Despite a nervous 36 hours leading up to the event, the Takata Impreza rolled up to the starting line on schedule Saturday morning.  The Modified AWD class had a fantastic showing and included a number of notable contenders for the season championship including Ryan Gates in the AMS prepared EVO X, and Sharif Abdelbaset in the Forged Performance Nissan GTR R35.  Come Sunday's Time Attack, the bugs had been worked out of the car and James was able to focus on driving.  In the 2nd Time Attack session James made the borrowed engine scream for mercy as he lapped the track with a 1.34.221, a time worthy of third place behind Ryan and Sharif respectively.  Following the Time Attack sessions, Redline conducted a Super Session for bonus points.  The Super Session is a crowd favorite that consists of a 3 lap sprint race amongst the fastest Unlimited and Modified class cars.  The Takata Impreza was staged in pole position for the Modified group which started from the second row.  As dark clouds rolled in, the P&L Motorsports crew made final adjustments to tire pressure and aero in preparation for the immenent rain.  As the green flag dropped, the rain began to fall, but the AWD of the Takata Impreza held the car sure footed and James maintained pole position to win the race for the Modified class!

Results are available here. 

Videos
Time Attack Session 2
Super Session Win! 
Takata Impreza Featured in Redline Time Attack PreGrid Show
Takata Impreza Multicamera Hotlap published by Redline Time Attack

Photos from the event are available from Budski Photography, Zmann42087, FormulaRedline, and Spanier Photography.

Special thanks to Paul, Pawel, Eddie, Jorge, and the entire P&L Motorsports staff for the hard work and long hours.  Stay tuned for Redline Time Attack Nashville in conjunction with Import Alliance.

After a long off season, James Elterman and the Takata Impreza are anxious to return to the Redline Time Attack series to defend the Modified AWD Championship.  With 2 west coast rounds already on the books for 2009, there are high hopes for a strong debut at Round 3 at Autobahn Country Club just south of Chicago.  Throughout the off season leading up the 2009 debut, Paul Szuba and his crew at P&L Motorsports were tasked with refreshing, repairing, and upgrading the Takata Impreza.  Paul and James were faced with many surprises and challenges throughout the off season, all of which climaxed with serious problems that arose just 36 hours before the event. 

On Thursday evening prior to the event, pro tuner Jorge Carillo was dyno tuning the Takata Impreza's fresh new engine, when unknown to anyone, injector #3 began to fail at high rpms.  The result was a blown engine, and a very long night for P&L's die hard crew.  By Friday morning the Takata Impreza had a borrowed stock engine, and by afternoon was tuned for just over 400 whp with fingers crossed that the engine would last the race.  As a fierce storm rolled through Chicago Friday evening, P&L's shop lost power.  The final touches were applied by the light of generator powered drop lights.

Today marks the first day of the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, and Microsoft got the event off to a great start with an incredible press release.  Amongst many big announcements for games and new features for the Xbox 360 console, developers Turn 10 finally made the announcement for their next project, Forza Motorsport 3.  Turn 10's goal with FM3 is to develop the definitive racing game of this generation.  It is a game that caters to all maners of auto enthusiasts from hardcore racers, casual racers, drifters, drag, painters, collectors, and more.  With over 400 cars and 100 tracks, an both online and offline play modes, it is an absolute automotive playground. 

The Forza video game series has an incredible community thanks to a large and diverse fan base, and a developer that plays an active role in the Forza community.  Included in the press-release was a Forza Community Spotlight Video which highlighted some standout members of the Forza community.  One of those highlighted was Takata Time Attack's own James Elterman.  The Takata Time Attack Impreza was designed entirely using the livery editor in Forza Motorsport 2, as part of a contest that was ultimately won by Andre Guerrieri, who was also featured in the video.  To check out the video, click on the screen grab or follow this link.  For more information about the livery contest, check this link.

Forza Motorsport 3 will be released exclusively for the Microsoft Xbox 360 console in October of 2009.  For the official press release, visit this link.  For more information, visit ForzaMotorsport.net.

James Elterman was recently honored with two special awards during the off-season.  The first was the 2008 Award of Excellence presented by the St. Louis Region Sports Car Club of America.  This award was presented to James in recognition of his continued support of the St. Louis racing community.  Although James rarely finds time to compete in St. Louis region events, he continues to contribute to various programs throughout the year.  The second award was presented by the St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club in recognition of James' performance in the 2008 Redline Time Attack series to become the Modified AWD National Champion.  Each year the St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club recognizes national champions from the St. Louis area at their annual Banquet of Champions.

For more information on the St. Louis Region SCCA, visit STLSCCA.org
For more information on the St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club, STLFanClub.com

The 2008 Time Attack Season is in the history books, and James Elterman and his Impreza once again had an incredible year.  Thanks to a new partnership with Takata Racing Products, our Impreza has taken on a new persona which is barely recognizable as the former ShimmySideways STi.  With our excellent showing in the Redline Time Attack series in 2008, we can finally be recognized as a National Champion.  Before looking forward to 2009, we would like to recognize the efforts of some individuals that helped us achieve this new level of success.

• Bret and Takata: Thanks for the opportunity.  It has been a pleasure.
• Paul and the P&L Motorsports crew: Your knowledge and talent built a capable and reliable race car without which this would not be possible.
• Kirk and the Nukabe team: I wouldn't have made it this far without you. I owe it all to you.
• Dave and Solo Performance: Always a pleasure to do business with a good business minded individual such as yourself.
• Nitto Tire, Seibon, Hans, & Girodisc: I am fortunate to be sponsored by companies that make the best products in the industry.
• Landin Williams of Forza Motorsport/T10: The livery contest was a big success for both of us.  I'll never forget it.
• Andre Guerrieri: You designed what can be described as no less than the sexiest car on the Time Attack circuit.  I can't thank you enough.
• James Schmidt aka Budski: Incredible photos that have made the car famous.
• Eric Deford: Graphics, Logos, and more.  You are a pro Eric, and you bring professionalism to my team.
• Ben Ott: You challenged me, and I will continue to exceed your expectations.
• Arshad, Jeff, Jeef, Jianxiong, and all who turned a wrench: Thank you.
• Jan Rick and Eileen von Hatten: Likely my two biggest cheerleaders outside of my family.  You are a source of encouragement.
• St. Louis Region SCCA: My home, my friends, & my family, thanks for your support.
• My Competition: Because of you I have had to work harder at this than I have anything else in my life, and because of that winning feels all the more worth while.
  and of course...
• Holly and Gracie: My beautiful and supportive wife and daughter, because of you I am truely the luckiest guy in the world.
  
  Lets do it again in 2009!

The Redline Time Attack 2008 Season came to an exciting and dramatic conclusion recently for the Takata Time Attack team.  The season finale took place at GT Live at Virginia International Raceway.  The GT Live was one of the largest auto lifestyle events of the year as it played host to Formula D drifting and the Koni Challenge road racing season finale in addition to the Redline Time Attack.  The event also included other activities for the motorsport enthusiast such as karting, the WRX Track Attack, and Tarzan's Lapping Sessions.

The Takata Time Attack team entered the season finale with a 5 point deficit to Dieter-Heinz Kijora in the MFQ Motorsports EVO.  All season long the MFQ Motorsports Evo has proven to be the dominant Modified AWD car on the West coast, while the Takata Impreza has been the star of the East.  Unfortunately, the absence of the MFQ Motorsports team from the finale will leave the score to be settle next year.  Without the MFQ Motorsports team in attendance, James and the Takata Impreza appeared to be sure-thing to win, but as luck would have it there are no easy victories.

On the first day of competition the Takata Impreza suffered a broken axle, hub, and wheel bearing in the first practice session, forcing James to miss Saturday's timed session.  Sourcing replacement parts proved to be challenging, but thanks to friend Steve Renkins, parts were located at Folger Automotive in Charlotte, North Carolina.  After a 6 hour road trip to claim the parts, James and crew repaired the Takata Impreza by the light of a rental car.  Come Sunday morning James straped in for an early morning practice session.  The repairs took well and James got up to near race pace after a few quick laps to feel out the car.  But just when James began to get comfortable, the unexpected happened.  A brake failure at the fastest part of the track forced James off course an into a tire wall.  Fortunately James was not hurt, and the Takata Impreza suffered only minor damage, but it was clear that the Takata Impreza was not race worthy.  With the Championship on the line, James borrowed the Crawford Performance Stage 2 '08 Impreza to use for Sunday's timed session.  Although underprepared for Modified AWD, the Crawford Impreza is no stranger to the track as it is often used by Tarzan Yamada for track reconnaissance.  With sincerely thanks to Quirt Crawford and the rest of the Crawford Performance staff, James was able to secure the points needed in the timed session to secure the season championship to earn the title...

2008 Redline Time Attack Modified AWD Season Champion!

For more photos from this event, visit our photo gallery.

In order to expand the audience for the sport of Time Attack, the Redline Time Attack series has begun to partner with other auto lifestyle and racing events in the last year. A recent example of this was the Formula X event at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The primary draw for the Formula X event was the Mazda Formula Atlantic and Star Mazda professional open wheel racing series which had races both Saturday and Sunday. The Redline Time Attack series was invited to provide additional entertainment for the spectators. In addition to the Time Attack, the Formula X weekend included a tuner car show, Scion VIP hospitality, and a vendor midway. Because this Time Attack was a late addition to Redline's 2008 schedule, it was not offered as a points event. Regardless, James Elterman took the opportunity to visit the east coast and take the Takata Impreza for some laps around the all new New Jersey Motorports Park Thunderbolt circuit and find challenge any east coast competitors that he had yet to face.

Upon arrival at the event, James immediately knew that he would be up for a challenge when he spotted Phil Grabow of Element Tuning. Phil and the Element Tuning Impreza are one of the most potent combinations in the Unlimited AWD class, but for this occasion Phil reverted the Element Tuning Impreza back to Modified AWD class preparation to give James a run for his money. During early practice sessions, the horsepower advantage of the Element Tuning Impreza became clear, but Phil admitted to having difficulty reining in the power on the Modified class specification rubber. James meanwhile was still making adjustments to the chassis to dial out the oversteer. By Sunday morning James finally achieved handling harmony, and both Phil and James appeared to be at the top of their game. The final Time Attack session produced a very close competition between Phil and James, with a best time for Phil of 1:30.830, and James just 6 tenths behind with a 1:31.445.  In addition to being on of the best contests of the weekend, Phil and James' times were the fastest of the weekend.  We congratulate Phil and the Element Tuning STi on a well deserved victory.

Take an exciting ride with James as he uses every inch of track to minimize his lap time by sitting in with our YouTube In-Car video. For complete results follow this link to the Redline Time Attack website.