Photography by Tom Suddard, Andy Hollis and J.A. Ackley
By Tom Suddard and Andy Hollis
500 miles and one wet skidpad later, and we were getting antsy to actually drive on track in the Tire Rack One Lap of America Presented by Grassroots Motorsports. We rolled into Nashville Superspeedway with big smiles and a singular goal: Don’t. Screw. Up.
Screw up? No, it’s not like our professional driving contracts depend on perfect performance (hah!), but our sleep schedules sure do.
One Lap’s grid order is based on the results of the first track session of the week, which meant our finishing position in the first session at Nashville would be our starting position at every other event for the rest of the week. Why does that matter? The event’s three-lap sessions are run in groups of only 4-6 cars, so it takes hours to work through the whole field. And once you’re done racing, you start driving.
So qualifying 20th means leaving the track hours earlier than qualifying 60th. And it means leaving hours earlier every single day for the rest of the week. Which means sleeping for hours longer every single night. That’s a real competitive advantage when you’re transiting 700 miles every evening.
One Lap is as much of a battle of physical stamina as it is a battle on track.
All that to say: We wanted to put our Hyundai Elantra N as high in the results as possible while taking as few risks as possible. So we sent Andy out in the morning session.
He’s been to Nashville a bunch and even drove the Elantra there last week. And, in true Andy fashion, he robotically executed exactly the plan we needed him to: 27th overall and first in class, posting lap times in the mid 1:09s. Not bad for a stock economy car in a field of six-figure monsters! We should be getting plenty of sleep this week.
Like in years past, we’re both driving every single track: Andy drives in the morning and Tom drives in the afternoon, meaning we forfeit the benefits of learning the track that other teams bring to the afternoon session, but gain the thrill of competing against each other and each getting to drive every track.
Andy had claimed our premium qualifying position, which was good because it’s time to admit that Tom has never driven an Elantra N on track–never mind ours. He’d be flying blind into One Lap’s brutal no-practice, no-mulligans format with nothing but three laps he drove a few years ago and a foggy morning track walk to guide him.
Fortunately, this car is absolutely fantastic on track, even in stock form. It’s hard to even mention all the high points, as one stands out above all else: A seemingly magic limited-slip differential that lets you solve virtually any and all problems by matting the throttle and pointing the steering wheel in the direction you’d like to go.
It’s so good that Tom managed to pilot the unfamiliar car on the unfamiliar track to 25th overall and first in class, posting a time just three tenths slower than Andy. How many other cars are this approachable and this user-friendly?
Just as important, we handily beat the other five cars in the Economy class, boding well for our chances throughout the week.
Towards the front of the field, Tom O’Gorman and Salil Shukla took top spot, posting a blisteringly fast lap just above 1:00 flat–the quickest any One Lap car has ever run there–and handily beating the rest of the competition. Previous record-holder Andrew Brownfield slotted his Toyota Supra into P2. Rounding out the podium was the 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S of Goodyear employees Nick Gullatta and Josh Pu’u.
Competition complete, it was time to settle in for the first of many brutal transits: Nearly 700 miles to Hallet Motor Racing Circuit in Oklahoma, dodging potholes and semi trucks on I-40 for hours and hours on end. A 1:30 pm departure meant a 10:30 pm arrival, plus 30 minutes or so of gasoline and Subway sandwiches. Car parked, bags unpacked, data downloaded, we drifted off to sleep with sweet dreams of free hotel breakfast dancing in our heads.
Well, sweet dreams paired with more than a few nightmares: See, there’s an elephant in the room that the whole paddock is buzzing about: Snow. Or, well, at least plenty of rain and freezing temperatures.
Hallet should be dry tomorrow, but the day after that we’ll be at High Plains Raceway in Colorado, where rain at a minimum and snow at a maximum is forecast. It promises to be a rough day and a brutal 368-mile transit through even worse weather to Motorsports Park Hastings, where we may see even more rain.
Remember those dismal wet skidpad results? We’re in for a world of trouble–if not outright danger–if the forecast holds true.
So can you blame us for dreaming of breakfast? Rain is a problem for the future, but waffles are here right now.
One Lap of America: Day 0
One Lap of America: Day 1
One Lap of America: Day 2
One Lap of America: Day 3
it's good to hear about the paddock, and how they're looking forward... well, looking in advance... to the weather. That's definitely an element of OneLap I think I haven't gotten into my updates in the past.
The other, more modded ElantraN, did pretty well on the skidpad... and did a little less well at Nashville. Are they running PS4's, or some other 320-ish tw? I assume they might have a smidge less experience than you and Andy?
Congrats Team GRM! Well done! Thanks for the update Tom!
also, let me know if you need me to start calculating in-class points? I haven't gotten a clear signal from others if I'm the only that's seeing class results stuck on only the SkidPad results.
sleepyhead the buffalo said:it's good to hear about the paddock, and how they're looking forward... well, looking in advance... to the weather. That's definitely an element of OneLap I think I haven't gotten into my updates in the past.
The other, more modded ElantraN, did pretty well on the skidpad... and did a little less well at Nashville. Are they running PS4's, or some other 320-ish tw? I assume they might have a smidge less experience than you and Andy?
there are some who call me... Tim? // Buffalo is my spirit animal.
The other Elantra is also on Bridgestone RE-71RZs, but wider ones than we have. We haven’t managed to cross paths with them and ask about experience, but that’s our guess.
Rain is a problem for the future, but waffles are here right now.
I need this on a t-shirt or a bumper sticker.
I bristle at calling this car an economy car, but classism is classism I guess. (I mean, you gotta call the class something I guess)
interestingly, Economy is one of the few classes that has a dollar value listed against it any more in the rules.
used to be that SGT2 SB and SGT2 BB had dollar values too. But, then Mustangs and Camaros got expensive. And now it’s, I guess, better to “vibe class” those (I know it when I see it)?
pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:I bristle at calling this car an economy car, but classism is classism I guess. (I mean, you gotta call the class something I guess)
One Lap’s classing is a little weird—option packages don’t count, so cars are based on their base model’s MSRP. So we’re classed the same as a normal Elantra.
sleepyhead the buffalo said: And now it’s, I guess, better to “vibe class” those (I know it when I see it)?
OneLap rules, to a T!
GT2 Used to have a cap of $50k (original price), but that doesn't appear to be in the rules now... Brock will know.
All I can think of are waffles. Seriously.
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