Saturday February 16th 2013 marked the second round of the 2013 eXtreme Speed AWD Competition Series. The following day, February 17th, marked Round 1 of Redline Time Attack’s 2013 season. The action took place at the mecca of U.S. Time Attack, Buttonwillow Raceway Park. Over the years, BRP’s CW13 configuration has become the staple for lap times and Time Attack. The track is rough around the edges from a track surface stand point, but if one can master Buttonwillow, they will be better equipped for almost any kind of track. Not to mention, the track is FUN as fu$% to drive on!

 

This weekend marked the debut of Tony Fuentes’ Evo X. and served as shakedown for the new set up. The car sports a 2.5 litre block, Garrett GT35R, 285 Hankook TD’s, and AST 4100’s to name a few.   Look at those end plates!  I wonder if there is any relationship between the end plates, and Tony’s straight face sarcasm?  This car was unfortunately not legal for XS AWD due to being over the 500WHP limit for Modified Class despite his attempts at bribing the officials. Just kidding…

The ABS line along with a few other electrical components ended up catching fire on the main straight on Saturday which unfortunately ended Tony’s weekend.  Apparently, a huge flame shot out of the top of his hood close to on-ramp. Tony is currently in the process of wrapping his GT35R with a turbo blanket, and is going to be trimming the hood to assist with radiating heat off the turbo similar to how it is on Evo IX’s.. With the turbo sitting behind the engine and back by the firewall, there isn’t much airflow and things can get HOT, especially with set ups that have a tubular manifold and big turbo pushing big boost.  Either way, look for some really impressive lap times from this car in later rounds of Redline once the bugs are sorted out.  

Here is Aldric Sohn’s XS AWD Modified Class Evo VIII. He mentioned he was having some issues with the rear differential bushings, as it was making a lot of noise under throttle. 

Clint Boisdeau in the Novak Mechanical Subaru GC was out in force. One could argue the 22b, even if it’s a replica, is every AWD fan boys fantasy car.  What I would do for a real deal 22b…

This two door chassis is inherently lighter than it’s younger four door siblings. Swap in an STI motor, and you can pack the same amount of punch as the fatter younger brothers.  Clint clicked off a 1:53.915 on Sunday, giving him the overall win.  The car is basically a Modified Class car, but was bumped into Unlimited for not running a center console.  Clint mentioned on his Motoiq Radio interview that they didn’t have enough time to source one, and it would require some hacking to get it in correctly.

 

Casey Dennis in the Racewerks Engineering S2000 rocketed to a 1:54 and change.  He was crowned Modified Class Champ but was later disqualified after a conflict with the Technical Stewards.

Zhong Cheung in his daily driven Evo IX walked away with a 2nd place finish on Saturday in XS AWD Modified with a 1:56.81, and then proceeded to click off a 1:55.915 on Sunday to take the win in RTA’s Modified AWD. Since Casey Dennis was Dq’d, Zhong’s daily driver was awarded the Modified Class Champ Award, making him a back to back Mod Class Champ.

 

Here is Mark Jager showing off all his fancy Sparco gear.  Mark recently got his car tuned for E85, and the car is putting out a boat load of torque despite the hp falling off a cliff, a common trait on stock turbo STI’s. He clicked off a 1:58.4 on Saturday which got him 2nd place in XS AWD Street Class, and clicked off another 1:58.4 on Sunday despite going four off on Sunset which got him first in RTA’s AWD Street Class. He was crowned the Street Class Champ as well.

Mark did a good job of getting his buddies to come out so he could just focus on driving. 

John Carson in the KT Motoring Evo IX was able to click off a 1:58.2 in session one on Saturday giving him the win in XS AWD Street.  On Sunday, he ran into some trouble with tech in regards to the legality of his wing.  He was able to get it cleared up, but had to rush to get it put it back to the way it was before the whole ordeal even started in order to make the Time Attack session. He clicked off a 1:58.6 which was enough for 2nd place in RTA’s AWD Street.

Justin Bordonaro in the KT Motoring Evo VIII was out in force. Despite being a relatively new driver to Buttonwillow, he was able to throw down a 1:56.2 on Saturday giving him the win in XS AWD Modified Class.  He had a tranny bolt back out during Sunday’s morning practice which caused some clutch engagment issues, and was not able to make it to RTA’s Time Attack sessions.  

Ex Motor Cycle Racer, Craig Peyron and his Home Depot Orange Enkies walked away with two first place finishes.  On Saturday,  he took home first in XS AWD Enthusiast Class with a 2:01.91.  Then on Sunday, did an identical 2:01.91 which was enough for first in RTA’s Enthusiast AWD. Nice consistency.

The results for Round 2 of the 2013 XS AWD Competition Series are now in the books.  For those that are not familiar with the AWD Competition series, it’s rule set is similar to NASA TT where there are point adders accumulated for various modifications with a maximum amount of points allowed for each class.. There are also HP limitations for all three classes as well to keep the field tight, and keep costs down for Joe Racer.  It is a little different from Time Attack, but a lot of the top cars from this series have proven to be quite competitive in Redline Time Attack thus far despite being subjected to horsepower caps.  It just goes to show that the overall balance of a car combined with good driving can trump brute power.

Here are some more images from the event:

Alex Peng in his supercharged S2000 pulled a 1:56.2 which was enough for the win in RTA’s Modified RWD.  He mentioned he was on old tires as well. The car actually went 1:55.1 in testing before the event. 

Jason Lee in his sexy FD2 took the win in Enthusiast FWD with a 2:06.030. 

Sang Jeon’s Voltex wing equiped Evo X resting in between rounds.

Jean Rombout’s XS AWD Modified Class Evo IX sitting looking pretty.

The next round for eXtreme Speed AWD Competition series will be on 4/20 at Willow Springs International Raceway, and Round 2 of Redline Time Attack will be on March 23rd and 24th, also at Willow Springs International Raceway. 

See you there.