Redline Time Attack 2010: Round 9 – Infineon Raceway
MotoIQ Staff Report
Photos by Kyle Lewis and Courtesy of Redline Time Attack
Despite rain snow and sleet, the MotoIQ staff loaded our gear into project Tundra and fought our way up North for Round 9 of the 2010 Redline Time Attack Season. The event was held at the famous Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point) in the heart of wine country, Sonoma, CA. While the normal culture of the region is all about Hybrids, Cabernet, Merlot, and fine dining, we really could care less about wine and tree hugging. We could not find any fine dining either. Most places were closed by the time we left the track. The other thing is that everyone in Nor Cal thinks that fine dining is Thai, Indian or Sushi. Don’t people in the land of hipsters and hella flush eat normal food?
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| The mighty ACS Mustang with its RWD struggled in the rain. Even its Motec traction control and ABS could not make up for AWD traction and the expected rout of the Tuner cars by this mighty machine did not materialize. Look for a full write up on this amazing car in MotoIQ soon! |
Far from worrying much about trying to find some normal food and libations, the hot topic around the Infineon Raceway paddock was not whether the super trick ACS World Challenge Mustang driven by GT champion Brandon Davis was going to kill the endemic Turner Time Attack cars but rain. Yes, there was rain, and lots of it. It rained virtually non-stop this weekend and teams were struggling to learn how to go fast in it.
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| The very wet conditions gave teams fit with setup. The AFI S2000 looks like a U Boat about to dive. |
Rain does very funny things to race results. Front wheel drive becomes fast, all-wheel drive becomes even faster, and rear wheel drive guys are left chasing their tails, literally. Huge power becomes a disadvantage, and skinny tires and softer suspension help. Teams either learn to adapt to wet conditions or find themselves at the back of the pack or wrecked. Teams dealt with heavy rain through the first part of the competition day but a break in the rain made the track gradually faster as competitors got into their second and final time attacks.
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| Our Formula D buddy, drift ace Kyle Mohan was chuckling all day about how much fun he was having drifting the whole course without hurting his tires. Kyle won the drift class. |
There was a lot of anticipation coming into this event, but something many of us have been anticipating all year long finally came to fruition today and answered the question that has been floating around since the season opener in March; who is the G-Stig? We had figured it was probably one of three people. We had our money on Nor Cal driving aces Dave Brown, Tyler Mcquarrie or Gary Sheehan. Larura Heng was a long shot. We were wrong on all counts, the mysterious dark visored driver of the GST Motorsports Subaru Impreza finally revealed himself at the awards ceremony as none other than Jeff Westphal. Westphal has raced everything from the Skip Barber Formula series to GrandAm ROLEX GT and now he can publicly add Redline Time Attack to that resume.
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| We fear the all mighty ACS Mustang in the dry. |
Westphal and GST Motorsports were one of the favorites in the Super Modified class coming into the race as Infineon is their home track, however they had one big hurdle to clear in the form of the ACS SPEED World Challenge Ford Mustang driven by Brandon Davis. The ACS team reportedly removed 300 lbs. from their race car as well as removing the inlet restrictor that SPEED World Challenge mandates to make over 750whp. Many thought that the SPEED World Challenge car would dominate the entire field, however Westphal had something to say about it, and he said it loud and clear.
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