2009 Redline Time Attack Championships – Blog Update – Fontana, CA

The fourth and final event of the West Coast swing of Redline Time Attack for 2009 which doubled as the series Finals landed us in Fontana, CA, .  With no experience at this track and this being only the second ROVAL on which WindSpeed Motorsports has ever competed, we anticipated that a steep learning curve would be needed to master this track and take home the RTA series Street FWD championship for 2009.  In preparation, YouTube videos were studied and the track map was committed to memory, as well as talking lines and strategy with some online friends prior to the trip. 

This preparation got us off to a strong start and within our first session, we had already eclipsed what we thought would be a winning time in the Street FWD class (and would have been even if we hadn't gotten even faster over the weekend).  This result gave us a great deal of confidence and after two more track sessions we were picking up speed and dropping our lap times significantly.  During the third practice session we encountered a sudden loss of forward motivation and spent 15 minutes parked against the inside wall at the exit of the infield hairpin turn.  After a quick tow back to the garage we found that a simple roll pin had sheered off the gear selector stranding the car in neutral.  A quick sourcing of a 6mm bolt to replace the roll pin and we were mobile once again.

It was the end of the day and we felt good about our times, so we spent the time going over the car to identify any other preventable issues before the following day’s competition.  After arriving at the track and reviewing the times from our competitors, we decided to minimize wear and potential for breakage or carnage, of which there was a fair share the previous day, by running only one practice session on Sunday prior to competing in the Redline Time Attack - East vs. West Shootout that would decide the overall champion for each of the three divisions in the street class (FWD, AWD and RWD).  The winner of this shootout would receive as their prize, a 2-Day Jim Russell USA racing school in there awesome open wheeled cars.

After the practice run shakedown, we sat back and watched the events of the day unfold and studied the winner’s lines around the Autoclub Speedway, as the West Coast Champions were decided during the day's "normal" time attack sessions.  As the already crowned East Coast Street class champions, we (WSMS, TIC and GTM) were asked to NOT run in the time attack sessions because that could have a bearing on the crowning of the west coast champion and RTA wanted there to be no questions or "what if's".

After all the events on the East Coast and the trip out West, it all came down this one last Time Attack session.  3 Laps, Head-to-Head for the National Championship and the $4,000 Jim Russell Driving School prize!  The excitement grew and the atmosphere became more charged as we got closer to the shootout.  Arriving on grid, we staged behind the Turn In Concepts WRX and began to prepare ourselves.

As we pulled out of pit lane it was evident that the West Coast Street AWD Champion was having issues with his Evo.  Since his car started smoking like a steam engine as he made his way around the track during the warm up lap, I figured it was a safe bet that he was going to make a mess out of the track at some point in his run.  My decision was to hang back on the warm-up and make sure I wasn't in direct contact with the billowing smoke that was coming from his car. 

As expected he dropped parts on his first hot lap, which made for an area of caution during the rest of the Shootout session.  What was unexpected was that it was his splitter that fell off the car (last minute modifications to TRY to make his car legal per the rules - a nice afterthought since they have been competing all weekend illegally...).  The motor stayed semi-intact as he finished his first and only hot-lap of the shootout as he was promptly black-flagged and pulled off course after the entrance to the infield portion of the track off of the back straight.

The remainder of the session was uneventful as I watched Tony in the TiC WRX pull off into the distance at the same time completely losing view of my FWD class competition behind me.  While being cautious to not take traction for granted as the Evo had no doubt spewed its lunch all over the track, we pushed to a best time of 1:52.555 while leaving a bit on the table due to potential track condition. 

The Shootout results were in and while our competitor bested his Round 8 event winning time by almost half a second by recording a fastest lap of 1:56.4, it was no match for the WindSpeed Motorsports SRT-4 and we claimed the victory by a scant 3.9 seconds!

We will be back in 2010 and we WILL break the 1:50 barrier!


Plans for 2010 are already underway and we can't wait until the East Coast series brings back the excitement next Spring!


I would again really like to thank all my sponsors for helping to make the car better than ever in 2009:

SPEC Clutches for coming up with an amazing solution to hold the extreme HP levels of the WindSpeed SRT-4. 

Continental Tires for coming through with their NEW Continental ExtremeContact DW tires that are doing an awesome job and surprising a lot of people.

Forced Performance who built and excellent turbo that really makes the car come alive. 

DeatschWerks for providing us with the right injectors to perfectly match the requirements of our new turbo. 

CNC Port for preparing us a fantastic head that works wonders with the new “Green” turbo.

TCE Performance Products for always coming through with all the braking products I need to keep it on the track.

Mopar SuperCenter for always being there and having the critical parts at the most critical times.

Maxx Fabrications for one heck of an exhaust system and hands down the best customer service in this or any industry!