Lief Storer's GT-R: Big Dreams, Bigger Numbers

Lief’s love for casual canyon carving, like so many track rats, set the stage for a serious foray into track days. Running the sinuous mountain roads near Oakland and sliding Tahoe powder in his 2009 WRX was enough to whet his whistle for a few years, but when the prices on his dream car entered the realm of attainability, he decided to take the leap and turn his cost-effective pastime into a full-time hobby. An Adobe-sponsored corporate track day at Sonoma made Lief absolutely certain he wanted to push a more powerful car in an environment where he could safely push the car’s limits.

His dream car was not a hardcore thoroughbred, nor was it super light, but Lief was convinced it was the ideal platform for an aspirational build. His 2009 GT-R had all the potential for quad-digit horsepower and a place at the top of any timesheet. He had grand dreams about turning this tech-heavy heavyweight into a standout.

Plus, much to Lief’s liking, the car was practical. “I could throw a set of race slicks in the back, drive it to the track, swap ‘em out, and then when I was done, drive home. It wasn’t just about the power or the grip—it was an everyday supercar I could live with.”

His aim of regularly competing in Speed SF Challenge and other time trials encouraged him to find that elusive happy medium: sharpening it while still retaining some streetability. For some time, Lief drove the car to and from the track without any problems other than a frightening tire bill. However, as the car kept getting faster, Lief eventually turned a corner and decided to change the car’s designation permanently.

Out of the box, the wet weight of the GT-R is over 3,900 pounds, so serious stripping was in order.

About three years into regularly tracking the car, he called on Tony Colicchio at TC Designs to weld in a full cage. “The night before sending it to TC, I got a little carried away. I stripped everything out of the car I could, and before I dropped it off the next morning, I realized that I was going to build this car solely for time attack.”

After a few more weight savers like polycarbonate windows and a titanium exhaust, he moved onto the fixes that a heavy, complicated sports car needs if it’s going to last longer runs. A Litchfield transmission cooler, a CSF radiator, and all the Trackspec venting to keep the VR38 and the braking system reasonably cool.

The next order of business was bringing the Nissan’s nose in-line. “Understeer out of the box is awful…it’s akin to a bulldozer plowing than a precision race vehicle,” Lief admits. “I wanted the car to follow my steering inputs, and so we went to town on the front end. Now, there’s a Nismo LSD up front, a set of widebody fenders, and custom Brypar knuckles that allow me to run a set of Advan GT 18x12” wheels and Yokohama A005 slicks set into perfect alignment with SPL arms. Paired with a large front splitter fabricated by Trackspec, the car can rotate in slow corners and still tuck the nose in for fast corners, too.

An Overtake rear LSD was added to reduce drivetrain temperatures, and it also improves rotation. Even after considerable weight savings measures, the heavy GT-R stopping distances aren’t the shortest, so Lief fitted 4-piston Brembo race calipers with endurance pads. The difference in pedal feel from the OEM Brembo 6-piston to the race-oriented 4-pistons is night and day. They also offer a much lower profile for improved cooling, and the 32mm pads that will run five track days without any noticeable fade

The car was pointy and precise, but the bump in front grip came at a cost. “I got a little carried away at Laguna one day and spun it through Turn 6 at about 90 miles an hour. The wall was about five feet away when I came to a stop.”

The need for a complementary rear end pushed Lief to buy the biggest chassis-mounted wing he could fit: a 78” APR GT-1000. The resulting balance put the car into a new performance window that helped him set a few of his best times. He’d found a consistent, capable car that wouldn’t bite his head off if he made a mistake. Even better: the motor wouldn’t overheat in the course of a fifteen-minute session. Its oil circulation was not as strong, however.

“In my opinion, Speed SF Challenge offers enthusiasts a unique balance of risk and fun, while ensuring competition among a range of participants of varying budgets. The feeling of the grid is racey and competitive, but you’re not overly concerned with swapping paint.”

After an auspicious Sonoma session in which Lief set a 1:42.4, the motor let go. “I hadn’t been checking the oil frequently enough, and I believe I starved it in Turn 11 and threw a rod. The motor had seen around 30,000 miles, 20,000 of which were track miles. Every dog has its day.”

The cost of consumables with this heavyweight had been hard enough to swallow, but an engine rebuild gave him a reason to panic. With the price of a VR38 long block pushing $25,000, he had to get creative with his financing and find a shop that could pencil him in without emptying his bank account.

The cost was so extravagant that cross-country shipping the entire car was a worthwhile endeavor. Check6ix offered him the most appealing deal of the notable GT-R shops he’d contacted, and that meant sticking it on a hauler en route to Georgia.

Eighteen months later, he flew out to Atlanta to pick up his rebuilt baby. Cicio Performance had fitted the head with upgraded valve springs and cams, then filled the block with forged Manley rods and pistons. The cam change had bumped torque to a respectable 630 lb-ft, and that’s with the factory turbochargers still in place. Retaining the stock snails is not something that someone who’s just fitted a MoTec C127 ECU to their motor usually does, but Lief felt they’d do the trick. “I just wanted it to run reliably and respond to my footwork. I also wanted to keep the car right at the limit for running in NASA’s TT1 class.”

Coincidentally, the completion of his new motor lined up with Global Time Attack at Road Atlanta, so he flew out East with his helmet and suit packed, and met with the Check6ix team in the pits.

The car, sitting on a set of old Yokohama A005s, was frighteningly fast out of the box. Lief clicked off a 1:29 in practice, and after a few setup changes and some familiarization with the course, he managed a 1:26.6. This was good enough for a 4th place in the Unlimited class, which was filled with builds boasting another 300 horsepower. Though he was outgunned from the get-go, Lief was forced to compete in Unlimited as the rules for the lesser classes require a dashboard of some sort, which was absent in this car.

Back on the West Coast, Lief’s been racking up the sort of lap times that make everyone purse their lips and nod. Best of all, he’s been doing it without chasing quad-digit power. Currently, with just 600 horsepower and a wet weight of 3,400 pounds, he’s been able to put a 1:27.8 in at Laguna Seca. He’s spent a pretty penny to get this far, and he’s debating whether it’s worthwhile spending more.

“I’m at a fork in the road where all I see are diminishing returns, and at some point I want to start another project. I keep saying that it’s done, but part of me thinks I’ll need to work a little harder to perfect it,” he says. “I still want to get some weight out of the car—I can try tubed subframes and some more carbon panels; weight reduction has made the car so lively. It’s been an amazing journey—both building the car and investing countless hours on the simulator. We’ve both come a long way.”

After going sub-30 at Laguna, Lief has his crosshairs on getting under the 1:40 mark at Sonoma and under 1:50 at Thunderhill East, “There’s something about those ten-second incremental milestones that makes every one of us track junkies completely elated. I hope there’ll be a few more on the horizon.”

He might not’ve gone for bigger turbos, but it’s clear Lief is a guy who likes big numbers—and he went about getting them in the smartest way possible.