My First Year of Time Attack.
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| | By Phil White - Owner of the NR Autosport prepared Mitsubishi Evo IX driven by Gav Renshaw.
Turn the clock back a year and I’d just made one of the rashest purchases of my entire life - a ridiculously high performance street legal car that I had no real intention iof driving either on the road or track, and quite honestly very little idea what else I would do with it.
A couple of months earlier the car in question, a 2005 Mitsubishi Evo 9GT, had appeared in the Cars For Sale section of the MLR (Mitsubishi Lancer Register). At the time I hadn’t really given it a second thought, but while I was at the MLR 500 event (where teams of MLR members compete around an oval dirt track in Mitsubishi cars that must not cost more than £500) it was mentioned in passing and described as probably one of the best put together and presented cars around. This made me sit up and take notice. On the quiet I’ve always been a bit of a polisher, and I have great appreciation of engineering excellence. This car clearly ticked both of those boxes. But what would I do with it? Or did it really matter because, if the price was right, then of course I could always sell it on and get my money back. Aren’t we just great at kidding ourselves when we really want something!
By coincidence, it was also at that MLR500 event the Gav Renshaw’s driving skills properly came to my attention. He happened to be in the same team that I’d been roped into (not because of my driving skills but because I’d agreed to part fund the entry). Gav was tasked with driving our car in the Qualifying Session and he duly went out and was faster than everyone else by about a second over a sub 30 second lap. Just how did he do that? Of course, in the 3 years from 2007-2009, Gav (aka Knoxville on the MLR) had been MLR Sprint Champion, so there was a bit of history there, and I also knew he’d been driving the bright yellow Lateral Performance Subaru – now widely, and rather aptly, known simply as “The Banana” - in the 2010 Time Attack Series. But what I’d also heard about that car was its voracious appetite for driveshafts. I remember thinking to myself that maybe this driver didn’t have much in the way of mechanical sympathy. Hmmm.
I travelled down from Leeds to Mansfield to see the car in what was meant to be my lunch hour. I think I actually got back to Leeds around 5pm. I met with the then owner, Lee Broadhurst, had a pretty good look over the car and I actually got him to fire it up for me. But I didn’t see any need for a test drive even though that actually would have been possible because the car is both taxed and MOTd . Someone else was genuinely interested in buying the car, so without further ado I arranged for money to change hands.
It was only at this point that I became properly alerted to a certain person called Nick Rountree and the business he runs under the name of NR Autosport based near Lincoln. Although Lee Broadhurst had been responsible for the design and most of the work on the chassis, it was Nick who had built the engine and been responsible for all the mechanical and electrical engineering aspects. Lee mentioned that if I did have plans to run the car in any kind of motorsport series he was pretty sure that Nick would be interested in providing continued support. In the short term this was rather convenient because I really needed somewhere for the car to be stored for a while as I didn’t have garage space arranged at home and, although the car came with a trailer, I didn’t have anything to tow it with, and in any case I had absolutely no experience at towing anything!
Nick said he could look after the car for a month or two and it was moved straight from Mansfield to Lincoln. Shortly after he invited me down so he could give me a fully guided tour of the car and for a chat about what my plans might be for it. He also asked if I had anyone in mind to drive the car and mentioned a guy he knew well from his own association with the MLR Sprint series called Gav Renshaw. And before I knew I’d agreed to meet with both of them.
And, as they say, the rest is history!
Gav has written separately about our year in TA, so I won’t repeat any of that. However, whilst a very significant element of our success has been down to Gav’s driving skills, it would still not have been possible without such a strong and dedicated team behind him. Crucial here, of course, has been Nick, Eddie and Jonny from NR Autosport. Nothing is ever left to chance where these guys are concerned. It all starts with meticulous preparation, no stone is left unturned, and nothing is left to chance. Had there not been such attention to detail the achievements of the year simply would not have happened. Simply outstanding. But the team has also benefited greatly from the support of a number of others. You know who you are, and I thank you.
Of course every team needs a bit of luck and at Oulton when we suffered a catastrophic trackrod end failure it seemed that ours was in short supply. But we bounced back from that quickly with our win at Knockhill and our luck then held firm right through to the end.
Finally, a word about our plans for next year. Well, quite frankly, I don’t yet know. I’ve enjoyed the last year immensely, but in a funny kind of way it’s not obvious what there is left to achieve. On the other hand, the prospect of letting Gav loose around tracks like Oulton, Cadwell and Anglesey on full slicks really is a mouth watering prospect, so maybe that alone will be enough to maintain my interest and ensure that my pockets continue to be emptied.
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