Today we would like to take a moment here in our blog articles to share the story of one of our sponsored race teams.
GPR Autosport is an automotive racing team based in New England. The team has been successfully building and road racing cars for over 20 years. The current car finished development earlier this year is a 3rd Generation Mazda RX-7 FD. Custom built chromemoly tube frame chassis with a 3rd generation Mazda RX-7 FD composite wide-body with full aerodynamic package. The engine is a 13B fusion-ported, turbocharged race prepared Mazda rotary with lightened and balanced rotating assembly, dry sump oiling system, complete digital ignition, fuel, and electronics. The team is running our lightweight racing muffler. The car features four-
wheel proportional racing disc brakes with stainless steel lines and carbon fiber cooling ducts. The 6-speed sequential transmission, aluminum flywheel, racing clutch attached to a Ford 9-inch racing rear end. The suspension is a complete, fully adjustable coil over design on all four corners.
The team is owned by driver Sterling Cole with highly accomplished friends and family as his team including an Engineer, Technician and four Mechanics. Sterling Cole was born with racing in his blood. His father professionally raced motorcycles and offshore power boats. His grandfather enjoyed hill climbs in the Northeast and a great-grandfather was a test driver for a well-known automobile company. Mr. Cole has taken his motorsports heritage into the next generation with his passion for speed. While attending racing school, Cole was matching his instructors’ lap times in his third day and uses his “natural talent" to achieve his motorsports goals.
In their first full season of competition with this new car GPR Autosport made an immense amount of progress from the start of the season to the finale. The season started with some difficulties at their first two events. Both attributed to electrical issues beyond their control. After working with the engine management sponsor, they were able to get the car running properly and had a successful third event, netting a first-place finish! They went on to compete in two additional race weekends, with podium finishes at both events. The season culminated at the SCCA Runoffs National Championship event. The team struggled a bit a first but came back and received an award for the most improved time throughout qualifying. Cole started in 18th and moved up to 8th place before the electrical gremlins from earlier in the season struck again. He still finished in 15th place. Next season the team plans to put what they learned from this past season and our offseason work to use and improve upon their results and event attendance from last year.
Here are some of their stats from this past season:
- Number of race weekends attended in 2022: 6
- Number of podium finishes in 2022: 6 (there are two races per weekend)
- Best position attained at Runoffs: 8thand received award for most improved during qualifying
- Overall finishing position in our division of the SCCA Majors series: 4th
If you are interested in a Burns Stainless sponsorship for your race team, we have Sponsorship Program Details and a Form to fill out HERE.
