What a year it's been, the 2009 Time Attack season has come to an end, part of the Modified Live show run in tandem with the Need for Speed European Drift championship. It was a capacity crowd and fine weather - until it really mattered - bringing the unpredictable nature of all motorsports into Time Attack.
The weather was dry if windy for the entire day, until approximatley 3 minutes into the SuperBattle when a light drizzle began to fall. Anyone who was watching last weekend's FIA GT3 at Paul Ricard will know what effect a light sprinkling of rain has when cars are running with cold dry tyres - the track is transformed into an ice rink,with little to zero grip. So for the 2 minutes when the track was dry it was a sudden rush to get a quick time in with almost every car making a valiant effort to get that 1 fast time in before pitting for wet tyres. Some chose to wait for the light shower to pass, but they lost out as the chequered flag dropped
The winner of the final was Phil Glew in the Zen Impreza with a time of 1.11.03 - every Superbattle Phil has entered he has won - surely a unique record.
Setting a faster time than Glew with a 1.10.3 was Andy Gallacher in his AG Motorsport Ford Focus - the sole Prototype class car, but ineligable to score points. The sleek bodywork hides a partially spaceframed chassis along with a 650bhp+ Cosworth engine and 4wd transmission. On a wet test track this car was recorded setting a 0-60 time of 2.7 seconds and a 0-100 of 5.4....
Second place was Steve Gugliemi in his Lotus Elise setting a 1.11.8, the carbon clad, nitrous, turbocharged monster being the only car to come close to Glew in the final.
Third place and top ClubPro runner,James Nicholls with a 1.12.3, who took the full benefit of the pending shower and pushed hard to record his best overall result of the year, which also sealed him the ClubPro championship
Gareth Lloyd was next in the sister car to Nicholls with 1.12.5. This car is running an experimental twin turbo setup with close to 900bhp along with its unique suspension system (front struts front/rear)
Adrian Smith had another good day in the Fensport Celica, with a 3S-GTE transplant and 4wd transmission giving him a 1.14.9 laptime
Jonathan Faull was the ClubPro class 'Mr Consistent' of 2009 his 1.15.7 lap earned him 2nd in ClubPro and 3rd overall in that class in 2009
John Stevenson took the 3rd ClubPro podium position with a 1.16.07
The sole openwheel class car of Duncan Cowper, a Dax Rush with a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine, with a 1980's F1 turbocharger bolted to the side. The turbo is only running 1.1 bar these days but ran as high as 4 bar for F1 qualifying duties. Duncan stayed out the longest as the drizzle fell trying in vain to improve his time of 1.16.5 but alas only good enough for 9th overall, the laggy turbo only making proper boost from 4-11,000 revs - so this car at least goes all the way to 11
Remember I said almost every car went for a hot lap right at the start? One didnt and it was this man, Olly Clark, who held back at the start and paid the price with a 1.22 laptime. He could afford to be slow though as he has sealed the 2009 overall and pro class championship, along with some great driving during the day. Rumour in the pits is, this is the last time that the Gobstopper will be seen in action so it was a sad but dignified end to the most uncompromising Impreza ever built
The 2009 Time Attack season is complete and despite a lot of improvments to the cars and drivers it was the defending champion that once again took the laurels. the rumoured sabbatical of Roger Clark Motorsport means that someone else will be faster in 2010, but without the series most popular car who will step up to the mantle? Theres a healthy queue begining to form already and April 2010 will arrive faster than most think...
-Ed Fahey
Time Attack Website
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