Driving Sports

Driving Sports Time Attack Draws Hot Machinery

The first ever Driving Sports Time Attack got underway today at Portland International Raceway as part of the Mazda Grand Prix of Portland.

22 cars are entered, ranging from a 1971 Datson 510 with a full Toyota Supra drivetrain to a selection of pumped Subarus, a nice assortment of RX-7s and winding out with a right hand drive JDM-spec Nissan R35 GT-R.

On Friday, competitors had an open 45-minute practice session to get the feel of the new surface and corners at PIR, and they made good use of their time.

One select photo appears at right, but a full gallery of pictures is available here.

The action continues tomorrow evening with 4 rounds of Time Attack competition - timed to 1/1000th of a second. May the hottest shoe win!

Results: http://blog.drivingsports.com/blog/timeattack.html

Nissan R35 GT-R gets COBB Treatment

The boys at Cobb Tuning imported their own Godzilla, a Nissan R35 GT-R from Japan, to prepare lots of new toys in time for its 2008 US delivery to the rest of us "regular folks." At the recent GT Live Tour at Miller Motorsport Park in their hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah, COBB unleashed the beast for a few hot laps. Special COBB enhancements to the already awesome supercar includes a GT-R specific Accessport reflash tool, modified suspension, stainless exhaust system (sounds incredible) and some aero parts. Of course, we were there to bring you these exclusive pictures (video coming soon!)

As part of the Redline Time Attack at GT Live, this full-interior street car put down a best lap of 1:40.25 on the East Track (driven by Billy Brooks). Comparably, Richard Garcia behind the wheel of Dyno-Comp's fully race-prepped STI was just a hair faster at 1:39.634. Those are pretty fast times. Rounding out the Time Attack scores in the AWD Unlimited Class for the weekend are Luke Russell in the TopSpeed Impreza with a 1:37.858 in third, Crawford's 2008 STI driven by Tarzan Yamada at 1.37.242 and Gary Sheehan breaking the barrier with a 1:36.941. The overall best time for the weekend was Tyler McQuarrie in the Brian Crower RWD S2000; they laid down a blistering time of 1:35.307.

If you want to see this car in person, it's already registered to compete in the Driving Sports Time Attack Challenge on July 25, 2008, part of the Mazda Grand Prix of Portland.

Click jump for more pictures...

Fast, slow and other drivers

Last week, I told you how nothing makes you faster like driving a slow kart. This week I am here to tell you that nothing makes you feel slow like driving a fast kart. As luck would have it, I keep drawing the ailing, slower karts for my qualifiers and heat races. But for my feature this week, I got one of the “fast” karts, and friends there is a world of difference here.

Driving a slow kart makes you feel like a driving god. Braking late, power early, holding the line through a fast bend, having to push and push to squeeze every last bit of speed from your machine.

Driving a fast kart has a way of draining all that talent and bravado right out of you and replacing it with a feeling of sheer terror. All of a sudden where I would dive into a corner flat on the gas, I was stabbing the brakes to settle the kart and lifting earlier where I had, again, been flat out.

On track, wheel to wheel, in a kart

Nothing teaches you about winning like losing. This may sound odd, but a win hardly ever teaches one anything, for example, my first race in the “Heavy” karting series at Pat’s Acres. Last week I raced in the “Light” class for more of the fun and training. This week, I felt like I could win, seeing as how I was probably one of the lighter and smaller-statured guys racing in the heavy class, I would actually have a bit of advantage. Lady Luck would prove me wrong, however.

Here is another axiom that is closely related to the first: nothing teaches you about being fast like a slow kart. Ok, let’s tie it all together.

Your Racing Career Starts Here

For car and racing enthusiasts, there is no greater thrill than that of wheel to wheel racing. Car guys will wax eloquent about more horsepower, bigger brakes and superior handling and while that may be all fine and good; what we are really talking about is being able to beat the other guy. Be it from stop light to stop light, or from green flag to checker.

The reality is that most of these friendly arguments about performance stay in the realm of theoretical debate and hardly ever make it past the water cooler. The cost of racing, in blood and treasure, are just too high for most of us. Or so you might think. What if you could go wheel to wheel racing, without risking mortgage and limbs for the price of a movie?

Hinchcliffe Clinches Cliffhanger at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

When James Hinchcliffe made the decision to return to Forsythe/Pettit Racing prior to the 2008 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda, he returned to the team with which he celebrated his first and only Atlantic race victory.

On Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Hinchcliffe doubled his win total after coming out on top in a battle with Pacific Coast Motorsports racer Carl Skerlong. Hinchcliffe started from the pole position and was also the fastest qualifier in Friday’s first round of qualifying, but it was Skerlong who led the field into Turn 1 immediately following the race’s standing start. However, Hinchcliffe got his revenge on a restart six laps later and took the lead in Turn 2 with a thrilling, side-by-side maneuver.

From there, Hinchcliffe kept his No. 3 Indeck/TireRack.com machine at the front of the field and held on for a 2.391-second victory over Skerlong. It was Hinchcliffe’s first win since the Atlantic event at Portland in 2006, a span of 23 races. The win also moved Hinchcliffe into the lead in the Atlantic Championship standings by two points over Simona De Silvestro, 44-42.

Jurca Wins Canadian Round of VW Jetta TDI Cup

David Jurca, 22, Federal Way, Wash., won the second round of the Jetta TDI Cup with a strong race at a cold and wet Mosport International Raceway.  Hometown racer Chris Holman, 20, Burlington, Ontario came in second in his first race on the long course at Mosport, and rounding out the top three was Jimmy Underhill, 21, Denver, Co. 

“Coming into this weekend I felt really confident with a strong showing in practice and qualifying,” said David Jurca.  “It was really difficult in the rain with slick tires but I just tried to keep it smart and stay out of trouble.  I’d like to thank Redapt and Volkswagen for the opportunity and the support throughout the series.”

Driving Sports Time Attack: Saturday, July 26

Mark your calendars! Driving Sports is holding it's first all-make, all-model Time Attack challenge during the Mazda Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway in Oregon. So, along with Formula D drifting, VW TDI cup, Motocross, Motorcycle Road Racing, Spec Miata, Star Mazda and the Playboy MX-5 cup (yes, Bunnies will be on hand) we'll have some intense Time Attack action.

Already Cobb Tuning (Salt Lake City, Utah) has lined up both its Nissan GT-R time attack fighter and  Mazdaspeed3, plus many other great local and national-level Time Attack cars will be on hand. Subiesport Magazine will have a fire-breathing STI and Forever MX-5 Magazine will make the debut of it's own Street Class turbo-charged Miata.

Want to race? Registration will open in a couple weeks. Classes will break down into Street, Modified and Pro (unlimited) classes. No tube-frame or formula racers allowed (sorry, Radikal and Atom owners). Spaces will be limited!