If you’re a regular on the site then by now you’ll be familiar with the name DMS Timing; they are the newest group offering motorsports events at Stratotech Park and started off with an autocross event aptly named StratoCross. From there they expanded a bit and began to offer a track sprint style event by the name of StratoAttack, and then finally combined the two for a season ender event known as The StratoCup. Designed to be cheap and newcomer friendly, the events quickly took off in popularity and have since been helping to grow the local motorsports community. These type of events offered by DMS Timing were had a certain appeal to them as they different from your normal parking lot autocross or track lapping events, and now there is one more style of event joining the frenzy: DMS Time Trials Lap Battle.

Simply put, this new event is a time attack style competition. Drivers are split into four different classes depending on their cars and the fastest lap of each class at the end of the season wins. While it may sound simple enough, here’s the kicker: each driver only gets two five lap sessions to do their best. That probably doesn’t sound like much, and you’re absolutely right, it isn’t. Each session consists of one warm up lap, three hot laps, and one cool down lap, so if you want to be specific about it then drivers really only get a total of six laps for the evening to try and go faster than their competition.

Now for the uninitiated, this is essentially how time attack works; it’s not an open track day where you can go hard lap after lap. Instead, you are driving at 100% for just a lap or two to try and do the best time that you possibly can before your tires (or other components) start to overheat and lose grip. Even if you do have say a 20 minute session, driving hard lap after lap will not yield better results.

To give a bit to context, this is very similar to how the Attack series runs at Tsukuba Circuit in Japan; drivers are split into two run groups and there is one hour of track time in total for the entire event. This means that each run group only gets two 15 minute sessions to lay down a fast lap, and that’s it. Any longer and both air and track surface temperatures will begin to rise to the point of being unfavorable, so they try to give themselves the best possible window to do the best possible time.

Despite the competition format, the DMS Lap Battle events are open to drivers of all skill levels. There may only be a couple events left in the season, so if you’re interested be sure to check them out and sign up before it’s too late!

-brandon.