Time Attack 2009 - Round 2 - Knockhill

Sunny Scotland for Round 2 of Time Attack at Knockhill.....


But it was not sunny the day before as the rain poured down....

Made for some slightly different photos though...

Pro/Club Pro Class

Taking its second win of the season was the RSE Motorsport Evo 7, with Rory Butcher driving to a 51.6 second laptime

2nd was Steve Gugliemi in the Gugliemi Motorsport Elise with a 51.7

If it had been eligible for points Andrew Gallachers AG Motorsport Focus would have been 3rd with a 51.8

3rd place for Tom Ferrier in the Zen Performance Impreza with a 52.0

4th for Olly Clark in the Roger Clark Motorsport Impreza with 52.2


5th went to Robin Duxbury in the Redbrick Racing Evo VIII with 53.4

Flying high Russell Humphrey in the Interceptor Racing Evo 5 didnt finist, but I couldnt resist including this kerb hopping pic

Club Class

Another win for Shane Smith in the Abbey Motorsport / CAT Driver training R32 GTR

But the top club car for many is Mark Pollards 6R4.com MG Metro 6R4

Round 3 is at Silverstone on May 31st

Video - FIA GT Championship

Found this video to give you an idea of how fast and loud these cars are. All the GT1 cars are V8's, including the Nissan GTR, with the exception of the Maserati MC12 which is a V12

Suggested Volume Setting = 11

Sound like Thunder, go like Lightning - FIA GT Championship

Drifting and Time Attack are good, but the odd time a good old fashioned race can be better, so what could be better than exotic sportscar racing and the FIA GT championship at Silverstone

Nothing like a multi million dollar grid, this is the GT3 cup

Or a multi million dollar pit area, no jeeps pulling trailers here, but plenty of trucks, hospitality areas and motorhomes
And all the action, covered on the big screen

Onto the action and the main race, the RAC Tourist Trophy, won by the K plus K motorsport Saleen S7R

Second was the VitaPhone Racing Maserati MC12

Third was the SRT Corvette C6R

There will be new rules for the GT1 category and there were 2 new cars running to these rules, firstly the awesome Ford GT, build by Matech Racing

and the eagerly awaited Nissan R35 GTR, run by Gigawave Motorsport and Nismo. The GTR retired, but the Fords managed 8th and 10th

The winner in GT2 was the ProSpeed Porsche 997 GT3 RS, seen here behind another rumbling GT1 Corvette. GT2 was Porsche 997 vs Ferrari F430, with a sole Aston Martin

on the grid

and behind the Wiesmann GT MF5 safety car

Also on the bill for the weekend was the FIA European GT3 Championship, both races won by the distinctive Morgan Aero 8 GT3, seen here overtaking a Ferrari F430 Scuderia

The GT3 had the biggest and most varied grid though, aswell as the Morgan and Ferrari it featured:

Lamborghini Gallardo GT3

Audi R8 LMS

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S

Jaguar XKR-S

Ford GT

BMW Alpina B6 GT3

Viper Competition Coupe

Corvette Z06R GT3

Aston Martin DBRS9

But the main attraction was still the GT1 cars for most, late on Saturday evening you could have a good look around them as they left scrutineering

But they belong on the track, making you feel your ear drums vibrate and your stomach rumbling.....

Tsukuba Circuit

One of my last Japan post before the next trip, whenever it will be and a return to Tsukuba Circuit for a small time attack event, quite a busy one too. Tsukuba is quite poor for places to shoot from so this set is similar to the last time I was here. Cheers to Mike Garrett of Auto-Otaku for the lift and hanging with us for the day

This very tidy Nismo kitted 350Z was zooming around

And a nice FD2 Honda Civic type R

Nice Suzuki Swift Sport, I love these

And a very cool and fast....

Honda Fit (aka Jazz) with a J's Racing bodykit, and Id say a few J's bits underneath too

Only in Japan would you find a Ford Ka running on RS watanabe wheels and at a trackday too...

You cant escape, AE86's are still everywhere

And much rarer stuff like this Z31 300ZX

Most R35's I have seen so far have been parked up, or being wafted gently around - but not this 1, the first time Ive seen a R35 get some proper right foot action, and this 1 had a rear wing, different wheels, a Cobb accessport ECU and a centre exit exhaust among other things

Needless to say it tore up the track, overtaking everything and proved to me that the GTR is a fast car, and one that is even faster with some tuning applied