The world of auto-racing can be a lot like fishing, with drivers lamenting the one that got away.

At last Sunday’s Eurasia Cup GT Invitational at the Edmonton Indy, Fusion Racecars saw a whopper slip through their fingers.

The Chilliwack-based race car designers qualified their car second for the undercard to the Indycar race at City Center Airport.

Off the start, driver and Fusion president Dennis Bainbridge got swarmed by some of the front running GT cars with almost three times the horsepower.

He was moved back to fourth by turn one and then started to work his way forward.

By the end of lap three, he was back up to second. But the leader, Rocky Eli, had fashioned a sizable lead.

By lap nine, Bainbridge cut the gap to a little over five seconds and was coming on strong.

Halfway through lap 10, Bainbridge was right on his bumper as the bigger car started to heat up his tires.

Bainbridge was getting ready to make his move when a full course caution came out.

It turned out the starter had collapsed in the stands, and it took over 20 minutes to attend to him and put a replacement in place.

When full-speed racing resumed, it was a quick sprint to the finish.

With their tires back under them, the larger cars definitely had the HP advantage and the Fusion car was not able to mount a charge again in the time left.

It was a very productive weekend overall for the local company.

“It’s amazing how quickly the Edmonton result has increased the level of interest in the car,” Bainbridge said, “Three days later, I already had calls from people who are interested in changing from their current cars to a Fusion. I even had a call from someone interested in taking a bunch of the cars to Dubai.”

Bainbridge has also tracked a 27 per cent increase in new visitors to the company’s website at .

Fusion cars are versatile sports racers that seat two and have an enclosed cockpit for safety.

The second seat means that in addition to racing at events like the Indy and Endurance racing, it can also be used for Trackday events where owners can bring their cars out to tracks for lapping days without the pressure of racing.

The cars are available in two models, the FRC-14 and the new FRC-K20 with the Honda Civic Si car engine.

Top speeds on the cars can go as high as 165 miles per hour (265 kilometres per hour), depending on the engine.