It still stands.
Two years of the best Stateside road racing, the all-out attack of some of Japan's most potent machines and highly regarded drivers, and the emergence of ex-Formula open-wheel champs as contenders couldn't even dent it. The undisputed fastest lap by a production-bodied car around Buttonwillow Raceway Park's "Clockwise-13" configuration (CW-13), set by Nobuteru Taniguchi and the HKS CT230R EVO IX at Super Lap Battle finals in 2007, has yet to fall.
For those not in tune with the time-attack scene, here's a brief recap: HKS traveled from Mt. Fuji, Japan, to Buttonwillow, CA, for SLB Finals in '07, destroyed the standing fastest-lap record by 5.383 seconds (which Eiji Yamada and the Sun Auto EVO VII held for the preceding three years, with a 1:48.906), and drove off into the sunset, never looking back. The following year saw Eiji-san return for vengeance, with Team Tarzan and the now-famous Cusco STI, clocking a 1:44.372 lap to win the event, but only land second in the history books.
In the same event, underdogs Design Craft and BC/C-West bruised some egos with a 1:46.893 from their diminutive black S2000 in less than perfect form, and Chicago-based EVO masters AMS shook down their brand-new EVO X to within 0.34 seconds of Street AWD's First-place spot (with another of their cars winning First), promising to re-emerge the following year as a faster Unlimited-class contender than their previous 1:48.772-clocking EVO IX. Add to that rumors of a former Formula Atlantic team dumping all their effort (read: $$) into the production of an Unlimited AWD EVO VIII to topple the massive HKS, and we had moved our bets to the '09 SLB finals to see records fall.
And fall they did, despite the BC/C-West S2K breaking early, AMS' Unlimited-class EVO X catching fire (and Buttonwillow Raceway forgetting minor details like filling their fire extinguishers), fastest-lappers Sierra Sierra realizing the HKS/Cusco machines were a little faster than originally thought, and no major Japanese threat to speak of. Read about the poignant moments from each camp below, then pick your favorite of the highlighted contenders to steal the throne in '10-it's going to happen. For real, this time.
www.superlapbattle.com
Purists, bench racing fanatics, and mechanical engineers all agree that the fastest engine/drivetrain configuration for road racing is front/mid-engine, rear-wheel drive (FR, MR). But years' worth of time-attack competition begs to differ, where the top five fastest machines have consistently been AWD STIs of EVOs. Adide from some gatecrashers below, that status quo was preserved this year, thanks to Sierra Sierra and their EVO VIII. These guys descend directly from big-league competition, so it goes without saying that they know how to build a race car. Their EVO won fastest lap honors at this year's SLB Finals, as well as First Place Unlimited AWD, with a 1:45.061 in the third session of racing. Considering this is the team's first season with the car, they might be the safe bet to take the title.
Last year's Street AWD class winner and our Castrol Syntec Top Car Challenger, Ryan Gates and his AMS-infused EVO X, returned to competition this year with new mods, a new class qualification...and after clocking a 1:49.805 lap in his first session of the day, First Place Limited AWD honors and a new class/track record. Not too shabby for a car that still sees occasional street duty (don't tell the Minnesota State Police).
Tarzan Yamada drove what seemed like 43 different cars during SLB Finals. In Street class, it was the Tomei-GT '02 WRX he drove to a 1:57.188 in the third session that took home First Place AWD, and almost defended the AWD's fastest configuration trifecta.
By Luke Munnell
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