Time Attack Round 6 - The Final

Seems I never have the time to update this blog, even though Im always promising I will!!

The final of Time Attack 2008 took place at Snetterton circuit

A morning fog held up proceedings for 2 hours so 1 less session and a lot less photos taken, oh well at least it wasnt raining

Pro Class

Well someone had to win and today for the 4th time in the season and sealing the 2008 Time Attack championship was Olly Clark in the Roger Clark Motorsport Subaru Impreza 'Gobstopper' with an amazing 1.09.8 - 2 seconds faster than the BTCC lap record

2nd was Steve Gugliemi in the Gugliemi Motorsport Lotus Elise 'Batmobile' with 1.10.4

An extremely committed drive from Jamie Stanley in the RC Developments Evo 6 getting 3rd with a 1.12.2. Not long after this event, RC Developments ceased trading

Simon Norris in the Norris Designs Evo 9GT was 4th with 1.14.2

Fifth was former BTCC driver James Kaye in the Auto Ergonomics Evo 8 with 1.14.4

Club Class
2007 Club Champion Kev Atkins in the MA Developments Evo 6 had his first win of the year with a 1.14.7

Second was Andy Forrest in the Lateral Perfomance Impreza with a 1.15.8

Third was Sam Kerr in the Performance Subaru Impreza with a 1.16.0

Fourth was Craig Winstaley in his Chevy V8 power Mazda RX7, with 1.16.5 which was also the top normally aspirated time



So a rather comprehensive overall win for the Roger Clark team, 4 wins, and 2 podiums, the team have raised the bar in both terms of performance and car preparation, and it will be interesting to see if anyone can equal or better their results in 2009

And the winner is:

Roger Clark Motorsport Time Attack PRO Winner 2008 from Clashproduction on Vimeo.

Roger Clark Motorsport have won the 2008 Time Attack Championship. Full Round 6 review and final thoughts soon....

Crash......

It was going to happen sooner or later and it did at EDC Round 5 at Silverstone :( Thankfully there were no injuries

BIG DRIFT CRASH
Uploaded by darkandier

Time Attack 2008 Round 5 - Brands Hatch

Back to probably my favourite circuit of 2007 - Brands Hatch in Kent for Round 5 of Time Attack. Perfect weather made for perfect conditions

Club Class
Its that man again! Kev Horsley in the Scoobyclinic supported Impreza secured the forced induction championship with his 5th sucessive win out of 5 rounds, an impressive acheivement! His 52.24 lap was good considering the car was on borrowed time, expecting his engine to blow

Jeff Mileham in the quiet but quick TVR Tuscan took the normally aspirated class with a 54.06 lap 54.061

Gordon Wright trued his 'weekend driver' C5 Corvette instead of the GTS Skyline he normally uses, it looked sweet ontrack

Barrie Rycroft in the DCY Evo 7 took 2nd in club forced induction with 52.53

You will never keep the GTR's away from Time Attack!

Sam Kerr and the Performance Subaru Impreza took 3rd place in club forced induction with a time of 53.03

Pro Class

Taking its first win of the 2008 season was the Impreza of Zen Performance, driven by Phil Glew, running on biofuel, beating its 2007 time and also the BTCC lap record with a 48.90 lap

Second place was the Elise 'Batmobile' of Gugliemi Motorsport, driven by Steve Gugliemi with a 49.25 second lap

All the way down in third place was Olly Clark in the Roger Clark Motorsport Subaru Impreza with a 49.81 lap. Olly more or less has the 2008 championship in the bag

The RSE Motorsport Evo 7 driven by Chris Ward was the second fastest in the morning warmup but sadly retired after it, a shame as the car was quick until its retirement

Bob Parker in the GBH Motorsport Nissan S14.5 has been improving the entire season with a true 'never say die' approach to Time Attack

Crazy Jamie Stanley brought more red mist behind the wheel of the orange RC Developments Evo who got 5th with a 52.008...
but for once was outclassed by Clive Seddon in the yellow RC car who got 4th with 51.76, here seen overtaking Ron Kiddel in the RK Tuning R32 GTR, who got 6th with 53.34

The final will be at Snetterton as part of the Modified Live! show on October 12th

Silverstone Classic

Im not purely interested in tuned cars or Time Attack and Drift events. I was always was and will be a motorsport fan and every now and again the chance arises to take in some proper motorsport, in this case the Silverstone Classic event

The main reason I went was to see the Group C Sportscar racing. Ive been a big fan of Group C since the mid 1980's, and despite having seen many of the cars on display and doing demonstration runs, Id never seen them race, so with 2 races over the weekend, finally I was given the oppurtunity to see them ontrack together

A few more Group C pit photos:
Sauber Mercedes C9, 1989 Le Mans winner, 1989 World Sportscar Championship winner with 5 wins and racing land speed world speed record of 407Km/h (252mph) at Le Mans during the same year,a record that still stands today. Unfortunatley this car was invlved in an accident during the first Group C race of the weekend and would compete no further. Such is racing!

Porsche 962C, 1988 Le Mans Porsche works team. This car was on display and did not race

Nissan RC90-CK, 1993 All Japan Sports Racing Prototype Championship car, 1 of the fastest and most developed Group C cars ever. It finished 3rd in the sprint race, and 4th in the feature race and recorded the fastest lap of the feature

Nissan VRH35Z, twin turbo 3.5 litre V8 with a magnesium block. The car still runs on DOS for its engine management, the maps are switched by changing circuit boards as opposed to flicking a switch on more modern engine management, 800bhp race map or 1200bhp qualifying map. More Group C later...

Got Ferrari? 6 F40's,a F50 and an Enzo, there were over 150 Ferraris grouped together!

A rallying tradition - a sideways Mk2 Escort

Group B Audi Quattro S1 launching.....

and rebounding after landing,

Audi Sport Quattro S1 flaming away



and did I mention the noise of the Audis, 5 cylinder turbo heaven. Certainly not the best Group B car there ever was but the most evil looking and sounding, that means more to some people including myself.

Ford RS200, probably the best looking Group B rallycar
and the Peugeot 205 T16, probably the most sucessful Group B rallycar ever with 2 world titles, 1985 and 1986

Historic F1 cars competing both for the FIA Historic F1 championship and for the James Hunt Memorial trophy. I could easily talk about these cars for a long time, but late 1960's-early 1980's F1 cars are easily the loudest and among the fastest racing cars Ive experianced in my life. Its rare to feel your inner eardrums vibrating!

World Sportscar Masters 1963-1975 Sportscars racing for the Denny Hulme memorial trophy, Lola T210 leads Lola T70 and Ford F3L

Lola T70,Chevron B16 x 3

Going back now to the Group C cars, and the crash that claimed the Sauber, such a shame, but the car will return. This video gives you an idea of how fast these cars are:



An amazing spectacle, one that I had waited a long time to see, a reminder of most of the 1980's and early 90's Le Mans and the World Sportscar Championship, for many years Le Mans was a round of the WSC and other racing such as IMSA in America and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. Cars from all 3 series took part in the weekends racing

The sound of the 7 litre V12 engined Silk Cut Jaguars was amazing, the Nissan R90 was quiet but very fast

The Chevrolet V8 powered Spice SE GTP which won the The ACO Plate Trophy race, a 30 min sprint race

The Nissan RC90-CK ontrack, not much of a V8 roar from it, more the whistle off the turbos

For many though, myself included the quintessential Group C car is still the Porsche 962, 2 are seen on the left in the 2nd Group C race, the David Leslie Memorial trophy, in memory of David a well known Group C driver who was tragically killed in an air accident earlier this year

The most distinctive sounding car on the Group C grid, Mazda 757 with N/A 20B triple rotor engine, which generates a lot of flames

Another video

1990 Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-11

and the winner of the David Leslie memorial trophy race, Nissan R90-CK. A shallower photo angle will be used next time! Hopefully I will visit another historic motorsport meeting this year, these are so laid and relaxed back compared to more modern events!