WORLD TIME ATTACK CHALLENGE 2022 MCA Suspension Recap
Although we didn’t race any of our own cars this year at World Time Attack Challenge we still had plenty of competitors in the event so we decided to go down and document what we could. We still have our 370 and 180SX Drift cars and the famous VR38DETT Time Attack GT86 and may make an appearance at the next event. Congratulations to all the team with or without our suspension that made the trip to WTAC this year and putting on such an amazing show.
We would like to thank all the competitors running MCA Suspension and trusting us to deliver the suspension they need to push their cars to the limit. Below are the highlights we captured at WTAC 2022 featuring competitors running our suspension.
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Pro Class
Pro-Am
Open
Clubsprint
Australian Drift Titles
Flying 500
Display/Show
The Tilton Racing Evo
Suspension: MCA Golds
Class: Pro-Am
Driver: Kotinken Pohorukov
Position: 1st Place
Time: 1:26.071
Class: Pro
Driver: Brad Shiels
Position: 2nd Place
Time: 1.20:970
The Tilton Racing Evo managed to smash their previous PB with an insanely fast 1:20.97 which secured them 2nd place in Pro Class. The Tilton Racing Evo is not only fast but also looks amazing and resembling a more “traditional” time attack car, maintaining a stock body look while still featuring Pro-Class level aerodynamics.
Kosta Pohorukov – 3x Pro Am Class Champion!
Brad Shiels – Pro Class / Outright P2!
Unfortunately, our day was cut short by some carbon debris on the track that sliced the tread which ultimately caused a tyre explosion at high speed – resulting in significant damage to the car.
Hammerhead
Suspension: MCA Golds
Class: Royal Purple Pro
Driver: Tim Slade
Car: Nissan Silvia S13
The Hammerhead was back out on track this year driven by Tim Slade in the Royal Purple Pro Class with a few driver aid upgrades, new aero features and more horsepower than ever before, unfortunately the car had engine issues on the first night and put 2 holes in the billet block taking the car out of the race for the rest of the weekend. The new livery on the car looks amazing and we hope to see it out again next year.
Xtreme GTR
Suspension: MCA Golds
Class: GCG Open Class
Driver: Tim Slade
Position: 2nd Place
Time: 1:27.379
Michele Guyers R32 GTR time attack car captured quite a lot of attention with Tim Slade behind the wheel pushing this car to the limit and beyond. During one lap the carbon fibre rear wing completely folded and bent on both sides of the mounting points which had a lot of spectators amazed! Congratulations to the Xtreme GTR team for achieving second place in the open class.
Michele Guyer said- “Time Slade quickly achieved our goal of breaking the class record in the morning session with a 1.27.379 ending the lap with a mechanical problem taking us out for the remainder of the event but at least we had a time on the board. I know he’s a professional, but it still amazes me how Tim can be so damn fast with such little seat time in this car… then came the anxious 10+ hour wait to see if we could hold on to our lead.
At the end of the night, we were still in the lead as we nervously watched Nathan Morcom keep it to the last sector to take the lead with a 1.27.247.”
The Xtreme GTR coming in HOT!
Competition friction
Suspension: MCA Reds
Class: GCG Open Class
Car: Datsun 1600
Driver: John Healey
Fastest Lap: 1:39.82
It’s awesome seeing older cars competing in such a high-end motorsport event, John Healeys SR powered Datsun 1600 is one of them and was a crowd favourite.
“It was the full time attack experience with not getting the car finished till the last minute (not planned that way) so we went there with zero testing. But ended up with zero issues and a solid result (well I think so 
)” – John Healey.
Dream Project S15
Suspension: MCA Golds
Class: GCG Open Class
Driver: Rob Nguyen
Car: Nissan Silvia S13
Position: TBA
Time: TBA
Another car succumbing to engine issues although much less catastrophic than the hammerhead was Charles Warlands Nissan Silvia S15. This is a car we have watched grow and race over the last few years at Queensland Raceway and when the car is running well it is a weapon on the track, we really hope to see this back in action soon and that it can hit some goals next year at WTAC.
Rising Sun Subaru / Gingerbread Racing
Suspension: MCA Reds
Class: Plazman Pro-Am
Driver: Jay Davidson
Car: Subaru STI
Position: 2nd
Time: 1.33.594
World Time Attack Challenge Rookies snatch result at the last minute. Team Gingerbread Racing took out second in the Pro Amature class at the 2022 WTAC and are already making plans for 2023.
The GBR team and their 2004 Subaru Impreza were certainly not tipped for success in their first attempt at WTAC however they were able to overcome teething issues to record a time of 1.33.5 in the top 5 shoot out.
Davidson the teams primary driver credited the teams success to hard work, persistence and the simple mechanical nature of their Subaru. “We are a team made up of 2 plumbers, a cleaner, and a roof truss assembly man, so its important we can understand the car and have local support available during the weekend.We have Chapmans Dyno Tuning , MCA Suspension, Rising Sun Subaru, Elite Fabrication, PerFourmance engine building, and Pro Speed Racing, all who are Sunshine Coast local or are available to help us when it matters, which of course is always at 11.45pm on Friday night before race day or on race day!”
The GBR team concentrated on providing Davidson a mechanically and structurally sound car that was easy to drive and that’s exactly what they did, with only minor damper and tyre pressure changes required on Saturday as the track conditions changed to secure their break out result.
Tim Bryant the teams manager, “The car has been mechanically the same for a while and very quick in a straight line, but corners were a problem, I called MCA a few months prior to WTAC and got some advice regarding set up and suspension settings, we went to Queensland Raceway and tested what we needed and got reasonable balance with the car, bump stops set correctly and this is why we weren’t chasing our tail come WTAC. As the guru’s at MCA told us, get 100% of the car 70% right and you will be OK. The predictable nature of the car and its ability to put its power down made the car easy to drive which is important as you only get four sessions to produce a competitive time.”
The GBR team plans to contest the Gold Rush Hillclimb at Rockhampton in July and hope to continue their run of good fortune throughout 2022.”
CJA Motorsport
Suspension: MCA Golds
Class: Plazman Pro-Am
Driver: Chris Alexander
Car: R32 Nissan GTR
This full carbon R32 GTR was built a few years ago, but has missed a number of WTAC events. We didn’t get a chance to chat with the team this year, but as the car is running mega horsepower, MCA Gold Series suspension and a similar aero package to an earlier iteration of the hammerhead, we’re confident that we didn’t get to see it perform at it’s best during this years WTAC.
DC Jap Automotive
Suspension: MCA Reds
Class: Haltech Clubsprint
Driver: Trent Grubel
Car: WRX STI
Position: 3rd
One car we wish we got more photos of was the DC Jap WRX STI, the teal blue looked amazing during golden hour at SMP, congratulations to the team on 3rd place in the Clubsprints!.
DC Jap Automotive said on social media – “We will take 3rd!!! We are still buzzing from this. What an achievement for the team. @trentgrubel thank you thank you thank you. Watching you do your thing is such an honour. Your determination, feedback, goal, we couldn’t of asked for any more.
@ichiban_imports you guys rock. The engine package is so solid we didn’t know what to do with ourselves cause we had nothing to fix. Thank you so much for the support at the track and off the track.
Team DC Jap, thank you all. 2 days of getting up early and finishing late. Making sure the car was spot on. All our supporters and customers. Thank you so so much.”
Lamspeed Racing / Elig Brakes
Suspension: MCA Golds
Class: Club Sprint
Driver: Adam Casmiri
Car: Toyota GR Yaris
Position: 5th
Time: 1:36.8
This is a car we have looked forwards to seeing in person after watching the build progress on social media by the team at Lamspeed Racing since building a set of MCA Golds for them. The car looks amazing, sounds fantastic and put down some impressive lap times for the GR Yaris platform including (unrelated to WTAC) a 10-second 1/4mile time. We are looking forwards to seeing the future progress of this car.
Lamspeed Racing – “From drag racing to taking on the World in the most competitive class – Club Sprint at the 2022 World Time Attack Challenge in our Toyota GR Yaris.
Who would have thought that a 1.6L 3 cylinder could have lapped Sydney Motorsport Park GP Circuit with an astonishing 1.36.8!
Recap of our WTAC 2022…
2 weeks before WTAC the team were pretty confident having lapped many consecutive 1.38 to 1.40s in the past with no aerodynamic aids. After adding a Sydney Composites front splitter, Voltex rear wing and side skirts come Friday practice we were battling with car setup. The new aero changed the whole balance of the car setup and we were struggling with the pace of the car, lacking rear-end grip. With the rally aces Adam Casmiri and his brother Aaron Casmiri on the team, tweaks were made to the suspension setup, quick thinking by BigMez Fabrications who manufactured us a custom rear wing mount that lifted the rear wing higher to allow more clean air to flow underneath it. This helped the balance of the car dramatically.
Saturday – Everything turned to 11, it’s go time! Fresh set of Yokohama A052 tyres were fitted. Adam’s first session shocked us all! After Friday the team were hoping for a best of 1.37.5, the bloody legend shocks us all with a 1.36.8!! This at the end of the night was enough to place us 5th out of 38 competitors in our class.
This new platform has impressed us all, none of us ever thought this would be possible in such a short amount of time. With this project we have focused on car setup more than outright power. It still features the standard engine with only upgraded valve springs and retainers, making 277kw at the wheels.”
Hot wheels stunt team
Matt Mingay & Kent Dalton
Suspension: MCA Reds
Cars: VF Commodore Wagon, Chevy Camaro
Event: Hot Wheels Stunt Show
It was great to briefly catch up with Matt Mingay and Kent Dalton at WTAC 2022 after helping fine-tune their MCA Suspension earlier in the year. It’s always a great atmosphere around them and their team, they are always having fun, even when competing for the first time in a high level drifting competition.
Kent Dalton: “What a massive last few days at World Time Attack Challenge with Matty Mingay and the Hotwheels Stunt team. We pretty much packed every toy available from the Hot Wheels garage into the Mack Trucks and headed down to SMSP for a action packed weekend.
….. if I’m completely honest I went in feeling really nervous that the whole competition aspect just wasn’t gonna be my thing – but once I got to battles Saturday I felt I had the GTSR close to where I liked it but it still just wasn’t enough to match these top-level cars and drivers with having such little seat time and experience on this track.
“
Kent Dalton, Matt Mingay and Matts son Madzy Mingay putting on a show at WTAC 2022.
Brad Tuohy
Suspension: MCA Reds
Car: Toyota GT86
Class: Australian Drift Titles
Position: 1st Place
The competition is tough at the WTAC Drift Titles with some of the best drifters in Australia, with essentially only one large corner the door to door style rounds doesn’t give the drivers much time to adjust or get into the flow of the track, it’s straight into the action. It’s not uncommon to see even the best drifters make mistakes entering the corner from spinning out or going too wide and even a few bumper to bumper taps.
The final battle for 1st place on the podium resulted in the lead car spinning out and causing Brad to take some front bumper damage, the pressure on the drivers during the last battles must be nerve rattling.
Congratulations to Brad Tuohy for achieving first place in the WTAC 2022 Drift Championship from the team at MCA Suspension.
Josh Boettcher
Suspension: MCA Golds
Car: Nissan Silvia S15
Class: Australian Drift Titles
Josh Boettcher – “After 2 years off we made the trek back to WTAC with the same beast of an S15 at heart but with a whole new look and style which turned out awesome! We had heaps of love for the new look, so thank you all that were kind! We hit the track for first practice and unfortunately had an alternator issue. My awesome crew got straight to work and not only replaced the alternator but created a new brace to prevent further issues. They did all this in under 1hr to have us ready just in time for qualifying. With no practice, we put down a safe run to get us on the board and into the battles.
After more work assessing the issue and tuning the MCA suspension to get the setup just right, we rolled out for a practice lap before battles. The car developed an engine issue and we had to retire it.
We then spoke to Kent Dalton from the Hot Wheels team and he was incredibly kind and offered his 850hp VF to use in the battles!
I felt comfortable straight away in the car after a quick practice lap. We put on a great smoke show for the crowd but were unable to advance and that was our weekend finished.
Overall a very tough weekend for the team, but we gave it everything. Now we will head back to the drawing board. The engine is already out and on its way to our builder for assessment. And we have plans to improve the setup while it’s out, and get this wild machine up and running and tear up the track as soon as possible!”
Birrong automotive
Suspension: MCA Reds
Class: Turbosmart Flying 500
Car: R32 Nissan GTR
Driver: Justin Dean
Position: 2nd at a whopping 284km/h
This car wasn’t on our list of known vehicles running MCA Suspension when we walked into WTAC this year. It wasn’t until we had a peek into the engine bay and noticed the MCA Reds damper adjusters, We were also just as surprised when the car came 2nd in the flying 500 and only a few kph off coming first against a heavily modified supercar. Congratulations to the team at Birrong Automotive, this GTR is an absolute monster under the hood.
Hardtuned Evo
Car: Mitsubishi Evo 7
Owner: Hardtuned
Class: Trade Stand
The Hardtuned Evo 7 was also on display at their trade stand over the weekend. this is a fairly new build by Hardtuned and we only just installed our custom MCA Reds with air cups the week before. This is a stunning car and we can’t wait to see more of it soon.
Beau Yates AE86
Suspension: MCA Golds
Car: Toyota AE86
Class: Display
Beau Yates had his AE86 on display. We installed MCA Golds on this car when Keiichi Tsuchiya was racing it at a past World Time Attack Challenge event. It was cool to see this car again and still looking so well maintained, it would be amazing to see this car raced again by the Drift King himself around the Sydney Motorsport Park.
