2010 Season Preview
By: Mike Bonanni

 

The Redline Time Attack series held its first event in the scorching deserts of Nevada back in 2005. Since then, the sport, the series, and the competition have grown tremendously each year. The Redline Time Attack series is, without a doubt, the premier time attack racing series in the United States, attracting top level teams and drivers from all around the world. 2010 ushers in an entirely new era for the series as it makes the leap from a grassroots volunteer based sport to a truly professional form of motorsports. There will be many changes to the Redline Time Attack events that will surely take the sport to entirely new levels, but there will also be many core elements that will remain the same.

 

 

Time Attack is unique in the motorsports world because of how accessible it is to fans and competitors. Unlike most major forms of racing, you don’t need to show up with a ton of money and a purebred race car. Track enthusiasts are encouraged to sign up for an event and compete in a true “run-what-you-brung” environment. Fans and spectators don’t buy a ticket and fight their way to their reserved seats, they buy a ticket and get the chance to walk right into their favorite team’s pit area and talk with their favorite driver or peek their head in the window of their favorite car. Redline Time Attack recognizes that this is a truly unique experience and are spending well over $300,000 this season to amplify this experience. Fans and competitors alike this year will see that these events have become true lifestyle events with many new features never before seen at time attack races. Things like live music, judged car shows, show & shine car corrals, Redline model search competitions, beer gardens, and much more will make these events even more enjoyable for spectators and fans. Another notable new change is the new live timing and scoring system by Zoomius. Fans, spectators, and teams can watch live timing and scoring as they happen on big monitors in the pit area, online at RedlineTimeAttack.com, and even on their cell phones! To make things even more exciting is the fact that the lap times will also be split into sector times, much like Formula 1 qualifying. If you have never been out to watch a time attack event, this should definitely be the year you do so!

 

 

Although there will be many enhancements to the time attack experience this season, one thing will remain the same, the fierce competition. The 2010 season will see a lot of familiar faces in the pits. In the Super Modified Class, formerly known as the Unlimited Class, 2009 division champions AMS Performance, World Racing, and FX Motorsports Development all plan on returning to defend their titles in 2010. 

 

There are even rumors flying around about an all-wheel-drive Scion tC making its way around the track at the hands of superstar Chris Rado. 

 

 

Fontana Nissan will return for battle with their wild 350Z while GST Motorsports plans on bringing back their lightning fast Subaru Impreza L back for its fourth year of competition.

 

 

The Modified Class will see the return of all-wheel drive giants Ryan Gates and JC Meynet back once again to re-light the fire on their fierce rivalry. Looking to spoil them both is Dusty Nabor and the 101 Pipe & Casting/NNI Subaru STi known as the “Silver Bullet.” 

 

 

On the east coast, rumors of a new Subaru STI campaigned by THMotorsports threaten the Modified AWD ranks.   Rumors of another new car in the Modified ranks come from the Forged Performance camp, which has been hard at work on a new Nissan 370Z to do battle with the AQ Motorsports/JHP USA and AFI Turbo S2000s. 

 

 

The Street Tire class has been buzzing with a few rumors as well. Clint Boisdeau will certainly be back to defend his Street Tire FWD title, but with Street Tire RWD Champion Manly Kao rumored to be bumping up into the Modified class for 2010, who will be there to take his place as champion? 2009 front runner Robert Choo in his Honda S2000 has continued to develop his car during the off-season but so have the crew at Berk Technology with their BMW 135i. A rule change has made Street Tire AWD driver Jeremy Toye ineligible for Street Tire class due to his professional motorcycle racing background. Will Reese Tuning find another driver for their Evo or will they move up to the Modified Class? On the East Coast, 2009 champions Turn In Concepts, GTMotoring, and Windspeed Performance are all rumored to be coming back to defend their titles.

 

 

The Enthusiast Class, formerly known as the Stock Class, was introduced this past season at Round #2. The class steadily grew and for the 2010 season promises to be just as intense as any other class. 2009 Enthusiast RWD champion Jairo Jaramillo is rumored to come back and defend against the AE Performance and Robispec/Pizza Factory 370Zs that dominated the last few races of the 2009 season. Rumor has it that a large number of new cars are being built for all of the Enthusiast Class divisions in 2010.

 

 

The Drift Class will once again return for another season and if the end of last year was any indication, we can expect to see even more professional drift teams out at the events seeing how fast they can go without sliding sideways. Rhys Millen and his Red Bull Hyundai Genesis Coupe are rumored to be making a full effort towards time attack in 2010. 2009 Formula Drift Champion Chris Forseberg made it out to Round #7 of the 2009 season in his 350Z, will he be back in 2010?

As if the time attack racing wasn’t exciting enough, the wildly popular Super Session sprint races that were seen at a few of the 2009 events will now be held at every single event in 2010. To make it more interesting, Street Tire class cars are now also included into the five lap Super Session sprint race. The Super Sessions are especially exciting as fans get to watch their favorite time attack cars go door to door battling for position instead of lap time.

 

 

The 2010 schedule is even getting an overhaul with many new tracks as well as the return of our old favorites.   The western region will see a total of seven events between California and Nevada while the eastern region will see a total of four events spanning from Florida all the way to New Jersey. Clear your calendars because this is going to be a season you are surely not going to want to miss.