With the season drawing to a close, the team made there way back to Snetterton race circuit. With a slim opportunity to clinch the title from his main competitor, Steve Linton was looking to capitlaise on the the long straights the course had to offer. Previous outings had proven the Supra a front runner through the speed traps, with Paul Whiffin finishing in the top 5 for all classes the year before including the elite Pro runners. Armed with fresh tyres at the ready, both cars were delivered with the usual efficency the team have come to expect from Richard Turnbull of Triple T Services. The decision was made to start the day on the used tyres from the previous round, in order to save the fresh set for Qualifying and then the final. Both cars were running well and the conditions were good, except for the blinding glare of the winter sun, which would prove to be a disadvantage later in the day for both drivers.
The cars were readied in the usual manner with a wash down and polish in preparation for the long day ahead. Routine checks were made to all major areas of each car whilst the drivers attended their briefing.

With the warm up session called, both drivers readied themselves in the cars and made their way out on track to refamiliarise themselves with the circuit and ensure everything was working as it should. Steve Linton managed a time of 1min 18.469secs, whilst Paul Whiffin did a 1min 24.299sec best for this session. The Lotus Exige S1 of Jamie Wilson did a lap in 1min 17.464secs which saw him first in class, but it was far too early in the day to take much notice of these times, as more was definitely to come. The weather at this point was cloudy but dry, and the team were hoping the sun would break through at some point to
warm the track to give the tyres better grip.

The recently fitted OS Giken differentials were providing greater traction out of the
corners, and allowed both drivers to get on the power earlier, which was a definite improvement from the old units. Both drivers returned to the pits happy with their settings, and confident that they could begin working on their times in the Practice session.

The Practice session also took place with cloudy but dry conditions so some parts of the track remained slightly damp, where the sun hadn’t been able to break through to dry them out fully. Not to be put off, Steve Linton managed a great time of 1min 16.182secs on just his second lap which would prove to be the fastest lap of the session, and good enough to place him 1st in class and 6th fastest in the Pro group as a whole. Paul Whiffin managed a best of 1min 21.255secs following a minor technical issue, that saw him only complete two laps in total. By this point both cars tyres were the ones they have been using since the Brands Hatch round, they were
starting to struggle, and the decision was made to swap them over before the qualifying session later that afternoon. Tim Moore and Peter Payne started with
Steve Linton’s car jacking up one side at a time and removing the wheels to take
to the tyre fitters van to be changed over. Unfortunately, there was quite a queue when they got there, as we share the tyre guys with the drift taxis who spend the day entertaining spectators with passenger rides for a nominal fee, but do tend to go through quite a few tyres in the process! When their turn finally came around, one of the wheels wouldn’t balance properly so the fitter spent ages trying to add the weights needed, but kept putting them on and taking them off! By the time the guys got back to the pit garage, they didn’t have much time left and had to quickly refit the wheels on the drivers side, and get the passenger side jacked up and the
wheels off and over to the fitters. This time the new tyres went on relatively easily, but the delays mean’t Paul Whiffin wouldn’t be getting new tyres on his car as there simply wasn’t enough time.

Hopes were high as the Qualifying session started that the new tyres on Steve Linton’s car would give just enough extra grip to place him ahead of the nimble Lotus. He started with a warm up lap to scrub in the new tyres and get them ready for a quick time. If he was going to clench the title, he needed to out qualify Jamie Wilson so the pressure was really on at this point. Unfortunately, having just started his second lap the TyreSure monitor inside the car started to bleep and Steve noticed a loss of around 3-4 psi from the off-side rear wheel whilst he was doing around 140mph down the Revett Straight. Realising something wasn’t right, Steve backed off and nursed the car round into the pits where Peter Payne and Tim Moore were waiting for him. Explaining the situation, both the guys frantically began pumping air back into the tyre using the foot pump (not fun I can assure you!) to at least give Steve enough pressure to try for a fast lap. Returning to the circuit, Steve started with a gentle warm up lap to see how the tyre would hold out, but frustratingly the same thing happened and he had to make his way back to the pits yet again. Fearing all was lost in terms of the championship title, it was fortunate in some ways that a red flag came out following a car spinning off and Steve proceeded to get back to the pits as quickly as possible, to maximise the time available for remedying the tyre issue(much to the frustration of the Marshalls I might add!). Tension was running high when Steve got back to the garage and frantic discussions took place trying to work out a viable solution with such limited time to spare. In an act of extreme generosity and in the true spirit of competiton, Mike who was also competing in a Toyota Supra on the day in the Club RWD Class, offered Steve his rear wheels and tyres. With only 10mins of the session remaining the kind offer was accepted, and team quickly swapped over Steves rear wheels for Mikes, with Steve still strapped in the cockpit ready to go as soon as the wheels were on and checked and the session resumed. With the last wheel nut torqued up, the session resumed and Steve made his way back out with only 10mins to go and on older (and slightly smaller) tyres. Despite everyones valiant efforts, the best Steve could manage was a 1min 15.820sec time which was his best of the day but sadly not quite enough to qualify ahead of Jamie Wilson. Paul Whiffin had a less eventful session but the combination of the bright sunshine and the awkward neck brace support, meant he wasn’t able to perform to the cars true abilities, but still managed a great time of 1min 16.381secs which was his quickest time of the day so far.

Determined to finish the season on a high, both drivers went into the Final looking to at least claim the round win. The tyre issue had been traced to a loose valve in the Tyre Sure sensor on the OSR wheel, which had since been tightened and checked. Happy that it wasn’t losing pressure anymore, the team refitted Steve’s original rear wheels to give him the best opportunity in the Final showdown with the little Lotus. The cars took to the circuit in formation with Paul leading Steve which as well as making for quite a sight, gave Steve a chance to benefit from Pauls slipstream and positioning on the track. For several laps both drivers played a game of cat and mouse which saw them pushing each other faster and faster round the track. With confidence being gained each and every lap, the braking points became shorter and this would prove to be enough to see Steve Linton set his fastest time of the day being a 1min 14.787secs. This would also prove to be enough to win the round overall ahead of Jamie Wilson in the Lotus (Jamie managed a 1min 14.824sec best during this session so was just a few hundredths of a second behind). Paul Whiffin also achieved his best time of the day on the same lap as Steve Linton (lap 7), being a very respectable 1min 15.833secs. With both drivers back in the garages and the season at an end, the team were really pleased with the final results. Afterwards we also learnt the guys could probably have gone even faster but Paul backed off when the marshalls waived blue flags at him signalling a faster car was approaching (that car being his team mate Steve Linton!). Had the sun not been in his eyes as much, maybe an even faster time was there for the taking for both drivers, but we will never know! Both drivers did the team proud and in addition to the 1st and 3rd for the round, we finished 2nd and 3rd overall in class which when you consider all the issues we faced over the course of the season (mid season class change, no new tyres available, blown engine for Paul and other issues), is a great result both drivers should be proud of. 2011 will hopefully see the team returning with even more preparations in place including: HANS compatible helmets, GT style side exit exhausts and even more power! We have to thank all our sponsors for their support over the course of the season, and we truly hope to see them still onboard when we return to Oulton Park in April 2011. Rest assured both drivers will be looking to regain the title spot despite the possibility of new competitors and cars who would like to see otherwise! Hope you can join us at some of the rounds next year, as I don’t know about anybody else but I can’t wait!

The fourth and penultimate round of Time Attack saw the team setting out on a number of firsts. It was our first visit to the infamous Cadwell Park, something in itself quite daunting given it’s affectionate nickname of ‘mini Nurburgring’, but even more challenging was the prospect of joining the elite in the Club Pro class after the organisers confirmed we were too quick to stay in the regular Club Class. The challenges began early for Paul Whiffin who with only four days to go before we were due to compete, had to take his MSA National ‘B’ race license and obviously pass in order to move up to the Club Pro Class along with his team-mate Steve Linton, and theirmain rival Jamie Wilson in the Lotus Exige S1. Steve fortunately already had the required race license having competed in the Pro Class previously so everything rested on Paul’s shoulders as the organisers were only willing to add a Club Pro RWD Class if there were at least three participants competing! No pressure then Paul!

Fortunately, the test which was taken at Brands Hatch went well for Paul, and he successfully gained the race license needed. The next step was to order two sets of tyres from our official Time Attack tyre sponsors Toyo. Incredibly, they informed us that there were no sets of our chosen sized tyres available from their stock, and that we should try to find them independently at full cost! If successful, they would however be happy to brand these for us for TA competition use! (Not much help there guys!)With time running out and no tyres available, the team were forced to run the used tyres they still had fitted on the cars from Brands Hatch which would be a real disadvantage from the offset. The issue was raised with the TA organisers, who had words with Toyo but this didn’t change the fact we had no tyres unfortunately.

As with any circuit we are not familiar with, the team wanted to book spaces on a track day before they had to compete in order that they could familiarize themselves with the layout of the circuit and try to get a feel for things at a more relaxed pace. Unfortunately, the only day available was the Saturday before the event and there were no spaces available as it was fully booked! Both our drivers were added to the waiting list as reserves and the organisers for the day (the Mitsubishi Lancer Register – MLR) promised to do their best to give the guys some track time if they could. Following a frustrating start to my journey up to
collect Steve (special thanks to the Jeep Patriot driver who blocked me in at the Station car park so I wasted a half day waiting for him to get back and move!), we made it over to our hotel late on the Friday evening and joined Paul and James Hawkins at the bar for a quick nightcap, before turning in for an early start Saturday morning.

With no way of knowing whether we would be able to get out on track, all we could do was head over to the circuit and check in with the MLR organisers and hope they could fit us in at some point during the day. Luckily, we were given the nod around lunchtime that we would be allowed out for the final two hours of the afternoon session for which we can’t thank the MLR guys enough as without this opportunity, we would have been going in blind on the Sunday (thanks again guys!). The MLR organisers also suggested our drivers try and get some instruction from one of the instructors given this was their first time at the circuit. Steve was lucky enough to bump into his instructor from when he took his race license, and the two of them headed out for around forty minutes with Steve receiving invaluable information and advice throughout which was a huge help. Paul also spent a few laps with an instructor and with his car running without any issues for the first time this season did a 45 minute stint to learn the track.With a decent amount of track time, both drivers were a lot more confident by the end of the day than they had been that morning but still with plenty of time to find out on the track.

The final part of the session was spent taking members of the team out and experimenting with fuel loads and settings in preparation for Sunday. Sunday morning saw the team up and back at the circuit getting both cars cleaned off and polished whilst Paul and Steve went for their driver briefing. Following the regular checks and with enough fuel in both cars, the guys headed to the staging area whilst the rest of the team set about gathering their equipment and tools for the walk to the pit lane. None of us were prepared for quite how steep the slope was leading down to the pits which are in the middle of the circuit itself! I can tell you one thing, once the toolbox was rolled into place, it was going to stay there unless something really went wrong, as none of us fancied tackling the slope to get it back to our makeshift garage area (like Knockhill, there are no garages at Cadwell so the trusty marquee was put in use again!).

Warm-up was used by both drivers as a chance to reacquaint themselves with the circuit from the day before, and after eight laps in total, Steve managed a best time of 1min 41.871secs putting him 1st in class and 12th overall (remember this was with the Pro Class as well as Club Pro competitors) and Paul managed a time of 1min 42.353secs putting him third in class and 14th overall. Both drivers were sure they could go quicker and were becoming more confident every time they took to the circuit.

Moving on to the Practice session and with confidence high, both drivers took to the circuit and began eating into their lap times. Steve set his fastest time on his fourth lap being a 1min 40.662secs (over a second quicker thanWarm-up). Paul was going well also and after setting a time of 1min 41.359secs(almost a second quicker than he managed inWarm-up), still running on low boost, he was
absolutely flying out of Barn corner heading down the start/finish straight towards Coppice when there was an almighty bang and a huge trail of fluid on the track! From where we stood on the pit wall, it looked and sounded like a water hose had burst or popped off and we had some hope that we could fix the problem and get Paul back out in time for Qualifying. After a painful hike back up
the steepest slope I’ve ever come across with a fully loaded toolbox to push, we finally made it back to our garage area and waited for signs of Paul and the car which needed recovering from round near Park corner after Paul had switched off the engine and coasted to a halt. Seeing the recovery truck taking the long way round, we ran over to help unload the car and assess the damages (our thanks to the mkiv supra owners club members who helped push the car back to our makeshift garage – thanks guys!).

It soon became clear the damage was much worse than we had thought, and with Paul holding a large chunk of sump in his hand, any hope of getting him back out for Qualifying were lost. It later transpires that the oil pump failed and managed to blow a big hole in both the sump and the side of the block itself!With the block and sump only fit for the scrapheap, and with Paul looking at a six
week wait for the replacement Mahle stroker pistons he wants to use, a temporary engine will be built in time for the final round at Snetterton in October. Based around a set of Mahle Pro Series pistons and a standard crankshaft, Paul will be losing some power and torque for sure. He did mention upping the boost to around 2.2bar and running race fuel at Snetterton, but I guess we will have to wait and see! Rumour also has it that Paul has a larger turbo sitting to one side solely for this round, as he wants to set an
even faster time through the speed trap on the long straight this year (he was one of the top five fastest of all competitors last season!). I guess we’ll need to wait until October to see what happens!

With only Steve still able to compete and the knowledge that he had to beat Jamie Wilson in the more nimble Lotus Exige S1 if he wanted to keep his championship hopes alive this season, all eyes were on Steve as he headed out for Qualifying. It was clear early on that Steve was giving it his all and had tucked himself in behind a rather quick pink Mitsubishi Evolution and was very close to matching his pace. On just his second lap, Steve managed a blisteringly quick time of 1min 39.118secs which would be his quickest time of the session (and the day) and saw him qualifying ahead of Jamie Wilson in first place in class, and a very respectable fourth overall in the Club Pro Class as a whole. Given points are on offer for qualifying, this was a really positive result and the team were really hopeful going into the Final that Steve could keep his title race alive.

Following some further cleanup work by the circuit support staff after another car left an oil slick on the track, the drivers for the Club Pro Class were asked to form up in the holding area. With Steve’s car checked over thoroughly and additional fluids added as necessary, he made his way down to the holding pen. Paul joined the rest of the team in the pit lane and we waited for the session to begin. Steve looked quick from the start and on his second lap with the Lotus Exige in front of him and the Wallace Performance Evo in front of that, the three of them went for it. With nothing in it between them at this point, all eyes were trained on Tim Moore who had climbed up to the commentary box and was indicating to me after each lap how Steve was doing and whether he was ahead of Jamie in the nimble Exige.

According to Steve there was only one dicey moment during this session where heading down Park straight approaching the right-hander, he discovered the breaking zone was covered in cement dust following one of the earlier oil spills! There was a brief moment where he couldn’t see a thing and he had to pray no one in front of him had chosen to brake early, which fortunately they hadn’t.
Steve continued to look for enough space on track for a fast lap which he managed on his penultimate lap securing a time of 1min 39.678secs, but this wasn’t enough to beat Jamie, who was on newer tyres, had found a good couple of seconds from his Qualifying time and set a very respectable time of 1min 37.803secs (almost two seconds clear of Steve) which was enough to give him the win in class with Steve coming home second.

The team were realistic in approaching this round and had expected it to be a real challenge to outperform the little Lotus given how much more suited it was to this type of circuit. Spirits were still high however as we all knew Steve had given it his all and we headed back to the makeshift garage to begin packing up all our equipment and loading the cars onto the truck. Richard Turnbull had done another of his sterling jobs in getting to the circuit nice and early, so we were in a good location with enough space to get everything moved quickly and we then made our way over for the presentations at the podium. With both Steve and Jamie up on the podium, it came as quite a surprise when the announcer asked Paul to make his way up as well! It transpired they felt a ‘booby’ prize was in order as the line ‘I can put my hand in my engine’ was deemed worthy of cake! A black forest gateau was presented to Paul who laughed it off well and so another round came to a close.

With just one round remaining, you can rest assured both our drivers are still out to finish on a high, and with Snetterton being a more suited circuit on account of the long straights, it should be a final to remember. Lets just keep everything crossed that Paul’s replacement engine goes together ok, and can handle the boost he plans to unleash, and that Toyo will be able to supply two sets of fresh R888 rubber in our chosen sizes this time! Thankfully we have the support of Richard Turnbull of Triple T Services to transport the cars to and from these events nowadays, as there is no way Steve could have made it home on the tyres he had by the end of the event. It would be great to see as many of you there as possible to cheer the guys on, and we thank all our sponsors for their continued support. Without them, none of this would be possible and for that, we can’t thank them enough.

Unlike the previous rounds, the team chose not to do a trackday the day before Brands Hatch as this is our local circuit, and the one on the calendar we are most familiar with having done lots of testing and trackdays in the past. Paul Whiffin’s car had to undergo quite substantial surgery following the broken cambelt tensioner pulley bracket at the last round in Scotland, as removal of the head showed damage to 12 valves which had been bent when the bracket broke. In addition to replacing the valves, Paul had to have all the valve seats re-cut as these were also damaged. The replacement tensioner pulley bracket was supplied by our newest sponsor Titan Motorsport, who are a US based Supra specialist. The bracket itself is much more robust than the OEM part and has been tested and proven in drag racing Supra’s in the US so should be up to the job for our Time Attack cars. As a precaution, Steve Linton’s car was also booked into the workshop for a new Titan cambelt tensioner pulley bracket to prevent similar issues occurring on his engine. With both cars fully operational, they were collected by Richard Turnbull of Triple T Services on the Saturday, and driven down to Brands Hatch in Kent ready for the action the following day.

The team arrived early to get the garage setup and do as much preparation as possible in terms of cleaning and readying the cars for the day ahead. Temperatures were due to be extremely high and plenty of sun cream was applied to people whilst the cars received a thorough polishing in the shade of the garages, as I can assure you polishing any car in direct sunlight/heat is tough, but black cars have to be the worst! There were some concerns also over how the engines would cope with the added heat, as turbo applications are not known to enjoy warm air and the forecast was suggesting it would be the hottest day of the year so far! Despite the extreme heat and the fact England were playing in the World Cup the same day (I won’t say another word about it I promise!), there was a good turnout of spectators including some members of the mkiv Supra Owners Club. Special mention must go out to one member in particular who travelled all the way over from Luxembourg to watch the team compete and then travelled back again! You know who you are and we thank you for your efforts and continued support.

With both cars readied and the drivers back from their briefing, the team waited patiently for the warm up session to begin. Steve Linton’s previous personal best for the Indy circuit at Brands was a 53.962sec lap and if previous rounds this year were anything to go by, he would be looking to improve on this from the start. As always, both drivers were easing back into things behind the wheel and finding their lines whilst checking brakes and warming the tyres up, so the team could check and alter these as necessary when they came back into the pits. The circuit was as to be expected busy and both drivers struggled to find a clean lap but did towards the end of the session. Steve managed to finish first overall in group with a respectable time of 54.065secs, whilst Paul managed a time of 54.833secs placing him third in class, and fifth overall. Given Paul was in the process of bedding in freshly fitted brake pads following the issues he has been plagued with this season, this was a very good time.

With both cars back in the pit garage and both drivers out of their race suits (can you imagine the heat these guys suffer dressed up in their fire retardant clothing on a hot and sunny day!), inspections were carried out and tyre pressures adjusted accordingly. Paul Whiffin was just carrying out some basic visual checks on his engine when he happened to notice a build up of small blue flecks all around the engine bay and on the inner wings. At first, he asked me whether it was residue from either the polish or the cloth I had used to clean the cars with, when I confirmed the polish was clear and the cloth was yellow, he began to check anything blue in the engine bay namely the various silicone hoses for signs of damage. Nothing looked out of place and we were starting to run out of ideas when Paul mentioned the uprated cambelt was blue. A suitable allen key was located and the cam cover removed at which point we discovered a very deep groove cut into the belt! Paul understandably didn’t want to run the engine again with that amount of damage as a snapped cambelt would have caused untold amounts of damage to the engine. The only option was to replace the cambelt, but with no spare and the workshop over an hour away, it was going to be a race against the clock. Whilst Paul began removing the various items needed to gain access to the belt itself, I raced over to the trade stands to ask around and find out if anyone had a spare cambelt for a Toyota 2JZ engine. A phone call a few minutes later from Paul confirmed he had located the cause of the groove in the belt, being a collapsed cambelt tensioner pulley/bearing! Part of the pulley managed to wedge itself between the oil pump and the belt and being metal, was doing a good job of working it’s way through the material. Had it been successful, the damage experienced previously when the cambelt tensioner bracket failed would most likely have happened again and Paul would have been faced with the cost of yet another head rebuild! Whilst it was fortunate the damage was discovered early enough to prevent any major damage, we were now trying to find a replacement cambelt and a cambelt tensioner pulley which isn’t a part most people would carry as a spare. Paul suggested I head over to the Sumo Power tent and ask them as they often carry a few parts to support the cars they enter in both Time Attack and EDC (European Drift Championship). They suggested I head over to the tent where their Nissan S15 drift car was located as it was running a 2JZ engine and might have the parts we needed. In an amazing stroke of luck and above anything else generosity, the guys were able to give us a new cambelt and the tensioner pulley we needed! We cannot stress enough how grateful we were for their help as the only other alternative was for someone to drive back to the workshops and try to get back in time to rebuild the engine before qualifying but this would have been a tall order with traffic to consider. Thanks again guys, we couldn’t have done it without you!

I headed back to the pit garage and found Paul frantically working away under the bonnet clearing the debris and handed him the parts I had managed to source. Luckily, both were what we needed and whilst the belt was a stock one, it would do given the circumstances! With Paul now working hard trying to get the pulley changed and the new belt on as well as the other ancillaries he removed to access the pulley itself, Steve was heading out for the Practise session.

The first thing Steve noticed was the track temperatures had increased significantly and the lines he had been using previously, weren’t as affective. He tried experimenting around with other lines to find one that worked best for the car but struggled throughout the session with grip, and had to return to the pitlane for me to drop the pressures further to try and compensate. As the session neared it’s close, Steve managed a time of 53.212secs which beat his previous personal best and placed him second overall behind the Lotus Exige of Jamie Wilson. The gap between them was just 0.634 seconds so another showing of David versus Goliath looked to be unfolding!

Fortunately, Paul managed to get his car back up and running in time for Qualifying but the missed Practise session would prove costly as he wasn’t able to finish bedding in the new brake pads before having to push them in Qualifying and ultimately, the Final. Steve’s cambelt was also checked to insure it wasn’t suffering similar issues but was found to be fine. Steve spoke to Alan from Toyo Tyres who are the official tyre suppliers for Time Attack about the issues he was having with grip, and Alan confirmed he needed to drop the pressures further due to the high track temperatures we were competing against. With both cars now readied, they headed out to the track.

During the break between Qualifying and the final, Steve was talking to Darren Robinson the workshop Manager at Garage Whifbitz about the grip issues, and the topic turned to the suspension settings. It was decided that Steve would spend the first part of the Final pitting frequently to adjust the suspension settings to see if this could aid him find the grip he needed. Both cars were checked over fully and fluids were topped up as needed before the final session would begin.

Steve decided to run slightly more fuel this time after the starvation issues in Qualifying and both cars remained in the relative coolness of the garage until the session started to try and prevent heat build-up in the tyres or the car itself (remember there is no air-con in these anymore!). This proved to be beneficial for Steve at least as his best time for the session was achieved on his second timed lap with a new personnel best of 52.550secs which put him first in group but there was still a long way to go until the session would end. Steve had gone out for a final attempt trying a different suspension setup and all eyes were on the monitors, and with time ticking down and only a minute or so left to go, Jamie Wilson managed a time of 52.187secs pushing Steve down to second place. Steve couldn’t find a clear lap in the dying seconds and therefore remained in second until the chequered flag dropped. Paul managed his best time later in the session on lap eleven namely 53.415secs which was a new personnel best. Given the problems he faced on the day with having to perform a cambelt replacement (no easy task I can assure you!), and the brakes frustratingly only starting to work properly as the final session closed, this was a great result. His time wasn’t quite good enough to secure the third step of the podium but there are still two rounds to go so hopefully the car will now perform closer to it’s true potential.

The next round sees the team heading to Cadwell Park which has the worrying nickname ‘mini Nurburgring’ due to it’s complex layout and array of corners. Having never been on the circuit, both drivers have signed up for the trackday on the Saturday before the event but are on a waiting list as it was fully booked! Hopefully at least one car will secure a spot so we can experience the circuit but only time will tell. Thanks go to all our sponsors for their continued support and we hope some of you will be able to see the team in action before the season ends as we go into the final two rounds to decide who will secure the title. Should be a nail biting finish! See you there.

The second round of Time Attack saw the team making their annual pilgrimage to Knockhill in Scotland. By far the most remote and distant circuit on the calendar, Knockhill really needs to be seen to be appreciated. The circuit itself is set in the picturesque hills of Fife, and is around 10 miles North of Dunfermline. The views are simply breathtaking and the weather is renowned for its ability to change within minutes from sunshine to heavy rain.
The team gathered at the workshop in Enfield early Friday morning. The cars were already on their way up to Scotland thanks to Richard Turnbull of Triple T Services collecting them the day before. At around 430 miles each way, the team set off with high hopes of continuing their success from the opening round. Following a relatively uneventful trip up, the team arrived at their hotel and quickly checked in before heading out to grab a much needed meal before settling down for the night ready for the trackday the following day. A big thanks to Nelson, Levine De Luca and Horst (NLDH) whose sponsorship not only paid for the entrance costs for both cars this season, but also covered the hotel bill for the team for the three nights needed to compete at this round. When you consider that Time Attack is very much an
amateur style of competition, with no financial rewards for drivers or their teams it can be a costly exercise for all involved, so thanks again guys for helping ease the financial burden! Being our fourth year of competition at this remote location, we were familiar with the lack of amenities offered and were fortunate enough to find a leisure park last year which is located within a few miles of the circuit, and offers several eateries, a cinema, miniature golf course and a bowling alley with arcades should time allow, but it was a far cry from the hotels we stayed at before which were in the middle of nowhere!

Waking early Saturday morning, the team grabbed a quick breakfast before making their way to the circuit to sign on for the trackday they had wisely booked. Steve Linton has competed in this round since 2007 and was therefore relatively familiar with the layout, unlike Paul Whiffin who managed to drive the circuit last year on a trackday for only 7 laps in the wet, but couldn’t compete in the event itself after his turbo failed. Everyone was hoping that this year would be different, and that both Paul and the car would go the distance but only time would tell. Unlike the more preferable open pitlane trackdays, the trackday at Knockhill was grouped, meaning less track time and having to wait for groups to be called. The sessions were shorter than the drivers would have liked, and there were cones on track at the different
corners which prevented the drivers from finding their ideal lines for the following day. Despite this, it did give both drivers a chance to drive the circuit and put the cars through their paces ready for the main event the following day. Paul Whiffin’s car was still struggling with some of the braking issues he experienced at the previous round, despite having had new front discs and pads which cured the vibration issues, the soft pedal was still apparent despite replacing the front bearings in the hope it was
pad knock off, and removing the Tilton bias valve just in case this was to blame, but sadly the issue remained. Paul also thought he could hear an exhaust leak of some kind and discovered one of the wastegate clamps had gone missing! Whilst this was not a terminal issue, the team attempted to find a suitable replacement by asking around but unfortunately, no one had anything that could do the job. A temporary fix was attempted with some sealant and a jubilee clip, but no one could be sure if this would be up to the job. As if that wasn’t enough, the manifold gasket that had blown at the previous round decided to blow again, and Paul was forced to strip it all back yet again and fit another gasket (we carry a few now just in case!). With the car now back in one piece, the team headed back to their hotel and quickly changed before going out for a spot of dinner and a chance to discuss the events of the day before retiring early in preparation for the main event the following day.

Points Table – Club Challenge – RWD
1st – Jamie Wilson Lotus Exige S1 198
2nd – Steve Linton Toyota Supra 198
3rd – Paul Whiffin Toyota Supra 88

Thanks go out to all of our sponsors namely, Nelson Levine de Luca and Horst, Nitron Racing Shocks, SuperPro, WIM (Wheels-inmotion), Triple T Services, Toyota Performance Magazine, Syvecs, AET Turbos, Motul, K&N, Porterfield and now Titan for their continuing support.

Round three takes place on Sunday 27th June and is sure to be another exciting and closely contested round. If you are able to come along, please make sure you pop by and say hello and be sure to check out the write-up in a future issue of Toyota Performance Magazine.

Following a long and at times frustrating hibernation period over the winter months, it was finally time for Garage Whifbitz to dust off their equipment in preparation for the 2010 Time Attack season opener at Oulton Park near Cheshire.

Whilst both Paul Whiffin and Steve Linton had not managed any seat time in the cars since the closing round of the 2009 season at Snetterton back in October, their cars had undergone numerous changes. Starting with Paul Whiffin’s car, which has earned the affectionate nickname of ‘stealth bomber’, the new exhaust system is a one of a kind full titanium 3.5” from the turbo back and weighs just 7kg with the two silencer boxes! When noise tested at the trackday prior to the opening round of Time Attack at Oulton Park, it registered a mere 95db which helps it maintain it’s stealth-like qualities when blasting around the track (and creeping up on some poor unsuspecting victim before flying past into the distance!). Paul’s main target over the winter months was to lose as much weight from the car as possible so the remaining sound deadening was removed (this job was made easier due to the extreme cold conditions and meant most of it broke away rather than scrapping for hours!), the heater system was taken out in it’s entirety as a heated front screen has now been fitted for those cold days, the dash was stripped right back and tidied up before being flocked and the engine was treated to a new twin wastegate/scroll manifold designed and made solely for Paul by a UK engineering firm which has been dyno proven at SSR to improve spool up, hitting boost around 500RPM lower down, and peak torque around 1,000RPM earlier than the old setup. Ikeya formula rose jointed toe arms, lower arms and traction rods were fitted, in addition to some Super Pro bushes which have transformed the handling and saved yet more weight. Paul has estimated a total saving of around 40-50kg based on the above changes which anyone would agree can only be a good thing when dealing with these big GT cars. Cosmetically, the car now has a Ridox replica carbon fibre front splitter which complements the other Ridox items, and also replaces the stock undertray to create a flat bottom effect which should improve airflow and aid stability. Moving on to the brains of the operation, a new SYVECS ECU has been fitted and mapped by Ryan Griffiths of 2Bartuning which packs a huge number of features and has been mapped to extract the optimum level of performance from the car without sacrificing reliability.

Moving on to Steve Linton’s car, similar improvements have been made to the handling although Steve now has a full set of the Super Pro bushes (one of our sponsors who kindly provided us with a full kit – thanks guys!) installed which have replaced what was probably the original 18 year old factory fitted items, and tightened up the handling immensely. Steve also tidied up his dash over the winter, but focused mainly on simplifying the wiring to aid in maintenance and replaced the old wires to boost reliability. Steve also opted for the newly improved Garage Whifbitz manifold, but with a single wastegate fitted as opposed to Paul’s twin setup as well as the SYVECS ECU installed and mapped again by Ryan. Dyno runs again at SSR have proven the value of this particular modification, with big improvements over the HKS manifold to the spool up, earlier boost and improved torque across the rev range. The car also underwent a more comprehensive cosmetic surgery programme with a Ridox front bumper with the same carbon fibre front splitter as found on Paul’s car, Ridox replica sideskirts and the same lightweight bonnet with NACA integrated ducting as Paul.

Both cars will also be running slightly wider Toyo tyres this season (Toyo are the regulation tyre for Time Attack) having increased from a 285 section to a more substantial 295.

As you can tell from the above, whilst no time had been spent on track between October 2009 and April of this year, the cars were by no means left untouched and would need adjustment before the race season could begin in earnest, to take into account the significant changes that were carried out.

A trackday was booked at Oulton Park for the Friday before the opening race, which meant lots of last minute preparation work was needed and many late nights for Paul, Steve and Darren Robinson who is the workshop manager at the garage in order that the cars would be ready for collection by Richard Turnbull of Triple T Services who has been transporting our cars since we started Time Attack back in 2007. Richard has always been punctual, professional and helpful to us all in making sure the cars are safely delivered to the circuits around the UK. He not only transports the cars but stays with them overnight by sleeping in his truck, and mucks in with anything anyone asks of him during the events. It’s thanks to guys like him that the team survives and we cannot thank him enough.

Thursday night saw the team on their way up to Cheshire which is by no means local to the teams North London base, but we needed to be on-site first thing Friday morning for the driver briefing and to get the cars unloaded and prepared for their first outing of the season. In addition to the regular faces namely: Paul Whiffin, Steve Linton, James Hawkins, Peter Payne, Derek Linton and Richard Turnbull, the team were fortunate enough to have Ryan Griffiths from SYVECSjoin themto fine tune the ECU map he did for the car. When you consider the parameters and tolerances exerted upon the cars when pushed hard around the circuit, it is not surprising to find that the ECU’s require very different and unique mapping to what you would need for a road car. Also joining us was Tim Moore who is a friend of Steve’s from childhood and a very good applier of vinyl it would turn out! Tim is considering supporting the team further throughout the season and we thank him for all his help so far.
With both drivers back from there briefing and the cars ready for action, it was time for the sighting laps which allow all the drivers to drive the circuit at a slow speed behind a pace car to see what they will be facing.

As Steve Linton left the pitlane, the electrics died and thankfully Steve was able to coast the car off circuit and onto one of the exit roads and behind the safety of the barriers. After some investigation, it was diagnosed as a faulty electrical kill switch on the scuttle panel of the car and this was soon re-wired by Ryan (a man of many talents!) and ready for another attempt. Frustratingly, the lunch break was called so the team set about applying the various vinyl logos to the cars ready for the opening event. In addition to the official sponsors for Time Attack, the team were delighted to have new sponsors for the season, including the law firm Nelson, Levine de Luca and Horst (NLDH) who are based in New Jersey and were introduced to the team by yours truly as they work in the London insurance market, and expressed some interest during a business lunch to sponsor the team. In addition, the team picked up K&N as a further sponsor as well as Toyota Performance Magazine, Wheels in Motion in addition to our veteran sponsors: Motul, AET Turbos, Nitron RacingShocks, Porterfield Brakes, Racepak, Carbonetic, Triple T Services and Sybora Projects.
With the lunch break over and the majority of the logos applied, it was time for both Paul and Steve to get back out on track and begin their shakedowns.

The afternoon session went without any further incidents for either car, although one of the other cars on track lost some oil at one point which meant another delay whilst the track staff made the area safe. Overall however, both drivers were able to get some much needed seat time, and carry out the necessary changes to the car’s setups which included bleeding Paul’s AP brakes which were not operating effectively at certain key points around the circuit.

After the trackday came to a close, the team moved the cars and equipment into their allotted garage, in preparation for an early start the following day. Paul had been made aware of an unusual sound coming from the turbo of his car, and decided to carry out a strip down with help from Ryan to try and find the source of the problem. It turned out to be a blown manifold gasket, which was soon remedied with the help of another team providing us with the much needed washers we needed to rebuild it (thanks guys). With both cars safely tucked away under Richard’s watchful eye, the team headed back to their hotel for some dinner before turning in for some much needed sleep before the big day.

Both Paul and Steve were up early on Saturday morning and were ready to go with the whole team excited to finally be competing again. After getting to the track at an ungodly time to make the driver briefings and sound checks, the announcement was made for the Club Class to form up ready for the opening warm up session. Whilst Steve managed to record a time, Paul’s transponder didn’t seem to be working, and a quick trip back to the guys from TSL produced a different one that would hopefully operate properly. The only positive outlook from this would be that is happened at this point in the day, where times are not particularly important as the session is more a chance for the drivers to familiarise themselves with the track (not everyone did the trackday the day before). Although a quick look at the Racepak dash saw a 1min 37.1 laptime, already beating he’s best time from last year. Paul’s brake issues from the day before hadn’t been solved with bleeding the brakes and this would remain an issue for the rest of the day. This will be investigated over the next few weeks and fixed before the next round.
With the new transponder in place, the team were ready for the Practise session to begin. From the pit wall, it looked as if both drivers had managed to find some space and set respectable times. The timings were flashing up on Ryan’s laptop, and the session closed with Steve managing a time of 1min 34.365secs and Paul a best of 1min 35.112secs. Despite it being early in the day, both drivers had beaten their previous personal bests of 1min 37.193secs for Steve, and 1min 38.179secs for Paul, and were in the top two places for the entire club class. When they returned to the pits and were shown their times, both drivers were very pleased to see the changes had shaved around 3 seconds off their previous best time from the year before, and felt there was more to come as they weren’t pushing to the full extent of their abilities at this point in the day.

With the lunch break over and the other events now safely off the circuit, it was time for qualifying. Both drivers wanted to do well given their positions in qualifying would be worth points towards the championship. Steve was unfortunate to get caught up in traffic and struggled to find enough space to put in a clean lap but was still able to qualify 3rd in class and 4th overall (this includes the FWD, 4WD and Non-Turbo classes) with a time of 1min 34.928secs. Paul was more fortunate and managed a very impressive time of 1min 34.277secs which qualified him 1st in class and 2nd overall, ahead of a newcomer to their class in a Lotus Exige S1.

With everything still to play for, both drivers waited for the final session to begin. Steve had more work to do having lost points in qualifying, but if past experience was anything to go by, this might not cause much of an issue as he is renowned for pulling out that bit extra when he needs it most.

Both cars waited in the garage until the field had all joined the circuit in an attempt to create some space for their hot laps, as catching up with slower traffic can and does ruin your times. Both cars were settling into a groove and with the signal for a fast lap attempt being given (headlights switched on), the team could only hope their drivers had done enough as we lost the use of Ryan’s laptop when he had to get away to prepare for a trip abroad to do some mapping for another customer.
Normally, we take a television with us to the circuit but this wasn’t the case this time, and I had to sneak into another team’s garage to try and see how the guys had done.

Paul finished 3rd in class with a great time of 1min 34.257secs, just beating his qualifying time, whilst Steve managed to finish 2nd in class with an even better time of 1min 33.866secs and was less than a hundredth of a second behind the class winner in the Lotus Exige S1.

When both drivers got back to the pits and heard the news, they congratulated one another and thanked the team for all their efforts which had allowed them to beat all of the four-wheel drive competitors who by nature are at a distinct advantage, and only just beaten in what was a true David versus Goliath battle with the considerably smaller, lighter track focused Lotus on a circuit not best suited to the bulkier Toyota Supra.

When you consider the fact that Oulton Park is a tight and technical circuit, both drivers managed exceptional times and whilst it was not the fairytale 1-2 finish they achieved the previous year, no one could argue that improvements of approximately 4 seconds each from their prior personal bests was anything other than a huge success. With the loss of Silverstone from the event calendar this year, the guys only circuit with long straights is Snetterton, which suits the cars considerable power and speed more than the shorter technical tracks like Oulton Park.
Thanks to all of our sponsors for their support without which none of this would be possible, and to our supporters from the MKIV Supra Owners Club (you know who you all are), and we look forward to the next round which will be taking place at Knockhill in Scotland on Sunday 16th May. Why not take a trip and come and experience the action for yourselves? If not, be sure to check back for my next report to see how we get on, I can’t wait!

Points Table – Club Challenge – RWD

1st – Jamie Wilson Lotus Exige S1 104
2nd – Steve Linton Toyota Supra 93
3rd – Paul Whiffin Toyota Supra 85