Prep Shop Profile: V2 Motorsports

From Spec Miata to Prototypes, V2 has raced it all

Ralph Provitz notes a couple of highlights in recent years for his Sterling Heights, Mich.-based V2 Motorsports shop: Justin Hille winning the 2016 SCCA National Championship Runoffs in Spec Miata at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and building his own P1 car that set many track records. Provitz says that speaks to his engineering background.

“I think we have an advantage in that I’m an engineer by trade,” Provitz says. “I spent over 30 years in the OEM engineering industry, so a lot of our stuff is a little better engineered than others. I’m on the SMAC [SCCA’s Spec Miata Advisory Committee] as well, so I definitely have a pulse on the rules and what’s going on.”

He jokes that being on the SMAC probably isn’t good for his business, since much of the rules changes are to improve durability – he worked with Mazda Motorsports on the Miata subframe gussets then turned it over to Mazda so he didn’t seem to benefit, he says.

V2 Motorsports does a lot of things that other prep shops do, but they’re arguably more varied. Much of the work is related to Spec Miata, plus Touring 4 Mazdas and Formula Enterprises, but he ventures outside of the Mazda universe as well. Currently, the shop is taking care of around 50 cars, but V2 is no longer in the rental business. V2 does build cars, and last year built nine, with another four expected for 2018.

Aside from his engineering background, Provitz says he has 50 years of motorsports experience that began when he was 5-years old. In the interim, he’s raced offshore boats, snowmobiles, jet skis, motocross and airplanes, among other things. That experience leads to a very high attention to detail, he says. “The biggest thing we’re known for is extremely high-quality builds and maintenance,” Provitz says. 

“There’s a lot of engineering behind how we put a cage in, understanding the engineering principles behind it as well as the crash factor of what the cage actually needs to do to keep the occupant safe,” explains Provitz, who was an engineer for crash testing vehicles. He says safety is the number one priority for his shop, followed by making sure the car is prepped so the driver can have a fun weekend. Then comes the fast factor.

For trackside support, V2 puts a lot of emphasis on coaching with data. “We put heavy, heavy, heavy emphasis on data acquisition. Everything we do is verified by data, everything we do here has to be validated. At the track, in coaching clients, we use a lot of data to support that as well,” he says, noting that Hille is often part of the coaching team. 

V2 also offers shock dyno services, dyno tuning, damage repair and graphics. They are also a NASA certified tech shop.

V2 Motorsports
Sterling Heights, Mich.
www.v2motorsports.com