“I wanted to get faster and it seemed to me that many HPDE drivers were simply content to “put in laps” and have a good day at the track. While there was nothing wrong with that, I just wasn’t content. I saw the Time Trial groups and spoke with them, and it’s an entirely different mindset. Every single one of them wants to get faster and are all more than willing to help their own competitors to get faster. That really was the mindset that I was after.”

“It’s a different type of competition than wheel-to-wheel racing, and I’ve done both in one NASA weekend, but Time Trials always sticks with me. With racing, it’s stringing together a bunch of good laps to stay ahead of your competition, but with TT, it’s aiming for as close to perfect as you can get, and oftentimes not knowing if your competitors are running any faster or not. It’s all up to how close to perfect you can get.”

“Racing is an entirely different beast and requires a bit more strategy and tactics than TT. However, I have stopped short of prepping my own car for racing for a few reasons. Racing is a significant jump in time and money as well as being harder on the car itself. On a typical TT weekend, I may only run two sessions of 2-3 laps on each day. I am running the car full out during these laps and I just think it’s tough to ask the car to do this for 2-3 20-plus minute race stints per weekend. I know others do, but if I were to race this car, I would certainly dial it back a bit for long-term reliability. Also, the cost of racing is much higher in my estimation because you’re going through a lot more consumables and hitting maintenance milestones much sooner than in TT. That being said, I just love to compete and TT is a very cost effective way to scratch that itch.”

“I think TT5 in NASA is the largest and most competitive in the country. After every weekend, we all share our data so we all know what each other is doing. We also have a great ST5/TT5 group chat with NASA Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Northeast drivers. In between making fun of each other, we share what we are doing with our cars and answer questions. We all share everything so there is no need to really tabs on anyone.”

“Racing sounds like fun, but unfortunately I don’t think it’s affordable with my car. With the Time Trial format, I only need to drive a few laps per day, and that allows me to limit consumable expenses if I’m on a budget. I realize this reek of the sunk-cost fallacy, but there is a large initial cost of building a new car or buying one that is already race-prepped.”