Redline Time Attack Crowns a New Event Champion at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Series Finale

The first sanctioned Time Attack event to be held at the historic Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca came to an end this past weekend. Blessed with beautiful sunny weather for the majority of each day, the teams were able to concentrate on setting up their vehicles for the competition, which ultimately proved to be exciting and dramatic, to say the least. The highlight of the event was the intense competition for the Overall Event Champion title between the teams from AMS Performance, JIC Magic/Hankook Tires, GST Motorsports, Driving Ambition and Factor X.
All of the participants were faced with having to deal with the strict 92db sound limit enforced at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. On top of the sound limits, many teams were battling gremlins and mechanical failures for the duration of the weekend. A number of overnight Herculean efforts were pulled off in order for teams to be ready to go come Sunday morning. The Factor X NSX entry ingested part of the air intake filter through the turbo inlet and had to leave early Saturday to head north for a replacement job overnight. PDX Tuning had to make a trip down to SoCal for a new Cosworth block for their Subaru STI after experiencing an engine failure Saturday afternoon. PDX got the new engine installed and running by 6am Sunday morning!
Following the completion of the first Unlimited Time Attack session on Sunday, the Top 5 running order saw Tyler McQuarrie in the JIC Magic/Hankook Tires at the front of the field with a best time of 1:31.814. Billy Johnson in the Factor X NSX was a close second with a best time of 1:32.254 with Paul Gerard in the AMS Evo a very close third with a best first session time of 1:32.270. Rounding out the top 5 were Brian Lock in the GST Motorsports Impreza with a time of 1:32.482 and Steve Mitchell in the M-Workz 350z with a best time of 1:33.326.
In the first Modified Time Attack session of Sunday, the running order would see Christian Miller in the 034 Motorsport Audi A4 at the lead with a 1:35.722. In second spot was Kip Olsen in the Driving Ambition NSX with a 1:37.463. Third and fourth spots were held by Billy Johnson in the Team Kaneko Datsun 510 and James Elterman in the Nukabe/Cusco Subaru STI, with lap times of 1:38.575 and 1:38.940 respectively. Rounding out the top five was JC Meynet in the Harmon Motiv Subaru STI with a best time of 1:39.526.
The Street Class saw an equally close initial Time Attack session Sunday with JC Meynet in the lead with his Harmon Motiv STI clocking in a 1:40.367. Igor Iyustin stood in second overall in Street Class with a 1:42.160 out of the third Driving Ambition Acura NSX entry in the event. Matt Andrews was only a couple of hundredths behind in his Fair Enough Competition Toyota Supra with a 1:42.187, closely followed by Ryan Cashin in his Mitsubishi Evo with a 1:42.629. Closing up the top five in Street Class after Round 1 was Mike Bonanni in the Relentless Autosports Nissan 350z with a 1:43.898.
All of the teams were allowed one more practice session in the afternoon to adjust their vehicle setups and prepare for the 2nd Time Attack session. A number of drivers were able to improve upon their 1st Time Attack lap times during the final practice session. The question would be, who could duplicate that effort during the 2nd Time Attack session, when the lap times mattered. With the sun getting lower in the sky and the clouds beginning to roll in, the drivers were called to the grid for the last Time Attack session of the day. It would be their final chance to prove just how fast they could be around the very technical and demanding Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca circuit.
The top 5 positions in Street Class after the completion of the 2nd Time Attack session remained largely unchanged. The only driver to significantly improve his lap time during the second session was Mike Bonanni from Relentless Autosports, improving with a 1:42.025 with vaulted him to 2nd place overall in the Street Class, and 1st place overall in the Street Class Rear Wheel Drive division. Igor Iyustin held his ground with his first Time Attack session time of 1:42.160 to capture 2nd place in Street Rear Wheel Drive with Matt Andrews behind him by only .027 seconds in 3rd place with a best time of 1:42.187. Capturing the Overall Street Class Champion Title for the event was JC Meynet in his Harmon Motive sponsored Subaru STI with his initial lap time of 1:40.367.
Christian Miller was unable to improve upon his first Time Attack session lap time, but remained in the lead for the overall Modified Class Champion title. Close behind him was Kip Olsen in the Driving Ambitions Acura NSX, improving his first session time by nearly a full second to 1:36.552. With Scott Bush behind the wheel, the Relentless Autosports 350z was able to vault to 3rd place overall in the Modified Class and 2nd in Modified Rear Wheel Drive with a second session lap time of 1:38.409. Billy Johnson in the Team Kaneko Datsun 510 held onto 4th overall in the Modified Class and 3rd in the Modified Rear Wheel Drive division. Rounding out the top 5 at the conclusion of the event was James Elterman in 5th place overall in Modified Class and 2nd in Modified All Wheel Drive with a second session time of 1:38.699.
When all the smoke had cleared following the conclusion of the second Unlimited Class Time Attack session the top 5 running order had changed significantly. Unable to improve upon the first Time Attack session results by not duplicating their second practice session time in the 1:31’s, AMS found themselves in unfamiliar territory at a Redline Time Attack event, finishing the event in 5th place overall and 2nd in the Unlimited All Wheel Drive division.  The team at GST Motorsports and driver Brian Lock were able to improve upon their first session time by over a half-second, with a second session time of 1:31.851, locking up 4th overall and 1st in the Unlimited All Wheel Drive division.
Having run a blistering 1:31.1 lap during Saturday practice, Tyler McQuarrie and the team at JIC Magic/Hankook Tires was confident they would be able to duplicate that effort and leave Laguna Seca as Overall Champions. Unfortunately for Tyler and the team, they would not be able to improve upon their first Time Attack session lap time due to a Sound Limit Infraction during the 2nd Time Attack session, leaving the team in 3rd place overall and 3rd place in Unlimited Rear Wheel Drive with a best time of 1:31.814.
Coming out of nowhere and surprising everyone was Kip Olsen in the Driving Ambitions Acura NSX by vaulting to 2nd overall and 2nd in the Unlimited Rear Wheel Drive division with a second session time of 1:31.777, only .037 seconds ahead of Tyler McQuarrie.
            Normally, when a new vehicle makes its debut for a team, expectations are not very high the vehicle will be in the running for a Division Champion spot, let alone an Overall Event Champion Title. I guess nobody ever told that to the team over at Factor X or their driver Billy Johnson. Having won 3 Modified Class Champion Titles in a row (Buttonwillow ’06, Cal Speedway ’07, Buttonwillow ’07), Mike and Ken over at Factor X decided to build a brand new car from the ground up to compete in the Unlimited Class with the rest of the “Big Boys”.
All weekend long the team was having trouble meeting the 92db sound limitations imposed by the track. Like everyone else in attendance, Factor X had to get creative in order to rig up an exhaust that would be quiet enough. Then early Saturday morning, the turbo decided to make breakfast out of the air intake filter. Needless to say, the team had to do whatever was necessary if they intended to make the competition come Sunday Morning. In the morning Time Attack session, Billy Johnson was able to rip off a stunning 1:32.254, this being a surprise considering the car had never run faster than 1:35’s all weekend long prior to the turbo failure.
Factor X skipped the afternoon Unlimited practice session and prepared themselves for the 2nd and final Time Attack round. Having just gotten out of his Datsun 510 in the Modified Class competition after being pulled out of one of the many “sand traps” at Laguna Seca following an off-track excursion, driver Billy Johnson had to prepare himself mentally. Maybe the frustration of his misstep in the Datsun gave him the added determination needed to propel himself and the team at Factor X to the Overall lead for the event. In the second flying lap of the second session Billy was able to rip off a 1:31.440, good enough to vault Billy to the front of the pack and secure the Overall Event Champion Title at the Inaugural Redline Time Attack Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
It was an exciting and drama filled weekend for the Redline Time Attack Season Finale. As the season comes to a close, teams will be reflecting on both their past successes and past failures, and will be striving to make improvements in 2008. The Redline Time Attack series is blazing a trail for the sport of “time attack” racing in North America. Those of us here at the Redline Time Attack series have lofty goals for 2008, by providing a true “Proving Grounds” for manufacturers, tuners, builders, tire companies and drivers within the tuner and high performance markets. Through increased media coverage and exposure, higher profile events and new relationships with other sanctioning bodies and event organizers, the team behind Redline Time Attack will be as determined as ever to grow this sport we have all grown to love. We’ll see you at Buttonwillow Raceway March 29th-30th, we hope you can join us!