sustained temperatures around 260-270°F may be manageable, but they risk thermal oxidation, which can degrade your oil and lead to sludge and varnish formation. You might be fine if you keep up with oil changes, but temperatures above 300°F can compromise viscosity and lead to engine failure. While oil coolers can provide peace of mind by keeping your engine healthy, they don’t add power—think of them as performance retainers. Brands like PWR offer efficient, lightweight cores that can be mounted in various locations, even bumpers or behind radiators. This helps reduce weight for unneeded ducting and the coolers themselves. However, adding an oil cooler introduces another system that can fail. Keeping it simple is key; the more components you add, the more chances there are for failure. Ensure proper line placement and routing to avoid rubbing or stress at fittings. TL;DR: Monitor oil temperature. If it reaches 260-270°F, maintain diligent oil change intervals. For temperatures above 270°F, consider an oil cooler, ensuring it’s appropriately installed to avoid issues.

Up To Speed On The Our S2000

Let’s highlight things before things get a little “interesting.” I picked this S2000 up in 2012. It had 127k miles and some signs that it wasn’t up to par in maintenance, but it was $8,000 bucks, so it’s best to take small losses and do the maintenance myself. It is a Honda, after all. Side note: can we go back to those prices? I bought this thing to be my autocross car while I built my S14, known as NODRIFT. Fast forward a few months in, and it quickly became apparent that I couldn’t afford to have two track cars. The 240 had the pieces to a built SR and many quality parts. The combination would have made a lethal weapon, but when it’s in pieces, it’s hard to put the dream into reality. I remember opening the garage and saying, “Whichever one is running or can be running for the cheapest gets to stay.” I said, “I’m giving up on the 240. I’ve gone too far.” The part-out commenced, and to this day, I regret selling that car. Now, you would think that with the pain of going too far and getting over my head, I would calm down and not do it again. Well, you bet your ass I didn’t. Bridging Dreams and Realities I started chasing multiple things at once from 2013-2014. I still wanted to build a gnarly timeattack car to compete with Global Timeattack. Visualizing taking down the Evasive S2000 to claim “the fastest S2000 in the country.” On the other hand, I also had a local guy, Austin Cabot, who was super quick. He competed with NASA in what was called Time Trials C (It’s roughly TT4 now). Those are two drastically different builds. For Timeattack, you need all the power that the horsepower gods intended you to have. In TTC, you had to balance which modifications to do to stay in the class and run hohos (Hoosier Racing tires). I chose both, which leads to being subpar in both. I ran into real-life problems, trying to find where I fit career-wise, so the car and racing got pushed back. Austin had moved on to other racing when I was ready, so NASA didn’t seem that fun without chasing him. Plus, the big aero and turbos were calling me.  Unforgettable Battles For 2015, I prepared to take things more seriously, a new local time attack series formed with everything I wish Global Time Attack had. A small organization called GRIDLIFE. I focused all my attention on their track battle competition and placed third in the season. By then, the car had some decent aero, 2-way coilovers, and as many off-the-shelf suspension components as I could afford. I blew up one diff and went through two engines, but I had so much fun and competitive. I never was very close to winning, in any case. There were some supercharged M3s and Corvettes that were just that tick faster.  Turbocharging the F20C In the 2015 offseason leading into 2016, it was apparent I wanted power. That was the bait to make me go off the deep end. I spent a couple, a bunch of thousands of dollars on the S2. I ended up turbocharging the stock F20C. With a GTX30, it made some jam. It had one map at 14psi, making 400~ to the wheels. Mid-season, I upgraded to a GTX35, which produced 470~ to the wheels. Dealing with teething issues from a fresh turbo build was a headache. I wasn’t as competitive as I thought I could have been, but something awesome happened. Something Professionally awesome. From Chat to Crew On a trip back home one day in early 2017, I stopped to talk to Mike Lewin from Professional Awesome Racing. If you ever speak to Mike in person, you know you are in for a long but educational time. Hours later, I ended up asking a simple question. “Do you have room on your team?” He said, “I’ll talk it over with everyone else, but I think it’ll be a good idea.” Jump forward a few months, and Mike and the Pro Awe crew were my closest friends. We were so close that everyone felt comfortable talking shit about things I did in my car and how they were surprised I didn’t die. They were joking in a laugh-out-loud, but no, seriously, how are you not dead type of way. With their help, I ran a faster lap time around the Gingerman raceway than I ever had, which made me set a new goal. I wanted to be the fastest S2000 in the country again, especially around Gingerman—high aspirations, I know. Pro Awe boys also didn’t tell me that joining the team involves a spicy, firey initiation fee. Fire and Fraternity The boys didn’t tell me that being in the gang means you have to do certain things. A car catching on fire is one of them. The Pro Awe Evo has been on fire multiple times, so it’s a cresting similar to being branded by a fraternity. In late 2017, The S2000 caught fire at Autobahn. The fire was a packaging error I had made. I had placed the catch-can where the OEM battery used to sit, a seemingly convenient and out-of-the-way spot, making it easy to empty. However, I never anticipated how much oil it would collect during long sweeping turns coupled with each lap taking over two and a half minutes. During one fateful session, it overflowed and spewed oil onto the glowing orange turbo manifold. It’s much easier to understand the gravity of the situation if you watch the video Turbo S2000 Car Caught Fire!, capturing the ole shit moment from my Go Pro. From Flames to Perfection It fundamentally altered my mindset and the way I approached racing. I transformed into a bench racer, “meticulously” analyzing every detail and overthinking every modification. Before stepping on the track, I became obsessed with ensuring the car was fast and safe. I … Continue reading Up To Speed On The Our S2000

Build Journal E90: Intro/Weight Reduction

If you didn’t know, we have many project cars. I can think of ten off the top of my head. With life being hectic and us being lazy with media, we have been doing you all an injustice. Starting today, I’ll do my best to write about some of your projects, starting with our Gridlife Club TR / Touring Cup BMW E90. For the record, I’ve always looked at German cars as a mistake. They are over-engineered for simple tasks at times. This tends to lead to a lower component lifespan. They make their gaskets from paper towels because they always dry up, shrink, and leak. The myth is true about BMWs leaking every fluid they “contain.” I didn’t see any oil spill spots on the ground when I bought this car, but the E90 immediately puked all over it. I always thought BMW owners were a little different as well. Think about it: in what other car circles do you hear the phrase: “They are super reliable when reinforcing the shock towers and changing the rod bearings.” Coming from the Japanese car maker side of things, that sounds asinine. At most, with cars like my S2000, you have to change the timing chain tensioner when they start rattling, or in rare instances, they will jump timing. With that being said, let’s switch things to a positive note. When a performance-oriented BMW works, they are great. I get those particular owners I talked about earlier now. When you buy a preowned beamer, you get a lot of car for the money (the depreciation of these is real), which balances things out. BMWs are worthwhile outside of complexity, cost of ownership, and depreciation. You have to simply where you can. What is Club TR and Gridlife Touring Cup?GLTC, a part of the Gridlife series, features 12-15 minute wheel-to-wheel races with four events per competition weekend. Points are earned based on race finish positions, not lap times. It’s a single-class series known for its high car count, often exceeding 30 cars and sometimes reaching 60. Cars like K-swapped S2000s, Corvettes, M3s, Caymans, and Miatas are common choices. Rules center around a power-to-weight ratio of 12.5:1, adjusting for factors like aero, transmission type, and engine specifications. E90s are relatively rare in the series, with one or two occasionally competing. Club TR, short for Track Rat, is a budget-friendly time attack class. It limits modifications to the powertrain, allowing everything outside the engine internals to be modified. There are exceptions for reliability upgrades such as an oil pump and baffled oil pans, but to put things condense. The engine must remain sealed from the valve cover to the oil pan. Engine size is capped at 2.5 liters for naturally aspirated/ NA (or a special exception like the BMW, which is allowed to have a 3.0 liter NA engine that is not from a “M” series car) and 1.6 liters for forced induction. Everything outside the head port is a free game, except you can’t add forced induction to a non-forced induction car. You are allowed to run any intake manifold or exhaust manifold you want unless you are running a turbo manifold; then, it must remain OEM. Turbo internals must be OEM, and to that engine too, no secret sauce, Tommy Kaira, only five were made turbos are allowed. There’s no horsepower cap, but making more than 250 wheel horsepower with those restrictions is hard. You are also allowed a few aero mods like a rear wing (up to 701 square inches), a 3-inch splitter, and fender vents are permitted. The spec tire is Falken RT660 (255 widths), with a minimum weight requirement of 2500 or 2550 for swapped cars. It’s a flexible class that lets you customize your car’s performance while keeping costs lower than other classes like Street Modified and Track Modified. On to the E90, Why?One of the things that attracted me to the E90 was the N52 engine. The N52 comes in the E90 328i, 328i, and 330i are mostly the same throughout the models, except for the 330i’s intake manifold, which adds an extra valve to adjust the airflow inside, adding power. With modifications like a tune, exhaust, 330i intake manifold, and intake changes, these engines can reach around 220-230 wheel horsepower. I like the N52 because it is highly reliable, which, as you know, isn’t a strong suit of BMWs. The N52’s engine block is magnesium. Magnesium is lighter than aluminum but more prone to corrosion, which is problematic when coolant flows through it.Consequently, the N52 engine’s inner block’ is aluminum, leading to the use of aluminum bolts and fasteners. BMW often prioritizes over-engineering. The E90 chassis is stiff and abundant, making replacements easy. It has a racing pedigree in events like the World Touring Car Championship and Continental Challenge, resulting in aftermarket performance parts availability. For GLTC, achieving a weight of around 2700 lbs without exotic materials is ideal. Kick things off with less weight.With all things equal, the lower your power-to-weight ratio is, the faster your car will be. A lighter car is easy to accelerate. As cliche as that sounds, a vehicle that accelerates quickly can be the difference between winning and losing. Lighter cars are generally more agile and responsive. They can change direction quickly, making it easier to maneuver through corners. Lighter cars require shorter braking distances because there is less momentum to slow down. This improves the car’s ability to decelerate quickly. This also aids in less stress on tires, reducing tire wear. Ask a C6 Corvette owner about their consumable cost. Stopping, turning, and accelerating a 3100lbs car will cost you far more than something like a Lotus Exige, even though they have similar power-to-weight ratios. Even though I listed all these benefits, don’t go outside cutting everything off your damn car. It’s essential to have a light vehicle and keep your chassis as stiff as possible ( for a racing application). That’s why it’s best to replace heavy components … Continue reading Build Journal E90: Intro/Weight Reduction

How to Optimize your First Generation Honda Insight Coilover Install

So you’ve decided to install Professional Awesome Racing/Fortune Auto coilovers on your Honda Insight. Smart move, good for you! This guide isn’t going to be a step-by-step instruction manual, although we will provide some guidance. Taking off the stock suspension and putting on a replacement is a fairly simple job well documented in the OEM service manual, which can be found here. This guide will go more in-depth on how to make your coilover install the best possible for your application. The stock suspension on the Insight leaves a lot to be desired and we’ve stepped in to help. What’s wrong with the stock suspension? In my humble opinion, the biggest shortcomings for the OEM Insight suspension are two or maybe even threefold. First, the suspension doesn’t have adequate compression travel. Anyone who has driven a stock Insight knows the feeling of hitting a bump, the suspension bottoming out, crashing into the bump stops and feeling like the whole car is dying. Combine the minimal bump travel with the next problem, too soft of springs, then you’ve got a perfect recipe for running out of travel and smashing the strut body into the top hat. Lastly, we have inadequate compression damping, which is icing on the cake. In the rally car world, cars need to be softly sprung to manage all the bumps, dips and jumps, but suspension designers compensate by using a lot of suspension travel and compression damping to slow the suspension down under bump to keep the car compliant. With this in mind, how did we tackle the suspension issues with our coilovers? The great thing about working with Fortune Auto is that the strut assembly is adjustable in so many ways, it gives us a lot of freedom to make any changes necessary to work within the constraints Honda gave us. The first adjustment that we can take advantage of is that the ride height can be controlled via the spring perch as well as the lower spindle mount. Let’s talk about what we can do with these adjustments. The most important adjustment you can make! The lower spindle mount is the most critical step in your coilover installation journey. This controls where the wheel travels within your suspension arc. If you extend this adjustment (making your total strut assembly longer), you limit how far your tire will compress into the wheel well before the bump stop engages. If you reduce this adjustment (making your strut assembly shorter), your wheel will travel further into the wheel well under compression. Neither adjustment is good nor bad, but a choice you need to make depending on the wheels and tires you run and your desired ride height. So how do we adjust this so it’s optimal for each install? There are two things to keep in mind and the most important is wheel and tire clearance. The second is desired ride height. Let’s start with clearance. If you reduce the height of the overall strut assembly too far, it is possible for the tire to contact the wheel well and rub on stuff you don’t want it to. This is more likely to happen if you run larger width/diameter tires, as well as aggressive offset wheels. In order to keep clearance issues from happening, we have to adjust the lower spindle mount with a lot of consideration. How to adjust your lower spindle mount. Now for the most fun/annoying/time consuming/sucky part of the job. The best way to set this adjustment is to disassemble your coilover and remove the spring and bump stop, then reassemble everything (preferably with a ½” packer to simulate a fully compressed bump stop) and install it on your car, with a wheel/tire. Now, with the car in the air, compress the wheel fully and rotate the tire to see if it rubs on anything. If it does, extend the lower perch mount adjustment. If it doesn’t, reduce the lower perch mount adjustment. Repeat and test again. Once you are in the ballpark of a good adjustment and nothing is rubbing, add a little bit of steering lock left and right and see if there’s any rubbing. You don’t need to put full steering lock in as you aren’t cranking the steering full bore and hitting massive bumps at the same time and if you are, well, you have much bigger issues. You may need to adjust camber and check clearance as well. This is a bit challenging as it’s hard to be certain exactly the amount of camber you’ll have under full compression, but I’d start around 0 degrees and see what happens. A MacPherson strut suspension doesn’t gain much, if any, camber, so don’t expect your wheels/tires to tuck like it would on a Double Wishbone car. Once you’ve checked thoroughly for clearance issues and if there’s no rubbing and you’re happy, I’m happy. On to the next step. How desired ride height impacts everything. With the lower perch mount adjusted so you don’t have any clearance issues, now it’s time to think about how this adjustment impacts your desired ride height. Here’s how it worked on my car, but it’s probably going to be a little different for you. You’re welcome to ask us questions for your specific application. My stock ride height, as measured from the lip of my wheel to the edge of the fender, was about 5.5”. The stock suspension had about 2.5” of bump travel and a staggering 3.5” of droop travel. If you recall from earlier, one of the biggest issues with the car in OEM form is limited compression travel. Honda seems to have engineered the Insight for rock crawling, with a bunch of articulation on the non-loaded corner of the car. This is great for massive jumps, but in the real world, it’s wasted because the suspension is seldom in a full droop situation. What does this mean for you? It means you need to pay attention to how much droop travel vs. … Continue reading How to Optimize your First Generation Honda Insight Coilover Install

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