There was magic in the air at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park in Rosamond, Calif., on the morning of Sunday, May 31. Maybe it was because an actual decent-sized crowd turned out for Round Two of the 2009 Redline: Time Attack! series, or because just a week earlier Tyler McQuarrie had set a new fast lap on Willow's 2.5-mile "big" track and was back with the Unlimited-RWD C-West/BC/Design Craft Honda S2000 to see how much more time he could chip off.
Or maybe it was because Chris Rado finally emerged from testing and sorting out his U-FWD WORLD Racing/Hankook Scion tC to stick around for the competition. The car was just about one of the craziest things we have seen in a long time.
Our words can't do the pictures justice, but the forward wing certainly set the car apart from the rest of the field. Not to mention it appears to be effective; Rado was running times in the ballpark of the fastest AWD and RWD competitors, and leaving his U-FWD challengers behind in the dust.
Whatever the reason for the palpable electricity, it was no doubt helped along by the incredible performances on the "Fastest Road in the West" over the course of the day. Records weren't just broken; they were pulverized to a fine powder and mailed to their next of kin.
In what was the most impressive performance at the event, Billy Johnson, piloting the FX Motorsports Development Acura NSX, posted a remarkable lap time of 1:18.555, shattering McQuarrie's 1:22.288 from seven days earlier. Four other vehicles also either broke the record or came close to it.
Taking second overall was Formula Atlantic driver Jonathan Bomarito, who piloted the Sierra Sierra Enterprises Mitsubishi EVO 8 with a time of 1:20.454 and locked up fastest overall in the U-AWD division. Finishing in third overall was McQuarrie in the S2000, clocking a 1:20.838, nearly 1.5 seconds faster than the lap record he just set a week prior.
Tarzan Yamada, driving the Crawford Performance Subaru STI landed fourth overall with a time of 1:22.097, knocking a couple seconds off the team's previous best lap time and securing second place in U-AWD.
And then there is Mr. Rado, who logged a 1:22.623 in his U-FWD tC (that's right, Front Wheel Drive). Redline officials are reporting that they haven't been able to find a faster lap recorded by a FWD vehicle in the history of Willow Springs Raceway, and the time eclipsed the next closest U-FWD competitor, Brady Dohrmann in the KSport USA JDM Honda Integra Type R, by some eight seconds.
In the Modified Class, AWD Division, reigning AWD Street Class Champion JC Meynet ran a class best of 1:26.417 in the Harman Motive Subaru STI, setting a new record for the class and division. The team at SportCar Motion were repeat winners in M-FWD with Tim Kuo behind the wheel, posting a time of 1:29.693 in his Honda EG Civic hatchback. In M-RWD, Brian Lock in the GoTo Racing Mazda RX-7 secured the top position with a time of 1:29.824.
Round Two also saw a repeat winner in the Street Class, with Jeremy Toye in the Reese Tuning EVO securing the Overall Class victory and AWD Division honors with a time of 1:28.817, shattering the previous record posted on this track by a Street Class vehicle last year. Jeremy Croiset, in the MCS Motorsports/Berk Technology/KW sponsored Toyota MR2 bested Round 1 winner Robert Walker by .05 seconds to lock in first overall in Street-RWD with a time of 1:32.399. Driving two cars at this event (one in Street and one in Modified), Matt Andrews hustled Andrew Brilliant's Nitto Tire/KBRPerformance Mitsubishi Eclipse to S-FWD victory, posting a time of 1:31.267.
In the new Stock Class, Dusty Nabor in the 101pipe&casing/NNIRacing STi won the AWD Division with a 1:34.103, while Eric Emerson in the ENA Motorsports Type R finished atop Stock-FWD with a 1:40.127 and Thomas Barett in his Corvette Specialty C6 led SS-RWD with a 1:40.342. Calvin Wan and his Falken/JustDrift Mazda FD RX-7 also got in on the winning, taking the Drift Class with a 1:32.870.
The time attack ended with what organizers called a Super Session, where six of the event's fastest all got on track at the same time for a three-lap sprint race, the win worth seven bonus points in the RTA standings. Gridding were Johnson's U-RWD NSX, Gary Sheehan's U-AWD GST Motorsports Subaru WRX (which finished third in class), Meynet's Mod-AWD STI, Nabor's M-AWD STI (which finished second in class), Andrews' M-RWD Nitto/ and Scott Bush's M-RWD BC Racing/Relentless/JWT 350Z (these last two cars finished third and second in class, respectively).
The "race" was actually more exciting than expected, as Sheehan was within striking distance for two of the three orbits, but as one would expect Johnson got the checkered flag in first. Our note to organizers to make it more exciting for next time: start the fast guys from the back of the pack.
And speaking of next time, the Redline Time Attack Series moves to New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville for Round Three, June 12 to 14.
www.redlinetimeattack.com
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