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read moreTime Attack - racing the stopwatch in a 345bhp Ford Fiesta ST
Photo credit: Rich Sams
We jump into a modified hot hatch to see what its like being a Time Attack driver at 2016's Snetterton season finale
We get a first taste of Time Attack in a super-hot Ford Fiesta ST to see what one of Britain's best-value series is like.
From afar, Time Attack might look like a glorified track day championship. Rather than racing, its drivers are sent out on track in sessions in order to record their fastest lap time. No race starts, no battles, it’s just you against the stopwatch.
Those who crave wheel-to-wheel competition – and can afford to fund the inevitable damage – may not find Time Attack as appealing as a race series. But for those who love driving on the absolute limit and extracting everything from themselves and their car on every corner, Time Attack might just be the perfect fit.
To find out what it’s like to be a Time Attack driver, this Autocar staffer headed to Snetterton for the final round of the year and strapped himself into a Project Carsbranded Ford Fiesta ST, prepared by intercooler specialist Airtec. With extensive engine and suspension mods, including an uprated turbo that boosts power to 345bhp and a very pointy (read: oversteery) chassis set-up, it’s a serious piece of kit.
The series
The Time Attack championship visits six tracks, including Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Snetterton, and generally takes place between April and September. Our entry is at Snetterton, on the two-mile-long 200 circuit. This year’s se
read moreHyundai Ioniq, Volkswagen E-Golf, BMW i3 vs Nissan Leaf - electric vehicle group test
The Hyundai Ioniq Electric is the latest addition to a growing class of city-friendly battery-powered hatchbacks. We pit it against its rivals
The electric vehicle market is growing, so we've collected the Hyundai Ioniq, Volkswagen E-Golf, BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf together to see which comes out on top.
A watched EV never boils. More to the point, it doesn’t bleep, flash, pop, ping or do anything else that you might imagine an all-electric hatchback ought to do to indicate a completed charge. Shame. I like the idea of a Nissan Leaf gradually browning, wafting warm toast smells in every direction, before spontaneously hopping three feet into the air like a slice of Warburton’s ready for the butter knife.
Read our EV comparison from a few years ago
It would at least make an interesting spectacle in the motorway services car park in which we’re now waiting. We’ve got four brand-new battery cars lined up in front of Ecotricity’s fast chargers, each suckling almost noiselessly in turn from the national grid, before setting off on an exercise we’ve been waiting a long time to carry out.
It was
read moreAudi TT RS vs. 718 Cayman S vs. F-Type S Coupe
Similar money, three very different ways to spend it - full triple test here
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