A few weeks have passed now since World Time Attack was held at Eastern Creek Raceway (now Sydney Motorsports Park). With some of the fastest cars coming from all over the planet to shoot it out around the fast and technical circuit.

Before we could take in any motorsports action, we first had to get to Eastern Creek Raceway and Sydney itself.

The drive started by meeting up with the boys from Zero Clearance and Grassroots at 4 am before setting off for what would become the longest drive of my life.

A quick stop for fuel at The Big Merino and we were off again.

Then trouble appeared. The severe bushfires that ravaged Sydney’s Blue Mountains were right in our path and noone was progressing down this road for several hours. So turn around we did and headed up via the coastal road. Add another 6 hours to the trip and we were there.

Heading to WTAC the next day we were greeted with a serious array of street registered vehicles in the carpark.

Once inside, the first car to grab our attention was the-lowdown.com Evolution 9 Lancer of Mr Zomaya. Rocking some spaced Advan RCII’s over serious Project Mu braking hardware.

A recent addition to the car is the huge Voltex rear wing to compliment the theme of the event.

A perfectly executed R32 GTR Skyline with Volk CE28’s was nearby to contrast with the Evo 9’s modifications with subtle changes for that super clean look that is so popular.

Here we have what may well have been the star of the show. The Kiwi built PPRE 6-rotor RX-4 coupe piloted by the infamous’ Mad Mike’ Whiddett of Speedhunters / Red Bull fame.

Sharing the shade was this savage Datsun / Nissan Stanza based Sports Sedan, which consists of a Tubular frame and basically anything goes within regulations. This particular vehicle is driven and owned by Barry Bray. A worthy series to watch.

On one of the wheel stands was this EF9 Honda Civic, showcasing a set of 3SDM 0.05 wheels in 16″x8″ with a low offset showing us what is possible out of the tiny hatch.

It was a true privilege to see this car, a genuine Group B Rally survivor MG Metro 6R4.

With its mid mounted 3000cc V6 (making 186 – 306 KW depending on spec) this thing was heaven on the ears flying around the track. Not really geared for a circuit like Easter Creek though. This engine however, came to a very unfortunate end, whilst on full throttle down the main straight something on the left side of the engine caught fire and the rear was engulfed in flames. A tragedy.

We also had a Group B Audi Quattro replica, though consisting of mostly original parts it did have a modern Subaru drivetrain and was also incorrectly geared for such a circuit. Heaven none the less.

A close up of the turbocharged 2100cc inline 5 cylinder engine that was made so famous by Group B.

There was some serious Time Attack cars in the making being shown off by the respective composite and fabrication companies. This Mazda RX-8 was serious with so much custom metal work and carbon components.

Not completed yet. Look out for this beast on a track in the near future. Carbon intake and Individual Throttle setup is just beautiful.

I shall leave the rest for Part 2.

Photo’s: Nick Drew

Words: Nick Drew