Southeast News
NASA-SE TT at CMP
Send this article to:
By Jeff England
Published: September 22, 2008
Print
Email
NASA-SE Time Trial ran at Carolina Motorsports Park in July with twenty five competitors taking the grid. With the season over half over Time Trialers are working hard at the regional championships with TTC and TTD being very close. The three remaining events will determine the regional top finishers in many classes. It came as no surprise competition was very fierce in TTC and TTD with results in contention all day. Track conditions were less then ideal with Sunday having the best grip. The challenging track conditions did not prevent Rich Shaffer (1998 Camaro-TTR) and Michael Keena-Levin (2003 Corvette ZO6-TTS) from setting new track records. The sessions ran fast and smooth with no on track incidents though at times it did look like a drift competition in the tighter sections. The inevitable "offs" were well managed and did not impact track operations. Jake England in a C5 Corv ette won the coveted "Sparkle Pony" best spin award at CMP. Maintenance problems did visit a few teams with electrical, transmission and wheel bearings being the most common. Mustangs made it to the podium 8 times with Corvettes and BMWs each having 6 podium finishes each.
By Jeff England
Published: September 22, 2008
Print
Email
NASA-SE Time Trial ran at Road Atlanta in August with over 50 competitors taking the grid over the weekend. The grid was eclectic with a Spitfire, 66 Mustang, GT3 Cup Car, Scion, Porsches, BMWs, and most everything else imaginable lining up for some fast laps. The NASA-FL time trialers came up in force, though some have defected to wheel to wheel competition, and had a great time. The Superlap time attack qualifying event ran in conjunction with NASA TT sessions with their non-pushrod engines. The weather and track conditions were excellent for August in Atlanta. Over half the field was in TTR, TTU and TTS for the weekend. The times posted were wickedly fast with new track records posted in TTR by Reese Cox in a supercharged C6 ZO6, TTS by Jared McGillicudy in a C5 ZO6, TTA by Tim Marcinek in a 1995 Z28 Camaro, TTB by Dennis Maleva nyi in a E46 M3, TTC by Rene Badia in a S2000, and TTE by Micheal Blanchard in a Miata. With those fast times came some hard times for a few top competitors in TTU and TTA with track incidents and mechanical problems possibly impacting the remaining events for the year. There are three track days left for the NASA-SE 2008 season and the season championship podium spots in almost all classes can change with the top spots in TTR, TTC and TTD still up for grabs.
By Jeff England
Published: May 25, 2008
Print
Email
NASA-SE had forty-six drivers and teams competing hard for class position at the May 2008 Roebling Road event. The competition was fierce with traffic management, car preparation and driver skill determining the top finishers in each class. There was a strong contingent of NASA-FL Time Trialers who participated in the weekend event. It was a very fast paced weekend with seven entrants posting sub 1:20 times. New track records were set by Forrest Bowen (GT3 Cup) in TTU, Jared McGillicuddy (C5 ZO6) in TTS, Jake England (C5) in TTA, Denis Malevanyi (E46 M3) in TTB and Rene Badia Jr (S2000) in TTC. The next event at Barber is just about completely full already
By Jeff England
Published: April 7, 2008
Print
Email
NASA-SE Time Trial ran Carolina Motorsports Park in wet and dry conditions for the April event. 23 time trialers posted times in 8 different classes during the weekend. New track records were set with Toby Milne in TTR (1:49.007) in a Mercedes 190, Ed White in TTU (1:39.931) in a Porsche 996 Twin Turbo and Luke Belvard in TTD (1:50.800) in a E36 M3. The wet weather on Saturday had everyone looking for some decent rain tires and trying to find grip in the brake zones. All Saturday sessions were really wet with Everette Parsons taking the record for the number of "offs" at Turn 14. Forrest Bowen in a GT3 Cup Car (1:54.540) took top time honors on Saturday. Times on Sunday were much faster with a dry track and Ed White in his 996 Twin Turbo Porsche (1:39.931) took top time honors. Roebling Road in May will have a full TT field vying for the podium and season championship points.
By Jeff England
Published: March 19, 2008
Print
Email
The March NASA-SE Time Trial at Road Atlanta was a sold out event with 45 entrants making it on track. TTA was the largest group with 10 cars running on Sunday. NASA-SE was the first event on the revised Road Atlanta and it is the same with the visual references just a little different now. A large contingent of NASA-FL Time Trialers made it to Road Atlanta to run with NASA-SE again this year. It was a lot of fun to have them at our event and they even brought Carbotech certificates for class winners. Hopefully, some NASA-SE Time Trialers are going to make it to Sebring in June to return the favor. The weather was the big factor on Saturday and everyone displayed exceptional track etiquette. The first session was wet, the second session was in a downpour and the final session was delayed by tornado sirens and hail. By the time we left the pits there was less than 10 minutes till track closure with a semi-dry line and wet everywhere else. The corner workers certainly had the best seat in the house since everyone was running hard to make a good time in 2 hot laps. The grid had a lot of low grip high horsepower cars farther back so there was a lot of passing going on in the semi-wet conditions. Excellent wet track skills, and some clean track, established the podiums on Saturday. Sunday was a completely different weather story with a cool damp track initially. It seems several did not heed the briefing on cold track, cold tires and the laws of physics. The first lap in the first session had a car in the wall out of T12. The session also had a blown engine with fire in T6, multiple offs and a car in the wall at T5. Amazingly, the track never really slowed down to clean up the incidents. New track records were set in TTU by Reese Cox, TTS by Jared McGillicuddy, TTB by Dennis Malevanyi, TTC by Everette Parson and TTE by Alex Bolanos. Reese Cox of MTI Racing turned the fastest time of the weekend of 1:27.121 in a C6 ZO6. Competition was fierce all weekend in almost all of the classes due to the large turnout and weather conditions. C5 and C6 Corvettes were well represented with wins in TTR, TTU, TTS and TTA.
Winter Meltdown TT at CMP
By Jeff England
Published: March 17, 2008
Print
Email
The season opener for NASA-SE Time Trial was well attended with about 30 TT entrants for the weekend. There was great competition in many classes and pretty good track manners were evident. Many new items were enforced and implemented for the NASA-SE 2008 TT season. Classification paperwork and licenses are not optional and must be presented. TT also had a “download” session on both days for the participants to review track activities and make comments. Both concepts are little new to the Southeast and there was a learning curve. The TT Directors were kept busy giving check rides for TT licenses all weekend long.
New track records were set in all classes except TTR at the event. One advantage a competitor has for running a “new” track for the first time. The top times were in the 1:44s and will stand at least until April when the configuration is run again by NASA-SE. The “new CMP” is very fast due to the grip of the new pavement in the corners and the configuration changes. Jake England posted a FTD of 1:44.882 on Saturday and backed it up with a 1:44:850 on Sunday in a TTA 1999 Corvette. Thomas Lyman in a TTS Acura Integra posted the Sinday FTD with a 1:44.571. Competition was close in TTA, TTS, TTB, TTC, TTE and TTF all weekend. The most DQs looked like a three way race between Doug Wind in TTS, Jeff Kay in TTF and Ken Brewer in TTF. The most cars entered award would have to go to Jon Krolewicz with one TTU entry and then two different TTF cars. All I can say is get your entries in early for NASA-SE TT events and bring a classification form or be prepared to compete in TTR.
By Greg G.
Published: February 9, 2006
Print
Email
Read More... 
