Time Attack UK – Round UpThis season we have been competing in the Time Attack UK Championship with our track car Polar Bear. While this season has had many ups and downs we have used it as a development process and our knowledge has significantly grown. Round 1 took place at Cadwell Park and due to prior commitments; we were unable to attend this event.
Snetterton played host to the 2nd round, which took place on the 4th June 2017. Going into this round a MINI Challenge Spec Turbo was fitted and Bear was able to produce around 245bhp. An incident where another competitor dumped oil on the track in the braking area for turn one, resulted in an off-track moment which caused enough damage to put us out for the day. However, she was brought home and fixed in time for round 3. Brand Hatch hosted the third round of this year’s Time Attack Championship and after the incident at Snetterton a few weeks before, our team was looking to set some solid lap times. The turbo that was fitted for the previous round was replaced with a stage 3 turbo allowing Bear to produce around 280 bhp. On the day she set a respectable lap time of 54.492 seconds, but this was still 2 seconds off the fastest lap in our class. Pre-race testing for round 4 saw Bear’s capacity for power re-evaluated, the car was mapped and fine-tuned which left Bear producing 301 bhp and 445 Nm torque. Whilst Bear’s lap time at Donington of 1:20.061 was reputable, a new lap record of 1:16.697 was set by a 400+ bhp Vauxhall Astra. Round 5 was held at Oulton Park during Tuner Fest. Prior to this, a modified fuel delivery pump was added. The team were focusing on her drivability rather than her power and were looking to get her producing a consistent amount of boost. While our sales team were taking questions at our trade stand, the majority of the action was taking place on the track. Bear set a lap time of 1:38.007. The next round was a doubleheader at Croft but Bear was only on the track for the first round due to other commitments. Before this race, a bigger turbo was fitted and further modifications to the fuel pump were made. Again improvements were made to focus on drivability and not outright power. The Time Attack season finished at Rockingham on the 15th October where an unfortunate incident with a wall in the practice session meant that she had to come home to get fixed. Despite the tight turnaround, Bear was fixed in time to still compete in the final round. In preparation for this round, a set of Newman development Camshafts were fitted alongside prototype aero devices to help decrease understeer. We are also developing an air diverter that has been designed specifically to help channel more air towards the intercooler, which helps to reduce intake temperatures. Our Time Attack season was always meant as a development exercise and our aim was, and continues to be; to bring, improve and develop products to deliver the best services to the performance MINI market. Despite the two incidents, Polar Bear has had a pretty unscathed season. She’s seen some good power gains from race to race but more development is going to be needed next season if we want to compete with the leaders in our group.
