Redline Time Attack – Round 5 – Chicago
By Wes Dumalski
On June 12th and 13th the Redline Time Attack series blew in to the Windy City for Round 5. Some heavy hitters from around the country converged at the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet Illinois to battle it out for the fastest lap. The Autobahn Country Club is one of the premier track facilities in the nation let alone the midwest and there is little doubt that the action that took place this past weekend will serve as a benchmark for events to come.
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| The Redline battle was settled on the Autobahn’s 2.1 mile south circuit. |
It all started on Saturday when after a morning of fast laps and good conditions mother nature reared her ugly head and doused the track with heavy rain and lightning. Luckily the storm cell passed quickly and during the lunch break the top notch crew at Autobahn had the track ready for action! As usual the Saturday practice times served as a prelude of things to come.
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| The ladies trust announcer “Nads” because he’s a professional… |
The highly competitive Modified AWD class heated up right off the bat when Brian Lock in the Cobb Tuning Nissan GTR clicked off a blistering 1:29.256 lap. We also saw the return of the Gates 311.com/Nitto tires Evo X, Ryan got things started on Saturday with a 1:32.352 despite losing his front splitter in some sort of excursion. In the Street AWD class Cameron Benner looked fast and clean among a group of fast competitors. Despite some quick times set on Saturday it appeared as if many teams were leaving something in reserve for the Attack sessions on Sunday!
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| Haven’t seen this car before? Been under a rock? Brian Cobb piloting the Cobb GTR. |
As Sunday morning rolled in so did the cloud cover, lots of talk about the radar and what was in store in the weather department. As practice sessions began the Enthusiast group cleaned up the line for the other groups to follow and right out of the box these guys were turning amazingly fast lap times! It was an all Evo show as Atync Akad, Devin Schultz, and Martin Musial (of AMS fame) battled it out exchanging fast laps. In the Street AWD class a classic Evo VS STi battle was heating up between Cameron Benner in the Cobb Tuning STi, Dan O’Donnell in the ProfessionalAwesome! Evo 7, and Todd Reid in the Fortune Auto Evo. As the other groups took the track for practice it seemed apparent they were betting on rain in the afternoon as they were holding less and less back especially the Modified AWD guys. Brian lock and Ryan Gates were starting to show their cards and were dipping in to the 1:29’s.
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| This Enthusiast class Mustang GT perfects his line. Mower attachment is optional… |
As attack sessions began the gloves came off and the Enthusiast AWD guys battled it out like true pugilists! When the bell sounded local auto-crosser Aytinc Akad came out on top in his Evo posting a record setting 1:38.815 closely followed by Devin Schultz in, yep you guessed it, another Evo, and the third spot was filled by Martin (do we need to even mention what car he was driving) Musial with a 1:39.647. These times for very mildly prepped street tire equipped cars are amazing! The Enthusiast RWD guys were on track at the same time to settle their dispute, in the end Taylor King took top honors in his S2000 posting a 1:44.140, behind him Glenn Reyes turned a 1:46.115 in his 350Z, and in third spot was Hal Glenn in his OS Giken 350Z with a time of 146.399. Sadly there were no enthusiast FWD cars in the mix.
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| Aytinc Akad was unstoppable in his RS Evo. His 1:38.815 was good enough to win Enthusiast AWD as well as Enthusiast overall. |
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| Glenn Reyes looks good finishing second in Enthusiast RWD in his 350Z. |
