Success for Team BC Racing in Time Attack Rounds 2 & 3

Time Attack and BC Racing go hand-in-hand, both growing from an obsession with perfection and function along with a genuine passion for performance. The concept of Time Attack stemmed from Japanese circuit racers of the 1960s, that were built to celebrate the art of the aftermarket tuner – the doors were open to everyone from low-budget home-spannerers to big-bucks corporate showcases, with everyone racing on, as it were, a level playing field.

Rather than competing against each other from a grid start, everyone competes in turn against the clock to set the fastest lap time, hence the name ‘Time Attack’. The original ethos of the series remains the same today. You just need to start with a production car as a project base, and then the tuning potential is near-limitless. Throw in a load of horsepower, tinker with the chassis and drivetrain, develop some custom aero, do whatever it takes to make the car as fast as it can physically be. Time Attack today exists in numerous series across the globe, with competitors bracketed into various classes; in essence, it’s the dream series for aftermarket tuners, whether they be a big-name tuning outfit or just some bloke in his garage – you can do pretty much what you like to the car within the parameters of the class, without having to worry about a governing body disqualifying you for running the wrong thickness of head gasket or a frowned-upon diameter of air intake. The accessibility is what makes it so popular. And as the results keep demonstrating, an entrant underpinned by BC Racing suspension is on the route to success.

With all of this passion running through the sport, you won’t be surprised to learn that BC Racing is deeply involved with the UK’s most successful Time Attack entrants, and this was really thrown into sharp focus over the weekend of 19^th/20^th June. Rounds 2 and 3 of the series were held at Brands Hatch, Britain’s spiritual home of Time Attack, and the podium successes were relentless. In Round 2, held on the Saturday, BC Racing Driver Sam Pickering took 1^st place in the Club 4WD Class, his Impreza running BC Racing ZR Series coilovers. The achievement was all the more impressive for the fact that it was only Sam’s second visit to Brands Hatch, and the first in this car.

Over in the Pro Extreme Class, BC Driver Paul Doyle’s Impreza – also using ZR Series suspension – took 1^st place, and there was yet more success in the Clubman Class, with Andrew Hawes’ MINI Challenge 210 on BR Series also winning its class. 

Come Round 3 on the Sunday, history repeated itself in fine style, with these three drivers all taking first-in-class again, proving that consistency is key and reliability brings results. It’s a track that really tests both the mettle of the driver and the agility of the car, with the technical nature of the Indy circuit meaning that the adrenaline never lets up for a second, and it’s testament to these drivers and their cars that they were able to chalk up such outstanding finishes. And what’s particularly fun about the Time Attack calendar is that spectators are treated to a full suite of races in one event:

Alongside the headline rounds, the Civic Cup provided three full races of howling VTEC action, and once again BC Racing hardware was underpinning success. All driving Civic Type R racers on RM Series coilovers, Mervyn Beckett took 2^nd place in the Production Class in race 1, race 2 saw Dan Thackeray net 2^nd in the Cup Class, and for race 3 Beckett again scooped 2^nd. This is a series that’s been growing in stature year-on-year since its inception a decade ago, and today the racing is truly fierce; it’s a real badge of honour to do well in the Civic Cup.

And that wasn’t all… the Drift Pro Championship was out in force, showing that there’s more to going around a track than doing it as quickly as possible. A fresh new series debuting this year, the Championship joins the Time Attack caravan and, in association with Motorsport UK, provides a smoky triumvirate of points-scoring opportunities at each event, comprising qualifying, tandem drifting, and Driftkhana. Taking no prisoners in his V8-powered Nissan S14A, Luke Woodhams deftly and artistically skidded his way to the podium, finishing in 3^rd place in the Driftkhana event, his blend of flair and precision earning him the bronze. So all in all, a pretty decent haul for the BC Racing drivers at Brands Hatch across the weekend. Bring on the next round!

 Find the full album from time attack at Brands Hatch HERE