JapShow 2006 Pro Shootout
Rear Wheel Drive/Four Wheel Drive
With 18 cars expected for the Pro Shootout, everyone was looking forward to hard-fought qualifying and a string of 9-second runs. Reliability proved to be the main spoil-sport though, with some of the top cars unable to even make it to the track due to last minute problems. However, there was still plenty to get excited about, with many new competitors out to prove their worth. Qualifying saw the outing of the new Duke Skyline, brought in by GT Culture, serviced by Abbey Motorsport and driven by Tim Webster. The car didn't clock any astonishing times, but it did manage a 140+mph terminal speed on just a few seconds of throttle. One thing is for sure though, and that is that we will see amazing times from this car once a full run is completed. Sadly, Tim's car broke in qualifying, and wasn't the only one. James Willday's RX7 damaged a rotor, and Andy Barnes suffered similar problems the RE:WORX RX7.
Top Qualifier was Simon Norris in the Norris Designs Evo, with Paul Blamire qualifying a superb second in the Zen Performance Subaru, followed by new-boy Kevin Huntley in the Envy Performance Supra.
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| PRO10 - Simon Norris |
PRO11 - Mick Begley |
PRO13 - John Bradshaw |
PRO15 - Adrian Smith |
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| PRO16 - Tony Charles |
PRO17 - Andy Barnes |
PRO20 - Tim Webster |
PRO21 - Paul Balmire |
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| PRO22 - Greg Buccheri |
PRO23 - Ross Juniper |
PRO24 - Kevin Huntly |
PRO25 - Steven Darley |
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| PRO26 - Steve Wittaker |
PRO27 - James Willday |
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4WD/RWD Round 1
More victims were taken in an eventful round 1, with top-qualifier Simon Norris up against Ross Juniper in the Dragon Performance RX7. Simon failed to stage due to gearbox lock-up, and Ross was on a flier, clocking a 10.6.. but his terminal speed told a different story. At just 103mph, something had clearly gone wrong and he was coasting. Would Ross manage to fix this before the next round?
Adrian Smith in the Fensport Celica would have been up against James Willday, but the damage James sustained in qualifying meant that Adrian was able to go solo for easy progression to the next round.
Steve Whittaker in the DJ Craig Supra would have been up against Tim Webster, but again, the damage picked up in qualifying meant that he couldn't make it out in round 1, and Steve had an easy ride to the next round.
Steven Darley in the Lateral Performance Subaru Estate was up against Tony Charles in the other Fensport Celica, but Tony ran a flier to beat Steven in what was set to be a very close race.
Kevin Huntley in the Envy Performance Supra took on Mick Begley in his Abbey Motorsport Supra, and Kevin ran a superb 10.4 at over 140mph. a feat that Mick couldn't hope to compete with.
John Bradshaw in the GT ART Skyline GTS was up against Greg Buccheri in the Turbofit Supra, and John suffered some kind of difficulty and coasted across the line well behind Greg who ran a very respectable low 12.
Despite being eliminated fair and square, Simon Norris' gearbox problem wasn't terminal, and he went on to run as fast as 9.622 at 150mph, making the low ET and high TS of the event, as well as cracking a new personal best. John Bradshaw's Skyline GTS problems were easily fixed too, and the car went back out later in the event in the Run What Ya Brung to clock an astonishing 9.995 second run, believed to be the fastest run by a GTS in the world. Well done Simon and John for pushing the boundaries.
4WD/RWD Round 2
Ross Juniper would have had an easy ride with a bye-run in round 2, but his car was beyond repair, and failed to appear.
Adrian Smith took on Steve Whittaker in round 2, and it was a close-run thing, with Adrian just getting to the line first, despite Steve's better reactions.
Paul Blamire was up against Tony Charles, but suffered a major problem allowing Tony to romp away with the win. Again, Fensport reliability was winning races!
Kevin Huntley won on the lights against Greg Buccheri, and despite Greg's better ET, Kevins superb reaction times won the race for him, crossing the finish line just inches ahead of Gregg. Superb stuff.
4WD/RWD Round 3
Because of all the breakages and bye runs in rounds 1 & 2, Adrian Smith found himself on a bye-run for round three, allowing him to coast to an uncontested win.
Kevin Huntley was up against Tony Charles in the semis, and despite having run faster than Tony, it would take everything in his arsenal to beat the experienced and reliable Fensport competitor. But when it came to the crunch, Tony suffered an unusual problem. his plastic footrest popped off and got caught under the clutch, fluffing a gear change as a result! Tony was gutted, but it would have been tough to beat Kevin's storming run anyway.
| PRO10 |
1.4726 |
Broke/Abort |
| PRO23 |
0.277 |
10.630 |
103.71 |
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| PRO15 |
1.237 |
13.877 |
107.93 |
| PRO27 |
Broke/Abort |
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| PRO15 |
0.485 |
10.938 |
133.99 |
| PRO26 |
0.318 |
11.198 |
130.88 |
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| PRO26 |
0.604 |
10.813 |
136.07 |
| PRO20 |
Broke/Abort |
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| PRO21 |
2.020 |
10.309 |
138.44 |
| PRO17 |
Broke/Abort |
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| PRO21 |
0.592 |
14.859 |
56.11 |
| PRO16 |
0.343 |
11.901 |
126.72 |
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| PRO25 |
0.224 |
12.069 |
122.24 |
| PRO16 |
0.382 |
11.493 |
126.00 |
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| PRO24 |
0.550 |
10.409 |
143.25 |
| PRO11 |
0.453 |
12.417 |
114.83 |
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| PRO24 |
0.448 |
12.101 |
117.71 |
| PRO22 |
0.717 |
11.880 |
129.31 |
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| PRO13 |
0.587 |
17.393 |
86.23 |
| PRO22 |
0.489 |
12.173 |
130.77 |
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| Semi Finals / Final |
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| Bye |
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| PRO15 |
1.125 |
16.012 |
95.53 |
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| PRO15 |
0.392 |
10.647 |
135.10 |
| PRO24 |
0.467 |
10.409 |
145.00 |
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| PRO24 |
Winner Kevin Huntly |
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| PRO16 |
0.544 |
12.841 |
110.696 |
| PRO24 |
0.432 |
10.696 |
140.68 |
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4WD/RWD Finals
Onto the finals, and once again, Adrian Smith had made it to the last round of the knock-outs. Was this to be his big day? Well Kevin Huntley had different ideas, and had no intention of coming this far to be the loser. One thing was for sure, and that was we'd have a good race on our hands in this all-Toyota final. As the lights went green, both drivers were away quickly with Adrian marginally ahead, but his lead started to slip away at half-track with the Supra clearly gathering more speed at the top end. At the finish line the cars looked absolutely side-by-side, but it was Kevin who had taken the win with a stunning 10.409 second run at 145mph.
Front Wheel Drive
Seven of the UK's top front wheel drive cars lined up to participate in the first FWD Pro Shootout to be held at the Pod, and in a predominantly Honda Civic based field, Guy Chamberlain led the way in qualifying, and Ryan Panter held the second spot, which set the scene for the whole day. Each and every one of the FWD cars had superb reliability and the only time anyone dropped out was when they were eliminated in racing.
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| PRO10 - Guy Chamberlain |
PRO11 - Petter Cattell |
PRO12 - John Ardis |
PRO13 - Andy Thomas |
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| PRO14 - Ryan Panter |
PRO15 - Scott Whitelaw |
PRO16 - Stuart Anderson |
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FWD Round 1
Guy Chamberlain was on a bye-run due to being on the top qualifying spot, and cruised through to the next round. Scott Whitelaw in the Supercharged Civic was up against Andy Thomas in the G-Motorsports Civic, and Scott had to work hard for the win, pipping the Andy by just 0.3 of a second. Ryan Panter's Civic was up against John Ardis' Suzuki Swift, but Ryan was able to easily despatch John who was struggling with some substandard tyres. Peter Cattell's Civic took on Stuart Anderson's Civic and Peter took the win by less than a second, despite a surprisingly low terminal speed.
FWD Round 2
Guy Chamberlain wiped the floor with his own customer, Scott Whitelaw, beating him to the line by nearly 3 seconds.
Ryan Panter took on and beat Peter Cattell, but by a much smaller margin of victory. Peter's reaction times almost making up for the slower ET. but not quite.
| PRO10 |
2.033 |
11.720 |
127.79 |
| Bye |
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| PRO10 |
0.649 |
11.685 |
125.60 |
| PRO15 |
0.559 |
14.462 |
113.58 |
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| PRO10 |
0.637 |
11.397 |
128.83 |
| PRO14 |
0.526 |
12.691 |
113.65 |
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| PRO15 |
0.489 |
13.138 |
111.39 |
| PRO13 |
0.653 |
13.436 |
103.72 |
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| PRO14 |
0.658 |
12.808 |
111.66 |
| POR12 |
0.463 |
14.084 |
104.87 |
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| PRO14 |
0.624 |
12.831 |
114.16 |
| PRO11 |
0.566 |
13.065 |
109.26 |
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| PRO11 |
0.367 |
13.215 |
93.59 |
| PRO16 |
0.177 |
14.078 |
98.19 |
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FWD Finals
Guy Chamberlain had no intention of coming this far and then letting it slip in the finals, and sure enough, he saved his best run for last and just drove away from Ryan Panter with astonishing pace. Both Ryan and Guy set their fastest times of the weekend in the final, and Guy was chuffed to not only win the FWD Pro Shootout trophy, but also set a new FWD record at Santa Pod. Guy's time of 11.397 is believed to be the fastest FWD time in ever run in the UK .
Guy put the win down to great track conditions and the continued development of the CPL racing demo car, which has made incremental improvements in performance without ever experiencing major breakages.
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