RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

See below for night quali round up.

Day Quali Round-up – Friday morning:

The Nigel Mustill / Phil Bennett / Kelvin Burt / Phil Keen Aquila CR1 entry qualified on pole position in the wet first qualifying session for the Britcar 24hour race at Silverstone this weekend. Times from this daylight session will be the ones that decided the grid, although competitors must set a time in tonights night time qualifying to be able to take the start of the race tomorrow afternoon.

The one hour session saw cars take to the track as soon as the lights went green, with class 2 and 3 cars hogging the top 10 for the first 20 minutes. That was when the no. 3 Aquila took the top spot with a time of 2:17.062, this remained the quickest time for about 5 minutes, when the McInerny’s Mosler went half a second quicker. The class three cars (Team Lotus’ #60 Lotus Evora GT4 and RJN Motorsport’s #57 Nissan 370Z) held their own in third and fourth spots respectively at this stage.

By the midway point car #1 (Topcats Racing Mosler) had joined the party, and taken provisional pole with a 2:14.423, some 2 seconds quicker than everyone else. Unfortunately for them, they wouldn’t be able to improve and would finish the session in 5th spot.

Going well all session was the class 2 #22 Porsche 997, going quicker than some class one entries, and finished the session fourth overall, and took the class two pole. Another class two runner going well was the #19 Marcos Mantis GT3 run by Graham Bryant, clocking the sixth fastes time overall, and runner up in class 2.

Class 3 was headed up by the #42 Neil Garner / Azteca Motorsport Porsche 996, a very impressive eigth overall and just .027 seconds ahead of the class 1 Mosler from Rollcentre Racing. Runner up in class 3 was the #60 Lotus Evora who managed to stay in the top ten. Their fellow class 3 entrant who had been punching above their weight (the #57 Nissan) ended up in 14th.

Class 4 pole went to BPM Racing in their #71 Leon Supercopa, with a time of 2:22.069 and and overall position of 22. Class 4 was closely contested – the top 5 being less than 2 seconds apart.

All in all 60 cars took to the track in first qualifying, and all entrants must post a time in that session, and the nighttime qualifying which is taking place this evening.

The top 5 qualifiers for each class are below. Their overall qualifying position is in brackets:

Class 1.
1. (1) #3 Wessex Vehcile Aquila CR1 2:11.149
2. (2) #4 Strata 21 Mosler MT900R GT3 2:11.698
3. (3) #2 Eclipse Motorsport Mosler MT900R 2:13.225
4. (5) #1 Topcats Racing / Runnymede Mosler MT900R 2:14.423
5. (7) #8 MJC Ferrari 430 GTC 2:14.952

Class 2. (only 4 runners)
1. (4) #22 Martin Rich Porsche 997 2:13.435
2. (6) #19 Graham Bryant Marcos Mantis GT3 2:14.784
3. (16) #21 OWn O’Neill Marcos Mantis GT3 2:18.673
4. (20) #16 Nick Jarvis Chevron GT3 2:20.748

Class 3.
1. (8) #42 Neil Garner / Azteca Motorsport Porsche 996 2:15.120
2. (10) #60 Team Lotus Lotus Evora 2:15.537
3. (11) #39 KG Motorsport BMW M3 E46 2:17.537
4. (12) #38 AMR Jota Sport Aston Martin N24 2:17.564
5. (13) #52 Vantage Racing Aston Martin N24 2:17.767

Class 4.
1. (33) #76 Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type R 2:26.347
2. (34) #83 Team LNT Ginetta G40 2:27.152
3. (35) #91 Mardi Gras Motorsport Honda Inetgra 2:27.202
4. (36) #73 Racecar Spares Motorsport Ford Escort Turbo 2:27.866
5. (37) #98 Dread Ltd / Car Medic Seat Leon Supercopa 2:28.103

Nightime Quali Round-up:
The two hour nighttime qualifying session got underway in the same weather as the first one finished – raining. Grid positions are determined by the times set in daylight qualifying, but the cars still have to set a time in night time qualfying to take part in the race. Although this session doesn’t count towards the grid, it can still be a good indicator of pace.

Again, most competitors went out early on and again it was the #3 Wessex Vehicle Aquila who set the early pace. Also in a repeat of this morning the Team Lotus #60 Lotus Evora and the RJN Motorsport Nissan 360z (#57) punched above their weight by spending the first hour in the top ten.

Just after the half an hour mark the class 2 Jet Alliance Porsche 997 set the fastest time, this was also the time that the MJC team put themselves into the top 10, jumping in at P5. Just before the half way mark, about 50 minutes in, the #3 Aquila stole the number top slot back, by less than a tenth of a second. The top 5 now covered by just over half a second.

The McInerney’s in their Mosler popped into 6th spot around this time as well, 1.2 seconds behind the MJC Ferrari.

No change for about half an hour, and during this time the safety car made an appearance for about 15 minutes, meaning no one could improve. Looking at the timing screens, it may have been caused by #49 – the Tischner Motorsport BMW M3 E46, who showed up as doing a 44 minute lap later in the session.

As the session got back underway, the Aquila was less then a tenth ahead of the the Jet Alliance Porsche, with the class 3 lotus in third (and class leader). 4th was the MJC Ferrari, with a Mosler, this time the Strata 21 entry, jumping into fifth ahead of the McInerney’s in theirs.

Continuing their good form from the morning session, was the #42 Neil Garner / Azteca Sport Porsche 996 in 7th.

With just over half an hour to go a Mosler jumps to the top of the timing sheet – Rollcentre Racing’s entry – a whopping 1.3 seconds clear. This car has Andy Neate as a driver, who was involved in the crash at a previous Britcar 24 hour race, and it’s good to see him back behind the wheel. The class 4 is again the most competitive group, with the #83 Ginetta Cars / Team LNT G40 sitting in 23rd overall and just two tenths ahead of the BPM Racing Leon Supercopa who, in turn, were only a tenth ahead of the Cox family Ford Escort. Just another 0.04seconds back was the #91 Mardi Gras Motorsport Honda Integra.

As the session rolled into the final ten minutes, the McInerney’s Mosler set the quickest time, nearly two seconds quicker than the Roll Centre entry. Another notable change was the BPM Supercopa who jumped up to 18th place and ended the session some 3 seconds quicker than any other class 4 entry.

In the dying seconds the Rollcentre Mosley set a storming lap: 2:12.001, which would have put them third – had they done it this morning!

Whilst it may be a non-championship race, a bumper crop of cars has entered for the Monoposto Challenge races at Silverstone, enticed by the rare opportunity to race on the Silverstone GP circuit.    It has also the nominated event where the Ray Dackombe Trophy will be awarded, drivers accumulate points for both qualifying and both races.

Two drivers will be debuting new cars and stepping up a class.   Yunus Amiere has moved from Mono1800 class to Mono2000 with his new 2001 Formula Renault, and Henry Fryer will be moving to Classic in his new 1988 Tatuus Formula Renault.

1  Neil Harrison  Dallara F398 1998 Opel 2000cc
6  Tristan Cliffe  Dallara F398 1998 Toyota 3S-GE 2000cc
8  Tony Cotton  Dallara F300 2000 Toyota 3SGE 2000cc
9  Richard Purcell  Dallara F300 2000 Toyota 2000cc
12  Jeremy Timms  Dallara F397 1997 Vauxhall 2000cc
16  Tony Bishop  Formula Renault 2000 2006 Renault 2000cc
22  Chris Woodhouse  Dallara F302/4 2002 Toyota 1998cc
25 R5  Kevin Mason  Dallara F300 1999 Vauxhall 2000cc
26  Malcolm Scott  Van Diemen 2001 Ford 2000cc
34  Graham Read  Dallara F300 2001 Toyota Toms 2000cc
50  Yunus Amiere  Formula Renault 2001 Renault 1998cc

Mono Classic 2000

3  David Cox  Ralt RT3 1983 Vauxhall XE20 2000cc
4  Jim Blockley  Ralt RT3 1984 Vauxhall 2000cc
5  Russ Giles  Reynard 913 1991 VW 16v 2000cc
11  Mark Schofield  Ralt RT30 1985 Toyota 16V 2000cc
12  Peter Venn
14  Mark Smith  Tatuus Formula Renault RC97 1997 Renault 1998cc
18  Nick Anstruther  Bowman BC3 1992 VW 16v 2000cc
19  Nick Catanzaro  Formula Vauxhall Lotus 1989 Vauxhall 2000cc
20  Jeremy Goodman  Ralt RT3 1981 Ford Zetec 2000cc
23  Louis Watts  Vauxhall Lotus Reynard 1987 Opel/Vauxhall 2000cc
24  Christopher Anstruther  Ralt RT32B 1988 Toyota 2000cc
28  Lenny Coleman  Reynard 883 1988 Toyota 2000cc
31  Ian Hughes  Van Diemen RF88 1988 Vauxhall 2000cc
32  Terry Clark  Formula Vauxhall Lotus 1990 Vauxhall 2000cc
33  Francis Phillips  Reynard 923 1992 Volkswagen 16v 2000cc
35 R8  Simon Lonnergan  Formula Vauxhall Lotus 1992 Vauxhall 2000cc
44  Kevin Otway  Formula Vauxhall Lotus TBA Vauxhall 2000cc
45  Henry Fryer Fiamma Rossa Racing Tatuus Formula Renault RC98 1998 Renault 1998cc
46  Andy Woolley  Reynard 903 1990 Vauxhall XE 2000cc

Mono 1800

51  Philip Nicholson  Swift SC97Z 1997 Ford Zetec 1800cc
52 R6  Michael Dale  Van Diemen RF82 1982 Ford Pinto Holt 2000cc
63  Rupert Reader  Formula Vauxhall Junior 1998 Vauxhall 16v 1600cc
64  John Whitbourn  Ray GRS02 2002 Ford Zetec Scholar 1800cc
74  Marcus Sheard  Mygale SJ00 2000 Ford Zetec Solus 1800cc
81  Malcolm Cook  Van Diemen RF83 1983 Ford Pinto Damico 2000cc
85  Peter Bragg  Nemisis Mygale SJ00 2000 Ford Zetec 1800cc
91  Douglas McLay  Mygale SJ04 2004 Zetec 1800 1800cc

Mono 1600

57 R1  Eddie Guest  Lola T640 1982 FF Kent 1600cc
66  David Parkinson  Reynard FF83 1983 Kent Neil Bold 1600cc
70  Joe Venor  Lola T644E 1984 Kent Scolar 1600cc
73  Jonathan Baggott  AW1 1998 Ford Kent 1600cc
77  Nigel Davers  Van Diemen RF89 1989 Ford Kent 1600cc
88 R7  Michael Wilkinson  Swift Formula Renault 1994 Renault 1700cc

Mono 1400/1000

2  Peter Whitmore  Van Diemen RF05 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa 1340cc
7  Geoff Fern  TFR 10 2009 Suzuki Hayabusa 1340cc
17 R3  Gary Hill  OMS 2000M 2003 Suzuki Hayabusa 1340cc
21 R2  Adrian Wright  GEM AW2 2003 Yamaha R1 1000cc
27  Stuart Digby  Jedi Mk6 2006 Kawasaki 1000cc
29  Dax Ward  Jedi MK6 2008 Suzuki 1000cc
36  Darren Freeman  Jedi Mk6 TBN Yamaha R1 1000cc
39 R9  Marc Fortune  Jedi MK6 2008 Suzuki 1000cc
40 R4  Mike Reed  Jedi MK6 1997 Suzuki GSXR 1000cc
43  Tim Cameron  Jedi Mk4 2005 Yamaha R1 1000cc

Track Torque at the Britcar 24 hours – Fun, History, and Endurance with Chevron

The British sports car industry is once again in the ascendancy, with marques that have lain dormant being revived, as typified by Chevron, a manufacturer which makes its debut in next weekend’s Britcar 24 hrs at Silverstone

Tockwith-based Track Torque, renowned for their successes in historic racing, Porsche Open, and Fun Cup, will be running the single-car initiative, with an impressive driver line-up, and team director Clive Ray Young outlined their background, and their aspirations for the race; “We wanted somewhere to develop our drivers, upwards from the Fun Cup, and were looking for a GT racing category. We considered Ginettas, but everybody seems to be doing that, then we saw the Chevron GR8 at the Autosport show last January. We’ve been running Travis drummer Neil Primrose, and our other team director Nick Jarvis, in the one-make Chevron GR8 Challenge all through this season, but, right from the start, it was always our intention to do the Britcar 24 hours – the Challenge is a good series, but we want to test the Chevron against other cars. This is a works-backed effort – Chevron have come up with the manpower, and Track Torque the finance”

A 24-hour race is a very different matter to a one-make sprint, but Clive has no concerns with facing the gruelling event; “The Fun Cup is endurance racing, and we are always the best British finisher in the Spa 25hrs race, so we know how to run these type of races”.

And the car?

“We’ve just had a three-day test at Anglesey. We spent one day getting the settings right, then just ran continuously for two straight days, with no real problems- we just switched the engine off at the end of one day, then turned it on again the next morning. It was also our first time out on slicks, as we normally run on Toyo control tyres, and a revised aero package. You could say we are quietly confident. Rob Wilson did a lot of the work – it’s said that a good deal of the F1 grid goes through his instruction – and he’ll be joining our two regulars, Neil and Nick, in the car”.

With the final driver now announced – this was always going to be Chevron’s choice, and it’s BTCC and British GT star Paul O’Neill – this has got to be considered a serious contender.

STEVE WOOD

An entry list has been published on the Britcar website – there may be last minute changes, but this is what can be expected.   One notable entrant is Andy Neate, who returns to the event that hospitalised him after a horrific startline accident in 2008.

Britcar GT2  - Class One – Red – 1 – 15

1 Andrew Beaumont (GB) / Pat Gormley (GB) / Ben Clucas (GB) Henry Fletcher (GB)) Topcat Racing / Runnymede Mosler MT900R

2 Michael McInerney (GB) / Sean McInerney (GB) / Phil Keen (GB) Eclipse Motorsport Mosler MT900R

3 Nigel Mustil (GB) / Phil Bennett (GB)/ TBA / TBA Wessex Vehicel Aquilla CR1

4 Paul White (GB) / Calum Lockie (GB) / Piers Masarati (GB) Ross Bygrave (GB) Strata 21 Mosler MT900R GT 3

5 Mitch Millett (GB) / TBA / TBA Xero Competition Chevrolet Corvette C5R GT2

6 Martin Short (GB) / Andy Neate (GB) / Steve Quick (GB) / TBA Rollcentre Racing Mosler MT900R GT Cup

7 Gary Lindley (GB) / Tim Hood (GB) / TBA / TBA GTF-MCC TVR Sagaris GTR

Britcar GT3 – Class Two – Blue – 16 – 28

16 Nick Jarvis (GB) / Rob Wilson (GB) / Neil Primrose (GB) Chevron GT3

17 TBA / TBA / TBA Chevron GT3

19 Graham Bryant (GB) / Oliver Bryant (GB) / Will Goff (GB) / TBA Chesterton Commercial Holdings Marcos Mantis GT3

21 Owen O’Neal (IRL) / Raphael Fiorentino (FRA) / TBA / TBA Topcat Racing Marcos Mantis GT3

22 Jan Kalmar (AUT) / Martin Rich (GB) / Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer (D) / Marco Seefried (D) / Vitus Eckert (AUT) JetAlliance Racing Porsche 997

26 Alistair MacKinnon (GB) / Dean Lanzante (GB) / Chris Yandell (GB) Lanzante – Red Bull Lotus Exige GTR

Britcar GT4 – Class Three – Yellow – 29 -70

29 Keith Ahlers (GB) / Christian Bock (D) / Michael Bock (D) Keith Ahlers Morgan Plus 8

32 Keith Gent (GB) / Steve Clark (GB) / Julian Westwood (GB) / Steve Evans (GB) / TBA K G Motorsport BMW M3 E46

33 Ian Barrowman (GB) / Mark Griffiths (GB) / James Baxter (GB) / Mathew West (GB) Birchwood Racing Aston Martin N24 GT4

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

35 Karsten Le Blanc / Sarah Bennett-Baggs (GB) / Nichlolas Mee Racing Aston Martin N24 GT4

36 Martin Roos (D) / Simon Phillips (GB) / Lars Viljoen (GB) / Daniel Schwerfeld (D) Red Motorsport Lotus Exige GT4

37 Colin White (GB) / Frank Noehring (D) / Meryik Cox (GB) / TBA CWS Engineering Ltd / CWS 4×4 Spares BMW E46

38 Sam Hancock (GB) / Simon Dolan (GB) Jota Sport llp Aston Martin N24 GT4

39 Kevin Clarke (GB) / Wayne Gibson (GB) Mike Jordan (GB) / TBA Intersport BMW M3 E36

42 Javier Morcillo (ESP) / Manuel Cintrano (ESP) / Jan Persson (NL) / Rod Barrett (GB) / Jay Shepherd (GB) / Oliver Campos Hull (ESP) Neil Garner Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3 Cup

43 Peter Fairbairn (GB) / Paul Mclean (GB) / Michael Quinn (GB) / Tony Littlejohn (GB) GT Classics Team Porsche 993 RSR

44 Malcolm Niall (AUS) / Brett Niall (AUS) / Clint Harvey (AUS) / Daniel Welch (GB) Strategic Racing 1 / John Welch Motorsport Seat Leon Supercopa

45 Mark Pilatti (AUS) / Adam Christodoulou (GB) / Luke Wright (GB) / Carl Breeze (GB) / Aaron Williamson (GB) Strategic Racing 2 / John Welch Motorsport Seat Leon Supercopa

46 Mick Mercer (GB) / Gary Smith (GB) / Luc Paillard (FRA) In 2 Racing Ginetta GT4

48 Ian Stinton (GB) / Neil Clark (GB) / Del Bennett (GB) / Paul Marsh (GB) Stark Racing Ginetta G50 GT4

49 Michael Tischner (D) / Matthias Tischner (D) / Ulrich Becker (D) Tischner Motorsport BMW M3 E46

50 Patrick Mortell (GB) / Alric Kitson (GB) / Simon Aris (GB) / Lee McKee (USA) Team Rogue Racing Toyota MR2 Roadster

51 Angus Dawe (GB) / Bafel Ahmed (GB) / Martin Thomas (GB) Simon Atkinson (GB) Intersport / Torquespeed BMW M3 E36

52 Tom Black (GB) / Stuart Hall (GB) / Alan Bonner (GB) Vantage Racing Aston Martin N24 GT4

54 John Thorne (GB) / TBA / TBA / TBA Tesco Momentum 99 Racing BMW E92 M3 GT3

57 Lucas Ordonez (ESP) / Jordan Tresson (FRA) / Alex Buncombe (GB) / Richard Meaden (GB) / Holger Eckhardt (D) RJN Motorsport Nissan 370z

58 Tony Hughes (GB) / Piers Johnson (GB) / Emily Fletcher (GB) / TBA Speedworks Motorsport Ginetta G50

59 Yosuke Shimojima (JPN) / Ryu Seya (JPN) / Masashi Kakiuchi (JPN) / Toru Nakano (JPN) Topcat Racing Marcos Mantis GT3

60 Ollie Hancock (GB) / Johnny Mowlem (GB) / TBA Team Lotus Lotus Evora GT4

Britcar Production – Class Four – Orange – 65 – 100

68 Andre Severs (GB) / Peter James (GB) / Peter Rigg (GB) Mark Heywood (GB) Your Sign Company / Sams Boyz Honda Accord

71 Owen Thomas (GB) / Ashley Woodman (GB) / Rob Cullum (GB) / Greg Noble (GB) BPM Racing Limited Leon Supercopa

72 Paul Follett (GB) Jafeth Molenaar (NL) / Timothy Raven (GB) / Douglas Titford (GB) / Terry Flatt (GB) Brunswick Automotive Ltd BMW 130i

73 Dave Cox (GB) / Jason Cox (GB) / Michael Cox (GB) Race Car Spares Motorsport Ford Escort Cosworth Turbo

74 Spencer Vanderpal (GB) / Christopher Wishart (AUS) / Jonathan Simmonds (GB) / Paul Denby (GB) Team MADS / A 2 B BMW 120TD

75 Dave Allan (GB) / Daniel Ludlow (GB) / Junichi Umemoto (JPN) / Andy Barnes (GB) Synchro Motorsport Honda Jazz Type R

76 Martin Byford (GB) / Rob Hedley (GB) / Kouichi Okumura (JPN) / Gary Simms (GB) Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FN2

77 Jamie Martin (GB) / Colin Hays (GB) / Oliver Danker (GB) Bidmedia Ltd VW Golf MK II

79 Darron Anley (GB) / David Joseph (GB) / Chris Hyman (GB) Drivers Honda Integra Type – R

80 James Thorpe (GB) / Jan Prowse (GB) / Craig Davies (GB) Brunswick Automotive Ltd BMW 130i

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

82 Richard Chamberlain (GB) / Zubin Randeria / James Fillingham (GB) Jeremy Webb (GB) Chimp Tune Racing Lotus Elise GT4

83 Lawrence Tomlinson (GB) / Mike Simpson (GB) / Stewart Linn (GB) Nigel Moore (GB) Ginetta Cars Ltd / Team LNT Ginetta G40

84 Ivo Breukers (NL) / Henk Thijssen (NL) / Monny Krant (NL) Red Camel Racing Leon FR 2.0 TDI

85 John Clonis (GB) / Phil Donaghy (GB) / Chris Bentley (GB) CTR – Alfatune BMW 330 Diesel

86 Mark Ticehurst (GB) / Owen Mildenhall (GB) / Ollie Marriage (GB) / Jamie Corstophine (GB) Mazda Motors UK Ltd Mazda

87 Ben Whitworth (GB) / Jim McGill (GB) / Matt Joy (GB) / Jade Paveley (GB) Mazda Motors UK Ltd Mazda

89 Matthew Perkins (GB) Mike Nippers (GB) / Robert Kucia (GB) Chris Davies (GB) SLN Racing Honda Integra

91 Desmond Smail (GB) / John George (GB) / Alex Osborne (GB) / Kevin George (GB) Mardi Gras Motorsport Honda Integra

92 Thomas Schwartz (FRA) / Lionel Mesnager (FRA) / Jeremy Beaux (FRA) Simon Bax (FRA) Feu Vert / Moteur Incentive Clio 3 Cup

93 Paul Waldren (GB) / Paul Phipps (GB) / Robert Day (GB) / Rob Smith (GB) / Clint Bardwell Waldron Motorsport BMW 330 Diesel

94 Michael Hartley (GB) / Malcolm Edeson (GB) / Nick Bowers (GB) / Rex Nye (GB) Daniels Motorsport Ltd Honda Civic

98 Daniel Wheeler (GB) / Andrew Hack (GB) / Tim Stanbridge (GB) / Alex Dew (GB) Dread Ltd / Carmedic / Giles Seat Leon Supercopa

99 Robin Walker (GB) / Mats Wahlgren  (SWE) / Doug Cole (GB) / Simon Byrne (GB) DC Motorsport MG ZR 190

Rockingham – Saturday 28th August 2010.

A broad range of weather was experienced by attendees at Rockingham Motor Speedway on Saturday, for round six of the 2010 Britcar season. Spectators and competitors alike were buffeted by windy conditions, then sunny periods and, rather unsurprisingly given the week we’d had, heavy rainfall during the latter part of the race. Although expected, the rain really did throw a spanner in the works for some, and was a gift to others. Certainly, the race winning duo of Witt Gamski & Keith Robinson would no doubt have been surprised at the result, given the standings just a few laps into the race.

Rockingham appeared to be a track where the GT2 cars could really give the class 1’s a run for their money and, as at Castle Combe a few rounds ago, a class two car took the honours of pole position – Aaron Scott & Arwyn Williams in the JMH Ferrari beating Witt Gamski & Keith Robinson by over 8/10ths of a second.
A further 8 tenths back was the Topcats racing Marcos Mantis of Neil Huggins & Raphael Fiorentino, who needed a strong result to bolster their championship hopes. Third on the grid was the Jones family Porsche, coming straight off the back of their strong runners up spot at Snetterton last time out.

Qualifying 9th was the TVR Sagaris of GTF Racing, whose qualifying session had been shortened due to a snapped throttle cable. Although not a difficult job to fix, it did take time to sort out, and they didn’t have the track time that they were hoping for.

Taking the Production Pole and 10th overall, were Kevin Clarke & Wayne Gibson who had gone back to using their 2009 title winning BMW M3, due to concerns with their new E92 variant. Just over a tenth further back were Mike Jordan / Steve Wood in their Ford Mustang who had complaints with their gearbox.

Perhaps slightly disappointed with qualifying were Piers and Ron Johnson (not related and Ron isn’t really called Ron, but Piers as well. I’m not sure where the Ron came from, if I’m honest. A middle name perhaps?) with their 17th fastest time to put their GT3 Ginetta down with the Production class 1 and 2 machines. Two more cars not where you’d expect to see them were the SuperCopa of Owen Thomas and Ashely Woodman, in 22nd place. The Cox family Ford Escort was not where you need to be while fighting for the Production Championship title, down in 23rd.

Qualifying did give us an early casualty. Chris Headlam and Jamie Stanley in the Orbital Sound Lotus Elise suffered an engine failure just after their first run. Jamie was trying to source another engine to swap to before the race, but to no avail. A real shame for the team, as on their first, and only qualifying run, they put in a time that qualified them for 8th place. No doubt they would have been after a strong result given that in practice they clocked 6th fastest time, and were the quickest of the GT 3 runners. However, it was not to be, and everyone who qualified from 9th downwards moved up a spot for the start of the race.

The weather was on everyone’s mind before the race was off. The blue skies of the practice and qualifying sessions had been replaced, and it was clear that rain was on its way. The only question was when, with popular theory being that it would arrive at about 4pm, just over an hour into proceedings and pretty much mid-point in the 2 ½ hour race.
Aaron Scott made a great start and led at the end of lap one. However, it wasn’t Witt Gamski following him over the line, but rather Michael Millard, who had made an excellent start from fifth on the grid. Another greater starter was Javier Morcillo in the Neil Garner / Azteca Motorsport Porsche, starting in 7th, but finishing the end of lap one in third place. Going in the opposite direction was Gamski, ending the first lap in 6th place, and Morgan Jones in the Porsche crossing the line in 8th.

From the Production point of view, Wayne Gibson made life difficult for himself and the team by leaving the grey tarmac-y bit, and going onto the green grassy bit for a while, and finished the first lap down in 21st place. Steve Wood had worse of it though – the gearbox issues suffered in qualifying proved terminal, and the Ford Mustang was retired before completing a circulation.

Another car into the pits was the purple TVR Sagaris, Steve Glynn at the wheel, for major work. They did make it back out, but had already lost 15 laps on the leaders, and unfortunately retired shortly after the mid-point of the race.
This left Gino Ussi leading production, but you did wonder whether he would be able to take the victory with Gibson storming through the field and back up to 13th after just 5 laps. There was action throughout the field in the early laps, with Mark Cunningham (suffering from power steering issues) taking O’Neill in the Topcats Mantis on the entry to Pif Paf. Morgan Jones was making moves to recover positions, taking the yellow Sagaris of Hood/Tonge & Dowling into the same corner, for 5th spot in a textbook move. Also on lap 5, Dave Cox overtook Ian Lawson for 17th spot, another smooth move on the infield section.

By lap 13 Aaron Scott had a 17 second lead over Calum Lockie, who had made steady progress up from his 6th place starting position and was in for a long afternoon as Paul White was unwell and unable to drive. A further 17 seconds back was Javier Morcillo, just 2 seconds ahead of Mike Millard in the number 7 LM3000.

In the Production race the invitation entry Simon Blanckley was leading in the Seat, 5 seconds ahead of Mark Cunningham who was in turn 2 seconds ahead of Gibson – still making his way through the field. Gino Ussi, who had been leading Production of course, had unfortunately triggered a safety car period by his off at Tarzan hairpin. An earlier handling problem turned out to be a brake problem. He was recovered back to the pits, but all credit to the team who got him patched up and sent back out – he went on to complete the 40% race distance and so will get some championship points as per Britcar rules.

The safety car period arrived just a bit too early for anyone to pit, especially considering the weather was going to change at some point. 4 laps went by and then the safety car was in, with Aaron Scott gunning it and having a lead of over 7 seconds by the end of the first green lap. A couple of laps later and Mark Cunningham was the first to pit, leaving Gibson to hound down Blanckley for the Production lead.

About an hour in and the rain, which had been on the horizon for a while, started to fall fairly steadily and consistently and caught some drivers out, including Owen O’neill who had an off track moment on the straight just before Brook corner, it sounded a hefty impact, and proved to be so. The Mantis in the pits for over 20 minutes before team boss Warren Gilbert (standing in for Henry Fletcher who had a broken arm), was able to go back out for his stint.
During the length of their pitstop nearly everyone else had come in to pit, encouraged by crossing the midpoint of the race, and the fact that the safety car came out again, to recover the Ginetta of Piers and Ron Johnson who had come to a halt out on track. It was also an ideal time to also recover the Prosport of Mike Millard back to the pits, which he had stopped due to fears the engine would blow.

By lap 50, on a drying track, Aaron Scott had a lap in hand over Javier Morcillo, Calum Lockie and Wayne Gibson (who had not yet stopped). But the man making moves was Keith Robinson who was now up to 5th place and putting in laps much quicker than the leaders through the next 10 laps and climbing his way up to third place, 2 laps down on Scott, and a lap down on Morcillo in the Azteca Porsche.

Wayne Gibson finally came in to pit on lap 56, about 2/3rds of the way through the race, for Kevin Clarke to take over driving duties. Just ten laps later, and it was all change. Lap 65 saw Morcillo pit for Manual Cintrano to take over for the final stint, promoting Robinson up to second, albeit still 2 laps down on the leader.

However, Aaron Scott came in for his second stop the following lap, for Arwyn Williams to take over for the final stint. Unfortunately, the number 12 JMH Ferrari experience a failed wheel nut, forcing him to retire a 3-wheeled Ferrari on the inside of turn 1, with Williams never having got up to racing speed. So from being in third place 2 laps down, Keith Robinson found himself leading the race, with about 45 minutes to go. The safety car was sent out for the third time to enable marshals to safety move the ex-race leading Ferrari. The JMH team did managed to fix the car and get it back out to finish the race, classified in 13th, which is a far cry from what they were expecting only a short while earlier.
The third safety car went in with 30 minutes to go, with others having pitted just to make sure they would make the chequered, and with a dry track it looked like things might just be running their course to the end. That was until about 20 minutes before the end when the heavens suddenly opened, depositing what can only be described as ridiculous amounts of water all over yours truly, and the local area.

Robinson dived back into the pits for wet tyres, followed by pretty much everyone apart from Calum Lockie who must have stayed on the intermediates and had a healthy lead at this stage. Unfortunately for him, on lap 80 the safety car came out for a fourth time. Philip Jones had got a bit carried away exiting the pits, and ended up completely across the track at turn 1. The pace car was out for three laps, and as soon as it went in Robinson put a move on Lockie to re-take the lead. Almost as soon as the pace car went in, the Cox family Escort went into the barrier at turn 1. Given there was now only 7 minutes of the race left to run, and the length of time the clear up would take, the officials decided to finish the race there and then, much to the detriment of the Lawson / Wilds combo who thought that they were undertaking a tactical masterstroke by pitting as soon as they saw the accident.

So the MJC team took their sixth straight victory, which had looked incredibly unlikely just 2 hours earlier. Calum Lockie drove a sterling race, on his own, to claim the runners up spot and the GT2 victory. Wayne Gibson & Kevin Clarke took a great third overall and Production victory.

GT3 honours went to the fourth place Javier Morcillo and Manuel Cintrano – well deserved after some bad luck in the last two races. 5th place Neil Huggins & Raphael Fiorentino in the Topcats Racing Mantis were GT2 runners up. Lawrence Fagg & Martin Byford were the Production class 2 winners in their Honda Accord, although being invitation entrees they are uneligible for points. These went to Ian Lawson and Anthony Wilds (9th overall) – putting them at the top of the Production Championship, 1 point ahead of Green & Adams who finished 3rd in class and 14th overall, and 3 points ahead of the recovering Gino Ussi. In seventh were the Cunninghams, a good result considering their power steering issues. Finishing just behind were the Hogarths in the Taylors Foundry SuperCopa – although they were awarded the moral second place by James Tucker (Britcar boss) as they were held at the end of the pitlane for 3 laps during the safety car confusion. Finishing in tenth spot were the Jones family in their Porsche, who were on for another strong result until their mishap at the end.

What looked as though it might have been a fairly run of the mill event was turned on its head with help from the weather which really challenged the drivers, and everyone else who was trying to keep up to date with what was going on.

We leave Rockingham with both Championships still open, and have a months break before the 24 hour race at Silverstone on the 1st-3rd October.

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings.

There is plenty of racing around the country this bank holiday weekend.

Snetterton – British F3, British GT, Formula Ford, VW support races

Oulton Park – HSCC Gold Cup

Mallory Park – CSCC and Monoposto

Thruxton – Great and British

Silverstone – 750MC

Rockingham – Britcar & BRSCC

Castle Combe – A Plant LUX Sportscar Raceday

Lydden Hill – Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship

And on two wheels…

Anglesey – Hottrax bike racing

Brands Hatch – Thundersport GP Bike Races

Cadwell Park – British Superbikes

So, with 5 rounds out of 9 completed in the 2010 Britcar Championship, it seemed an ideal time to have a look at the championship standings, and recap some of the basics for people who may not be familiar with the scoring system when you have different classes of car racing at the same time.

Both Britcar GT and Produciton have three classes, with 20 points awarded to the winner of each class, going down to 1 point for the 20th place man. A point is also awarded for fastest lap per class. Because of this scoring method, it is possible for a class 3 car, say, to win the overall championship, and it does keep the scoring quite close all the way though. An entrants best 7 results are used to calculate the final championship standings.

So far this season, the MJC team with drivers Witt Gamski and Keith Robinson have tied up the GT Class one title already (105 points), but with a closely fought battle for second between the McInerney’s in their Mosler (39 points) and Stephen Brady and Michael Millard in their Ultima (37 points).

Class two is being headed by the Topcats Racing Mantis of Huggins and Fiorentino on 99 points, who are keeping the MJC team honest for the overall GT title with the class 3 Porsche on Neil Garner / Azteca Motorsport only 4 points back in third. Both of these entries are looking good for their respective class titles, as they each have over 20 points in hand over the next cars.

In the Production title race, it’s incredibly close with the Lawson & Wilds ING BMW (Class 2) on 77 points, the Cox family Race Car Spares For Escort (class 2) on 77 points, Gino Ussi in the Geoff Steel Racing BMW (class 1) on 77 points and the Adams / Green / Byford Bullrun Seat Cupra (class 2) on…. 76 points.

Parsons / Malone and Gooch in their Brunswick Automotive BMW are only another 7 points back, so it’s really close going into the final part of the season.

The next race is at Rockingham on Saturday 28th of August.

Snetterton – Saturday 25^th July.

With thanks to Steve Wood from Britcar with help in compiling this report.

Last time we were at Snetterton, back in April we had separate Production & GT races. This time however, there was a rather more novel approach to the race. Both Production and GT entrants would line up for the start. The Production cars were to do 2 hours, and the end of their race was to be signified by the waving of a huge Britcar flag. The GT cars were to carry on for another 2 hours. Should any Production cars wish to do the full length, as some did, they would only get points based on their position at the 2 hour mark. This, coupled with a number of invitation entrees throughout all of the classes gave us a whopping 32 car grid.

The grid should have been 33, but for an oil failure for the Production Class one entry of Taylors Foundry Supercopa, which had an oil failure halfway round the first lap of qualifying, which proved fatal. Hopefully they will be back for future rounds, as during free practice they were mixing it with the Production regulars.

Aaron Scott & Arwyn Williams in the JHM Ferrari 430 GT3 set the pace in practice, but were unable to take the top spot from the MJC team who, despite winning the first four races of the season, took their first pole of the year, with a time 7/10ths quicker.

Two invitation entrees next, the first being the Apex Tubulars Porsche 996 RSR driven by the Geddie family (Glynn & father Jim) who had won two British GT races the previous weekend. They obviously like to aim high, as they didn’t seem particularly impressed with third “would have been much better if we were starting on the front row”. Just a tenth back was the FF Corse Ferrari 430 driven by McAllistair (who was starting his first ever race!) & pro driver Rob Barff who set the time to take the GT Class 3 pole just another tenth ahead of GT3 regulars Chris Headlam and Birthday boy Jamie Stanley in the Orbital Sound Lotus Elise.

The Britcar regulars were interspersed quite nicely with the invitation entrees. Lining up in 7^th was the Eurotech racing Porsche 997 of the Jones family who could have qualified better had they a new pair of slicks for their final run. In 14^th was the Worldwide Group and their Ferrari 430 with Bailey taking the first stint in what would be his first ever endurance race, with co-driver Schulz.

Taking Production pole, and 15^th on the grid, was the Eurotech Racing Ford Mustang which hadn’t been seen since engine problems last time we were at Snetterton. Problems also for usual Production front runners. The BMW M3 of Keith Gent was having power steering problems, and has also been re-shelled after an accident the previous weekend. Kevin Clarke and Wayne Gibson also had issues, suffering from a sheared suspension pin.

Starting 11th of the Production runners were Ashely Woodman and Own Thomas, who had got themselves a new set of wheels and another co-driver – Greg Noble joining them for this race. Gone was their class two Renault Clio Cup, and in was their class one Seat Supercopa. Ashley fully admitting this was more of an extended test for them, rather than an out and out race.

In 23^rd on the grid (and 8^th of the Production runners) was the Bullrun Seat Cupra driven by David Green & Richard Adams, for whom only a Production victory would do, to put them right back on top of the championship standings.

Filling two of the final three places were the Team Jota Mazda entries – part of a campaign to celebrate 20 years of the Mazda MX5.

The last race at Snetterton saw an accident strewn start to the production race. This weekend, however, there were no problems and the top six drivers were close, but orderly, as they approached the line ready for the rolling start. Aaron Scott had a great first lap, and took the lead from Gamski, with Glynn Geddie holding station in third.

Unfortunately for the JMH team, they had an oil pressure problem, which was known about before the race, and Scott had only a few laps of glory before needing to slow down to the 1 min 20’s. This was to allow them to be reliable enough to last until being classified, and get some championship points.

Another Ferrari slipping down the order was the FF Corse car, Mark McAllistair – starting in his first ever race, remember – handled the initial laps well, but unfortunately his inexperience was showing through. Sadly, the car would be retired after just 15 laps, not allowing Rob Barff to make his impression on the race. A man going in the opposite direction was Tim Hood who had made a superb start from 8^th to 4^th by the end of lap 1 in the GTF racing Sagaris.

While this was going on Glynn Geddie, now in second place, was hounding Witt Gamski, oftentimes less than half a second behind going over the line – until lap 7 when Gamski had a spin, and dropped to 4^th position. This released Geddie who shot off and was 15 seconds ahead by lap 15. The order at this stage was Geddie from Neil Huggins in the Topcats Mantis, who had taken Tim Hood on lap 12, then Gamski in fourth and Chris Headlam in the Lotus Elise in 5^th spot.

While this had been going on, there were some movers and shakers in the Production race as well. Gino Ussi had made his way into the lead, ahead of Steve Wood’s Mustang. Calum Lockie had started from the pitlane in the Strata21 BMW, but had already made his way up to third, and then took the Mustang on lap 16.

Back with the GTs and Gamski got a drive through penalty for having all four wheels off the circuit, while trying to overtake Tim Hood for third. He emerged back down in fourth but quickly caught up with, and took that spot from Hood.

The other Sagaris being driven by Sam Head caused a safety car period about forty minutes into the race as it stopped on the outside of Riches corner with locked brakes, and needed recovery. Although perhaps slightly early, this signified pitstop time for most of the front runners. Jim Geddie was able to get out and still head the field, though in doing so he jumped the red light at the end of the pitlane, earning himself a stop go penalty in the process. Javier Morcillo in the Neil Garner / Azteca Porsche, who had not stopped, now found himself in second place ahead of the Topcats Racing Marcos Mantis, now driven by Raphael Fiorentino. Keith Robinson was in fourth place, now in charge of the MJC Ferrari, but soon made that second and was hot footing it after Jim Geddie – who came in on lap 50 to serve his punishment. At the end of lap 51, Robinson crossed the line just two tenths behind the Porsche, and when they came round again the deed had been done and he was 2.6 seconds ahead.

GT drivers weren’t the only ones attracting the attention of the stewards, with Gino Ussi losing his lead due to a penalty, and Gary Furst having to serve a drive through, and then a stop go for two seperaate incidents in his Evo 9.

90 minutes in, and another safety car period – MN reporter Lewis Beales was the man on the scene – Arwyn Williams, who had taken over the number 12 Ferrari, had been dropping oil from the chicane round to Coram Curve, and had retired there. Manuel Cintrano, who had taken over from Morcillo, in the Neil Garner / Azteca Porsche had no control after hitting the oil which put him in a spin with which he subsequently took out Jim Geddie.

With the resultant lengthy clean up operation, the Production cars never got racing again, and their two hours came to an end behind the safety car. Paul White, who was now piloting the Strata21 BMW had been leading until 10 minutes from the end, when he pitted for extra fuel. This was to give them an advantage in the full 4 GT hour race in which they were competing. However, Britcar rules state no re-fuelling stops are allowed in the final quarter hour of a race, and so they were handed a two lap penalty for breaching this in respect of the Production Race.  This gave Gino Ussi the lead back and he won for the Geoff Steel team. Mick Mercer and Gary Smith finished second in their Ginetta G50 – a much better result than their last visit to Snetterton where they collided with the Cunninghams at the start.

The White / Lockie BMW was classified third, but they decided, with the officials, to remove themselves from the Production race and become class 3 invitation entrees in the GT 4 hour endurance event. “We’re OK with it – we’re now Class 3 in Britcar, the four-hour race is what we’re really interested in” admitted Calum. This gave third place to the Eurotech Mustang team.

The Cunningham’s Seat Supercopa was fourth in class, the duo unable to match the front runners this time out, with the Thomas/Woodman/Noble trio finishing fifth in class in their aforementioned new Supercopa. Novices Sanders and Dougall were impressive in their taking of the Class 2 win, though they were an Invitation entry, and the top points were bagged by Dave and Jason Cox in the Race Car Spares Ford Escort Turbo, against considerable adversity, it must be said, Denchy and the boys doing a great job managing the usual gearbox problems, and a new fuel pressure issue. Ginetta Cup regulars Peter and Matt Smith split the Class 2 podium in their G50, finishing just two seconds ahead of the Bullrun Seat of David Green and Richard Adams, with the Ian Lawson/Anthony Wilds BMW 320i bagging the third-placed class points.  Invitation entries finishing at this point were the Honda Accord of Andre Severs and Peter Rigg, and the Hooper/Paveley/Wilds Mazda. Racing on were the White/Lockie BMW, the Mildenhall/Ticehurst MX5, the BPM Seat, and endurance fanatics Brunswick, with veteran campaigner Martin Parsons, Nick Gooch and Dominic Malone sharing the driving.

Back to the GT race, which was only now at the halfway point. Witt Gamski & Keith Robinson would keep their first place all the way to the chequered flag giving them five wins from five and the Class 1 championship, although the overall title is still wide open. Not only is the speed of Gamski & Robinson impressive, but also the reliability of their wheels. A fact which Witt Gamski praised: “consistency, the quality of the car and the skill of the team”, whilst MJC factotum Peter Livesey, was the most vocal as the team celebrated.  “It was all down to our strategy and quick thinking  – Keith radioed-in as he passed the crash at Coram, and reckoned there would definitely be a safety car, so we got him in just before the boards went out, and put in 50 litres. Then we fuelled the maximum 25 litres a few laps later under the caution, without getting held at the pit exit. We’d all like to dedicate this win to Tony Merry, who was a good friend of the team, and died of cancer last week”.

Second place was being fought between the class two Marcos Mantis, and the Jones family Porsche, with Gareth Jones snatching the runner up spot shortly after the end of the safety car period. Fourth place was held by the other Topcats Racing Mantis, with Own O’Neill leading class three and finishing 6 laps down on the leader.

Andy Schulz brought the Worldwide Group’s Ferrari 430 home in 5^th place and runner up in class 3. The promoted BMW of White & Lockie finished 6^th overall to take the final spot on the class podium – they had been running higher until a spin, and then fuel pressure problems which caused them to pit 10 minutes from the end, giving them another 2 lap penalty. “We had no option” said Lockie after the race, “Paul made a little mistake, then we had fuel pressure problems- we just had to fuel the car to make the flag”.

Chris Headlam and Jamie Stanley were a further 6 laps back in the Orbital Sound Lotus Elise. In 8^th place was one of the commemorative Mazda MX5’s,  Mike Ticehurst and Owen Mildenhall doing a sterling job to prepare for the 24 hour race at Silverstone in October. In 9^th were Ashley Woodman and Owen Thomas in their new Seat Supercopa finishing ahead of the Brunswick Automotive BMW 130 of Parsons, Malone & Gooch.

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings.

Britcar are giving away (yes giving away) tickets for the 2010 Britcar 24hrs.

Tickets give you weekend long access to the only 24hr GT race in the country, including paddock access, grandstand seats, a full package of support races and off-track activities including a trade mall, air shows and car displays.

To book your tickets visit: www.britcar24hr.co.uk/tickets

The Britcar 24hr was made famous by the Top Gear team entering a BMW 3-series Diesel in the 2007 event and is regularly re-shown on the Dave TV channel.

Small print:

• Ticket stock is limited and is supplied on a first come, first serve basis
• Tickets are limited by the number of car parking spaces available
• Car park passes must be purchased with each ticket order and are priced at £ 6 per car and £ 12 per large vehicle.
• Tickets subject to a £ 2.50 booking fee per ticket.
• Tickets are not transferable.
• Ticketholders become members of the free Britcar Spectactors Club (unsubscribe options are available)

Britcar GT & Production Race. Castle Combe. Sunday 19th June 2010.

It looked like there was a chance the MJC domination have come to an end. A sunny two day weekend was in store for the Britcar family as they all rolled up to Castle Combe for round four of the 2010 season. Witt Gamski and Keith Robinson had won all three races so far this year. Could anyone stop them?

The class two cars had their day in the sun during qualifying on Saturday, with the JMH Ferrari driven by Aaron Scott & Arwyn Williams being one of only two cars lapping in under 1min 8 seconds. Alongside on the front row was the Topcats Racing Mantis of Huggins / Fiorentino. Row 2 was the championship leading MJC Ferrari F430 with Witt Gamski & Keith Robinson down on their usual front row starting position. Another Ferrari was in fourth, this time in the shape of MTech Motorsport’s F430 GT3, piloted by Cameron & Khandon-Nia. The class 3 Oribtal Sound Lotus popped up in 5th spot, with Keith Gent & Steve Clark taking Production pole in their BMW M3 E46.

Row 4 consisted of the Neil Garner / Azteca Motorsport Porsche 996, just two tenths ahead of another BMW M3 – this time the Intersport Racing entry, who were only three tenths ahead of the other Topcats Racing Mantis. Gino Ussi rounded out the top ten and was in for a hot race, being the only driver in his Geoff Steel Racing E46 M3.

Both Sagaris’ (Sagarii?) had problems in qualifing, with the GTF Racing making it to 11th place, and the Glynnsport vehicle managing 17th. Two cars with a bit of history lined up in close proximity – the In 2 Racing Ginetta GT4 started in 12th, and the Cunninghams SG Racing Seat Leon, who had had gearbox problems, in 13th. It was these two who had the start line collision at Snetteron back in April, causing the Leon to miss the round at Croft.

Starting in 14th was to be the Day/Phipps entry in the Simmons Printers BMW with Gary Furst in his Mitsubishi Evo 9 in 15th. Dave Allan driving a Honda Civic run by Synchro Motorsport was 16th. The field was rounded out with the BPM Racing Renualt Clio in 18th, another BMW, this time from Brunswick Automotive in 19th. Sams Boyz Motorsport had a Honda Accord in 20th. The last row of the grid was the Bullrun Seat Cupra, with the Race Car Spares Ford Escort of the Cox family bringing up the rear after a forced gearbox change on Friday.

Unfortunately for the class two front row, Sunday didn’t quite go according to plan. The pole sitting JMH Ferrari was pushed off the grid just before the pace lap, and had to start from the pitlane – with suspected electrical problems. A great recovery drive, firstly from Aaron Scott who managed to get up to 8th by lap 13, and later by Arwyn Williams, saw the car home in fourth place overall.

This meant that Neil Huggins, who had the first stint in the Mantis, was in the lead going into turn one, and slowly pulling away from Witt Gamski in the no 1 Ferrari. Ten laps in and the Mantis was 3.6 seconds ahead, with Gamski only four tenths ahead of an exceedingly fast starting number 10 Sagaris – who had also had problems on the grid, but they obviously weren’t too serious given the pace of Tim Hood!

There were a couple of good scraps in the midfield. The Cunninghams Seat Leon and the In2 Racing Ginetta managed to avoid each other on the start line but were exceedingly close for a number of laps – Mark Cunningham all over Mick Mercer into the Esses. Nearly 20 laps in though, and the Leon started to drop back, possibly due to a return of the gearbox issues they had in qualifying the previous day, and lost out on positions to Steve Glynn and also and Robert Day. Peter Cunningham was unable to improve on matters, and they finished 16th, 16 laps down on the leader.

Javier Morcillo, who started in the Azteca Motorsport Porsche was also having a highly entertaining scrap with Steve Clark in the KG Motorsport BMW M3. From the off they were separated by less than a second, and in most laps it was only a couple of tenths, until lap 17. By this time they were going past back markers and so the gap increased to a few seconds. 10 laps further on though, and a drive shaft joint sheered off, which holds the rear stub axle on which in turn holds the wheel on, causing Morcillo to pull over by Camp corner, bringing out a safety car. The car was recovered to the pits, a new shaft fitted and the Porsche re-joined the race and saw the chequered flag, albeit not classified as a finisher. The failed part is supposed to last 40 hours, but this one had been run for only 20, so fingers crossed for the team the rest of the parts they have last the full distance.

As we were now about 40% of the way through the race at the time of the safety car going out, it was well within the pitstop window, and so a host of teams called their drivers in. The big winner of this was the MJC team, with Keith Robinson taking over driving duties, and managing to get out ahead of Raphael Fiorentino, now in the Mantis. Unfortunately for the Topcats team, the woe wasn’t over, as with 10 minutes to go, Fiortentino suffered a suspension failure (thought to be caused by a knock earlier in the race) and was forced to retire, but was classified in 10th spot.

This left the way clear for another Team MJC victory, and after 74 laps, Robinson took the chequered flag a lap ahead of Duncan Cameron who did the second stint for MTech Motorsport.

The afternoon ended badly for the GTF Racing team, after Hood pitting on lap 28 from their excellent third place, for Dowling to take over. The car started to overheat behind the safety car, causing more visits to the pits – losing htem 11 laps in the process – and eventually an 11th place classification. This meant that third spot on the podium was taken by the Orbital Sound Lotus. After pitting on Lap 30, Jamie Stanley took over from Chris Headlam and put in a sterling effort, eventually finishing just 5 seconds behind the Ferrari.

Keith Gent & Steve Clark took the Production victory, and 5th place overall, just 18 seconds behind the GT class 2 Ferrari of Williams & Scott. This was on top of a previous Production win at Croft, and second place at Snetterton, so the pairing is starting to put a good string of results together.

Topcats Racing did get a class podium, with O’Neill & Harrison, finishing an overall 6th, just 10 seconds behind Keith Gent, but second in class, just ahead of fellow class three competitors Day & Phipps.

Seventh overall, but taking the Production runner up spot, and class two victory, was the Cox family in the Motor Spares Ford Escort. This proved to be a very popular victory at the presentation a little after the race. Another lap down was the Renault Clio, also in class two of Production, who had a solid race and managed to improve to an 9th overall from their starting position of 18th.

The remaining classified competitors were the Glynnsport Sagaris in 12th place, the Brunswick BMW in 13th. Dave Allan’s Civic, Gary Furst in the Evo 9, the ailing Cunninghams Seat Leon, and the Sams Boyz Honda Accord.

So Gamski & Robinson, and the MJC team, did it again. 4 from 4 so far this season, and with each competitors best seven results of the year used for the points tally come seasons end, it would be a brave man to bet against them retaining their title.

With the GT & Production cars on track at the same time, there really is competition and action throughout the 20+ cars on track. Coupled with this there was a good sized crowd, perhaps encouraged to come by the public grid walk that happens just before the race.

Either way a good crowd, good weather and a good race – what more can you ask for.

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings.

Steve Wood from Britcar has compiled race report from last weekends action at Croft.

Britcar – Croft, 9/4/10

100 laps, 100% for MJC

Gent/Clark Celebrate new Partnership with Production Win.

Witt Gamski and Keith Robinson, in the MJC Ferrari 430, made it 100% win record for the season at Croft, in a sparse mixed- class field of just a dozen cars. Exciting – yes, at times – but more intriguing,  would be the best description of this race. With many significant entrants absent, through personal, professional and mechanical reasons, it could have been an easy race to sit back and let happen, but that wasn’t the case. It was, though, a race of strange numerical symmetry – as you will read; it wasn’t just that nice, round 100 laps.

After leading early on, Keith Gent and Steve Clark, heading the newly-associated KG/Anglo Motorsport set-up, took Production honours in the BMW M3 E46.

The reigning GT champs suffered a fraught Saturday qualifying, Witt managing just a handful of laps, which the timekeepers didn’t record. The Ferrari was suffering a massive rear-end vibration, later found to be due to some sheared teeth on the crown wheel of the recently-replaced differential. The old unit was summoned from MJC’s Surrey workshop, but the car would be starting the race from the back row of the grid.

It was a chance for the Ultima to shine, and Steve Brady duly secured pole, posting 1:23.705, nearly two and a quarter seconds faster than Steve Clark, in Keith Gent’s BMW M3, which had transferred from Class 3 of GT to the top tier of the Production category. “I surprised myself, I didn’t think we could run this quickly, but I hope they fix the Ferrari – we want to race” said Brady.

This was like the old days of Britcar – a GT car and a well-driven rapid saloon sharing the front row. Behind them, the Class 2 Topcats Marcos Mantis of Raphael Fiorentino and Neil Huggins shared the second row with the TVR Sagaris of Steve Glynn and Sam Head – a great performance from the hard-working team to secure their best starting position yet.

With regular pilots O’Neill and Fletcher absent, Warren Gilbert qualified the Class 3 Topcats Mantis fifth, despite three spins and a short lap, winding through the barriers into the hairpin, but he elected not to race – “I just wanted to see how it handled – it’s  really fun to drive” – so the third row was headed by the pro-am Spanish pairing of Javier Morcillo and Manuel Cintrano, in the Azteca Motorsport Porsche 996, with Production lone-driver Gino Ussi lining up alongside in the Geoff Steel BMW M3. Tim Hood was next up, sharing his yellow Sagaris with Fred Tonge, with former Britcar regulars Dave Benett and Marcus Fothergill completing the fourth row, making it a three-hander with Mark McAleer in their Porsche 997. Dave Cox, heading the fifth row, would be going it alone in his Escort Turbo, with Ian Lawson’s BMW 320i alongside. With regular co-drivers Mike and Anthony Wilds handling a close family bereavement, it was a sense of déjà vu for Ian, as he shared the car with Dave Walton, his partner in his very first taste of Britcar, at Croft seven years ago.  Last of the timed runners was the Seat Cupra of David Green and Richard Adams. A broken steering arm nearly put paid to their weekend, but kindly Northern Saloons racer Andrew Morrison loaned them a component taken from his own race car for qualifying, until a replacement arm was couriered in from the team’s Essex base.

Lining up alongside the Seat was Witt’s 430, but the big man would be taking no chances at the start; “I’m just going to take it easy for the first few laps, let the field sort themselves out. It won’t take long to get to the front with just 11 cars” he said confidently .

Brady and Clark dragged it out to the first corner as the red lights went out, but the Ultima pitched into a spin, onto the gravel, and the pack was gone as the blue car rejoined. Over- exuberance, or mechanical problem?  Steve Clark later theorised; “The Ultima was spewing liquid all round the formation lap. I thought they had overfilled the tank, and he spun on his own fluid”. It was probably water though – the Ultima was pitbound immediately, and the team set about fixing a water pump that already been replaced earlier.

Clark headed the pack in the BMW, with Fiorentino’s Marcos trading second place round the circuit with Morcillo’s Porsche.  Dave Cox was an early pit visitor, the Escort having clashed with Dave Benett’s Porsche, and picked up a puncture.

Witt decided he’d seen enough as early as lap two, and powered past a bunch of cars on the straight leading up to Tower Bend, settling behind Steve Glynn’s sixth-placed Sagaris. Still Fiorentino was battling with Morcillo – both cars set their best times in those early laps, but the Porsche had no answer to the power of the Marcos, and the Topcats machine began to pull ahead.

Steve Clark was maintaining a steady seven-second advantage out front, and Gamski was systematically picking-off the front runners; the Sagaris pair, Gino Ussi’s BMW, then Morcillo for third. Tim Hood was having a great race in the yellow TVR, having got ahead of stablemate Glynn, he  was pursuing Ussi, blasting past the BMW on the run-up Tower on the 22^nd lap. It wasn’t to last, though – Ussi  was soon back in front, and the Sagaris was sounding rough, clearly struggling with gears, and by lap 25, the car pitted, and retired. Steve Brady, however, was now back on track, some 15 laps adrift, but faster than anybody, and carving through field to make up the deficit. Sadly, further woes were on their way, and a sticking throttle, plus a cooked gasket (due to the consequences of the failed water pump) saw the blue car retired after 45 laps. Also out of the race was Dave Cox, the Escort Turbo succumbing to gearbox problems.

The mandatory stops started early – before the first hour elapsed. Dave Benett handed the invitation-entry Porsche to Mark McAleer, and Steve Glynn was relieved by Fred Tonge in the purple Sagaris. Then, surprisingly, Richard Adams’ Seat, and Gino Ussi. It would be a long stop for the BMW, though, stationery with the bonnet up; “It’s used a seasons-worth of oil in one hour” revealed team boss Geoff Steel.

Gamski brought the 430 dead-on the hour, handing over to Keith Robinson, and concerned over fuel efficiency; “The replacement diff has compromised the gearing – I was red-lining three-quarters of the way along the straight. I think we’re using a lot more fuel”

Time for the number thing now – 60 minutes gone, 40 laps done by leader Clark – a nice 2/3 ratio. More on this later.

Clark, indeed, had stayed out of the pits, and, with Keith Gent being overheard that the E46 drank a litre a minute from its 100-litre tank, a pit stop around 90 minutes in was likely. Local hero Ian Lawson had hauled his BMW 320i up to fifth overall, but was the first of the second flurry of pit stops, as 75 minutes approached, handing over to David Walton. Raphael Forentino was next, handing the Mantis to Neil Huggins, then Javier Morcillo brought the Azteca Porsche in for Manuel Cintrano to take over. Mark McAleer’s stop, though, was unscheduled, and the Porsche was to spend the best part of the rest of the race having the gearbox fixed.

Keith Robinson had taken back one of the two laps that leader Clark held sway with, then, as expected, with 90 minutes gone, Clark was pitbound , to hand the BMW to Keith Gent for the final hour.

Numbers time again; 60 laps on the board, 60 minutes to go. Nice and tidy.(And 90minutes gone – that 2/3 thing again).

Not so tidy, though, was the Clark/Gent handover, taking a frustrating four and a half minutes, seemingly due to a compressor problem, as Steve Clark explained. “They plugged the lance in, but there was no pressure, and the air jacks wouldn’t work. Then the wheel guns didn’t have the power, so we had to do that manually too”

The loss of the lead to the Ferrari at this point was inevitable for the BMW, but now Huggins had bagged second place, with a lap in-hand over Gent. Cintrano was fourth, but struggling without a clutch in the Porsche. Gino Ussi  made a second lube stop in the BMW with 45-minutes left to run, and there was a semblance of a fight for the third step of the Production podium, for David Green, in the Bullrun Seat, was chipping away at the advantage held by Walton’s BMW ahead. The arithmetic said it was do-able before the race ended, but fate dictated otherwise – the Seat suddenly made a last-minute jink into the pit lane, and stalled before reaching its pit box, Green later revealing that the car suddenly cut-out as it exited the hairpin. He was on his way after adjustments, but that podium place was now gone.

Out front, the three leading cars were together on the track, in 1-2-3 order, though a lap adrift apiece, and the question now was, with Gent’s BMW fuelled to the end, would the Ferrari and the Marcos need to make another stop?

Robinson had pulled clear of Huggins, who  still had  Gent right behind him, and as the race drew to close, and the 15-minute fuel stop curfew came and went, it was clear the leading pair were going to gamble. This was made all too clear when the pace dropped dramatically, Robinson a full six-seconds slower than he had been, allowing Ussi’s BMW, and even the little Seat, to claim a lap back.

Not for long though, for Keith had a second wind, reclaiming his lap s over the Production cars, and upping the pace to a more normal 1:29. Perhaps the fuel issue was not so crucial, or was it something else?  “I nearly threw it off several times on cold tyres – the car was a death trap at that pace” Keith revealed later.

Meanwhile, that Green/Walton podium poaching was on again, with the Seat taking four seconds a lap out of the BMW in front, but once again, dramas struck the Bullrun machine with just a few minutes left, and it was pitbound, and left stationery on the pit apron, David Green’s post-race demeanour indicating that perhaps another fuel stop may have been necessary. The Azteca team, though, had taken no such chances, Javier Morcillo climbing back into the clutchless Porsche 996 before the pit curfew.

So, Robinson took the flag with 100 laps on the board, in 150 minutes – there’s the nice 2/3 ratio again. That’s a 100% win rate for the MJC team. Neil Huggins brought the Topcats Marcos home second, heading Class 2, but had reluctantly let Keith Gent take his lap back in the closing minutes; “I was clinging on, flat out, with massive vibration, but I thought the BMW was on the same lap” he explained.

Keith Gent salvaged the Production overall win after the pit stop debacle – a winning start for the new KGM/Anglo Motorsport association –  and the Morcillo/Cintrano Porsche claimed the GT Class 3 victory, though the Spanish amigos now faced a much tougher task trying to get home. Gino Ussi boosted Castrol’s share price on his way to the Production runner-up spot, and it was the best race yet for Steve Glynn and Sam Head, in the yellow Sagaris. The team have worked hard to make a very special car last an endurance distance, and hopefully Tim Hood’s machine will be in the same state soon. The locally-crewed Lawson/Walton BMW 320i won Production Class 2, a fitting tribute to bereaved regular drivers Mike and Anthony Wilds, and the Bullrun Seat of Green and Adams was the last classified finisher.

STEVE WOOD – Britcar.

BritCar GT Rd 2. Snetterton, 17^th April 2010.

The production race gave us 3 attempts at the start, accidents and the red flag. Surely the GT race couldn’t match that for incidents?

Well, actually it did with the fun and games beginning in qualifying. Going into this event Keith Robinson in the No 1 MJC Ferrari F430 was concerned about the McInerney’s Mosler, explaining, “We think they will have an advantage here due to the long straights. It’s a completely different sort of track to Brands” where the MJC team had won last time out.

The Ginetta G50 of In 2 Racing, to be driven by Alistair Mackinnon, of meeting sponsor Mackinnon construction, and Fiona James unfortunately didn’t make the start of qualifying due to a blown engine.

The number 26 Marcos Mantis of Topcats Racing most certainly made qualifying though, and held provisional pole 15 minutes into the session with a time of 1:08.473 which they had for 5 minutes before being relegated down a place by the Ferrari 430 of Aaron Scott, who was to share racing duties with Arwyn Williams.

The other Mantis wasn’t fairing so well though; the number 36 stopping out on track and bringing out the safety car. By this time the McInerney’s held the provisional pole and the MJC Ferrari had beaten Aaron Scott’s time also.

The safety car came in with three minutes left on the clock. Robinson went out to try and snatch pole, but Sean McInerney followed him out and launched an overtaking move at Sear corner, preventing Robinson from setting a quicker time. While this was happening, the Mantis snatched 3^rd from the Ferrari 430.

So the grid was set. The two class one rivals locking out the front row, with the class 2 Huggins/Fiorentino Mantis heading up the Ferrari 430 of fellow class 2 entry Aaron Scott & Arwyn Williams and the JMH team.

5^th spot was taken by Stephen Brady, who was going to be in for a long hot afternoon as the only driver of the Master Motorsport Ultima. Alongside him were the class 3 leaders, Chris Headlam & Jamie Stanley in the Orbital Sound Lotus Elise.

Row 4 was the TVR of Glynnsport next to the Porsche 997 from Eurotech racing. The remaining cars were all class 3, with the other Topcats Racing Mantis to be driven in the race first by Henry Fletcher, with Owen O’Neill taking the second stint. Another Porsche was in 10^th, this time in a 996 shape from the Neil Garner / Azteca Motorsport stable.

Matt Bell and Richard Dean were in another Ginetta G50, and would be starting from 11^th with runners up in the Production race Keith Gent & Steve Clark in a BMW M3 E46. Rounding off the grid were Jordan & Harrison in the Eurotech Racing Ginetta G50, Clarke / Gibson in Intersport Racing BMW M3 E92 and in 15^th was the Aston Martin N24 from Nicholas Mee Racing, which was to be piloted by Karsten Le Blanc & Christaen Van Lanschot.

Perhaps due to the mishaps at the start of the Production race, Robinson was a bit wary at the off, and this caution dropped him to 6^th by the end of the first lap. Moving in the other direction was Stephan Brady in the Ultima, with a corking first lap taking him up to second place, albeit 2 seconds behind the Mosler already.

The no 36 Mantis driven by Henry Fletcher in the first stint was having some kind of trouble – 30 seconds down on the leader by the end of lap 1, and then into the pits. Fletcher did rejoin, although he was already 3 laps down on the leader. Between himself and Owen O’Neill they managed to bring the car home, a feat many others failed to do, and finished in 6^th position.

Neil Huggins, who was doing the first stint in the other Topcats Racing Mantis was hounding Brady in the Ultima for second place, and managed to get past on lap 21 – the Ultima running wide due to reduced grip – the same complaint Huggins himself had “We went with the soft tyre as we thought the weather would be cooler. My rears were shot when I came in. I could see the Ultima had the same problem, so wasn’t surprised when he dropped it.”

Half an hour in and the Mosler had lapped…. Absolutely everyone. Fuel economy was going to be in issue though – surely the 7 litre engine was going to be more thirsty than everyone else – would an extra stop be needed? At this point the Mantis of Huggins, Brady in the Ultima and Gamski in the recovering MJC Ferrari were separated by only 6 seconds in 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th respectively.

Much to the surprise of everyone, Gamski came in to pit first of the leading group, handing over to Keith Robinson on lap 42. With Sean McInerney coming in on lap 50 to hand over to Michael, this left Neil Huggins leading in the Topcats Racing Mantis.

It was looking as though an excellent result was on the cards for the Huggins / Raphael Fiorentino pairing with team boss Warren Gilbert convinced that both the Ferrari and Mosler would have to stop twice more. However, attrition was again going to come into play. Oil drops were spotted after the pitstop when Huggins came in to vacate the seat for Fiorentino on lap 72. Whatever the problem was, it got worse. With smoke coming from the back of the car, it was called into the pits to retire.

Issues were also plaguing the Mosler – the air jacks not working on the stop, so being sent back out with old rubber. A puncutre – the fist in 5 years for the team – forced Michael to re-pit on lap 64. Unfortunately the flapping rubber from the puncture caused other damage – enough to spin the Mosler out while entering the Esses, and ending their race.

Pitstop issues for Brady as well, with the team taking tape off from the radiator. The hot weather causing issues with the air box, and forcing a retirement for him also.

Reliability problems for the Orbital Sound / Chris Headlam Lotus Elise forcing them to retire on lap 67 with a faulty wheel bearing while running in 8^th place – “we just need a stronger car” rued Jamie.

The number 87 Jones family entered Porsche fell foul of the track, having a puncture also, forcing them to pit on lap 105. While all this was going on, the MJC Ferrari had things pretty easy, leading by three 3 laps, and pitting for Witt Gamski to take the wheel again for the final half an hour run to the chequered flag. Which he duly took after 121 laps.

Following him across, albeit 2 laps down, were Matt Bell and Richard Dean in the United Autosports Ginetta G50, who had driven an excellent race and managed to avoid the issues going on around them to take the runner up spot.

However, that wasn’t quite the end of the story as with only 10 minutes left, the number 33 Intersport Racing BMW, running third developed a fuel pressure problem. Unable to hold off the Neil Garner / Azteca Motorsport Porsche, who stole the spot with only 3 laps to go. Kevin Clarke was losing ground rapidly, and the recovering Jones Porsche had a lunge down into Russells on the last lap, but couldn’t make it stick.

What had looked a very promising day for the Topcats team ended with a single 6^th place finish for O’Neill & Fletcher, just 4 seconds ahead of Aaron Scott & Arwyn Williams in the JMH Ferrari. Mike Jordan and Gerry Harrison finished only a further 14 seconds back in their Ginetta G50, with the Aston Martin of Nicholas Mee Racing the last of the still-runners.

Not classified was the Glynnsport TVR Sagaris, which retired on lap 37 with gearbox problems, and the other TVR of Tim Hood and Fred Tonge, who only lasted 11 laps before retiring with suspected differential problems.

The MJC team won a race that perhaps they didn’t expect to win, by being one of the few cars to stay out of trouble, and avoid the reliability woes that affected others. Once again in Britcar GT there was some great racing throughout the field, and action all through the 2 ½ hour race.

Roll on Croft in three weeks time.

With thanks to Steve Wood at Britcar for the help in compiling this report.

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings.

A slightly chilly spring morning turned into a very warm summers day at Snetterton on Saturday for round 2 of the BritCar production championship. A far cry from the arctic-like conditions at Brands Hatch for round 1 last month.

“The track owed us this one” – so said Peter Moulsdale, and who can blame him – after leading the race last year until two minutes from the end when the engine blew. No such dramas for him and Steve Kent in the BMW E46 M3 this year, although there were certainly dramas elsewhere on the grid during the 90 minute race.

There were two casualties before qualifying even bagan, with the Eurotech Racing Mustang (who was runner up last time out at Brands) not taking part in the meeting due to blowing a piston during testing on the Friday. The Kalmar-Union Volvo S60 withdrew before qualifying, to take no further part in the meeting.

The front five places on the grid were all filled with BMWs, and all within a second of each other. The K G Motorsport / Torquespeed E46 M3 of Gent & Clark took the honours with a time of 1:11.962, set on lap 7. Last years champions Kevin Clarke & Wayne Gibson were alongside for Intersport racing. The first Geoff Steel Racing entry was in third, and that was the E46 M3 of Moulsdale & Kent. Mark Smith and David Cuff were in fourth for JC Racing. Gino Ussi was the last of the set of BMWs in the other Geoff Steel entry.

The Cunninghams were in 6^th with son Mark saying they had issues with stability through the quicker corners, causing them to set a time of 1:13.957 a second behind Ussi. A futher tenth back was the Ginetta GT4 of Mick Mercer & Gary Smith for In2 Racing. Lining up in 8^th was Gary Furst in his Mitsubishi Evo 9.

Row 5 consisted of Angus Dawe & Philip Bennett in the other Intersport / Torquespeed run BMW, with David Green and Richard Adams in the Bullrun Seat Cupra who took the class 2 pole. Row 6 was looked our by pairs, with the Smith / Smith Ginetta ahead of the Cox / Cox Ford Escort Turbo by 2.2 seconds.

Ian Lawson and Anthony Wilds were another 3 tenths back in the ING Sport BMW 320i, ahead of Paul Phipps & Rob Day in their BMW entry. 15^th on the grid was the Nissan 370Z driven by Lorenzini and Tresson, who won a competition set up by Sony Playstation. 16^th on the grid were Owen Thomas and Ashely Woodman in the BPM Racing Renault Clio “We’ve lost out due to the change in classes” said Owen, as they were previously in class 3, which no longer exists. The final place was taken by the Brunswick Automotive BMW 130i of Martin Parsons and James Trett. Martin didn’t even know who his co driver was going to be – a last minute change as the original occupant, Nick Gooch, became a father on Friday evening.

The race actually took three attempts to get going. The first rolling start was deemed unacceptable by the starting official, as the cars were out of position by the time they went across the line. The pace car went back out to pick up the leader for another formation lap.

At the second attempt, all was in order until the number 75 Ginetta GT4 with Mick Mercer at the wheel, and the number 64 Seat Leon of Mark Cunningham tried to occupy the same piece of track. The resulting collision lifted the Ginetta “as high as the Armco barrier” as trackside commentator Brian Jones described it.

The race was red flagged as the mess was cleared away. The Seat Leon looked to be in a mess when seen back in the pits but apparently the Ginetta came off worse. Hopefully the damage for both isn’t bad enough to stop their attendance at Croft in three weeks time.

The race length was reduced by the red flag time, leaving 76 minutes. Peter Moulsdale, who was the starting driver in the Geoff Steel racing BMW, overtook Wayne Gibson on lap 1. He stayed in third place though after losing out to a fast starting David Cuff who made an excellent start to jump from 4^th to 2^nd by the end of the first lap in the JC Racing BMW. Wayne Gibson stayed in 4^th until lap 7, when he was forced to retire.

Moulsdale managed to get past Cuff on lap 6, having been scrapping for a couple of laps beforehand. By lap 20 the leading KG Motorsport / Torquespeed BMW driven by Clark was 6.2 seconds ahead of Moulsdale, but the two of them were now 28 seconds ahead of David Cuff. Moulsdale stopped on lap 31 to hand over to Steve Kent and the number 42 car came in on the following lap, with Gent taking over the hotseat. Their stop wasn’t quick enough however, and Steve Kent had a 29 second lead to try and hold until the end of the race.

Steve Kent put some quick laps in early on to extend his lead to nearly 34 seconds. Gent managed to stabilise the gap, and then reduce it down. The damage was done in the pitstop however, and Steve Kent took the chequered flag by 25 seconds. “The track owed us this one, after last year.” Said a very happy Peter Moulsdale.

Gino Ussi finished off a good day for Geoff Steel racing, taking the final spot on the podium just 4 seconds ahead of David Cuff and Mark Smith, in the other BMW E46 M3. Gary Furst, another driver doing the whole race himself, finished in 5^th spot ahead of class 2 winners Ian Lawson and Anthony Wilds. Dave & Michael Cox made moves from their starting position of 12^th, to finish 7^th, runners up in class 2 and ahead of the class 1 invitation entrees of Peter & Matt Smith in their Ginetta, and the Angus Dawe/Philip Bennett combo. Angus actually coming in to the pits on lap 20, 2 minutes before the lane officially opened. Philip put in some quick laps but then picked up a puncture on lap 47 and had to re-pit while running in 7^th.

Luca Lorenzini, one of the Playstation competition winners and starting driver in the Nissan 370Z, had a good few opening laps, overtaking Peter Smith in the sole remaining Ginetta, on lap 6, having hounded him for the previous 3 laps. Jordan Tresson, who took over as the other Playstation winner, set the faster lap out of the two, on lap 42, and they came in a respectable 10^th, and took third in class.

Owen Thomas and Ashley Woodman had their fears confirmed about not being able to hang on to the other class 2 runners in their Renault Clio, but had a close race with Martin Parsons and James Trett, to finish just 5 seconds ahead of the Brunswick BMW.

The last two classified runners, 37 laps down on the leader, were David Green & Richard Adams in the Bullrun Seat Cupra and the Rob Day/Paul Phipps in the Simmons Printers BMW.

It was good to see that there were 6 more cars on the starting grid than at Brands, and that is without the Mustang from Eurotech Racing, or the Kalmar Union Volvo who were unable to compete this weekend. Hopefully there will be a grid approaching 20 cars for the next round at Croft in 3 weeks time.

GT report to follow.

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings.

The new Britcar season got underway yesterday at Brands Hatch in cold and damp conditions. Competitor numbers were down on some of the races last year where grids were averaging over 20 competitors. Hopefully this is just because this was round 1, and entrants will be higher going on through the season.

Production

In the Britcar Production event, last years champions Kevin Clarke & Wayne Gibson had taken advantage of the class changes, and were now entering the in the GT class 3 in their BMW M92.

This left the pairing of Mike Jordan and Steven Wood in their no. 77 Eurotech Mustang GT4 to take pole position with a time of 53.715 which was 3/10ths of a second ahead of invitation entrees Thomas Carnaby in the no 80 Rover MG ZR and no. 58 BMW M3 of Keith Webster. Missing out of third place on the grid by only 6/100ths of a second were Mark and Peter Cunningham in the no. 64 SG Racing Seat Leon Supercopa.

Row 3 was filled with Gino Ussi in the other Geoff Steel Racing BMW M3 a mere 2/100^th ahead of the Mick Mercer and Gary Smith In 2 Racing Ginetta GT 4.

Class 2 was headed up by the Green/Byford combination in their Bullrun Seat Cupra, ahead of three very close times, including the class 1 invitation entry of Dawe / Wilds in 8^th for Intersport driving a BMW M3 (57.124), the Cox/Cox pairing in their Race Car Spares Ford Escort Turbo (57.424) and Owen Thomas & Andy Woodman in the BPM Racing Renault Clio (57.454).

The grid was rounded out by Lawson & Wilds in 11^th in their .Ing Sport BMW E46 (58.588), Piers Johnson in his Kalmar-Union.com Volvo S60 (12^th – 59.099) and Martin Parsons / Dominic Malone in the Brunswick Motorsport BMW 130i in the 13^th and final spot.

In the race itself there was pretty much formation flying except for the Cunningham entry (no. 64) who pulled off along the Cooper straight on lap 1, with some kind of problem. They did rejoin on lap 4 but two laps down.

While the Cunninghams were fighting their way through from the back of the field, the remaining class 1 entries, Jordan/Wood in the no 77 Mustang, no 58 Geoff Steel Racing BMW E36 of Keith Webster, Gino Ussi in his BMW E46 (no 56) and the Ginetta GT4 of Mercer & Smith (no 75) were pulling away. 18 minutes in and the Ginetta was all over the back of Gino Ussi, and had been for a couple of laps.

Webster was 2 laps down on the race leading Steve Wood in the Mustang, having had his one and only pitstop on lap 37. Webster was lapping at the same pace as Wood, who was yet to come in for his stop, which he duly did on lap 59 to hand over to Mike Jordan. However an overly long stop meant he came out some 27 seconds down on Keith Webster. By lap 70, the deficit was down to 20 seconds and the race was well and truly on.

With 20 minutes to go, the gap had been reduced to 16 seconds. This was fluctuating as the drivers made their way through traffic and with 10 laps to go the gap was just under 9 seconds. What looked possible a few minutes before, now looked a huge challenge. A challenge, as it turned out, that was too much. Keith Webster won by just over 8 seconds, after 103 laps completed.

The Cunningham pair finished a credible 3^rd place, given their disastrous start and 2 lap handicap from the off. Although they finished the same two laps down, they put in some lap times to match the best offered by Webster or Jordan Wood. Hopefully at another event we can see them fighting for the lead, rather than all the way through he field.

Gino Ussi and the Dawe/ Wilds pairing finished only 5 seconds apart, 3 laps down on the leader. Piers Johnson finished top of clas in 6^th place, moving up from his starting positon of 12^th and finishing a lap ahead of the class 1 invitation entrant Thomas Carnaby. Lawson & Wilds in the class 2 BMW E46 finished ahead of the Ginetta GT 4 which had been running so strongly early on.

Classfied 10^th was the Ford Escort of Cox & Cox which had been running as high as 6^th. It’s a shame that 13 laps from the end Cox ran wide at Druids and got beached in the gravel. Unable to continue, it was clear to see his disappointment. The other two class 2 entrants rounded off the classified finishers, in 11^th and 12^th. Not classfied was the Seat Cupra entry of Green / Byford, which only complete 24 laps.

All in all an entertaining race, which were it not for the issues had by some drivers, could have been even closer. It certainly looks good for the season ahead, especially if the grids can be increased in size.

Britcar GT.

In the Britcar GTs, last years champions Witt Gamski, Keith Robinson and the MJC team had a new set of wheels, this time in a Ferrari F430 shape with which they had some teething problems over the winter.

Qualifying was an exciting affair with McInerney’s in the Eclipse Motorsport Mosler putting in an excellent lap to grab pole at the end of the session, with a time of 46.253 a whopping 7/10ths quicker than the reigning champions. The lead class 2 car was going to line up third an impressive two tenths further back in their JMH racing Ferrari 430. They had another Ferrari 430 on the same row, this time from class two invitees Cameron and Edwards and the M Tech Motorsport team. Row three was headed up by Brady & Millard in the Master Motorsport Ultima, with a time of 47.901.

Then came a close bunch of class 3 drivers with times all in the 48s: 6^th was Headlam / Stanley in the Orbital Sound Lotus Elise; 7th was O’Neill & Fletcher in the Top Cat racing Marcos Mantis; 8^th was the Ginetta G50 of Wilkins & Christodoulou for GT3 racing; another G50 was in 9^th – the Jordan/Jordan combination for Eurotech Racing. 10^th place, and still in the 48seconds time were class 2 invitees Dhillon and Khandan-Nia the other M Tech Motorsport Ferrari 430.

Row 6 was filled with the Azteca Porsche 996 for Morcillo and Cintrano, who were sharing it with Gent & Clark in the Torquespeed BMW E46. Clarke/Gibson, making the step up to GTs qualified 13^th in their Torquespeed BMW E92 and 14^th was the ABG Motorsport KTM of Mowle & Harvey, who were also invitees to class 3.

The first lap had the competitors at the front stay in position, but some early place changes were happening further down the grid with the Clarke/Gibson car losing a place to the Top Cat racing Mantis of Huggins / Fiorentino.

The Brady Millard entry in their no 8 Ultima started to make a move, going from 5^th to 4^th on lap 3, and were in second by the end of lap 6. On lap 9 the class 3 Azteca Motorsport Porsche 996 of Morcillo / Cintrano took the Orbital Sound Lotus after going side by side round Druids hairpin.

Gamski took Brady to have second place back and the no 12 Ferrari 360 run by JMH racing executed a textbook overtake on Brady as well, on the way into Druids.

Lap 47 and Gamski pitted and vacated the hot seat for Keith Robinson, after having had a spin on the exit of Graham Hill bend, dropping him 4 laps back from the leader, which was still the McInerney’s Mosler. 32 laps later and the Mosler comes in, has the stop, and is out again still in first. Although now, with only 1 lap on the MJC Ferrari.

By lap 100 and Robinson had unlapped himself and was 45 seconds down on the Mosler. With just under half the race to go he was giving it everything, putting in some laps under 47 seconds. By lap 115 he has reduced the gap to 31 seconds, with another pit stop each to go.

On lap 125 the Mosler came in and the Ferrari went back up to first place, at least for 6 laps until it came in for it’s second, and last stop. Just when it seemed as though that was to be the finishing postion, the Mosler needed to come in for a splash and dash, with just 18 minutes to go. With the pitlane closing 15 minutes before the end, and the Ferrari still running at this time, the stage was set for a Team MJC Gamski/Robinson victory, and after 181 laps, they duly took the chequered flag, finishing a lap up on the McInerney’s Mosler.

The Cameron/Edmonds M Tech Motorsport won the class 2 race 4 laps down from the leader to take the final podium spot. Next across the line, and winning class 3 was the Eurotech Racing Ginetta G50 entry, followed 15 seconds later by fellow class 3 entrant,the Azteca Porsche driven by Morcillo & Cintrano.

There was a close finish between the Ferrari 430 fielded by JMH racing in 6^th, and crossing the line just 8/10ths later was the first of the Topcat Racing Marcos Mantis’ – driven by O’Neill & Fletcher, which finished in Noahs Ark style with the Huggins/Fiorentino car, albeit a lap down.

The invites finished next, with M Tech Motorsports Ferrari 430 in 9^th, piloted by Dhillon & Khandan-nia. Classified 10^th was the ABG Motorsport KTM car, and the last Ginetta G50 finished 11^th. The final classified finisher was Orbital Sound’s Lotus Elise, which completed 142 laps.

So, the new season is upon us, and some close racing already. It certainly promises to be a great season of Britcar, although grid sizes back up to last years would certainly go down well with organisers and spectators alike.

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings

Richard Swaffield has provided some photographs from the first Britcar race of the season.

Race report to follow, meanwhile official results, lap charts & timing can be found at TSL

Photography: Richard Swaffield

Less than a week to go to the opening meeting at Brands Hatch, and time to look at the progress being made in putting a grid together in these trying economic times. With Class 3 of Britcar GT being the same as the top tier of Production, the margin between the two championships is blurred, with as many saloon teams trading up as there are GT outfits stepping down. Take reigning Production champions Intersport  – Kevin Clarke and Wayne Gibson’s newly-built  sleek E92-shaped 2-door  BMW will be racing in the GT championship  this year, though Clarke admits that he may well campaign it in Production as well, though he may well bring out the trusty E46 too – he’s keeping his options open. The new car was 80% finished when on display at the Autosport show in January – it just needed a radiator and some fettling – and, despite its GTR looks, is powered by a straight-six grunter. Clarke reckons he could never part with his double championship winning E46, but he has sold his silver car, the heavily body-kitted DTM-style M3, to Robert Day and Paul Phipps, who plan to campaign it in Britcar GT against its old owner, though it seems it will be a virtually different machine, as Paul Phipps explains; “Phil Cutts’ Torquespeed outfit has built us an exquisite CSL shell, and we are fitting a 420hp engine, Drenth gearbox, and Drexler differential. We’ve paid up-front for our Britcar season, and we’ll be there at Brands one way or another – if the new car isn’t ready, we’ll race the white M3 (the ex-GTS/Calum Lockie machine that took several overall wins in the early days of Britcar) in the Production race”. Day and Phipps have quietly got on with their business in previous seasons, occasionally offering some surprises, but 2010 sees them upping their game.

The reigning Britcar GT champions, Witt Gamski, Keith Robinson, and the MJC team, will be returning to defend their title, but have encountered some false starts getting there, now having settled on  an ex-AF Corse Ferrari 430, after two time-wasting sourcing disasters with similar machines.  Eclipse will be back, hoping  for a better 2010, with Michael and Sean McInerney in the Mosler, and their main rival could be the similar, ex-Rollcentre machine of Paul White and Calum Lockie, who starred in last year’s Britcar 500 at Silverstone. Steven Brady has signed-up, and is likely to be campaigning his ex-BGT Ultima, with a co-driver yet to be announced.

Topcats have supported Britcar from the very first race back in 2002, and once again will be fielding their two Marcos Mantis variants. Neil Huggins moves up to the “green” car, partnered by Raphael Fiorentino,  (with semi-retired Jon Harrison replacing Huggins at Castle Combe) whilst the “orange” machine will be piloted by Owen O’Neal, with a partner yet to be allocated. The team’s Mosler will definitely be out for the 24 hours, following last year’s victory in the six-hour Britcar 500, but a full championship campaign remains to be seen.

Mike Jordan, with his revived Eurotech team, is bringing out the Ginetta G50 once again, for himself and son Andrew, and the Neil Garner team are once more running the Porsche 997 for Spaniards Manuel Cintrano and Javier Morcillo, who were impressive last season. No word from erstwhile team mates Rod Barrett and Jan Persson yet, but they traditionally miss the first round. Steve Glynn has registered for the season in the brutal-looking TVR Sagaris, and Keith Gent moves up from Production to the GT championship with his BMW M3, to be shared where possible by Michael Caine.

The GT Class 3 / Production Class 1 crossover may cause some teams to make late decisions – In2 Racing’s pair of Ginetta G50s, are eligible for both, with Fiona James (and significant co-driver) provisionally going into Production, whilst former Topcats race winner Mick Mercer is yet to decide, as he recently explained; “I might do Production, i might even do both, GT as well, depending on the  budget and co-driver situation. Richard Fores will be driving with me, maybe my son-in-law Gary Smith too, and I’d like Luc Paillard to be involved as well at some point”.  Gary Smith, though, plans a season in Production of his own, in the self-run MG ZR.

Eurotech have worked on the Mustang over the winter, and the Stuart Scott/Steve Wood/Mike Jordan trio must surely be in the championship running this season, though they will no doubt we given a run for their money by the sinister black Seat SuperCopa of Mark and Peter Cunningham. Familiar faces returning for 2010 after a break are Don Norchi, who is bringing out his Volvo S60 after a two-year lay-off, with family  friend Piers Johnson sharing the driving duties, and Martin Parsons, a Britcar “original”, in the Brunswick BMW 1-series. Gary Furst’s campaign  was short last year, but the lone-driver returns for a full season in his Mitsubishi Evo, and, after a trial run in the last race of 2009, the vastly experienced Gino Ussi is has signed to drive one of Geoff Steel’s BMW M3s.

Dave Cox’s first season as an owner-driver, after a lifetime of rental driving, was a revelation. The found-in-a-barn Ford Escort Turbo was an unknown quantity, but, thanks to some expert fettling by “Denchy” (those e-bay stories were mis-represented), Dave and sons Jason and Michael brought home some silverware, and will be back for more in 2010. Also returning are Synchro (Honda Civic for Dave Allen), and BPM, possibly with a Seat, for the boyishly enthusiastic Woodman/Thomas pairing, though team boss Matt Faulks has a self-built BMW on the blocks too.

Your favourite not been mentioned? Fear not, it may be just week, but that’s early days in Britcar. More stories to be told, as they emerge.

Report by Steve Wood / Britcar Media Relations Manager
Photos from Snetterton 29.08.09 by Andrew Cliffe / Norwich Photo