RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

One of the worlds best known and loved Imprezas makes a welcome return to the the Time Attack series at Cadwell Park this weekend.

The iconic Subaru Impreza built by Roger Clark Motorsport is fondly referred to as “The Gobstopper”, and it has excelled in all competitions it has entered. It has been sadly missed by fans for the past two years, as Matt and Olly Clark have been concentrating on building up their highly respected tuning business.

Whilst it may not be the the absolute fastest Subaru in a straight line or even around a circuit, as an overall package it has been hard to surpass, even without the plethora of aero modifications seen on many of it’s rivals. With over 800bhp on tap from it’s 2 litre flat four engine, incredible engineering, quality of finish and impeccible attention to detail it is no surprise that the car has carved out a near cult status amongst motoring enthusiasts around the world.

With it’s highly anticipated replacement Gobstopper II nearing completion, this could well be the last chance for fans to see the original in competitive action.

A youtube video of the car in action has attracted over 250,000 viewers over the past few years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiQ6FcyiPag

The action at Cadwell Park starts at 9am on Saturday 5th May.

Words & Photos: John Stewart

Seven rounds held over five weekends, with two double header weekends using different course layouts.

Saturday May 5th – Cadwell Park Full Circuit

Sunday June 10th – Knockhill Circuit

Sunday July 8th – Brands Hatch Indy Circuit

Saturday August 11th – Anglesey International Circuit
Sunday August 12th – Anglesey Coastal Circuit

Saturday September 22nd – Snetterton 300 Circuit
Sunday September 23rd – Snetterton 200 Circuit

Pic: Flat Out Motorsport Photography

Snetterton is preparing for one of its busiest weekends of the year this Sunday (25th September) for an event which many racers admit to not really understanding.   Time Attack is a phenomenon originating in Japan, but is now hugely popular in both the US and increasingly in the UK.

Most racers are aware of the normal concept of a practise of qualifying session, and then a race where the first across the line is the winner.    Time Attack isn’t like this.  For the people used to racing, an analogy of a series of knock out qualifying sessions is most apt.

It is more similar to Sprinting, but unlike sprints where each car is released on its own, and is unlikely to encounter traffic, Time Attack uses an open pitlane format, and overtaking is permitted, although there is no actual wheel to wheel racing – they are not racing for position.      Some competitors have graduated from Sprinting and to compete in some of the lower classes, a race license isn’t needed – just a National B non-race license, which can be applied for on the day.    The higher classes just require a National B race license which many readers will possess, although some drivers are vastly experienced racers.

Those who know they have a fast car will pace themselves early on – fast enough to get ensure safe passage to the next round, but not so fast to risk the car or to reveal the true speed of their car to their competitors. Sandbagging, or keep your powder dry as long as possible…

Those with slower cars will want to go as fast as they can to get as far as they can in the days sessions, and may knock out some faster cars caught napping or with problems.

Because these sessions are open pitlane format,each driver has to slot their way into the traffic on track, and as the track rubbers in times start to drop, unless the weather interferes.    Its crucial to get a clear lap and to ensure you slot into clear air.

When the final round is there, the cars are wound up to their maximum potential.   Boost is turned up to eleven.   Rev limits are raised.  He who dares… …may just win.

The cars are often highly tuned – some pushing out 800bhp or thereabouts.    One control element is that Pirelli are the tyre supplier and each class is limited to what tyre compounds they can use.    Many cars are road legal too.

As there isn’t any racing to watch, the commentary is all the more important as the tannoy can advise who to watch and what the current benchmark times are.

The European Drift Championship is another controversial discipline and this event will also entertain the crowd.   Drift cars will start from Corum and drift through to Murrays (formerly Russells) whilst observers judge each run and allocate points.   The driver with the best score wins.    Some say this isn’t motorsport, but when asked if Ice Dancing is a sport, or Diving, they say yes, and both of those are scored by a panel of judges.    Yes this is motorsport, but maybe a form of motorsport many are not comfortable with.

The crowd that does turn up certainly does ‘get it’.   In terms of audience it is behind British Superbikes and BTCC, and probably level with the Lotus Festival, certainly one of Snetterton’s top 5 events.

Pics: Norwich Photo

Former BTCC and Porsche Carrera Cup champion Tim Harvey is the latest high profile driver to sample the thrills of the UK Time Attack series. In a recent testing session at Donington Park, Tim took the opportunity to drive a few laps of the damp circuit in Paul Doyle’s 750bhp K-Sport Impreza. Matt Neale drove the Ameon Racing Mitsubishi EVO at Brands Hatch earlier this year, whilst Phil Glew was part of the championship winning Zen Performance team in 2007.

You can watch Tim driving the K-Sport Impreza in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cgLb98K8Zs

Tim declined the opportunity to drive the Impreza on full boost in the demanding wet conditions!

Paul will be competing in the final round of the UK Time Attack series this coming weekend at Snetterton Park, as part of the Modified Live event, which includes the final round of the European Drifting Championship.

Words: John Stewart
Images: Flat Out Photography

For the first time since the series started over 5 years ago, the most scenic setting for a race circuit in the UK was used to host a round of the Time Attack. Bank Holiday weekends usually mean lots of rain and long queues everywhere, but Anglesey in Wales provided near perfect weather conditions and freedom from traffic chaos.

The Anglesey circuit can be used in a number of different configurations, and the technical 1.55 mile Coastal circuit was chosen to challenge the drivers and entertain the crowds. The Coast Circuit includes the famous corkscrew section which presents the drivers with a quick succession of tight left and right hand corners along with a fearsome 20m drop in height right at the end of the lap.

Warm up

With this being the first ever Time Attack event at Anglesey, the morning warm up sessions were a learning experience for all the drivers, with very few having any experience of the circuit. In the Club challenge, it was FWD title contender Bo Nielsen who topped the time sheets in his Forge Motorsport Astra VXR, setting a time of 1:19.083 on only his second lap out, ahead of Jimmy White in the RWD VX220 on 1:19.490. Marc Kemp was the fastest of the 4WD cars, just failing to break into the ’19s with a 1:20.064

In Club Pro, Mark Pollard in the ever popular Metro 6R4 was first to show his hand, setting a time of 1:18.733 on his 4th lap. Mark’s time was later bettered by Cadwell Park winner Walter “Silverback” Morris in his Skyline R32 GTR, who built the pace steadily to record a 1:18.653, the fastest time of the session. 3rd fastest in Club Pro was the amazing Buddy Club CRX of Romaine Levesque, who moved up to the Club Pro group after his dominant victory last time out at Cadwell Park. Warren Kelly could only complete 2 laps in his fabulous Escort Cosworth, before a broken driveshaft ended his session, but he wasn’t the only Ford with drivetrain problems. Fellow Escort Cosworth driver Dave Jackson was unable to start the session due to problems with his sequential gearbox.

In Pro class, it was situation normal for Gavin Renshaw in the NR Autosport prepared Mitsubishi EVO. Completing only 4 timed laps, Gavin set the early benchmark of 1:16.728 before retiring to the pits to monitor the pace of his competitors and enjoy his morning cup of tea. 2nd fastest during this warm up session was Paul Doyle in the K Sport Impreza, running his new 6 speed sequential gearbox for the first time. Despite struggling with both understeer and oversteer, Paul still recorded an impressive 1:16.981 – almost 2.5 seconds faster than Brands Hatch winner Marcus Webster’s R32 Skyline, which was starting to suffer from a slipping clutch. Russ Paton’s EVO also suffered transmission problems in the form of a warped clutch plate, making it impossible for him to change gear.

Practice

With the early morning warm up out of the way, it now was now time for the drivers to start getting serious. In Club Challenge, Jon Mathers took up his customary first position in the pit lane, giving him the advantage of a clear track ahead once the cars take to the track. With a new smaller 2.0 engine in his Pro-R Subaru Impreza, Jon was immediately on the pace and set the fastest Club time of the day so far with a 1:18.914 on his 3rd lap. Marc Kemp and Andrew Barbour in their Mitsubishi EVOs were hot on his heels though, recording times of 1:19.520 and 1:19.665 respectively.

As in previous rounds, it was the FWD category that was to provide the drama. Gerry Atkinson in the Seat Leon Supercopa had been steadily improving all day, and on his 6th lap put in a stunning time of 1:18.701. With only 300bhp, Gerry’s Leon has a significant power deficit in comparison to some of his rivals, but gains time with the Seat’s tidy handling and seamless DSG gear changes. Bo Nielsen improved on his warm up laps to record the third fastest time overall, just a few tenths slower than Gerry on 1:19.029

In their first outing since the seaon opener at Oulton Park, the Giovinazza brothers made a welcome return to the Time Attack series in their distinctive Alfa 155. Driven this time by Dominico, they struggled with a water leak that only appeared at race temperatures and speeds and could only complete 5 laps.

Running with a borrowed engine in his distinctive green VX220, RWD contender Jimmy White was pushing hard on his “home” circuit and his efforts were rewarded with a 1:19.912. This gave him a comfortable 1.6 second margin over Umar Masood’s RX7 and the Sierra Cosworth of Ronnie Amis who was another driver struggling with understeer problems on the tighter Anglesey corners.

Running his new fuel system for the first time at Angelsey, Walter Morris had finally cured the fuel surge problems experienced on previous rounds. Building up the pace steadily throughout the session, Walter set a benchmark time of 1:18.225 on his 6th lap. Fellow Club Pro contender Mark Pollard then completed a 2nd set of laps in his 6R4. Mark delivered 2 fast laps in quick succession, narrowly beating Walter’s time with a 1:18.225, and then dipping into the ’17s with an 1:17.839, a time that bettered all but one of the Pro class cars. Having blown his supercharger during the earlier practice session, Romaine Levesque did not throw in the towel. A nifty swap of drive belts and remap of the ECU by his team saw him back out on track running his Civic CRX in Normally Aspirated mode. Astoundlingly, Romaine recorded the 3rd fastest time in Club Pro with a 1:19.380, ahead of the much more powerful 4WD machinery of Warren Kelly, Fiona Kindness and Neil Roberston.

In Pro class, it was again business as usual for Gavin Renshaw in the NR Autosport EVO. Gavin set a set of 1:15.703 on his 2nd lap, to head the entire field by over 2 seconds. Paul Doyle was still struggling to find a good handling balance in the K Sport Impreza, whilst Duncan Graham was steadily building confidence and pace with his new 2.35 engine.

Qualifying

In keeping with the tranquil seaside setting, the Anglesey circuit does not operate whilst the congregation of the nearby church are leaving on a Sunday. This meant a welcome change to the usual timetable, with the qualifying sessions taking place before a later than normal lunch break. Not only did this give a longer gap between the qualification and final sessions for final adjustments, it also enabled an earlier finish which was very much appreciated by the drivers facing long journeys home.

In Club 4WD, both Andrew Barbour and Eric Holmes improved on their practice times in their Mitsubishi EVOs, but it was the trio of Jon Mathers, Marc Kemp and Gary Searl who topped the time sheets and earned maximum qualification points. As usual, Jon Mathers was first out on track in the Pro-R Subaru Impreza and wasted no time is setting the fastest time of the session with a 1:18.246 on only his second lap. Marc Kemp was less than one tenth slower though, recording a 1:18.315 late on in the session. Gary Searl was perhaps trying too hard to improve, locking up at several points around the track and couldn’t better his 2nd lap time of 1:18.535. The stage was now set for a thrilling final between these very closely matched rivals.

In FWD, Gerry Atkinson once again improved in his Seat Leon, improving on his morning times with an impressive 1:18.408, giving him the 3rd fastest time overall during the session. Despite being out on track for the entire session, Gerry’s smooth driving style ensured that he didn’t overwork his Pirelli tyres which were still working well on his 15th and final lap when he set his fastest time. Bo Nielsen tried hard to improve on his morning times, putting in a consistent series of 80 second laps during his two stints on track, but couldn’t better his times from the earlier sessions and recorded a 1:20.198.

In the RWD class, Jimmy White was another driver who stayed out for the whole session. Set on his 13th laps, Jimmy’s best time of 1:19.287 was enough to earn him maximum qualifying points ahead of Ronnie Amis’s Cosworth Sierra on 1:22.759. Ronnie was still struggling with front end grip problems, and adopted a sideways drifting style to maximise his exit speed from the slower corners.

With valuable qualifying points available, it was time for the Pro and Club Pro drivers to show their full potential. Pro driver Gavin Renshaw was again first out of the pits, and on his 2nd lap he quickly raised the bar by setting the fastest time of the day with a 1:15.354. Running higher boost for the first time on his new engine, Duncan Graham showed his potential by qualifying 2nd in Pro class in his BC Racing Impreza with 1:16.875. Paul Doyle struggled again with the handling balance in the K-Sport Impreza, with several hair-raising trips onto grass, before recording a set of 3 quick laps at the end of the session, culminating with a 3rd best of 1:17.095 ahead of Mike Mahoney in the Wallace Performance EVO.

In Club Pro, Walter Morris in the Midlands Performance Skyline qualified first with a 1:16.477, ahead of championship rival Mark Pollard who could only manage a 1:17.138 in his 6R4. Disaster struck Warren Kelly in his Airtech backed Escort Cosworth, when his sequential gearbox failed on his 4th lap leaving him stranded at the top of the Welsh circuit. Warren could only contemplate what could have been an excellent result as he qualified 3rd overall, but would sadly fail to have his car fixed for the all important final. Fiona Kindness continued to struggle with her ill-handling Track Scotland Skyline, but still managed a respectable time of 1:20.494 just behind Neil Robertson’s EVO 1:20.431. Romaine Levesque, still running without a supercharger in his Buddy Club CRX opted to remove his rear wing in search of extra straight line speed. The loss of downforce meant he struggled for grip in the higher speed corners and was over a second slower than his earlier warm-up times and failed to break the 1:20 barrier.

Club Challenge Finals

4WD

With dark clouds visible on the horizon, the Club competitors were keen to make an early impression in the final before any rain arrived. Jon Mathers in the Pro-R Impreza took immediate advantage of the clear track conditions to set his fastest time of the day with an excellent 1:17.692. Marc Kemp in his Monster Energy EVO could only manage a 1:18.573 on his first stint, which wasn’t quite close enough to concern Mathers. After a short pit stop, Kemp found both his form and clear space on track to set a fantastic time of 1:17.951, a mere 1/4 of a second off the pace and take a well deserved 2nd place. Championship contender Andrew Barbour who suffered a transfer box failure in the previous round was driving well, holding a 3rd place time of 1:18.961 before his gearbox failed. Andrew could only watch from the sidelines as Gary Searl in the GMS Devlopments EVO put together a superb flying laps towards the end (1:18.711) for a well deserved place on the podium. Jon Mathers secured his 6th consecutive SIDC trophy for fastest Impreza.

FWD
After an unusually slower pace during qualification, Bo Nielsen in his Forge Motorport Astra VXR wasted no time at the front of the field to record his best time of the day with an impressive 1:19.100 on his 3rd lap. In the Tickety Boo Films back Seat Leon Supercopa, a confident Gerry Atkinson adopted a tactically differernt approach, putting in a few gentle warm-up laps at the back of the grid whilst carefully monitoring his rivals lap times. Gerry’s strategy paid dividends as within 5 laps he had bettered Nielsen’s time, with a series of laps in the mid 1:18s. Seeing Bo return to the track, Gerry didn’t back off, and on his 10th lap set a time of 1:18.370 to record his maiden Time Attack victory, with Dave Thorpe taking 3rd place in the supercharged North TDI Honda Civic.

RWD
In the RWD class, there was no stopping Jimmy White in the lurid VX220. On top form all day, Jimmy quickly put in a consitent series of low 1:20 laps, before sealing victory with an impressive 1:19.204 on his 14th and final lap. Umar Masood had a massive scare during the final session, spinning his RX7 at high speed as he came onto the start/finish straight, and ending up inches from the concrete wall and hundreds of open mouthed spectators. Umar earned a huge round of applause as he rejoined the track with a massive burst of flame from his exhaust. Umar’s best time of 1:21.381 was enough to earn him 2nd place on the podium, ahead of drift contender Ronnie Amis in his Cosworth (1:22.226).

Pro and Club Pro Finals

With comfortable margins in every session over his fellow Pro competitors, few people would have bet against Gavin Renshaw taking the vicroty in the NR Autosport EVO. However anything can happen in the heat of the Time Attack finals, and Paul Doyle proved the point in the K Sport Impreza. In typical fashion, Gavin lead the field onto the track for the final session, and put in a comfortable 1:15.592 on his second lap. His lead was short lived though, as less than 30 seconds later with his handling problems seemingly cured, Paul Doyle stormed across the finishing line to record a 1:14.873! With the pressure now on, Gavin went out for a further two stints during the session, and got agonisngly close with a 1:14.918 on his 8th lap, less than 5 hundredths behind. Gavin gave 110% to try and re-capture the lead, but with a busy track and tyres beyond their optimal temperature, it wasn’t to be and he had to settle for 2nd best, leaving Paul to take the honours and become the 4th different winner of the Pro class this season.

Mike Mahoney stepped up to the mark in the Wallace Performance EVO to secure 3rd place with a 1:16.580, his second podium of the year. A problem with a NOS hose left Duncan Graham’s BC Racing Impreza down on power for the final session, but showed great potential with an eccellent time under the circumstances of 1:16.976. With a failed clutch, Russ Paton took the brave decision to compete in the final with just 3rd gear available. Driving at and beyond the limts around the slower corners to compensate for the lack of lower gears, Russ claimed 5th place with an astounding time 1:17.632. Despite a fantastic team efffort by the Midlands Performance team to change the clutch in his Skyline R32 GTR in record time, Paton’s heroic efforts demoted title contender Marcus Webster to 6th place, a result that may come home to haunt him in final round in a few weeks time.

You can watch Paul’s winning lap here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYRiHVdR1pY, and compare it to Gavin’s here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGHH5_3OBLg. You will note that Gavin is almost 15mph faster along the back straight, but somehow Paul’s overall lap time is just enough to take the honors.

In the Club Pro category, it was pretty much a two horse race between Mark Pollard in the 6R4, and Walter Morris’ Skyline. Walter had held the upper hand throughout the morning sessions. Setting a time of 1:16.665 on his 7th lap, Walter seemed to have victory sown up, as Mark could only record a 1:17.074. Mark pitted his 6R4, whilst Walter stayed out on track, tyring to improve his time. After a few warm up laps to find an empty spot on the track, Pollard stormed across the line with a 1:16.388 to head the Club Pro timesheets. After staying out on track for the whole session, Walter struggled with inconsistent grip from his “past their best” tyres, and despite his best efforts was unable to better his earlier lap time. With his rear wing re-fitted, but still running without his Supercharger, Romain Levesque pushed his CRX hard to earn 3rd place on the podium with a 1:19.434.

The full results from the Anglesey round can be found by clicking here

The Time Attack series now heads to Snetterton in Norfolk on the 25th September for the Final showdown. The points standings after six rounds are as follows:

With one round to be dropped by each competitor, working out the effective positions and likely outcome proves quite difficult. Walter Morris has kindly constructed an application that calculates the effective results, which make for very interesting reading Click Here

With everything to play for an each of the classes, it promises to be an event not to miss.

Words: John Stewart
Images: Flat Out Photography

Podium Photos:

Cadwell Park hosts an event with a difference on Sunday 31 July when Modified Live roars in for a day of high-octane entertainment. ‘Summer in the Park’ features Europe’s hottest modified car show and is a popular attraction.

On track the action is topped by the European Drift Championship. The sport of drifting requires competitors to spend as much time as possible on the circuit moving sideways in a balletic display of car control. Points are awarded to the most spectacular drivers, so entertainment is guaranteed!

Equally impressive is the Time Attack series. Featuring some of the fastest modified cars on the planet, the drivers race against the clock for the quickest lap of the track. Many of these cars have to be seen to be believed as they record breathtaking times around the twists of the challenging and undulating Lincolnshire circuit.

There’s also action for race fans as the Mighty Minis take to the track for some frantic and timeless fun. The series’ are renowned for close racing with packed grids and whilst not the quickest cars of the weekend, they’re just as entertaining to watch.

However it’s not all about on-track action at Modified Live. All around the circuit there’s a variety of things to do, including a show and shine contest for the best looking car plus a competition to find the next grid girl.

Tickets for Modified Live at Cadwell Park on 31 July are available in advance from £17, with free admission for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0843 453 9000 or visit www.cadwellpark.co.uk.

In front of a huge appreciative crowd, the second round of the Time Attack series took place at Knockhill racing circuit in Scotland on Sunday 16th May. Despite the bitterly cold conditions, the crowd were kept entertained all day by the field of some of the fastest modifed cars in the country.

Warm up

Despite the chilly conditions on track, the leading Club Challenge drivers were keen to find the limits of their cars and the Pirelli P Zero control tyres. The top 6 drivers were separated by just over a second with the Impreza of Chris Bennett setting the fastest time of 59.205 ahead of the exuberantly driven Impreza of Adam Kindness (husband of Time Attack regular Fiona), who was stood in for Gary Searl who was unable to make the journey north. It was interesting to note that almost all the drivers set their fastest times between the 4th and 6th laps, which indicated that the tyres were taking some time to reach their peak performance on the cold track.

In the FWD class, Bo Nielsen in the Forge Motorsport Astra VXR was again biting on the heels of the Japanese 4WD machinery, with his best time of 1:01.851 being almost a second clear of nearest challenger Romain Levesque in his Buddy Club CRX.

In Club Pro, Warren Kelly again set the early benchmark in the Airtec Escort Cosworth with a time of 58.737, beating local expert Fiona Kindness in her Track Scotland Nissan Skyline by almost a second. Fiona in turn was almost a second clear of Neil Robertson’s EVO and Walter Morris (Nissan Skyline). Rob Cowling was finally getting to grips with the Ameon Racing EVO which wasn’t ready for the first round at Oulton Park.

In Pro class, Marcus Webster stayed out for almost the full session, and was the only car to dip into the 56 second backet with a 56.674 set on his 11th lap. Despite undergoing spinal surgery only a few days after the first round, Mike Mahoney showed the potential of his Wallace Performance EVO, setting the 2nd fastest time of 57.106 ahead of fellow EVO drivers Gavin Renshaw, and Russ Paton.

Practice

With dry conditions on track, it was only a few laps before some seriously quick times were posted during the morning practice session. Leading the pack was Allan Freeland in his distinctive pink EVO setting the Club Challenge benchmark at 56.685 on lap 3. Under new rules for this season Allan was standing in for regular Eric Holmes, who despite many long hours in the nights leading up to the event, was unable to resolve his engine problems in time. Jon Mathers in the Pro-R Impreza was just over 1 second adrift with a 57.804, with EVO driver Andrew Barbour close behind on a 58.053.

Despite some talented and aggressive driving by Adam Kindness, who at times was using all the track and more, he was unable to improve on the time set in the earlier warm-up session and just failed to get under the minute with a 60.240. A special mention must go to Gerry Atkinson, in his 300bhp Seat Leon Supercopa backed by Billy Connolly’s Ticketyboo Films. Despite heavy rainfall midway through the session which saw all his rivals return to the safety of the pits, Gerry stayed out lap after lap, completing a total of 18 laps during the 20 minute session.

Fiona Kindess made full advantage of her many hundreds of laps experience of the Knockhill track in all conditions, to lead the Club Pro times and set 4th fastest time over with a 57.658, some 1.5 seconds better than rivals Warren Kelly and Neil Robertson. Walter Morris suffered a power steering failure in his Midlands Performance Skyline, and could only manage two laps during the session.

Still nursing head gasket issues after winning the previous round, Duncan Graham managed an impessive 57.947 in Pro Class, to keep close to leader Gavin Renshaw in the NR Autosport EVO who recorded a 56.748 in the challenging and variable conditions. Mike Mahoney was only 3/100ths slower than Gavin, with local expert Russ Paton only 3/10ths behind with a 57.198 in his Performance HQ EVO whilst demonstrating his drifting skills around some of the slower corners.

Qualifying

Whilst still cold, the track was at least dry for the afternoon qualifying sessions. Allan Freeland wasted no time in setting the fastest time of the session, with a 56.958 on only his second lap.

Andrew Barbour improved on his morning times with a 57.258 and earned him valuable qualification points. Jon Mathers qualified 3rd with the Pro-R Impreza on 58.298 ahead of first time competitor Matt Lawson in his Wallace Performance EVO. Adam Kindness again pushed hard to break the one minute barrier, but struggled against the higher powered cars now their drivers were more familiar with the track.

In the FWD class, Romain Levesque stayed out on track for most of the session, and his perseverance payed off as he qualified in first place with a 60.257, ahead of Gerry Atkinson’s Leon Supercopa (60.563) and Bo Nielsen’s VXR Astra on 60.727. The stage was now set for a thrilling final between these closely matched rivals.

It appeared as though distaster had struck RWD title contender Umar Masood, in his flame throwing Mazda RX7 as his car completely died midway through the session. Umar had endured a tortuous 16 hour journey to Knockhill from Wolverhampton as his tow car broke down 3 times en-route. Having set his fastest time of the day of 61.699, he was unsure if he could get the car fixed again in time for the final. First round winner Jimmy White in the lime green VX220 was not without his own problems, despite the extra confidence gained from a new front splitter. Jimmy struggled to match his earlier times, and could only record a 62.244 to qualify in second place behind Umar.

Slippery conditions once again confronted the Pro and Club Pro drivers as they took to the track for their qualifying session. Gavin Renshaw set the pace early on with a 60.289 on his 3rd lap, despite some lurid powerslides around the lower section of the circuit, before returning to the pits to preserve the car for the final.

However the light rain eased off, and with a strong wind blowing the track conditions quickly improved. At the midway point of the session, Walter Morris lead the field with his best time of 59.562 on his 10th lap, before his power steering gremlins returned. With the conditions improving by the second, the crowd were enthralled as the lead times changed several times per lap. In the end, it was the powerful Skyline of Marcus Webster that mastered the tricky conditions to qualify first overall with a 57.076. Marcus was recording terminal speeds in excess of 140mph on the main straight before braking for the blind Duffus Dip corner, a remarkable feat under the circumstances. Fiona Kindness also took advantage of the fast drying conditions to qualify 2nd fastest outright near the end of the session, with a 57.783, closely followed by Russ Paton’s EVO (57.844) and Duncan Graham’s Impreza on 57.871

Club Challenge Finals

FWD

Romain Levesque in his Buddy Club CRX inflicted a rare defeat over Bo Nielsen’s Astra VXR in the FWD cateogry. Bo had set the early pace, recording his best time of 60.415 on only his second lap. Ever wary of the threat from the hard charging Romain, Bo remained out on track for most of the session, recording a long consistent series of laps in the 60 second bracket, but none to better the earlier effort when his tyres were at their peak. Bo was right to be concerned, as toward the end of the session Romain bettered Bo’s time with a 60.263, and on his very last lap raised the bar even higher with a 60.222. Dave Thorpe in the Civic EP3 took the third podium spot, ahead of Gerry Atkinson in the Seat Leon Supercopa.

4WD

In the 4WD category, Allan Freeland again wasted little time and was right on the pace from the outset. Allan set his fastest time of the day with a stunning time 56.127. 2nd place was claimed by Andrew Barbour in his EVO 5 (56.704). Andrew had a very nervous end to the session, as his clutch release bearing failed after completing only 6 laps, rendering his car immobile. In his first ever competitive event, one hit wonder Matt Lawson claimed third fastest time with a 56.810. As Matt wasn’t entered for the championship, the third podium position went to a delighted Jon Mathers in the Pro-R Impreza, who was also awarded the SIDC fastest Subaru trophy for the second event running.

RWD

Umar Masood overcame his electrical gremlins suffered during qualification, to record his first ever Time Attack victory, with a lap time of 61.151. Umar’s winning time was comfortably ahead of rival Jimmy White who suffered engine problems on his out lap, and limped around to secure valuable championship points.

Pro and Club Pro Finals

With a point to prove after failing to qualify in first place, Gavin Renshaw pushed his NR Autosport EVO hard from the outset, recoridng a blistering time of 55.188 on his 3rd lap. Gavin could not rest easily though, as Russ Paton immediately responded with a 55.570 with the promise of more to come. First place qualifier Marcus Webster took a few laps to settle into a rythym, and on his 10th lap recorded a 55.904 which was enough to secure his first podium position of the year. The fight was still very much on for first place though, as Renshaw and Paton returned on track and set a series of ever faster lap times. It was Renshaw who took the honours in the end, with a 55.024 proving just enough to pip Paton’s best of 55.161.

You can watch Gavin’s winning lap here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pnSw77WZMc

Despite continued problems with the head gasket in his BC Racing Impreza, Duncan Graham did just enough to secure the valuable championship he needed to remain top of the points standing after two rounds. Duncan was also awarded the SIDC trophy for fastest Pro Class Impreza.

Mike Mahoney was looking good for an excellent result during the early part of the final session, before he put a wheel onto the grass exiting the hairpin and heavily impacted the tyre wall bringing an early end to his hopes. Thankfully it appears the damage is merely cosmetic, and assuming that replacment body parts can be sourced in time, “Daisy” will be back on track for the next two rounds at Brands Hatch at the end of June.

In the Club Pro category, the experience and determination of Fiona Kindness around her local track proved too much for her rivals. Fiona’s best time of 56.900 was enough to earn her 4th fastest time overall, as well as her first ever Club Pro victory. Despite recording his fastest time of the the day, Warren Kelly’s time of 57.584 wasn’t enough to threaten the dominant Kindness on home turf. Both fondly remembered last year’s Club Challenger rival Scott Robson who is taking a year out of competition, by wearing t-shirts emblazened with the words “Scott Who?” on them. Fiona now leads the Club Pro title race ahead of fellow Skyline driver Walter Morris, who amazingly completed all of his 7 laps in the final session and set a competitive time of 58.662 with no power steering, as once again it failed as he was leaving the pit lane.

The full results from the Knockhill round can be found by clicking here

The Time Attack series now moves south again to Brands hatch in Kent, for the first ever double header weekend on the 25th and 26th June.

Words: John Stewart
Images: Flat Out Photography

The points standings after two rounds are as follows:

Saturday 16th April saw the opening round of the Time Attack series take place at a warm and sunny Oulton Park in Cheshire. A field of over 30 cars took to the track, competing against the clock as well as their fellow competitors. The biggest change for the 2011 series is a new control tyre – the Pirelli P Zero which is very much a high performance road tyre, compared to the semi slick Toyo 888’s used previously.

The concept behind Time Attack is very simple – the fastest car around the track wins. There is no on-track racing between cars, it is purely a case of which driver can find space on the track and push their car the hardest record the absolute best lap time. In some ways it is very similar to the old style F1 qualifying sessions.

The cars compete in 3 main classes:

Club Challenge covers the majority of the competitors and is broadly for production cars with reasonable performance and safety modifications. Club Challenge is further split into categories for FWD, 4WD and RWD. Many of the cars are road legal and are driven to and from the event.

Club Pro caters for more highly tuned cars. These are fully stripped out cars, with a roll cage being mandatory. This class is dominated by Japanese 4WD machinery with 600+bhp being common place amongst the front runners.

Pro Class is for the top end, extremely modified cars. These are very highly developed cars, with race level engineering, though a few are still being run on comparatively low budgets. Performance modifications are essentially unlimited, with nitrous oxide boosting some cars over the magical 1,000 bhp.

There are 20 minute sessions for warm-up and practice during the morning, before final qualification after lunch. The top competitors in each class then go on to the final shoot out later in the afternoon.

Warm up

Morning warm up was the first time that many competitors had been able to try out the new Pirelli P Zero control tyre in anger. With many cars still fresh from their winter rebuild, it was unsurprising that many were taking things easy during these early laps to debug any niggles. A couple of two or 3 lap sessions were the order of the day here, with only Mark Ward in his Subaru Impreza and Gerry Atkinson in the Seat Leon Supercopa completing more than 7 laps.

The early benchmarks in Club challenge were set by the Imprezas of Lee Bullen (1:39.578) and Jon Mathers (1:39.946), both competing in Time Attack for the first time. Bo Nielsen in his Forge Motorsport backed Astra VXR returned for his second season complete with a BTCC aero package, and was immediately on the pace in the front wheel drive class with a best lap of 1:40.833, over 5 seconds ahead of Dave Thorpe in the TDI North Civic.

In Club Pro, Warren Kelly in his stunning Escort Cosworth, showed his intentions early on by setting a blistering time of 1:35.820, over 3 seconds faster than his next nearest competitor, last year’s Club 4WD champion Fiona Kindness in her Track Scotland Nissan Skyline. Fiona in turn was more than 3 seconds faster than fellow competitors Dave Jackson (Spec-R Escort Cosworth) and Walter Morris (Nissan Skyline).

In Pro class, Gavin Renshaw topped the time sheets with a 1:33.454 in his NR Autosport EVO, bettering Marcus Webster’s wide body Skyline and Paul Doyle’s K-Sport backed Impreza by just over a second.

Practice

The morning practice session is traditionally when the sandbagging stops, and cars start running at their full potential. In Club Challenge, Scotsman Andrew Barbour in his EVO set a blistering benchmark time of 1:36.790, just 3 hundredths ahead of fellow EVO driver Simon Nutter. Sadly the session was brought to an early halt, when Simon’s engine let go at 130mph, which closed the track for over 20 minutes whilst the car was recovered and the oil spill cleaned up.

The drama wasn’t over yet though, as when the session re-started, Mark Pollard in the ever popular Metro suffered an engine bay fire, and was forced off the track to extinguish the flames before  returning to the pits with the tailgate open. Thankfully Mark and his 6R4.com team were able to fix before the start of the afternoon qualification session.

In Club Pro, it was status quo with Warren Kelly again setting the quickest time (1:37.282), followed closely by Fiona Kindness with a slightly improved time of 1:38.826, despite suffering a high boost misfire that was to hamper her progress for the rest of the day.

Gavin Renshaw continued his dominance in Pro class, improving to 1:32.944, but was now closely followed by Paul Doyle 1:33.476 despite suffering gear selection problems. Mike Mahoney gained confidence with every lap in the Wallace Performance EVO and improved to a 1:36.752, just bettering Russ Paton’s 1:36.861

Qualifying

With the earlier fire damage all cleaned up, Mark Pollard wasted little time in setting the fastest time of the session, with a 1:36.408in his shiny-once-more 6R4. Andrew Barbour narrowly failed to improve on his earlier practice time, but his best lap of 1:36.889 was to qualify him in 2^nd place in club 4WD.  Mark Ward had retired with suspected engine damage in his Subaru Impreza, but the camaraderie between competitors saw him strip the rear differential from his car to help out Pro class driver Duncan Graham, who had struggled all day with problems.

In the FWD category, Bo Nielsen continued his dominance with an impressive 1:38.995 beating many of the Japanese 4WD cars and comfortably ahead of Dave Thorpe (1:44.962) and Jonathon Fletcher (1:45.845). The Redbrick Racing ex-BTCC Honda Civics driven by Charlie Butler-Henderson and Steve Peel proved the benefit of their race engineered handling, setting times of 1:42.128 and 1:43.228 respectively, despite only have just more than 200bhp each.

In the RWD category, series newcomer Jimmy White in his lurid Green VX220 showed off the nimble handling of his sub 900Kg car, by qualifying first in class with a 1:42.190, ahead of Umar Masood in his FD3S RX7 who was one of a few competitors struggling with drive-by noise limits and running low boost.

Disaster struck the leading Club Pro and Pro drivers during their qualifying session. After setting a blistering time of 1:31.220 on his 2^nd lap (Click to watch in car video) , Gavin Renshaw’s EVO had a track rod end failure, forcing him off the circuit in spectacular style. This destroyed the front bumper and Renshaw had to wait until the end of the session for his car to be recovered and repair work attempted. Following his warm-up lap, Warren Kelly’s Escort Cosworth suffered a transmission failure, locking all 4 wheels and preventing the car from being moved. Warren carefully supervised his car being lifted onto a trailer by the excellent Oulton Park marshalls and recovery team, before announcing his retirement from the event.

In Club Pro, Fiona Kindness experienced severe handling problems during the session, with her car trying to swap ends under cornering and heavy braking and she could only manage a best lap time of 1:40.533. This allowed Walter Morris in his Skyline to qualify first with 1:37.585 ahead of the 1:39.129 by David Jackson in his Cosworth Escort.

Russ Paton qualified 2^nd in Pro class, despite his EVO sounding like it had terminal transmission problems. Russ’s time of 1:35.478 was just ahead of the improving Mike Mahoney  (1:35.926) and the BC Racing Impreza of Duncan Graham (1:36.154) which was now running smoothly for the first time following a differential swap.

Club Challenge Finals

FWD

Bo Nielsen continued his domination of the forced induction FWD class, with his time of 1:38.502 comfortably outpacing rivals David Thorpe and Antonio Giovinazzo. Charlie Butler-Henderson upped his pace to record a best time of 1:41.090 and beat rapidly improving Redbrick Racing teammate Steve Peel (1:42.923) in the Normally Aspirated class.

4WD

In the 4WD class, Mark Pollard set the early benchmark with a 1:36.987, ahead of Eric Holmes’ 1:37.731 set on the same lap. However these times didn’t prove quite enough to take the honours, as on the very last lap of the session, Scots driver Andrew Barbour in his first ever Time Attack event recorded a stunning lap time 1:36.186 in his Mitsubishi EVO. Andrew’s astounding lap time proved faster than many of the Club Pro entries.

RWD

In the RWD category, the honours again went to a Time Attack first-timer. Jimmy White in his brightly coloured VX220 exploited the combination of  light weight, fine handling and outright power to record a best lap of 1:41.769, ahead of Umar Massood in his flame throwing Mazda RX7 (1:45.646).

A special mention must be given to Ronnie Amis in the Airtech Cosworth Sierra, who suffered a bearing shell failure the night before the event, rebuilt the engine overnight only for the engine to fail again during the morning. Aware of the value of scoring points in each round, Ronnie nursed his car around in each other sessions, doing just enough to qualify and take the final podium position and earning himself valuable points in the process.

Pro and Club Pro Finals

After suffering ill-handling during qualifying, some last minute alignment changes provided the confidence and speed boost that Fiona Kindness needed. Despite a misfire preventing her running full boost, she set her fastest time of the day of 1:37.835 on her second lap and looked  setfor her inaugural Club Pro victory. However, on the very last timed lap of the session, Fiona’s time was beaten by David Jackson , who suddenly found almost 2 seconds on his very last lap in the Spec-R Escort to record a class winning time 1:36.850.

Amazingly, fellow Skyline competitor Walter Morris also recorded  a very committed  1:37.750 on the same final lap, demoting Fiona to the final podium position. You can see Walter’s tail-out commitment on his final lap in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsnlX6xgSRk

Many of the Pro cars suffered major problems during the final session, and it certainly was survival of the fittest. With his differential problems behind him, Duncan Graham took full advantage of the situation, and running on high boost for the first time he romped home for his first ever Pro class win in his BC Racing Impreza. Duncan’s winning time of 1:34.744 was his fastest of the day and gave him a comfortable winning margin of 1.39 seconds over Mike Mahoney driving “Daisy”, his stunningly prepared Wallace Performance EVO. Daisy encountered a wastegate problem earlier in the day which lifted the cylinder heads, forcing Mike to run on only actuator pressure for the final.

Earning a well deserved podium place was Paul Doyle in his K Sport backed Impreza, despite serious gearbox problems meaning he only had 2 working gears (2^nd and 5^th) for the final session. This didn’t stop him from winning the SIDC trophy for fastest Impreza, with a trap speed of 133mph on the final straight. Both Marcus Webster and Russ Paton also suffered transmission woes during the final session, with Marcus narrowly surviving a harrowing brush with the Armco on the final straight that you can watch in this video: Youtube video

The full results from the Oulton Park round can be found by clicking here

The Time Attack series now moves north to Knockhill in Scotland on the 15th May, where Andrew Barbour, Fiona Kindness, Eric Holmes, Mike Mahoney and Russ Paton will be hoping to exploit their local knowledge and continue their first round successes.

Words: John Stewart
Images: Flat Out Photography

The points standings after the first round are as follows:

Oulton Park is preparing for a symphony of squealing tyres and whistling turbos next Saturday (16 April), when the Tarporley circuit hosts the Modified Live performance car festival.

Modified Live showcases the UK’s hottest performance cars and latest tuning products through an exciting combination of track action, demonstrations and expert advice on tuning your own vehicle.

This year’s event will include racing from Time Attack – a ‘beat the clock’ series for highly tuned road cars – and the Super and Mighty MINI categories. Oulton Park will also host the opening round of the European Drift Championship.

In addition, there will be live action demonstrations including a 1,000bhp race truck, fiery Santa Pod drag car and a World Rally Championship specification rallycross car on Oulton Park’s purpose-built rally stage.

As Modified Live is an interactive event, spectators will be able to get involved by taking part in a high octane drift car passenger ride or visiting the festival’s huge exhibition area, where they can receive professional advice on performance tuning their own vehicles.

Modified Live will also be running several competitions, including the search for the show’s next promotional girl and the chance to win a KLEERS detailing kit by entering the ‘show and shine’ contest to find the best spectator modified vehicle.

Tickets for Modified Live at Oulton Park on Saturday 16 April cost £17 in advance for adults, with free entry for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0843 453 9000 or visit www.oultonpark.co.uk.

KSport UK and Time Attack Driver Paul Doyle unveiled the 2011 KSport Time Attack Pro Class Impreza at last weeks test day at Oulton Park

The widebodied 2 door Subaru Impreza is fitted with Ksports latest edition brakes all round and uses the highly acclaimed EBC Bluestuff NDX racespec brake pads.

The lightweight car will be powered by a hybrid DOHC 2.35 ltr flat 4 engine supplied by longtime Subaru specialist Enginetuner based in Plymouth using tried and tested Lateral Performance forged engine internals. Coupled with a Garrett GT40 front mounted turbo the output of the car is expected to be around 700bhp.

The highly modified chassis and suspension was custom developed during the original build of the car by Zen Performance and has been campaigned successfully over a number of seasons. The car has the ability to continually vary the drivetrain between rear wheel drive and four wheel drive depending on the situation on track with control of the centre DCCD differential actively managed by the specialist Syvecs ECU. Complimenting the ECU is an AIM data logging system supported by RaceDataSystems .

Technical and Engineering support both on and off the track for the 2011 season will be provided by both Scoobytech and Zen Performance.

For 2011 the all kevlar panelled car sports a mat black colour scheme provided by 360 AutoDesigns. The car has undergone a winter rebuild that will see a new engine, some noticeable aerodynamic improvements and the addition of a Nitrous Oxide system to suppliment the already high powered engine output.

“I’ve been excited about working with all the guys at Ksport UK for sometime,” says Paul Doyle, owner/driver. “I’ve known for some years that the Ksport product is very strong and by working together with the Ksport team I knew we could put together a package that could cut it in the highly competitive UK Time Attack Pro series. I’m really looking forward to the 2011 season and can’t wait to get started.”

Bren, MD of KSport UK, commented “I am more than happy to have joined up with Paul Doyle. The 2011 KSport UK Time Attack Pro car is one of the most advanced modified road going vehicles in Europe and is a spectacular platform to demonstrate the performance and abilities of the KSport braking systems. The KSport UK Impreza uses exactly the same braking kits as sold over the counter. I am looking forward to a successful campaign at the seven Time Attack rounds this year and expect some close competition from our series rivals. Its going to be an exciting 2011″

You can see the KSport Impreza in action at the first round of the UK Time Attack Series at Oulton Park, Cheshire on Saturday April 16th

Time Attack is a comparatively new style of motorsport and can be best described as a knock-out series of qualifying sessions.   Cars do not race each other, but are running on the track at the same time.    Fastest time of the day wins.   Simple!

Time Attack visits Anglesey for the first time, and it will be interesting to see them tackle the infamous Corkscrew.    They are also using the Snetterton 200 circuit rather than the new extended version.

Round 1 Saturday April 16th – Oulton Park Island Circuit

Round 2 Sunday 15th May – Knockhill Circuit

Round 3 Saturday 25th June – Brands Hatch Indy Circuit

Round 4 Sunday 26th June – Brands Hatch Indy Circuit

Round 5 Sunday 31st July – Cadwell Park Full Circuit

Round 6 Sunday August 28th – Anglesey Coastal Circuit

Round 7 Sunday September 25th – Snetterton 200 Circuit

The season finale of the thrilling Time Attack series took place at Snetterton Park on Sunday 10th October. The 4 previous rounds had produced a variety of winners in each of the classes, meaning there was still everything to play for in this final round.

With two wins apiece, Steve Guglielmi in his Audi powered Exige and Gareth Lloyd in the Car Planet Racing EVO were racing for glory in the Pro class. Exchanging fastest laps throughout the day, Lloyd’s dayglo orange EVO ultimately took the honours in a battle that kept the large and enthusiastic crowd enthralled.

Practice

Such is the popularity of the Time Attack series, that competitors in the Club challenge have to be split into two groups, even on the long and very fast circuit that is Snetterton Park. This ensures that all drivers have a fair chance of setting their best lap times without encountering heavy traffic.

Walter Morris in his Nissan Skyline set the early pace, with several 1’16 laps with a best of 1’16.326, followed closely by 4WD championship leader Scott Robson’s Impreza with an impressive 1’16.552 almost two seconds ahead of championship rival Fiona Kindness in her Track Scotland Skyline who could only manage 4th best time. Still with a mathematical chance of winning, Warren Kelly in his Ford RS Cosworth was a second behind Robson in third, with a 1’17.595.

In the Front Wheel Drive class, Romain Levesque put in a stunning lap time of 1’19.053 in the Buddy Club Honda CRX, over 4 seconds faster than next closest rival Nigel Bown in his distinctive yellow mini.

With a series of consistent 1’19 laps throughout the session, Daniel Gannon in his left hand drive M3 headed the RWD leader board, setting his best of 1’19.248 at the end of the session. Title favourite Mark Pollard in the Metro 6R4 could only manage 3rd best behind Jeff Mileham’s Elise with a 1’20.426

In Club Pro 4WD, Russ Paton showed great promise for the point scoring afternoon sessions, with a blistering 1’15.743, over a second ahead of fellow EVO competitor Richard Jones in the Launch Motorsport prepared car. Title contenders Kev Horsley and Paul Doyle were well down the leaderboard, perhaps preserving their cars for the afternoon runs.

In Pro class, Steve Guglielmi lead the way with the first sub ’12 lap of the day with a 1’11.833 beating Gareth Lloyd‘s 1’12.005. Both drivers were keeping their cards close to their chests, with neither completing more than 3 laps during the 15 minute session to give too much away to the opposition. James Nicholls showed his intentions with two laps in the 12′s, with a best of 1’12.827 being more than 6/10ths quicker than Gavin Renshaw in the Lateral Performance Impreza (1’13.432)

Qualifying

The tension in the pit lane over lunch time was higher than normal, with the whole season resting on the next two sessions. Normally calm and relaxed drivers were clearly showing signs of nerves, pacing around their garage and endlessly double checking all the nuts and bolts on their cars.

First out for the point scoring qualifcation runs were the club class cars, and Warren Kelly was immediately on the pace putting in an early 1’16.876 on his third lap which ultimately proved the fastest of the session. Fiona Kindness improved again over her morning lap times as she became more familiar with the demanding Snetterton track with a best of 1’17.487 set on her 6th of 11 laps during the 15 minute session. Disaster struck the morning pace setters though, with Walter Morris suffering engine problems in his Skyline, and championship leader Scott Robson suffering a piston failure on his out-lap, bringing a sad end to his championship aspirations. This guaranteed Fee the 4WD championship, as long as she did at least one timed lap in the final.

In the normally aspirated RWD class, Daniel Gannon qualified in first place with his best lap of 1’19.096 bettering Mark Pollard’s 1’19.140 and setting up a thrilling shoot out for the final podium of the year.

In the Forced Induction RWD class, Mathew Webb in the Mazda RX7 who has improved with each round, recorded a stunning 1’18.206 lap time to qualify in first place ahead of Gordon Wright’s Skyline GTST 1’19.426 and Ronnie Amis in the carbon bodied Sierra Cosworth on 1’21.888

Romain Levesque continued his dominance of the Forced Induction FWD class with another sub ’20 lap time of 1’19.278 putting him at the top of the qualification times, comfortably ahead of David Ward (1’22.143) in his Mini Cooper S, and Ollie Clark in his Zetec powered fiesta (1’23.629). Missing from his usual place at the top of the Forced Induction FWD times was Bo Nielsen, who was also suffering from engine problems.

In Club Pro class (4WD), Kev Horsley with his new engine, did just enough to get into the final with a time of 1’17.548 being significantly slower than class leaders Paul Doyle in The Badger with a 1’14.748, and Marcus Webster in the wide bodied Skyline (1’15.577).

In the new Club Pro RWD class, Jamie Wilson qualified first with a spectacular 1’14.752, ahead of the much higher powered Toyota Supras of Steve Linton (1’15.820) and Paul Whiffin (1’16.381).

The session was held up, after Robin Duxbury’s immaculately prepared EVO suffered a transmission failure at Russell’s Chicane, blocking the track and necessitating a red flag whilst the car was loaded onto the recovery truck with Robin in the boot to help balance the weight.

With the Pro class cars now running full boost for the first time, their morning times were quickly blitzed, with Steve Guglielmi first dropping down in to the ’10s with a 1’10.550, only to have his time bettered by Gareth Lloyd in the EVO with a 1’09.727. Gavin Renshaw surprised quite a few by qualifying third with a 1’11.968, ahead of James Nicholl’s best 1’12.518. This set the scene for a scintillating final round a few hours later!

Club Challenge Finals

With the 4WD title apparently in the bag, Fiona Kindness simply needed to complete a single timed lap in the final to ensure victory. However, the drama was far from over, as unbeknown to Fiona her car refused to start resulting in a last minute panic to find the cause. The problem was quickly idenitifed as broken spark plugs and fellow Skyline competitor Marcus Webster came to the rescue with a spare set of plugs for the 6 cylinder engine, and Fiona’s car started cleanly much to the relief of her team.

With her time of 1’18.604 in the bag after only her 3rd lap and the championship secured, Fiona then set about chasing class leader Warren Kelly, and improved with a 1’17.425 later in the session. This wasn’t enough to earn the top podium position from Kelly though, who again lead the class in style with a 1’16.040, as the one hit wonder entry of Rob Cowling (1’15.568) didn’t count towards the championship points and podium positions.

In the normally aspirated RWD class, Jeff Mileham in the small Lotus Elise took the top honours for the first time this season, with an excellent time of 1’18.638 beating both title contenders Mark Pollard (1’18.751) and Daniel Gannon (1’18.796).

In the forced Induction RWD class, Mathew Webb again proved untouchable. With his RX7 looking and sounding resplendent on track, Mat recorded a time of 1’18.285 some 2 seconds ahead of Gordon Wright who recorded his best result of the season. His Skyline GTST affectionatly known as PAW was taking part in it’s final Time Attack event, as he has a new car under development for next season. With a best time of 1’21.651, a very popular third place on the day went to Ronnie Amis, in his Sierra Cosworth.

In the class for Forced Induction FWD cars, Romain Levesque continued the dominant form shown all day, and upped his game to take first place with a 1’18.936. Romain’s winning margin on the day was a comfortable two seconds over David Ward’s Mini Cooper S (1’20.916), with Nigel Brown’s mini taking third with a 1’22.235 and unfortunately blowing his engine in the process. Bo Neilsen borrowed an almost standard VXR for the final session in an attempt to secure some points and ensure him the championship title. Amazingly he managed 5th place overall, with a time of 1’24.956.

Pro and Club Pro Finals

With the club sessions over, and the championship positions decided, the scene was set for the much anticipated showdown between Gareth Lloyd and Steve Guglielmi. It was apparent from the first hot lap, that both meant business. Lloyd took an early lead with a strong 1’09.192 which looked like being enough to take the honours, as Guglielmi could only muster a 1’09.969. However, Gugliemi returned to the track later in the session to try and better his and Lloyd’s earlier time, and did so in style with 1’09.032. However, Llloyd was close behind him on the track, and perhaps spurred on by the speed of the Audi powered Exige ahead of him, Gareth Lloyd managed to pull out a lap time 1’08.704. With the pressure now off, Lloyd then cemented his lead at the end of the session with an astounding lap time of 1’08.299 on road legal Toyo R888 tyres. To put this into perspective, the current BTCC lap record set on slick tyres is some 3 seconds slower!

Gavin Renshaw took his second podium place of the season in the Lateral Performance banana with a time of 1’11.163, ahead of James Nicholls 1’12.010.

In the 4WD Club Pro class, championship leader Kevin Horsley just needed a steady run to assure him of some points and the overall title, and he secured this with a time 1’14.229 in his first outing. Championship secured, Kev went back out again in his Scoobyclinic Impreza, and improved to 1’13.905 – still mindful of the new engine that had only been in the car less than 48 hours! This lap time still wasn’t enough to threaten first place, as Paul Doyle pulled out his best performance of the year from his Impreza to record a time of 1’11.581 which would have almost been enough to get a podium position in the ultra competitive Pro class. This fantastic result was enough to secure 2nd place overall in the championship behind Horsley, with Simon Deaton earning third place in his pink japdna EVO thanks to a string of consistantly quick performances throughout the year.

In the Club Pro RWD class, it was another unbelieveably close result between the two Whifbitz Supras of Steven Linton and Paul Whiffin, and the lighter, more nimble Exige of Jamie Wilson. It was Linton who came out on top this time around, with a time of 1’14.787, less than 4/100ths ahead of Wilson with 1’14.824 and Whiffin’s 1’15.833. It was Wilson who took championship honours, thanks to his blistering performances earlier in the season.

The full results from the Snetterton Park event can be found by clicking here

Championship Winners

With the sun setting quickly at Snetterton Park, the podium ceremonies were the first event all day to run behind schedule, due to the impressive amount of silverware and champagne prepared for the winners!

With all the pressures of the season behind them now, the drivers could relax and enjoy their final battles of the season with their victory champagne:

Words: John Stewart
Images: Flat Out Photography

Round 3 of the Time Attack series took place in blistering conditions at the iconic Brands Hatch circuit in Kent on Sunday 27th June.

Steve Guglielmi took the top podium spot for the first time this season in Pro class, edging out the dominant winner of the first two rounds Gareth Lloyd in the Car Planet Racing EVO

Practice

(click driver names for photographs)
With bilstering temperatures of 32 degrees in the shade, and track temperatures approaching 50 degrees it was very tough going for both the drivers and their finely tuned machinery. Indeed, there were some notable retirements during the morning warm up and practice sessions.

First out in the imposing heat were the Club Challenge cars which have been now split into two groups for all sessions to help ease track congestion and give all drivers a fair chance of getting a clean lap. Setting the early pace were RWD rivals Jamie Wilson in the Lotus Exige, and Steve Linton in the Whifbitz Toyota Supra, with Paul Hughes in the FWD DC5 Integra 3rd overall, heading the 4WD quartet of Scott Robson, Mark Pollard, Fee Kindness (who was driving the circuit for the first time!) and Warren Kelly.

In Club Pro, Kev Horsley clearly showed his intentions for the afternoon as well as a fresh paint scheme with an impressive time of 52.262, which bettered even some of the Pro Class runners.

It was business as usual for in Pro Class Gareth Lloyd in the CPR EVO with a sub 50 second practice time of 49.761 beating Guglielmi’s 50.693 and James Nicholls’ 51.493.

Qualifying

After lunch, and the inspiring demonstration runs by the Sumo Power GT1 cars, the Club Challenge cars were back on track for their qualifying sessions. Up front again were the leading RWD contenders Jamie Wilson and Steve Linton. Wilson’s Exige appeared to revel in the hot conditions, and posted a time of 52.599, almost 8/10ths faster than Linton’s best of 53.389 and enough to take the bonus qualification point.

In the 4WD class, Scott Robson did enough to secure the extra point with an excellent 53.912 ahead of fellow challengers Fee Kindness 54.144 and Warren Kelly’s 54.295.
Mark Pollard continued his dominance of the Normally Aspirated category by qualifying 3rd overall with a time of 53.812 in his ever popular 6R4.

Kev Horsley put on a dominant display in qualifying, perhaps inspired by his victory in the car v’s bike challenge during the interval, with his best time of 51.411 giving him over a second’s margin ahead of Shane Smith’s Skyline which was finally showing it’s true potential.

In Pro Class, Gareth Lloyd again headed the leader board with his best time of 49.858 giving hope to Guglielmi who narrowed the gap to less than 1/10th with a 49.955. Simon Norris in his 2 door EVO qualified 3rd a few tenths further back with a 50.243.

Club Challenge Finals

It was no holds barred as the club challenge contenders rolled out onto the Brands Hatch tarmac for the final session late on in the afternoon with the temperatures still as high. Steve Linton was the early leader with a time of 52.550 looking like it was enough to secure the honours, but Jamie Wilson pulled out all the stops to record a 52.187 late on in the session to grab the top podium position in the RWD class. Mathew Webb in his Mazda RX7 took 3rd overall with 53.301, re-enforcing the point that the track conditions on the day certainly favoured RWD cars.

In the 4WD category, the top position was secured by a 3rd different driver in as many events as Warren Kelly headed title contenders Fee Kindness and Scott Robson. Warren’s Escort Cosworth set a time of 53.410 which proved just enough to head Kindess and Robson who were separated by just 2/100ths after setting their best times of 53.659 and 53.684 towards the end of the session. These results give Kindness an extended lead in the championship.

Mark Pollard continued his dominance of the normally aspirated category, with 3 wins out of 3 taking him to the top of the overall points table. Mark’s time of 53.782 proved just enough to fend off the strong challenge by Paul Hughes in the Integra DC5 with a best of 53.801 set right at the end of the session.

In the class for Forced Induction FWD cars, Bo Nielsen continued his run of strong performance, setting a time of 55.628 midway through the session in his Astra VXR. Bo’s winning margin was much reduced by the ever improving minis which have improved their performances with each round. Nigel Brown was delighted with his podium position and a 56.126 time just ahead of fellow mini driver David Ward with a 56.241. The party certainly seemed to be in full swing in the mini pit lane garages, with what seemed like over 50 people crammed in at one point soaking up the atmosphere!

Pro and Club Pro Finals

In Club Pro class, Kev Horsley continued his class leading performance, with fresh tyres giving him an extra boost to record a time of 51.066, which not only proved enough to win the class, but was also enough to beat the Impreza running in Pro class. Shane Smith proved that his qualifying position was no fluke, earning a well deserved 2nd place on the podium with a best lap time 52.378 in his Skyline proving enough to better Russ Paton in his EVO who was delighted with his 3rd place result.

With Steve Guglielmi closing the gap to Gareth Lloyd during the qualifying sessions, all eyes were on the timing boards as both drivers headed out together for the final session. Both drivers spurred each other on to their best times of the day, but it was Guglielmi who turned up the heat to take the honours for the first time this season with a stunning time of 49.031 ahead of Lloyd’s 49.648. Both drivers completed several more laps during the session, but were unable to improve on their earlier times. Simon Norris secured the final place on the podium with a best time of 50.063.

The Lateral Performance Impreza piloted by Gavin Renshaw was cured or the driveshaft failure problems of earlier rounds, and put in a strong performance to win the SIDC award for the fastest Impreza in Pro Class, despite narrowly missing out on a podium position.

The full results from the Brands Hatch event can be found by clicking here

One of the rules for Time Attack Club Challenge, is that competitors cannot set times within 5% of the leading Club Pro cars. If drivers receive 3 “strikes” during the season, then they are automatically promoted to the Club Pro class. With blistering performances in all 3 rounds so far, both Jamie Wilson and Steve Linton have triggered the conditions for this rule, and will now compete the rest of the season in Club Pro. Cheering on Kev Horsley in the final were Club Challenge contenders Fee Kindness and Scott Robson. Horsley’s time in the final was only just fast enough to beat their times by the critical 5%, and with only two rounds remaining in the championship, both drivers are now safe from automatic promotion for the rest of the season.

The 4th and penultimate round of the 2010 Time Attack series takes place at the demanding and technical Cadwell Park on the 1st August.

Words: John Stewart
Images: Flat Out Photography

Cadwell Park set for Modified Live mayhem

Interactive performance car show to make Lincolnshire debut

The world’s hottest performance cars will make their Lincolnshire debut next month when Cadwell Park hosts Modified Live for the first time on Sunday 1 August.

The Louth circuit is a brand new stop for the Modified Live tour, which will visit five venues around the country this year to showcase its unique interactive blend of competitions, circuit demonstrations and a huge exhibition area.

On-track highlights include action from the Time Attack ‘beat the clock’ series for highly tuned roadgoing cars including Mitsubishi Evos, Lotus Exiges and Subaru Imprezas, along with smoking tyres and whistling turbos courtesy of the European Drift Championship.

Among the high octane demonstrations at Modified Live will be a sensational run by a Santa Pod drag car and some impressive two wheel antics from professional motorcycle stunt rider ‘Ghostie’.

There will also be a chance for spectators to take part in the festivities with a search for the next grid girl competition, drift car passenger rides and a trade area showcasing the latest tuning products and expert advice on modifying your vehicle. Plus, performance car fans can win up to £250 by entering their car into the ‘show and shine’ competition to find the best spectator modified vehicle.

Advance tickets for Modified Live Cadwell Park on Sunday 1 August are available for £15 for adults, with free entry for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0870 950 9000 or visit www.cadwellpark.co.uk.

The world’s hottest performance cars will descend on Brands Hatch this Sunday (27 June) when the West Kingsdown circuit hosts the Modified Live festival.

Modified Live is an all-action interactive day out that combines track demonstrations, performance car competitions, spectator activities and expert advice on modifying your vehicle.

Headlining the packed timetable will be the whistling turbos and smoking tyres of the European Drift Championship, along with track action from the Time Attack ‘beat the clock’ series for highly tuned roadgoing cars.

Modified Live will also feature a world exclusive, as manufacturer Cosworth will unveil the brand new 395bhp Impreza STI CS400 – its first road car in more than 14 years – at the event, in addition to demonstrating Cosworth founder Keith Duckworth’s original Sierra Cosworth RS500.

Plus, Modified Live will feature a series of supercar demonstrations including some exciting display laps by a 600bhp Nissan GT-R courtesy of the Sumo Power FIA GT1 World Championship team, along with a high octane drag car display by Santa Pod Raceway.

Other highlights include the chance for spectators to get involved in the event with drift car passenger rides, a huge exhibition area showcasing the latest tuning products and expert advice, and a search for the next grid girl competition. Performance car fans can also win up to £250 by entering their car into the ‘show and shine’ competition to find the best spectator modified vehicle.

Tickets for Modified Live are available in advance until Wednesday 23 June at £15 for adults or on the gate this Sunday at £20 per person. Entry is free for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0870 950 9000 or visit www.brandshatch.co.uk.

Ends

Words: 349

Note to editors: Copyright free captioned photographs attached, free for editorial use

Captions:

1. A European Drift Championship car tackles the Brands Hatch Indy circuit

2. Time Attack cars line up to leave the pit lane

3. Modified Live also features a grid girl search

Sunday 16th May saw the second round of the increasingly popular Time Attack series take place at Knockhill in Scotland. This saw a field over 70 competitors take part in a variety of cars ranging from a lightly modified mini cooper to a 900+bhp Mitsubishi Lancer. In between, a wide variety of cars from RWD Lotus Exiges, to 4WD Skylines and Imprezas take part.

The concept behind Time Attack is very simple – the fastest car around the track wins. There is no on-track racing between cars, it is purely a case of which driver can find space on the track and push their car the hardest record the absolute best lap time. In some ways it is very similar to the old style F1 qualifying sessions.

The cars are split into 3 main categories:

Club Challenge covers the majority of the competitors and is broadly for production cars with reasonable performance and safety modifications. Club Challenge is further split into categories for FWD, 4WD and RWD cars, forced induction and normally aspirated. Most of the cars are road legal and are driven to and from the event.

Club Pro caters for more highly tuned cars. These are fully stripped out cars, with a roll cage being mandatory. This class is dominated by Japanese 4WD machinery with 500+bhp being common place amongst the front runners.

Pro Class is for the top end, high budget tuner backed entries. These are very highly developed cars, with race level engineering and budgets to match. Modifications are essentially unlimited, with nitrous oxide providing boosting some cars close to 1,000 bhp.

There are 15 minute morning sessions for warm-up and practice, before final qualification after lunch. The top competitors in each class then go on to the final shoot out later in the afternoon.

Qualifying

(click driver names for photographs)
It was clear from the outset that records were set to be broken on this unusually warm and dry day at the Knockhill circuit in Scotland, with some very competitive times being set in all classes. Steve Linton in his RWD Whifbitz Toyota Supra topped the timesheets on 55.752, followed by local driver Fiona Kindess in the TrackScotland Skyline with a 56.165. Fiona (Fee), narrowly beat fellow Scots Eric Holmes in his Mitsubishi EVO (56.188) and winner of the first round Scott Robson with a 56.704. Not far behind them in the remarkable FWD Fiat Coupe, Marco Haig posted a fantastic time of 57.582.

Pro Class winner of the first round at Oulton Park Gareth Lloyd in the Car Planet Racing EVO continued his dominance in Scotland with a new Time Attack record of 51.611, set on only his second lap. Steve Guglielmi in his fire breathing carbon bodied Exige qualified 2nd with a best time of 52.405. Fellow CPR racer James Nicholls was third with a 52.821 with Gavin Renshaw in the bright yellow Lateral Performance Impreza rounding off the top 4 with a best qualifying time 54.207, despite numerous broken driveshafts restricting track time during the day.

In Club Pro, the Wallace Performance twin EVOs of Mike Mahoney and Russ Paton set the pace with times of 55.320 and 55.409, despite Mike bursting a coolant hose during the morning warm-up session. Paul Doyle in the ex-Zen Performance Impreza set third best time with a 56.117, despite an ealy morning mishap with the bonnet release catches (Click for photo). Both Simon Deaton and Duncan Graham right on his heels with 56 second laps.

Club Challenge Finals

After discussions with the organisers, the finals for the Club Class cars were split into two sessions based on qualifying lap times. This greatly reduced the number of cars on track at the same time, giving the drivers a far better opportunity of finding some clear track space to set their ultimate flying lap time. Steve Linton again headed the leader boards for much of the session, setting his best time of 55.997 on only his second lap. Towards the end of the session, Fee Kindness pulled out a stunning lap time of 55.431 to take the honours not only in the 4WD, but the overall Club Challenge. Fee can clearly be seen and heard enjoying her achievement as she crosses the line towards the end of her in-car footage here.

To read more about Fee and her plans for 2011, please visit her website by clicking here: Fee’s 2011 plans

In the 4WD category, winner from the first round Scott Robson was delighted with his 2nd place on his home track, setting his best time of 56.471 on his 3rd lap. Eric Holmes took the final podium slot with his best time of 56.867, not quite matching his best qualifying time.

Steve Linton took the top podium slot in the RWD category, but very close behind was Jamie Willson in his very smoothly driven Supercharged Exige. Jamie’s best time of 56.042 was only a few hundredths behind Linton’s much more powerful Supra.

FWD honours was claimed by Marco Haig in his Fiat Coupe, with his time of 57.474 claiming the scalps of many 4WD cars!

For the normally aspirated cars, Mark Pollard continued his success in the always popular Metro 6R4, with his best of 57.548 proving enough to beat Daniel Gannon’s very well driven M3 for the second round in succession.

Pro and Club Pro Finals

With a new record set in qualifying, the scene was set for a scintillating final session for the Pro and Club Pro cars. The weather can change very quickly at Knockhill, and with dark rain clouds looming on the horizon, the leading cars were keen set an early benchmark.

Gareth Lloyd upped his pace yet again in the orange CPR EVO, bettering his qualifying time with a 51.355. Steve Guglielmi also improved on his qualifying time, with a fastest lap 51.971 on lap 4. The drama was far from over though, as both Lloyd and Guglielmi went back out to try and better their times several times during the 15 minute session. Guglielmi left things right until the dying seconds of the session to head out for a final attempt, but lost time somewhere around the lap leaving Lloyd to claim victory for the 2nd event in a row.

Despite crashing out in spectacular style during the qualifying session, Kevin Horsely’s stand in driver Andy Harvey pulled out a spectacular lap time of 54.084 in the Club Pro group to take the honours. This was despite the car suffering some obvious damage to the front of the car. Russ Paton pulled ahead of fellow Wallace Performance driver Mike Mahoney, with times of 54.941 and 54.972 to round off the podium positions. Last years Club Challenge winner Duncan Graham , who moved up to Club Pro for 2010 found some extra speed in the final, with his time of 55.891 being substantially faster than last year and good enough for a points earning 5th position. A special mention must go to Gavin Renshaw and the Lateral Performance team in the final. Renshaw broke a rear driveshaft during his first outing in the final session and was forced to return to the pits. The team replaced the driveshaft in a breathtaking 3 minutes 49 seconds, allowing him to complete the session and set his best time of the day.

In typical Knockhill style, the heavens opened shortly before the final presentations, ensuring those collecting their silverware were soaked, even if they did manage to avoid the champagne spray!

The full timings from the Knockhill round can be found by clicking here

The Time Attack series now moves onto the iconic Brands Hatch in Kent on the 27th June for the 3rd round and marks the midway point of the season.

Words: John Stewart
Images: Flat Out Photography

The points standings after two rounds are as follows: