With Time Attack celebrating its 20th anniversary this season, they have freshened up the format for the days running. For as long as I have been apart of the championship we have always had a Warm up & Practice with only Qualifying and the Final being point scoring sessions. However, the format is now, Warm up, Attack 1, Attack 2 and Super Attack with all sessions offering points. The 2025 season also sees Cadwell Park return as the opening round in its usual date of the Early May Bank Holiday.
Warm Up
he first session of the year was a case of ensuring everything that had been done to the car over the winter was working and that I felt comfortable in the car. Straight away I discovered that at 6,000 RPM I was getting a hard cut on the engine. Something we knew couldn’t be resolved midsession. I ran the full session short shifting and getting a feel for the new brake set up and generally shaking everything down for the day ahead. Also, to enable me to score the point in this session. At the end of Warm up we had chalked up a total of 10 laps, the joint most by anyone in the session. The engine cut ended up being an ECU error which was cleared but we also swapped out the coil packs and plugs before Attack 1.
Attack 1
The plan was to do 8-10 minutes on track and then come into the pits to check and adjust tyre pressures. While in the pits I had a quick look at the TSL Timing to see how the class was shaping up before heading back out and straight into an aggressive out lap to make sure everything was nice and warm for a final push lap. On the final attempt I stopped the clock at 1:36.227 which was 0.010 off of my PB. I was really happy with that effort as I felt there were plenty of time left on track plus a some traffic that I had to overtake.
Attack 2
The plan for Attack 2 follows the same pattern as the previous session only it was time to start pushing a little harder. I went with the same approach of two preparation laps out of the holding area to make sure the tyres were steadily warmed up before leaning on them, I didn’t fancy an adventure over the grass today. The 1st hot lap was more of a banker lap to make sure there was something half decent on the board. A 1:36.874 again hindered slightly by traffic. After a cool down lap I pushed again, this time setting a 1:35.734 and a new PB!
After seeing the timings back in the pits I knew I had to put myself out of my comfort zone at and start exploring the limits. The first lap back out was a 1:35.286 which was another new PB but I was blocked going into the last few corners so I went straight into a second hot lap, fuelled with a little rage after losing time on the previous lap. All was going well until approaching Mansfield when there was another slow moving car. However, I was determined not to get held up, dropping a wheel on the grass while braking caused the car to get a little out of shape luckily I managed to hold on to the car and still made the corner going down the inside of my fellow competitor. Thankfully I didn’t lose much time and was still up on the previous best. I kept it clean and tidy for the remainder of the lap which resulted in a 1:34.375 another PB, nearly 2 seconds up on my previous fast lap and enough P1 in class.
Super Attack
Just as I was getting ready to go into my first hot lap of the final session the red flag made an appearance. Luckily I was first into the pit lane, so when the track was green I had a clear lap. Unfortunately the clock keeps ticking under the red flag conditions costing us all valuable running time. Knowing there would be limited laps I was straight back on the pace before another red flag into The Mountain ruined the lap time. I was on for mid 1:34 which should have been enough to take P1. Instead the time I had managed to register was only good enough for third in class. Still, leaving me with a good points haul for the opening round of the season at what is traditionally my weakest circuit.
To sum up round 1 of 2025 I would say it has been a huge success. The upgrades made over the winter worked as they should and I have set the foundations for what should hopefully be another good season. Next up on the calendar is Donington Park on May 26th for Round 2.
