Event Report: The Lab Limited Nissan March pedalled by Steve Millen and more!

“It’s been quite an eventful season for The Lab Limited’s Glenn Hodges, with plenty of upgrades and a season finale with Stillen owner and motorsport legend Steve Millen behind the wheel to support Leukemia & Blood Cancer NZ”

You’ve read the feature on Glenn Hodges’ absolutely bonkers Nissan March after round four of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series, but now you’re wondering how this mad creation from The Lab Ltd. feared in New Zealand’s only time attack race series. With a car of this nature, it’s not an easy beast to tame. Packing 440kW-plus of pure shed-built twin-turbo V6 muscle in a custom-built car isn’t always going to be the easiest to get a handle on, especially when every suspension and aero component has been handmade.

The fourth round of the Prowear NZ Superlap series was held at Bruce McLaren Motorsport park, and, with decent weather for the most part, it were to be perfect track conditions for testing. With known heat-soaking issues thanks to an inefficient intercooler and cooling system, Glenn used this track time to gain some vital information.

With no change to intake air temps, Glenn moved onto pushing the little March to find its limitations, Glenn explains, “the last session of the round four at Taupo I was trying to progressively find the upper limits for corner speed. On a couple of the safer corners, I stepped over that limit by just a touch and then reacted poorly resulting in an excursion onto the grass.”

Unfortunately, the splitter dug in hard during this excursion and resulted in a spin. This would ultimately end the weekend for Glenn, with a car full of grass and sand. After getting the March home for a much-needed clean, Glenn began the planned modifications before the final round, held at Hampton Downs Raceway.

“After extensive discussions with PWR in Australia on how to improve the intercooler system and coming to the realisation the current budget simply was not going to meet the requirements for the good gear, it was time to get the welder out — again!”

Straight away, Glenn purchased a new, much-thicker aluminium radiator, which he then cut up and modified to suit. The original radiator was then reused and cut up to become the new low-temp radiator for the intercooler system. The intercooler itself was then cut up and modified to enhance the efficiency. The air intakes received your classic case of Kiwi ingenuity, with a couple of four-litre paint tins, with stickers removed to act as cold-air intakes — awesome!

After the cooling upgrades were completed, Glenn turned his direction to the front-splitter, which besides being full of grass, needed a good reworking. A couple of extra brackets were installed, and it was raised an overall 25-millimetres off the ground, then it was off to the dyno, Glenn explains, “the whole car was given a nut and bolt check, then taken to D Tech for a tune and test of the intercooler and cooling system changes. While not perfect, there were significant improvements in the cooling systems and the car netted 447kW (599hp) at the rear hubs, so slightly up on what we had way back at the start in the old chassis.”

For the final round of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series, Glenn had a serious surprise in store for us all; Steve Millen, international motorsport hero, Kiwi legend, and owner of Stillen was to drive the little March during the lunchtime sessions with a passenger. This wasn’t for no reason though, as Glenn had been asked if he wanted to be involved in rides for charity for Leukemia & Blood Cancer NZ.

After a voluntary MSNZ audit, Glenn was ready for Saturday to hand over the keys to Steve. To give Steve a chance to come to grips with the little March, he was given the first session of the day to get comfortable. “It’s good!” Steve exclaimed.

Steve and the charity winner made there way out in the lunchtime cruise session for a couple of hot laps, and it’s safe to say Steve had an absolute blast behind the wheel the March and provided some solid feedback for Glenn. One is that it seriously needs a dead pedal, so Glenn can feel what the car is doing.

After a quick refuel, Glenn made his way out onto the grid for the final session of day one. “I headed out aiming to slowly get the pace improved as laps went by, however, the car and track were terrible. Moderate braking locked the front wheels, the car understeered, then would snap oversteer — this was not the car I had been driving all season!” Glen told us.

At a moderate pace, the March locked up and it was into the sand once again. Upon closer inspection after returning to the puts Glenn noticed the front splitter was loose, resulting in a very pronounced high-speed shudder, upsetting the front-end balance of the March. Back to the shed that night to get it finished by Sunday! “It was just after dark and the improvements had been made!”

With improved track conditions after midday, Glenn pulled the March off the trailer to take on the competition. After a couple of sighting laps, Glenn was pumped, “the track was so much cleaner and drier than Saturday,” he continues, “Fortunately I had the forethought to check the front shock settings. Oddly, they were set to full stiff — a recipe for the disaster of a session we’d had on the Saturday afternoon.”

After Eric’s unfortunate fire and being held in the pits, Glenn was ready to get the session underway, after finding out nobody was injured. “Superlap group three to your cars now please!” The session was about to begin.

“And we’re off! I’m lucky enough to be at the front, so clear of the traffic. The car feels amazing and it’s back to what I knew from the rounds before, only this time I’ve nailed it and the front aero is rock solid and I have a little more power.”

After two moderately paced laps, Glenn started to feed into a little harder to try and take on a few competitors in the series. After making a small mistake on corner exit of turn four, Glenn slid over the ripple strips sideways, but still managed to keep the pace going. It was all looking extremely good, until the lap was red-flagged, ending the fun. During the day, Glenn managed an extremely respectable 1:14.9-second lap time and upon entering the pits, he was welcomed with congratulations from the other competitors, showing just how warm the NZ Superlap family truly are.

Glenn and the humble Nissan March netted a third place in Pro Open for the season and a trophy for reliability — “both genuinely a great surprise!” Glenn told us.

Event Gallery: Prowear NZ Superlap Series RD5 2018 part two

Welcome back! We've got the second gallery from the Prowear NZ Superlap final uploaded. To view the first gallery, click here.

Event Report: Hans Ruiterman Racing Prowear NZ Superlap finale

“Hans Ruiterman Racing nabs a second-place finish in Prowear NZ Superlap Series in SR22VDET-powered Nissan Silvia!”

After dropping the fourth round of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series due to a few mid-season upgrades, Hans Ruiterman was back in the hot-seat ready for action in the fifth and final round held at New Zealand’s benchmark time attack circuit; Hampton Downs Raceway. Hans has been constantly improving the Silvia throughout and before the season with a unique VCT/NEO VVL SR22 engine — the first of its kind in the world.

The changes didn’t stop there though, as Hans has been developing a stroked VQ35HR-powered S15 Silvia that will be taking on the Yokohama World Time Attack in 2019. During the development of the S15, Hans made some improvements to the suspension geometry, he explains, “from all the suspension research and design work we have been doing on our S15 project, it became apparent that there was an issue with the rear roll-centre height in relation to the front in our S14.5.”

Hans continues, “During the weeks leading up the event, we decided to build the subframe for the S15 and put this into our current Silvia to test. The new subframe has the ability for geometry adjustments and still fits around the stock fuel tank and unmodified chassis rails — making it a bolt-in item.”

“As the current car had previously been well dialled in and now with the geometry adjusted, the balance had changed so there was work to be done. During the event, we changed the front and rear sway bar settings, shock settings and wheel alignment to achieve a perfect balance between understeer and oversteer to suit my driving style. The car now has less of a natural tendency to take weight off the inner wheels under high cornering loads and we are able to soften it up to gain more grip without inducing too much body roll.”

Unfortunately, Hans’ team weren’t blessed with track time at the final with rain and sessions that were cut short, which meant they were unable to utilise and maximise the potential from the new layout. During the event we were supplying Hans with images from various corners, so he could check just how low the splitter was getting to the tarmac and braking and cornering.

Hans is confident the next time the S14.5 is out on track it’ll knock down his previous personal best of 1:06.5-seconds set last year. Hans finished the weekend, and the final with a 1:07.03-seconds, which seems off the pace but is staggeringly quick considering the massive change weeks prior to the event. We’ll keep you up to date during the off-season with any modifications Hans completes, and we’ll no doubt checking out his mental WTAC project.

Hans would like to thank all of his sponsors for their support this season, including; the team at E&H Motors, Gull Sports/Gull NZ, Motul NZ, Pukekohe Auto Spares, Onehunga Panel and Paint, TTi GTO racing gearboxes, Enduro Fit, Devise, Alicia Ruiterman, Theresa Knight, Claire Robinson, Carl Ruiterman, Shaun Judd, Alex Lean, Jedd Mormon, Daniel Burrows, Wayne Cowley, Jason Liefting and David Higgins

Event Gallery: Prowear NZ Superlap Series RD5 2018 part one

“The final showdown of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series is always a good one. You get wild-card entries and seasoned drivers chomping at the bit to fight for their trophies. Here’s our first gallery of the action that went down”

We’re always hanging out for the final of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series held at Hampton Downs Raceway. Drivers who have been fighting all season for their class trophies have just one more hurdle to jump, with a few wild-card drivers thrown in for good measure to take out. We have an event report coming soon, but for now he’s our first gallery from the event. We’d like to say a huge thanks to the Superlap team for having us all season!

Event Gallery: Prowear NZ Superlap RD4 2018 part two

“Our second gallery upload is live, photographed by René Vermeer and Damian Smuts thanks to The Bling Company and Zestino Tyres Hamilton”

You thought the first album was extensive? Well, we have been working the graveyard shift to get yet another gigantic album live so you can update that out-of-date profile picture or cover photo. Thanks for having us Prowear NZ Superlap, and for the drivers involved, stay tuned for the third album — yes there’s more!

Images by: René Vermeer and Damian Smuts

Event gallery: Prowear NZ Superlap RD4 2018 part one

“We always capture way too much content at the Prowear NZ Superlap Series rounds, but there’s just so much going on!”

With two camera-mad trigger-happy guys Damian Smuts, and Rene Vermeer running around like headless chickens at the fourth Prowear NZ Superlap round for the series, we were sure to have plenty of content from this round. As to not blow apart your cell phones, here’s album one from the weekend’s racing.

Images: Damian Smuts & René Vermeer

Thanks to The Bling Company and Zestino Tyres Hamilton

Event Report: Kat Benson Racing snaps up another personal best at NZ Superlap RD4

“The Burger Fuel Evo pedalled by Kat Benson Racing improves on yet another personal best despite troublesome gearbox issues”

Image: René Vermeer — **Image:** René Vermeer

Every round of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series Kat manages to dial in the Burgerfuel Mitsubishi Evo just that little bit more. With the Evo still on wastegate pressure, the Evo is becoming more competitive every round. This round of Superlap was no different and even though Kat was suffering from gearbox issues, she still managed a new personal best at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park.

A two-day affair, round four was held yet again at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park with two sessions on Saturday and a much busier four on Sunday. After arriving and driving down Saturday morning, Kat’s team set into high-gear fuelling the Evo and checking over the vital components. With the all-clear, Kat made her way out to for the first session to assess track conditions.

Soon after coming in, Kat’s helmet was off, and we were told of the cool track temperatures, and high winds carrying pumice sand across onto the circuit. Unfortunately, this made things extremely slippery, but thankfully each competitor noticed the conditions “It was still a good opportunity to get valuable time on the track, but may have put me off a bit. After a few changes in the pits and a rethink as to my approach, I went back out in the second session of the day and dropped a full two-seconds,” Kat explains.

Unfortunately, Kat’s gearbox was giving her serious grief by falling out of gear. With this issue, and a stern hand keeping it in place, Kat pushed on chasing down good friend Andy Brooking in his 600kW-plus R32 GT-R and managed to chisel off yet another one-second off her personal best time, which is now sitting at 1:37.6-seconds for the circuit.

Image: Damian Smuts — **Image:** Damian Smuts

“I smashed our personal best by a second but was unable to continue past this due to the gearbox not playing ball. It’s bittersweet we came in second place in our class as we knew there was more in the car and driver, and just a small issue with the gearbox held us back. But, among such a good group of competitors, we are super stoked with the outcome.”

"We can't wait for the final round, and we might even swap back in the factory gearbox to ensure we get the most seat time possible. We're looking forward to seeing everyone back out there May 5–6!"

Event Gallery: pit-lane posin’ at Prowear NZ Superlap Series

“The Prowear NZ Superlap Series is full of fast cars, sure. However, the true gems of the series are the people, and we love making galleries of them”

Every round of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series, we are blessed with the company of a fine bunch of individuals. It just so happens they’re incredibly photogenic, and we end of with hundreds of people photos. For those involved in the series, enjoy. For those who aren’t, you might not find this very interesting…

Photographs by René Vermeer and Damian Smuts

Thanks to The Bling Company

Event Report: Team 666 Racing dominate NZ Superlap RD3 outright

“With the goal for the weekend to reset a personal best lap time, Tony Satherley of Team 666 Racing wasn’t going to hold back at the third Prowear NZ Superlap Series round”

When you’ve got your home circuit, over 600kW of power on tap, a talented behind the scenes team, and the right conditions, it’s going to be a good time. Tony Satherley and Team 666 Racing had waited a long time since round two of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series and the time had come to attempt a new personal best for Tony Satherley at Manfeild Autocourse.

“Sunday morning we were greeted with a wet track due to the overnight rain, but we were still hopeful that the drifters would dry this up a bit for us as they were first out on track,” Tony told us. Thankfully, the Superlap groups also went out in a reverse session order, so Tony would be up last on a dryer circuit.

“I went out for the first session and did my warm up. I noted that there were still a few damp patches around, but overall it didn’t look too bad so I decided to give it a decent shot,” Tony explained. According to Tony, it was still a little slippery, but nothing major. Even still, Tony came in to find out he had smashed his previous personal best with a 1:07.5-second lap time.

“I was super stoked do that on such an average lap, so this definitely made me think we could drop the lap times even lower.” With a dry session next time out, times would most certainly tumble…

During the second session, Tony pushed the Team 666 Racing Evo a bit harder, tidied up his lines, and came into the pits to find out how his efforts had paid off. Another second had been shaved this time ut, with Tony netting yet another personal best with a 1:06.6-second lap time. “Unbelievable — goal achieved,” Tony told us.

“Dave then tells me the car isn’t even running at full boost/timing yet, so it had a bit more in reserve should I need it. I declined, as the car was all good and it was just me holding it back. We did consider putting the Evo back on the trailer after this, as I had already beaten my personal best, but figured since we were here, why not have another crack and see if I can go a bit quicker.”

After making a few slight changes to the rear shocks and running a 1:06.7 in the third session, Tony decided to go out once more in the fourth session of the day to give it everything he had. After an incredibly fast lap, Tony made a mistake on Manfeild’s final turn, costing him huge exit speed and 0.3-seconds off his best lap, which looking at the Motec data, would have been a 1:05.8-second lap time. “I will be kicking myself for a while over that mistake! Sorry Scott,” Tony said.

Based on the data collected from the Motec the Team 666 Racing Evo is capable of a 1:05-lap time based on fastest sector times on its current power level.

“All in all it was a great weekend and I was really pleased with how we got on. To drop my PB by over two-seconds was a great achievement. The intercooler mods we had done to the car prior to the event proved their worth too, and Dave noted the intake temps are probably the lowest he has seen from the car. All the intercooler pipes stayed secure and I had zero issues. In fact, all I had to do on the car was check tyre pressures and top of the fuel!”

There are only 10 more days until the next NZ Superlap round, so we will be seeing this machine in action again very soon.

Event Report: Stray Bullet strikes Manfeild Autocourse NZ Superlap RD3

“MSport NZ father and son duo take part in the third Prowear NZ Superlap Series RD3 held at Manfeild Autocourse in their 500kW-plus 2JZ S14 Silvia”

After the introduction of the MSport NZ crew to Team TimeattackR, we’ve been itching to see this 500kW-plus beast back in action in the Prowear NZ Superlap Series. After a solid three-month wait, father and son team Mark Snr and Mark Jnr dual-entered their machine to take on Manfeild Autocourse.

After flying in from Australia, Macca helped the MSport NZ team prep the Silvia on the Saturday leading up to race day and unloaded it again early Sunday morning. After checking over the Silvia, Mark Snr was first in the hot seat in the third group out for the day, Macca explains, “Dad was out first in the third group, but the track was still pretty wet from the overnight rain and he struggled for traction. We decided that this session would be to ensure everything was running all ok.”

With everything in order, Macca made his way out in the next session, with the track still damp and made the realisation that the Silvia was hitting the rev limiter in fifth gear on the straights, seriously hindering overall times. “There’s quite a big difference in the overall tyre size with the semi-slicks compared to the full slicks we usually run on this circuit so we were hitting speed cut sooner. I think I was in the 1:13s at this point,” Macca told us.

Thankfully, the Silvia runs a Winters quick-change diff, and during the lunchtime break, the ratios were swiftly changed. After lunch, Mark Snr made his way out with the new ratios managed to best his previous time with a 1:12. Soon after, Macca went out and managed a much quicker 1:10 —finally getting into the groove.

“The brakes we are now running are a massive improvement over the last set, so they have been something that has taken some getting used to. You really have to keep telling yourself to ‘break later, break later’ each time,” Macca explained.

On the Motec, the MSport NZ recorded a 1:09.50 — so there’s definitely room to grow once everything dials in. Macca would like to thank his old man Mark Snr, Phil, and Chris who were all huge helps throughout the day. Also a huge thanks to Chris from Prestige Tuning and Macbilt Engineering for all of your help.

Event Report: Kat Benson Racing Evo unleashes fury at NZ Superlap RD3

“With over 400kW now on tap and a setup more reliable than ever, Kat of Kat Benson Racing was able to get serious seat time at the third Prowear NZ Superlap Series round — netting a new personal best along the way!”

After a late-season debut at the second round of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series, Kat came out swinging with a new Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park personal best of 1:38.3-seconds thanks to a potent new stroker kit and turbo combination. This change, once dialled in with E85 has been a game changer for Kat, and the third round of the NZ Superlap Series was no different.

With only one day of racing at the V 4&Rotary Jamboree, a reliable package is a must — especially after the six-hour trip south from Auckland. With that being said, we’d like to hand it over to Kat to run us through her successful weekend. Over to you, Kat.

Superlap is traditionally one fast lap and that is all you focus on. With the highly-strung vehicles we run, it’s difficult to ask for more than one or two laps at full noise and that has been how the BurgerFuel Evo has been since we started chasing big power. But, that all changed at round three of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series at manfeild Autocourse.

For the first time in a while, I was able to push the car to its limits lap after lap after lap with no issues. After fixing a windage and oiling issue that has plagued the car at recent events, the motor ran cooler and stronger — it just wanted to keep going!

All the upgrades since the fire last year were finally realised to their full potential and I felt comfortable in the driver’s seat again. The very first lap out was a personal best at the circuit, with times dropping every subsequent lap.

The weather was hot, yet every time I came back into the pits with a vehicle I felt confident in, it just made me want to get straight back out there and chop more laps with a smile on my face.

There was some fierce competition at this round, with 50 entrants from all across New Zealand — which just goes to show that time attack racing in this country just keeps growing. The event ran flawlessly thanks to the team behind the scenes and on the grid, with five groups and five sessions being run throughout the day. It’s amazing to see everyone come together to get this done.

Kat.

Kat successfully completed the weekend with a 1:15.4-second lap time and a third place in Pro Street class. With only two weeks until the fourth round, we’re excited to see Kat and the Evo shred another personal best.

Event Report: TimeattackR attend Attack Japan

“It’s always hard finding someone overseas to cover events, but this time, just by chance we stumbled upon a new contributor; Rhys Yeomans. This time, Rhys attends Attack — Japan’s premier time attack event held at Tsukuba Raceway”

My interest in time attack has increased over the past years, so it was a no-brainer to head back to Japan to spend time at Tsukuba and at Attack — Japan’s largest time attack event. While I don't want to take my own car down the crazy time attack route, seeing these cars, drivers and Tsukuba Raceway in the flesh was something that I felt was important, as well as a great excuse to spend a few weeks in Japan.

Walking through the pits in the morning cold was quite overwhelming. Seeing the Garage Work Civics lined up at the top of the pits was the big moment for me, as Civics are my main interest. It is something to see photos of these cars on the internet, but to get down to look under the flat floors, extremely minimal interiors, and modified trailing arms was a treat.

While the safety requirements are more relaxed than we see here in Australia and New Zealand, overall the cars in the pits were built to a high standard. Compared to some other time attack events, there were less than five mechanical failures that required them to be towed off the circuit for the day — they looked and ran extremely well.

Attack run a super lap session at the beginning of the day, longer practice sessions during the day and then finally another super lap session to wrap it all up.

Most cars were up on jacks until the very last second before they made their way out and it seemed strange to run a super lap session first up. That was until we saw the ASM S2000 come flying onto the front straight — first lap, first flyer!

This wasn't an isolated incident as every single car was straight up to speed after their out lap. The Aslan EG reset the FF NA lap record on their second lap of the day; this shows the benefit of tyre warmers and why every single car was using them before their session.

It was a great use of time also, as the first session at most winter track events in Australia are used to sight the track and get your bearings due to the lack of track and tyre heat available.

A highlight was seeing the Aslan EG come in after their record lap and the team so enthusiastic, then the other teams in the pits coming up to congratulate them on their efforts. Garage Work, who previously held this record, even showed the same enthusiasm and were very gracious. This was a common theme in the pits; while they are competitors, all drivers and teams were more than supportive of each others triumphs.

The whole day I was continually shaking my head and smiling, amazed that this event had easily exceeded my expectations.

Attack release their dates late in the year, so if you've thought of heading over to Japan and wanted to incorporate some motorsport into your trip, I'd wholeheartedly recommend a visit to Tsukuba for Attack. I'm not sure I could talk my girlfriend into letting me go to Japan without her again, so I hope she will enjoy attending Attack at Tsukuba sometime in the future!

Fire Ando Team Vivac Evo runs 51.893 at Tsukuba Attack

One of our favourite cars from the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge, the Team Vivac Evo, has just pulled an incredible 51.893-second lap time out of the bag at the most recent Tsukuba-based Attack Festival. The amount of power and grip this car has is phenomenal — check it out in the video below. We couldn't help but upload a couple of cheeky photos from WTAC too...

Event Gallery: 4&Rotary Nationals peep show!

“Photographer Glen McNamara checks out the V 4&Rotary Nationals show and shine!”

The V 4&Rotary Nationals held every year in New Zealand, is the most iconic Japanese tuning car show in the southern hemisphere. People travel from all over to get involved in the event, and project car owners usually use the date as D-day for their builds — whether it's six months from the project start date or six years.

Our man Glen McNamara made the trip along and scoped out some cool race car looking beasts for you all to look at.

It's a tough choice, but we're picking Jared Croft's Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R Pandem build as our favourite streetcar and Iain Clegg's ST Hitec R35 drag machine as the craziest race car, which .will pack a billet, stroked VR38 engine with over 2500hp!

An honourable mention must be made to Philip Huynh for completing his White KFC-themed MX-5 build. Powered by a 200kW at the wheels 1UZ-FE engine, it is most certainly no slouch either. More on this in an upcoming feature.

Below are some of our favourite racers from the show and shine:

Event Gallery: NZ Superlap Series RD2 Day two

The grand final of image galleries is our day two gallery from the Prowear NZ Superlap Series held at the Bruce McLaren Motorsport, January 6–7. We've posted day one part one and part two, the People of Pit Lane, now we'll finish with this. Enjoy this gallery made up of images from Glen, Damian, and René!

The above images were taken by Glen McNamara.

The above images were taken by Damian Smuts

The above images were taken by René Vermeer

Event Gallery: People of Pit Lane — NZ Superlap Edition

Maybe you were born with it? Maybe it's just NZ Superlap... Who knows — I certainly don't, but what I do know is the people of the NZ Superlap Series are an awesome crowd of people, and excruciatingly good looking. Instead of your usual galleries, I thought I would throw together a wee album from a pit-lane walk on Round Two's day two. Have a laugh, you earned it!

Event Gallery: NZ Superlap RD2 Day one part two

With the first set of day one images live thanks to editor René Vermeer, we've been working away to get the next set live by our two team members, Glen McNamara and Damian Smuts. We were going to get them out in two galleries, but who needs that many galleries! First up, we have Glen's images. Glen runs his own photography brand named Omegah photography and is a whizz behind the camera, having shot for Work Wheels New Zealand, and has had images featured by the likes of Mad Mike.

Our newest team member Damian Smuts, has only been behind the camera at a couple of events, but boy has he picked it up fast! With a few lenses handed to him from Glen and René, Damian captured some awesome photos that we are proud to have on the website. You will be seeing plenty more from Damian in coming months as he hones his craft.

Event Report: Kat Benson Racing smashes Personal Best in season debut

“Not one to do things by halves, Kat Benson decided a new engine setup would be the go for this season. After seeing how it went on low boost, we’re extremely excited for the remainder of the season”

Unfortunately, we missed Team TimeattackR driver Kat Benson in the first round of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series as there were a few minor bumps to iron out with the new engine combination. For the second round though, Kat Benson, the team, and the 400kW on low boost Mitsubishi Evo were all ready for action.

Kat Benson and crew left Auckland at 5.30am for Bruce McLaren Motorsport on the Friday before racing for a much-needed test day. Unfortunately, though, New Zealand was hit with a freakish storm, leaving motorways blocked, and race tracks knee-deep in water. Lucky for Kat though, she competes in Pro Street, which means with a WOF and Rego, some road testing was done on the back-streets of Taupo.

Come Saturday, Kat spent the first session getting to grips with the extra torque and response thanks to the 2.3-litre stroker kit supplied by Pure Performance Motorsport (PPM) and the much larger BorgWarner EFR8374 turbo. For more details on the new setup, click here.

With a dry track, the new setup easily propelled Kat to a new PB of 1:38.813-seconds, which, on low-boost is a scary, yet exciting thought.

With wet conditions most of Sunday, Kat had fun being behind the wheel, with no real pressure of running faster lap times. And, with three sessions there was plenty of seat time to be had, she tells us, “I continued to build confidence throughout the day and really enjoyed having fun back behind the wheel. Smiles for miles!”

With power figures sitting at 400kW at the wheels on only 18psi, Kat plans on taking the car back to E&H Motors before the next round to unleash the beast. Hopefully, we’ll see new PBs at each new circuit the car goes too. Kat finished up the weekend with second in Pro Street and a fourth place overall.

“Thanks to my sponsors, my crew (Andrew/ Tristan) and everyone that has supported the new build. To all that follow the NZ Superlap Series, stay awesome!”

Event Gallery: NZ Superlap RD2 Day one part one

Each shooting with a unique style, the TimeattackR.com team is now made up of three photographers. At the second round of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series, we had you covered from all angles. First up, we've got Editor René's day one gallery. A huge thank you must be said to event sponsor The Bling Company and Zestino Hamilton for supporting TimeattackR.com.

If you would like one of these images, please contact us through our Facebook page, or in the contact us section of our website and we will send you the high-resolution copy. If you aren't in this gallery, never fear — you will most certainly be in the next one.

Event Report: Hans Ruiterman back in the game with VCT/VVL monster

“After a lengthy off-season rebuild, Hans Ruiterman is back in the Prowear NZ Superlap Series game””

You’ve probably seen it on social media, but if you haven’t, Hans Ruiterman has been extremely busy during the Prowear NZ Superlap series offseason. After having an incredible 2016/2017 season, Hans decided to strip down the SR20 engine to give it a freshen up before the new season. This snowballed though and ended up with Hans pioneering a one of a kind engine setup, utilising Neo VVL technology and variable cam-timing in the form of Nissan’s VCT.

With months of development, research, and finally execution, Hans ran the engine up on the dyno for the final time the morning of the second Superlap round. Boost now comes on much sooner, throttle response has significantly improved, and hopefully, overall power too — once the engine is run in.

With Saturday a write-off, Hans decided to use the spare time to get the car ready for Sunday. A new wheel alignment and a check over were completed, and race tyres fitted for the worsening morning conditions. “The wet first session was a heap of fun and the car felt great, so no changes were made for the next session,” Hans told us.

“The second session was threatening rain, but it was mostly dry with wet patches. The car ran perfectly and times were getting better and looking promising for the afternoon’s racing,” Hans explained.

With the event running well behind schedule, the third session of the day was to be Hans’ last. With practice tyres on, Hans ran an impressive 0.2-seconds (1:32.7 — close to 1:32.5) off his personal best at this circuit — the newfound boost response most certainly making the car faster.

“To come this close to our PB on practice tyres is a positive sign the extra boost response of the new engine package has made the car faster and it sure has made the car more fun to drive! We’re excited to see how it goes at the next event.”

When Hans releases the final power figures with the wick turned up, we’ll let you know!