RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

TEAM BULLRUN – LOTUS – PRESS RELEASE          

Bullrun to race new Lotus in Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship 2012.

Team Bullrun have announced they are to take delivery of a new Lotus Evora in time for the first round of the Championship at the Silverstone GP circuit on 24th March 2012.  An Evora GT4 secured a very credible third place in the Britcar 24 Hour Race in October 2011 – however this is the first time the new  endurance model from Lotus will compete for an overall Championship title in the UK.     

Former Britcar Production Champions Richard Adams and David Green will be joined by 2011 BTCC driver Martin Byford.               

Group Lotus Motorsport Director Claudio Berro said: “We are delighted that Bullrun share our view that the Evora could be a serious Championship contender this year. It‘s great to see a  British team, with a British car competing for a British title. The overall package Bullrun has managed to put together looks very strong and we look forward to closely following their progress throughout the season.”

Nigel Greensall has provided this in-car footage of the CTR Lotus Elise he shared with Richard Chamberlain.

Thanks Nigel!

Kevin Clarke and Wayne Gibson won the final round of the Britcar Dunlop GTN Championship in the combined Into the Night race with the Britcar Endurance Championship at Brands Hatch on Saturday. APO Sport’s Seat Leon, driven by Alex Osbourne and James May took the overall, and class two titles after their main challenger, Tim Saunders failed to finish.

The production race may have been an hour shorter than the BEC race, with competitors leaving the track under full waved yellow flags at the two hour mark, but it was equally important as the longer race, given the that overall championship was still up for grabs, as well as both class titles. It was all to play for.

Class 1 invitation entry JDR and their Honda NSX didn’t make the start of the race, after taking the production pole position – the engine seizing up after qualifying. Hopefully we will see the team back next year as they obviously have the pace to be contenders in the new for 2012 standalone production cup series – more on that over the off season.

The withdrawal of the Honda, along with the BEC pole Barwell Ginetta pulling into the pits on the formation laps meant that Wayne Gibson, taking his customary first stint in the Intersport BMW, gained two places on the first lap and crossed the line in an overall 10^th place.

In second place in Production, but four cars further back on the track was the #52 Motionsport Lotus Elise, with Ben Gower at the wheel taking the first stint. By lap 13, Gower had caught up with Gibson and was just 4 seconds behind. This gab hovered impressively around the three second mark, even through traffic as Gibson tried to pull away, and Gower did everything he could to hang on. Although not wheel to wheel action, it was fascinating to watch as the laps ticked by and the apparent advantage ebbed and flowed between the two drivers, through safety car periods – Tim Saunders Honda Civic being recovered around the 40 lap mark brought the gap right down – and through traffic as slower cars were to be lapped.

The two leaders came in to pit on the same lap (80 of 131). While they had been having their great-to-watch scrap at the front the #45 Mazda MX5 GT driven by Owen Mildenhall in the first stint, had kept on the same lap as the leaders and pitted before them, on lap 70, for Mark Ticehurst to take over. By the time the pitstops had shaken out Kevin Clarke had taken over in the Intersport BMW and was leading Production, Simon Phillips was in the hot seat in Motionsports Elise, and Ticehurst was running third in the Mazda.

On lap 85 Philips made a move on Clarke, and took the production lead, which he was to hold for 2 laps, before Clarke wrestled the lead back again, which he would hold unto the chequered flag. Barely half a lap behind was Ticehurst, keeping a watching brief, and ready to make a move should anything happen to the leaders.

Unfortunately for Motionsport – something did happen – that set the scene for the last 30 or so laps of the race, Philips slipping back into the clutches of Ticehurst who took second place on the very last lap!

Simon Philips explaining later: “A couple of problems on the second stint! A dodgy contact lens (folded in right eye, literally as I left the pit lane!) followed by a lack of clutch (with 10 mins or so to go) meant that a fair bit was done in one gear. A real shame as we defo had the legs on the Mazda and should really have had a pop at Intersport!”

It wasn’t a completely bad day for the Motionsport squad, the third place in the race was enough to secure the Production class one title – a great result for the team in their debut Britcar season, and one they will no doubt want to improve upon next year.

Tichurst was also unsurprisingly pleased at the end of the race – “We’ve had a cracking race. We’ve come on leaps and bounds this season, and are looking forward to next year!”

Wayne Gibson, was also happy, albeit brief, after the race “It was brilliant, great to be back!” the Intersport duo having not won a race since Donnington back in May. A long time for the 2009 champions to be winless.

As mentioned at the top of this report, APO won the overall and class two titles. They lead class two for the first hour but ended up retiring 20 minutes before the end of the race. They had done enough to be classified in 8^th and the corresponding points were enough to give them the titles from fellow class two competitor Tim Saunders and his Honda Civic.

Production class two race victory was taken by the Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic, with Dave Allen and Alyn James at the wheel. A fine result to finish a season in which they have had their share of incidents – the huge shunt at Castle Combe springs instantly to mind.

This production race was closely fought and shows great potential for next year’s standalone production cup races, the first round of which is provisionally pencilled in for 24^th March at Silverstone.

Final top ten positions:

Pos	Class	Num	Driver/s	Sponsor/Entrant	Vehicle	Total
1	2	65	Alex Osbourne / James May	APO Sport	Seat Leon	150
2	2	61	Tim Saunders (GB)	T H Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	145
3	1	52	Simon Phillips / Pete Storey / Chris Randall	Motionsport	Lotus Elise S2	143
4	1	45	Mark Ticehurst (GB) / Owen Mildenhall (GB)	Team Jota/Mazda Motors	Mazda MX5 GT	127
5	2	69	Dave Allan (GB)	Synchro Motorsport	Honda Jazz	124
6	1	57	Jenson Lunn / Sarah Bennett-Baggs	Strata 21	BMW M3 E45	114
7	2	75	Mike Wilds (GB) / Hales (GB) / Crosse	Team Jota/Mazda Motors	Mazda MX5	108
8	1	64	Mark Cunningham (GB) / Peter Cunningham (GB)	SG Racing	Seat Leon Supercopa	103
9	1	88	Kevin Clarke (GB) / Wayne Gibson (GB)	Intersport Racing	BMW E46 M3	95
10	2	86	Paul Mitson / Mike Pascall / Paul Kite	JTECH	Seat Leon Cupra	87

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings

The final round of the Britcar MSA Endurance Championship and Dunlop GTN Championship took place in a combined race at Brands on Saturday and was the best race of this season.

The class three Topcats Marcos, piloted by Owen O’Neil and Henry Fletcher, took the first overall Marcos win for Topcats in a number of seasons, after an excellent race which kept spectators on the edge of their seats right until the end. Finishing less than fifteen seconds behind was the Hawthorns motorsport Porsche 997 in a race in which action, safety cars and strategy all played a part.

Although the BEC title was still technically up for grabs, all the GT3 Racing team had to do was make the grid with their Dodge Viper, which is a bit of luck, as that’s about all they managed – completing just 30 laps after having serious problems with fuel pressure. It was enough, however, to take the very first Britcar MSA Endurance Championship.

Pulling into the pits on the formation lap was the pole sitter class two invitation entry Ginetta G55 of Barwell motorsport with a broken driveshaft. Managing to change the item in a little over 20 minutes was very impressive, and the team was back out. Despite Mark Lemmer, Tom Kimber-Smith and Ben de Zille Butler setting some very competitive lap times during their stints, the damage had been done and they ultimately finished 31 laps down on the leader.

After two pace car laps, the field was off, and Jay Shepherd in the Hawthorns Motorsport Porsche 997 had an excellent first lap, and after starting in fifth place crossed the line after the first circuit in second place behind the GT3 Viper, and had dragged the sixth (#48 Lee Mowle Ginetta G50) and seventh (#26 Topcats Marcos) place starters with him. Crossing the line fifth at the end of lap one was the other Topcats Marcos, Henry Fletcher having an excellent first lap to climb from 10^th place.

On lap four the safety car was out for a single lap, while the #19 Oliver Bryant Marcos, who had started in 3^rd place and had an off, was recovered by the marshals. By lap ten the Viper was into the pits for the first time, and would play no further part in the battle.

This left the Hawthorns Porsche, Optimum’s Ginetta and the two Topcats Marcoses (Marcosi?) to pull away from field. Another Porsche 997, this one from the Jones family, were hanging on to the leading quartet impressively.

When Neil Huggins in the #26 Marcos took the lead from Jay Shephard in the Porsche, the question was – can the thirsty Topcats car pull enough of a lead to enable it to stop twice, over the efficient Porsches one stop?

Joe Osbourne in the Ginetta was really going for it in the first stint, and took second place from Shephard, and ultimately the lead for half a lap, from Neil Huggins. However they were always destined to fade away due to having to stop twice, so all three drivers could do a stint. Their first stop was on lap 69, to hand second place back to Shepherd. The team would go on to finish fourth overall, 2 laps down on the leader but showed great pace while on track.

On lap 39 the safety car came out again, this time to recover Production runner Tim Saunders and his stranded Honda Civic, to bunch the field up again and, crucially, allow some fuel saving for the thirstier cars.

At the end of lap 74 Neil Huggins ran wide at Graham Hill bend, and lost the lead to Jay Shepherd and then second place to stablemate Henry Fletcher in the other Marcos. Huggins then pitted to hand over to John Harrison. Unfortunately their issues didn’t end with the pitstop. It turns out the power steering had leaked fluid onto the tyres causing Huggins initial off, and then also gave Harrison some grief. The car would then have a problem with the ignition switch, and the car would eventually come home in 8^th place, 20 laps down.

By the time half distance came, Fletcher had taken the lead from Shepherd, and the realisation was starting to dawn at Hawthorns that the Marcos may be one stopping. Rod Barrett explains: “I was convinced that you guys [#36 Marcos] would have to re-fuel and two stop so we thought we had it made, but when your car went passed the 90 mins without re-fuelling, I began to think, that’s weird, it’s never gone longer then that before, they must have really turned the wick down.”

As it was, Rod Barrett took over at the wheel of the Porsche on lap 132 and such had been Shepherd’s pace, that the team were still in second place, albeit two laps down at this point.

Ten laps later and the leader pitted, retaining the lead as they came out from their single stop, Owen O’Neill now at the wheel and with a lap lead over Barrett.

Fast forward another 10 laps, and Barrett has reduced the lead down to 30 seconds, with about 40 minutes to go at this point and lapping quicker than the Marcos, we were all set for a grandstand finish. By lap 179 Barrett was barely thirteen seconds behind the leader, and we had about 25 minutes left on the clock.

On lap 180, luck was to come the way of Hawthorns – the safety car was sent out for the Priocept Lotus Elise which had stopped out on track. When it came in, the clock said the gap was barely 3.5 seconds. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story, as Barrett had a number of back markers between him and the race leader – one of which was the Topcats other Marcos.

With less than fifteen minutes on the clock, Barrett had some more traffic to lap, the Jones’ family Porsche who were running an impressive third at that point, went for a gap up the inside, which was still damp. The end result was a Hawthorns Porsche pointing in the wrong direction, and a loss of time of over 20 seconds on the leader. A great shame for Rod Barrett, and the team, as he had been putting some serious lap times in to close up on O’Neill before that. Indeed after that spin, during the last fifteen laps of the race, Barrett managed to claw back more time to finish just thirteen seconds behind.

It turns out that Topcars needed fifteen minutes of safety car time to be able to one stop. Owen O’Neill – “We thought we would be 5-10 mins short at the end and were pleased to get to beyond two hours on the first stint due to the safety cars. I think we had 2 litres left in the tank!”

Congratulations to the Topcats on their race victory, and class three title. Congratulations also to the GT3 team for taking the overall GT and class two titles and Azteca Motorsport for the class one title in their Mosler.

Final top 10 positions:

1	2	21	Craig Wilkins (GB) / Aaron Scott (GB)	GT3 Racing / GT3 Racing	Dodge Viper GT3	166
2	3	36	Owen O Neill (IR) / Henry Fletcher / Jon Harrison (GB) / Raphael Fiorentino	Topcats Racing / Topcats Racing	Marcos Mantis GT3	151
3	2	26	Sam Head (GB) / Kyle Tiley / Henry Fletcher (GB) / Raphael Fiorentino (Fr) / Jef	Topcats Racing / Topcats Racing	Marcos Mantis GT3	147
4	3	37	Paul Bailey (GB) / Andy Schulz (GB/FIN)	Horsepower Racing / Paul Bailey	Ferrari F430 Challenge	143
5	1	3	Javier Morcillo (ESP) / Manuel Cintrano (ESP)	Azteca Motorsport / Javier Morcillo	Mosler MT900R	124
6	3	23	Dan Norris-Jones (GB) / Fulvio Mussi	Dan Norris Jones	Lotus Exige	119
7	3	38	Rod Barrett (GB) / Jan Persson (S) / Jay Shepherd (GB)	Hawthorns Motorsport / Rod Barrett	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	116
8	1	6	Paul White (GB) / Calum Lockie (GB)	Strata 21 / Paul White	Mosler MT900 GT3	115
9	3	39	Morgan Jones (GB) / Philip Jones (GB) / Gareth Jones (GB)	Eurotech Racing / Eurotech Racing	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	113
10	1	7	Ian Heward (GB / Michael Millard (GB)	Flat Six Motorsport / Ian Heward	Rapier SR2	92

Team names in bold denote class champions.

Production race report to follow.

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings

MSA Britcar BEC & Dunlop GTN Production qualifying

Pole position has been taken at Brands Hatch by the class 2 invitation entry Barwell Motorsport Ginetta G55, driven by Lemmer, Butler and Kimber-Smith by only half a second from the BEC Championship leader, GT3 Racing’s Dodge Viper, in a session interrupted with two safety car appearances.

A wet track from overnight rain met competitors at Brands Hatch this morning, but three other sessions ran before the BEC and GTN  drivers took to the track for qualifying, leaving a dry racing line, but damp patches offline were still present.

The first interruption to the session happened fairly early on, and was due to the James May Seat Leon, who had an off at Druids hairpin.

The safety car was sent out for a second time as the Honda Integra of Harding and Axisa went off towards the end of the lap. At the same time the #19 class two invitation entry Oliver Bryant’s Marcos Mantis entry had an off track excursion on the way up to the hairpin. Clearly only cosmetic damage occurred, as they went on to qualify third overall.

With the only other challenger to the overall BEC Championship (Topcats Racing Marcos Mantis) back in 7^th overall, it would seem as though Wilkins and Scott only need to complete 40% race distance to be classified as finishers, which would then give them the championship.

Horsepower racing have taken a good first step in trying to overhaul the Topcats other Mantis for the class 3 title, by out qualifying them. An outside shot for class three is Rob Barrett and Jay Shepherd in their Porsche 997, who qualified just three tenths, and one place behind the Horsepower Ferrari.

In the GTN Production Championship, pole was also taken by an invitation entry – JDR’s Honda NSX, barely a tenth ahead of Britcar regulars Kevin Clarke and Wayne Gibson in their BMW who are racing for pride this weekend, as it is not possible for them to finish in the top three in class.

Simon Phillips Lotus Elise is currently leading the class one championship, and looks will have an easier time to try and sew that up today, as challengers Jenson Lunn and Sarah Bennett-Baggs in their Strata 21 BMW are not competing today. Currently third in class are Team Jota in their Mazda, and they have a bit of an uphill battle to take the class title from Phillips, being 16 points behind. Also not competing the father and son team of Peter and Mark Cunningham in their Seat Leon – currently fourth in class.

Class two is closely fought with two entries leading the overall GTN Championship. APO’s Seat Leon and TH Motorport’s Honda Civic are separated by only three points at the top of the table. They will be lining up next to each other on the grid, in 19^th and 20^th places overall, respectively.

The final round of this years MSA Britcar Endurance Championship and the Dunlop GTN Production Championship will take place at the Brands Hatch “Into the night” race this weekend. Although all titles in the BEC are theoretically up for grabs, the current overall (and class 2) leaders Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott in the GT3 Racing Dodge Viper need only 2 two points to claim both titles, leaving the Topcats Racing team (currently second in class and third overall) needing a race win, fastest lap and some serious doses of luck to overhaul the leader.

Class 1 is closer, with the Azteca Motorsport Mosler on 124 points, and fifth overall, and the Strata 21 Mosler nine points, and one place adrift. Class three is closer still, with the second Topcats Mantis leading class three (and in second place overall) just five points ahead of Horsepower Racing’s Ferrari F430.

Top 6 BEC positions going into the final round at Brands Hatch:

Pos	Class	Num	Driver/s	Sponsor/Entrant	Vehicle	Total
1	2	21	Craig Wilkins (GB) / Aaron Scott (GB)	GT3 Racing / GT3 Racing	Dodge Viper GT3	146
2	3	36	Owen O Neill (IR) / Henry Fletcher / Jon Harrison (GB) / Rap	Topcats Racing / Topcats Racing	Marcos Mantis GT3	131
3	2	26	Sam Head (GB) / Kyle Tiley / Henry Fletcher (GB) / Raphael F / Jeff Wyatt	Topcats Racing / Topcats Racing	Marcos Mantis GT3	127
4	3	37	Paul Bailey (GB) / Andy Schulz (GB/FIN)	Horsepower Racing / Paul Bailey	Ferrari F430 Challenge	126
5	1	3	Javier Morcillo (ESP) / Manuel Cintrano (ESP)	Azteca Motorsport / Javier Morcillo	Mosler MT900R	124
6	1	6	Paul White (GB) / Calum Lockie (GB)	Strata 21 / Paul White	Mosler MT900 GT3	115
7	3	23	Dan Norris-Jones (GB) / Fulvio Mussi	Dan Norris Jones	Lotus Exige	103
8	3	38	Rod Barrett (GB) / Jan Persson (S) / Jay Shepherd (GB)	Hawthorns Motorsport / Rod Barrett	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	96
9	1	5	Jonathan MacGregor (GB) / Adam Wilcox (GB)	Just Doors Ltd. / MacG Racing	Ultima	83
9	3	39	Morgan Jones (GB) / Philip Jones (GB) / Gareth Jones (GB)	Eurotech Racing / Eurotech Racing	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	95
9	1	7	Ian Heward (GB / Michael Millard (GB)	Flat Six Motorsport / Ian Heward	Rapier SR2	92
12	2	28	Simon Atkinson / Glenn McMeniman / Alistair Mackinnon	Backdraft Motorsport / Simon Atkinson	Lamborghini Gallardo GT3	75
13	1	9	Nigel Mustill (GB) / Bob Berridge (GB)	Wessex Vehicles / Nigel Mustil	Aquila CR1	75
14	2	31	David Green (GB) / Richard Adams (GB) / Martin Byford (GB)	Bullrun / Martin Byford	Ferrari 360 Challenge	71
15	3	46	Chris Headlam (GB) / Jamie Stanley (GB)	Orbital Sound / Chris Headlam	Lotus Elise	63
15	1	1	Witt Gamski (GB) / Keith Robinson (GB)	MJC Ltd / Witt Gamski	Ferrari F430 GTC	57
17	1	2	Sean McInerney (GB) / Michael McInerney (GB)	Eclipse Motorsport / Sean McInerney	Ferrari F430 GTC	57
18	3	47	Steve Glynn (GB) / Danny Winstanley (GB) / Tim Hood (GB)	Glynnsport / Steve Glynn	TVR Sagaris	50
19	2	27	Fiona James (GB) / Mike Wilds (GB) / Neil Huggins (GB)	Backdraft Motorsport / Fiona James	Lamborghini Gallardo GT3	34
20	1	7	Ian Heward (GB / Michael Millard (GB)	Flat Six Motorsport / Ian Heward	Prosport LM	14
21	3	42	Mick Mercer (GB) / Gary Smith (GB)	Topcats Racing / Topcats Racing	Ginetta G50	0

 

In the Dunlop GTN Championship, everything is to play for.

APO Sport’s Class 2 Seat Leon, driven by Alex Osbourne and James May lead overall with 131 points, 3 ahead of T H Motorsport and their Honda Civic Type R. In third overall, and leading class 1 is the Motionsport Lotus Elise with Strata 21 and their BMW M3 just 10 points further back.

Top 6 Dunlop GTN Production positions going into the final round at Brands Hatch:

Pos	Class	Num	Driver/s	Sponsor/Entrant	Vehicle	Total
1	2	65	Alex Osbourne / James May	APO Sport	Seat Leon	131
2	2	61	Tim Saunders (GB)	T H Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	128
3	1	52	Simon Phillips / Pete Storey / Chris Randall	Motionsport	Lotus Elise S2	124
4	1	57	Jenson Lunn / Sarah Bennett-Baggs	Strata 21	BMW M3 E45	114
5	1	45	Mark Ticehurst (GB) / Owen Mildenhall (GB)	Team Jota/Mazda Motors	Mazda MX5 GT	108
6	2	69	Dave Allan (GB)	Synchro Motorsport	Honda Jazz	104
7	1	64	Mark Cunningham (GB) / Peter Cunningham (GB)	SG Racing	Seat Leon Supercopa	103
8	2	75	Mike Wilds (GB) / Hales (GB) / Crosse	Team Jota/Mazda Motors	Mazda MX5	89
9	2	86	Paul Mitson / Mike Pascall / Paul Kite	JTECH	Seat Leon Cupra	87
10	1	44	Mick Mercer (GB) / Gary Smith (GB)	Topcats Racing	Ginetta G50	86
11	1	56	Robert Day (GB) / Paul Phipps (GB)	Simmons Printers	BMW M3 E46	78
12	1	88	Kevin Clarke (GB) / Wayne Gibson (GB)	Intersport Racing	BMW E46 M3	75
13	1	60	Owen Thomas (GB) / Ashley Woodman (GB)	BPM Racing Limited	Ginetta G50	74
14	1	62	Bernard Hogarth (GB) / Marcus Hoggarth (GB)	T F Motorsport	Seat Leon SuperCopa	70
15	1	58	Jeff Mileham / Stephen Guglielmi	Guglielmi Motorsport Ltd	Lotus Elise S2	68
16	2	70	Alyn James / David Vincec / Mark Ludlow	Synchro Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	51
17	1	53	Peter Smith (GB) / Matt Smith (GB)	Reflex Racing GB	Ginetta G50	44
18	2	55	Ian Lawson (GB) / Anthony Wilds (GB)	ING Sport	BMW E36	41
19	2	68	Andre Severs (GB)	Sams Boyz Motorsport	Seat Toledo	18
20	1	63	Nick Barrow (GB) / Richard Corbett (GB)	Saxon Motorsport	BMW 135 Turbo	12

Race Report – Silverstone- Academy – 30^th September  2011

A special treat for the final round for the Academy, they raced at Silverstone on the new GP circuit, supporting the prestigious Britcar 24hr race and were also bathed in unprecedented heat and sunshine for the time of year.

Group 2

Pole position was awarded to Brad Smith, while David Robinson, despite his best efforts would have to start from second ahead of local man Alex Macindoe, who made the most of home circuit knowledge to line up third. As the lights extinguished it was Paul Thacker from seventh place that made the best start, catapulting his way up to the leaders. Thacker approached Maggotts side by side with Rob Smith, who also had made a great getaway, and the pair swept into the second part of the corner (Becketts) still inches apart which meant one of them was offline.  Thacker backed out, lifting off the power momentarily which unfortunately caused him to spin.  In the melee of mass avoidance Macindoe chose the marbled side of the circuit and also spun, re-joining last.  Amazingly, with two separate spins at the head of the field there was no contact, just a few people out of position after dodging the dancers.  The biggest winner out of this situation had to be Jake Bradshaw who firstly made an epic start but also manage to tip-toe around the action making up several places.  With the first lap still not complete Kevin Robson, who was dicing at the front end, turned in late at Abbey and disappeared in a spectacular cloud of dust deep into the gravel, ending his race.  Our usual four were back fighting for the lead, although in an atypical order, Rob Smith, Brad Smith, Robinson and Champion elect Andy Welch down in fourth.

Welch and Smith (Rob) were fighting amongst themselves allowing Smith (Brad) and Robinson to make a bit of a break. Two separate duels emerged each as heated and fiercely contended as each other. Robinson was determined not to let Smith (Brad) escape, wanting to take home his first winner’s trophy.  Smith had other ideas, consistently setting quick lap times and always managing to regain the lead after Robinson slipped through, usually at the Loop.  As the leading pair crossed the line it was Smith (Brad) who took the flag, 0.096 ahead of Robinson, demonstrating how close their entire race had been. Smith (Rob) beat the newly crowned Champion Welch to third, the first time all season Welch had not ended on the podium. Fastest Lap and the new lap Record went to the victorious Brad Smith 2:38.129

Group 1

Writing about motorsport and watching it for a living must have helped Autosport journalist, Glenn Freeman snatch his first pole.  Elliott Norris lined up alongside him in second, closely followed by Matthew Lowe in third. Norris got the better start, jumping into the lead, while everyone made it through the first corner; perhaps a little sideways but well held by all. The group split up slightly but big packs emerged rather than lots of little ones, nine cars making up the leading group. They were so close that it appeared a new leader emerged after each corner, Freeman nicked the lead from Norris after he overshot at Vale, Achille Corbellati poked his nose ahead occasionally, trying to take the lead, Charlie King, the start-line rocket flew from tenth into fourth, to dice with Norris. Rob Chappell, who qualified in 11^th, had also joined in the battle after an ambitious, possibly overzealous start which almost ended in disaster as he drove into the back of Adrian Fleming.  Luckily only a wing was lost and both were able to continue racing.

The close proximity of the leaders looked certain to end in tears if any of them made an error and so it was on lap two when Corbellati’s car drifted sideways mid-apex at Luffield forcing those following to brake unexpectedly in avoidance. Norris slowed into the path of Freeman who was left with nowhere to go. Freeman tapped the rear of Norris, spinning him round and once again making contact as both cars locked together. Once they re-started and re-joined they were both well down the order. Corbellati took the lead, followed by King and Chappell, but Chappell perfectly executed an overtake at Vale to take command. Over the next few laps Chappell pulled away drawing the attention to the pursuit for second place. Corbellati fronted the contenders as King disappeared after spinning out at Vale, moving Paul Hawthorne up to third, with Paul Lewis hot on his heels and Simon Johnson keeping a watchful eye. All the time Norris was clambering his way back up, sweeping past those who least expected it by continually setting fastest lap times. In a last lap, last corner moment of glory/bravery Norris passed Corbellati round the outside of Luffield and taking the correct line for the race to the finish leaving Corbellati to defend from Lewis who chased him to the flag. Chappell finally shook off his reputation of always being the bridesmaid and never the bride by proving he was a worthy winner with a five second advantage over Norris. Norris sealed the fastest lap of the race and the Championship to boot.

Final Championship Order:

Group 1 Group 2

1^st Elliott Norris 1^st Andy Welch

2^nd Rob Chappell 2^nd Brad Smith

3^rd Achille Corbellati 3^rd David Robinson

Nicholas Mee Racing rounded off its victorious 2011 Aston Martin GT4 Challenge winning season with a Class 3 victory and second overall in last weekend’s gruelling Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone. Dan de Zille was joined by drivers Karsten Le Blanc, Christiaen van Lanschot, and Robert Nimkoff who together completed 560 laps of the 3.6604-mile GP circuit in the NMR Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 to finish behind the winning McInerney team’s Class 1 GT2 Ferrari 430 and just one lap ahead of the 3^rd-place-finishing Class 3 Lotus Evora of Marcos Racing International.

Jersey based Dan headed to Silverstone for this year’s 24hr race with high hopes of completing unfinished business after the team’s disappointment in 2010 when blighted by a crash late in the race while lying in 9^th overall.

In qualifying de Zille posted a time good enough for 16^th on the grid, but rather than gamble on gaining a few positions the team parked the car up and prepared for the race. With the qualifying session completed, NMR was placed 20^th on the grid.

The race got underway at 16.29 on the Saturday with Le Blanc piloting NMR’s Aston. Each driver then rotated through the early hours of the race and into the night with 2-hour ‘double’ stints. The car would pit roughly every hour to refuel, with fresh tyres fitted every two hours or so.

Keeping out of trouble and with an excellent strategy, NMR climbed swiftly up the field and into the lead of Class 3 – a position it would maintain for the most of the next 22 hours. De Zille was the last driver to take his turn and at midnight started a heroic 2hr 53min stint, just 7 minutes shorter than the maximum allowed. During this session he posted some stunning lap times that moved NMR up into the top five overall.

NMR’s race continued unbelievably smoothly with zero car issues, a faultless performance by all four drivers and rapid and efficient pit-work by the NMR crew, ably headed by Giles Dawson. One of themost exciting features of the entire race was NMR’s epic duel with the Lotus Evora GT4 driven by a team of experienced professional and semi-professional drivers including sportscar veteran Cor Euser. The two teams battled it out for the lead of Class 3 and overall podium honours for over half of the race.

With all of NMR’s drivers having completed roughly the same distance, it was down to Le Blanc to drive the final stint to the flag. With the Lotus charging hard from behind it was an extremely tense period with just one lap, and sometimes, just seconds separating the two. Finally, at 16.32 on the Sunday, NMR’s V8 Vantage crossed the line in second position overall and first in the ultra-competitive Class 3.

After the race NMR’s jubilant Team Principal Nicholas Mee said, “Heroes all! In 24 hours of racing we had no driver errors, no car failings, no time penalties, no damage and a dream result, all of which comes on top of five race wins and victory in this year’s Aston Martin Challenge series! I’m immensely proud and appreciative of the whole team’s achievements. Big thanks to our drivers, sponsors, pit-crew and supporters who have all helped make a great racing season even greater.

Dan is back out in his Mygale Formula Ford this weekend for the final round of the British Formula Ford Championship at Silverstone where Dan is currently lying in fifth place overall for the title.

This entry will be updated during the race, with updates added at the top. Scroll down to see earlier entries. Keep checking back for news! Fee free to leave comments as well!

Hour 24. 3.30 -> 4.30

Going into this final hour, the gaps between cars, measure in laps rather than seconds between all contenders, was be too big to overcome under normal racing conditions.

This years race may well have had better weather, and a bigger crowd, but it couldn’t deliver a race as exciting as last years. Which is hardly surprising, given the fantastic competition of 2010.

All competitors who take part in a 24hour race should be applauded, and those that finish doubly so. It is a unique test of man and machine, speed and endurance and so all congratulations should go to the Eclipse team for winning the 2011 MSA Britcar 24hr Race.

Hours 22 & 23. 1.30 -> 3.30

Going into the final hour, we find the Eclipse Ferrari, with a lead of 16 laps but has to stop again. The second and third placed cars, Nicholas Mee Aston Martin and Marcos Racing Evora respectively, have both made their last stops.

Running in fourth overall is the Topcats Racing class three Mantis, which is two laps ahead of the Intersport BMW, running fourth in class and fifth overall. Intersport are confident of taking the final step on the class three podium, however, as they can run to the end whereas it is expected the Mantis will stop again.

The Brunswick / Mark Griffiths BMW M3 is still leading class four, as it has for several hours now, and is currently running in seventh place overall., just ahead of the Topcats class two Mantis, which although stopped out on track an hour or so back, has clearly been made race fit again and has been sent back out.

Second in class four and running in tenth place overall is the Red Camel Racing Seat Leon. The Cox family are currently claiming third spot on the class four podium, and twelfth overall, albeit 11 laps behind class three Holden Astra of McLeod Racing.

Hour 21. 12.30 -> 1.30

The Topcats Racing Mosler has gone off at Brooklands and buried it’s nose straight under the tyre barrier and is, rather unsurprisingly, out of the race. The news that filtered through is that the throttle stuck open. The safety car was deployed for around fifteen minutes to recover the car, and to allow the marshalls to safely repair the tyre wall.

The team manager of Eclipse, who are now leading by xx laps, has been called to race control. In other penalty news, the #57 Marcos Racing Lotus has been given a stop and go penalty for speeding in the pitlane. They have thirteen laps in hand over the next car, Intersport’s BMW, and so it hasn’t caused them a problem.

Most of the gaps between cars are greater than 2 or 3 laps, and so it feels as though this race is just winding down to the end. Having said that, I thought that about an hour ago, and then the leader got thrown off the track, so what do I know?

Hours 19 & 20 – 10.30am -> 12.30pm

During the last two hours not a huge amount has changed. The Eclipse Ferrari has gained two laps on the leading Mosler, to now be 4 laps behind. This gap has, however, been pegged now that both cars are lapping in the 2:15/2:16s. Apart from the Nicholas Mee Racing and Aston Martin and the Marcos Racing Evora swapping places due to scheduled pitstops, and the same happening between the Intersport BMW and Topcats second Mantis, driven by the Japanese squad, the leaderboard looks remarkably similar to that of two hours ago.

Typical, just as I have typed that the only remaining class 2 car – Topcats Racing Mantis, has pulled over on the Abbey Straight. A safety car is deployed for a few laps to aid recovery. It did look as the Topcats were going to get all three cars home inside the top ten.

The Nigel Mustill Aquila has definitely retired now, after having issues throughout the race, but it seems that they have finally run out of luck, or spares.

So, with 4 hours to go, the run down is as follows:

Class 1.
1. Topcats Mosler
2. Eclipse Ferrari
3. Nigel Mustill Aquila (retired, but at the moment classified as 15th overall)

Class 2.
No cars still running that will meet the requirements for classification.

Class 3.
1. Nicholas Mee Aston Martin (3rd overall)
2. Marcos Racing Evora (4th overall)
3. Intersport / Kevin Clarke BMW (5th overall)

Class 4.
1. Brunswick / Mark Griffiths BMW M3 (8h overall)
2. Mardi Gras Honda Integra (12th overall)
3. Red Camel Racing Seat Leon (13th overall)

Hour 18 – 9.30->10.30

Kevin Clarke BMW had a trip to the pits due to an electrical issue which turned out to be a lose wire on the alternator, but rejoined, losing a single place to the to class two Topcats Mantis.

I was about type that not much else was happening, until the Eclipse Ferrari went off from the lead, due to a broken roll bar causing a left rear puncture while Phil Keen was doing a stint. The safety car was then dispatched while the Ferrari recovered back to the pits very slowly. The Aquila takes this opportunity to pit from 13th place, and the Topcats Mosler inherits the lead accordingly. After a few minutes to check the flailing tyre hadn’t caused any further damage, the Ferrari is sent back out, to be 6 laps behind the leader.

With six hours left, my sleep deprived mind reckons that the Ferrari needs be consistently 8-10 seconds a lap quicker than the Mosler, to catch have a chance of catching the leader. Unless, of course, the Mosler has any kind of issue.

Towards the end of this hour, th eMosler pitted for a scheduled stop, and the Aquila stopped out on the new arena loop. Also out on the loop, the #47 Jemco Ginetta had their bonnet fly off, which hopefully hasn’t landed on the racing line.

Hour 17 – 8.30 -> 9.30

The Topcats class two Mantis retakes the track after a faulty ignition switch, it had a seven lap lead over the Aquila, so no dramas there. Although, if the Mantis doesn’t make the end then there will be no class two finishers.

The Eclipse Ferrari has just under a three lap lead at the moment, and has just slowed its pace slightly, to that of the second place Topcats Mosler which is circulating in the 2:!5 region. It doesn’t appear that this is due to a problem, probably more the fact that Eclipse have no need to risk reliability woes by pushing too fast. If they lap the same speed as the Mosler, then they will stay 3 laps ahead.

Promoted to third overall, due to the Topcats Mantis issues, is the class three Nichoas Mee Aston Martin, who are 16 laps further back. As last year, it looks as though this is going to be a two horse race for the remaining 7 hours.

The only other battle on track at the moment is between the class three Topcats Mantis (driven by the Japanese squad) in 8th place overall, and the class four leader Brunswick/Mark Griffiths BMW M3, just 20 seconds down the road. All other gaps at the moment are measured in minutes, laps or even 10’s of laps.

Car #86, a Mazda MX5 being driven by three ex army offices on behalf of a number of charities – The Not Forgotten Assoc, Help for Heroes, Army Benevolent Fund, Forces Childrens Trust and Scottys Little Soldiers, has been given a penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Ironically the driver who committed the offense was non other than former rally driver and F1 pundit Tony Jardine!

My bleary eyes have been having problems this morning. The Nigel Mustill Aquila has only just rejoined the track. It’s still third in class, but down in 14th place overall. It still seems capable of setting fast times, doing 2 laps in the 2:12 region straight away, which is as much as 20 seconds a lap quicker than the cars ahead of it.

Towards the end of this hour, the Rogue Motorsport / Forza 4 Toyota has pitted for its fifth driveshaft!

Hour 16 – 7.30am -> 8.30am

Two thirds of the way through, at the end of this hour. Things have quietend down slightly now. The Aquila pitted with a problem – a burst water pipe caused a little overheating, they got the problem fixed and the car was back out in 5th place. BPM Racing have retired from the race. Having repaired the car after a big smash last night the team were back up and running. However, after having lost fifth gear the team took the difficult decision to pull out.

Right at the end of the hour, the #27 class two Topcats has been pushed into the pit garage and work commences on the as yet unknown (to me) problem.

Not done a class rundown for a while, so here goes:

Class 1.

1. Eclipse Ferrari
2. Topcats Mosler
3. Nigel Mustill Aquila

Class 2.
1. Topcats Mantis – the only runner left in this class!

Class 3.
1. Nicholas Mee Racing Aston Martin
2. Marcos Racing Evora
3. Kevin Clarke / Intersport BMW

Class 4.
1. Mark Griffiths / Brunswick BMW
2. Red Camel Racing Seat Leon
3. Mardi Grass Motorsport Honda Integra

Hours 14 & 15 (5.30am -> 7.30am)

During this two hours Silverstone has gone from pitch black, to full daylight. The feeling is that the race is almost over, however there is still another 9 hours to go!

The length of this race is starting to take its toll on the entry list. The MJC Ferrari has retired with a cracked exhaust manifold – so Witt Gamski et al won’t be repeating their victory from last year.

The Strata 21 Mosler has also retired, due to overheating problems. The Rogue Motosport / Forza 4 Toyota MR2 is in the pits for its fourth driveshaft of the event!

Returning to the field, however, has been the Thorney Motorsport BMW M3, who are 320-odd laps down, having had to get a part made back at base, shipped up to the track, and then fitted. They will have to complete 50% of the winners total race distance to be classified.

The Topcats Mantis has a lengthy pitstop, to include a brake change, and although there is no danger of losing the class two lead (having 51 laps on the ARC Brtislava entry – which has subsequently retired).

The Eclipse Ferrari is still in the over the Topcats Marcos, with the Aquila recovering to third place, although nearly 20 laps down.

Nicholas Mee racing is in fiurth overall, and leading class 3, with Kevin Clarke second in class, ahead of the Marcos Racing Evora.

The Brunswick BMW is currently leading class four, and is 9th overall.

Hours 9-13 (12.30am -> 5.30am)

The racing continues through the night here at Silverstone, with the Eclipse Mosler still leading, having completed 312 laps at the end of hour 13. Lying in second place is the Topcats Mosler, 6 laps adrift, which is very impressive considering they are suffering from some sort of vibration problem, which is causing them to have to short shift, and is reducing their ultimate pace.

Two laps further back is the MJC Ferrari, which has made excellent progress through the field in the last few hours. All three are lapping fairly evenly at around the 2:15 mark.

Also making great progress is the yellow Aquila of Nigel Mustill, now up to seventh place, 20 laps adrift. However, John Martin is lapping some 10 seconds quicker than the leaders, and has plenty of time to make up a few places.

Leading class two and running fourth overall is still the Topcats Mantis, which has a lap in head over class three leading Nicholas Mee racing. Second spot in class three is still occupied by the Marcos Racing Lotus Evora. Third place in class has changed hands however, with the Kevin Clarke BMW occupying that position.

Class four is being led by Mark Griffiths, the CTR Developments Lotus, which was leading, has stopped out on track with a wheel bearing problem. Looking by the timing screens, it’s a terminal failure.

Mardi Gras Motorsport has also dropped behind Mark Griffiths, and is now second in class. Red Camel Racing round out the class four top three.

Another recovery drive, this time from the Cox family is taking place. From leading class four at the start of the race, they dropped significantly, but are now slowly improving and are up to 19th overall.

The BPM Ginetta that went off a few hours ago was repaired, a faulty fuel pump which had caused a drop in power was indentified while the work was being carried out, and they have been back on track for three hours or so.

The Synchro motorsport Honda Jazz has been pitted four a broken driveshaft. The damaged unit was completely bespoke, and to swap for a standard unit, the team have also had to tinker around with the gear box.

Hour 8

It turns out the Aquila went off with a driveshaft failure. This has been fixed during the last hour and the car is now back out on track, in 16th position and lapping just off the ace of the leader, which is still the Eclipse Ferrari, with the Topcats Mosler 3 laps down in second place.

In the last hour, Britcar have released a statement regarding the incident which caused the 51 minute safety car earlier:

“At approximately 9:45pm there was an incident during the Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone where a competing vehicle left the road and collided with another vehicle. A trackside marshal was struck during the incident.

The marshal in question has been transferred to Northampton Hospital with a suspected broken leg. They also have cuts and bruises but no life threatening injuries.

This statement was received by Britcar 24hr Ltd. via the BRSCC from Silverstone circuit Chief Medical Officer.” So it’s good to hear that there are no major injuries from this incident.

Working their way up the field is the MJC Ferrari, now up to 7th place, approximately 90 seconds behind the BMW of Kevin Clarke, who is running third in class three, behind the Marcos Racing Evora, who has dropped to second in class behind Nichols Mee.

There have been no changes to the top three, in class four.

Hour 7

The safety car comes in after 51 minutes, 10 minutes into this hour. MJC pits again, and Phil Dryburgh takes over. Sean McInerney is battling with the class 2 Topcats Mantis for second place, crossing the line just 0.3 seconds behind, and takes the place the following lap. Another 13 seconds back is the Topcats Mosler, running third in class 1.

Class two has been decimated slightly. After the Topcats Mantis, the next runner is the ARC Brtislava, running down in 28th place.

In fifth place overall is Nicholas Mee Racing, leading class three by a minute and a half from Marcos Racing Lotus Evora. Third in Class three is the Kevin Clarke entered BMW.

Still leading class 4 is the CTR entry, running in a very impressive 9th overall, 3 laps behind is the Mark Griffiths BMW M3 which is, in turn, 1 minute ahead of #88 Mardi Gras Motorsport Honda Integra.

Gareth Evans has taken over in the Aquila, but his first lap is 10 seconds slower than the Eclipse Ferrari. He does improve laptime, but is still circulating anything between 1 and 3 seconds slower than the second place car.

The difference in laptime becomes immaterial, as the Aquila slows to a stop out at Vale. By the end of the hour it has been recovered to the pits dropped to 11th place, promoting everyone repectively.

In class four news, the Jet Black Racing has had to have its engine replaced.

There’s not been a position list for a couple of hours, so no would seem to be an opportune time:

Class 1.
1. Eclipse Ferrari
2. Topcats Racing Mosler
3. MJC Ferrari

Class 2.
1. Topcats Racing Mantis
2. ARC Brtislava Porsche
3. Rollcentre Racing Ginetta

Class 3.
1. Marocs Racing Lotus Evora
2. Nicholas Mee Aston Martin
3. Pete Storey / Motionsport Lotus

Class 4.
1. CTR Development Lotus Elise
2. Mardi Gras Honda Integra
3. Mark Griffiths / Brunswick BMW M3.

Hour 6

Aquila pits from 3 lap lead. He may have gone over the maximum allowed 3hour stint limit, Bob Berridge has gone back in for another stint. Could this be referred to the stewards for consideration?

Red Camel has a 20 minute pitstop, for some reason, and then comes back in again to serve their stop go penalty.

The Eclipse Ferrari is starting to close the gap on the leaders, they dropped back due to being hit from behind an hour or so ago, and spent about 20 minutes in the pitlane to fix the problems.

Fifteen minutes into this hour, and the safety car has come out, due to a car pulling over on the hanger straight. Due to the marshalls working in the darkness, the safety seems a sensible precaution while this vehicle is recovered.

While the safety car is out, John Gaw pits the MJC Ferrari, after having done just 9 laps, this could be to refuel again under the safety car, or it could be to remedy some seat problems the team appear to be having.

An oversight on my part, the Japanes Topcats Mantis must have been repaired and sent back out, as they are currently running in 20th place.

News is filtering through from the cause of the safety car. A few cars went off at Maggotts – Craig Wilkins Ginetta, the Swiss Racing BMW and the Jemco Honda Civic. While a marshal was connecting up a car to the tractor to tow them away, another car then went into the car. This safety car period could last some time.

The BPM Racing Ginetta has had an off into the new pitwall, and is currently in the pits. If they have all the parts for repairs, it could be two hours work for the mechanics.

The Topcarts Mosler is having fuel pickup problems and is having to short stint, but are hanging on to fourth place. The Strata 21 Mosler is also having fule problems – pressure regulator problems on this one, causing them to be down in 38th place currently.

Towards the end of this hour, Bob Berridge pits from the lead, to presumably have a top up while the safety car is still out. Gareth Evans takes over.



The Aquila leads from the start

Hours 1-5

Night time has arrived at Silverstone, the sun may have gone down but the temperatures have not. An exceedingly warm day is leaving us with a very mild evening.

The race began at 4.30pm, with the pole sitting Aquila leading away at the rolling start, and having a lead of nearly the whole pit straight within a few laps. This could have been taken away by the appearance of the safety car, due to Optimum Ginetta which stopped out on track.

The safety car picked the pack up ahead of the fourth placed RJN Motorsport Nissan, allowing the tope three – Aquila CR1 (Bob Berridge at the wheel), Strata 21s Mosler (Calum Lockie) and the class two leading ARC Brtislava – to join the back of the train, and give themselves almost a lap on everybody.

Leading class three at this point was the Japanese crewed Topcats Mantis, who had taken the spot away from Optimum Racing before their problem Class four was being led by the Cox family BMW at this stage.

By the end of the first hour, Witt Gamski pitted the MJC Ferrari from outside the top ten, having started in second but dropped down to 9th at the end of lap one. The Japanese Marcos retired with a driveshaft failure, and Bob Berridge was given a 30 second stop go penalty for overtaking before the start finish line, after the safety car restart.

During hour 2, the Strata 21 Mosler took the lead, courtesy of the Aquila penalty, which caused the yellow car to drop to third place, but still on the leading lap. Hour two did, however, claim it’s victims. First up was the ARC Brtislava team, which was too nosiy and above the reduced for this year noise limit. Work was done on the car, and they have taken back to the track. Finish hour four in 33rd place.

MJC had a double whammy of penalties, being given a drive through for overtaking under yellow flags, but then sped in the pitlane and received a subsequent 16 second penalty. Two cars retired in the second hour, the #50 Optimum racing Ginetta, having recurring problems which couldn’t be resolved, and the #58 GT Classics Porsche.

The RJN Nissan, which been running strongly and looked on for a class podium, became the third retirement of the race early in the third hour – stopping on the inside of Copse. This brought out the safety car. The Strata 21 Mosler, leading, and the second place Eclipse Ferrari took this opportunity to pit.

MJC woes hadn’t ended either, Keith Robison pitting after about 20 minutes of his stint, with a loose seat. They finished the third our outside of the top 20.

Class two was being led by the orange Rollcentre racing Ginetta, with the Topcats racing Marcos second in class.

Class three was being led by the Nicholas Mee Racing Ason Martin, up in 7th place overall, a lap ahead of the Paul Winter entered Porsche 996 GT3 Cup.

Ignition problems for the Cox family BMW had dropped them down the field to 46th overall, and leading class 4 was the CTR developments Lotus Elise GT4, with a Honda Integra from Mardi Gras Motorsport second in class.

With another round of scheduled stops during hour 4, there were a few changes to the order. The Eclipse Ferrari was still leading at the end of the hour, 2 laps ahead of the yellow Aquila, which had shown impressive race pace setting 2:05’s, several seconds that the entire field. Third place overall and leading class 2 was the Topcats Marcos Mantis, who were a lap ahead of the Topcats Mosler.

Nichols Mee Racing were still leading class three, and running an impressive 5th overall with a lap in hand over fello class three runner Paul Winter Racing. There was a change at the top of class 4, Red Camel Racing in their Seat Leon taking the lead of class, and running in 10th overall.

Last years winners, and assumed contenders MJC had recovered back to 13th overall, but are 11 laps down on the leader. Obviously reliability is key and speed isn’t the be all and end all at this stage of proceedings, but 11 laps down is quite a mounted to climb if they which to repeat their victory.

As if to prove this point, early on in hour five the Eclipse team, having just completed a scheduled pitstop, were hit from behind, causing damage that would take around 20 minutes to complete. They would end the hour in fourth place, but five laps down on the leader, which is now the yellow Aquila. Three laps down is the Topcats Mosler, just ahead of the class two leader, fellow Topcats entry, this time in a Mantis shape.

The Strata 21 Mosler is suffering fuel pickup problems, which is causing them to pit more often than usual, an is subsequently dropping them down the field.

Two cars have been given penalties. Car 92, the Smarts4You entry was given a stop and go, plus thirty second penalty. They got off lightly for whatever indiscretion they committed, compared to the #84 car, class 4 leading Red Camel racing, who have been given a stop and go, plus 2 mintues! Again, for an unknown crime.

At the end of hour five, the top three in each class are as follows:

Class 1:
1, Nigel Mustill Aquila CR1
2. Topcats Racing Mosler
3. Eclipse Ferrari

Class 2:
1. Topcats Racing Mantis
2. ARC Bratislava
3. Rollcentre Racing Ginetta G55.

Class 3:
1. Nicholas Mee Racing Aston Martin
2. Pete Storey Lotus Elise GT 4
3. Marcos Racing Lotus Evora

Class 4:
1. CTR Development Lotus Elise
2. Mardi Gras Motorsport Honda Integra
3. Mark Griffiths BMW M3

Britcar News from Emma Cliffe, Pit Lane Observer

The 2011 running of the Britcar 24 was the fastest on record, with the total distance covered being 2097 racing miles completed in the 24 hours.  Just one more lap would have broken the 2100 mile barrier!

Information on the demise of the Top Cats Mosler

Record distance in prospect?

The fine weather means that the 2011 running of the Britcar 24 may cover a record distance.    At the current average speed of 88mph, 24 hours may see the 2100 mile barrier broken which will smash previous runnings.

2000 miles will pass on lap 546.   The Arena circuit is 3.6604 miles long.

Previous running on the Bridge layout ( 3.19 miles ) have not been so fast.

2006 – 595 laps – 1900 miles
2007 – 596 laps – 1903 miles
2008 – 603 laps – 1925 miles
2009 – A 500 mile race was run instead
2010 – 565 laps – 1799 miles

2010 was held in wet conditions for much of the race.    Previous years had suffered from early morning fog which stopped racing until it cleared.

———-

Britcar issued the following statement last night about the condition of the marshal injured last night.

———–

Okay, so I gave up at about 11.45 p.m. I needed some sleep. And I think I got some because I’ve woken this morning feeling refreshed.

And feeling a sense of shock. Checking the live timing the Aquila is still running! Last year, it fell to bits for the last time at about midnight, so I really wasn’t expecting it to make it to daylight hours. But it has. And it is currently running eighth.

Other shocks? The safety car has managed to do 27 laps – I can’t remember if that’s more or less than at this time last year but O think its a lot less than last year. Car number 92 is currently 30^th – why am I interested in that? Well, it’s a Smart.

I’m hoping to hear good news on a Marshal that was injured last night too. He went out to help recover a car when another car arrived on the scene. Being a Marshal is dangerous and this sport couldn’t happen without these brave volunteers who give up hours of their life and their hard earned money to support this sport.

————

So, the race gets under way and there’s a full 24 hours to go. And, within 15 minutes, the first safety car is out. I head down to the pit lane to find out what is returning on the back of a low loader.

It turns out to be car number 51, a Ginetta G50 being run by Optimum Motorsport. When the car arrived, it was apparent that some sort of collision had occurred. I’ll admit I wasn’t brave enough to approach the driver to find out what happened. Some drivers will talk, some won’t, and I have difficulty gauging the ones that will.

What I then had the opportunity to observe was a brilliant piece of the poetry in motion they call “teamwork”. The crew had arrived in the Scrutineering area with various spare parts they thought may be needed (including a spare bonnet – well, it is a Ginetta and they are pretty fragile in the bodywork area). They proceeded to undertake a nearside rear wishbone change and the various safety checks on things like the wheels. From arriving on the low loader to being pushed out of the Scrutineering area to be sent back on to the track took exactly 30 minutes. Now, these guys may have radios to communicate with each other and so forgotten parts and tools can be called for easily – but – everyone knew what was expected of them, got on with it and put the car back on the circuit.

The problem (or, the thing I love) about 24 hour races is you never know what will happen next. As I sit here in the media centre, it has just flashed on the screen that car 51 has retired. Although there are actually 2 cars showing as number 51 on the timing screen. And the other car number 51 has just broken the timing beacon and apparently did a lap time of 2 minutes 24 seconds. I’m confused already and they’ve only been racing for about 2 hours…there’s another 22 for me to keep up with yet!

The weather maybe completely different to last year – a sunshine and warm temperatures greeting everyone at Silverstone this weekend for the MSA Britcar 24hr race, but one thing is the same as 2010 – the Aqulia CR1 is on pole by 5 seconds (John Martin setting a time of 2:03.560), but has already had issues. Going off with a stuck throttle, and then having to rebuild the exhaust due to excessive noise. As ever in endurance racing, speed is one thing, and lasting the distance is another entirely.

Second on the grid are last year’s winners, the MJC team in their Ferrari 430GT2, with a time of 2:08.495. Interestingly, that’s around the times set by the Aquila’s other drivers, and so even without the reliability questions marks over the yellow car, it’s dominance over the competition may not be as much as it first appears.

Just half a second behind the MJC team is the Paul White Mosler, with fellow drivers Calum Lockie, Manual Cintrano and Javier Morcillo.

Class two pole, and fifth position overall, is the Porsche 997 of the ARC Bratislava team, with a time of 2:10.372. Second in class two is a Nissan 370z, entered by RJN Motorsport, who are seventh overall.

Pole position in a packed class three, was taken by one of the many Ginettas here this weekend. Optimum Racing getting their G50 into eleventh place on the grid, setting a time of 2:14.664. Just under a second behind are the all Japanese driver line up in Topcats Racing Marcos Mantis GT3.

Topping class four, and starting an impressive 29th overall is the Cox family entered BMW M3 CSL, with a time of 2:22.717. Second in class four, and starting down in 36th is the Lotus Elise GT4 from CTR developments.

Words: Alex Ings, Images: Alex Ings

Ginetta boasts one of the largest numbers of same-marque entries, ahead of Porsche and second only to BMW, as the Brits prepare to take on the Germans at Silverstone – the home of British motor sport. The small volume manufacturer -famed for building successful endurance racers- will be out in force offering factory support for teams taking part in the Silverstone Britcar 24hr -Oct 1st-2nd as they combine to take on the formidable moneymen of BMW and Porsche with 2 x G40 – class 4, 5 x G50/GT4- class 3 and 1 x G55 – Class 2.

Ginetta Boss Lawrence Tomlinson will also be making a return to 24hr racing in a prototype laden G55 with Rollcentre Racing, alongside drivers Martin Short – famed LMP1 driver and Rollcentre Racing Team Principal, BTCC ace Colin Turkington, 2008 British GT4 champion Matt Nicoll-Jones and former British Karting Champion/Ginetta factory driver Mike Simpson. The Britcar 24hrs G55 mule is part of a continual testing programme for Ginetta’s newest machine, the G55 GT3, which will be released later this year.

The new G55 GT3 £147,000, 3.7lt machine – which will be on display in the Britcar 24hrs Silverstone paddock for the first time – boasts 58 carbon fibre panels, a wider track making maximum use of the GT3 permitted dimensions, a new aero pack creating impressive down force (designed with the aid of an F1 design team) and 10”/12” rims for increased traction and handling, along with a striking 1.8m curved swan neck rear wing assembly.

Tomlinson said: “I’m excited to be back at Britcar this year following the amazing success of our G40 last year. We listen to what our customers want and Ginetta is all about producing competitive, cost effective machines. The G55 GT3 is no exception. Our G55 Britcar 24hr entry features elements of the GT3 machine as part of factory testing ahead of its release later in the year. I am yet to drive this car but having seen the work that’s gone into the development and the standard of engineering it excites me. With the new design and continued engine development programme we expect the G55 GT3 car to be every bit as competitive as the GT3 Ferrari’s, Audi’s and Porsche’s. Our G50 GT4 model has become a proven race winner beating the competition at every stage since its launch back on 2008; we hope our G55 GT3 car will mirror that success in GT3”

Rollcentre Racing have 2 Ginettas entered for the Britcar 24hr at Silverstone, the G55 #30 and ‘2010 Britcar hero’ the G40 #94. Tomlinson went on the say: “There is no bigger test for a race car than a 24hr endurance race, Martin Short and the Rollcentre Racing team are experienced endurance racers and I’m confident both cars will perform well. We have an excellent team of drivers and in between my own driving stints I will obviously be keeping a close eye on the other teams running Ginettas and wish them all the very best of luck.”

The Britcar 24hr race is to be held this weekend, and Silverstone.

www.ginetta.com
www.britcar24hr.co.uk

The Britcar 24 is one of the most popular motorsport events in the UK – popularised by appearances on TV’s Top Gear and Fifth Gear (and this year Channel 5′s The Gadget Show are covering the event with a suitably gadgetty twist)

The race itself starts on Saturday afternoon and finishes 24 hours later on Sunday afternoon. The end of September and start of October is distinctly autumnal, and it takes sense to make sure you have sufficient clothing to stay warm. The race last year was held in pretty poor conditions, which not only poses all sorts of problems for the competitors and teams, but it means the crowd also needs to have a weather strategy!

Whilst many people would think that a brolly is all that is needed, I would say that to enjoy the event, rather than endure the event, that some extra thought is needed.

I would recommend taking at least one change of shoes and socks, even if its just to make the drive home more comfortable. A spare pair of trousers, various tops of differing thicknesses so they can be layered, and a good jacket that is wind proof and water proof.   Waterproof trousers are also sensible, and gloves and a hat help keep body heat in are also good things to have.

Those experienced Britcar24 regulars, who plan to sit in the grandstands for long periods of time recommend taking sleeping bags, so they can watch the race, wrapped up, cozy and warm.    Whilst the covered grandstands permit shelter from the rain to some extent, they are open to wind and that can sap body temperature very quickly.

Warm food and drinks will also help keep you comfortable – there are a number of stalls providing sustanence. These may serve a drink in a polystyrene cup, but decanting this into a thermal mug will keep your hot drink hot for a lot longer.   Some take a thermos flask.

Above else, you may have a long journey home, so make sure you are in a good enough condition for the drive home!

The latest Britcar 24hr entry list has been released, with some changes.

The event will take place from September 30th to October 2nd at Silverstone.

Class One – Red – 1 – 24

1 Witt Gamski Ferrari 430 GT2
Witt Gamski (PL)
Keith Robinson (GB)
John Gaw (GB)
Phil Dryburgh (GB)

2 Michael McInerney Ferrari 430
Michael McInerney (GB)
Sean McInerney (GB)
Phil Keen (GB)
TBA

3 Topcats Racing Mosler MT900R GT2
Andrew Beaumont (GB)
Henry Fletcher (GB)
Julien Draper (GB)
Freddie Hetherington (GB)

4 Paul White Mosler MT900R GT3
Paul White (GB)
Calum Lockie (GB)
Manuel Cintrano (E)
Javier Morcillo (E)

5 ARC Bratislava Porsche 997
Miro Konopka (SK)
Scott O’Donnell (NZ)
Teodor Myszkowski (PL)
Andrzej Lewandowski (PL)

6 Nigel Mustill Aquila CR1
Nigel Mustill (GB)
Bob Berridge (GB)
Gareth Evans (GB)
John Martin (AUS)

7 Marco Schelp BMW Z4 V8
Marco Schelp (D)
Michael Tischner (D)
Dominik Schwager (D)
Donald Molenaar (NL)

8 Mac G Racing Ultima GTR
Jonathan MacGregor (GB)
Jamie Smyth (GB)
Adam Wilcox (GB)
TBA

9 Trident Iceni Trident Iceni
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

Class Two – Blue – 25 – 50

25 Dorset Sports Cars Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
Paul Winter (GB)
Graham Mundy (GB)
Pete Morris (GB)
Tim Speed (GB)

26 Track Torque Racing Chevron GT TR8
Nick Jarvis (GB)
Matt Round (GB)
Chris Hart (GB)
Andy Yool (GB)

27 Topcats Racing Marcos Mantis GT3
David Upton (GB)
TBA
TBA
TBA

28 Fred Tonge GTF Sagaris
Fred Tonge (GB)
Tim Hood (GB)
Darren Dowling (GB)
Steve Glynn (GB)

29 Dorset Sports Cars Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

30 Ginetta UK Ltd Ginetta G55
Lawrence Tomlinson (GB)
Martin Short (GB)
Rob Huff (GB)
TBA

Class Three – Yellow – 45 – 75

45 Team Caramba BMW M3 E46
Michael Outzen (DN)
Kim Holmgaard (DN)
Michael Klostermann (DN)
Christian Dalouiso (DN)
Jacques Moller (DN)

46 Motionsport Ltd Lotus Elise GT4
Simon Phillips
TBA
TBA
TBA

47 Jemco Racing Ginetta G50 GT4
Kevin Hancock (GB)
Leigh Smart (GB)
Craig Wilkins (GB)
Aaron Scott (GB)

48 RJN Motorsport Nissan 370z
Alex Buncombe (GB)
Chris Ward (GB)
Jann Mardenborough (GB)
Bryan Heitkotter (USA)

49 Nicholas Mee Racing Aston Martin GT4
Karsten Le Blanc (Dutch)
Christiaen Van Lanshoot (Dutch)
Dan De Zille (Jersey)
Robert Nimkoff (USA)

50 Tom Black Aston Martin N24 GT4
Tom Black (GB)
Alan Bonner (GB)
Stuart Hall (GB)

51 Optimum Motorsport – 247202 Ginetta G50
Lee Mowle (GB)
Joe Osbourne (GB)
Gary Simms (GB)
Stuart Linn (GB)

52 Forza Motorsport 4 / Toyota Toyota MR2 Roadster
Patrick Mortell (GB)
Alric Kitson (GB)
Simon Aris (GB)
Lee McKee (USA)

53 Topcats Racing Marcos Mantis GT3
Yosuke Shimojima (JPN)
Ryu Seya (JPN)
Masashi Kakiuchi (JPN)
Yasushi Kikuchi (JPN)

54 MP Motorsport BMW M3 E46
Richard Abra (GB)
Mark Poole (GB)
Clint Bardwell (GB)

55 Welch Motorsport Seat Leon Supercopa
Malcolm Niall (AUS)
Brett Niall (AUS)
Clint Harvey (AUS)
Nathan Callaghan (AUS)

56 Mazda Motors Ltd / Jota Mazda MX5
Mark Ticehurst (GB)
Owen Mildenhall (GB)
Mike Wilds (GB)

57 Cor Euser Lotus Evora
Cor Euser (NL)
Hal Prewitt (USA)
Jim Brody (USA)
Dik Freebird (NL)

58 Peter Fairbairn Porsche 993 RSR
Peter Fairbairn (RSA)
Tony Littlejohn (GB)
Paul McLean (GB)
TBA

59 Mike Brown Aston Martin N24 GT4
Mike Brown (GB)
Dave West (GB)
Paul Cripps (GB)
Jamie Wall (GB)

60 Thorney Motorsport BMW E92 M3 GT3
John Thorne (GB)
Dan Watkins (GB)
Roger Green (GB)
TBA

61 Scuderia Vittoria Ltd Ginetta G50 GT4
Daniel Dennis (GB)
Dan Jones (GB)
Gavin Spencer (GB)
James Thorpe (GB)

62 BPM Racing Ltd Ginetta G50 GT4
Owen Thomas (GB)
Ashley Woodman (GB)
Rick Walker (GB)
Rob Cullum (GB)

63 Jensun Lunn BMW M3 E36
Jenson Lunn (GB)
Adam Sharpe (GB)
Sarah Bennett-Baggs (GB)
Ryan Hooker (GB)

64 Don Grice BMW M3 E46 GTR
Don Grice (GB)
Mark Smith (GB)
James McAlistair (GB)
Ric Wood (GB)

65 TBA Dave Bennett (GB) Porsche 996 Cup
Marcus Fothergill (GB)
TBA
TBA

66 Scuderia Vittoria Ltd Porsche 996 GT3
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

67 Andrew Donaldson Ginetta G50 GT4
Andrew Donaldson
TBA
TBA
TBA

68 Intersport RacingBMW M3 E46
Kevin Clarke (GB)
Wayne Gibson (GB)
TBA
TBA

70 James Kaye Mitsubishi
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

71 Roger Bennington Aston Martin
Will Goff
TBA
TBA
TBA

72 Cor Euser – 2nd CAR ? BMW 3 Series ?
Cor Euser
TBA
TBA
TBA

73 In 2 Racing TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

Class Four – Orange – 76 – 99

76 Sub-Zero Wolf Seat Supercopa
Craig Davies (GB)
Adam Jones (GB)
Lee Allen (GB)

77 Dave Cox BMW M3 CSL
Dave Cox (GB)
Jason Cox (GB)
Michael Cox (GB)
Paul Stubber (AUS)

78 Andre Severs Seat Toledo
Andre Severs (GB)
Peter James (GB)
TBA
TBA

79 Synchro Motorsport Honda Jazz Type R
Dave Allan (GB)
Alyn James (GB)
TBA
Tim Stanbridge (GB)

80 Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FN2
Rob Hedley (GB)
Kouichi Okumura (JPN)
Daniel Wheeler (GB)
Andrew Hack (GB)

81 James May Seat Leon
James May (GB)
Alex Osbourne (GB)
Guy Parr (GB)
TBA

82 Carvell Motorsport / Retro GTI VW Golf MKIII
Ian Carvell (GB)
Rob Carvell (GB)
Henry Wright (GB)
TBA

83 Richard Chamberlain Lotus Elise GT4
Richard Chamberlain (GB)
Zubin Randeria
James Fillingham (GB)
Jeremy Webb (GB)

84 Red Camel – Jordans.nl Seat Leon FR 2.0 TDI
Ivo Breukers (NL)
Henk Thijssen (NL)
Adam Han (SG)

85 Mazda Motors UK Ltd / Jota Mazda MX5
Andrew Frankel (GB)
Ben Anderson (GB)
Matthew Prior (GB)
Jethro Bovingdon (GB)

86 Mazda Motors UK Ltd / Jota Mazda MX5
Major James Cameron (GB)
Brigadier Mike Hickson (GB)
Sergeant Mike Browning (GB)
Tony Jardine (GB)

87 Saxon Motorsport Honda Civic Type R
John Mawdsley (GB)
Marcus Mahy (GB)
Simon Hill (GB)
TBA

88 Mardi Gras Motorsport Honda Integra
Desmond Smail (GB)
Richard Meins (GB)
Chris Lillington-Price (GB)
TBA

89 Brunswick Automotive BMW M3 E46
Mark Grithiths (GB)
Willie Green (GB)
David Forsbrey (GB)
Bill Kirkpatrick (GB)

90 Nigel Rata BMW M3 E46
Nigel Rata (GB)
Matt West (GB)
Dominic Malone (GB)
Giles Groombridge (GB)

91 Piranha Motorsport Ginetta G40
Chris Bialan (GB)
Simon Mason (GB)
Ryan Ratcliffe (GB)
Adam Balon (GB)

92 Smarts for you Racing Smart 4
Paul Bates (GB)
James Palmer (GB)
Al Young (GB)
TBA

93 CTR BMW 330 Diesel
John Clonis (GB)
TBA
TBA
TBA

94 Ginetta UK Ltd Ginetta G40
Richard Sykes (GB)
Jake Rattenbury (GB)
TBA
TBA

95 Jet Balck Racing Renault Clio
Anders Majgaard (DK)
Ronnie Bremer (DK)
Jackie Boellingtoft (DK)
Dan Trager (DK)

96 Daniels Motorsport Honda Civic
Bob Stockley (GB)
Malcolm Edeson (GB)
Gary Fletcher (GB)
Nick Bowers (GB)

99 DC Motorsport MG ZR 190
Robin Walker (GB)
Doug Cole
TBA
TBA
Ben Jaques (GB)

Britcar have published a provisional entry list. This is an early list and could change prior to the event at the end of this month.

Class 1 (Red) 1 – 24

Last years fastest car is back, the Aquilla CR1.   The car was clearly faster than everything else, but fragile.   It led into the night, but then was retired.    If they have strengthened the cars weak areas this will be a threat for outright victory.     Last years winners, the MJC Ferrari are also on the list, although rumours to the contrary have also been heard.   The Moslers are always a force to be reckoned with as well.     The Mac G Ultima is fast and has shown promising results in its first season of racing, but a 24 hour race is another thing altogether.

MJC Ltd – Ferrari 430 GT2 – ?
Eclipse Motorsport – Ferrari 430 GT2
Topcats Racing / Runnymede Homes Ltd – Mosler MT900R GT3
Strata 21 – Mosler MT900R GT3
Beechdean – TBA – ?
ARC Bratislava – Porsche / Saleem
Chamberlain Synergy Aquilla CR1
Rowe Motorposrt / TOP Autoparts – BMW Z4 V8
Team Slovakia – Praga
Mac G Racing / Just Doors Ltd – Ultima GTR
Trident Iceni – Trident Iceni
MTECH Motorsport & Engineering – Ferrari F430 GT2
Frank Conrad – Porsche GT2

Class Two (Blue) – 25 – 50

JetAlliance Racing – TBA – ?
Track Torque Racing – Chevron GT TR8
GT Classics Team – Porsche 993 RSR
Topcats Racing – Marcos Mantis GT3
Chesterton Commercial Holdings – Marcos Mantis GT3
Vista Labels – TBA
Ian Donaldson – Porsche 997
Cor Euser – BMW 3 Series or Lotus Evora
Gareth Howell – BMW M3 V8

Class Three (Yellow) – 51 – 75

Team Caramba – BMW M3 E46
Jemco Racing / GT3 Racing - Ginetta G50 GT4
Motionsports Ltd - Lotus Elise GT4
RJN Motorsport - Nissan 370z
Nicholas Mee Racing - Aston Martin N24 GT4
Vantage Racing - Aston Martin N24 GT4
Optimum Motorsport - Ginetta G50
Team Rogue Racing - Toyota MR2 Roadster
Topcats Racing - Marcos Mantis GT3
MP Motorsport / Generation Aston Martin Racing - Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4
Strategic Transport Racing / John Welch Motorsport - Seat Leon Supercopa
Mazda Motors UK Ltd - Mazda MX5
Tesco Momentum 99 Racing / Thorney Motorsport - BMW E92 M3 GT3
BPM Racing Limited - Ginetta G50 GT4
Mark Donalsdon - Ginetta G50 GT4
Intersport Racing - BMW M3 E46
Dave Bennett - Porsche GT3
Piers Masarati – Team Ginetta G50 GT4
Strata 21 - BMW M3 E36
Dorset Sports Cars - Porsche 996 GT3 Cup

Class Four – Orange – 76 – 99

There are some interesting and unusual entries in this class.   A Smart car for one, an Audi A8 is another.

Sub-Zero Wolf – Seat Supercopa
Race Car Spares / MMC Motor Sport – BMW M3 CSL
Sam Boyz Motorsport – Seat Toledo
Synchro Motorsport – Honda Jazz Type R
Synchro Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R FN2
APO Motorsport – Seat Leon
Carvell Motorsport / Retro GTI – VW Golf MKIII
CTR Developments – Lotus Elise GT4
Red Camel – Jordans.nl – Seat Leon FR 2.0 TDI
Mazda Motors UK Ltd – Mazda MX5
Mazda Motors UK Ltd – Mazda MX5
Saxon Motorsport – Honda Civic Type R
Mardi Gras Motorsport – Honda Integra
Brunswick Automotive – BMW M3 E46
Dave Hughes – Porsche Boxster
Piranha Motorsport – Ginetta G40
Smarts – Smart 4
Nigel Rata – BMW M3 E46
CTR – Alfatune – BMW 330 Diesel
Audi A8 – Audi A8
Malcom Leggate – Honda Integra
Jet Black – Renault Clio
Jet Black – Renault Clio
Pete Daniels – Honda Civic
Pete Daniels – Honda Civic
DC Motorsport – MG ZR 190