Ben Marouski - MINI Cooper S

Gridlife Time Attack Series

Being someone who has always been super competitive with myself (whether it be sports, hobbies, career etc), Time Attack felt like the perfect fit for me. Coming from running HPDE’s/Track days for just four years prior, I was always pushing myself and my lap times from session to session, month to month. That chase to find a faster lap time became an addictive goal throughout the years. That’s why the moment I found out about Time Attack and how approachable it was, I became all about it. Something about the big aero, over the top builds, and seeing cars pushed to their absolute limit in the attempt to find that one perfect lap to take home the win, had me from the get go. There is something so motivating about not only racing your fellow competitors for the best possible time on the weekend, but instead more so racing yourself and pushing you and your car to the absolute limit in an attempt to find tenths of seconds anywhere on the track you can. With such attention being put on the lap time, it truly makes you try to perfect every adjustment on your car possible, nothing overlooked. Whether it’s an aero change, suspension adjustment, tweak of your tune, tire

pressure drop, everything adds up when it comes to finding the perfect balance when “Attacking Time” out there. It’s then up to you, the driver to utilize every ounce of time, money, and mechanical perfection to its fullest potential to put down the most lethal lap possible. One of the most effective ways to find extra time out on track is to invest heavily in yourself as a driver, and finding ways you can improve out there to set you and your car up for success. It’s one of the reason’s I absolutely love running my MINI out there, I feel like a bit of an underdog in what is often times the lowest HP car in my class, I love making up for that lack of power, by making the most time up in the corners and by trying to be the best driver possible. You begin to feel as one with your car when you’re constantly trying to find the limit, where the most minute changes are felt in the steering wheel or gas pedal, where every sound the car makes is that of an orchestra you are conducting from the driver’s seat. As a whole I also think in this format of racing allows you to step back a bit and appreciate fellow competitors builds. There is such a variance in car type, and what people have done with them that you learn to not feel threatened necessarily but instead really appreciate why or how they are able to squeeze out more or less time out there than you. From my experience it’s also a very friendly race type atmosphere, without the aspect of someone trading paint or blocking you in the corners it allows for a sense of community with everyone having the same exact goal out there of achieving that perfectly fast lap at the limit. Any way people can lend a hand or some advice, it is almost always offered with the genuine goal to help out a fellow competitor better themselves, and make things even more competitive. The back and forth battle throughout a weekend of competitors dropping tenths to swap position’s within their classes is addicting when in the thick of it. The feeling you get in your stomach between heats running up to the lap time boards to see if things shuffled, in the hope that the perfect lap you think you just ran holds up is a feeling I can’t get enough of. Yes it’s a different type of racing, but it’s one that I have learned to love.

Ben has now moved to the East Coast where he works with our advertiser FCP Euro. With the advent of the Gridlife Touring Cup Ben has decided to convert the car to run in wheel2wheel racing as opposed to Time Attack.