World Time Attack Challenge

After a day riddled with catastrophe, the competition of Day 2 had a lot riding on it. Would the CyberEVO and Hi Octane R34 be fixed in time? Could the 1:32.248 set early on by Sierra-Sierra hold up as the fastest lap with possible rain showers looming for the next day? A showdown of epic proportions was brewing.

Thick cumulus clouds were looming in the early morning, but not the kind that looked like they would bring rain - those were seen far away. The teams knew that weather and track temperature could be a detrimental factor to them, so there was no holding back. It was do-or-die time.

After fixing the engine and trucking the CyberEVO over to Haltech's HQ, where it received a late-night tuning session, it was finally running and ready to show the world what it was made of. True to its heritage, the CyberEVO proved why it's Japan's quickest time attack car and shattered not only the fastest time so far but also the V-8 supercar track record with a 1:30.899 in the first session.

Despite the valiant efforts of Sierra-Sierra's driver David Empringham, who improved the EVO's fastest lap to 1:31.884, he was still 1 second off the CyberEVO's pace, a gap that would be nearly impossible to make up. The Tomei/Cusco Impreza also improved its lap time to a 1:31.901, coming within 0.017 seconds of the Sierra-Sierra car.

Alas, there was no stopping the CyberEVO as it managed to further gap the competition with a 1:30.587, the event's fastest lap time, to be crowned the champion of all time attack cars and claiming Japan the victor over the U.S. and Australia. Sierra-Sierra would place second and Tomei/Cusco third. A surprising fourth would go to the Australian Prep'd Motorsport team driving a GT3 Lotus Elise race car with a time of 1:32.273. The Pan Speed RX-7 ran a 1:32.454 and the other rotary in the field, the R-Magic FD, was right behind it in sixth with a 1:33.505. Mechanical problems all weekend hindered the Hi Octane R34 from a lap time any higher than 1:34.109, 3.5 seconds back of the winning time.

With the first World Time Attack Challenge in the record books and Japan emerging as the champion, one can only expect the losing countries will go back to the drawing board and emerge with faster machines for next year.

It should be noted that with this being the first event of its kind, regulations were rather lax because every country has its own safety standards. While a fuel cell riding shotgun, as found in the R-Magic RX-7, may pass tech in Japan, it certainly won't here in the U.S. (or Australia, for that matter). It will be interesting to see if there are any restrictions made for next year. More importantly, the European time attack contingent needs to make an appearance and stake their claims amongst the world's elite. After all, it's a matter of national pride.

The Other Time Attack
While the world's fastest pro time attack cars were battling it out, Australia's top Open and Club Sprint class time attack vehicles were also having quite a battle themselves. From dedicated race cars to legit street vehicles, the variety was astounding.

No Go, More Show
When it was time to get away from the smell of spent rubber and exhaust gases, the car show portion of the World Time Attack Challenge provided a breath of fresh air and a glimpse into the Australian tuning scene.