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.



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.



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.



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.



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.



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”.



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!



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.



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.