world time attack – Gripshiftslide

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

Video :: World Time Attack Challenge 2013

Grant — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 21:45:14 +0000

World Time Attack Challenge 2013 from grip shift slide on Vimeo.

World Time Attack Challenge is the biggest event on our calendar and also the event that inspired this website. Please enjoy our quick round up of all the action of the World Time Attack Challenge 2013.

Jason Ferron :: Choc Mint R31 Drifter

Grant — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 08:49:18 +0000

Jason Ferron may not be a name you know however we’re pretty sure you will remember his bright yellow R31 V8 drift chariot…
The car has now undergone a fresh makeover just in time for WTAC and Jason is set to leave his mark on Sydney Motorsport Park this week.

Off the back of his 2nd place win for the 2013 Vicdrift/Road King Chassis championship, Jason hasn’t rested. Instead he has been spending the last four weeks refreshing his competition winning R31 ready for the 2014 drift season and WTAC team drift competition.

In just three short years, Jason has taken to the sport of drifting like a fish to water.
Starting at the age of 20 with a close to stock R31 Skyline and as Jason improved, so did the car. It’s now sporting a 5.7 litre V8 engine, tuned to a healthy 273rwkw thanks to the team at Chequered Tuning.

“Not another V8 swapped Nissan?!” While many argue against such a conversion, you cannot argue with the results! With a majority of the professional drift field running big powerful V8 motors, it can be an expensive path to try and match their performance with a smaller capacity engine.

At the age of just 23, Jason is still a privateer, so budgets are strict to ensure he can keep driving regularly and as the saying goes ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’. The choice to swap in the late model V8 motor was a no brainer and Jason hasn’t looked back since with numerous wins under his belt.

The most noticeable change to the Skyline has been the colour change from the iconic bright yellow to this very minty fresh blue! The team drift competition at WTAC this week will be the debut event for the freshly made over car.
All the paint work was carried out by HG Autobody and photos just don’t do it justice!

Now with his sights on the national Australian Drifting Grand Prix series next year, Jason has reached out to business small or large to help him realise his dreams.

Drifting is an expensive sport it seems – with 3 laps on a practice day using up a set of tyres!!

Thankfully local tyre shop and experts on all things that grip, shift or slide, Inverse Tyres help ease the damage caused to Jason’s wallet after each and every lap.

Jason’s tyres of choice have been a mix between Achilles 123’s and Nankang NS-2R’s. When it is just for fun though, the R31 Skyline slides on a set of Nexen 600 for practice days.

Steering the 3 piece Heart Racing mesh wheels are a set of S13 JDI Fabrication knuckles, a popular choice by the vast majority of local drifters.

The interior of this R31 is a simple affair. You won’t see any flashy colours, gauges or other distracting elements.
A Cams approved half cage, bucket seats and a Nardi steering wheel is all that is needed to complete this look.

Jason’s simple setup has proven to be a success, with reliable power up front, a host of suspension mods and a hydraulic handbrake taking care of the rear.

Jason and his R31 have been on an incredible journey so far and the future is looking bright with WTAC’s team drift challenge this week and then the 2014 ADGP series next year.

We have no doubt that with a few more stickers added to his doors we may just see Jason at the pointy end of the ADGP field next year! If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor then do not hesitate to get in contact.

The GSS team will be following Jason and his minty R31 and will no doubt be keeping you guys up to date throughout all the competitions he attends. Between the updates on our page, you can keep up with all the latest by following Jason on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/jasonferrondrift
Thanks for reading,
Gwyn.

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.

WTAC :: A Sign Of Things To Come

Grant — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 16:21:12 +0000

It’s now 2am Friday, day one of the WTAC is about to kick off in just a few short hours!

Instead of sleeping we decided to give you a glimpse of the action about to unfold at the newly renamed Sydney Motorsport Park (Formally Eastern Creek Raceway)

In it’s third year the World Time Attack Challenge is now the biggest event of it’s kind, with a huge field of competitors traveling from the corners of the globe we have seen it gain momentum each year stride after stride.

Walking around the pits during the practice day we were blown away with the amount of fine tuning these cars have seen in the last 12 months.

Tuning has gone on to a a whole new level nearly every part being replaced with lighter, stronger and adjustable parts… No bolt is left unturned!!

There is plenty of familiar faces amongst the teams competing this year, with crowd favorite and reigning champion two years running. Team Cyber Evo has striped the car down and built from the ground up again!
Will it be enough to shave another second of their incredible 1.28.85 lap from last years event?

Scorch Racing driver/owner “UNDER” Suzuki loves the feeling of the wind in his hair, rather than walking around the pits he took to his push bike to get about.

Top Fuel’s S2000 is tipped to be a podium finisher this year, we are keeping a close eye on this car!

Trade stands are almost ready for the expected crowd, don’t forget to check out our stall and say hello.

NZ has once again invaded the creek and brought with them Redbull drifter Mad Mike and his Formula D RX8.

The car is a very competitive purpose built drifter and may give Mike the upper hand with some of the other big names in the drift challange.

Aside from driving really, really fast. Tarazan Yomada has a great taste in clothes and eagerly snapped up one of our latest addition to the GSS line up of merch.
If we are sold out… Blame this guy!

The drifters seem to be getting a lot more track time this year, with the amount of drivers nearly double compared to last years event. This will be the biggest drift show of the year!!
There is also a large sign displaying the entry speed of each driver coming into the first turn, so far the highest number on the board was 161kph and belonged to Tony Harrison in the High Torque Performance 180SX!

We will leave you with a handful of images to wet your taste buds, this is the event of the year.
Call in sick, get in the car and get to Sydney and catch the action.
For those who cannot make it, check our Facebook page for live updates over the two days.

Thanks for reading,
– Team GSS.

World Time Attack 2011 :: Roundup

Grant — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:35:24 +0000

That’s right it’s a moving picture! this is just a quick montage of the sights and sounds of WTAC. -grant