WTA Challenge 2011: records tumble at Eastern Creek

Tarzan swung, Tarzan didn't fall

Full photo gallery of the World Time Attack Challenge at motoring.com.au

Superlap superstar Eiji 'Tarzan' Yamada successfully defended his Pro class trophy in this year's World Time Attack Challenge at Eastern Creek last weekend. Cyber Evo IX driver Yamada recorded a fastest lap time of 1:28.851 -- shattering the record he set last year in the process.

So, in fact, did runner-up David Epringham at the wheel of US team Sierra Sierra's Cosworth Evo VIII. This year's WTA Challenge at Eastern Creek saw its fastest times ever recorded at the track in both Pro and Open classes. By way of comparison the V8Supercar lap record at the creek is over 1:31. The fastest Porsche Carrera Cup cars also lap the track at over 1:31.

Big business all over the world these days, WTA's premise is simple: fastest individual lap wins. There are multiple cars on track at any given moment, but they're not racing each other. Rather, they're pitting themselves against the clock through individual laps in 15 minute blocks.

The local event runs three classes – amateur Clubsprint, Open and Pro. The Pro class event draws big-name competitors from across the world. This year saw competitors in from Japan, the US and New Zealand.

Some drivers take the wheel of more than one car. Last year saw Yamada effectively take first and third spots on the podium in the Cyber Evo and the Tomei Cusco WRX respectively. This year he ran not just the winning Cyber Evo but Mercury Motorsport's R35 GTR. Hilux Hero and Top Gear test driver John Boston, meanwhile, kept himself busy with no less than five drives: a 300ZX and an S14 Silvia in Pro, along with a Honda S2000, an R34 and a Lotus Exige in Open.

This year's big drawcard was a reiteration of the 2010 Pro event, which saw Yamada's Cyber Evo IX pip US team Sierra Sierra's Evo VIII. This year, in two hard-run days, both crossed the line well inside times set last year, when Yamada was the only competitor to crack the 1:30s.

Some of the aero gear is enough to leave you wondering if you're witnessing a tilt at a Guinness record for the world's largest diffuser. But that bodywork's no chi-chi. There's some major muscle underneath these bonnets.

Witness Sierra Sierra's LHD Evo VIII: it was running a 2.2-litre Cosworth four that one team boffin told motoring.com.au was measuring a hard-to-believe 850hp at the wheels. "Yeh – 298.4 just out there," he said, pointing to Eastern Creek's main straight. "Man, we are haulin' some ass..."

Not quite enough ass, it turned out, to snatch the trophy back from Yamada. Tarzan's car is listed pulling 700 horses, but he has a 200kg weight advantage (1060kg against SSE's 1256). He topped Friday's opening session in a promising 1:30.369 – a little up on the 1:30.587 that won the event for him last year. Next came visiting Japanese compatriot Mitsuhiro Kinoshita in the Garage Revolution Mazda RX-7 on 1:30.616, followed by Sierra Sierra's David Epringham in 1:30.749.

Kinoshita's performance raised the prospect of the Aussie event's first rotary-powered victory, while the Evos' Friday performances came near enough to leave punters wondering if the Saturday sessions would see anyone cut the ribbon into the 1:29s.
Not only, but also... Empringham turned in a blistering 1:29.024, but Tarzan macheted right through that territory to finish up the weekend with 1:28.851.

The improvement over last year wasn't restricted to the Pros. In fact it was even more pronounced in the Open class. Last year's fastest lap there was 1:36, with second fastest in at 1:39 and third 1:40. This year, day one saw four cars cracking 1:35, with another three making 1:37 and five in the 1:38s.

By the end of the meet, Nicholas Kalis had piloted his IS Motor Racing/Piazza Doro Evo down into the 1:34s, with Simon Podlewski's Morpowa 180SX and Jason Wright's Autotech WRX both cutting 1:35s.

In case you hadn't noticed, the event is dominated by Japanese streetware – Evos, WRXs, S13 and S15 Silvias, RX7s and GTRs new and old. Indeed, but for Boston's Z, the entire Pro class was made up of such machines. Many, like Kinoshita's RX7 and Earl Bamber's crazily aeroed S13, are modified almost beyond recognition.

motoring.com.au arrived on the rooftop viewing area just in time to see Warren Luff flick on the afterburner hammering his Lotus Exige S3 into turn one off the main straight.

With the event set up to allow public access to the pits and garages, the business area leaves Sunday morning at the airport looking like a meditation space. The place swarmed with wide-eyed young men, tight-jeaned girlfriends and fluoro-jacketed snappers. Engines howled, people barked into mobile phones while an torrent of commentary poured from loudspeakers everywhere, ricocheting in on itself to become completely indecipherable.

By day's end it was an all-foreign podium: Yamada from Empringham with Kinoshita taking up third after putting in a 1:30.501. The local talent missed out by just three tenths, Garth Walden ushering his Tilton Interiors Evo into fourth in 1:30.866. Kalis topped the Open class, while Marek Tomaszewki headed up the Clubsprinters with 1:42.491 in his R35 GTR.

WTA attracts an enormous field of competitors, drawing on budgets from low (lowish, anyway – motor racing is not a poor man's sport) to million-buck Pro. This year's event saw around 150 entries. Brisbane-based first-timers Marty and Michael Horvath were in the garage tinkering with a bung gearbox when motoring.com.au came upon them. In the anything-goes spirit of the Open class, they've brought their STZ Automotive RX7 down sporting a Holden LS2 V8.

Michael told motoring.com.au he and brother Marty, the team's wheelman, were happy with the 1.43s they were running before the gearbox trouble. It was enough to put place them midfield. "We do a lot up in Queensland, but this is our first time in this league," he said. "We were looking for 1.44s, so yeh, we're really pleased we've come inside that."

Out the back were show stands for the event's phalanx of sponsors and others, mainly purveyors of aftermarket tuning products and rolling stock. Getting amongst it awhile, we found plenty that's worth a look even if you're not looking to up your boost or broaden your rubber.

Between the liveried RX7s and RX8s, Mazda Motorsport had a pristine 1967 Cosmo – estimated by staff to be worth in the vicinity of $150K. Nearby was an Aussie-made Spartan. Running a modified 1200cc Ducati V-twin and weighing just 350kg, a demo run would have been nice.

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