Circuit Racing: 2011 – a difficult year for Summerbell and TA1

When TA1 landed on our shores the ticket tout said it was the best thing since slice bread. The argument supporting its invincibility needed no defense. TA1′s list of accomplishments secured its position in the Time Attack folklore in the land of its birth – USA. If you can conquer the USA, a dot in a pond, Jamaica, should pose no challenge of significant proportion. The thought process bore fruit when TA1 raised the bar to unattainable levels, grabbed a new track record and rekindled the dominance of its master, David Summerbell Jr.

Previous winners became losers, competitors were vanquished and individuals with victory ambitions were relegated to being depressed, faithless zombies, searching for their lost souls.

But, some individuals are motivated by defeat, inspired by challenges and addicted to success. Doug ‘Hollywood’ Gore drank his final gulp of defeat and thought it necessary to cash his chips. He did and went wandering, seeking TA1’s nemesis.

TT-R

Doug settled with an ex-DTM Audi TT-R. His first competitive outing was embarrassing. He must have thought then that he blundered in a major way. But his technical guru, Peter Moodie Jr, foretold the inevitable. As the Audi TT-R gained strength, Summerbell faltered, but not by much.

Summerbell dominated Round 1. Round 2 was the CMRC Round, so unity was the theme. The war resumed in August and it is my view that at this Round, TA1’s veil of invincibility took a battering. TA1 was defeated twice. 1 nail in the coffin!

TA1

CMRC Round 2 was next. TA1 fought and secured ample points for his master. The Heroes of Speed at Dover followed. At that race-meet, realizing that the insipid taste of defeat was imminent, TA1 did the unthinkable and left the track at speed! TA1’s excursion gave us all a reality check. TA1 defeated again. Two nails in the coffin.

CMRC Round 3 in Guyana (November), should have been the Round where David Summerbell Jr. secured another driver title. It wasn’t to be. TA1, in Guyana, threw in the towel. A mechanical malady wrecked the team’s plans and as the hours played their unfeeling tick tock beat, David Summerbell’s hope of retaining his driver title evaporated. Three nails in the coffin!

In one circuit racing season TA1 lost its undefeated aura (on local soil), it was man-handled by Doug’s Audi DTM TT-R, it lashed out at its master with the off-track, vegetation-caressing incident and when it mattered most, its notorious ferocious bark was replaced by an embarrassing DNS whimper. David Summerbell Jr lost the CMRC driver’s title.

What road lies ahead for TA1? What should TSR do to return to winning ways? Should they sell TA1 and acquire another monster? The clock ticks……

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer