Reclaiming the Throne: HKS
Time attack was a discipline born from pride. It originated as a way for tuning shops in Japan to compete, pitting their best builds around a track to prove who could build the fastest car, which was determined by whoever had the fastest lap time. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, this evolved into a competition between large parts manufacturers on an international scale, and it’s become a marketing campaign for many of these large companies. In the sport’s homeland of Japan, Tsukuba circuit became the benchmark track for setting times. One company in particular, HKS, became obsessed with the idea of creating the fastest car on Tsukuba circuit. As time would soon tell, they would stop at absolutely nothing to make that happen.
In 2001, HKS showed up to Tsukuba Time Attack, an annual event, with a new toy. They brought a Lexus IS300 that had every body panel replaced with carbon fire, with some of the most advanced aerodynamic designs to date. They dubbed it TRB-01, meaning “Tsukuba Record Breaker 1”. It was a car built specifically for the course using exclusively HKS parts, and they weren’t leaving without a track record. In an era where anything even remotely close to a 1 minute lap time was considered legendary, driver Nobuteru Taniguchi managed to set a 55 second laptime with the TRB-01. Unfortunately, this record was stripped from HKS; event organizers decided the car was “too over-the-top” for a competition between what was supposed to be “street cars”.
Back to the drawing board. HKS NEEDED their record on Tsukuba, so it wasn’t long before a new car was created. Enter the CT230R (sometimes also referred to as TRB-02), a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 that packed a 550hp punch. Like TRB-01, this car also featured 100% carbon fiber bodywork, and virtually everything on the car was an HKS product. HKS quickly went to work, and in 2006 Nobuteru Taniguchi set blistering lap time of 53.5 seconds around Tsukuba. This record remained untouched for 5 whole years, making it the longest standing record held by a time attack car in history. HKS wasn’t
done; in 2007, they shipped the car over to the United States just to make sure everyone knew that they had the baddest car on the planet. They set a lap record at Buttonwillow raceway in California with a time of 1:43.5. This was 5 seconds faster than the second fastest lap. Afterwards, the HKS decided to retire the car. It had done exactly what it was intended to do; HKS destroyed the competition and proved their parts were best, even though it was rumored to have been a $1 million project to make that happen. Regardless, the technology on the car was becoming aged, and they decided to quit while they were ahead.
Fast forward to 2012. Under Suzuki, another legendary driver in motorsports, set a lap record of 52.6 seconds on Tsukuba. The CT230R had been beat, and HKS no longer had the crown. This was a problem, and this year HKS finally produced a solution.
Meet TRB-03. Using a Toyota GT86 as a platform, HKS built a 100% carbon fiber covered monster pushing 800 horsepower to the rear wheels running pure alcohol for fuel, all wrapped in a state-of-the-art aero package designed by none other than Andrew Brilliant of AMB Aero. HKS was so hell-bent on taking back the Tsukuba record that they didn’t even follow the rulebook to make this car competition-legal. Although traditional time attack racing is done on road-legal tires, HKS was forced to use purpose-built race slicks, since the amount of downforce generated by the car made normal tires prone to de-beading, which would result in a catastrophic crash. Once again, Nobuteru Taniguchi got behind the wheel, and after some testing HKS smashed the sub-50 second barrier with a 49.445 lap time around Tsukuba this past February. The score was finally settled, and HKS had proved once and for all that they were the kings of Tsukuba.