boomn29 - 2nd place Street AWD - Redline Time Attack - Autobahn

Short Version:
My first ever experience with Redline Time Attack. It's a different animal getting just 3 hot laps in 2 different sessions! Not a lot of time for mistakes! After the first session I was in 3rd (had no idea). Ended up with 2nd place in Street AWD and got my picture taken with a super hotty on the podium. And yes, I'm waiting for some pics and will post as soon as I do. So pics and vid to follow...

Street Class AWD Overall:
1st - Tony Weisenhahn - 1:35.708
2nd - Nathan Pitcher 1:40.389
3rd - Dylan Peterson 1:40.796

I've got to give huge thanks to the entire AMS crew. Especially Ivo for helping me make a few adjustments on the car at that track. I came in Saturday in my NASA TTB trim. I was frantically changing out parts between practice sessions and could not have got it done w/o help.
The car ran flawlessly on Sunday; on a day when a LOT of other cars had issues. Even in the high temps and pushing a ton of boost on the stock turbo. I know I wasn't near the highest hp car out there, but my AMS tunes performed awesomely as they always have.

Very Long Version:
With it being sooo hot on Saturday, I figured my first session would be my best chance to run a good lap. And being I was running street tires, I figured my first lap would be the best chance overall.

I came out pretty hard and was coming towards the last series of corners when I saw I was catching a car really quickly. It looked like it was barely moving. There were no flags from the corner workers and I was trying for my hot lap, so I kept going and hoped I could get around the car before the next corner. Not so lucky. The car went into the corner on the inside and slowly crossed towards the outside. I had to waste the lap. So I braked hard - locked up a little and jerked right to the inside to make it around rather than risking a collision. I ran a 1:44x. Since my tires were hot, I decided to toss away the next lap and even let a car or 2 around. I wound up for the 3rd and final lap of the session and fired a 1:40.873 I had no idea, but I was actually in 3rd at this point.
I knew the practice times the Turn In Concepts WRX was running and new it was out of reach. I was just hoping to make the podium somehow!

The Modified class was up next for their 1st round. Gates AMS Evo X fired a crazy 1:30x on his first lap and that ended up winning Mod AWD and overall. Hamflex AMS Evo VIII, Elterman's Takata STi, Sharif's Forged Performance GTR and a few others possibly were all tight in the 1:34-1:35 range. Like crazy tight.

Unlimited class brought out AMS Evo X (aka TA-X), the Crawford STi and the awesomely crazy World Racing FWD Scion. Tarzan piloted the Crawford STi to a 1:27x, Mark Daddio was right behind him in the AMS car. I wanna say Chris Rado in the Scion was around 1:34 (FWD keep in mind). Tarzan's second lap was right about the same, Daddio took a cooldown and wound up for the 3rd lap. He was hammering and I heard a 350z spun in front of him but he still managed to crank a 1:27x just behind Crawford. I think the difference between Crawford and AMS was .012!!!

The next part is where it started to get a little crazy. We were supposed to have a round of practice before the final TA session. I heard them call Street to grid and they announced it was for real; not practice. I was close to changing setups for testing and skipping the practice session, but glad I didn't! (the Mod and Unlimited classes were too fun to watch). There was rain forecasted on the radar so they cut out the practice sessions in order to try and get through all 3 groups (Street/Modified/Unlimited) before the rain set in.

Anyways, we lined up for a long long wait. Eventually they got us in line and sent us out. Judging by the fact 2 AWD cars were ahead of me I assumed I was in 3rd. Either way, I knew I needed to just go out and put down the best lap I could and let the times sort themselves out. I fired 3 hot laps, according to my Traqmate, I ran: 1:40.922 - 1:40.396 - 1:40.383 and had no idea where I sat. I suppose if my radio was hooked up I could have been listening...
I squeezed my way into 2nd place. I knew first was out of reach. The Turn In Concepts WRX was a good 3-4 seconds ahead of everyone. I later found out this is the car that won it's class in this years One Lap of America and finished 4th overall! Not too shabby; and Tony's a nice guy.

I watched Modified session #2. Gates decided not to go out. Everyone else bettered there laps by about 2 seconds each, but Gates had an insurmountable 4-5 second cushion. I was pulling for Elterman in his Takata STi as we're both from St Louis as well as Hamflex being he's got an Evo and was severely underpowered but holding his own! I know a lot of the mod cars are in the 440-525whp range. I think Hamflex was running 350whp...big ups dude on making a strong strong showing!

The whole time Mod class was running, both AMS' TA-X and Rado's World Racing Scion was lined up. The Crawford guys looked to be sitting it out. Later they were talking with the grid guys. Not sure if this led to the delay or what. But the rain was imminent at this point and everyone was itching to go. Eventually Crawford lined up and shortly after Unlimited class took the track.

Daddio in the AMS Evo X carried a super sweet drift out of T2 - but unfortunately that isn't good for a fast lap. Tarzan in the Crawford STi come out and fired a low 1:27 improving his time! On Daddio's 2nd lap in that same T2 it sounded like a mis-shift or something happened. Tarzan fired even better laps to finish up with a 1:26x which was like .4 off of the track record for a production based car. I waited for the AMS car's final lap but it came into the pits instead. I later found out the stock throttle linkage (or something like that) bent under the stress which is just crazy! Big ups to Daddio for piloting a newly developed car with very limited testing and coming so close to Crawfords already proven beast.

The Super Session was next. They invite back the top competitors from the Mod & Unlimited divisions for a mad 3 lap w2w race. Note the cars need to be prepped for w2w racing and the proper license is required. It was starting to sprinkle at this point, but they ran anyways. It was pretty neat, tight and close racing but really no position changes that I recall.

Wow, this got really long. Needless to say, this was my first TA experience so a totally different atmosphere for me. Great to put faces to names I knew and screennames I knew.

Big thanks to AMS and Girodisc for overnighting me parts on Thursday to get me fixed up and able to attend.
Big thanks to AMS for an awesomely safe tune that I ran hard with confidence and also for a little on-site tech support Saturday! Also thanks to Mueller for some very neutral handling JIC coilovers. Also thanks to Jorge from P&L Tuning for lending me the needed software for my ecu map switching!

 

Vids:
Here's 2 laps from the first TA session. Wouldn't ya know, my camera tape ran out before the 2nd session started....
First vid - my best lap of the first session (no idea why the sound gets off).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ASjon2isQ

2nd vid - first lap of the session - caught some traffic at the end unfortunately:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22WPQrvJXl0

Included a few pics, but here's a link to everything I have: http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...view=slideshow

My action pics below are courtesy of Donald Brown (thanks man!): Here's a link to more: http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd197/donbrown34567/

Here's my Evo IX (me on the left)


My car lined up for Street class:


Crawford STi:


Forged GTR:


Ken Block's car (just on display):


Part of the AMS crew and paddock:


Takata STi:


Turn in Concepts WRX:


World Racing Scion TC (yes that's 2 wings):


Gates Evo X:


Some AMS Sponsored cars:


Hamflex Evo VIII (that's him under it):


AMS TA-X

 

Great Job and way to represent

 

And some action shots a fellow member sent me!

 

What happened to that guy, and what was he doing?

 

Nice writeup and pics !


And a BIG CONGRATS TO YOU !!

 

LICP popped off mid run, limping all the way into the pits . I saw the car flying up and couldn't decide which side to be on because I would be in the way of the fastest line through that area whatever side of the road I was on.

 

pretty accurate write up... all except the redline hottie you mentioned.... she was stuck up as hell to me and any hotness was turned cold when she vibed.

 

Please tell!

I have some local friends who swear up and down that turbo cars are 100% as reliable as naturally aspirated. I disagree as I always see people wrenching in the paddocks, fiddlejacking with interfooler piping and whatnot, while their run group is out on track!! I need some more real-world examples to share.

 

More Pictures:


































For more pics see link below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/w_neali...7620242142681/

 

Congrats to you on the win! Good job!

 

EEEEP You are lucky you didn't cause a wreck.

When I started wheel to wheel and there are faster or different classifications of car on track it was hard to learn, but the first time you have a close call you sober up really quick. Gotta stay way off line( stay on the inside side of the straighaway for the upcoming corners and then keep tucked in on the inside of the corners around corners).

Scorke

 

You definitely need to take this very seriously and learn a few things from this, otherwise you will make the same mistakes again. And chances are that next time you will not be as lucky.

That was a time attack session, so its imperative that you dont make mistakes like that because you could very well cost someone a win, or a podium. Your mistake lies within your response:

"I saw the car flying up and couldn't decide which side to be on because I would be in the way of the fastest line through that area whatever side of the road I was on."

You couldnt decide which side to be on, so you unknowingly executed the worst possible maneuver. First major mistake, you stayed on track. Second major mistake, you changed your line at an extremely slow pace from far-right to mid-track. To make matters worse you did that as he was apexing. What do you suspect will happen if someone is forced to brake or lift abruptly at mid-corner? Youre both lucky that Nathan didnt spin or drive right into your rear-end. Here is an idea...next time drive off track and away from harms way. As trivial as all that may sound, its extremely important that you understand what you did wrong because you will not be as lucky next time. Oh and, if i didnt stress it enough, both of you are very very very lucky that a collision didnt follow.

 

If what happened in this time attack session happened in a race, a collision would have definitely followed.

 

Agreed

You explained the correct procedure well, lets hope its avoidable in the future!

Scorke