Willow SpringsThe air was hot and the sun was beating down for the Willow Springs International Raceway qualifying round of the Super Lap Battle time attack series, held on July 12 and 13th and run with NASA Time Trial. The "big" track at Willow Springs is the self-proclaimed "fastest road in the west", thanks to its immense Turn 8 and generous straights.
Southern California is filled with Lancer Evolution VIIIs and IXs, and the qualifier showcased no less than five Evos in the Limited and Street classes. Eastside Muffler's Evo, which also wore NASA Time Trial TTR-class stickers (meaning it pushes more than 500whp), took the Limited class win with a 1:29.648. Robert "Robi" Fuller, also represented himself with Robispec chassis setup on the second place Limited class Evo and on the third place Limited class turbo Miata of Matt Andrews.
Robispec also represented on the Street class winning Evo VIII of Nils Lufven. Famous for his orange Enkeis, Lufven drove his Evo to a 1:34.111. M1 Fabrication & Development, last year's Street AWD champion, showed up but was sidelined by front brake interference issues.
Higher up in the Unlimited class, Tyler McQuarrie put on quite a show, beating Russ Warr and the second-place Crawford 2008 STI by almost four-seconds. McQuarrie's ride, the carbon fiber C-West S2000, has seen lots of recent development time and is now perfecting the recipe of Hankook racing tires, Brian Crower engine parts, and a GReddy turbocharger kit. The car has found a lot of speed since we last tested it (August 2007 issue) and hopes are high for the Super Lap Battle finals later this year.
Road AtlantaMoving across the nation, Road Atlanta played host to the first of two East Coast Super Lap Battle qualifying events. World Racing's Chris Rado traveled with the Super Lap Battle series and put his widebody Unlimited class Scion tC on the top spot with a 1:30.757 lap time. Rado, long known as a pro-level drag racer, has been honing his road course skills and developing his turbocharged tC for a couple years now. According to Super Lap Battle Events Manager Elliott Moran, Rado was able to beat a track-prepped and slick-shod Porsche 911 Turbo by two seconds a lap.
In the Street class, newcomer Ryan Gates drove an innocuous and almost stock looking Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X to a 1:38.488, almost 6-seconds faster than the second place WRX STI of Steven Rankins.
In Limited, James Elterman debuted the new livery on his Subaru WRX STI, making the switch from blue paint and Cusco sponsorship to white with Takata harnesses emblazoned on the side of the car. Elterman barely managed to edge out the stock R35 Nissan GT-R of William Taylor, beating Taylor by roughly 0.6-seconds for first place in the Limited class.
With the qualifier events gifting guaranteed admission to the Super Lap Battle finals event to the top three finishers in each class, we now have nine more cars that will be given invitations. There's only one more qualifying event to take place, at Pocono North in Long Pond, PA, before the finals event later this year. Who knows, it could be you.