333pg333

Thought I'd do a X post from the Racing forums. Some of this is past tense as the event has come and gone last weekend. Fun to compete and soak up the atmosphere with some very fast cars from the UK, Europe, Japan, NZ and here.
Unfortunately we had to retire half way through when 2 of the 4 bolts on the hotside cover came loose and the impellor ground it's way into the housing and seiezed! We didn't get the best time out of the car but considering we only had it back on the track a matter of weeks ago, it was still a good result.

World Time Attack Challenge facebook page. http://preview.tinyurl.com/mbagz2l




We are entered in an event down here called World Time Attack.
http://www.worldtimeattack.com/

It is the largest event of this kind on the planet. While I realise that this is not true door to door racing, it is still racing in the manner that e.g. Hill Climbs are considered racing. Rather than bang fenders, you race against the clock. The top cars in this field are VERY fast. They would leave a Cup car in their dust and would also trounce an Aussie SuperCar V8 in qualifying trim on sticky slicks. These TA cars are only permitted to run on Yokohama AO50 R spec rubber to add to the mix!

For some reason only known to the organisers there is a rule setup that bans any rear engine car with 6 cylinders or more. So I take this as a form of inverted snobbery and perhaps when they first started this event down here in 2007, they were genuinely nervous about being beaten up by Cup Cars and other 911 variants. However now there would be no contest unless someone built a ground up forced induction Cup Car. It's a pity that this isn't allowed and perhaps it will be in the future. For now we have the sole Porsche entrant throughout the history of this event.

We have only just got the car ready a few weeks ago and have done 2 shakedowns thus far. The car has proven to be quite a bit faster straight out of the box than we were expecting and you can tell that the pit telegraph has spread the word. What is essentially a field that is 99.9% Evos, Nissan GTR's, Sylvias, RX7's, WRX's etc has been surprised to see this car suddenly emerge from their left field and perform very well so far. As this is our first real crack at this event we didn't expect to be competitive. The idea was to soak up the atmosphere and have some fun doing it. There are 4 classes and we're in the 3rd fastest. The fastest of the cars in our class should be down right around the 1:30 mark which is equivalent to a Pro in a well prepared 997 Cup Car. Open class can't have pro drivers in there either. I am hopeful that we might get down somewhere between the 1:30 and 1:35 mark. As we haven't tested on this track with the car we don't really know. They seemed to think our car will be one to watch out of the 40 cars in our class. We will be giving away 400+ hp, don't have ABS, don't have fancy billet Sequential gearboxes, don't have all wheel drive, don't even have a diffuser...but we will be having fun!
We currently have been testing at about 500bhp. We have approx 575bhp available and the car weighs just over 2500lbs with fuel. Quite swift it is.

http://www.worldtimeattack.com/index...en-class-2013/

The event is attended by many thousands of spectators who are allowed full pit access and also can peruse the vendor exhibits. While not shown on TV (yet) the live results broadcast on their website will be followed by quite possibly hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide. So while this format is in it's infancy it is growing a large band of loyal and enthusiastic fans. Sure, it's JDM-centric but a lot of time and money is being put into some of these cars and with more relaxed rules in some cases they're proving to be very fast and interesting cars.

What is also a bit of fun is that the 944 doesn't have much of a profile down here, let alone something as modified as ours. The organisers and media have taken a shine to this car and it will appear in magazines and online sites such as Speed Hunters. Funny when you see how they are viewed as the poor cousin in the Porsche community. Nevertheless, we hope to represent Porsche with some pride and hope that the rules change soon to allow all cars including rear engine Porsches. I know this format isn't for everyone and won't get much traction in here, but it was suggested I post a thread just the same. :-)

333pg333

Some video and pics.

Incar footage was prior to the event during a test day. The car was shared between me and the builder. In fact it was mostly Paul who drove it due to his better skill / faster times. He won our National Kart titles 3 times and also went to the World Titles when he was younger...so I'm happy that he was able to turn some very good times. This video was on scrubbed medium R specs and he does quite a few 1:35 laps with ease. This is a very good time at this track and the last time I drove the car back in 2010 at speed, I did a 1:45 which was then a class record in the club. So clearly talent and modifications have shown to work!


From outside the car. This was during the event. When you run on the Soft compound R spec tyre you only get 1-2 hotlaps. Then you either have to come in or try and cool them down. So you can see him cruising at some points. However you can also see him get balked twice on the last turns before the main straight. The dash display was showing he was on target for a 1:34.2 when that white Evo blocked him. This would have won us fastest RWD car in Open class. Wound up with a 1:35 flat. Among balking, oil spills and quite a few Red flags it was hard to get many clear laps but it’s just the luck of the draw.

333pg333

Finally, a few pics of the car during the event. Note that in some of the action shots how we are still getting rear squat and that’s with 1486lb rear springs!! Clearly the wing is providing a lot of downforce and the motor has decent grunt to create the squat. Interesting to see though.

As this event is primarily a JDM centric we were viewed as an Oddball entry…but so many fans, photograpers and competitors came in and gave positive feedback. Nice to receive that for all the hard work that has gone into the build.

David Floyd

Bad A$$

blown 944

Made those cars look downright SLOW!!

What was the overall fastest lap?

I also don't understand how it is a timed event with other cars running. They have to know that would mess up many times..

OzJustin

Patrick - I've been waiting for this thread! You've definately done the marque proud. I was watching the website timing & saw that you were 2nd in class after day 1 and only a few tenths off the lead. Have to admit it got me a little excited seeing you take it to them. It's sad to hear the turbo trouble held you back. Maybe next year with some more testing!

Blown 944 - The outright quickest time was 1:24.8 from the Tilton Evo. This was a track record & beat last years winner (also an Evo) by a few tenths.

333pg333

Yes, Sid it is frustrating when you get blocked like that and other guys are dropping a thick line of oil all over the racing line at other times. Most of it would be unintentional, just inexperience. Have a look at the inboard lap of the winning time and check out the pass out of T5….now that’s close!!

Thanks Justin. You can bet that almost every pit garage would say they weren’t able to reach their best times, but we didn’t even get a chance in the fastest session (Sat morning) with the colder track temps, new sticky soft rubber and turning the boost up from 18psi to 22psi. We would have got into the 1:33’s for sure. Not to mention that we’re really still coming to terms with the car and have had almost zero development time into it.

blitz951

Very impressive patrick. Great work.
How did the those bolts come loose?

lart951

Patrick , you have to be fair to the other drivers no Force allowed, an enhanced picture close up reveals someone else driving the car

refresh951

Nice! Great video Patrick!

333pg333

Thanks RB and Shawn. Lol...lart!

333pg333

This just in....

Gotta love the 'Powa-Squat' going on. Just turning the Earth underneath the car!

Voith

Impressive! I hope they don't make a new rule next year that says turbine must be on the exhaust side..

Dutch944

Patrick, awesome! Saw some of the photos via email but the video footage is great!

Now it's about time you get some stiffer springs..

333pg333

Wish it was easier to get a turbo on the 'right' side. We've now got the replacement turbo all situated and installed. Of course all the hard pipes needed repositioning/fabbing/welding. While it wasn't the exact one I was thinking of, this one should be an improvement in response. The last one actually had a bit of lag which you had to anticipate at or before apex. Fun, but a bit old school.

Old turbo had these specs:

Inlet wheel: 88mm
Inlet intake: 62.5mm

Turbine wheel: 80mm
Turbine exhaust: 72mm

New turbo is a GTX3582 w/ .82 coated housing.

Inlet wheel: 82.5mm
Inlet intake: 62.5mm

Turbine wheel: 68mm

So it should be interesting how it goes. Wonder if it will help up top too?
New oil cooler has gone in this week too. They were the only temps that were getting a bit too hot. Over 130c.