Windspeed Motor Race : Global Attack Round 3
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After an early arrival on Thursday for Round 3 of the Global Time Attack series with Formula Drift, we were welcomed with the camaraderie that is known in the sport as we searched for a place to adjust the corner weights of the Modern Performance SRT4 prior to the first round of competition on Friday morning. The World Racing crew stepped forward with not only the equipment, but the workspace and assistance during the process. As always, the World Racing team and the Global Time Attack staff showed that they are a class act.
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The event started Friday with one of those electrical gremlins that always seem to appear after a rebuild. A run through the power distribution network and a quick phone call to our good friends at Rage-Tek in Davie, Florida and we had the problem solved and we ready to head back on track. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans and quickly dumped what seemed like an inch of rain in about 4 minutes time. In typical south Florida fashion the track was nearly dry for the next session only 30 minutes later. With the cooler air on Friday the car performed flawlessly and we set the bar for the Street FWD track record early with a lap time of 1:30.558 in the final session of the day at ~2pm.The remainder of Friday’s track time was dedicated to the Formula Drift series. While the drifters tend to run their portion of the event a little looser than those of us used to a more time-definite schedule, the bonus they provide are extremely large crowds of enthusiasts. This venue was smaller than the last round at Road Atlanta and was therefore a slightly small crowd, but still in excess of 5,000 spectators on Friday and ~7,000-8,000 on Saturday.
Saturdays track time started much like Friday (and probably most days in south Florida) with a burst of rain that cut short the first session and kept all the competitors in the paddock for the second session. As the track dried the competitors made their way back on-track in the climbing heat and humidity causing times to increase over the cooler temps of Friday. While the MPx SRT4 performed well, the temps and slippery track conditions kept us from improving our times during the heat of the day. As the crowds grew and the paddock became more and more packed, it was great to see all the interest in the Time Attack paddocks from the Drifting fans and drivers alike.
While we had secured our class win with our fast lap on Friday, I was still gunning for a sub-1:30 time and went after achieving that goal in the second to last session on Saturday afternoon. After a conservative 1:31.5 first lap, the MPx SRT4 put down what would have been it’s fastest lap of the weekend with improved splits in all sectors leading up to the final straight. As we turned-in for that final straight all power shut-off and we coasted the last 150 yards across the line with a 1:32.4. So close!
All the gauges had read fine prior to the shut-down so we were a bit puzzled as to the cause. Those questions were quickly answered once the hood was opened and our broken timing belt was discovered. Since the SRT4 has a non-interference motor, we are optimistic for a minimally invasive repair as we prepare for our next event. We will keep everyone updated.
Although the ending was not exactly what we planned, we had achieved all the goals we set for ourselves at this event; a first in Street FWD class, a new Street FWD track record, improving our overall standings in the 2012 Overall Street Class Championship battle as well as the additional goal set upon us by GTA by beating the times of all the Limited class FWD competitors.
Thanks again to all the great sponsors, friends and family that make this all possible. Without their support these results wouldn’t be possible.
Modern Performance
Turbo by Garrett
Hankook Tires, USA
Tunergeeks
TiAL Sport
DeatschWerks
Performance CNC
SPEC Clutches
JE Pistons
TruDyno Sports
Enkei wheels
Integrated Engineering
N2MB
TurnIn Concepts
RaceTech
TCE Performance
APR Performance
ATI Racing
Ishihara-Johnson crank scrapers
