Super Lap Battle Qualifier

Man, who ever came up with the nickname “Hotlanta” for Atlanta, Georgia knew what they were talking about. With the temperature surpassing the 100-degree mark and humidity being high enough to keep a dolphin happy, things were definitely hot at Road Atlanta. But this didn’t seem to discourage the some 435 registered cars and drivers that came out to enjoy NASA’s top notch HPDE (High Performance Driver Education), Time Trial, and Race programs on the incredible paved rollercoaster that is Road Atlanta. And with all manner of cool cars in attendance, from a V8-powered E190 Mercedes-Benz to Spec Miatas by the dozen to big dollar race-prepped Porsches and Z06’s to Chris Rado’s flared and boosted Scion tC, there was no shortage of motorized eye and ear candy for spectators to enjoy.

‘Super Lap Battle’ combatants ran as part of the Time Trial group, which had four 20-minute sessions per day, with their single fastest lap from the weekend being used to determine whether or not they qualify for the Finals at Buttonwillow in November. Fastest of the qualifiers was Ed White in his 996 Porsche 911 Turbo, though the World Racing Scion tC was only 4/10th of a second behind and would have surely run in the low 1:30’s if not for clutch and driveshaft problems. James Clay, a SPEED World Challenge driver, also qualified in a seriously quick E36 BMW M3, as did Douglas Wind in his MoparSuperCenter.com Dodge SRT4. Also qualifying for the Finals in his Cusco-sponsored Subaru Impreza STi was James Elterman, who made the long drive from St. Louis to join the fun in Hotlanta. Rounding out the list of 6 qualifiers was David Norton from SPEC Clutches & Flywheels driving one of the nicest looking S14’s we’ve ever laid eyes on. This was the SPEC S14’s shakedown weekend and there were a few technical difficulties throughout the weekend, but given the power potential its fully built SR20 has and the inherent goodness of the 240SX’s chassis, we’re expecting to see some very good lap times out of SPEC machine at the finals.

Congratulations to all the qualifiers and thank you NASA for hosting another successful weekend at one of the finest road courses in America.

Position Name Lap Time
1 Ed White 01:35.6 996 TT
2 Chris Rado 01:36.0 Scion TC
3 James Clay 01:36.1 BMW M3
4 Douglas Wind 01:38.5 SRT4
5 James Elterman 01:40.1 STI
6 David Norton 01:45.7 S14

By David Pratte

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