Seven Years for Seven Seconds: This Is How You Win in Time Attack Racing

You might remember reading about Matei's Corvette-powered BMW E36 a little while ago. His built-at-home machine was one of the fastest at the Time Attack Cup we attended, and of course, there was one other car there that piqued our interest. At one point, the two drivers were putting on quite the show as they crossed the finish line going full throttle and almost door-to-door.

There's a short video of that moment on our YouTube channel, but there are other topics for today. You might not think much of a Volkswagen Golf lining up for a shot to set the fastest lap of the day, but this is no ordinary German hot-hatchback. Anyone who knows anything about endurance racing will instantly recognize this 2019 VW Golf GTI TCR, which can take hours and hours of high-speed abuse without cracking under pressure. We watched Adrian for a few hours before approaching him for a more detailed chat about his racecar of choice.

The 32-year-old made his racing debut in 2017 while driving an MK3 Ford Focus RS, a vehicle you'd be more used to seeing at a Hillclimb race rather than a time attack one. His local racetrack is the same one you can see in our recent POV riding videos and has a total length of 2.56 miles (4,12 km). After several years of practice, his fastest lap clocked in at around one minute and 53 seconds.

My fastest lap on the same track was just five seconds over two minutes in a Porsche Cayman (albeit set during my first contact with this track). That should give you some sense of speed on this layout. At one point, Adrian decided he wanted a change in his life and opted to sell the Focus RS in favor of a BMW M2 Competition. He bought all the parts needed to upgrade the car up to about 550+ horsepower and installed them with the help of his team before venturing out for another fast lap.

I traded my BMW M2 for the Volkswagen Golf

In a matter of 18 months, he managed to improve his best time by about four seconds. But it still wasn't enough for him. He spotted the opportunity to move up in the game by buying a proper race car, which had been on his mind for a while. "I traded the M2 CS for this 2019 Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR SEQ, which I had already seen in action. Naturally, I had to pay the guy extra cash, but I was finally happy to own such a vehicle. I was hoping that drivers in my area who owned similar vehicles would all get together so we could race at the same level, but that hasn't happened yet."

Moving from an AWD vehicle to an RWD one and finally to a car that only uses FWD seems complicated, and I was curious to know how Adrian managed to adapt to these changes. "It was pretty weird; I'll give you that. You need to drive it differently. It's low on power compared to what I've driven before, so you need to carry more speed going into corners."

"I'm on the throttle for more time. When it tends to understeer or oversteer, I'll go up a gear, and it will get back on the line. It's more forgiving than an RWD car; you don't always need to be as careful with your inputs. You need to be mindful of grip levels when the tires are cold. The rear ones are challenging to bring up to optimum temperature, and you can end up with snap oversteer quite fast if you're not paying attention."

This is the more expensive version of the Golf GTI TCR, as it features the Sadev sequential gearbox. And from what we learned, the initial cost was just over $150,000. Yes, running a motorsports program is costly, especially if looking for at least some reliability. You can always build a race car in your garage at home, but will it ever be as capable as something made by a factory with a team of engineers behind it?

You can't get the perfect lap in one shot

"The car is the same today as when it left the factory. All the replacement parts come directly from TCR in Spain. I can tell the difference compared to the cost of running the BMW. Making sure the Golf GTI TCR is in perfect running order is almost five times as expensive, but this car is on an entirely different level. For instance, the maintenance manual suggests a turbo change every 1,553 miles (2,500 km). Once you've passed that level, you can feel the dip in performance levels. But changing it was pretty cheap; it was about €2,000 ($2,200)."

Adrian has become somewhat experienced taking on his local racetrack: with about 500 laps in his old M2 and Focus RS and an additional 100+ in the Golf GTI TCR. That adds up to almost 1,500 miles (2,414 km) of track time, which has led to a new personal record of just over one minute and 46 seconds. Still, its former owner managed to secure a fast lap almost two seconds faster.

"I realize I still need to get used to the car, so I will probably hold on to it for a few more years. I want to get to a level where I will be in control 100% of the time without being surprised by it. I'm more fond of endurance racing, so coming to Time Attack events is a matter of practice, having fun, and extra promotion for my sponsors. I love endurance racing because of the door-to-door battles and intense overtaking action."

"This is my first year competing in this format, and I'm often up against cars like a BMW M4 GT4, a Cayman GT4, and a Gallardo GT3. We're much faster than them when it's raining outside, but things are more challenging when it's dry. I still need to get in better physical shape, though, as I become quite exhausted after an hour of driving. And there's a 12-hour race coming up this year."

As Adrian was busy preparing the car for the upcoming race (there's a new livery in the works), I wanted his final thoughts on grassroots motorsports and what it means to be part of it. Also, you can see a POV perspective of one of his laps, which was by no means his fastest. Still, you can enjoy the sound of this race-ready Volkswagen while realizing it can go much, much faster than this.

" If you plan on becoming an active race driver, find some sponsors first, as it can get quite expensive. It would help if you started with a lower-power car because racing isn't all about horsepower and lap times. You can feel the same experience in a $5,000 car as you would in a $100,000 one, albeit at different speeds. Looking back at what I've learned all these years, I can sum it up: You can't get the perfect lap in one shot. Battles are never won in a single lap. You must collect information on each run and piece them all together so that you may improve."

Looking back at Adrian's racing record, his results speak for themselves: P2 in 2019 in the Race+ class, P1 in the National Time Attack Championship in 2020, P2 in the Race Class with the BMW M2 in 2021; P1 in the same category in 2022. And now, his goal is to win the National Endurance Series with the Golf GTI TCR: he finished P2 in the first race, so that's a good start!