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In the Modified and Street class the weekend saw several records fall despite the hot and windy track conditions. Brian Lock in the Cobb Tuning GTR came out and showed everyone how it’s done by running a 1:23.488 and smashing the previous Modified AWD record by almost 3 full seconds.
The COBB Tuning team takes tire temps and pressures in the hot pit lane. Brian Lock blew the previous Modified AWD record out of the water. |
Carl Rydquist came out in his City Tire Nissan 350Z drift machine to show everyone that drifters can also grip by breaking the previous Modified RWD record with a time of 1:29.315. The car would see double duty this weekend with Conrad Gruenwald borrowing the City Tire 350Z for the Drift Class and also taking a 1st place win.
Carl Rydquist Drifter on Saturday, Road Racer on Sunday. Formula D star Conrad Gruenwald borrowed the the City Tire 350Z and drove it to a 1st place win in the Drift Class. |
The Buddy Club Street RWD class is where things really got interesting. Mike Bonanni in the Berk Technology BMW 135i was out early for practice on Friday and was able to easily post up record setting times in the low 1:30’s all day long despite the heating issues that were typical of the already hot running twin turbo inline 6. From the Berk Technology datalogs the car was hitting coolant temperatures of over 240 degrees F!
“Huh? Did I just break the record in practice?” – Mike Bonanni – Driver of the Berk Technology BMW 135i |
When it came down to the Sunday’s Time Attack competition the BMW’s were dominating the grid with the Berk Technology BMW 135i sitting on the pole position and the ER 135i BMW sitting right behind. In the end the ER 135i driven by professional Grand Am/Koni Challenge driver VJ Mirzayan would take 1st, Eddie Lim in the Godspeed 240SX in 2nd, and the Berk Technology 135i driven by Mike Bonanni would take 3rd. Hats off to the team at Godspeed for once again coming out of nowhere and running a blistering fast 1:29.583 and catching everyone off guard with their performance.
The Evolution Racewerks BMW 135i driven by VJ Mirzayan takes 1st in Street RWD class and the overall win in Street Class. |
Honorable mention also goes out to Paul Walker in the AE Performance BMW M3 who also ran a stellar time of 1:32.286. Paul Walker may be an actor by trade but he is showing everyone that he can certainly hang with the best drivers in Time Attack. In the street RWD class all times from 1st through 4th place were fast enough to beat the 2009 record held by Jeremy Croiset in the Berk Technology 1991 MR2 Turbo.
Paul Walker in the Hankook/AE Performance BMW M3 breaking the 2009 record but unfortunately it would not hold. The top 4 cars in Street RWD would all break the record which shows you how intense the competition has gotten this year. |