Well, the first Redline Time Attack (sponsored by Modified magazine) in Pahrump, Nevada is over, and results are finally posted on the website (below). The track was awesome! A lot of elevation changes, and many tricky spots like drops and off camber turns. I had a blast, and can't wait to do it again.

Pahrump, NV (about an hour from Las Vegas) hosts the new Spring Mountain Ranch road race circuit. For those not familiar with the Time Attack format, it is basically a Japanese form of SCCA Solo I, in that there is essentially one car on the track at one time (sort of like single car qualifying for some other race events). Actually, the cars are staggered so that there are no more than 5 to 10 cars on the track at one time, with plenty of space between them to avoid wheel to wheel racing. You basically have 5 laps to run your fastest lap. Only the fastest lap counts.

This was the first ever professionally sanctioned Time Attack open to the public. There are classes for bone stock street cars to full race cars. I competed in the Street RWD class in my Nissan 350Z. This class requires the car to be legally registered in some state and driven by the registered owner on street tires. I was competing against other street cars, but not top tier cars like C5 and C6 Corvettes, Ferraris, Porches or Lotuses (those are classified in the Modified class merely by their original capabilities). Heavily modified cars (such as those with forced induction) or high horsepower like Vipers and Vettes will run in either the Modified class or the Unlimited class.

The Spring Mountain course is one of the newer courses in the country. It is a fast, fun course. At nearly 4 miles long, it is the longest track in the Western US. The time attack layout was 3.1 miles long. You can check this course out by going to www.redlinetimeattack.com.

My car ran great, no one got hurt, and everyone was able to drive back home, so in that light, it was a big success. Well, all except for the Lotus Elise that burned to the ground on Saturday during the open practice day. All that was left was a charred frame. I hope he had insurance. But he walked away, unhurt.

I ended up earning second place in the Street RWD class, behind a very fast 1994 Mazda RX-7. He had done very similar mods to his car that I had done to mine (intake, exhaust, suspension, brakes, bigger intercooler for the turbo plus some extra radiator cooling). I figure he had maybe 275 to 280 hp, compared to my estimated 310 to 320 (I dyno 250whp). But his car weighs 500 lbs. less than mine. There was just no overcoming that power to weight ratio! His best lap was a 2:49.439, and he was the only Street car to break into the sub-2:50's. My best lap was a 2:52.047. The top three AWD cars were all very close, from 2:50 to 2:53. All of the other participants in the Street class were over 3 minutes, so I guess I didn't embarrass myself too badly. For full winner's results, you can visit the website at: http://www.redlinetimeattack.com/index-5a4.html

There is also a story and pictures at the following website. http://www.modified.com/events/articles/13-410163.html

The fastest cars were of course the Unlimited cars. The quickest was the AWD fire-breathing 800hp XS Engineering Nissan Skyline GT-R, driven by Tarzan Yamada from Japan. He lapped the track in 2:32.273. He was a rocket. The second fastest car, only half a second behind was the Swift Springs sponsored Nissan S15. A lot of Subaru WRX STi's were there too, and those were also fast.

So what to change on my car to make it faster? Light weight battery and light weight flywheel for starters. That will save me about 35 pounds. After that, to make more power or lose more weight, it gets a lot more expensive... headers, cams, maybe remove the cats. Forced induction puts me into the Modified class, so I am not ready to go that way yet. The Street class requires full glass and full interior, though you can remove your passenger seat. Anybody else have any ideas?

There will be several more of these events next year through this organization, two on the west coast and two on the east coast. I will try to make the west coast events if possible, but they will likely be at California tracks, and a lot further to drive. We'll see...

Looking for sponsors now! Hey, there's coverage by a national tuner magazine, and the event will be shown on G4 TV in a few weeks. A great chance in the future for some advertising using my 350Z!

Anyone else with me? Let's show what the Z can do!

 

Looks remarkably similar to our events... only on a much larger scale I would imagine. And we require SCCA approved roll bars for all cars that compete in our time trials... but to each his own risk level I guess.

 

nice very nice

 

When's the next one?

 

Sometime in March at California Speedway. The dates apparently are fixed yet. Redline says they will post the dates/locations for 2006 when firm.

 

^^^ Nice write up. It was good meeting you out there. I wish I could have stayed for the Sunday Time Attack, but I was part of the local ***** Challenge motorsports triathalon and we were running an autocross Sunday. Good times by the way. How was the track surface compared to Saturday?

 

Good meeting you too. The Time Attack was a blast - too bad you couldn't have stayed for that.

The track was better on Sunday. There were still some slick spots, but overall it was better (maybe that's why the times came down some from Saturday - but I wasn't holding anything back on Sunday too). I was on those street Falkens too (RT-615s). I guess I proved that an "old guy" (over 40) can still drive. I'm sure I could have run sub-2:50's on race rubber. Still, those FD RX-7's, if driven well, will be hard to beat.

But I don't think I will ever be able to clean all that black sealer crap off of my car.

Now if I can just translate those good times and a good finish into some sponsors!

You would think that there would be SOME companies out there who would like national print and TV media coverage of their name and products for these events! ANYONE???

 

Hopefully I will be able to run the next one. Unfortunately I will have to dice it out in the modified class though because I just gutted my interior. Anyways, sponsorships aren't that hard to get. Check out www.sincity350z.com which is my website that I set up to be like an on-line sponsorship proposal.

PS. Disregard the picture of me in the upper right hand corner. Its the only picture that I have of myself lol.