Robert Mocchetti – Gripshiftslide

Toyota :: Festival of 86 '14

Grant — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 11:36:30 +0000

How many of you have purchased a new car and been invited to a yearly event to celebrate that new car? Never. Well that’s what happens when you purchase a car from Toyota Australia! Now we hear you, they don’t make this sort of song and dance about every Toyota that rolls off the showroom floor right? Well the mighty Toyota 86 is no ordinary car.
The 86 is inspired directly by the cult classic AE86 Corolla, that first appeared in 1983. This original car truly captured fans both extreme and casual with it’s nimble handling, RWD configuration and lightweight body. 30 years ago it broke free from the shackles of the ‘Corolla’ family name and was celebrated the world over. Production ended in 1987 and the Corolla then became the economy FWD hatchback we know today.
Toyota rekindled this flame and brought us the 86! Like the original, we see RWD return along with a very well constructed chassis with enough power to move it around a corner or three.
Now in it’s second year of production, it was time to celebrate and that means one massive party called Festival of 86!!

Toyota quickly discovered that good looking/handling cars come and go and fans do too unless you acknowledge and support them as a community. Toyota Australia are still finding their feet when it comes to a car like the 86, but everything we’ve seen them put their time and money into has been head and shoulders over the other manufactures in this country. With events like the Festival of the 86 to supporting one of Australia’s best drifters and letting them take an angle grinder to their creation, Toyota have well and truly helped cement the 86 as a ‘must have’ car for enthusiasts young and old.

This years Festival of 86 was again held in Sydney, but this time with the stunning backdrop of the White Bay Cruise Terminal. Don’t be fooled, Toyota weren’t in it just to push their latest product as the venue was littered with classic AE86’s everywhere!

You can’t look to the future without acknowledging your past, and when the past looks this good, who can blame you?!

86 owners were invited from all over the country to show off their pride and joy.

We love hunting out all the little touches owners have been adding to their cars, making the 86 a blank canvas for all tuners and enthusiasts alike.

This is the absolute picture perfect example of the original hatchback. Two tone paint, Watanabe wheels and JDM pop up headlights.

Who doesn’t love this face?

While the 86’s filled up outside, we headed indoors for all of Toyota’s displays and a visit from some special guests.

Between us and the doors, we found Sydney based Tunehouse Racing’s 86. Fresh from the World Time Attack Challenge, this car not only looks great but goes like a Zyrtec! This was the fastest 86 with a lap time of 1:42.8530 in the club sprint class.

Inside 86 owners gathered for some words from some of Australia’s top level drivers about their own experiences with the Toyota 86.

Neil Bates and Beau Yates are no strangers to high performance Toyota’s, Neil has won countless rally championships behind the wheel of various Toyota’s including both Corolla’s and the Celica GT-Four.
Neil drives around town in his own personal turbo charged 86 featuring the same two tone white/black paint made famous from the Japanese anime Initial D.

Beau is known for not only his skills drifting, but also his meticulously built and maintained drift AE86. His original car was built with backing from TRD and featured a 3 litre beams motor.
Flash forward and Beau is now competing in a ground up drift built turbo 86 with support from Toyota Australia. Beau has spent the last 12 months tuning and perfecting the car and has been very competitive in recent months.

The man behind the car, for the second year in a row Toyota Australia flew Tetsuya Tada in from Japan. Tada San is the chief engineer responsible for building the car we all know as the 86.
He loves meeting the fans and seeing how people have taken his creation and adapted, changed and of course enjoyed it!!

After queuing up for a chance to meet the man himself we began checking out all the high quality builds inside. Garage 88’s 86 is the perfect blend of performance and street car.

Beau’s purpose built drift car, it’s hard to believe this was just a stock standard car fresh off the showroom floor a little over a year ago.

The engine bay is filled with custom built goodies from the team at Hypertune – the same team helped build Beau’s original 86 so it was a no-brainer to get them on board for his new project.

A lot of 86’s have been given the Rocket Bunny treatment but not many pull it off as well as Beau’s drift car. The huge rear arches sit so well against the angry looking taillights and we just love that rear wing!

Our favourite street 86 of the event? This black number on Work XSA-04C wheels was beautifully executed! The duckbill wing and lip kit flows perfectly with the factory lines in black.

We were really blown away to see what the festival had become since the first event last year, check out our coverage here.

Motivational 86. We’re always fans of what the team from Cars For Hope do. If you’ve ever suffered from depression you’re not alone, jump on their site and connect with people who have fought the same battles.
http://carsforhope.com.au/

Back out in the sun we enjoyed our last walk through the car park, taking in all the Toyota goodness that was on display.

It’s great to see a retro racer untouched from 30 years ago. There’s something so nostalgic about old race car livery and all the brand logos.

Panda’s as far as the eye can see!

The coupe is quite the rare sight here in Australia. We were fortunate enough to receive the hatchback as a locally delivered model.

We have to admit the smooth looks of the Trueno pop up headlights are our favourite of the original 86’s.

More Watanbe’s!!! This is definitely the wheel of choice amongst AE86 owners.

New 86 owners seem to opt for anything from the Rays or Work Wheels catalouge, that’s not a bad thing at all!

It’s not all about super lows, this white 86 was flexing it’s muscles atop a set of Ray TE37’s wrapped in some super sticky rubber!!

Some owners really got into the festival!

Everywhere we looked we spotted a new lip kit or spoiler but we have not idea how owners keep up with it all. There’s literally too much to choose from!!

What a show! We were wrapped to once again be invited back by Toyota to enjoy the festivities of the 86’s 2nd birthday.
The 86 has proved it won’t be disappearing anytime soon with the this much support from fans, tuners and of course the manufacture! We can’t wait to see what Toyota have up their sleeve for updates and new models on the horizon.
Thanks for reading and till next year, happy Birthday 86! #festivalof86
– Gwyn.
Photos courtesy of Roberto Mocchetti | Full Motion Photography

Ferrari Racing Days :: Ferraris for Weeks

Grant — Fri, 23 May 2014 06:35:13 +0000

From humble beginnings in Modena, Enzo Ferarri had a desire to race cars since the tender age of ten. Many decades have passed since then and the product of ‘il Commandetores’ desires have not only won races like Formula 1, but have also inspired generation after generation of enthusiasts to own a Ferrari one day.
Last weekend Sydney Motorsport Park played host to the first ever Ferrari racing day in Australia. Though the skies were dark and chances of rainfall throughout the entire weekend were high, it didn’t deter true Ferrari enthusiasts away from what was bound to be the biggest gathering of Ferrari’s Australia had ever witnessed. With over $170 million worth of Ferrari’s in attendance, we were sure to be in for a breathtaking experience.

There were four main attractions across the weekend. The first being the Ferrari XX program, which saw owners lucky enough to purchase either the 599XX or the Ferrari FXX direct from Ferrari. The car is only a part of the overall program as customers pay £2 million, however they are only allowed to drive the car on special track days which are approved by Ferrari.

The FXX’s Evo engine is based on the Enzo, but displacement has been increased to (6.3 L; 382.1 cu in) from (6.0 L; 366.0 cu in) while the output has been boosted from the Enzo’s 670 PS (492.8 kW; 660.8 hp), to 860 PS (630 kW; 850 hp) at 9500 rpm

The gearbox incorporates the latest developments from Ferrari’s F1 program and has a shift time of under 100ms. The brake pads were also upgraded from the Enzo. However, it does retain the carbon fibre-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) ceramic composite discs found on the Enzo. The tyres are custom-developed 19 inch slicks.

Ferrari has only built 30 of these, adding one special edition to the 29 that they originally had planned. The original 29 have all been sold to pre-selected past Ferrari customers. The 30th was retained by Ferrari S.p.A. and presented to Ferrari’s F1 World Champion driver, Michael Schumacher, when he retired from Formula One.

We were lucky enough to witness 2 FXX pushing the limits on SMSP.

Ferrari bought 6 599xx along to Ferrari racing days, what a spectacle it was to hear these at full song.
The 599xx 6.0-liter V-12 makes 720 HP (536.9 KW) and 506 pound-feet of torque with a redline of 9000 rpm

The carbon-ceramic brakes are cooled by F1-derived “wheel donuts” that vent unwanted BTUs away from the rotors through slots around the wheels’ center-locking nut, under heavy braking you can see the rotors lighting up from the heat.

The car runs 29/67 R19 front and 31/71 R19 rear tyres with 19 × 11J wheel rims at the front and 19 × 12J at the rear, specifically developed to maximise stability in cornering.

Next up was the F1 Clienti, which sees the extremely wealthy who have been long time customers of Ferrari and were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to purchase an EX Formula 1 car from the 1970-present. This package from Ferrari includes: a full support crew, transporter, mechanic and handlers like a pro driver would receive on race day. We were lucky enough to witness 9 of these amazing machines grace SMSP.

Among these was the 3.5L V12 powered Ferrari 412 T1. The sheer sound of this car gives me goose bumps, it has to be one of the best sounding F1 cars I have ever heard!

Every piece of suspension, bracing and aero was a work of art!

This particular Ferrari 412 was driven by Gerhard Berger in the 1994 Formula one Championship with 1 win and 3 poles.

Amongst the classic formula 1 cars, there was a gem from 1985, the Ferrari 156.

Powered by a classic V6 Turbocharged motor producing 900 bhp (671 kW; 912 PS), this car was well known for the incident where Alboreto famously drove half a lap with the rear of his car on fire following another turbo failure in the European Grand Prix.

There were also a few modern F1 cars belting out some hot laps, sadly this will be one of the last times I’ll get to hear that iconic and haunting sound of a true Formula 1 car. Now as the sport moves into a new age, petrol guzzling dinosaurs like this will be distant memory.

Kimi Raikinon’s former whip was out stretching it’s legs as was Felipe Massa’s old car.

These cars were the peak of Formula One, seeing them race one last time was truly special.

We were also lucky enough to see the pit crew strip down a Ferrari.

The sheer volume of mechanical parts is amazing!

There is no doubt that there was a tonne of action on the track, but there was still more attractions to see throughout the event. The Ferrari F1 team were out and about performing a pit show to see how much support the driver actually gets from his team.

The team had a few demonstrations of actual pit stops from the drivers and showed us how it’s done!

Marc Gene leaving the pits with a fresh set of tyres.

We really can’t say no to a burn out can we?

The fun on the track was not over yet, with the Ferrari Challenge well underway.

The 458’s used in this challenge are fitted with a racing cockpit, racing wheels, track tyres and light weight panels and windows. They are also equipped with jack mountings just in case things don’t go to plan.

Some of the most exciting racing I have seen to date, with so many close calls and many overtakes it was the highlight of the day.

These 458’s were pushed to the limit, check out the heat waves coming from the exhaust!

There was so much excitement on and off the track, just take a look at this Ferrari F12 Berlinetta! Ferrari says it is the fasted road car they have ever produced!!

Throughout the years, Ferarri has always designed cars that have been (as Richard Hammond always says) a car found on posters stuck to a boys bedroom wall… The ultimate dream.

At the time the F40 was the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive car that Ferrari sold to the public. This was and in some cases still is the ultimate from for some.

Cars like the F40 and the 288 GTO have the reputation of being the biggest, most bad Ferrari’s of their respected times… Now that technology has evolved over time there is a new bad boy in town…

The La-Ferrari incorporates the use of electric motors to aid the already monstrous 6.3L V12 which produces a combined power of 800 PS (588 kW, 789 bhp) at 9000 rpm. With Ferrari stating it can do 0-300km/h in 15 seconds, it is a shame we couldn’t see a few laps around the track.

I could spend days talking about the cars Ferrari produced until my voice box gives up, from their record of Formula 1 championship wins, to their flagship cars that seem like the be all and end all of automotive production. To have an event of this magnitude organised by Ferrari themselves, hosted at SMSP, has got to be one of the highlights of my year.
Thanks for reading,
– Robert.
Photos: Full Motion Photography

ADGP Round 3 :: Sydney Motorsport Park

Grant — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 05:57:44 +0000

Round three of the Australian Drift Grand Prix was set to be a very interesting round in the series after a not so predictable 2nd round in Western Australia.
The last round saw some fresh names on the podium at the end of the day, Matt Harvey took 1st, Victoria’s own Matt Russel taking 2nd and Dale Campaign scored 3rd.
So coming into the third round the championship points weren’t in anyone’s favor so all the drivers were going to be pushing their cars and their abilities to the absolute limit!!

The drivers are split into two classes, state and national. Those in state can try and earn their place into the national series which is usually reserved for those competing in all 4 rounds.
The schedule remains the same as any other round, one full day of qualifying and then a full day of competition.

Both days were scorchers with temps in the high 30’s the cars and spectators were feeling the effects of the sun all weekend long.

This was going to be an exciting round for us as we were cheering on our very own Jason Ferron who has become quite the wild card with some fantastic battles under his belt.

With every drift event held in Sydney there is always a heap of local talent present track side, something must be in the water here because they always have the best looking drift cars in the country.

Simon Michelmore was one to keep your eyes on with a fresh build completed in a new shell his S14 should be more competitive than ever!

The usual suspects of the national series during the drivers briefing.

Ryan ‘Slide’ Cummings is easily one of the best looking cars around.

With his fare share of mechanical miss-haps in the last 12 months we were hoping Ryan would finally have his day.

With last minute prep complete the drivers got ready for the practice sessions followed by qualifying.

Jarrad Klingberg took out the number 1 qualifier not only in his state class but was the highest score of the day beating Insane Drifters Agges by just 1 point!!

Agges put down one of the cleanest qualifying laps we seen in the competition. Here’s a video of the very solid run. Click here.

Levi Clarke in the stupidly photogenic V8 powered S15 pulled out number two qualifier in the national class and third highest for the day.

South Australia’s Jack Widdas scored a 67 which left him in 3rd place.

Cameron Mote took 3rd place in the state division with a score of 59.5 which would have put him in the top 10 of the national class to give you guys a comparison.

Matt Harvey missed the beat but still landed in number 7 spot.

Unfortunately Elliot Wylie had a spin and scored a zero. Points aside we have a big soft spot for this Laurel, after the epic David vs Goliath battle at last years Formula D event here in Melbourne where Wylie lent this car to Tom Monkhouse to go on to take 2nd place against Daigo Saito

Insane drifter Papa was also at the opposite end of the points only scoring 34, off a 4th place win form the previous round Papa had his work cut out for him.

It seems that the heat was getting to both the cars and the drivers with several spins and some break downs.

Ben Purtel was in fine form qualifying just half a point ahead of Andy Gray! Which landed him in number 9.

Nic Wilson was sporting a fresh make over on his wild looking Toyota Saloon. The JZX90 Chaser was wearing the wing of all wings built by Victorian specialists Topstage Composites.

Hit N’ Run drift crew’s Pistol Pete was out in force in the bedroom poster worthy 6 liter V8 equipped S15, yes it sounds as nice as it looks.

The only rotary of the competition was not off to a good start missing out on a spot in the 16 of the state division.

The drift Syndicate VE was still looking fresh after Max Orido put it through it’s paces during WTAC last year.

Steven Bramford placed 10th in the state division in his gorgeous sparkly Silvia.

We were drawn to his car like moths to a bug zapper, the electric blue paint was stunning from every angle!

Day 2 was the business end of the competition with the battles taking place and the usual affair of the pit walk and drivers signing session.

Klingberg’s hood art was being proudly displayed after yesterdays number 1 score.

Levi’s S15 is an astonishingly detailed car, we love the chrome elements on to the wing.

Ender was sitting mid field with a score of 47 from yesterday, his first battle was against Nick ‘The Drift Kid’ Coulson in his black VE Ute.

Ender straightened up on his chase run and then called a 5 minute rule after having issues with his gear selector.
On the lead run the 2J swapped S13 powered up the hill but Nick was right along there with him taking the win from Ender.

Who said coloured smoke tyres were dead? Sydney’s Drift Mob Anthony Bilic was frying them up the hill until he hit the dirt.

Blaze Unit’s Jabbit was looking good against Agges but unfortunately gearbox issues meant Jabbit couldn’t continue giving the Insane drifters driver the win.

In a battle of Aussie VS Import, foreign driver Andy took the win in his Toyota Chaser against Hayden Buckham in the blue VE Ute.

Papa was pulling out all the stops on his chase run against South Australian Dale Campaign…

Dale fought back on his chase run forcing a re-run. Which put the pressure on Papa…

Causing a spin which meant Dale went through in the grey Sileighty.

Klingberg’s winning streak didn’t stop taking the win against Jason Ferron thanks to some of the most aggressive driving we saw all weekend!

Schembri vs Michelmore was an extremely close battle which meant another one more time giving Simon the win after both battles.

Rob Whyte in the Achillies 350Z fought a hard battle against Dale and it was too close to call, after a one more time re-run Rob took the win.

Levi came back strong after several issues earlier in the day, however Chris in the Red R32 was hot on his tail.

The battle of the V8 swapped Nissans was won by Levi after a very, very close fight.

Matt Harvey’s little KE Corolla was all over Ryan ‘Slide’ Cummings S13 during the chase run, Ryan’s straighten up during Matt’s lead run sent Ryan home for the day.

Matt just couldn’t close the gap on Michelmores purple S14.

On Matt’s lead run Simon was just centimeters away in the S14, Simon’s performance gave him the win.

It seems that Beau Yates just hasn’t had enough seat time in his new 86, Beau spun on both his lead and chase runs.

Josh Boettcher was in the middle of a tough battle with dale when he missed a gear, according to the judges the pair would have gone again in a re-run if Josh didn’t miss shift.

Schembri stayed glued to the door of the GH Haulage Cefiro piloted by Justin Codr, Schembri took the win.

Nick and Jack fought hard and the judges called “one more” time, the second battle saw Nick Coulson edge away from the 31 Skyline giving the Drift Kid and the VE Ute the win.

Matt Russel fought the good fight in the little AE86 but lost against the might power thumping away under Levi’s bonnet.

Michael Prosnick was ahead after an awesome lead run away from Whyte, however on the chase Prosnick straightened in the NASCAR styled S13 and lost.

Simon and rob pushed so hard the two cars collided.

After a brief break the judges reviewed the on board cameras and deemed Simon to be at fault giving Rob the win.
Simon’s S14 was towed back to the pits were the crew rushed to get him back up and running for his final battle.

Now in the pointy end of the day cars were crashing left, right and center! Andy Gray had a huge hit with Levi Clarke, both cars needed to be towed back and the teams began mending the damage in a hope to get them both back out.

It seems you can give drifters a busted car, a pack of zipties and tape and they become master panel beaters. Levi Clarke was back out in force for a dramatic final battle with Rob Whyte.
If you look closely you can just make out Rob’s car in the smoke behind Levi’s car.

Rob over corrected and straightened up handing the win over to Levi Clarke, giving Levi his first podium finish in the series.

To end the epic weekend of skids, heat and dramas was a heap of trophies and ice cold champagne ready to shower the winners in.

All the cars looked worse for wear, you can’t be afraid to break a few eggs to win.

The winners of the national series.
1. Levi Clarke
2. Rob Whyte
3. Andy Gray

This was by far the most exciting round of the series yet and was a true show of great sportsmanship with the top 4 battles all ending in collisions and all the teams lending a hand to repair the damage to finish the show.
Ben Purtell lent his front suspension components to Simon Michelmore while Rob Whyte’s team helped repair Levi’s car before their battle together that decided the number 1 finish for the day!!
Where else would you see someone help their opponent out to effectively help them beat you?
Drift is only going up in Australia.
The next round returns to the Thunder Dome here in Melbourne where the top 10 all have a shot at being the series winner for 2014!!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.
All photos courtesy of Robert Mochetti | Full Motion Photography

Hankook :: NSW Time Attack 2013

Grant — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 06:12:41 +0000

It seems Australia is fast becoming the time attack capital of the world with so many ground breaking builds, passionate people and of course some truly great businesses supporting the scene.

The most recent race was the second leg of the Hankook Tyre Time Attack series, teams from all over Australia made their way to Wakefield Park Raceway, NSW for two days of flat out, foot to the floor racing against the clock!

Some of the countries highest profile cars were out to set some blisteringly low lap times, the BYP DC Integra is proof that knowledge is greater than money.
The BYP boys have built one of the most reliable and quickest cars around and it took out the number 1 spot at the last round of this series in Victoria!

Another serious Honda build also from Sydney is the newly completed JDM Yard DC5, this is an all out no expense spared build with strong focus on simple additions to the motor and plenty of aero mods.
The car still retains a naturally aspirated engine and is everything a die hard Honda fan would come to expect from a workshop such as JDM Yard!

After the odd Honda, Skyline or Subaru the rest of the field was of course littered with Mitsubishi Evo’s!!
The mighty AWD sedan is still one of the most potent packages to come out of the land of the rising sun, out of the Evo’s competing. Over 10 years separated the oldest from the newest model!
Proving they got it right back then and haven’t messed with it’s success since!!

Performance doesn’t come cheap, every car was packed full of the latest and best tech and gadgets. Check out the Haltech dash!!

Friends of GSS and all round cool guys, the Road Track Rally crew made the drive up from Vic with their very well put together street class Evo.

The team has been fine tuning and tweaking their Evo in preparation for the upcoming World Time Attack in October, Entering again in the club sprint class we hope to see the boys finish on the podium once again.

Now this was an interesting sight, a bright yellow Evo 6… We were in love!

Hiding behind the number plate was this very sneaky Billion cold air intake!! Also you can just see the edge of an oil cooler in a very snazzy anodized blue to keep the colour scheme going.

Out on track the little yellow Evo almost lifted a rear wheel flying flat out through the corner!!

As the BYP Integra was heading out you could see the determination in Benny’s eyes as he prepared himself for maximum attack, with cold conditions and wet weather setting in the early sessions were the ones to make count before things got wet!

After the first session the boys ran a respectable 1:02.7, still a few seconds shy off their best time around Wakefield there was still plenty of room for improvement. Weather permitting of course!!

JDM Yard were off to a good start with at least four turbocharged Evo’s still a few seconds behind them, their N/A Integra was well under the 1:10 mark and was consistently getting quicker!

Behind the wheel of the JDM Yard DC5 was of course Adam Casmiri who has helped pilot the car through some very quick lap times this year, the car is set to go under the knife again before WTAC.
No time attack car is ever really complete or finished, it seems even over just the course of a race day each cars goes through significant changes. Just as a golfer changes his clubs time attack cars go through different size tyres, damper settings and even minor aero adjustments.

It’s amazing how quickly the aero game has stepped up in Australia over the last two years, the Integrity signs Evo 7 has a setup that would have been consider over the top and very extreme just a few years ago.
Now nearly every car has had a wing/fin added to pretty much every panel to help lower those lap times, to the untrained eye it might look like a case of ‘more means quicker times” but each individual piece of aero has been painstakingly tested to ensure it is making a difference and improving the handling of the car at high speeds.

Chasing down the Evo’s was one very well put together Skyline from Victoria, John “Richo” Richardson has been taking his love of speed to the track for years!

His once very standard GTS-T R33 has taken on a heap of enhancements which have helped propel John to some super quick lap times, his Skyline is definitely not to be underestimated.
The heavy AWD system on a GT-R isn’t needed to drop those lap times, John constantly proves that with the right driver a nice RWD setup can do very, very well.

Between all the Evo’s we did enjoy the occasional fly by from Kieran and his 350Z, while not the most popular car to be using at a time attack event the car held it’s own with a very respectable 1:09.1!!

The only Mitsubishi out on track with only two wheels pulling it along, this tiny 1.5L FWD Ralliart Colt managed some very quick times amongst it’s peers. Nearly breaking into the 1:10 mark and below!!
It certainly made for a great show lifting it’s leg like a small dog about to do some business!

After two sessions it was time for many cars to come back in for a quick check up, oil change…

… And even some fresh tyres, this 350Z made full use of it’s sticky Hankook Ventus R-S3’s.

Showing the Evo’s that Subaru still has some pretty quick chassis was of course the big green hulk… The Autotech Engineering WRX.

Armed with some seriously wide tyres, huge Project Mu breaks and one massive wing, we were excited to see Bruce Banner transform into the angry hulk and SMASH those lap times!

Jason Naidoo proved that expensive aero and big budget builds will never be a replacement for an experienced driver…

Jason steered the subtler looking Xtreme Motorsports Evo 8 through a stupid quick time of 1:03.8!!

Hamish’s Ev0 8 was probably the most ‘streetable’ car in the club sprint class, despite the cars stock standard appearance it’s still good for a flat 1:08 lap time.
We wouldn’t mind driving something that quick to the shops for some milk in the morning!

The oldest car competing during the weekend was Owen’s 1977 Toyota Celica, after a long weekend the car smashed out a 1:10.5!!

The fastest Subaru on track, The Ultimate Tunes 99′ WRX. Jason wrestled with the pro class car all weekend and so close to cracking the sub one minute mark!!
The team finished on a lap of just 1:00.2!!!!!!

Even in factory form any Lotus is a force to be reckoned with out on the track, after Southern Motor Works tinkered with this Exige the volume had certainly been turned up to 11!!
Driver John secured 3rd in the open class with speedy lap of just 1:01.8!

Even though drivers were racing against the clock and not each other, there was plenty of overtaking happening given the short layout of Wakefield.

So how did the Hulk go? Jason scored 2nd place in open class just .2 of a second in front of the bright orange Lotus, the final lap was a not too shabby 1:01.6!

Adam and the JDM Yard Integra missed out on a podium finish, landing them in 6th place with a lap of 1:04.2.
With WTAC in the team’s sights the car has already been pulled down after this event in preparation, we can’t wait to see how this N/A Honda goes against the worlds best!

We’re happy to report that Darrin and the RTR Evo X finished in 3rd in the club sprint class with a 1:04.7!

The number one car for the weekend was Rick Bates in the Vsport/GoPro Evo X, Rick was the only driver who managed to break the one minute barrier… Not once, but twice!!
The final lap that scored him the win overall and for the pro class was an astonishing 59.9790!!

We’re wrapped that more and more is happening each year on the Australia time attack calendar, with support from companies like Hankook the future is very bright for all time attack racing enthusiasts.
Bring on WTAC and then bring on 2014!!
For the full results check out the Wakefield website.
http://www.wakefieldpark.com.au/bates-blistering-59-second-lap-win-nsw-time-attack.html
Thanks for reading,
Gwyn.
All photos courtesy of Robert Mocchetti | Full Motion Photography