Two very competitive classes so far this year
Round 5 of the 2005 Super Lap Series offered another golden opportunity for tuners to get the most out of their cars for nearly 2 hours worth of driving available to each class during the day. No wheel to wheel cars participated on this day, but this helped focus the attention of the true core of the series and what the Super Lap Series is really all about; street cars. Although two unlimited rear wheel and a recent graduate to the unlimited front wheel drive class were out for the June 4th event most of the day's attention was focused on the limited rear and front wheel drive classes which continue to grow and improve in competitiveness. Be sure to click the photos marked with the camera icon for video!
Better lap times are attributed to increased track time
Everything went so well at the round 4 event held on May 7th that organizers didn't change a thing for round 5. Since the wheel to wheel group absconded, an additional 30 minute session was added for each class, giving drivers almost two hours of track time for $75 which, as far as I know this is unheard of across the United States. The Super Lap Series provides the most affordable track time (amount of time for amount of bucks) in the islands and we're guessing that this is largely responsible for a large portion of the improvement in times for many drivers. Both front and rear wheel drive limited class track records were broken and there was a slew of drivers who improved on their own personal best track times in both classes which is a clear indication of the direction of our sport.
Notable new cars run at round 5
There were two drivers who stand out in my recollection of the past event. First off there is Dave Sugai and his NASCAR Spec Truck. That thing is cool. Dave is a drag-racing transplant who, after few years off, got the bug to go racing after watching all the fun co-worker and friend Sy Kodama has been having since his entry into the sport. The truck was purchased through Steve Portenga who lives in Bakersfield and Steve is Hawaii ’s most direct connection to the world of NASCAR. Steve is currently 2 nd in the NASCAR West Series Championship points and is the sane guy who coordinated the purchase of my “Racing Thunder In Paradise” Monte Carlo . The other notable car for round 5 was the brand new Lotus Elise of Mathias Busch. Mathias drove this car across the United States before shipping it to Hawaii and he has been itching to get it on the track since his first Super Lap Series event in which he competed in a Porsche 911. After running in the mid 44 second range in the Porsche I’m sure he was happy with the 41’s he was able to turn out in the Lotus
Is the limited rear wheel drive leader unstoppable?
Nobody is yet a threat to current LRWD points leader, Mike Turolla, especially since his latest round 5 win and an impeccable 2005 season thus far. Super Lap Series organizers still think it’s possible that cars like Mathias Busch’s Lotus Elise have a chance to approach the low 38 second times that Mike turns out nowadays, and we think that a highly experienced driver with a bit of practice should be able to get down there according to the power to weight formula and physics and all that technical stuff. Still, it doesn’t look as though anyone will stop Mike from attaining the 2005 Championship at this point as he has amassed 50 points, over double that of his closest competitor, Egmar Klemmer (24 points).
The battle for 3rd place is still really heated between rookies Mike Ward and Terry Nelson. Basically it's a battle between Japanese Infinity G-35 engineering (Mike) against German BMW technology (Terry) and it just couldn't be a more classic competition. Mike turned in his best ever performance (40.67), to score 4 points for 3rd place, in round 5 over Terry Nelson, who also turned his best time a 41.01 for 3 points and 4th place. Mike has now closed in another point in the championship chase with 16 to Terry's 17 and it's anyone's guess as to who will eventually come out ahead. Other drivers on the move and getting into the 41 second bracket were Cory Tomoyasu 41.68, Mathias Busch 41.92 and Osamu Manabe 41.96, which brings up a good point: There are going to be rule changes in the near future for fast cars in order to address increasing safety concerns.
Limited front wheel drive class takes it to the wall
In an effort to better his lap times Lincoln Loo elected to put the shiny side down during Time Battle. The series first rollover was a result of ambitious driving and extraordinary effort as Lincoln was simply trying to improve on his previous (a warm up) lap of 40.15. We're really grateful for Lincoln's safety through all of this and are so thankful that his car was prepared for this incident, but this is the type of occurrence that should motivate everyone in the 41-second and faster bracket to install minimum roll bars and 5-point harnesses before organizers are forced to create new rules. Story has it that; Lincoln experienced severe under-steer in the rubber room (sweeper) causing him to glance off of and then hook into the tires which then overturned him, but you know how stories go, so your better off asking him directly if you want the truth. The Super Lap Series staff responded immediately with both medical attention and vehicle recovery, the accident was cleaned up and we went back to competition, where current points leader, Reid Morimoto, immediately snuffed out Lincoln's time with a 40.10 and a new limited front wheel drive record.
All wheel drive class not up to the task
Without sounding like too much of a critic, I think it fair to say that the limited all wheel drive class has become pretty pathetic. We know that there are lots of these cars that can perform well after seeing low 40 second times from the very first round and 26 class competitors in 2004, but after all the attention these drivers gave the series last year we've only had 11 competitors so far this year as opposed to 35 in limited rear wheel drive and 20 in the limited (street legal) front wheel drive class. Fortunately, veteran Chris Morley brought out his Subaru WRX and ran in morning practice, but having to leave at noon, there were no L/AWD competitor in Time Battle and thus the medal and all points went un-awarded (another thing you probably wouldn't be able to find throughout the racing world). Current points leader, Egmar Klemmer, can now skip a few races if he chooses to do so since he has a 20 point lead over closest rival, Jerome Ramos.
Unlimited rear wheel drive class see Time Battle competition
After a long absence I brought my URWD Chevy Camaro back out for what ended up being some pretty miserable lapping, but rewarding experience knowing that my drive train issues are finally resolved (I pray). First practice had me squaring off what was previously flat spotted front tires and killing my chance of turning ay type of decent time from then on, still, after swapping the worst tire back and forth on the front and ending up with a huge flat spot of chords on the left side I managed a 42.31. The vibration was horrendous and every time I turned into the sweeper I had visions of Raikonen’s suspension failure in the recent Spanish Grand Prix, I guess that helped me to not lock it up during Time Battle, as I knew it was the end of me if it did. Dave Sugai, 10UR, barely made it out as the last Time Battle competitor of the day, and as a rookie in a whole lot of vehicle he did quite nicely although two seconds off his practice times. This is expected as the pressure to motivate yourself to crank out a good lap for Time Battle is something that inexperienced drivers have a hard time dealing with and it makes for either mistakes or less than adequate effort. Finding the balance between these two variables is the key to turning those few quick lap
Sy Kodama graduates to the unlimited front wheel drive
In an effort to help Super Lap organizers develop the unlimited front wheel drive class; Sy Kodama has stepped up his classification. This is allowable by Super Lap rules as it is ok to step up in class, just not down (race prepared vehicles only). No other UFWD competitors showed this day so it was a smart move to pick up an easy win and 10 points good for 3rd place in the current season standings. Sy ran a 42.83, a bit off his personal best but within half a second of closest rival, Roy Cabibo, who has run as quickly as 42.29. Roy and Marcus Ho were unable to attend round 5 as were a number of other drivers who didn't come out, as this was a previously unscheduled event.
Thanks to all the new and "old" helpers
The worker bucks program has really worked out well and we are excited to be training a whole new generation of helpers who are making a huge difference to our ability to expand our roles as organizers. Thanks to everyone who helped this past event, especially those who responded so professionally after the incident in the sweeper. I personally, as well as the rest of the Super Lap staff, are so proud of the way you all responded. By the time I got to the location of the crash everything was under control and clean up was already beginning. I look forward to seeing you all at the next event, round 6 on July 24 th 2005 , but meanwhile happy motoring. Aloha!
Chris Messer
Events General Manager,
Drift Session, LLC
