The final round of the Time Attack Series took place last weekend at Donington Park Race Circuit (UK) and what a final it was! With points being added up all year to find the those eligible for the final, the entrants list was amazing with only those who qualified being allowed to enter, fielding the top cars in the UK ( and one from Greece! ) all running together to fight for the Series title. Here is the run down of how itunfolded……
Practice :As the glorious thunder of horsepower started up in the pits the practice got started around 9am with both Pro and Club Challenge competitors on track for the warm up and practice session with 29 drivers making the first practice. Donington is famous for its welcoming yet deadly curves that claim victims with ease, luring them to the gravel traps and today would be no exception.
As the cars moved out and began to pick up the pace the first victim of the day was Dixon Cheng who managed to go straight out on coldtyres and run off at Redgate corner at high speed, causing the session to be ended prematurely as the red flags came out in order for his car to get pulled from the gravel. Prior to that a few drivers managed to get 3 or 4 laps in and resident driver of the Litchfields/Powerstation Cosworth powered Subaru, PhilipKeen was immediately on the pace, setting a fantastic 1.18.668 on the 1.9573 mile course. Finally showing good form and following Keen was the RX7 of REWORX driver Phil Gooriah, setting a 1.21.915 laptime, putting some minor mechanic problems of earlier rounds in the past. Also running well was Jeremy Horsham in the Nissan S13 yet running in the Club Challenge class, Jez managed a respectable 1.23.553, pulling way ahead of the majority of the pro grid as their session came to an early end.
Practice 2 :Back out for the second practice with only a few laps covered due to the Cheng incident, the second session got off to a good start as drivers got familiar with the track. Little known to all, the circuit had imposed a 98db noise limit on the event which meant that EVERY car in the Pro category failed the noise restriction and with a’ that’s enough’ for the track caused by a glorious fly-by at full tilt by Simon Norrisand the SWB Evo, recording 117db, the circuit decided to end the session and red flag the drivers to come in for a re-think over the noise limits. This was completely disappointing to everyone.
After some tense discussions with the noise chap, we made a deal and set about trying to make some the cars quieter and mix them up for the finals. Most of the problem was caused by 4 or 5 cars together as they roared pastthe noise microphones on track but with them separated we managed to control the noise and continue with the proceedings. This problem meantthat drivers only had a couple more laps on track, limiting their time on circuit and giving far less practicethan they are used to at the previous rounds. Practice 2 for the Pro competitors was scrubbed. The Club Challenge was a different story as they laid down some good laps, with the GTR Registers Peter Everett shining through with a 1.20.571, prior to getting himself black flagged for noise, closely followed by the RK Tuning machine of Darren Bly with a 1.21.301, both matching some of the times from the Pro class!
Finals :With the events Pro Practice put behind us, the finals were on. All year drivers had been competing to tally points to earn them the right to take part in the final. Although it seems there was some confusion about the points system, this was in place to show who the leaders were in advance in order to see the likely entrants to the final Time Attack event would be. In the finals the Pro and Club Challenge entrants ran as one session to overcome noise restrictions which gave an excited and unexpected edge to thespectators as they could gauge the visual differences between the classes on track.
One by one they wereled out alone, to lay down the quickest lap without traffic and as the MST timings started to trickle in, some familiar top Time Attackers started to claim fast laps. Namely once more the battle of the Evos reigned on as Norris and Seddon wound their cars up to record some blistering times, with the end result being Seddon once more claiming a victory over Norris but separated only by 3 tenths of a second! Norrishaving a 1.18.507 and Seddon piping him with a 1.18.242.
Further down the field the Club Challenge guys had their own scores to settle with Horsham claiming top spot with a 1.19.253 and with RWD, hisclosest challenger being Bly in the 4WD Skyline and a 1.20.063 lap. Once again the Auto Ergonomics car from Greece was running well but with less power than usual and no previous experience of Donny, Spiros went on to record a worthy 11 place and a 1.21.043 time. With 6th place and 13th separated only by 2 seconds the finals proved to the most competitive yet and a clear indication that the competitors had all been working hard to take a top spot.
As the final entrants laid down their laps it was clear that there was to be no-one to catch the blistering pace of Keen in the Litchfields Subaru as he came forward to put in another astonishing lap of 1.17.025, a clear 1+ seconds ahead of second place man Seddon in the works RC Developments car and well deserved it was - seeing him secure his title as the 2006 Time Attack Series winner and fending off Norris who came in third to complete the 2006 podium spots.
Congratulations to Philip Keen and the Litchfield/Powerstation Subaru Impreza who have shown good form, pace and commitment to the Series and earn themselves the title of the UK’s quickest tuned car in the aftermarket today - and on more than one occasion. Well done guys!
Super Battle :As if the finals were not enough then came the days final event, the Super Battle. With a handful of cars chosen from the Time Attack final to compete, the drivers get a window of time to go back on track andlay down the best lap they can in the time they have, all at the same time. ( the Time Attack uses only a one-chance strategy ). Once more the fight was on for Seddon to take on Keen with a Series of laps and with Keen unable to duplicate the earlier times in the 1.17’s, Seddon pulled through to show the RC carsfull potential, getting the car down to a 1.17.834 with Keen laying a 1.18.949 earning Seddon and the RC crew the trophy for the last Super Battle of 2006. Well done Clive!
Conclusion of 2006 for Time Attack:GT Battle brought Time Attack to Europe in 2005 and the formation of the Series for 2006 was just the beginning of Time Attack and its place in the tuning world to see who is the fastest and who’s engineering is the best. This year has seen the Series held at the UK’s premier circuits with a vast array of vehicles taking part, often dominated by the Japanese vehicles and an over subscribed grid at every round. We would like to thank everyone for their support this year and plans and confirm that plans are alreadyunderway for next year to build Time Attack into an even better Series for competitors and fans alike.
2006 has seen many firsts for us, some ideas have worked and some need shelving which is part of our process to make things better for all.
Thanks again to everyone who has shared the excitement with us in 2006 and with whom without it would not have been possible.
Special thanks to our sponsors that make the events what they are:Toyo and Yokohama for supplying the best tyres and proving it in this years Time Attack!, Autoglym for their outstanding range of car care products, HKS for their help and support with the competitors and prizes, Redline and J Tuner for their accurate and fantastic media coverage, Sumo Power for their logistics and overall help in making things happen, Speedwell for their awesome range of racing footwear, Theguys from K-Sport and their range of handling and tuning parts,
The boys and girls at Abbey Motorsport and Dynapack Dyno’s, Amber Performance and TEIN UK for all their help and who could forget the guys at Delmonte UK who have kept the drivers and teams going all year with their new range of healthy juicedrinks and bananas and lastly the guys from Castrol EDGE for the supply of their oils & fluids.As well as the sponsors, we would also like to thank our staff who run the events, the circuits that we have raced at from management to the hard working marshalls, our official photographers and film crews, Paul the PA man and everyone else who made it what it was in our first year.See you in 2007 where the game will be upp’ed once more.
