May 1st brought another typically gorgeous day to Hawaii Raceway Park as well as two-dozen racing enthusiasts to participate in the second round of the DS Superlap Series for 2004. A mix of race prepared and street legal cars competed for season Time Attack points on the .9-mile short course layout. Many of the competitors were return drivers from round one held only two weeks previously and, additionally, there were a few new drivers who showed up after hearing of the new series.
The Time Attack groups were formed of roughly 5 or so drivers of cars with similar performance and ability, evenly spaced apart at starting time, with controlled passing along the front straight. The group sessions lasted 10 minutes, which usually is a sufficient duration to test the endurance and performance of both cars and drivers. Time attack participants were provided four sessions plus the 5-lap timed competition for a total of over just under one hour of track time, whereas the wheel-to-wheel competitors were provided with three 15-minute practice sessions and a 15-lap race.
For the street-legal cars, a strong contingency of Subaru owners once again showed the strength of their all-wheel drive and turbo-charged engineering. However, they were strongly challenged on this day by both BMW and Mazda owners. The Subaru’s, once again set fast times for the day, but Marcus Ho in his ’97 BMW M3 and Panos Prevedouros driving a modified ’99 Mazda Miata set times within a second of the winning time of 40.88 seconds set by Chris Morley.
The wheel-to-wheel sedan race group decided, amongst themselves, to participate in the Time Attack competition on this day since only three competitors showed up. This gave Egmar Klemmer in his ’81 911 Porsche an opportunity to test his skills and car’s performance on the short track. True to form, Egmar set a blistering pace all day, eventually turning the fastest lap in the final competition at 39.80 seconds. Incident free, the competition was completed at 3:00 pm with a thoroughly abused and exhausted field of both cars and drivers, and everyone concurring that they had had enough track time this day.
The DS Superlap Series was developed to provide affordable track time to owners of cars, in particular sports cars and racecars, who would otherwise have little opportunity to test their skills and the car’s performance. The DS Superlap Series is also intended as a stepping-stone for potential racers to get involved with wheel-to-wheel competition and is an excellent way to prepare a car and driver for higher levels of motor-sports competition.
For those interested in participating in future events, the DS Superlap Series should be compared to other local road racing events in order to see the relative affordability. For $75 a driver can expect a good amount of track time, compared to roughly one hour of driving in SCCA wheel-to-wheel racing at $375 and 45 minutes of SCCA Solo I action for $150. SCCA Solo II, on a restricted track, can be experienced for $20 for four laps, equating to roughly four minutes of track time, however, drivers must share in the flagging and marshalling responsibilities for the entire day. Finally, drivers can participate in SCCA short course lapping where $50 buys the drivers two 15-minute sessions (Note: SCCA short course lapping requires drivers to register at noon and wait until all races are complete at the end of the day which is usually a 2 to 3 hour wait).
The next event is scheduled for August 7th and, after the long drought, participation is expected to set a new record for registered cars and drivers. Groups of similar cars are starting to organize themselves and enjoy the thrills of competition. There is an incredible bonding and camaraderie experienced by owners of similar car types who are often seen huddling together, excitedly sharing stories and experiences with each other. DS Superlap Series anxiously awaits the group of Mini Cooper drivers who plan on attending the next round, looks forward to the return of the Subaru drivers and wonders where on earth all of the domestic car owners are as it seems that, for the moment, imports rule the world of Time Attack. We look forward to your participation at all of our upcoming events.
Group 1
#4 Louis Mangasar Red 1990 Mazda RX7 45.45
#14 Ramon Black 2003 Lexus LS300 45.95
#17 Dave Watumuu Silver 2004 Nissan 350Z 46.19
#2 Michael Niine Red 1991 Nissan Sentra 46.65
#22 Bobby Brooks White 1987 Mazda RX7 47.28
Group 2
#13 Mike Ichimura Silver 2002 Honda S2000 44.61
#16 Joey Riviera Black 2001 Honda S2000 44.75
#7 Prasong Sanginmvongce Black 1985 Toyota Corolla GTS 46.02
#5 Royce Fujimoto Blue 1986 Toyota Corolla GTS No time
Group 3
#11 Chris Morley Blue 2004 Subaru WRX 40.88
#3 James Johnson Black 2002 Subaru WRX 41.33
#10 Bruce Russell White 2004 Subaru WRX 42.36
Group 4
#1 Egmar Klemmer White 1981 Porsche 911 39.80
#9 Joel Miller Blue 2004 Subaru WRX 41.01
#99 Marcus Ho Blue 1997 BMW M3 41.13
#633 Panos Prevedouros Silver 1999 Mazda Miata NT