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May
1st brought another typically gorgeous day to Hawaii
Raceway Park as well as two-dozen racing enthusiasts to participate
in the second round of the DS Superlap Series for 2004.
A mix of race prepared and street legal cars competed for
season Time Attack points on the .9-mile short course layout.
Many of the competitors were return drivers from round one
held only two weeks previously and, additionally, there were a few
new drivers who showed up after hearing of the new series.
The
Time Attack groups were formed of roughly 5 or so drivers of
cars with similar performance and ability, evenly spaced apart at
starting time, with controlled passing along the front straight.
The group sessions lasted 10 minutes, which usually is a
sufficient duration to test the endurance and performance of both
cars and drivers. Time
attack participants were provided four sessions plus the 5-lap timed
competition for a total of over just under one hour of track time,
whereas the wheel-to-wheel competitors were provided with three
15-minute practice sessions and a 15-lap race.
For
the street-legal cars, a strong contingency of Subaru owners once
again showed the strength of their all-wheel drive and turbo-charged
engineering. However,
they were strongly challenged on this day by both BMW and Mazda
owners. The Subaru’s,
once again set fast times for the day, but Marcus Ho in his ’97
BMW M3 and Panos Prevedouros driving a modified ’99 Mazda Miata
set times within a second of the winning time of 40.88 seconds set
by Chris Morley.
The
wheel-to-wheel sedan race group decided, amongst themselves, to
participate in the Time Attack competition on this day since
only three competitors showed up.
This gave Egmar Klemmer in his ’81 911 Porsche an
opportunity to test his skills and car’s performance on the short
track. True to form, Egmar set a blistering pace all day, eventually
turning the fastest lap in the final competition at 39.80 seconds.
Incident free, the competition was completed at 3:00 pm with
a thoroughly abused and exhausted field of both cars and drivers,
and everyone concurring that they had had enough track time this
day.
The
DS Superlap Series was developed to provide affordable track
time to owners of cars, in particular sports cars and racecars, who
would otherwise have little opportunity to test their skills and the
car’s performance. The
DS Superlap Series is also intended as a stepping-stone for
potential racers to get involved with wheel-to-wheel competition and
is an excellent way to prepare a car and driver for higher levels of
motor-sports competition.
For
those interested in participating in future events, the DS
Superlap Series should be compared to other local road racing
events in order to see the relative affordability.
For $75 a driver can expect a good amount of track time,
compared to roughly one hour of driving in SCCA wheel-to-wheel
racing at $375 and 45 minutes of SCCA Solo I action for $150.
SCCA Solo II, on a restricted track, can be experienced for
$20 for four laps, equating to roughly four minutes of track time,
however, drivers must share in the flagging and marshalling
responsibilities for the entire day. Finally,
drivers can participate in SCCA short course lapping where $50 buys
the drivers two 15-minute sessions (Note:
SCCA short course lapping requires drivers to register at
noon and wait until all races are complete at the end of the day
which is usually a 2 to 3 hour wait).
The
next event is scheduled for August 7th and, after the
long drought, participation is expected to set a new record for
registered cars and drivers. Groups
of similar cars are starting to organize themselves and enjoy the
thrills of competition. There
is an incredible bonding and camaraderie experienced by owners of
similar car types who are often seen huddling together, excitedly
sharing stories and experiences with each other.
DS Superlap Series anxiously awaits the group of Mini
Cooper drivers who plan on attending the next round, looks forward
to the return of the Subaru drivers and wonders where on earth all
of the domestic car owners are as it seems that, for the moment,
imports rule the world of Time Attack.
We look forward to your participation at all of our upcoming
events.
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