Attack Challenge 2015 ASLAN vs G.WORK

Here we are, the first race of the new Time Attack championship has just taken place in Central Circuit in Kansai. We suspected that the field was going to be very tough and that the fight was going to be tight but at this point? Especially in the NA category where 71 thousandths of seconds have decided between the two biggest protagonists of the NA class Takumi Iwata (G.WORK) and "TON" (Aslan) using the same base, modified to almost opposite!

Photo by Takumi Iwata.

On my last trip to Japan, I had the opportunity to dissect a bit how about these 2 cars was made, and these results really surprised me.

About the engines, G.Work EG6 uses a good old B18C spiced up by some TODA artifices, while ASLAN version features a K20 benefiting also from the the same engine maker expertise. Both gearboxes have been heavily modified, especially the one fitted to the Civic from Chiba. Takumi confided in an interview not wanting to swap a K20A mainly because the available gear ratios didn't fit to his driving. Could this be one of the keys to success?

From the chassis side, the EG6 from Kansai receives a steel roll cage in a fully rewelded body where the Chiba one only has a 4 spots alloy one bolted in a copiously ... riveted chassis ! Notice that both EG6 received a front alloy subframe but again the solutions are very different. Another great difference more visible, the tires used. The 2nd ranked one sits high on huge 18-inch Rays 11 inches wide with 295 and 265 gummy , while the winner only has modest sneakers shoes of 17 and 16 inches with 255 and 215 wide tires. This height difference plays a lot in term of gravity center and the amount of air flowing under the body. Bernoulli if you're reading !

About the handling, the K20A Civic looks pretty sharp to drive despite a huge grip. Certainly, the Central Circuit asphalt has a lot to do, but a front wheel drive front wheel in the air is far from common!

Here we can notice the high ride height, no doubt that this affects the diffuser efficiency and the ground effect.

About the Takumi EG6, we can see that the setup without anti-roll bar provides a phenomenal grip in the slow parts, shown by the little mishap that already happened one time to him in Tsukuba.

Anyway this edition of Attack Challenge whether in NA class or Turbo class promises to be fascinating!

To be continued!