Photos by Sam Draiss Media and Denise Conner Millville, NJ – New Jersey native Roger Maeda brought home the Championship Gold at his home track, clinching the fast lap of the race from his pro racing competitors while securing his team's first USTCC Championship Trophy. This year-long victory would only come after a gauntlet of three close races in which the StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude fended off challenges from racers in both the Sportsman and Super Touring classes. When the dust settled, it was the privateer Honda team that emerged on top, clocking the fastest lap out of any of the US Touring Car Championship cars that raced this weekend. Saturday Heat Race 1 Cold track conditions and blustery crosswinds tipped polesitter Brandon Lewis into a Lap 1 spin, turning Heat Race 1 into a straight shootout between Roger’s Honda Prelude and Andrew Conner’s E90 BMW 325i. The series champions-to-be traded places and ran within striking distance through the entire 10 lap Heat Race before Andrew unleashed the full 300hp from his BMW’s S54 engine and beat the green Honda to the line on the very last lap. Saturday Heat Race 2 More lap 1 excitement ensued when Martin Szwarc’s BRT Honda Civic Si turned completely sideways directly in front of the Studio Prelude on the Ski-Jump Turn 5 corner. Roger dodged the sliding Civic and brought the car home safely in preparation for the all-important Feature Race ahead. Sunday Feature Race Roger’s fervent pursuit of the SP class leader was cut short by the untimely intervention of the Safety Car. Undeterred, Roger switched his sights to Andrew Conner’s Super Touring class On Q Racing BMW 325i in a revenge match from the first Heat Race. In the process, the StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude clocked a fast lap of the race of 1:16.092 – Faster than the 300hp machines in the Super Touring class. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Feature Race: 2nd in Sportsman, 3rd overall in USTCC Fastest Lap: 1:16.092 “It’s a good day for us here at StudioVRM.Racing. All we can say is - Thank you. Thank you to our loyal crew who have sacrificed countless hours to keep our team running. Thank you to our amazing fans who came out to the track to support us all season. Thank you to our technical partner Bad Guys Worldwide and IT solutions partner Blue Leaf Technologies for lending us your tremendous skills while believing in us. Thank you to the members of the Honda Prelude Racing Group who provided technical advice, upgraded components, and the encouragement we needed through the good times and bad. Thank you to our competitors on both the East and West coasts of the US Touring Car Championship for giving us great battles and even better support. Thank you to all of you who follow us on StudioVRM.net and are subscribed to us on our YouTube channel for your kind words and never-ending support. Thank you to my exceptionally patient family – Especially my 7-year-old daughter, who I hope will one day join me on the podium as a pro driver in the USTCC. We would like to dedicate our championship victory to a fellow Prelude racer by the name of Gordon Forbes. Gordon was one of the first people to ever contact us through our tech tips website, StudioVRM.net. His unwavering support has often been the bright light that helped us get through our darkest days. Thank you, Gordon. This one’s for you.”

Photos by Sam Draiss Media Summit Point, WV – The 2024 USTCC East Series opener proved to be a tough test for StudioVRM’s Roger Maeda, as electrical problems with the team’s 2024 spec Prelude touring car brought their Feature Race to an early end. Despite this, Maeda would find himself on the top step of the podium after the class leader was penalized for a shock post-race technical infringement. Qualifying The team managed the Saturday qualifying session well, finding enough space on track to set two fast laps in a busy 29-car Big Bore group. Unfortunately, an issue with the #22 car’s transponder meant that neither of those qualifying laps were recorded by Timing & Scoring. To add to the team’s problems, the PGM-FI fuse, a safety mechanism designed to protect the Prelude’s core engine control electronics, blew at the start of the Qualifying Race, sidelining Maeda before the session had even begun. The lack of a fast lap from these two sessions meant that the StudioVRM Honda Prelude would have to start Sunday’s Feature Race from the back of the grid. Sunday Feature Race With some quick fixes made to the wiring and a new PGM-FI fuse installed, the team sent the StudioVRM Prelude out to mount a fight back from the back row. An aggressive charge through the tail end of the field allowed Maeda to catch up to Braci Racing Team’s Martin Szwarc, who was now enjoying a strong run of pace after solving the brake issues that had hampered his Civic’s performance on Saturday. Knowing that Szwarc would only get faster as the race went on, Maeda opted to seize an opportunity to launch an inside attack through Summit Point’s fast uphill turn 9, leading to a 3-wide race for the apex for the high-speed turn 10 onto the main straight. The Prelude’s Bad Guys-enhanced H22 engine allowed Maeda to pull ahead of the BRT Civic by the Turn 10 bridge, and the 2024 spec aero package gave him the grip he needed to muscle past the #60 Ford Mustang in an inside attack through the fast sweeper. This high-risk maneuver paid off handsomely, as the team’s green Prelude made it to turn 1 first while setting off in pursuit of Andrew Conner’s fire-red On Q Racing BMW 325i. Sadly, the StudioVRM.Racing team’s efforts would be cut cruelly short when the electrical problem from before returned with a vengeance, this time in the form of a Throttle Position Sensor failure. Maeda pulled off into the escape road at Turn 1 a few laps later to wait out the remainder of the race in the safety of Summit Point’s trackside Skidpad. However, Round 1 of the US Touring Car Championship East Series had one last twist to store before its curtain call. Braci Racing Team’s Martin Szwarc had missed the mandatory call to post-race impound and was penalized with a loss of position in the final results. This elevated Maeda and the StudioVRM.Racing team to first in class in the Sportsman class, gifting them a win on technicality. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Feature Race: 1st* in Sportsman, 3rd overall in USTCC Fastest Lap: 1:24.791 “There is a big asterisk next to today’s result, as Martin Szwarc’s BRT Honda Civic actually finished ahead of us on the road. Our race pace was encouraging, and I think we showed that our 2024 spec aero and suspension package have a tremendous amount of potential. We need to eliminate the small reliability issues and preparatory mistakes so we can earn our next win on merit. Huge thanks to the team, especially guest mechanic Glenn Halfpap, who once again arrived at the perfect time to help tackle issues with our car as well as to brighten up the mood with a fresh batch of Mrs. Halfpap’s fantastic oatmeal raisin cookies. Thank you, Glenn. You were our team’s MVP this Sunday.” "Z" Jefferson – Race Engineer – StudioVRM.Racing “The first weekend of the season looked promising but gremlins were underfoot. They started with mild trouble in the form of a snapped hood pin before getting on track. A blown fuse before green in qualifying meant we absolutely needed to run the warmup before Sunday's race. After another blown fuse in warm up we were just hoping things would hold together for race distance. Even though full race distance wasn't in the cards this weekend we were able to get in over half race distance on the 2nd fuse replacement before succumbing to more trouble. Quickly catching up from the rear showed promise so we need to get the issues sorted before the next race."

Photos by Sam Draiss Media Millville, NJ – A close quarters duel with BRT’s Martin Szwarc ended in disappointment as the StudioVRM Prelude’s H22 powerplant expired halfway into the Round 2 Feature Race at NJ Motorsports Park. Adding to the frustration was the fact that the East Series Championship contenders were enjoying their most competitive race weekends of the year and were gearing up for a fantastic fight before mechanical gremlins struck for the second time in two races. Qualifying Fast lap: 1:15.373 The team’s debugged 2024 aero package showed its strength in Qualifying as Maeda weaved through traffic to post a 1:15.569 on his first attack lap. As the track rubbered in and other cars pulled off early, Maeda continued to improve his lap times, ultimately recording a 1:15.373. This was fast enough to place the StudioVRM Prelude 11th overall and fastest of the USTCC SP class cars. Saturday Heat Race A strong start allowed Maeda to immediately overtake two cars and jump up to 9th overall, with Braci Racing Team’s Martin Szwarc following closely behind. This position would be short lived, however, as the battling duo would have to cede position to allow some of the higher-powered cars to race with cars in their own classes. By lap 5, Maeda and Szwarc found themselves locked in single combat while running behind the Corvette Z51 of Chuck Burns. As the straight-line speed of Burns’ Corvette made it difficult for the two Sportsman class Hondas to overtake cleanly, Maeda was forced to defend against attacks from the BRT Honda Civic while patiently waiting for an opportunity to get past the crimson V8 sports car ahead. Ultimately, the Saturday Heat Race ended in Maeda’s favor when Szwarc experienced a splitter support rod issue on his Civic and was forced to back off. Sunday Feature Race Sunday’s feature race saw the grid reshuffled slightly due to some of the competitors improving their lap times during the Saturday Heat Race. Maeda managed a strong start once again, lifting the StudioVRM Honda Prelude up to 12th overall by the end of the first lap, with BRT’s Martin Szwarc once again following inches behind. The two Sportsman Class runners navigated both faster and slower traffic, only for this time to catch up to the fight between brothers Jim and Robert Benson in their exotic high powered GT cars. Maeda once again found himself working to fend off Szwarc’s attacks while trying to keep his distance where the Prelude’s aerodynamic advantage made it faster than the cars ahead.While the USTCC SP class drivers dueled for top honors, trouble began brewing deep within the StudioVRM Prelude’s H22 powerplant. A problem in cylinder #3 of the car’s engine was allowing combustion gasses to get past the piston rings and blow engine oil into the catch can. That oil eventually overflowed the can, causing some of it to spill out onto the track, to the unfortunate peril of other cars behind. Faced with the possibility of creating an even more hazardous situation for other cars on track, Maeda decided to retire the car early and ceding the SP class lead to BRT’s Martin Szwarc. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Feature Race: 2nd in Sportsman, 4th overall in USTCC Qualifying Time: 1:15.373 Fastest Race Lap: 1:17.422 “It's been a tremendously frustrating weekend for us, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. The engine failure looks almost identical to the issue we experienced at Pittsburgh in 2022 and is one we would have been caught if we hadn’t compromised our race preparation to run the car at an exhibition event on the weekend prior to this one. Our apologies to the competitors who were behind us when the car’s catch can overflowed and laid down oil on track. We are down but we are not out. With the help of our technical partner Bad Guys Worldwide, we are building a new engine to the limit of the power rules allowed in USTCC’s Sportsman class. With that extra horsepower and some of the chassis upgrades we have in store, we should be able to bounce back with a competitive showing later in the summer.” Z. Jefferson – Race Engineer – StudioVRM.Racing “We were elated at the end of the first session where the Prelude managed all qualifying laps without incident and with a respectable time. There seemed to be a handful of adjustments to make for the following races but nothing major. After completing all laps of the first race, the Prelude came back with oil on the splitter and a full catch can, giving us flashbacks of prior gremlins and massive oil cleanups. After retiring early in the final race of the weekend we know this will take a bit of time to correct but are hopefully the majority of the setup is in good shape and we can return with a reliable fast car.”

StudioVRM.Racing is returning to the US Touring Car Championship for the 2022 season. The plan for is to run our Prelude in the SP class, with some potential one-off entries in the ProjectCRX Honda CRX and the Chasing Tarmac Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Look for us in the paddock at the following events this season: 2022 Season Schedule See you at the track.

StudioVRM.Racing is coming for the US Touring Car Championship, against faster and better prepared competition. Wish us luck, and look for us in the paddock at the following events this season: 2023 Season Schedule See you at the track.

Photos by Andy Yoon, Denise Conner, and Aziza Jefferson May 28, 2023 (Millville, N.J.) – An unusual set of circumstances forced StudioVRM.Racing driver Roger Maeda to start from the back of the Big Bore field at the 2nd round of the 2023 USTCC East Series. Undeterred by the setback, Roger fought his way through the field before a broken outer CV joint relegated Team StudioVRM.Racing to a distant 2nd place in Sportsman class. Sunday Feature Race A family emergency prevented Roger from arriving at NJ Motorsports Park’s Lightning Circuit until late Saturday, preventing him from taking part in Qualifying or the Heat Race. This meant that he would have to start from the back of the Big Bore field during the Sunday Feature Race. Our Prelude pilot made a flyer of a start, streaming past a classic GT1 Corvette and a Fox-body Mustang in fervent pursuit of the USTCC cars that had qualified further up the grid. By lap 2, Roger’s green Prelude managed to get within half a second of the Sportsman class leader, Martin Szwarc in his newly christened Braci Racing 8th gen Honda Civic Si Sedan. The silver Civic, equipped with high-lift cams from engine gurus Bad Guys Worldwide, used its prodigious straight-line speed to keep our StudioVRM Prelude behind. Roger neutralized the Civic’s power with the Prelude’s superior speed through the Lightning Circuit’s high-speed Lightbulb turn before making an assertive outside pass through Lightning’s Turn 1. Unfortunately, this victory would prove short-lived. The Prelude’s left outer CV joint boot had popped loose during this move, allowing the grease inside the joint to escape the joint. A huge plume of smoke erupted from the green Honda’s left front wheel well as Redline CV2 grease evaporated against the Prelude’s red hot brake rotors. Despite this, Roger did his best to get the car to the finish. But it wasn’t to be. On lap 12, the exposed CV joint failed entirely, forcing an early end to our race. Because Team StudioVRM.Racing had completed over half the racing laps of the 22-lap race, the team earned a 2nd place in Sportsman class. It was no doubt a disappointing result for the East Brunswick based team, but the team left the track with valuable points which would keep us in the title fight. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Qualifying: N/A Race: 2nd in Sportsman, 4th in USTCC, 22nd Overall Fastest Lap: 1:17.476 “An exploded outer CV joint ended our race before we could show our true pace. But we clocked enough laps to classify P2 in Sportsman and brought the car home in one piece. More importantly, a big congratulations to Martin Szwarc and the Braci Racing Team for a well-deserved debut win. I know the team was absolutely thrashing to get the car ready for this weekend and we couldn’t be happier to see their long nights of wrenching pay off in a big way.”

Whether in our garages, on our sim rigs, in our offices, or in our living rooms, there is a good chance that every one of us owns a flat screen TV or monitor of some sort. And if you have ever invited a small child into your home, that TV is guaranteed to have at least one big scratch on its screen. The TVs here at StudioVRM HQ are no exceptions to that rule, as every single screen and laptop in the Studio has been scratched or gouged at some point. And yet, the only way you can see the scratches on our TVs is to shine a bright light directly at the screen and look from a very specific angle. What's our secret? Here it is: This is a TurtleWax clear coat repair pen. You can find it at some auto parts stores for about $8, or as part of the TurtleWax T-234KT Scratch Repair Kit for about $13 US from Amazon. While the whole kit is admittedly pretty average for fixing scratches in car paint, the clearcoat pen that comes in it produces one of the most durable, optically clear finishes of any liquid clear coat repair kit. The method listed below was inspired by a YouTube creator by the name of Bob Does it All. Check out his original version of the fix here. What does this work on? This fix will permanently repair medium to deep scratches on TVs, computer screens, and laptop screens with a gloss-finish screen. It will also help reduce the visibility of scratches on matte-finish screens, but will not work as well as on a glossy screen. Based on our testing, this fix works better on plastic screens than glass screens. Unfortunately, this method will not fully repair scratches on tinted screens. How to Fix Scratches on Your TV or Monitor - The Step-By-Step Here's what you need: One TurtleWax scratch repair pen A brand-new razor blade A small roll of masking tape A Magic Eraser or similar Melamine cleaning sponge A handful of alcohol screen cleaning wipes, or a bottle of 70% isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free (preferably microfiber) cloth And here is the step-by-step guide, demonstrated on this scratched touch screen of a Lenovo X1: 1. Use the alcohol screen cleaning wipes to remove any dust and dirt from the entire screen. Focus on the area of the scratch, and if possible, try to get some of the alcohol inside the scratch to remove any plastic or glass dust that may be trapped inside. The better you can clean the scratches, the better the end result will be. 2. Shake up the Scratch Repair pen and wipe the tip of the pen with one of the alcohol pads. This will remove any "crust" on the tip of the pen so that you won't end up embedding any of it on your TV screen. 3. Lightly press the pen against the screen and squeeze the body to let out the scratch repair liquid. Use a generous amount, and don't worry if it drips or spills over the sides of the scratch. 4. Let the liquid dry for 3-4 hours. 5. Cut some small strips of masking tape and wrap the corners of your razor blade as seen below. This will keep the corners of the razor from putting any new scratches on your screen. 6. Scrape the razor blade at an angle to the scratch to remove any excess clear coat repair liquid. Try not to scrape perpendicular to the scratch, or you may end up removing some of the repair material from the scratch that you are trying to fill. 7. Soak the Magic Eraser in water and gently rub it against the area surrounding the scratch to remove any excess clear coat material. The excess clear should flake off easily. 8. Wipe the screen again and inspect the scratch. If it is still visible, repeat steps 3-7. In our experience, shallower scratches took only one pass, while deeper scratches took 2 to 3 applications to fix. And that's it. Even with the contrast turned up on our camera, the scratches on our laptop screen are much less noticeable than before. With the laptop turned on, these scratches are completely invisible: The results were even better when we used this method to fix the ballpoint pen gouges on our Sony Bravia TV. Even when we turned the contrast up and held a finger up to the screen to get the camera to focus on the scratch, we couldn't get the repaired scratches to show up on camera: We hope this trick serves you as well as it has us. See you at the track. Disclosure Section: All products shown here were purchased out of Roger's own pocket, at full price. StudioVRM is an Amazon Associate, which means that we get a small amount of referral income if you buy a product using any Amazon links above. StudioVRM and Roger Maeda are not affiliated with TurtleWax. While the USTCC series that we race in is sponsored by TurtleWax, the products in this review were purchased from retail sources at full price.

StudioVRM.Racing is defending its US Touring Car Championship East Series crown with a faster, more refined machine and team. Wish us luck, and look for us in the paddock at the following events this season: 2024 Race Schedule **The team anticipates that we will miss these events due to a major mechanical issue with our USTCC car. See you at the track.

Photo Credit: Denise Conner, On Q Racing September 17, 2023 (Watkins Glen, N.Y.) – Handicapped by 100 lbs of REWARDS weight from his early season wins and saddled with the lowest top speed of all cars in the USTCC East Series, touring car driver Roger Maeda expected an uphill battle for the team at the fast and flowing Watkins Glen International. And indeed, it would be a case of damage limitation for the team as they contended with the challenge of keeping faster cars behind them on a famously unforgiving track. Saturday Race – Long Course Despite being headquartered within a 4-hour drive from the Finger Lakes, this was the first time Roger Maeda or StudioVRM.Racing had ever put a wheel on Watkins Glen International’s historic 3.45-mile track. Fortunately, Roger had driven the track in the USTCC Winter Virtual Series and had an idea of what to expect as a result. Building on that experience, Roger quickly ramped up his pace and put the StudioVRM Prelude 22nd on the grid out of 34 cars during Saturday’s race. Crucially, this meant that he was now going to start ahead of all of the other USTCC cars that were racing this weekend. All he had to do was defend that position for 25 minutes on the fastest track on the USTCC East Series calendar. Roger executed a clean start to stay ahead of Andrew Conner’s On Q Racing E90 BMW 325i through The Glen’s steeply banked Turn 1. He then tucked in behind the huge rear wing of Patrick Fanning’s Factory Ford Mustang FR500S and waited patiently for an opportunity to improve his position over the next 15 minutes. That plan would be suddenly derailed with the unexpected appearance of double yellow flags. An engine failure for A Sedan Mustang driver Jared Licklider caused a two-car crash into the guard rails along the high-speed back straight. The safety car emerged soon after, collecting the entire field and bringing them back to pit lane for an early end to Saturday’s race. In the end, Roger would successfully defend his starting position, taking the checkered flag as the leading USTCC car in 21st overall. Sunday Race – NASCAR Short Course The USTCC ran Sunday’s Feature Race on the “boot-less” short course layout – a fast, flowing layout that rewards a bit of risk-taking by racers and teams. Thanks to the experience from the prior day, Roger managed to qualify ahead of Conner’s fire-red BMW and even start several places higher than he had on Saturday. Unfortunately, it would all come undone at Turn 1. A freak mechanical issue pitched the B.R.A. Chevrolet Monza GT into a spin just two cars in front of the StudioVRM Prelude. Roger managed to weave his way through the turn 1 turmoil, but lost six places in the process – dropping him to dead last of the remaining cars in the leading pack. An aggressive fightback ensued as we managed to retake 17th overall from a Mustang GT500 in pursuit of the other USTCC cars further up the field. We had just managed to get within sight of the On Q Racing BMW when the Prelude’s clutch started slipping out of nowhere. We originally suspected that our H22's rear main seal had failed. But when GFAB's Grant Labay assessed the damage afterwards, he discovered that the clutch pressure plate had exploded and punctured the transmission casing. This wildly random failure would bring about an early end to our Sunday race. Roger brought the Prelude back to pit lane a few laps early with a small cloud of oil following in our green Honda’s wake. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Saturday Race: 1st in Sportsman, 21st OverallFastest Lap: 2:18.357 Sunday Race: 1st in Sportsman, 22nd OverallFastest Lap: 1:29.839 “Our car has the lowest top speed of all USTCC East Series teams, so we knew this Watkins Glen round was going to be the toughest race weekend on the 2023 USTCC East calendar. Thanks to our high-downforce aero setup, rock solid FFC / Raybestos brakes, and our well-tuned suspension setup, we were able to defend our position by aggressively attacking the kerbs. The big surprise this weekend was learning just how much we liked this track. I personally love how the high-grip surface, swooping banked turns, and rollercoaster elevation changes all add up to a track that encourages skilled risk-taking. The scenery is beautiful and even the people here are exceptionally nice. Watkins Glen International may have become my new favorite track. Z (our race engineer) and I analyzed the data, and we already found a few places where we can  shave huge chunks off our lap time on both the long and short courses. Long story short, we can’t wait to come back.”

We at StudioVRM.Racing are excited to announce that Blue Leaf Technologies has signed on to become our team's official Enterprise IT Solutions Partner. Blue Leaf Technologies is one of the best-kept secrets in American Enterprise IT Management. Over the last 20 years, this New Jersey-based consulting firm developed a reputation for solving complex technology problems and performing fast-paced, enterprise-grade tech rollouts for big name corporations including global law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, fashion giants Capri Holdings Limited (a.k.a. Michael Kors Limited), and reigning NBA Southwest Division champions Memphis Grizzlies. Blue Leaf's expertise in modern workspace, enterprise cloud, remote access, desktop support, and infrastructure systems has earned them a place in many CIOs' address books, while their ingenuity and speed have helped them succeed where big-name IT consulting conglomerates struggle. Intricate technical knowledge of Microsoft, VMWare, Citrix, Oracle, and Ivanti platforms has helped them become one of the most prominent woman-owned technology implementers in the New York Metro area. Through this new partnership, our teams will combine forces to push the limits of car, personnel, and modern enterprise technology on the gritty, fast-paced world of Professional Touring Car Racing. Roger Maeda, Driver-Owner, StudioVRM.Racing says: "It always surprises people when we tell them that the technology needs of a modern racing team rivals that of a medium-size enterprise. But it's 100% true. Developing and running a modern-day racecar involves an astronomical volume of computer simulations and data analysis. The processing power and storage volume required to handle this data is so intense that we simply cannot do it without the help of enterprise-grade cloud computing technologies. Without these capabilities, independent teams like us would never be able to compete with the larger factory-backed efforts that we race with. I have worked with several top-tier technology consulting companies in the past 10 years, and Blue Leaf Technologies has consistently been the fastest and the most efficient at solving complex technology problems. The creative direction of their Chief Architect Uday Patel has helped us address some of the most challenging performance problems and made our internal IT magnitudes simpler for our team. The implementation team at Blue Leaf has also helped us achieve this quickly, which, for a budget-conscious organization like ours, is priceless. We would like to thank Blue Leaf Technologies CEO Rinku Patel for dedicating her team's expertise towards our pursuit of cutting-edge performance. We look forward to sharing the limelight on the top step of the USTCC podium." To commemorate the start of our team's official partnership, Blue Leaf Technologies' digital designers have outfitted our race team with high-tech apparel: Look for our drivers and mechanics, who will be sporting this fresh look at our next US Touring Car Championship race! To learn more about Blue Leaf Technologies and their services, visit: W: Blue Leaf Technologies LI: Blue Leaf Technologies | LinkedIn

July 23, 2023 (Summit Point, W.V.) – It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for StudioVRM’s Roger Maeda, as the team converted another back row start to collect valuable series points along with a class win. But it was also a race of what could have been, as the team’s aero-equipped Prelude repeatedly found itself stuck in traffic behind 300+hp big bore cars, unable to show the potential of the Spec B upgrade package that the team prepared for Round 3 of the US Touring Car Championship East Series. Sunday Feature Race For the second Feature Race in a row, Roger faced a fightback from the rear of the grid after a fluke overheating issue and a surprise fuel leak prevented the team from setting a fast lap on Saturday. Fortunately, there would be a split start for the large American Sedan Challenge class that was sharing the track with us, meaning that the StudioVRM Prelude would start 21st on the grid instead of 34th. Unfortunately, this also meant that he would be starting directly behind a Panos Esperante GTS and a Dodge SRT4 – Two 21st century torque monsters, each with a triple digit lbs-ft advantage over our Honda H22 powered Prelude. Roger would have to slipstream behind one of these two cars into turn 1 in the hopes that one of them would open the door for us to get by. But which one? The green flag dropped, and Roger chose to duck in behind the SRT4. Big mistake. The Dodge bogged down at the apex of Turn 1, allowing the Panos to get around both cars with an easy outside pass. What followed was a frustrating lap of following the red Dodge before the SRT driver graciously decided to point Roger by on the entry to the Carousel. This was followed swiftly by the appearance of a safety car to recover a Ford Mustang that was stranded on the short straight between Turn 5 and the Carousel. This meant that we would get a second chance to catch up to the forward pack. This also meant that the leaders in the American Sedan class would be on our heels at the restart. The safety car pulled off, the green flag flew, and four 8-cylinder muscle cars immediately thundered past through the first two corners. Roger latched on to the back of the train of American iron and used it to clear a path to the mid-pack. In a few corners, Roger had managed to close the gap and could see the ST-classed On Q Racing BMW 325i running just a few cars ahead. Roger did his best to get past Jerome Welte’s Porsche Boxster, Mark Liller’s NC MX-5, and Scott Luttrell’s turbo Mini Cooper S as quickly as possible. But the Factory Five Cobra of Bob Hasychak proved to be a much tougher opponent. Hasychak’s classic Cobra racecar lacked the high-speed cornering grip of our Prelude but had more than enough torque to make up for it. Even with our 218hp Honda engine running at full song, the red and black roadster duly demonstrated that it could let Roger have every corner and still power his way past down the following straight. With the rest of the American Sedan field closing in from behind, Roger made the decision to let the silver Pontiac Firebird of George Gustafson through, in the hopes that he could clear the road for both of us to get past the Cobra. Unfortunately for us, the summer heat and the Pontiac’s heavyweight chassis had done a number on its tyres, and the Pontiac struggled to get power down through corner exits. As Hasychak’s Cobra disappeared past the horizon, Roger let John Blanchard’s green Camaro through so he could let the A Sedan cars fight for a final spot on their podium. The race would end under yet another full course caution, as Bob Hasychak’s Factory Five Cobra spun off and became firmly entrenched in the mud outside of the Carousel. After all of the overtakes and retirements ahead, Roger brought the StudioVRM Honda Prelude home in 14th place overall and the top spot in the USTCC's Sportsman class. In-car video: Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si VTEC Qualifying: N/A Race: 1st in Sportsman, 4th in USTCC, 14th Overall Fastest Lap: 1:26.089s “Mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, we ran a trouble-free Feature Race and had some great wheel-to-wheel battles with the muscle cars in the Big Bore group. On the other hand, we had to start from the back of the grid for the second weekend in a row and couldn't get through the field quickly enough to join the USTCC SuperTouring class cars up front. Thanks to the hard work of our crew (with a special thank-you to guest mechanic Glenn Halfpap) and help from our friends at On Q Racing, we still came home as the top finisher in Sportsman class. There will be lots to do for both car and driver before the next round.”

Photo by Bill Stoler Photography April 23, 2023 (Summit Point, W.V.) – An overall USTCC win in the Round 1 Feature Race was the last thing Roger Maeda expected after electrical problems put him out of qualifying and a post-Heat Race crash cracked the Prelude's front splitter. Yet, through the perseverance of his crew, an aggressive heat race performance on Saturday, and a determined drive on Sunday, the StudioVRM.Racing team crossed the finish line first in both the Sportsman Class as well as the entire USTCC grid. Qualifying Disaster struck moments before Qualifying as the StudioVRM Honda Prelude shut down on the grid mere minutes before the start of the session. A low voltage condition indicated that there was a problem with the new battery that the team installed the week before the race. The friendly Summit Point recovery crew towed the stricken Honda back to its paddock spot, and the team went to diagnose the issues in lieu of running qualifying laps. Saturday Heat Race Roger started the Saturday heat race in 33rd place on the grid with a new battery mounted in the Prelude’s engine bay. The StudioVRM Prelude’s new-for-2023 VTEC engine gave Roger the horsepower he needed to rapidly move up the field in pursuit of his fellow USTCC competitors. His upwards charge was paused when an ITS-classed Z car unfortunately caught fire, then was completely curtailed when the Honda’s H22 engine started losing power six laps into the race. The low voltage issue from the morning had returned with a vengeance, this time preventing the coil packs in his coil-on-plug converted engine from firing consistently. These worries were soon superseded by the sudden arrival of a thunderstorm, which flooded the track and brought the checkered flag out five laps early. Then to add further injury to injury, Roger drove through a huge puddle on his cool-down lap and threw the Prelude into the tire wall, damaging the splitter. Despite all of our mishaps and misfortunes, the StudioVRM Racing Team had overtaken 23 cars on the road and recorded a fast lap that was good enough to put them 5th on the grid for the Sunday Feature Race. Sunday Feature Race The team replaced the alternator, repaired the front splitter, and secured a broken battery terminal to make it to the grid before the start of the 20-lap Feature Race. From his position on grid, Roger could see the rear taillights of Coyote Black’s Super Touring classed Porsche Cayman S spurring him on to give chase. That cat and mouse game would sadly fail to materialize. The tiniest of mistakes during the out lap caused the black Cayman to spin nose-first into the tire barrier, ending Coyote’s hopes of a strong finish to the weekend. Seeing his compatriot’s race end on lap zero solidified Roger’s decision to switch to a finish-at-all-costs strategy for the Sunday race. He followed the top three cars until the #00 Nissan Z-car let the Honda through, then carefully tiptoed his way through the field of lapped cars so not to disturb their respective races. As he did, Andrew Conner’s #66 BMW 325i edged ever closer as he scythed through traffic to close in from the middle of the 33-car field. The red BMW came tantalizingly close to mounting an attack, which might have succeeded were it not for the timely arrival of a tight pack of ITB and B-Spec cars. Roger managed to pass the group on a short straight and managed to reopen the gap while Andrew was baulked by the lapped cars. To add one last twist to the tumultuous weekend, the Prelude’s left front outer CV joint failed at the exit of Turn 10. After coming this far, there was no way that the team was going to let this stop them. Roger slammed the throttle to the floor and willed the car across the line to take the top spot in Sportsman class as well as the entire USTCC field. Roger Maeda - #22 StudioVRM.Racing Honda Prelude Si Qualifying: No Time Race: 1st in Sportsman, 1st in USTCC, 3rd Overall “Determination. Sometimes, that’s what makes the difference. This race was a test of how determined we were to see that checkered flag. And thanks to our crew, our friends, fellow USTCC competitors, and technical partner Bad Guys Worldwide, we were able to triumph over this ordeal and emerge with smiles on our faces. In addition to a new trophy and a generous haul of prizes from ScanGauge, Cobra Suspension, and Plastex, we are coming home with a much better understanding of the new engine and setup. You can expect a lot more speed from us in the rounds to come.” Special Thanks Thank you to Ross Shull of the CMP Racing team, Andy Yoon, Martin Szwarc, and Chris Eng of the ProjectCRX Racing Team, and Cole Mulvey from Bad Guys Worldwide for helping us get our new engine installed and running in time for the 2023 season. And thank you to all of you who came out to watch - live, via livestream, or via Racehero. Especially Mike McLaughlin and his friend Mark, who brought their beautiful daughters out on the long trip out to Summit Point Motorsports Park to watch us race. I hope we put on a good show.