Scorch Racing – Gripshiftslide

WTAC 2014 :: International Visitors

Grant — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 11:51:53 +0000

Like any music festival, big name acts bring the fans in droves, especially international super stars. The World Time Attack Challenge is no different and when it comes to international guests, they’ve got you covered.
It’s no easy task to convince a race team to invest a large amount of money to send a car on a boat half way across the globe along with a small army of mechanics to go head to head with a bunch of locals who don’t want lose on their home turf.
Year after year, Ian and the team behind WTAC manage to top themselves and 2014 was the biggest field of overseas talent we’ve seen yet!

First up team America had two entries. Andrew Brilliant has now decided to keep his time attack Eclipse within Australia (originally from the USA). Having the car based here and help from GT Auto Garage his campaign for 2014 was his strongest yet.

Having won both 2009 & 2010 Super Lap Battle Limited FF titles Andrew is certainly no amateur! With the dream of being the fastest FF car at WTAC Andrew had his work cut out thanks to a little mouse that could…
Andrew’s biggest rival is none other than the QLD based Mighty Mouse CRX. With a time of 1:31.8430 the little Honda was still at much faster pace than the Eclipse this year. Not to take away from AMB Aero USA’s efforts as Andrew and the team managed to shave off a staggering 5 seconds from their previous year!!

The car has undergone many changes since 2013 but the biggest change this year has been a new Haltech ECU and Jack LeBrocq behind the wheel. The team finished with 1:35.7200 around Sydney Motorsport Park.

The second entry for Team USA, ARK Design R32 Skyline and some say this car is cursed. Two years ago at it’s first WTAC, the car was accidentally shipped to China missing the competition completely. The team took a year off, rebuilt the car from the ground up and set course for Sydney once again. This time the arrived with plenty of time to add finishing touches in prepping the car…

This is where it all began to fall apart for the ARK Design team with multiple mechanical failures and then serious issues with the ECU. It was all over for the team even before the first day of competition… The R32 limped around the track for two sessions but did not manage a timed lap. We’re hoping this just makes Team USA push harder for 2015, as we haven’t seen two teams really go head to head for the fastest lap since Sierra Sierra vs Cyber Evo in 2011.

Now from the motherland, the biggest heavy hitters in WTAC history. HKS and Top Secret, two of Japans largest tuning names brought the fight in the form of two wild R35 Nissan GTR’s

The HKS GTR piloted by Nob Taniguchi really was one of the stand outs of the entire event. With ‘out of this world’ looks, the green headlights remind us of an angry alien/insect.

HKS’ direct competitor in the GTR shoot out, Tarzan Yamada in the Top Secret R35. We found ourselves pinching our arms while gazing at these legendary machines.

These were real hero cars and nothing was more exciting than watching these two giants battle it out in the fading light on Saturday.

Once the sun dipped out of sight, these guys really started pushing hard. HKS took the win nearly a full second in front with a time of just 1:30.8380!!

Tarzan certainly gave it all he could in the Top Secret GTR finishing on 1:31.7250. You can’t say he didn’t try.

Another entry from Japan and no stranger to WTAC, the Top Fuel S2000 was back again for another shot at glory. Nob Tanaguchi was also driving the S2000 for a second year, with plenty of seat time between this car and the HKS GTR Nob was certainly dealt with plenty of track time to get things right.

Pro class is where all the time attack monsters reside, Top Fuel has dealt with pressure like this before yet with the most competitive field ever seen at the world time attack challenge this would not be an easy task for Nob.
This year Top Fuel was sporting a new aero package designed by Voltex Racing to help win the fight. But was it enough?

They were faster this year but the team missed out on a podium finish by just over a second. Over the last 3 years they have continually improved in time and in speed. Sadly the rest of the competitors have also improved! The car did suffer a few issues over the weekend and we have to wonder if the car had more to give. Looks like we will have to wait for next year.

Nob locked the s2000 in 4th place with a respectable time of just 1:26.8700.

With a name like Kyushu-Danji, you can only guess that this team is also from Japan! The immaculate BNR34 Skyline GT-R snapped necks for all that dared to lay eyes on this albino Godzilla.

Hot off the heels from fast time around Tsukuba Circuit, Kyushu-Danji was here to set records! With a car that just screams race ready and a driving style that resembles Nigel Manson!

Driver Miyata Sumihiko pushed the r34 to its limits setting a time of 1:31.6856 taking 3rd in his class.

Another return entry, the beautiful RE Amemiya RX7. The ex-autosalon demo car turned serious time attack competitor has quickly become a crowd favorite.

This year in the drivers seat was none other than Japanese racing legend Max Orido!!!

Max is considered racing royalty and featured in many tuning video’s since the 1990’s making him quite the celebrity amongst Japanese tuning enthusiasts.
Max planted his right foot and steered the RX7 to it’s fastest time yet at just 1:27.3410!!

If WTAC had a public face it would be this man, Suzuki Under has been competing for 4 years now and has become the absolute crowd favorite and under dog of the event.

Committed is one way to describe Under Suzuki, we have watched his personal creation the “Scorch Racing” S15 transform over the last 4 years with more carbon fibre and aero development than the united states air force.

While he has received a little help along the way Under is still predominantly a privateer entry in the event, no one wants the win more then Under.

This year he pushed harder than ever before and it wasn’t until the final dusk session when the track was at it’s coolest that he managed his best time ever… All with no headlights!!

Under finished 2nd with a blistering 1:24.8800!!! While over the moon with his win, he has said he will not rest until he is number one!! We cannot wait for 2015!

So when the main attractions are the fastest tuned cars in the world what do you do for entertainment between sessions?? Bring a piece of motoring history to the fans of course, the infamous Mazda 767B Le Mans car! The sound is like nothing else 4 rotors of ear shredding glory!!

To see a classic Le Mans car on track was incredible! It is great to know this isn’t just collecting dust in someones garage and still being used to bring joy to the world. The owner/driver was so excited to be sharing his prized possession with the fans, so much so that he was only meant to complete 3-5 laps but instead continued for almost 10!

From seeing this as a matchbox car in our childhood, to seeing it in reality, there are no words to explain how amazing this piece of machinery really is. Everywhere it went the crowd followed! This year Mazda was one of the major sponsors of WTAC 2014 so along with the 787B they also had a good collection of historical and influential Mazda’s both on and off the track.

If the sound of quad rotor wasn’t enough to keep you on the edge of your seat during lunch than some freestyle motorkhana driving from NZ based Alex Kelsey and his V6 powered Peugeot was sure to get the blood pumping.

This car is as custom built as they come. Starting out in a similar fashion to Nigel Petire’s drift ute. Alex’s Peugeot started out life in tiny garage.

The angry little Peugeot features a hand-built Renault Sport V6 engine and spits flames like no tomorrow. What is it with cars from New Zealand shooting flames?!
We would like to thank all our internationally guests for their continued support of our home grown series and again to the whole team behind the World Time Attack Challenge. The greatest event on the Calendar!!
Stay tuned for even more post WTAC goodness.
Until than, full results here.
Thanks for reading,
– Grant.

WTAC '14 :: Fresh Off The Boat

Grant — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 12:36:57 +0000

The 2014 chapter of the world time attack challenge is just 4 days away as we type this, months of careful preparation, shipping and planning is starting to pay off.
The hero cars from the motherland have arrived with just days to spare. All year we have been teased with snippets and photos of some of these cars and now they’re finally on our shores.
We couldn’t wait to get down and see these beautiful machines in the flesh!

These are the real deal, poster cars from any Japanese car lovers wall. The tuning gods of Japan have sent over their finest for an all out GTR battle.

These sort of aero mods help slow cars knock milliseconds off their track times, we can’t wait to see what they’ll do to an R35!

HKS have not yet had a racing entry at WTAC, they sent over their infamous red Evo purely as a static display. Now fans will really get to see what the land of the rising sun has to offer.

Scorch racing has gone from strength to strength now in it’s 3rd year of the WTAC series, still predominately a privateer entry/driver with a little help from sponsors.

Under Suzuki has hand built one of the wildest time attack cars on the planet, with blistering fast track times normally reserved for all wheel drive applications this really is a testament to what can be achieved if you’re as determined as Suzuki San.

Rocket bunny everything!!! Formally of Ben Sopra fame this over the top 180SX is now in the hands of Japanese drifter Daisuke Hasegawa. The look of this car is tame compared to what lies beneath… A HKS built VR38DETT lifted from an R35 GTR!!

Speaking of Rocket Bunny, check out kiwi drifter Mad Mike’s new look.

The car has gone through yet another massive makeover in time for it’s 3rd ever WTAC event.

Mad Mike Whiddet is not know for being quiet and reserved, this car is as loud as it looks. Mike definitely has volume knob on 11 for this one.

Same same but different, another rotary powered beast that will have the crowds on their feet with their fingers in their ears.

Ex- Le Mans racer, the legendary Mazda 767B.

This is as pure as the come, the sounds that exit the exhaust are said to be sweeter than the harp of an angel.

They don’t hit much harder than this… Max Orido, Team RS*R and a 1000 horse power Nissan V6. This is every Option DVD viewers dream live in Sydney Australia!

Some of the local talent came to check out the competition.

HKS!!! We’re going to be pinching ourselves every time this GTR flies past just to make sure we aren’t dreaming.

This must be what it’s like if you watched your parent’s wrap your Christmas presents days before you could open them… Hurry up World Time Attack we want to race now!
Do not miss out on this one, if you haven’t booked your tickets or flights do it now!!
More info – http://www.worldtimeattack.com
Thanks for reading,
Gwyn.
Photos courtesy of Roberto Mocchetti | Full Motion Photography

WTAC 2012 :: By The Numbers

Grant — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 08:29:25 +0000

Sydney Motorsport Park (formerly Eastern Creek Raceway) was once again alive with the sound of rotary, boosted and N/A engines from around Australia and the globe, all battling against the formidable stop watch.

It seems that just like the lap times this year, the last twelve months have gone extremely quickly, since Gripshiftslide.com’s humble beginnings in a hotel just five minutes from the track at last years event.

Along with last years entrants, we too stepped up our WTAC game! While teams added crazy aero and chased lap times in preparation for the two day event, we brought a crew of four up from Melbourne to get as much photo and video content as possible and even run a stall over the entire weekend.
To say it took a toll on us, in between our 9-5’s, would be an understatement!

Now just over a week has passed since the mind blowing racing that took place in Sydney and we can tell you now, the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge did not disappoint one bit!
With a host of high profile teams traveling across the globe to our neck of the woods to battle it out in an almost out of this world experience for any time attack/automotive enthusiast here in Australia.

The sole WTAC NZ entry from last years race was once again the lone NZ car on the track this year. James Winslow drove the Team RevolutioNZ EVO 8 to a very respectable 11th overall with a 1:33.4118!

The pit lane was always alive with energy with teams scurrying around cars and getting ready for each session, Russell Cunningham and his crew worked tirelessly and came home with a 20th position out of 52 cars is no small feet!! Their R32 GTS-T Skyline ran a 1:38.5710!

To the casual spectator it’s is hard to truly appreciate how fast/hard these drivers push their cars around the high speed circuit, as with most motorsports the faster the car the more tame it looks around the track.
It is however a very different story on top of ‘corporate hill’, here nearly every car is on the brink of disaster as they scream up and over the twisting hilly section of the track.
This was a common sight, one wheel losing contact with the track surface!! The BYP Racing Civic won the award for highest wheel lift, we posted a photo on our Facebook page earlier in the week.

The Tilton Interiors Evo mustered a blistering 1:27.1820 on Friday and spent all Saturday chasing their tail hoping to beat their own time, after such a fast time the car began to suffer as Garth Walden pushed on.
During the second Pro Class session on Saturday the Evo had a severe problem with the rear differential and lost all power to the rear wheels!! With the 800hp+ Cosworth 4G63 now powering only the front wheels there was a few hairy moments, the smoke you see is just the front tyres struggling with all power!!
Despite the issues the team’s hot lap from Friday was fast enough to secure 2nd place!

John Boston had his hands full at one stage with the Insight Motorsports Honda S2000, all the stress and hard work was worth it with the team placing 11th in open class! A very quick 1:36.2510!!

The black sheep amongst the other competitors and the crowd favorite… Queensland born Nemo Racing Evo was the dominating force at this years WTAC.
The car is a product of some of the best minds Australia has to offer, top that off with Warren Luff (A V8 super car driver) and you will get a lap time of just 1:25.0200!!!!
Blowing last years Cyber Evo winning lap of 1:28.8510 out of the water!!

Nobuteru Taniguchi had his work cut out for him, piloting both the RE-Amemiya RX-7 and the Topfuel S2000!!
Taniguchi pulled out all the cards and landed 5th and 6th spots in Pro Class, an outstanding effort and only a few hundreds of a second apart!
5th 1:29.0520 – Team Top Fuel Voltex S2000, 6th 1:29.8020 RE Amemiya RX-7.

The Road Track Rally team taped a Victorian license plate to the front of the car after placing 3rd in the clubsprint class, their lap time of 1:40.2530 was good enough to beat half of the open class teams!
We stopped by the RTR pit garage and the team were astonished with how successful their Evo X had been, expect some big things from these guys now they have a taste for poll position!!

One of the oldest Australian time attack cars and still evolving with the sport, the Hi Octane finished in a very respectable 7th 1:30.7732!
Mark berry drove the Hi Octane R34 and R32 in open class, the R32 finished in 6th place thanks to Marks very quick driving. 1:34.6620, only 4 seconds behind the teams R34 GT-R!!

This years open class entries resemble last years pro class cars so we expect some very experimental looking time attack cars next year.
The PSR Tuning Evo 7 came out in 17th spot with a 1:37.2230 lap time!

One of the most exciting sounding cars was the STZ Automotive V8 powered Rx-7, Marty Horvat drove the teams car to 23’rd in the open class with a sub 1:40 lap time… 1:39.9370!

The open class was full of Rx-7’s this year with 7 in total competing in this class!!!

In the 12 months since last years event this Evo X from Uber Motorsport has gone from a demo car sitting in the exhibitor section to a full blown competitive track car.
Adam Quinn drove the car around the track in a not too shabby 1:46.7350!

Anda Suzuki made some fine adjustments to his already capable Scorch Racing S15, sitting in the 3rd place until the Saturdays last Pro class session getting knocked out by MCA Suspension’s S13.
Suzuki managed a 1:28.3290 a full three seconds faster then last year, he and his team are still classed as a privateer entry too!!

While most returning cars shaved a few seconds off their times, the second entry from Tilton Interiors added a few seconds!
The little EG hatch was two seconds slower this year, Still quick by anyone’s standards the team achieved a 1:42.3970.

After teams came to grips with the track after a few sessions, it was time to head in and make some much needed adjustments.

The Top fuel S2000 struggled to stay in a straight line through the high speed sections of the track, this is to be expected when a car produces 700hp and weighs in at just 1010kg!!

It seems the saying ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ has no place at the World Time Attack, the open class saw 1st and second places both go to teams racing Evo 6’s!!
1st – Dominator Evo 1:30.7260, 2nd – Chasers Motorworks 1:33.4840, some super quick times from both teams!

It also goes to show that you don’t need a big budget or crazy aero to turn some heads at WTAC, Nick Adams scored 14th place in clubsprint in the Pulse Racing R33 GTR.
Some seriously good driving for a 1:47.6730 lap time.

The pits were buzzing with confusion and excitement as the Cyber Evo got dropped off at 4pm Friday… Things were not looking good for Tarzan and the team.
The car had an engine failure while being tuned in Sydney, after sourcing an engine to borrow the car was slapped back together and delivered to Eastern Creek as fast as humanly possible!

Now with only an hour worth of Pro class sessions left all eyes were on the defending champion to pull out a miracle and hold onto a two year winning streak…
Sadly this was not Cyber Evo’s years, the borrowed engine blew the main rear seal and began dropping oil the whole way around the track causing massive delays as the clean up crew got to work on the slippery surfaces.

In between sessions you could catch drivers getting some fresh air and sizing up the competition from the pit lane roof area.

The sun started to fade and the last cars pulled in from the final session.

Some photographers set up camp ready for the Tectaloy Drift Comp that follows after the award ceremony, with 100 media personal working around the track you had to find a good spot early to get the best shots!

Meanwhile the rest of the media and crowds huddled around the Advan trailer to hear the final placings, the 2012 winning car from Nemo Racing was also brought out into the crowd for the ceremony .

With all the awards given out, it was time for the big question…

… Which international drivers would return to try and reclaim the top spot at WTAC, Anda Suzuki was smiles all round and said he would do everything e can to come back and compete next year!
Tarzan also said he would not miss it!!
Thanks for reading, we have loads more coverage coming up including the Drift Challenge and more from the pits and show and shine!!
– Gwyn.