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MotoIQ Radio- Global Time Attack New Jersey Motorsports Park
by Will Cannady
I attended my second Global Time Attack (GTA) event at the New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) last weekend. It was one of the best motorsports events I have attended in a long time. My first TA event was several years ago at Summit Point in West Virginia. The competition was held on Summit Point’s Shenandoah Circuit that includes a replica of one of the most famous corners in the world, Nürburgring-Nordschleife’s famous banked Karussell turn complete with 20 degrees of banking. Prior to this corner there is a hill where the fastest cars get all four tires off the ground; it is quite a sight to behold.
Since this was only my second live Time Attack event, I did not know what to expect. When you watch a TA event online, the sense of speed is very difficult to judge on a small screen. Let me tell you, the speeds are incredible, the drivers are some of the best in the world and being at a Time Attack in person is an experience you should not miss! If you have never attended a Time Attack event, you should put the next event on your must-see-live list.
Global Time Attack (GTA) is a group of the best tuners, time attack and traditional motorsports leaders. Global Time Attack has a passion for the sport. Their goal is to bring the fastest cars to the same circuit to provide the best Time Attack race in the world.
John Naderi is the “Grand Pooh-Bah” of Global Time Attack and Jason Dienhart is the Event Director. They are two of the head honchos at GTA. When you see them at an event, they are running from place to place answering questions and making sure that the event goes as smoothly as possible. GTA has partnered with National Auto Sport Association (NASA) to handle “tech, timing and scoring to ensure the finest possible experience for the teams”.
This event was held at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) on their Lightning circuit. It was 1.9 miles long with some very cool elevation changes and a great high speed turn leading into the start/finish straight. I arrived on Saturday morning to try to get a few interviews prior to the teams hitting the track but I was floored by the sheer amount of cars at this event. I have never seen so many Porsches, BMWs and Corvettes. It was amazing the caliber of cars waiting to hit the track. I do not get to many events so please bear with me while I geek out a bit. I wish I had taken more photos but the IPhone will not do justice to the cars. Making my way to the track, I walked past spec E30s, prepped Porsches, beautiful M3s and Subarus.
I was floored when I made it to the trailer that holds Chris Rado’s cars. Seen from anywhere on the track his trailer stands out! It is black and chrome and taller than almost any other trailer. Chris deserves a big shout out for helping bring some of the fastest cars from the west to lay down some very impressive track times at NJMP. He secured another trailer to bring GST Motorsports’ Impreza L and the UMS tuning EVO some of the fastest in the USA.
Meeting up with John and Jason and talking a bit before kick-off on the live stream coverage of the event at www.globaltimeattack.com, I learned that the lap records on this track were held by two cars, one is a Formula Atlantic car that set a 58 second time on 7/8/08 and the other is held by a GT1 Corvette which ran a 1:07:231 was set on 10/24/10. During Saturdays practice the GST car piloted by Jeff Westphal broke the record with a 1:05:xxx which set the bar high for the other competitors in the unlimited AWD class.
Chris Rado driving the World Racing Scion TC looked incredibly fast! UMS Tuning shop owner Tony Szirka set some fast times as well. There were some very cool teams at the event including Professional Awesome, Dent Sport Garage and Fortune Auto. The quest for the perfect lap carried thru Saturday into Sunday. There was a threat of some serious rainfall over night; however, the crew that takes care of NJMP was on their “A” game as soon as the track went cold. The track was prepped overnight and ready for Sunday racing thanks to their fine efforts. They laid a dry line just in time for the sun to come out and heat up the track.
The limited cars were smoking on the start/finish straight. Some were clocking close to 140 MPH before braking into the next turn. The unlimited guys hit speeds close to 170!!! By the end of the weekend GST was on top of the podium with a 1:02:4 and UMS tuning with a 1:10:00. Chris Rado was poised to go out there and go after the time put down by GST but a CV cage decided it couldn’t handle what Rado was cooking!
I hope that my experience at this event will convince you to go check out the next Time Attack event in person! I would recommend bringing a few things like a stop watch, a notebook, your camera, plenty of WATER and of course some sort of sunscreen! Don’t be afraid to ask questions when the teams are not working on the cars.
Stay tuned for this Wednesday’s MotoIQ Radio Call-In show HERE at 7 PST/10 EST. The guests will be John Naderi, Grand Poobah of Global Time Attack, Tony Szirka, Founder of UMS Tuning and Mike Warfield, Owner and engine tuner of GST Motorsports.
I want to give some big shout outs to some very cool people, Jonathan Rochin, Dent Sport Garage crew, the team over at Professional Awesome, Fortune Auto, GST, UMS tuning, Jeff Westphal, the World racing crew, Chris Rado and his family and friends that I met at the event.
I’ll catch you next time! Remember to check me out every Wednesday at MotoIQ Radio, twitter: @willscarcast, search the show on iTunes “Will’s CarCast” and on facebook at www.facebook.com/willscarcast.
Peace,
Will
Podcast avalible inside after here the show!
This is the Global Time Attack Recap episode.
In this awesome Call In show embeded below, we go DEEP! the topics range from how well NASA worked the Global Time Attack group in to their 200 plus cars. We talk about what it took to get three of the fastest from the west to the east. We get a call in from aero man Andrew Brilliant and driver Jeff Westphal walks us through his fast lap. I hope you enjoy.
www.globaltimeattack.com
