The Road To WTAC Starts Here

World Time Attack Challenge 2018 is just over a month away, which means if you are an international entry the deadline to get your car ready is pretty much up. And that’s especially true for those shipping their cars in from the Northern Hemisphere, as the Japanese contingent are. The cars will spend a month at sea, arriving a week before they need to be at Sydney Motorsport Park.

If you’ve been following the WTAC 2018 entry announcements, you’ll know that HKS is bringing down their latest Tsukuba Record Breaker – the TRB-03 Toyota 86.

The front bumper had already been removed, providing an unusual view of the car’s front end.

It’s absolutely crazy how secretive HKS have been with this project; we’ve seen it before at events and throughout its evolution, but we’re still waiting to get the nitty-gritty on the car and learn all the secrets of the Andrew Brilliant-designed aero package.

Maybe after this outing in Australia, HKS will give the media a bit more access into what may well be a WTAC title challenger.

Mind you, the car is entered in its own demo category as HKS has pushed to run the car on custom Yokohama slicks, as opposed to S-tires.

I was pretty surprised to see 20-inch Advan GTs fitted at each corner, as these are the same wheels (and slick tires) HKS used on the R35 GT-R GT1000 time attack car. Apparently these were thrown on to allow for a bit more clearance during transportion, as moving race cars in and out of containers and around ports usually results in unwanted damage.

I still can’t believe how far pro-spec time attack cars have evolved in the last decade or so.

Simple things like wings have been borrowed straight off of prototype racers, and the sizes are hard to believe.

Along with the TRB-03, HKS is also bringing out their Drift 86 to compete in the International Drifting Cup side of the event with Nobuteru Taniguchi at the wheel of both cars.

With Nob and Naoki early headliners of the sub-event it’s going to a real spectacle, and there are still entrants to be announced.

With pro drift cars demanding time attack levels of grip and control these days, I’m not surprised to see the HKS Drift 86 running on Yokohama Advan’s A052. I wonder if we’ll see cars drift on slick in a few more years…

And speaking of slicks, I’m guessing the wrapped wheels/tires that the HKS guys unloaded are the ones the TRB-03 will use.

But wait – what happened to Under Suzuki? The word on the grapevine is that he’s currently finalizing the build of an all-new S15 which has taken longer than expected to put together. Right now, Suzuki and the Scorch Racing guys are working around the clock to try and get the car ready in time to air freight it over to Australia a few days before the event. Talk about cutting it short!

With so many new cars, so many surprises, and still so much up in the air, WTAC 2018 is promising to be the best one yet.

Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: speedhunters_dino
dino@speedhunters.com