Optima Ultimate Street Car Series - Willow Springs May 29-30th, 2020

Fantastic return to the track after months of sitting idle!

All of the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car competitors have been waiting to get back to the track. Jake Rozelle came into the first weekend back to competition after COVID-19 shutdowns across the US to take the overall win at the second round of events for Optima’s Search for the Ultimate Street Car event held at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park in Rosamond, CA, May 29-30^th 2020.

Many of the drivers made considerable upgrades and modifications to their cars during the hiatus and were anxious to unleash the speed. Although some teams could not make the trek to California for this second round of events, some very competitive west coast cars showed up with drivers ready to get back to what they love.

Over the COVID-19 offseason, Jake made some dramatic changes to his C5 Z06 Corvette, including engine and chassis setups, and was able to shake down his car the week before at Streets of Willow. After just two laps of testing at Streets of Willow, Jake knew his changes were going to produce a very competitive car for the Ultimate Street Car Association (USCA) event the following weekend.

From the time Jake unloaded, he was fast! This USCA event ran a little differently, having the Falken Tire Road Course and Powerstop Speed Stop segments held first on Friday. Running in the competitive GTL class in his C5 Z06 Corvette, Jake took to the premier west coast track, Big Willow, knowing he was going to be able to lay down a fast time, and he sure did. A 1.262, which ended up being the quickest time of the weekend, winning this segment overall.  Jake ended up 4^th overall in the Speed Stop segment with only all-wheel drive cars beating him out.

After a very respectable day on Friday, Jake knew that he had the power to lay down for the QA1 Autocross event. This segment took place at the iconic Willow Springs Balcony autocross and skidpad location. Knowing that AWD cars always do well at the autocross segments, Jake knew that he would need to be on his “A” game in the RWD monster he has built. He got the feel of the autocross course the first two runs and, on his third, laid down a quick time getting everyone’s attention. On the fourth run, Jake put down a 31.7, but it was dirty. Getting his bearings and knowing how well the car was working, he came back in the afternoon and ran the fastest time of the weekend at 31.2 seconds! This performance now gave him a win in two segments.

Saturday, during the autocross event, cars were presented with the Lingenfelter Design and Engineering competition, or what everyone calls D&E and is unique to this series. The intent is to identify real street cars from race cars. In recent years this challenge has been difficult for Jake, so during the offseason he changed the livery on his Z06. Changes were made to the hood for his new Lingenfelter engine, and after the judges were through, he came out on top for this segment as well, giving him a solid 400 out of 500 possible points. Combining this win with his fourth-place finish in the Speed Stop, and Jake’s overall points ended up being 497 out of 500, a very respectable win for this round of Optima’s Search for the Ultimate Street Car.

About the Wilwood Disc Brakes on Jake Rozelle's car:

Jake Rozelle has been a very successful driver using Wilwood Disc Brakes for more than six years on multiple cars. Jake first showed up and turned heads piloting the Rozelle Family 1969 Camaro in the GTV class. After performing exceptionally well in his Camaro, Jake moved into the 2003 Z06 Corvette and the competitive GTL class. In 2018 Wilwood Disc Brakes teamed up with Jake on his Corvette installing our full race-inspired front and rear brake kits. What makes a brake setup a race kit brake system? Here are a few things we change to put the brake system in the correct trim level for more aggressive race use:

The front Aerolite 6R and rear Forged Narrow Superlite 4R calipers are assembled with Thermlock insulated pistons and anodized in-house with a Type III Hard Anodized finish.

Hats to rotors are dynamically mounted or “floating,” allowing them to expand and contract separately to ensure the face of the rotors remain perpendicular to the faces of the brake pads under high temperatures.

BP-30 brake pads complement the race brake system by providing higher CF (coefficient of friction) at much higher temperatures generated under race conditions. This provides a consistent brake pedal, and confidence lap after lap under extreme braking use.

New to Jake’s 2003 Z06 Corvette for this last round of Optima’s Search for the Ultimate Street Car are Wilwood’s new proven Lug Drive dynamically mounted hat to rotor assemblies on the front Aerolite 6R, 14.00” rotor diameter brake kit.

We want to congratulate Jake Rozelle on a phenomenal win this past weekend and thank him for his invaluable input and feedback we receive from him year-round. Best of luck the rest of the season and best of luck at OUSCI 2020 in November!