Olly Clark Wins Time Attack Series

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October 14, 2009 in Motorsport

Olly Clark Wins Time Attack Series

in TD-Turbocharged Gobstopper

The fast-paced Snetterton circuit would prove to be the scene of victory for Turbo Dynamics (TD) Dealer: Roger Clark Motorsport as Olly Clark piloted their “Gobstopper” to a second consecutive Time Attack crown on Sunday, 11th October.

The Gobstopper, an 890 BHP Subaru Impreza, has been prepared using a Turbo Dynamics modified and blueprinted GT4094R turbocharger, but shockingly still remains a 2.0 litre.

It’s an unprecedented achievement and afterwards Clark said, “It’s been a great season, the car’s been really good throughout. The standard of the cars and drivers has been even better this year so to still be up there with what’s actually an old car now is amazing! I’m really happy.”

Talented Clark was also crowned TOTB Overall Champion for the third year running this July.

In support of their competing customers and/or dealers such as Roger Clark Motorsport (RCM), Lateral Performance, Marco Haig and Ashley Clements, to name but a few, TD Technical Advisors: Matt and Tom were on hand to provide technical backup and advice. Having travelled up to Snetterton from Christchurch, Dorset for the event, they attended with lovely TD Girl Louisa.

Starting the day with 100 more points than both Steve Guglielmi and RSE Motorsport’s EVO VIII, Clark only needed to outscore them in the qualifying session for the Super Battle to retain the crown. Despite being slower than the space-framed Focus of Andy Gallagher (1:09.865 secs) and Phil Glew in the Zen Impreza (1:09.940), Clark’s 1:10.818 secs time was faster than Guglielmi’s Lotus by just 0.018 secs and almost 5.5 secs quicker than Chris Ward in the RSE car. This meant that even if either driver scored maximum points in the Super Battle it still wouldn’t be enough to knock Clark off the top spot, who stretched his points lead to an unassailable 110 points before that last session.

Glew actually went on to win Round 5, Guglielmi taking 2nd place and Gareth Lloyd finishing in 3rd with Clark all the way back in 10th spot as he clearly eased off for the last session of the day. But those results meant that Guglielmi and Lloyd also joined Clark on the podium for the season awards, coming 2nd and 3rd respectively for the year.

It was a similar story to Clark’s for James Nicholls in the Club Pro class, Nicholls starting the day with just Robin Duxbury able to challenge him for the class title. Duxbury didn’t make it to the qualifying session though while Nicholls’ EVO VI put the quickest time in to secure 50 points before the Super Battle. This put him home and dry for the title but he still cemented that in the last session with another quickest lap in class, ahead of Jonathan Faull and John Stevenson. Coincidentally it was those last two drivers who also took the season’s runners-up gongs for the 2009 Club Pro class.

Stevenson is a customer of Approved TD Dealer Lateral Performance and runs with a hybrid GT3542R turbocharger on his Impreza.

Meanwhile in the Club class of Time Attack there were five season titles to be handed out by the end of Round 5: 4WD, RWD, FWD, NA under 3000cc and NA over 3000cc. Lateral Performance’s customer Duncan Graham, running an MD321V, was the driver in pole position for the 4WD title at the beginning of the day and once again doing enough in qualification for the Super Battle was the key to his success.

“The fact that Duncan is where he is today using an MD321 series bolt-on turbo is great to see” commented Lateral Performance’s Mark Aigin.

Getting maximum points there and Russ Paton, of TD Dealer Wallace Performance, only managing fourth best haul meant nothing that Paton could do in the final session would stop Graham from winning. He gave it a good go though, putting in a 1:14.344 secs time to win the event and keep Graham on the second step of the podium for the day, but the result that really mattered was the end of season standings and that switched Graham and Paton’s position.

Supras took the spoils in the RWD class, with TD Dealer Whifbitz’s cars of Steve Linton and Paul Whiffin ending the season in 1st and 2nd places respectively. Whiffin got one up on Linton for the day after finishing a step ahead of him on the podium, but even he was bettered by Jamie Reynolds in his Lotus Elise. Had Reynolds competed in all events he would surely have been in the running for top honours, this result being his second consecutive class victory, but as it was he didn’t even end the season in the top three. That honour went to the popular Lance Turner in his RB26 engined GTS-t Skyline, much to the crowd’s delight.

There was a chance that Marco Haig in his TD-turbocharged Fiat Coupe could have taken the FWD class from the grasp of Paul West though. In fact, every round that Haig entered he bagged maximum points in qualifying and in the final Super Battle. West has consistently been the next car behind him including at Round 5, but his maximum points from the first round of the season were enough to make sure he was the one picking up the trophy.

Following the event Haig commented, “The only downside to the whole weekend was the final result. Even after winning four out of five rounds, I still only managed to come second to a supercharged Honda Civic, which did all five.

“I was the quickest FWD, no question. My GT2871 has run faultlessly all year and confirms my thoughts that Turbo Dynamics are the company to go to if you want a quality turbo.”

The competitive pairing of Haig and West in the FWD class was matched by Tony Campbell and Paul Hughes in the NA under 3000cc class. The Buddy Club Integra of Hughes had been phenomenal throughout the year scoring maximum points in all events aside from in the first round when it dropped 100 points by not being able to compete in the Super Battle. Campbell’s consistency in his Porsche (which was replaced by an E30 BMW M3 for Snetterton) had seen him push Hughes throughout the year but Hughes’ win in Round 5 kept Campbell in second place overall. However there was no such contest in the over 3000cc category; Jeff Mileham and his TVR being the stalwart of that class and being the unsurprising title winner.

Ashley Clements managed to compete at Snetterton as well, his first time at Time Attack, having successfully got his Mazda RX7 mapped the week prior to the event. Clements’ car, which is powered by a Turbo Dynamics GT4202R, proved to be an eye-catcher on the track with its intricate graphics.

Clements said, “For my first experience of Time Attack, the competition and everyone involved made me feel very welcome. To be on track with some of the fastest cars and drivers in the country made it all so worth while that I will be looking to go even further next year with Time Attack.

“The car was setup superbly and with a little more power from the car, I was only running low boost, the car would have been a real competitor. Hopefully with a few tweaks before next year and more power from my turbo the car should be up with the best.”

Initial count-ups show that 64 drivers entered 2009’s Time Attack Series in the Club Class. Throughout the year there have been thrills and spills along with a great array of brilliantly prepared Club Class cars and if the displays at Snetterton were anything to go by, 2010’s Club Class may prove to be even more competitive.

The same could be said of the Pro Class and the Club Pro Class too, and you can be sure that there will be teams aiming to stop RCM from making it three titles in a row. But as it stands, the RCM team made it a deserved two in a row and will no doubt prove tough competition in 2010.

Event sponsor TD had its own fashionable glass trophies for this year’s winners along with TD Vouchers of a generous monetary value. TD Girl Louisa presented the seven awards and 11 vouchers to the proud and deserving winners.

2010 will have a lot to live up to, but you can bet the cars will come back next year leaner, faster and more determined to smash that clock than ever.

PRO/ CLUB PRO/ OPEN WHEEL/ PROTOTYPE CHALLENGE

1. PRT Andy Gallagher (Ford Focus)…1:10.314

2. PR4 Phil Glew (Subaru Impeza)…1:11.033

3. PRR Steve Guglielmi (Lotus Elise)…1:11.849

4. CP4 Jamie Nicholls (Mitsubishi EVO 6)…1:12.392

5. PR4 Gareth Lloyd (Mitsubishi EVO 6)…1:12.542

6. PR4 Adrian Smith (Toyota Celica)…1:14.930

7. CP4 Jonathan Faull (Mitsubishi EVO 8)…1:15.787

8. CP4 John Stevenson (Subaru Impreza)…1:16.079

9. OW Duncan Cowper (Dax Rush)…1:16.541

10. PR4 Olly Clark (Subaru Impreza)…1:22.251

11. PR4 Chris Ward (Mitsubishi EVO 8)…