SCCA Time Trials or GridLife? Why Not Both?
SCCA Time Trials or GridLife? Why Not Both?
SCCA® has long been both a pipeline and a destination for drivers, all depending on the participant’s ultimate goal. Meanwhile, numerous members have leapt back and forth between SCCA and other series. This has gone on for decades, and continues to this very day – just look at SCCA Time Trials competition.
Some SCCA Time Trials participants have their sights set on GridLife TrackBattle as a goal, something that’s both realistic and achievable, as many GridLife drivers got their start in SCCA’s programs and continue to jump back and forth. (GridLife, it should be mentioned, is part of the North American Time Attack Council (NATA), with SCCA and Global Time Attack as the other members.) SCCA Chicago Region member Phil Jue takes his Nissan 350Z to any event he can reach from his home in Bourbonnais, IL, which includes success in GridLife’s TrackBattle as well as the Tire Rack SCCA Time Trials National Tour Powered by Hagerty, where he runs his car in Tuner 3.
While GridLife TrackBattle and the Time Trials National Tour may differ, the mechanics are the same. “Running with SCCA Time Trials has tremendously prepared me to run GridLife TrackBattle,” Jue says. “I have learned much about awareness and track etiquette through SCCA. This has allowed me to run comfortably in GridLife's TrackBattle sessions that are open passing.”
SCCA’s welcoming experience is the best place to start a Time Trials journey, no matter the ultimate destination. How do we know? Because Jue has been a part of it.
“I 100 percent would recommend SCCA Time Trials to start,” he explains. “This program has allowed novices to compete even without experience and, at the same time, teach them about safety, awareness, and track etiquette. The SCCA Time Trials National Tour is a wonderful starting point for time attack.”
Furthermore, the competition portion of SCCA Time Trials, Jue notes, offers a unique take on the sport. “SCCA provides a great event every time,” Jue says, adding that he wishes GridLife would take one aspect of SCCA’s events with them. “SCCA Time Trials provides a different scoring aspect that I truly love: cumulative scoring. I think it would be awesome to see how consistent GridLife drivers are over a weekend.”
For sure, the SCCA Time Trials National Tour is where you want to be, with a possible jump to GridLife TrackBattle or even Global Time Attack – especially since they’re all part of the NATA family.
Photo by Michael Berchak
