5 minute read
Not An Option! Faizan Babar never gives up!
Not An Option! Faizan Babar never gives up!
Giving Up is Never an Option Faizan (informally known as Fez) is originally from Dallas, TX and also studied mechanical engineering at the University of Texas. He’s however currently living in Lexington KY, working in his dream job at Toyota. His journey into time attack however started back when bought the FRS. His FRS is technically his first car, which he had bought in 2015 while attending college with the help of his family. Before he had even gotten the car, he was introduced to autocross by a few of his friends who he used to run car meets with during their college years. He knew he really wanted to get into autocross at the time. He was excited for his first event but unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be as the car broke while he was on his way to the event. In 2017, he had the opportunity to co-op at Toyota and one of his coworkers introduced him to HPDE and he competed at his first event. He immediately knew that he would eventually want to get into time attack. He competed in a few HPDE events with the intention of getting into time attack but that dream had to be placed on hold as the job he got after graduating from college required him to travel a lot. Two years later, he got the job at Toyota, which allowed him to settle in one location and this allowed him to compete in his first HPDE event a MidOhio specifically last year, where he had the opportunity to meet DJ Alessandrini. DJ was his instructor and they were discussing Fez’s goals when he told DJ that he wanted to compete in time attack at Gridlife. DJ had motivated him and gave him the confidence he needed to finally jump into time attack. His first ever time attack event with Gridlife was exhilarating. The people there were amazing and also quite talented, which made him want to push himself even more and it led to him being a better driver in the end. A few challenges also
Also available as a steel pan. arose that weekend. A brake rotor cracked, which left him hunting for a replacement, which he managed to get a hold off and swap the rotor out, and at the end his coilovers were blown, which drastically impacted the handling of the car but overall he felt really comfortable behind the wheel. They were able to fix everything that went wrong the weekend without skipping a session which was also pretty awesome. The main attraction in time attack for Fez is the level of competition, especially at Gridlife. He also stated that at Mid-Ohio, there were so many of them as competitors that were within a 10th of a second of each other and that level of close competition is really hard to find. “It gets the adrenaline going and pushes me to be better” he added, and also stated: “Gridlife has some of best drivers in the country and some of the nicest people too and that’s why I keep coming back.” Fez unfortunately met in an accident at MidOhio during Gridlife’s Mid-Summer Meet and the car’s body took a bit of a beating. Thankfully, both he and the car are okay and the damage is repairable. They were able to replace the tie rod and hammer the fender out so that he could compete in the final sessions on Sunday. He’s currently in the process of finding parts for the car. About the car: Fez was always a fan of the BRZ/GT86 platform. He loved the fact that Toyota was coming out with a lightweight FR sports car. As stated previously, he purchased the FRS as a freshman in college with the help of his family. Back then, it was his dream car and it felt so surreal to finally own one. He also loved the fact that the specific version of his car is so rare. He loves the yellow, the TRD lip kit etc. The car means everything to him. He learned how to drive a manual with it, met people who are now really close friends through the car and competed in his first autocross with the car. “I’ve have had a lot of firsts in this car, hence I was really hurt to see it get wrecked at MidOhio, but she’s a warrior and I know I’ll be back again very soon.” The biggest weak point he’s found are the transmission and the engine. The engine in stock form is pretty underwhelming and doesn’t seem to come alive until after a few modifications, such as an unequal length header, E85 and a tune. The engine also has the tendency to overheat a lot so Fez has fitted an aftermarket oil cooler and changed the oil weight to a 5W40. As far as the transmission goes, he’s currently on his second transmission and he thinks 5th gear might go out soon. His goal for the rest of the season is to get the car fixed and potentially head to Midwest Festival or Elkhart Classics (Road America) with Gridlife. During the off-season, he wants to drop at least one hundred more pounds out of the car to better fit it the Club TR class rules because as the car sits, it is underpowered and overweight.
