SCCA Time Trials

The 2023 Tire Rack SCCA Time Trials Nationals Powered by Hagerty (TTN) is four days of delicious fun as you pursue your personal best lap around NCM Motorsports Park. From load-in, tech, and a tailgate party to the timed on-track fun through TrackAttacks and TrackSprints – not to mention the Hagerty Social Dinner Party and KONI Podium Celebration – it’s a sumptuous spread for all to enjoy. But there’s more. The Oct. 12-15, 2023, TTN in Bowling Green, KY, is truly a fully baked pie of motorsports excellence that’s topped with the cherry that is the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge (UTCC), which takes place alongside this year’s TTN.

What’s the schedule, how can you partake, and how much fun is this event?

Opening Days

The excellence we talked about? The first few days of this year’s event will be as comfortable and tasty as a slice of apple pie. It’s a familiar Wednesday TTN load-in with the same painless tech procedure followed by awesome Thursday practice sessions with the evening Expo featuring backyard style BBQ and fixin’s. The difference is, this year UTCC participants will roll into NCM, too, with those drivers also welcome to take part in TTN and celebrate the weekend’s kickoff at the TTN Expo tailgate party. Strolling the paddock Thursday evening will offer a tasty sneak peek at the on-track excitement to come, and allow you to meet all the faces that will soon be behind the wheel.

Friday brings timed lapping sessions around NCM’s 3.15-mile, 23-turn Grand Full Course for all TTN competitors, with (and get this) TTN officials giving golden tickets to TTN drivers with the quickest lap times, giving them the opportunity to also compete in GRM’s UTCC competition.

Come Saturday morning, TTN drivers will spend much of the day tackling TTN’s unique TrackSprint competition.

Then on Saturday afternoon, another new spice gets added.

Taste the Difference

Following Saturday’s TTN TrackSprint sessions, UTCC enters the mix. UTCC-only participants will jump onto the Grand Full Course for two practice sessions to prepare for Sunday’s battle. TTN entrants are encouraged to watch the afternoon’s UTCC practice sessions, or wrench on their cars, relax, and party in the paddock.

There’s an important distinction to be made here: At registration, UTCC drivers can opt to also enter TTN, at which point they will compete within the TTN groups, with their times counting toward TTN and UTCC. In addition, the lucky TTN drivers who were selected on Friday to join UTCC competition will continue to compete within their TTN group. The only drivers competing in the on-track sessions noted for UTCC competitors will be drivers choosing to only compete in UTCC.

Final Dash

Sunday will see UTCC drivers take to the Grand Full Course for three timed sessions, with TTN drivers hitting the asphalt for their own two timed sessions (note: TTN drivers who are also in UTCC competition will get a third session at the end of the day that will count toward their UTCC times).

For UTCC competitors, this is their opportunity to lay down one impressive lap, as UTCC’s competition only scores their single fastest lap on Sunday. TTN’s scoring, meanwhile, is cumulative – a unique element of National SCCA Time Trials competition that highlights consistency over the course of a weekend. For that, TTN scoring will count a driver’s fastest Friday TrackAttack lap, the quickest Saturday TrackSprint run from each TrackSprint segment, and the fastest TrackAttack lap during Sunday’s sessions.

TLDR

Are you a TTN driver with a short attention span? Us too! Here’s the notes:

• Wednesday: load in and tech.
• Thursday: Grand Full Course practice sessions and evening TTN Tailgate.
• Friday: Three TrackAttack sessions. Go for it! Single fastest lap counts for your score.
• Saturday: There’ll be two TrackSprint courses – your fastest time from each course counts.
• Sunday: You get two more TrackAttack sessions, with your single fastest lap being scored. Make it count!

Quick notes for UTCC drivers with short attention spans:

• Your first laps of the circuit come on Saturday afternoon where you’ll have two practice sessions. You then get three timed sessions on Sunday for all the beans.

Here’s what TTN + UTCC drivers need to know:

• If you’re doing both TTN and UTCC, you’ll be on track with TTN drivers all weekend. The exception to that is you’ll receive one additional on-track session on Sunday that will only count toward UTCC times.

Piece of Cake!

Thirty invited competitors plus TTN’s fastest drivers make up this year’s Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge competition – it’s kinda like an exclusive meal. Tire Rack SCCA Time Trials Nationals Powered by Hagerty, meanwhile, is the burgers-n-brew backyard block party everyone’s invited to. But regardless of which competition you’re in, everyone’s there to have fun, make friends, and lay down your personal best lap time.

Want more info on each? Click the link below!

 More Info

Photo by Tradd Slayton