LexDakarDatsun

Last weekend saw the GT Battle Round 4 event return to Silverstone race circuit, Northants. With all to
play for in both the D1GB and Time Attack and the last Round prior to the finals, good results were
needed for the top contenders to place themselves well for the finals……what happened?.....

D1GB

SVA Imports D1 Z33

The familiar surrounding of Silverstone combined with the huge jump in skills required in Round 3 at Knockhill was
always going to mean the boys would put on a fantastic show at Round 4 with some fears squashed by the courage
required for Knockhill’s Seat corner and the boys didn’t disappoint!
Even with a wet start in the morning, only a couple of drivers managed to fall foul of the gravel trap at the first turn
giving a clear indication that the cars and drivers have yet again moved the game for the better.

In qualifying it was Morrison, Luney and Marshall in the top 3 all showing great form and scoring consistent points
throughout the solo runs. Also making their first appearance was Tony Green in the MotorPoint Soarer, Pete Barber in
his PS13 Silvia and the man on the move, Mark Johnston in the Weston RPS13 Silvia, all showing good form in their
first professional drift event.


Ben 'Bon-Bon' Broke Smith vs Paul Vasblom

With qualifying finished and the Top 16 announced for the twin drift, the first man up was Morrison, who was leading
the Championship with everything to play for, up against Ian Harrison. With Harrison putting up a fight which proved
not enough for Morrison’s effort as Morrison moved on to face Autoglym’s Evans in the Top 8. The most remarkable
battle in the first runs was between Luney and new-comer Green. With Green over powering Luney down the straight
section, Luney was finding it hard to challenge with less power and fought with everything he had to allow his
experience to take charge over Green. As a close fought affair the pair went onto a run ‘ one more time ‘ and only
with Green making what proved to be a fatal spin on his second run did it push Luney through to the Top 8 with a
sigh of relief that Green made a simple mistake to push himself out. Also making good viewing was the drive between
Polish contender Polody and the SVA Imports car of Crampton, with Crampton struggling to compete after a failing
handbrake meant he had to fight without a good entry angle at the first transition, allowing Polody to take a clear
win. With the Top 4 running order, it would show two of the most experienced drifters coming together for a close
run, almost too close to call between Mulvey and Morrison, both hungry for the Championship points. With Morrison
unable to show the small edge over Mulveys advantage, Mulvey went on to put himself into the final against the victor
over Polody in the Top 4 of Luney.


Damien Mulvey vs Mark Lunney in Final

As the final came, the anticipation of the crowd shone through, expecting to see these two putting an unforgettable
show and they didn’t disappoint. With the close pairing of the days best, who one by one picked off the other 14
drivers, it was Mulvey who suffered defeat as his RPS13 suffered some serious mis-fire issues from his engine on their
second pass, resulting in no power to challenge the might of D1GB favourite, Mark Luney who stormed ahead to use
his experience and well prepared car to be crowned the winner of Round 4 of the D1GB – and well deserved it was,
well done to Mark Luney and the WK Developments/Kerr Tyre Nissan Skyline R32!


How close??

As well as podium trophies, the HKS Hard Charger Award was awarded on the day to the driver showing the best
determination and ambition, this award was presented to Polish entry, Maciej Polody who has constantly improved his
skill and was able to demonstrate that with the right luck he could challenge the UK’s best and put on a fantastic
show for the crowd. Well done Maciej


Points table after round 4
http://d1gb.co.uk/points_table.asp


Time Attack


RC Developments Evo6 dominates Silverstone again

With an over subscribed field of cars for Round 4, the Time Attack finally touched down with the masses as the record
entry numbers and spectators came together to experience what Time Attack is and the pressure it creates for the
drivers. As well as the Pro and Club classes, introduced for the first time was the ‘ Open Wheeled Class ‘ , for
lightweight sportcars of non saloon body type, such as Dax Rush/Caterham/Ariels. With a wet start to the day in
Practice, both the Pro and Club Challenge cars showed slower lap times that the previous meeting however as the
second practice session began and dry racing line appeared around the circuit, the MST timing began to shoot out
some spectacular times. In the Pro class, Norris and Seddon were once again at locked in battle as their Evo’s laid
down some terrific times in the 1.01min bracket with the Club Challenge front runners of Bly and Horsham knocking
on the door of 1.05mins. In the all new Open Wheel Class, Duncan Cowper and Andrew Smith managed to sneak
between the Pro and Club classes to lay some 1.02 and 1.03 lap times in their super light vehicles.
With a Grid of 29 cars making the Club Challenge, 4 in the Open Wheeled and 14 making the Pro class, the sight on
track was phenomenal during the sessions with not one of them under 200bhp and some exceeding 800bhp.

The long awaited extra power in the Sumo Evo 8 promised some quick times but teething troubles with a brand new
engine setup meant that Round 4 wasn’t the day for it to shine though and show its full potential as the final for the
Pro class got underway. Also suffering mechanical problems was the Litchfield entry of Keen who was unable show the
blistering performance of the Subaru as seen in previous rounds.


Norris Designs 800+hp Evo9 SWB vs Fensport 650hp Celica in SuperBattle

As the final of the Pro’s took shape, including Rocket Ronnie in the Abbey GTR and John Terzidis in the
Autoergonomics Evo 8, shipped inform Greece to participate at the event, the clear pattern from earlier in the day
continued at Norris and Seddon clashed set very close times, with Norris being piped to 1st place with a 1.02.178, by
Seddon in the RC Evo with a 1.01.140, enough to once again show the incredible pace of their machine and claim yet
another 1st place trophy with Soothill in third with a 1.03.960.

In the Open Wheeled final, Cowper in the Dax Rush stormed ahead, laying a 1.02.679 over Andrew Smith in 2nd with
a 1.03.368, followed by 3rd place Green in yet another Dax.

The Club Challenge was equally as intense and Bly in his GTR romped home with a win over Horsham in 2nd and
Wilson in his Evo 3 in 3rd, showing a mix for the top between the 4WD and RWD cars on the dry National Circuit.
Running for the second time this year was the new SuperBattle addition to the line-up where the 10 top cars go head
to head in an open pit lane to lay down the quickest lap within a set time. Teams must stage their strategy to ensure
they get a clean track without traffic to set the quickest time (normal Time Attack is just one hot lap with one
chance). With the top 3 cars from the Pro class Time Attack going forward, once again Seddon in the RC Evo
demonstrated great driving to take 1st place with Norris 2nd and Cowper 3rd.


These guys know how to make your car go fast.

Full results here

http://timeattack.co.uk/round%204%20results.asp



Excellent gallery of all the days action here - from the most 'JDM tyte' club in the UK

http://www.tatsu.co.uk/pictures/meets/Aug062.html


Confirmation of Finals

Following on from last weeks release that the D1GB finals will be now held at Silverstone on the 3rd Sept,
we can now release information that the Time Attack Series Final will be held at Donington on Sept 30th
at the all-new ‘ JAPFEST 2 ‘ show.



This year the D1GB and Time Attack have been held at the same venue and on the same day however
due to the unforeseen circumstances at Rockingham and the need to move the D1GB, we also needed to
relocate the Time Attack to a different venue and whilst talks have been in place over the last 3 weeks to
find a suitable location worthy of our finals, we now have pleasure in confirming this information and that
the finals will be held at Donington.

Donington was originally used by the Series at the beginning of the season as a warm-up event and we
are pleased to announce the return to Donington, and to once more add a respected and challenging
circuit not only to the calendar but as a fantastic finish to a rollercoaster year for the Series.

D1GB National Championship FINAL : September 3rd (Sun ) – TRAX Silverstone ( D1GB ONLY )

Time Attack Series FINAL : September 30th (Sat) – JAPFEST 2 Donington ( TIME ATTACK SERIES ONLY )

Cheers

Lex