Records, triumphs and heartbreaks WTAC 15

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Lap records, extreme weather, triumphs and heartbreaks, this year’s WTAC had it all. It’s almost customary that each year we experience some type of weather anomaly at WTAC. We’ve had extreme cold, gale force winds, extreme heat, bush fires and this year we can add torrential downpours to the list.

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In fact, this year’s weather provided two extremes, from an exceptionally hot Friday (36C) to a violent, though fortunately short, torrential rain on Saturday. The event certainly tested the endurance of all teams, with only the strongest ones emerging through this emotional roller coaster in tact.

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Track temperature peaked at 55.5C on Friday which was not ideal for highly tuned, high revving engines. The effects of the heat wave were immediately evident with many cars suffering with heat-related issues. Spectators were not immune either, many seeking refuge in the shaded areas and in the grand stand. The heat was so intense it even melted some upload link components causing outages during our Friday Live Stream broadcast.

Records

There is no question Tilton went into this year’s event as favourites. Though the gap between them and the competition had narrowed down considerably, the team’s experience and the ability to pull it all together when it counted put them ahead of other teams in all our online polls.

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Garth made his intentions clear by setting the pace during the Friday morning session clocking in a 1:25.09 lap. Slower than his 2014 record but enough to secure him a spot at the top of the leader board.

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With the heat easing on Saturday and temperature dropping rapidly during the day Tilton were out to set their fastest time. Garth managed to shave off a one-hundredth of a second in the morning session but the breakthrough came in the last PRO session on Saturday afternoon.

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With the MCA / Shane Van Gisbergen team getting dangerously close to them, Tilton set their car to “full attack” mode. Whatever instructions were given to Garth combined with changes made to the car between session, it all came together as Garth pulled out what can only be described as “one perfect lap”.

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The new lap time 1:23.77 is not only a new WTAC and SMSP lap record, it’s also a whopping 1.1 second faster than last year’s best! Three track lap records, three WTAC titles, three incredible wins. Tilton Interiors – you’ve done it!

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In the capable hands of Shane Van Gisbergen, MCA’s Hammerhead improved its 2014 PB by half a second. Not enough to challenge Tilton, but good enough for the second outright at the event and the fastest RWD lap at WTAC.

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Not many people expected a new lap record to be set in the heavily restricted Clubsprint Class but Daniel Meredith proved the class can still go faster with an amazing time of 1:39.4470. The fact that he did that time in a FWD Honda Civic is even more incredible.

Triumphs

We have suspected for a while that Open Class may be the most interesting class to watch, but we could have never guessed the final podium placings. Much like in Clubsprint, a Honda has caused a major upset by dethroning the seemingly unstoppable Powertune R34 and keeping RevZone Evo at bay by the narrowest of margins.

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With Adam Casmiri behind the wheel, the JDM Yard Civic was not only quick but super consistent, running a string of low 1:30s laps, culminating in a winning 1:30.7010 time.

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Snapping at his heels was Tarzan Yamada in the RevZone Evo. How close behind? One hundredth of a second. That is a narrower margin than the hair separating Tilton and Suzuki in 2014.

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Things didn’t go according to plan for Dean Lillie, Steve Ka and the Powertune team this year. Just like in any form of motorsport despite all the testing and preparation you need a little bit of luck. Unfortunately lady luck looked the other way. So why are we listing this team under our “Triumphs” headline? It’s quite simple really. Lillie set his time during the hottest session of the event, in the most demanding environment.

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The car then suffered fatal engine failure and did not compete on Saturday when all other front runners were setting their fastest laps in much more favourable conditions. Despite that, Lillie’s Friday lap was still fast enough to secure him a place on the podium and that counts as a triumph in our books.

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Mick Sigsworth’s campaign was not all smooth sailing either. Mick struggled on Friday clocking in at 1:29, 1:30 and 1:27. Not slow by any means but well off his 2014 best.

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Chris Alexander on the other hand was well down on his 2014 times, shaving 4 seconds off his last year’s best. Chris shot to the top of the leader board with a 1:28.279. He wasn’t able to better this time but clocked in a series of low 1:29s.

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Feeling the pressure, Mick responded in the way everyone expected him to, by going out and logging in a 1:27.74 which put him back in the lead. He stayed out and had one final shot stopping the clocks at 1:25.75. His final time was marginally slower than his 2014 best of 1:25.27 but enough to secure the top spot in Pro Am.

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This was the very first WTAC for our guests from New Zealand – 3 Rotor Racing and their Mazda RX7FD. While they missed on the podium their performance and consistency is admirable. Starting with 1:34.59 they progressively dropped their times to log in a 1:32.81 in their final session.

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It’s also worth mentioning they did this while also managing to fix Rod Millen’s Celica after it suffered a serious diff damage on Friday. Legends!

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The RP968 Porsche made it’s WTAC debut in a spectacular fashion. Not unlike many of the seasoned time attack vetrans, the RP968 guys suffered from technical difficulties early on but managed to overcome them and ended their very first WTAC in a 5th outright position with a very quick 1:26.80.

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This “Triumphs” section would not be complete without mentioning LYFE Motorsport. The guys from Salt Lake City in Utah did it the hard way. Worked tirelessly to get the car ready for testing. Suffered numerous teething issues during practice, fixed them all only to suffer a fatal engine failure on Friday. Sourced a replacement engine (thumbs up to Brian Bugh for donating an R35 GTR motor) and worked overnight to have the car ready for the first morning session.

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They started with 1:34.31 and got the lap times progressively down to finally arrive at 1:32.4050. While this lap time may not look comparable with Tilton’s time it’s worth noting that is the fastest Pro Class R35 time ever recorded at WTAC, and it was done with a stock motor! In our books that’s a win.

Heartbreaks

When we saw Under Suzuki pull over on Saturday morning with smoke coming out from his engine, we were, as most of the spectators, on the verge of tearing up.

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Like LYFE, Suzuki had engine troubles on Friday but after setting 1:25.8476 he was well within the ball park (remember Tilton’s best at that time was 1:25.09). Suzuki-san worked through the night to replace the engine and was out on his warm up lap on Saturday when disaster struck.

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Another engine failure prematurely ended Suzuki’s dream of winning WTAC though the time he set on Friday secured him a place on the podium.

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As the event drew to a close we caught up with Andrew Brilliant and asked him if the Scorch S15 (had it not been out of action) was capable of matching Tilton’s new record. “Definitely,” he replied, “it was built to do those lap times. And lower!”

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Another victim of WTAC’s demanding conditions was Andy Forrest whose car suffered gearbox failure on Friday and despite everyone’s best efforts we were not able to get the car back on track for Saturday. Andy’s WRX spent the event on display at the Whiteline tent.

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Last but not least is the SVA Imports. With a lap time of 1:29.9280 run with a very conservative setup, Gareth Lloyd was in with a shot at the podium at the very least. The car went out on Saturday with the NOS and the boost turned up ready to shave some seconds off and have a good crack at getting into the top three.

The very next thing everyone saw was the immaculate white Evo VI parked on the side of the track with flames bellowing from the engine bay. Gareth Lloyd managed to put the fire out but by then the damage was done and SVA’s chances of standing at the WTAC podium crushed.

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WTAC is a tough event that places extraordinary demands on the drivers, the crew and their machines. While time attack racing is not classified as an “endurance” race, endurance is exactly what the teams need to survive and succeed.

The passion, dedication, perseverance and the sheer staying power displayed by the WTAC teams this year is nothing short of amazing. And for that, we salute you!

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