Wow! What can I say? It was a great experience participating in the 2009 Redline Time Attack series. From driving my registered daily driven 2006 Evolution IX to work and home, up and down the state of California and Nevada to participate in the events and to drive it back home after the event is a task within its self. But to do it fully loaded with an extra set of wheels and tires, tools and equipment and to succeed at every event is beyond my doubt astonishing. And the people you meet at the track are a class act alone and will be friends for a long time to come.

On the racing side, I really did not realize what I had in me. The tracks I drove on brought the raw talent out of me, as most of the courses were green to me. Throughout the course of the day I was able to go faster and faster as I pushed the boundaries within myself further and further. With doing so I completed the four RTA-West series races with four podium finishes. Three of those being 1st place finishes and the other a 3rd. With those total points acquired I clinched the 2009 Redline Time Attack – West – Stock-AWD Championship.

I cannot give enough thanks to my sponsors for being there for me and having the same faith and comment as me. Just as I said before, “with your support and my dedication, I believe we will have many wins throughout the season”, which it has.

- Tuning Technologies

- RobiSpec

- Mil.Spec

- Mishimoto

- Prosport Gauges



With all said and done for this year. Let’s make the next even better…!



Thanks,

Matt Dennison









---------------------------------

The weekend...



The final Round 8 of the Redline Time Attack series took place at beautiful Auto Club Speedway (formally Cal Speedway) located in Fontana, CA. The weather was perfect resulting in excellent temperatures for our cars to run at optimal levels. The "Roval" set-up consist of 2/3 of the NASCAR oval with an infield road course added to the mix. It is a high speed track with my car reaching 160mph and other well prepped cars easily exceeding that mark going into the bank of turn 1.

Saturday was the test-n-tune/HPDE day and I was already breaking the covenant 2 minute mark and still trying to figure out the fastest line of the course. With each practice session I was extracting more and more time and only needed to adjust my tire pressure before the main event on Sunday.

With not much sleep due to a ailing sickness I acquired on Thursday, and a combination of race day butterflies, I was up and ready for what the ever the day may unfold. Practice went great and I felt my car was really dialed in for the time attack session. With my timed practice session I was gridded 6th amongst the fastest street/stock class cars. Not bad considering some of the street class competitors are well budgeted shops with all the amenities of a true team with full sponsorships. With all budgets set aside it was time to get to business and show everyone what a true grassroots, privateer, daily driven car can achieve with the right limited modifications.

The first time attack session was on. A brief intro to a time attack session is a 5 lap total race against the clock with a 8-10 second gap between the car in front and rear of you. Optimizing the chance of running a fast lap with zero to little interactions with other cars on the track. The first lap being a warm-up lap is then followed by 3 hot laps and then completed with a cool down lap.

During my time attack session everything felt great. Power delivery was excellent, suspension felt phenomenal and the temps kept the car happy. After the the warm up lap the green flag was waved and I was off. The 1st and 2nd lap felt great but I truly felt that the 3rd lap was going to be even better. After coming off the oval and going through turns 3-6 I gassed it all of a sudden felt no power! I immediately checked all my gauges and nothing was out of the ordinary except that I wasn't making any boost. I limped my car in as it could drive normal under boost. After further inspection it had seemed that my turbo seized and lift me powerless and done for the remainder of the day.

With me left powerless and unable to compete I only hoped that I ran a good enough time to at least place on the podium. The second session was conducted and I could only watch the excitement instead of being a part of it. The times are not posted to keep the suspense a live and would have to wait for the awards presentation to see where I placed.

The awards were handed out and come to find out I ran a 1.53.241 during the first timed session putting me on the top of the podium, and taking 1st place in the Stock-AWD class. I only edged out 2nd place by 6/10 tenths of a second, who managed to ran a quick 1.53.884. After all of the Rd.8 awards were awarded it was time to announce the 2009 Champions. Out of the four Redline Time Attack - West events I participated in, I placed 4-for-4 in podium finishes. 3 of the 4 being 1st place finishes. With those results I was awarded the 2009 Redline Time Attack - West - Stock-AWD Championship!

 

Congrats on the win!

It's impressive the outstanding level of performance that can be extracted from a well balanced setup, while still being able to drive it every day on the street.

 

congratulations! look forward to seeing you next year!

any plans for the car? what are the mods now, if you don't mind me asking?

 

Congrats. It takes a lot of ***** to compete and drive the car back home.

 

Very well done Matt

Keep up the good work and hopping to be part of your race journey.

 

Congratulations Matt!

We'll see you next year!

 

Congrats Matt! It was fun driving with you this year. Keep up the good work, and good luck next year!

 

Matt, congrats yet again to you and Erik. Its really nice to see more grassroots guys like you and Erik representing the Evo community in these time attacks. If you guys ever want to start racing, let me know and ill come out and crew for you guys.

 

Nice work.. You cant go wrong with Robispec in your corner for sure!!! COngrats!!

 

+1 Also interested on what mods are allowed in RTA Stock Class.

Congratulations!!!

 

Congrats Matt

 

thanks everyone... the journey was a pleasant one and I meet some some really great people...

I have to also give it up to Erik Islas (.airekone)...! with out him I truly wouldve been lost in the track realm........


---------------------

I added some more context to the first post....

 

check out www.REDLINETIMEATTACK.com for the complete list of rules...

 

Congrats o-townFLA, hope to see you out there next season