THE HOME STRETCH
Scion Racing shines in time attack and preps for drifting finale
The arrival of autumn signals the looming end of motorsport for another year. As drivers prepared to hang up their suits and helmets for winter, the Scion Racing Team kept busy during the month of September, scoring time attack victories in the Redline Time Attack championship and getting psyched up for the last round of the 2009 Formula DRIFT season.
For the last East Coast event of the RTA season - Round 6 at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey - the PTuning Team packed up and set out from its Manassas, Virginia, base of operations. The team, defending Redline Modified FWD champions, was still reeling from a DNF that destroyed the car's race engine in their previous event.
Morale was down, and with its small budget also reeling the season looked like it was down...for the count. Instead of saying, "last one out turn off the lights," PTuning rallied.
The team acquired a stock Scion 2AZ-FE motor, dropped it in their tC and ran that at Englishtown. Down nearly 200 horsepower, the team soldiered on. The weekend proved to be a challenge beyond the Scion's engine bay as tropical storm Danny drenched the track.
After pulling double duty prepping the Scion, the team registered, setup and then went into standby mode. Danny was too much, submerging portions of the track in several inches of water. The one saving grace of the day was the impromptu Redline Truck Attack!
Trucks were enlisted to help "dry off" the track, and the crazy drivers got some good track time and put on one heck of a show. A cross between a race and drift show broke out shortly after the first lap and all the drivers had fun! Ultimately, the PTuning Time Attack tC would stay in the trailer till Sunday.
Sunday started chilly and damp, the Scion was performing well, but driver Ross Miler could not get heat in the tires or get the car to rotate in the turns. The team played with the setup of the car all day, which is challenging due to the nature of the Englishtown track. The racing surface was very bumpy in several places, and the track's tight turns, much like an autocross course, were very technical with short straights.
However, the overall configuration and lack of long, high-speed straight-aways favored an entry like PTuning's that was down on power.
After the two practice sessions the car was rolling and producing some fast lap times. "The first time attack session seemed like a blur, while I was hitting my marks and trying to be patient and turn a good time. A 1:15.7 was the best time during the first round but I knew the car and I had more!" said driver Miller.
For the between-round practice session, the team took out more rear wing and added more toe out on the rear to help rotation. "The second time attack session was horrid," reports Miller, "and I could not hit any of my marks or produce a good lap. However, our 1:15.7 was enough to take first place in Modified FWD."
After the second time attack session, the car was asked to compete in a "togue battle" one-on-one race with the Dent Sport Garage STi driven by Ron Adams. With similar times during the time attack competition, the battle would be close and the action nonstop!
"It was everything we thought, and the battle raged for four heated laps. We squeaked out a victory, over a tough competitor and both of us had a blast!"
Weeks later, Chris Rado and the World Racing Scion tC continued its domination of Redline Time Attack competition. The sinister bi-winged banshee made it five-for-five at the Round 7 event at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Parhump, Nevada.
But it was not smooth sailing. The stroked and turbocharged 2AZ-FE gave up the ghost and threw a rod during the initial practice session. Undaunted, the crew, calling on its drag racing days where engine swaps between rounds were the norm, flashed into action. Soon the back-up bullet was nestled in the shade of the banshee wing.
With no break-in for the motor and no mercy for the competition Rado wheel the tC onto the track and sent on the attack. It was a wild ride made all the more tail-happy by debris on the track, mostly rocks and dirt scattered through the final three-turn kink from cars taking the off-road option. Rado cleared that string of turns and beat the next competitor by five seconds, lapping a 2:27.506.
The crazy train that is World Racing will be chugging into Phoenix, Arizona, for a NASA Time Attack October 3-4, and then on to Buttonwillow for another NASA event on the 10 and 11.
Meanwhile, the next Redline Time Attack event is scheduled for November 14-15 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Formula D Round 7: Judgment Day Preview
Ken Gushi powerslid the gray and green RS*R Scion tC to a wild second-place finish at the Round 6: Locked And Loaded event at Infineon Raceway. Gushi's Scion Racing teammate, defending series champion Tanner Foust, has his Papadakis Racing tC in fine form as the Formula D season heads to its final showdown of the season at the "House of Drift," Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, October 16-17.
Going into the final stanza, Foust is sixth in points and with a good showing may finish with a Top-5 season, but more importantly will have some momentum to make a serious charge at the title in 2010. Gushi is 12th in points and if things work out he could end up in the Top 10. Like Foust, Gushi and his RS*R team have made great strides in 2009 and look to go out with a bang.