DUFFIN RETURNING TO WTAC

Andy Duffin and the 3 Rotor Racing team will return to Sydney Motorsport Park this October to contest the Yokohama World Time Attack Open Class. This will be the third consecutive campaign for the FD RX-7, though this time the team will focus on dialling in the current set-up rather than making a raft of changes before heading over. “We don’t have any big changes planned this year, we know we had the pace last year, so will focus on dialling what we have. Unfortunately we have some damage to repair from the Leadfoot crash, but luckily that’s all bolt-on stuff — mainly steering and suspension. Dave [Higgins] has a few aero changes in the front planned, but nothing major,” Andy explained.

Last year the team debuted the nitrous setup on the 373kW 20B, which gave the car pace to match the turbo competition, and it’ll stay in place for 2017. Richard from Green Brothers Racing will freshen the engine and focus on fine tuning the Link G4+ Thunder to make the car easier to drive. Duffin did say there is also a little more left it in power-wise.

The rebuild should be completed in August, to allow the team six weeks of solid testing before shipping the car over. The goal for 2017 is to run into the one minute, 29 second zone or better. Last year’s split times showed this is possible, but as Duffin says, it’s all about that one perfect lap, something that’s not easy to pull off. Link ECU is back on board for the campaign, support that Duffin says has made the trip possible. Fortune Auto is also back on board, and will continue to work with the team on valving the Dreadnought PRO coilovers ahead of testing.

Keep an eye out on themotorhood.com in the coming months, as we follow the team’s progress leading up to Sydney.