Am I missing some nuance here, or is this "time attack" virtually identical to Solo 1? With the usual buckets of JDM hype slathered on, of course...

Time attack is kinda similar. the track has much fewer cones than a normal solo course, and involves drifting (of course) the time attack cars i've seen from bozz speed and other JDM shops give up everything for speed. reliability is only needed for 1 lap, so usually the cars are built to the limit of exploding after a minute or two...there's been reports of 650 hp evo's who's trannys start to smoke after 2 hot laps...

John, yes... it is. In Gary's post...

A time attack is a popular form of Japanese racing in which top tuner teams battle for the best single lap time of the day on one of Japan's many circuits.

Boost-Free... Jon was Talking about Solo-1... not Auto-x. Solo-1 is basically your fastest lap you can get around a track in your class... not really wheel to wheel racing, but there are others out there at the same time. :)

I also don't beleive 'drifting' is part of the event... as it's final time that matters around the track and nothing else... those that want to drift, sure.. go for it.. but it may not be the fastest way around a corner... and usually isn't on a road course.

--kC

Isn't "Solo1" just time trialing with the usual buckets of SCCA nitpicky rules slathered on? ;)

Yeah, but no-one can trademark "time trialing" :D

I was just wondering if "Time Attack" had any variations that made it a truly new form of motorsport. Anyone have a link to the classes and car prep rules? Who's sanctioning and insuring it?

I don't believe there are car prep rules. If it's fast, it's fast.

Primedia is the company hosting the events... I beleive they own radio stations, magazines, and maybe other media-oriented businesses.

Time Attack is more of a media event than a racing body sanctioned competition. It’s an event designed for "tuning" companies to compete against each other for a no holds bared, only one lap counts event.

Now, the biggest difference is that there can be up to 15 cars on the track at the same time as you so dealing with slower or faster cars is always and issue. Each timed session lasts 30 minutes so you can pit and makes changes for another shot at a better time.

Rules are extremely basic so unless you bring something competitive you’ll be embarrassed so it ends up being somewhat self governed. Also keep in mind that this in an invite only competition and Primedia only selects cars that should be competitive. Besides drivetrain separation there a two basic classes, unlimited and limited, where there are no limitations to the unlimited class, the limited class must use DOT tires, have DOT glass windows, and must be street legal (this is enforced loosely).

The bottom line is that it’s designed for tuners to show off their products and tuning talent and it revolves around the products you would consider purchasing for your street car.

Thanks,
Phil
www.elementtuning.com

There is a lot of misinformation regarding the "Time Attack" concept, no doubt because of the format's recent arrival here in the U.S.

Am I missing some nuance here, or is this "time attack" virtually identical to Solo 1? With the usual buckets of JDM hype slathered on, of course...

Jon, I'd say there are several key differences. As Phil pointed out, there are many cars on the track at the same time. It is open passing everywhere. In addition, the number of laps are not limited. There are multiple sessions throughout the day and the sessions themselves can be anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. In between sessions you are able to tune chassis and engine in order to improve laptimes.

Time attack is kinda similar. the track has much fewer cones than a normal solo course, and involves drifting (of course) the time attack cars i've seen from bozz speed and other JDM shops give up everything for speed. reliability is only needed for 1 lap, so usually the cars are built to the limit of exploding after a minute or two...there's been reports of 650 hp evo's who's trannys start to smoke after 2 hot laps...

BFS - There are no cones used in a Solo type fashion. Both U.S. events were run at Buttonwillow Raceway Track 13 configuration, which is roughly 3 miles long. Pure roadcourse.

Also, drifting is not involved in any way. This is about fastest laptime. Anyone drifting a car would be shooting themselves in the foot with crappy laptimes.

Although some teams tune their vehicles fairly drastically for a single lap and suffer short term failures as a result, that's not really the way an event like this should be approached. The reason is any driver can make a mistake, and if you blow one turn and you're engine blows the next lap, you've wasted lots of money on a crappy lap.

An easy way to summarize a "Time Attack" is a multi-session qualifying format among multiple classes. It's EXACTLY like qualifying for a race, without the race.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com

On Solo-I the cars are separated by about 20-30 seconds. I didn't realize that the Time Attack consisted of open lapping.... I say thn just keep your head up. :D

any one know who won "time attack 2"?

in all the option videos i have of the big tscuba (sp?) time attacks there is only one car on the track at a time (it's also a very very small group of cars).nobody would want to be on the course when the hks evo or the like goes for a fast lap. if i'm correct ALL of the japanese time attacks run street legal tires. gary is right, they don't drift, although i have one video where (i believe) after they had the time attack, they ran the top drift cars (both drifting and grip) to compare the times to the time attack cars. (when they weren't drifting their times were very good, which goes to show a good drift car is only a road race car being driven sideways)

"Time Attack" for the US has been altererd from it's orginal format which you have seen in Option Video.

Thanks,
Phil
www.elementtuning.com

Sounds to me like "Time Attack" is an infomercial.

The cencept is cool but is it open to anyone?

Why has no one mentioned NASA time trials?

http://www.nasa-tt.com/

This is what I plan on doing prior to installation of a roll cage and full bumper to bumper racing

Chad
93 2.2T

Why has no one mentioned NASA time trials?

http://www.nasa-tt.com/

This is what I plan on doing prior to installation of a roll cage and full bumper to bumper racing

Chad
93 2.2T

I wasn't aware of the program.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
www.teamSMR.com