On Sunday, we took the TDP EVO VI to the first Round of the Time Attack. It was driven by Brendan Stone as his car, an EP3 Civic, was not ready after a full winter of chassis mods. The Civic, powered by a TDP K20A Race Engine, will be one to watch in the next round. The EVO VI is not set-up for Time Attack, where road legal tyres are used and the suspension favoured the slick tyres. We dusted a set of Toyo 888R tyres off the shelf from when Robbie raced in the UK some 3 years ago. Fitted them to the rims and hoped for the best. In the practice session, Brendan had the times down to the 60.4 seconds bracket and we were happy. In the Qualifying 1 we were the second quickest car with 60.3 seconds. We did a bit of tow and camber adjustment to try and make the car work, as the Toyos are very soft compared to the slicks. In Qualifying 2, we were the second quickest car at 59.81 seconds only 0.35 behind the TDP mapped Evo of Brian Sexton. The car was only running on low boost as we were still unsure of the tyres. We only had one set and they were needed in the final.
The final was a bit of disaster, as during the service interval, we changed the plugs. Unfortunately, a plug lead refused to clip back on to the plug for Brendan. It was starting to rain and we needed a dry lap. He went out but it was misfiring, so he came back in. By the time Robbie persuaded the lead to clip back on, the track was wet and the other drivers had set a time on a partially dry track. The best we could get on a fully wet track was 68 seconds lap. We finished in 6th place, a bit disheartened, but happy that the two TDP tuned cars were the only cars in the 59 seconds bracket.
Well done to Philip Burdock on the win Martin Tracey in second and Brian Sexton in third second place in the second TDP.ie Mapped EVO.
The car will go back to its saloon racing and may make an appearance later in the year in Time Attack with a guest driver.
