Super Lap Battle Finals - FXMD NSX & Tyler McQuarrie Break Overall Time Attack Record

Super Lap Battle Finals 2011

FXMD NSX & Tyler McQuarrie Break Overall Time Attack Record

By Laura Heng

For many of the top time attack teams the wait for November's Super Lap Battle is a lot like waiting for Christmas to arrive.  Early in the year teams set their sights on a target lap time to beat and have all year long to develop and fine tune their race cars to hit those targets.  Super Lap Battle (SLB) is an invite only event and by tradition it is held the first Wednesday after SEMA in November.  November also happens to feature weather that is just about perfect for record breaking.  This year was no exception and we saw more than a few high profile time attack records fall.

The crew at FXMD fought tooth and nail to break the Sierra Sierra record.  FXMD was still able to lay down a 1:40.981 in their last session of the day on tires that were three heat cycles in and their driver Tyler McQuarrie had suffered a shoulder injury earlier in the day.

This year SLB saw the holiest of holy records fall with the FXMD NSX and Tyler McQuarrie beating the overall Buttonwillow time attack track record previously held by the seemingly untouchable Sierra Sierra EVO 8 “Christine” with Dave Empringham at the helm.  How large was the margin of victory?  The average human blink of an eye is 0.300-0.400 seconds. The FXMD NSX ran a 1:40.981 at this event and the Sierra Sierra EVO 8 ran a 1:41.046 in back in 2010.  The time difference between the two cars is 0.065 seconds, much less than the blink of an eye!  I hate to use the quote but it just seems fitting for the FXMD record here.  “Ask any racer, any real racer. It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile; winning's winning.” - Dominic Toretto 

The Sierra Sierra EVO 8 “Christine” was the previous all time Buttonwillow record holder and was the first US based team to beat the almighty HKS CT230R record set way back in 2007.  Sierra Sierra held the record for one year until FXMD and TMac came along.  I hope that next year FXMD and Sierra Sierra will come out to do battle and one of them runs the first sub 1:40 lap time.

Tyler McQuarrie nearly pulled his shoulder out of its socket at the corner dubbed “Bus Stop”.  The guy kneeling is FXMD's Andrew Brilliant who designed the killer aero package that develops massive downforce on the NSX.  The NSX requires not only lightning fast reaction times but also a great deal of strength to drive at the limit and as you can see the aero load can try to rip your arms off from the drivers seat.

In all there were 5 records broken at the event and a few of them were broken with an extremely small margin of victory.  At time attack events you’re not only competing against the competition on that given day, but you are also up against every single time that has ever been clocked in time attack.  To get metaphysical on you, you are competing across the time and space continuum in an attempt to be the fastest team in history.  To break records you have to be the best of the best which is what Super Lap Battle is all about.  It is absolutely amazing at how fast time attack cars have gotten in just a few short years.  

Chris Rado is the only front wheel drive car to have ever run under 1:50.   Rado was able to push his own Unlimited FF record deep into the sub 1:50 zone in the World Racing Scion FWing.  The Scion FWing is way out in front in the Unlimited FF class with a 1:47.394 lap time set at this year's SLB event.  Rado beat the old record by over 2 seconds!

Fes of FXMD accepts the hardware on behalf of Tyler McQuarrie who was nursing his injured shoulder.  FXMD is one of the teams that certainly embodies the spirit of time attack.  This team consistently goes faster on a shoestring budget by being one of the most innovative teams in time attack.  Well done Fes & FXMD!