Posted: 26/06/2013
A successful campaign for the Willall Racing WR86 Toyota 86 at the inaugural 2013 Willunga Hillclimb saw a Road Registered 2 Litre class victory in challenging wet conditions. With rough weather setting in the previous evening Adelaide turned on the waterworks delivering heavy overnight rainfalls that saw the track officially classified as wet for the opening runs up the hill. Following the forecasts carefully in the previous days the Willall Racing team adjusted the Whiteline sway-bar settings, HSD coil-over suspension damper rates, and Toyo R888 tyre pressures to maximise grip on a cold and damp surface.
“We took a gamble and decided to set the car up for full wet conditions” Willall Racing driver Martin Donnon told us. “Getting some kind of heat in the Toyo R888s would be crucial if we were to get the grip the rear wheel drive 86 needed to take on some of the turbocharged all wheel drive Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evos. Still we took it very easy on the first run taking a close look at the surface and trying to keep the 86 as straight as possible as fighting oversteer through the slower corners was a real problem…that and a first run driving error that cost a few seconds kept us out of the top 3-4 fastest rear wheel drives overall for the event. As the day progressed and the track changed from wet to damp the balance came back to the WR86 and it got faster and faster to the point where we placed the car in front of several all wheel drive cars, and managed to take the scalp of a new McLaren MP4-12C which was a rear wheel drive winner at the previous Mount Alma Mile Hillclimb.”
Once more the WR86 was running on E85 environmentally friendly fuel and tuned with some new additional electronic features such as Willall Racings new ‘ATS’ Advanced Traction System which is designed to limit wheel-spin in greasy conditions looking at a combination of steering angle and wheel-spin level. There was also a new ‘Flat Foot Shifting’ arrangement tuned into the engine management system allowing the throttle to stay pinned to the floor while gears are upshifted allowing the WR86 to keep the maximum forward momentum and speed in a strenuous uphill climb. “With some of the new traction, launch and shifting tricks we programmed into the WR86 for Willunga we were very glad to have the new OS-Giken clutch on-board” Donnon explains. “Without a properly tough clutch we would have had some serious slip issues, so thumbs up for this product Otomoto!”
From here WR86 is now being setup to move away from Hillclimbs and into a circuit guise, with its first track hit-out being at Mallala on July the 7th where the small Toyota will face off side by side against a group of Porsches. “While we don’t expect to line up and beat any GT3s or similar, we do expect to show the odd Boxster or Cayman the short way home” Donnon laughs. “I think with our excellent WR86 big braking system, the suspension smarts from Whiteline/HSD, fresh Toyo R888 tyres and a good hungry keen attitude towards moving up the placings we just might surprise a few people with our WR86 underdog!”