What is One Lap?
What is the One Lap of America?
Sponsored by The Tire Rack and Motor Trend, the One Lap of America is an annual event that covers the first week in May with a ~4000+ mile cross-country journey that has the teams driving from state to state, track to track (sometimes as much as 900 miles in one night!) for a daily dose of all-out time trial events at some of the best tracks in the United States (Road America, Mid Ohio, Daytona, VIR and Sebring to name a few).
With an average of over 75 teams in various classes (each team consisting of 2 or 3 people, many of which are supporting a charity of some sort) driving everything from a Geo Metro to a 1000hp Viper, Porsches, GT-Rs, BMW M3s and Corvettes, to Subis, an Ethanol powered Ultralite to a Smart car and a Hybrid Altima, it is quite a show with great diversity, great people from all walks of life and a whole lot of fun. Lets not forget about the competition factor…
For additional event information, schedule of tracks, official results and a forum, check out the One Lap website at:
Schaut Speed Racing OLOA History
The early years
Schaut Speed Racing has a strong and experienced history in running the One Lap of America. Starting back in the 91 through ‘96, Dan Schaut (OLOA team owner/principle and owner of the various cars run in the event throughout the years) ran a few Nissan 300zx’s (from a non-turbo through a nicely modified turbo) in the SSGT1 class, placing in the top 10 overall in 93 and 96. A short hiatus saw Dan and his previous co-driver Stan return in an Infiniti G35 sedan in 2004.
2005
A changing of the guard occurred as Dan invited his eldest son (that would be me!) to join in the fray. Thus the beginning of Schaut Speed Racing!!!
The car of choice was a 2004 Subaru STi competing in the Mid-priced Sedan class. Only very lightly modified, the now Father-and-son team placed a solid 4th in class and 16th overall against some serious competition. To show a bit of the competition potential, this year saw a very impressive 2nd place overall at the rain soaked Roebling Road.
2006
Schaut Speed Racing saw the addition of Nick, my younger brother, and an update to a 2006 STi. Again the car was lightly modified. The solid finishing positions early in the week kept us up towards the front of the pack at the end of the week despite missing 3 events due to an on-track incident at Road America. Final was 6th in class and 24th overall.
2007
Same car as the previous year, but rebuilt and with some new suspension components and more power. Keeping it on the track, but with stronger competition, SSR finished 13th overall, 4th in class. Just missing out on the trophy once again…
2008
3 big changes happened this year.
1st is Nick joined in on the on-track driving duties, adding another dimension to the team. His strong autocrossing skills provided great results at the BeveRun autocross.
2nd is a new car with a change over to a highly modified 2004 Dodge Neon SRT-4. Mopar Stage-3 treatment = big power and tight handling (although a bit of a handful). Early on we had to work on dialing in the suspension and fix some electrical gremlins (BIG THANKS to the Mopar engineers for the help on the road diagnosing the problem…) due to a shorting wire that cut power (slowing the car for 4 events, one result was a dismal 14.1 second quarter mile run good for 40th at the event, potential was for a top 25 finish and a 13.1-13.3..), but SSR was able to come back strong, including a 9th O/A at one of the VIR events to come in 20th overall and a solid 3rd in class!
The 3rd change came about with being able to receive our first trophy as SSR! Hopefully this is a new tradition…
2009
New year, new car, new tracks but the same ol’ fun! This year, Dan and Ben piloted a 2008 BMW M3 with minor suspension tweaks in the Luxury Sedan class. Finishing a strong 12th overall and 4th in a tough and close class.
2010
Dan and Ben are once again joined by Nick as we tackle the luxury sedan class once again in that awesome BMW M3 sedan. A few small tweaks from last year which include changing over to Cobalt Friction brake pads and the addition of a Race Technology DL1 Data Acquisition system.
The Cars of Schaut Speed Motorsports
2009/2010 - ‘08 BMW M3.
2008 - Neon SRT-4
2006-2007 - ‘06 STi
2005 - ‘04 STi
Following results. 12th overall pure stock after Friday is worth shouting about. Why is the 4th overall M3 in a different class? Will need a debriefing when you get back. Just got back from 3 days in Milwaukee.