Racers aim to improve driving standards
(CMA): The Time Attack (TA) series by the Cayman Motorsports Association (CMA) kicked off the 2011 season last Sunday with a field of 14 drivers, including three new faces. CMA organisers of the event said that during the 2011 season they want to mentor younger drivers and bring them into Time Attack to give them a driving experience which is exciting and tests their racing skills but can also improve their everyday driving skills. The races, however, are open to drivers of all ages and the course proved a challenge to everyone who took part in the first Time Attack of the year. (Photos by Dennie Warren Jr)
CMA has switched the event to Sundays from the evening weeknight slots in the hope of attracting new drivers and spectators. Bobby Hulse (Vice President) of CMA said, “It was a successful event and with the races in the day we hope to see some new faces and new drivers.”
George Manderson, who was one of the youngest drivers, came out in the Automotive Art Volvo to see if his blazing speed at the Karttrack would translate to the Time Attack event, and Honda guru Jimel McLean drove the most underpowered car in the field to see what he could manage in what turned out to be an all Honda two wheel drive (2WD) class.
First out of the start box was last year’s All Wheel Drive (AWD) winner Michael Weatherford in the Ace paint Subaru and he set down a base time of 104.82. Mike would be the eventual winner of the AWD class with long time marshal Peter Jurgens, who was also running the Ace Paint Subaru, taking second. 3rd place was scooped up by Erol “Carlos” Babayigit in his Evo 3.
The course proved a challenging one with a few super tight switchbacks, challenging enough that even veteran Keith “Speedy” Tibbetts managed to DNF his first run. Tibbetts, who usually runs the Valvoline Subaru STi, was borrowing Bobby Hulse’s flat black Toyota Altezza for the day as the Sti was not ready to compete. Bobby had made some adjustments to the car in the off season and it took him a couple of runs to get the feel of it, highlighted by a spin in the second run. There to witness it was Dennie Warren Jr who said, “The centrifugal forces I experienced during the ride were exciting to say the least and felt amazing! I need some of those tires for my truck.”
Fortunately for Dennie, Tibbetts was able to sort himself out in the last run and put down a time of 98.785 for the win in Unlimited Class with Keith taking second and Ian Tibbetts taking 3rd in his Corvette. Young George Manderson did well in the Automotive Art Volvo, showing some skills already despite only recently getting his license. With some races under his belt he definitely could be making some waves later on.
The 2WD class proved interesting as it came down to Jimel in his underpowered Civic vs Newcomer Cody Bowen in his Integra type R. Also running the Type R was Ian “Izie” Charlery. However with Izie being new to Front wheel drive it became obvious it would come down to driver’s skill. Cody did well for his first time at TA, making improvements and trying to be smooth. “It was a very fun event I will be there next month,” he added. Izie bested his buddy by a second or so taking second but it was the driving skill of Jimel that would take the win.
With the regular runs out of the way the course was changed slightly to accommodate the battle round. Whereas the class runs are the best of 3 runs, the battle run is one run winner take all. In the street class Jimel was able to twist his little civic around the much shortened course for 1st place, good enough in fact for a 3rd place over all behind Ian’s Corvette which took second in Unlimited and Bobby who like Jimel, also took another win for the day.
“As a diehard straight line all or nothing type of guy, taking corners is definitely a different type of learning experience,” said Jimel. “Instead of pushing the pedal down and going all out, TA teaches you it actually has little to do with power and all to do driver skill in handling your car. I would encourage any young person that wants to improve themselves as a driver to come and try it out.”
Look out for the next Time Attack event on March 27th to be held behind Progressive Distributers and checkout the discussion forum at www.csn.ky for updates and pictures of the events. CMA is looking forward to new and exciting projects this year and is looking for new members and enthusiasts email: racing.cma@gmail.com
Events are scheduled as follows: March 27th, April 17th, May 29th, June 26th, July 30th (@ Night), August 28th, September 24th @ Night, October 22nd, November 27th – (Al & Jay Bodden Memorial)
Category: Sports
Who’d speed when the very crowd their trying to fit in with will disown them for reckless behavior. Take a look at the CSN forum to see. They’re practicing accountability and I commend them for it. I hope they continue to encourage one another to do right and that this ‘village’ does not turn for the worst.
Just wish we would take this attitude from the streets to the schools and homes. How are we encouraging our children to live right? What role models are we being to our kids?
ps. you guys better do your best to not prove these unbelieving comments right…
90% of accidents on Cayman’s roads are caused by idiots stopping to let people out.
I was bored yesterday so I walked through a parking lot containing about 100 vehicles. Approximately 1/4 of them were unlicensed. Something else the police could be doing to pay for their helicopter fuel.
This has nothing to do with thoe article…
Cmon son! Stay on topic!
"Racers aim to improve driving standards"
They could start by teaching them that it is idiotic and dangerous to stop to let people out.
I came, son.
Great article! and awesome pictures!
I will be at the March 27th event!
sorry i missed this event, had a small mechanical issue, but i will be there for the next one to defend my 2010 2WD title!!
Time Attack events are an average of about 40mph. There are a few quicker and a few slower sections but they are setup to emulate speeds that one would typically see on the road. Because of this there is not a massive amount of wear and tear on the vehicles. Do these events improve the use of traffic signals?, no probably not. But what they do improve is the awareness of ones surroundings and vehicle dynamics in various situations. People don’t have accidents when everything is happening as usual, they have them when something goes out of the norm.
The cars are also inspected before each event for road worthiness so in that way we make sure these cars are up to spec for the road every month. When was the last time your car got inspected?
Please don’t confuse our members for the ones you see racing up and down the road with the “blue” lights and super dark tint. We are strong in our opinion against this sort of behaviour to our membership.
If anyone would like to learn more about what we are doing please come out and I’ll be happy to explain the events and CMA’s policies to you. Thats me in the bottom picture. Stop me if you see me and I’ll be glad to talk about it with you.
Bobby Hulse, VP, CMA
give me a break…people can find justification in anything…to try and imply that the cma is about improving driving skills is nonsense….. i feel sorry for these kids/young adults with their ‘fast and furious’ attitude
I feel sorry that CNS posts pessimistic comments from people like you!
Hi, I’m Natural Selection. I don’t think we’ve met yet but I need to have a chat with you…
‘CMA organisers of the event said that during the 2011 season they want to mentor younger drivers and bring them into Time Attack to give them a driving experience which is exciting and tests their racing skills but can also improve their everyday driving skills’…. zzzzz…what a bunch of nonsense…..
a time attack does nothing to help you where the everyday speed limit is below 40mph……
i reccomend the rcips to raid these events for illegal car modifications and illegal window tinting…
You’re an idiot. It was recommended (correct spelling) that the RCIPS involved themselves in these events when I served there, and another backward looking non-Mensa member shot it down as a bad idea. The more education for the young people in Cayman, the better. Even if that education is how to control a speeding car. In most of the serious accidents I attended, many of which involved loss of young life (like the beauty queen who died on the side of the road at the Seaman’s mission), no control input was exerted on the vehicle, and once the tragic mistake was made, the vehicle occupants were no more than scared passengers on their way to their deaths.
You, Mr anonymous, need to grow up and educate yourself, XXXXXXX
yeah whatever… maybe all kids should join gun clubs to be better hunters and to stop them from getting involved in crime/drugs…..zzzzz
Yes I agree, lets get the RCIPS over to these highly organised events, where our youth who are interested in something other than drugs, alcohol, the “thug” life etc etc are intereacting with older people who have been involved with motorsports for many years and are proud of the dedication needed. Once the Police are there we want them to relax for a bit , get to know the youth and build some trust, and a relationship.
Maybe you don’t understand the culture, you were not asked to, however before you simply make assumptions why not come out, meet us, see what we do, not just Time Attack, but the Racing at Breakers Speedway, the many young people who laboured for months preparing for the show last Saturday evening at AL Thompsons Parking lot, was that a bunch of loud car driving hooligans, or was it crowd of dedicated youth who spend all their available spare time (yes they have jobs) modifying their dream car, whether it be for TA, Drag or a Sound & Show Off.
I believe many people will agree, we would rather have our youth learning the respect needed to allow them to compete in TA or Drag, driving modfied cars, instead of them commiting crimes while driving the un-modified Hyudai seen in the article above
The RCIPS even participate… what a load of fail… Cmon son!
I recommend you don’t comment on any of these articles on CNS!
The CMA do not encourage the youth to in anyway modify their cars. They are staunch supporters of safe driving and learning to drive your car as is. They have a long record of producing drivers with very low accident and offence rates. Any offences noted on the road are relayed to the organisers and the drivers are usually given a harsh talking to. They have always believed in a that as a group they can be the “village” that helps to raise the child as it were. If you have questions about what they do, why not contact them and find out what and how they do things rather than beat them down?
There is no explanation of how "testing racing skills" contributes to improving driving standards. Does any reasonable person believe that when they depart the course (with whatever remains of their tires, brakes and rotors), these youth will somehow signal better at roundabouts?
Come on – the guy pictured is sitting in a highly modified car – it doesn’t even have a headliner. Tell us how that does not encourage kids to modify their cars?
Encouraging novice driving youth to modify their cars and seek fame by participating in Time Attacks has little to do with driver education and improving our island’s driving standards. We are smarter than that. We can only hope that most of this road aggression is left on the forgiving closed course and not carried over into the public roadways. Parents and RCIPS mark your calendars!