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Regular MotoIQ readers will know that I focus upon Canadian racers and events, or Canadian racers at American events. You know that the fastest FWD cars in Time Attack right now are Canadian with Canadian drivers. That's partially because of the support that they get from a large community of very competitive Time Attack racers. CSCS events typically involve drift events, show and shine, and Time Attack. They get a large turnout! The track is a little over an hour away from Niagara Falls, NY.Back in Canada, the next event was CSCS at Toronto Motorsports Park where James captured first place with an unheard of 1:11.2 lap, that was faster than the previous track record. However, Richard Boake driving a Can-Jam Subaru STi set the overall track record with a blistering 1:08.8 time. What is important to note that on this tight, technical track, James' best time in 2014 – the first year we wrote about his Type R – was 1:14.2 (at that time an Unlimited FWD record) and a difference of 3 seconds. That is a massive amount of time to take off of your own record.
GridLife ran three track configurations at the Autobahn Country Club where James captured the Unlimited FWD records on all three courses. Photo Credit: Nate @NVUS ImagesA trip down to Joliet, Illinois led to a fantastic GridLife event at the Autobahn Country Club where GridLife ran all three configurations. James was the only competitor in Unlimited FWD, and he took home three class records with times of 1:03.202 / 2:25.844 / 1:24.389 that bested Brian Faessler's Shelby GT350 on all three courses. In turn, James was behind Andy Smedegard in the Time Attack Evo on each course layout.
Pylon chicanes held up the driver's speed on the front straight as the course was, for the first time to this writer's knowledge, run in reverse. This meant that the track that was most familiar to almost everyone was almost completely new.At home again, James prepared for a unique weekend with CSCS at TMP. Competitors knew that something was going to be changed at their 'home' track, but it was not until just prior to the event that they learned it would be run in reverse with some pylon chicanes added to slow down the front straight speeds. As the course was running reverse, there simply was not sufficient run off room available if the drivers were allowed to run full through. James ran this unique course in 1:15.78 to capture the FTD and obviously the class win.
Max Attack is a wheel to wheel competition amongst time attack drivers – with the cars gridded from slowest to fastest. In order to grab that checkered flag, James had five laps to work through the pack.In addition to this, James participated in CSCS unique Max Attack wheel to wheel race – in which the slower cars are gridded first and the fast cars last. Meaning that James must work his way through the crowd, and there are only four laps to do so. This event seriously makes me want to reach out and pull the keys away from James so that he cannot compete. Seriously – so much could go wrong! The first reason is that these drivers are Time Attack folks and not necessarily used to having anyone pass them in a corner or be situationally aware of what is happening all around them at speed. The second reason, suggested earlier, is that James takes too many risks! He will push his car through openings that really are not there. This comes from his experience driving oval tracks and dirt tracks where, if you see an opening that maybe you will fit through, you simply take it. But James, not in your championship winning and amazing Acura Integra Type R! Honestly, Man! Stop scaring me by doing this. Sigh! Oh, James won. He pulled into the lead with only three corners remaining of the final lap.
A trip down to Road Atlanta for the GridLife South Festival was a spectacular event. There the K-Tuned Type R turned a fantastic 1:23.862. That is just 0.504 seconds off of the track record that the Vibrant Civic set this past spring. That K-Tuned Type R is flying and it captured the overall fastest time at GridLife. Photo Credit: Nate @NVUS Images
