Aussies dominate Time Attack 2012

The US Ark Design team were non-starters after their car was shipped to the wrong country(!), but the Japanese squads, including Panspeed, RE Amemiya and last year's WTAC champs, CyberEvo, were all expected to do well at the event.

Strong winds throughout the weekend made things difficult for drivers, but did not hold back spectator numbers or prevent amazing results from being achieved on the track. In addition to the Pro class triumph, Australian entrants also took first place in the Open and Clubsprint classes.

Warren Luff drove the Queensland-based Nemo Racing Mitsubishi Evolution VII to the number one spot in the Pro class, with his best lap time of 1.25.0200 on the Saturday creating Australian motorsport history.

Luff's lap time undercuts the fastest ever V8 Supercar lap of Sydney Motorsport Park by over four seconds. It is the fastest ever WTAC lap, possibly the fastest lap in a tin-top car, and it was done on street-legal Hankook Ventus TD tyres.

Nemo Racing manager and driver Chris Eaton looked relaxed on the Friday after Luff pulled a time of 1.25.7400. After this, his team could have packed up and gone home and still won the event outright.

"We'd probably better not go too fast, they might not allow us back next year," said Eaton.
"The car just loves the flowing corners of this course, and we'll just keep getting faster."

The Nemo Evo was not the only car achieving incredible times, with the ACT-based Tilton Interiors Mitsubishi Evolution, piloted to second position by Garth Walden, also impressive. The best lap of 1.27.1820 showed that tweaks to the Tilton car, including the addition of a Cosworth-spec engine and the switch to Hankook tyres, had paid off.

In third position the MCA Suspension Silvia S13 from Queensland, driven by Kiwi Earl Bamber, showed what can be done with good race car engineering know-how and what Bamber described as "an amazing team effort".

"We didn't have a huge budget, just the knowledge of how to do things right and where to focus our effort," said MCA team co-manager Joshua Coote.

The MCA Silvia's best time of 1:27.8080 is even more impressive with the knowledge that its rear-drive platform was up against numerous four-wheel-drive competitors, and that it wasn't in top mechanical condition by the time it achieved its best result.

Best-placed of the international entries was a fourth for Scorch Racing's 'Under' Suzuki, with a best lap of 1:28.3290. Team Top Fuel/Voltex (Japan) and RE Amemiya (Japan) finished fifth and sixth respectively. CycberEvo had a disastrous WTAC, blowing an engine before they could record a lap.

All three of the Pro class podium placegetters were shod with Hankook tyres, which was no doubt a little embarrasing for WTAC 2012 sponsors, Yokohama!

OPEN
In the Open class, the result of Steve Glenney in the Dominator Mitsubishi Evolution from Queensland was also an eye-opener. Glenney's lap time of 1:30.7260 was good enough to have put them into seventh place in the Pro class. Team manager James Willard says that the result came from thorough preparation, and because he chose to "put the absolute best of everything out there" into the car.

CLUBSPRINT
The Clubsprint class was won by Neville Scott in the Scorpion Subaru WRX, which came up from eighth position in 2011 to give a time of 1:38.8600. This result was achieved on Hankook R-S3 tyres which are designed for street use.

With three out of three on the podium in Pro class and two out of three in the Open class, the continued dominance of WTAC by Hankook-tyred cars was obvious for 2012. Hankook marketing manager William Ng was happy with the results achieved by Hankook-shod entrants (3 podiums in Pro class, 2 in Open, 1 in Clubsprint) without being surprised by them.

"It's amazing to see these sort of times being achieved on street legal Hankook tyres that anyone can buy," said Ng.
"The feedback on the tyre has been nothing short of spectacular. Hankook is just happy to provide the right tools to the teams so they can achieve results."

Following an engine blowup from CyberEvo, Japan clawed back some pride when Team Orange won the Tectaloy International Drift Challenge. Team Orange's Naoto Suenaga beat Australia's Tony Harrison in the final, while Leighton Fine prevailed over Luke Fink in the runoff for the final podium place.

Images: Hankook