Taking Lap Times Seriously

(posted by The Brake Room Staff)

For most, competitive driving conjures up images of whipping around a track wheel-to-wheel or bumper-to-bumper with other cars. The truth is that for most, at some point it’s just going to be you and the car. On most track days, your only bragging rights come from your lap times. For full on races like the SCCA SPEED World Challenge, you first have to get through the qualifier where you are ranked by lap time.

For some, landing a good lap time is part of the overall competition. The recently completed One Lap of America comes to mind, where competitors literally raced across the country with stops along the way for driving challenges such as Hot Laps.

For a select hardcore group of competitors, the lap time is the only true pure measure of a racer. You’ll find many of them in the Redline Time Attack series where head-to-head driving simply isn’t on the menu. It’s a one track, one driver, one car system where drivers get to make timed runs and keep the best lap time at each stop along the series.

The “brake late, finish first” mentality is in full effect at these races with no other cars to bang into, or be banged into by. There’s literally nobody to blame for a blown turn. If you find yourself up against the clock you might want to consider the 75/25 braking strategy that earned the StopTech CEO pole position for the SCCA season opener this year in Sebring.

StopTech-equipped racers are faring well this season with a pair of victories. One at Willow Springs and the other at Thunderbolt. The next stop will be in Nashville on July 25 & 26 if you want to get in on the fun and start tracking the series, or even register to participate.