BT1 VL Time Attack Terror

Photos by Dave Reid, John Jovic, Jason Clements and Luke Oxley

Most of us would remember our first ride in a tough turbocharged car and for Jason Clements, a quick blat around the block sent him down the path to creating one of the more interesting entries in the upcoming Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge.

It all began when Jason was 16 years old and a friend of his took him for a ride in a BT1 VL Commodore. “This was back in the days before everyone had ‘coolers and all that,” he says. “It had the boost wound off its head and the thing just pinned me to the seat!”

After that fateful ride Jason knew that these Police specials were his cup of tea and before long, he had picked up a mint BT1 shell of his own.

He was determined to build a true all-rounder, a car that was at home on the street just as much as it was on the track.

A forgie-filled RB30ET was built that belted out a whopping 386rwkW and the car debuted at the 2007 Street Commodores Drag Nationals.

Hot weather and poor tyre choice left Jason disappointed with the car's performance (11.2@125mph) and it was at this point that he decided that corners were the car’s true calling.

From here the entire suspension and braking system was overhauled, with massive 6-piston AP Racing front brakes and VE Commodore rears hanging off the end of a custom Bilstein shock and King Springs combo.

In this guise Jason’s VL was the perfect street car and weekend warrior, gracing the cover of Street Commodores 144 as the ultimate all-rounder. Of course keeping a competitive track car on the street is a game of compromise and this soon became obvious to Jason, falling victim as many do to the slippery slope that leads to a dedicated track weapon.

Wanting to go quicker he began by sourcing a brand new bare RB26 head from Nissan Japan that was then mated to a locally-built 3L bottom end. When this went bang the world famous Kiwis from R.I.P.S. were recruited to do their thing, shipping an RB26/30 across the ditch that when tuned by long time supporters of Jason’s car AVO, made a mammoth 630kW with 30psi of boost!

By this stage the VL had stretched the definition of a street car, with the interior stripped bare to make room for a serious roll cage and the boot filled by an impressive fuel system.

The 2011 World Time Attack Challenge was looming on the horizon and with the support of the team at AVO, Jason decided to have a crack at the Hankook Open Class.

The car was chronically over-powered and under-tyred and with minimal aero modifications, Jason did well to lap Eastern Creek Raceway in a respectable 1:48. The package definitely had potential and it managed to take out the inaugural Temora 1000 Sprint in this configuration.

Jason still had his sights set on the Time Attack trophy though and so began the build for the 2012 event. The most obvious of the Commodore’s shortcomings was its lack of traction so a donor car was sourced and a custom widebody kit mocked up to fit more rubber underneath.

International aero expert Simon McBeath gave Simon the tips he needed to shape aerodynamically sound widebody guards moulded into an aero front bar.

The donor car was also treated to some widened rear guards, made necessary by the 18x12 monster Modenas that JET3LT now wears.

Once the shape was finalized the fibreglass gurus at Alfa Motorsport Fibreglass made Jason’s dreams a reality.

In fact, the majority of the original metal has been replaced with fibreglass in the name of saving weight and Jason is confident that this time ‘round, he will be running into the low 1.40s.

“We won’t be the fastest,” says Jason, “but I suspect we’ll be the team who’s made the biggest improvement since last year. Everyone will be faster, maybe a second or two, but we’re hoping for more than that!”

It’s certainly going to be exciting seeing an Aussie icon mixing it up in a field of imports and on behalf of the Performance Garage crew; I wish him the best of luck. With less than 2 months to go until the 2012 Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge, things are really starting to heat up so stay tuned to Performance Garage for your Time Attack fix!