Redline Time Attack Round 1 – Buttonwillow Raceway
It was certainly an interesting start to the 2014 Redline Time Attack series. Even more so when you consider that the first ProAm rounds for Global Time Attack was just the following weekend. With that in mind, you’d like to think these drivers would hold it in a little bit at least until competition day on Sunday. That wasn’t the case, though. Day 1 was all about practice and drivers came out pushing their cars and finding the limits of both car and track on lap 1.
Needless to say, it made track conditions a little hairy when dust would fly off of the exit at the “Bus Stop” just before “Riverside” and coming out of the final turn before the straight. I don’t know what it was. It could have been first event jitters, drivers feeling like they have something to prove before GTA, new builds that surprised them, or a combination of several factors that lead to all the off track excursions. Even when I talked to the drivers, no one could explain why everyone felt like they had to come out swinging in practice.
It wasn’t just the drivers in Redline Time Attack, either. The drivers in Extreme Speed also seemed to want to push their cars early and hard. Even so, there were no major incidents so that was a relief. We wouldn’t be so lucky on competition day, though. That day would end very badly for one driver and stop a session for all other drivers. He would be ok however, so rest easy.
Watching practice was certainly entertaining. You never knew who would go off or even how soon, through there were certain cars in particular that seemed to go off at the same section. Ultimately, there wasn’t too many Redline Time Attack drivers that came out for Saturday. The faster guys would show up on Sunday though.
Redline Time Attack certainly keeps everyone entertained no matter where you're at on the track. Redline's models keep people excited about the event and interact with everyone there. Ok, so it's mostly the guys that get excited, but these girls do talk to everyone that's at the track that day making sure all are having a good time.
