Sam Knight

My first car was a black 1982 Mazda RX-7 in Salem, OR back in 1993.  I drove it around in high school packed with 6 kids, imagine that for a two seater, and never really lifted the hood or understood what a rotary engine was. I was told that it had too much power for a new driver.  I loved it. After normal high schooler abuse, the car died with carbon lockup in the engine.

In 2000, the tuning bug hit, and I bought a white 2000 Honda Accord in Beaverton, OR. Inspired by UK GT racing, I started upgrades with exhaust, suspension, bodykit, and wheels. The long geared transmission was awesome for freeway blasting, but only to be humbled by a 16 second ¼ mile. It looked stunning. I did my first HPDE day in early 2002 which convinced me I needed to build a race car. Hard times hit, and I sold the car, but gave me just a bit of play money.

In 2005 I bought a black 1983 Toyota Supra (Mark II) with the intent of building a purpose built race car. Disassembly started on day one. I entered a few  local drifting events with basic E-Bay mods and a stripped car. Until the old 5M-GE engine spun a rod bearing. I ended up swapping in a 1JZ-GTE, couldn’t quite afford the mighty 2JZ at the time.  After the engine swap was working, I felt it necessary to add a rollcage. The original idea was to go road racing, but was financially limited to complete the mods much less actually race.  In the meantime I decided to Autocross would a good opportunity to play with the car until it was road race ready.

In 2010 I did my first Autocross event with the Oregon Reagon SCCA with the Supra. It was a blast but quickly realized the car was not set up well.  Tires, brakes, and suspension all sucked. More mods ensued as I strived to be competitive. Years have past and I still Autocross today.  The Supra as made it out to a few track days, time trials, and hill climbs.  Still on a 1998 head gasket.

In 2011, I joined a Cumpcar Team J.A.T. running a 1987 Toyota Corolla with a 4AG-GE engine.  Ran several years racking up seat time endurance racing while Autocrossing the Supra. In 2017 Team JAT dissolved and temporarily ended my endurance racing.  In 2016, I started co-driving (navigator) for ARA Rally Racing in a white 2000 Subaru 2.5RS. Rallied for a number of years and did a number of historic events in the Pacific Northwest. In 2018, I moved on from Rally looking to get back into Endurance Racing as a driver.

In 2019 I joined Gray Cloud Racing in black 1983 Mazda RX-7 to compete in the Lucky Dog Racing League. Meeting regularly to work on the car, and compete in every PNW event possible. Racking up hundreds of hours of seat time.  I’ve learned a lot about rotary engines while continuously try to improve the car for endurance. I’ve been working on improving my race theory and chipping away at faster lap times.  I’ve become very familiar with all the iconic and great race tracks in the Pacific Northwest.

Still racing today, with the Team Gray Cloud RX-7 and the Supra continues to hold together for Autocross. See you guys out there, hopefully in my mirror.