My Weekend with Bo Nielsen: The Great Dane of Time Attack

I've never been to Time Attack before . Neither had I met the defending Front Wheel Drive Champion. 

But now I have . I spent a weekend in the rain at Cadwell Park, and here is an account of how things can go wrong, even for champions.

"It's not racing, it's Time Attack!"

For those of you who don't know Time Attack is a form of racing. However it isn't against other cars, it is purely against the clock.

About Time Attack

Time Attack in the UK was formed in 2005 and since then the series has made it its mission to accommodate:

"the guy on the street right through to the high end tuners that come to battle for Time Attack honours."

There are two challenges. The first is Club Challenge, which is then split into classes:

• Front Wheel Drive (FWD)
• Rear Wheel Drive (RWD)
• Four Wheel Drive (4WD) 
• Normally Aspirated 

The second is Pro Challenge, also split into classes:

• Club Pro Two Wheel Drive
• Club Pro 4 Wheel Dive
• Pro
• Prototype
• Pro Extreme

The championship is decided on a points scheme throughout the season. It starts at Cadwell Park and finishes at Snetterton having travelled the UK.

Each weekend is split into two days. The first being an open track day, allowing the Time Attack teams to test their cars, the second being the day of competition.

Competition day is split into four:

• Warm up
• Practice
• Qualifying
• Final

Bo competes in Club Front Wheel Drive and is the defending Champion 2010 and 2011.

Test Day

When we arrived at Cadwell Park it was 7.15am. Bo, who was driving from Castleford was no where to be seen.

Several hours late Bo arrived, but straight away there was a issue. 

After working through the night, Bo didn't have a steering rack.

After a two hour trip to a broker's year, my dad and I located a steering rack, but it had some parts missing, and Bo disappeared again.

The car spent most of the day in bits while the other Time Attack guys went out and tested 

their cars not only in the dry but in the wet as well.

Bo didn't manage to put his car bad together until 5pm and by then track time was over. Bo was facing a day of time trials in a car he had never driven on track.

Competition Day

"It was a completely rebuilt car and I took on track for a practice and it was better than I ever could have expected it to be."

When I arrived just after practice, it was another cold and windy day at Cadwell Park.

However, on Bo's orders I was armed with burgers and hotdogs ready to make sure everyone was fed throughout the day.

Bo was in high spirits having taken the car out already and proving to himself that all of the hard work from the days before had paid off.

After a successful warm up, Bo took the car out for practice. He was making some great times, and we were all hopeful that things were finally going to start going right for him.

"In practice it was wet and raining but the car still behaved really well."

When I walked back from watching practice, I saw the worried faces of Bo's team gathered around the car with the bonnet up. Soon enough bits started coming out of the car again as now the turbo was leaking.

I went to watch Bo qualify and waited anxiously for his car to appear. It is surprising how involved you get even with a team you have only just met, and I was starting to feel competitive.

I saw Bo's car head out down to the pits towards the end of qualifying, but he never actually came out onto the track.

When we went back to the pits, the rest of the team were convinced Bo had crashed. We knew for sure one car had, and Bo hadn't returned.

On enquiry we found out that actually Bo hadn't been allowed out on track for Club qualifying, instead they were allowing him to try and qualify for the Club final during Pro qualifying.

Bo qualified for the final, making it into the fastest Club cars of the day without a turbo which any driver will know is quite an achievement.

Unfortunately things did not go to plan in the break between qualifying and the final, and Bo was unable to take part.



Although the weekend had not gone to plan, Bo Nielsen is not one to be defeated. You can see just from the weekend I have spent with him how determined he is and dedicated to Time Attack.


Even when things seemed impossible he never gave up, and worked right up to the very last minute.He still tried to go out for final, knowing he would only have five minutes to compete with the guys who had been out there for ten already.

What does Bo want to achieve for the rest of the season? Well he wants to win his third championship title of course!