Takata Time Attack would like to congratulate Matthew Huntman of St. Louis for winning the first ever Takata Index Championship hosted by the St. Louis Region SCCA.  Matt was presented with his award, a Takata Racing Harness, at the recent St. Louis SCCA Region Annual Banquet.  The Takata Harness was presented in a case, as requested by Matt.  Matt plans to display his prize in the case until he starts his next project.  Matt won the 8 race series piloting his A-stock prepared Honda S2000 CR.  He came out on top of the 261 driver field due to consistent top finishes, including 3 overall victories.  Matt was further honored at the event with the prestigious Solo Driver of the Year award due to his excellent performance and sportsmanship.  The Takata Index Champion award was presented by Takata Time Attack's own James Elterman, a former 3 time Index Champion and Driver of the Year for the St. Louis Region.

James Elterman (left) presents Takata Harness to Matt Huntman
Photo Credit: PhotoMotion Photography

Redline Time Attack hosted the final round of the 2009 season at Fontana, California's Auto Club Speedway.  Sunny weather, a fast circuit, and the hotest Time Attack cars in the nation provided the recipe for a fantastic weekend.  Many teams were in a tight points chase entering the finale event and the Takata Time Attack team was no exception.  Although Ryan Gates had already sealed his fate as the Modified AWD season champion, 2nd place was still up for grabs with James Elterman in the Takata Impreza leading the Forged Performance Nissan GTR by 9 points.  Unfortunately for James, the high speed Auto Club circuit favored the powerful and aerodynamic GTRs.  In James' favor though was a fresh powerplant under the hood cutesy of P&L Motorsports.  James was optimistic about his chances against the GTRs, and spoke about it in an interview prior to the time attack.  Check out the Redline Time Attack Pre-Grid Show at 9:17.

After a season plagued by much misfortune, the Takata team was refreshed only to encounter a couple minor problems in practice including a stuck open external wastegate and a bad MAP sensor.  The wastegate was repaired with some help from the Turn-in Concepts crew who had recently experience a similar failure.  A replacement for the MAP sensor could not be sourced unfortunately, and the engine ran rough at part throttle.  Fortunately James was able adapt to the condition.

The Time Attack sessions were an incredible site to behold as the Modified and Unlimited class cars reached speeds in excess of 160mph, with the fastest over 180mph!  Despite an impressive performance, James for the first time found himself off the podium as Ryan Gates once again took the win, followed by GTRs, including that of Forged Performance in 3rd.  In the Super Session, James was able to reclaim some points to secure 2nd place for the 2009 season.

Don't miss this interview with James Elterman in the Redline Time Attack Pre-Grid show.

Take a lap around Auto Club in the Takata Impreza on YouTube.

For photos of the event try Speed and Motion and The Octane Report.

James Elterman and Takata Impreza : 2nd in Points - Modified AWD 2009

Each year the SEMA Show in Las Vegas attracts over 100,000 automotive industry professionals and showcases the industry's hotest cars and new products.  The Takata Time Attack Impreza was honored at the show by earning a place in the SEIBON Carbon outdoor display in a very prominent location just outside the main hall.  SEIBON Carbon is the industry leader in lightweight carbon fiber and fiberglass replacement panels.  The Takata Impreza uses SEIBON carbon fiber hood, fenders, and trunk as well as fiberglass doors to reduce weight.  This marked the 3rd time our Impreza has been in the show.  The first was in 2005 with Nukabe/Cusco, and the second in 2006 with Go Fast Bits.

Check out our SEMA photo gallery by Budski Photography on Flickr with over 200 photos of our favorites from the show.

Takata Time Attack Impreza in SEIBON Carbon display

Some of today's most talented drivers emerge from the sport of autocross.  Takata Time Attack's own James Elterman is a product of the St. Louis Region's SCCA Solo program where he honed his skill before progressing to road course events.  To promote the development of future local talent, James has coordinated the sponsorship of the St. Louis Region's Index Championship by Takata.  The Takata Index Championship is a season long battle across all Solo racing classes to determine the top driver in the region.  A photo contest was recently conducted to promote the championship in which both the car owner and photographer were the recipient of a Takata Time Attack T-Shirt.  The winners of the contest were Geoff Sneddon and Greg Havener.  In the photo below, Greg is 3 wheeling his Honda CRX while sporting the Takata Index Championship logo in the rear.  To view all of the submissions, follow this link to the official St. Louis Region SCCA Forums.

Congratulations Geoff Sneddon and Greg Havener!

With only one event in the St. Louis Region Solo series remaining, there is a tight battle at the top of the Takata Index Championship.  The top 5 with one event remaining are below.  The point leader after the final event will be the recipient of a Takata Multi Point Harness!

Position	Driver	Best 5 of 7 Events
1	Matthew Huntman	49856
2	John Powell	49412
3	Dave Montgomery	49346
4	Kyle Langley	49333
5	Kia Gharib	48678

The Takata Time Attack team recently made the long haul from the Midwest to the east coast for Redline Time Attack's 6th event of the year in Englishtown, New Jersey.  An arc would have been better suited for the journey as the tow vehicle pressed on through constant rain from St. Louis to E-Town.  Early Saturday morning the rain slowed to a drizzle, which was only a tease for the drivers as they unloaded their cars from the trailers.  Shortly after practice began, the rain upgraded to a downpour and the course was closed.  A clogged drain at the low point of the course caused a corner to become a river, making it impassible.  With no end to the rain in sight, and track conditions getting worse, drivers and spectators both were getting restless.  Redline then put out the call for all drivers to report to the track with their tow vehicles for the first ever Redline Truck Attack!  As James Elterman and the Takata Time Attack F-250 took to the track for the 6 lap sprint, the grandstands quickly filled with curious spectators.  What followed was a ShimmySideways good time as turbo diesels and gas V8's slid around the track to the cheers of onlookers.  Words alone can't describe, so check the Redline Pregrid Show for video.

Fortunately Sunday's conditions were much improved with clearing skies and a clean track.  James put in some laps on the damp track in the first session, and everything seemed to be in order until the transmission made a terrible sound as James was driving casually on a cool down lap.  Video here.  Investigation determined that 4th gear had broken but despite the ill sounds, it was safe to drive providing 4th gear wasn't selected.  James elected to skip the remaining practice sessions in favor of saving the car for the timed afternoon sessions.  Despite being short the gear, James earned a time that was only 1.5 seconds out of 3rd after the first Time Attack session.  With the possibility of a podium finish, Paul of P&L Motorsports made the call to push the already strained backup engine to its limit by forcing 30 lbs. of boost down it's throat for the final session.  As James attacked the track in session 2, the engine begged for mercy as oil began to blow past the seals.  Showing no mechanical empathy, James pushed hard for two laps, and then retired early as the oil began to ignite on the exhaust; but the time posted was good for 3rd, edging out Forged Performance by a mere 4 hundredths of a second, allowing James to retain his 2nd place position in season points.  Check out the great videos of the session here and here.

Results available here.

Videos
Redline Truck Attack in Redline PreGrid Show
Sunday Practice:  In traffic and ends with 4th gear failure.
Time Attack Session #2:  Up in smoke!
Import2Race Takata Impreza Experience Video: 10 minutes of in and out of car!

Photos
Official Photos by Budski Photography

Each race brings it own set of challenges.  Redline Time Attack Event #5 at Carolina Motorsports Park brought the heat.  Racers we teased with cool weather and fast times on Saturday morning, but come the afternoon the temperature approached 100 degrees.  The Takata Impreza was one of the victims of the heat, although not a direct result of the ambient.  A melted speed sensor on the transmission put the engine into limp mode, forcing James to sit out of the Saturday afternoon session, while a replacement was sourced.  With no luck sourcing a part, attention was redirected to fabricating a work around.  Playboy model Nikki Ryann stopped by an offered some technical assistance; Check it out at 16:17 in the Pre-Grid show.  With over an hour invested in pinpointing the problem, suddenly Tony of Turn-In Concepts came to the rescue with a spare speed sensor which brought life back to the engine for Sunday's competition.

On Sunday one of the most highly anticipated contests was Modified AWD, as the top 3 drivers in the class were present;  Ryan Gates and his Gates311 Evo X, Sharif Abdelbaset and the Forged GTR, and James Elterman and the Takata Impreza.  Ryan once again had an impressive result that put him on top of Modified, with Sharif and James a couple seconds back respectively.  Fortunately James was able to recoup some points thanks to a 2nd place finish in the crowd-pleasing Super Session.  Despite a small turnout for the Super Session, Billy Johnson in the FX Motorsports NSX, Wilt Staples in the Fortune Auto Evo, and James put on a great show with a close battle at the front of the pack.  Check out our video that puts you in the best seat in the house on the grill of the Takata Impreza.

Complete Results are available here.

Modified AWD Season Standings After 5 Events - Top 3
1st Ryan Gates: 103 pts.
2nd James Elterman: 78 pts.
3rd. Sharif Abdelbaset: 70 pts.

Videos
Takata Impreza In-Car for Time Attack Session #2
Takata Impreza dicing with FX Motorsports NSX and Fortune Auto Evo in the Super Session
Nikki Ryann on what is hot about Time Attack, and giving the boys a hand with the Takata Impreza.

Photos
Patrick McGinnis Photography and Toaster Pastry's Photos

Special thanks to Turn-In Concepts, AMS, & FX Motorsports Development for lending a hand.