It was the “Winter in July” event with NASA Mid South at Barber Motorsports Park, a combined event with NASA Gulf South, NASA Texas and NASA Florida, where a big field of Time Trial competitors took to the track to battle for the quickest lap times. Packed with exotics, prototypes, sports racers and production models, Time Trial Unlimited fielded the most cars on both days, with 13 cars on Saturday and nine on Sunday.
Time Trial 5 also was loaded, with nine competitors vying for top honors. Time Trial 3 through 6 also were well populated with lots of good competition and podiums decided by times within a second of one another.
Most classes produced the same winners on Saturday and Sunday, with some names you should recognize, and some drivers expected to do well at the NASA Championships. TT1 had a different winner on Saturday and Sunday and TTU also had two different winners.
Here’s how the competition unfolded at Barber in July.
Saturday
Time Trial 1
Thomas Nabors in his 2001 Ford Mustang Cobra clinched the top spot with a stellar lap time of 1:38.920 during the fourth session. Sponsored by Milwaukee Tool, Derek Fletcher, driving a 2023 Chevrolet Corvette, marked a close second with a 1:40.506 lap time in the third session. There were only two cars in TT1 on Saturday.
Time Trial 2
Kevin Clayton in a 2019 Mercedes-Benz GTR AMG GT showcased his prowess with a scorching 1:34.255 lap in third session. Brian Rosati piloted his 2019 Chevy Corvette to the second spot with 1:36.456 during the same session. The third session also was best for Keith Holdbrooks in his 2020 Porsche GT4 Clubsport Cayman. He finished third with a lap time of 1:36.755.
Time Trial 3
David McCallister zoomed to first in his 2006 Mitsubishi Evo with a time of 1:37.236 in session four. Sponsored by Liquimoly, Blake May in a 2018 VW GTI TCR came second with a 1:37.684 lap time during the third session. Shay Corbin, backed by PMIC, took the third spot with the 2006 Porsche Cayman at a time of 1:40.903 in the second session.
Time Trial 4
TT4 was dominated by Honda S2000 drivers all getting the job done in their fourth time out on track. David Farrar in his 2003 Honda S2000, led the class with a 1:36.768 lap time in session four. In a 2006 Honda S2000, Radulian Pop followed closely with 1:41.101 during the fourth session. Bobby McCumpsey drove his 2002 Honda S2000 to third place with a 1:42.997-second lap.
Time Trial 5
Nicholas Dugdale led the pack with his 2015 Subaru BRZ, clocking 1:39.881 in session two. Team John Wallace – PX, sponsored by PX Specialty Sports, in his 2002 Honda S2000, came in second with 1:44.288 during the third session. Coming in third, 2S2643 : Curdawg Racing was just a few ticks behind with a time of 1:44.331 in the fourth session.
Time Trial 6
Travis Wiley, backed by X-Factor Racing, drove his 2002 Mazda Miata to a leading position with 1:48.081 during the first session of the day. Christopher Simmons in a 1991 Mazda Miata clocked 1:50.593 in session two and grabbed second place. Taliessin Penfound piloted his 1996 Mazda Miata to a third-place finish with a 1:55.076 lap in the fourth session.
Time Trial Unlimited
Jacek Mucha in a 2016 Swift 0JMS016CP dominated with an impressive 1:30.188 lap during session one. Ghais Khaleghi in a 2004 Stohr Prototype 2 followed with 1:31.638 in session four. James McLellan drove his 2016 Radical SR3 to a third-place finish with a time of 1:33.240 in session two.
SUNDAY
Sunday’s Time Trial winners were the same as Saturday except for the classes shown below.
Time Trial 1
Al Copeland drove his 2022 Porsche Cayman GT4RSCS to first with a fast lap time of 1:36.458 in session five. Derek Fletcher, sponsored by Milwaukee Tool, marked his consistent performance with a 1:41.147 in the fifth session. Like Saturday, there were two cars in TT1.
Time Trial Unlimited
Ghais Khaleghi took first place with a 1:29.775 during session six. James McClellan nabbed second place in session seven in his Radical SR3 with a 1:31.950-second lap. John Crosby rounded out the top three in TTU in his Porsche Cayman GT4 with a 1:32.692 in session five.
Great pictures from Jane!! Congrats to all the podium finishers!