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On Saturday, September 1st, the 50th state became the site of the IDRC's ninth race in its 15-race season. The second annual Toyota IDRC Aloha Nationals filled Hawaii Raceway Park to a near-capacity level to witness some of the quickest and most competitive import and high-tech domestic racing action that the island has ever seen. Among the features never before seen, Shaun Carlson and the Meguiar's Ford Focus became the first front-wheel-drive to ever break into the 9s in Hawaii. The IDRC debut of this "go-and-shine" Focus resulted in a 9.7-, 9.8- and 9.9-second passes. According to Shaun Carlson, "We are starting to make some great strides in making the Meguiar's Focus run quicker and more consistent." With the help of Benson's Machine, BCE Racing Heads, and Sakada Motorsports, the NuFormz team has the Focus's Zytec engine producing in excess of 700 horsepower and over 500 lb-ft of torque. With reliable performance at this power level, the team has begun to concentrate on getting the proper clutch combination to lower elapsed times and improve vehicle consistency. NITTO TIRE TURBO MAGAZINE QUICK CLASS On paper, the stable of mainland, outer island and local vehicles were comprised of enough vehicles for a complete 10-second field. The time slips reminded everyone that drag races are run on concrete and asphalt, not paper. With few exceptions, the Nitto Tire Turbo Magazine Quick Class racers had major traction issues, attempting to put the power to the ground. As a result, times were anywhere from three to four-tenths of most of the racers pace, but this also resulted in some of the closest competition ever in this class. According to IDRC National Director Michael Ferrara, "Hawaii Raceway Park offers a challenging race surface due to the high-humidity, prevalent trade winds and wide range of operating conditions as the afternoon initiated race runs into the night. This is only the IDRC's second year at HRP, but we believe we now have a fool-proof track surface preparation technique for next year's event that will have racers setting personal bests." Every quick class racer wanted to make the cut. Derek Trauger took the controls of the APC-sponsored CRX owned by Jason Whitfield. Due to a communication problem with a fabricator, the car arrived in Hawaii without an intercooler. For safety's sake, Derek and Ryan Sweeney of APC got their hands dirty the night before the race to install a nitrous-oxide system. Unfortunately, axles would not cooperate with the new-found 2.2-liter/turbo/nitrous combination and the car missed making the field. In a scene never witnessned before at any of the previous 27 IDRC events, Lanny Higa and his Alphanumeric-sponsored Civic damaged the turbocharger during the burnout. The result was a thick stream of gray smoke bellowing from the exhaust just ahead of the front wheel. Without any fluid leaking from the vehicle, the starter gave Lanny the green light and he hammered the Civic down the 1320 to earn the best effort award of the day, while falling short of making the field. Making the trip from the outer island of Maui, David Aaron in his 89 CRX took the number one qualifying position, edging out Oahu-local Lane Onaga by just .03-seconds. Aaron's luck would turn sour in the first round, as problems with his ride would allow the number eight qualifier, Rick Perry, the win. In this quarter-final round, Kazu Yamaguchi and his H22-powered Civic set the quickest pace with an 11.03-second blast. Kazu would overtake Perry in the Semifinal while Maui's Arthur Kratz would overtake Onaga when his car encountered problems. In the final, Kazu's .588 holeshot gave Kratz a great view of his taillights from start to finish. APC STREET CLASS PRESENTED BY SPORT COMPACT CAR MAGAZINE Just how quick were Hawaii's best import street cars? The question on the crowd's mind would be answered during the qualifying and elimination rounds of the APC Street Class. Running mufflers and radial tires in registered street vehicles, the best of Hawaii's best-recorded 12-second flurries in a pair of turbocharged Toyota Supras. The number-one qualifier, Brandon Nasu, was last-year's winner and "GT-R killer" (Brandon defeated both the APEX Integration Street R34 and the Import Tuner R33 in competition. Now the question was whether or not the Supra of David Nolby would be up to the challenge. In the final, nearly identical reaction times put the crowd on its feet. In the end, Nasu's Supra was just too much for Nolby. |
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