The great thing about time attack at a grassroots level is that it’s something you can totally make yours. To assume that everyone is in it to break records is pretty silly; most are in it for the fun, the thrill of driving and the satisfaction of slowly evolving ones car without fear of being looked down upon.
It’s because of this that we see so many weird and wonderful things come out of Japan, and the Total Car Service USUI Mazda Roadster is just that.
Call it the result of years of evolution, because this is an NA-chassis Roadster like you’ve never seen before. Power and performance aside, the owner and the shop entrusted to build and maintain it have addressed every single aspect of the Mazda, starting with the aerodynamics.
On top of the underlying aero additions, which you could classify as bolt-on or off-the-shelf, much one-off work has been added to help the little lightweight Mazda slice through the air.
That treatment extends to the sides and onto the rear with the extractor you can see here. It’s all constructed out of sheet aluminium, as carbon fiber would be far too exotic for a grassroots project like this one.
Nothing is left to chance, so each time the car was waiting in the paddock for its next outing atBattle Evome last weekend, the owner wrapped the tyres up in heat blankets.
Because, why waste a couple of laps to warm up your rubber when you can head out with tyres almost up to the perfect temperature.
The cockpit is Star Trek-worthy to say the least. There is so much happening, perhaps more than there needs to be, but this is how the owner envisioned it, and this is how he arranged it all. If he’s happy, who is anyone to criticise?
His passenger is a little custom-made aluminium fuel cell, which carries just enough gas for a few hot laps around Tsukuba.
Under the carbon vented bonnet is a fully-built motor that breathes through a pair of side-draught Weber carburettors. I was told this gives amazing response and throttle adjustability when negotiating the trickier bits of the circuit, and as you can imagine the sound is pretty wild.
The aero packages is completed with a massive GT wing that’s supported and connected directly to the chassis via a pair of aluminium stays.
So what does all this custom work equate to? The best lap the owner/driver managed on the day was a 1’01″164 – a great result for what is quite an underpowered car in comparison to the majority of the Battle Evome field. 26th fastest out of 45 entrants is one successful day at the track if you ask me.
Dino Dalle Carbonarefrom speedhunters
