RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

10th March, Snetterton 300.

6th April, Donington Park

18th May, Croft

9th June, Brands Hatch

7/8th July, Spa 25

18th August, Rockingham

29th September, Anglesey

13th October, Oulton Park

Donington Park has cancelled a number of club events due to the noise restrictions.        The change has come following an understanding with the local council which permitted some of their track day allocation of ‘noisy days’ for club racing, following the downturn in the track day business.    Council elections in May have meant that this agreement required renewing.

Negotiations are in place to ensure that this isnt repeated in 2012, by reducing the number of non-silenced days it has and increasing the number of 105dB and 108dB days.

Donington Park has recovered greatly since the Gillett fiasco and the fact that racing runs there is something to be grateful for, thanks to Kevin Wheatcroft and his team, and the Adroit contractors who have done much of the repair works required.

The cancelled meetings are:

• 23rd July – BRSCC
• 28th August – MGCC
• 1st October – BARC
• 8th & 9th October – 750MC
• 15th & 16th October – BRSCC
• 29th October – MSVR
• 4th & 5th November – BRSCC

These clubs will be contacting competitors and series involved to negotiate alternatives as many championships will be affected and will require agreement and consent from competitors.

On the 22/06/11, Donington Park released further information about the cancellations:

Donington Park Racing Ltd is in the process of submitting a planning application to vary the conditions of its operating permission. If we are successful, the circuit will be able to run an increased number of racing events throughout the year.

We are optimistic about the outcome of our application and we are working closely with the local Authorities and our stakeholders. Whilst our application is pending it has been necessary to cancel a number of events to ensure we are able to comply with our current operating conditions.

For our full revised 2011 Calendar of Events please click here

Thank you for your continued support and we are most grateful for all the letters and emails you have sent us. We are sorry it has been necessary to cancel some events this year but we know you wish us every success with our application and that as a result we will be able to run more international, national and club racing events in the future at our world famous circuit.

We will update you as soon as we can on the progress of our application.

The Donington Park Racing Team

2011 will see the start of a new Mk 2 Golf GTi Series that will cater for 8v and 16v cars in two classes. The Production GTi Series will be a one-make race series specifically designed to provide close, friendly and reasonably-priced racing for varying drivers from novice to seasoned veteran.

The club has been established as a result of several approaches from drivers looking for an alternative stage to race their Mk 2 Golfs that have previously been used in other championships.

The Series will run as a club with a voluntary committee comprising of experienced administrators and drivers to encourage maximum competitor input. The voluntary committee will benefit from the administrators experience of successfully running a number of championships for several years at club level.

Our ethos is safe and affordable racing. We are a non-profit making club run on behalf of the drivers. Any surpluses will be reinvested for the benefit of the drivers and the series. To insure safe and close racing we focus on enforcing strict driving standards and policing of technical regulations. We believe that these criteria are the back bone of a successful club level series.

To date we are expecting between 22-27 cars for the first race at Castle Combe. In association with our sponsors we plan to run various initiatives to insure the series receives maximum media coverage both in motorsport industry publications and more specific manufacturer based magazines.

Our racing calendar for 2011 is:

2011 Calendar:

Castle Combe • April 25th (Easter Monday)

Thruxton • June 11th/12th

Donington Park • July 23rd

Brands Hatch (Indy) • August 14th

Snetterton (300) • September 18th

Silverstone & European round • TBC

Our aim is to achieve full grids for every race. That will mean between 30-40 cars on average,competing at each meet. We are keen to help drivers drive their costs down by arranging offers or discounts on products they may need to develop,maintain or enhance their race cars. As the committee all race, we understand the drivers needs and ultimately would like to help them race in an environment they feel welcome,trust and ultimately enjoy. We believe this is achievable on all levels.

For further information please contact : Robert Sadler

Email – info@productiongti.com

Telephone – 07414 266601

www.productiongti.com

These are the dates of the 2011 Formula Jedi Championship, run under the BRSCC umbrella.

All meetings are double-header race weekends.

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

Racing Exposure contributor, Steve Shurey, has provided some photos from the recent BRSCC meeting at Silverstone.

Blue skies and a healthy timetable greeted visitors to Castle Combe on Sunday for day two of the Rapid Racking June Summer Racing Carnival.

Mazda

In the Ma5da Racing Championship events which were spread throughout the day, reigning champion Tom Roche had an engine failure on Friday, but managed to get another power plant sorted out in time to take part. Because of the size of the entry list, the competitors are split into three groups A, B & C. Race one was groups A & C in which Roche, and pole sitter Adam Gore both had a poor starts. Roche managed to recover to second position (setting fastest lap in the process) hounding eventual winner Rob Boston to finish just 0.5 seconds behind at the finish. Some 6 seconds further back was Luke Herbert, who took third spot on the podium finishing 2 seconds ahead of Gore.

In the group B & C race, Gore wasn’t able to make amends, starting in second place and finishing third, albeit a lot closer to race winner Paul Sheard – just 0.6 seconds back. Sandwiched in between was Johnathan Greensmith who had started in 7^th place – but managed to make up 3 places by the end of lap one alone. Luke Herbet couldn’t make it second podium of the day, but was only a second adrift and finished in 4^th place.

The final Ma5da race was groups A & B, with three familiar names on the podium. Paul Sheard took his second victory of the day just 0.2 seconds ahead of race one winner Rob Boston. Less than another 0.2seconds back was race one runner up Tom Roche.

Formula Ford 1600

In race 1 of the Formula Ford 1600 events, pole sitter Scott Pye led from lights to flag with Scott Malvern taking the second spot on the podium, after starting 7^th and improving to third by the end of lap 3. Josh Hill, driving in his father’s, and grandfathers, helmet colours of the London Rowing Club had started from the front row, but had dropped to 4^th by the end of lap 3. A brave move into camp corner gave him the final podium position.

Race 2 had the same front row and the same 3 drivers on the podium. This time Hill managed to hold on to his second place starting position, following Scott Pye home by less than a second. In this race Scott Malvern was still the man making moves, all of them on lap 1 incidentally, – finishing third from his 6^th place starting spot.

Toyota MR2

Another lights to flag victory of the day, this time in both of Toyota MR2 races – Alex Gassman taking the honours in both events. He was followed home very closely by Adam Lockwood, with the two of them pulling away from the rest of the grid at a huge rate of knots. Arron Pullan almost was almost on his own in race one, with a 5 second margin over the close fighting Ross Stoner and Mark Scott who finished 4^th and 5^th respectively.

In the second race Stoner managed to go one better, but couldn’t seem to live with the pace of Gassman & Lockwood, and was 18 seconds behind by the end of the race.

Lockwood took the honours for fastest lap in race 1 by 72/1000ths of a second, and Gassman had his turn in race two, claiming it by 21/1000ths of a second.

Another good battle was a little further down the field with Matt Garnham and Philip O’Halloran going side by side into, round and exiting Tower corner, and off as far as I could see, still side by side.

Full Britcar race report to follow…

Words: Alex Ings / Images: Alex Ings.

The weather for Sunday’s meeting at Snetterton was a lot better than the previous day which was mostly wet and horrible, being dull and grey in the morning before cheering up in the afternoon.   As is often the case with Snetterton, there was a strong wind blowing across the track.

The Itchy Feet OSS (Open Sportscar Series) Championship was out first, with pole being taken by Jim Hutchinson in his Nissan engined Jade, but it was Tony Sinclair who, like the previous day, took the top step of the podium with in his Jade.   Graham Cole made it a Jade 1-2-3 with his third position.   Itchy Feet sell Motorhomes in case you were wondering!

The Fiat Racing Challenge provided a somewhat depleted grid, with Paul Copeland taking Punto honours, ahead of the two McMahon Puntos, Barry seven seconds off the lead, and just a second ahead of Arthur.    Mark Snelling was the leading Uno Roger Esp 30 seconds behind him.  Seven finishers in all.

The BRSCC F3 series were out next, everyone was watching the weather and debating whether to go for a fully dry or a compromised setup in case of rain.     Alex Craven was on pole once again, but it was 2009 champ Chris Needham who took the lead.    Craven incurred a startline penalty which initially brought out a black flag, but this was changed during the race to a 10 second penalty.  A spin early on cost him dearly as to win he would need 10 seconds of clear air between him and whoever was 2nd.    In the end it was Chris Needham who took the win, with Mark Terry closing to just under a second behind the leader.  Craven was classified third 11 seconds adrift (after penalty applied).   Mark Harrison had an exciting dice with Alf Skeels in their Dallara F301′s, positions changing several times before Harrison pulled away.  Mark said that he wished he’d gone for a fully dry setup afterwards – although the skies did look black and threatening…

The Toyota MR2 series took several goes at getting their first race underway, with a red flag following shortly after the flags went out.    A bumper entry of over 35 closely matches cars, many novices, meant that accidents are always a possibility.    The race was reduced to 12 minutes after the 2nd red flag.   Pole sitter and regular pace setter Alex Gassman lost out with Arron Pullan and Adam Lockwood leapfrogging him on the opening lap.   The same trio took the same positions in race two, which was thankfully free of startline drama.

The Dunlop TVR Challenge Cars were sharing a grid with the Quaife Intermarque League of silhouette cars.   The TVR’s were headed by a number of ex-Tuscan Challenge racers, with some race cars derived from road car origins close behind, although they were not quite a match for the Silhouette cars which at first glance look like road cars on steroids, but are really purpose built race cars which happen to wear a fibreglass body which looks like an Audi TT, BMW Z4 amongst others.

Steve Hall took the race win with his Audi TT, with Keith White’s BMW Z4 and Mick Robertson’s VW Corrado 2nd and 3rd.   Hugh Marshall was first TVR home with Graham Walden and Jamie Golby behind.     Race two was again headed by Hall, with Chris Brickhurst’s Peugeot 206 2nd and Dean Cook in his TVR Tuscan taking third overall.

Vaughan Fletcher’s Subaru Impreza took pole and two race wins in the Nippon Challenge.    Ian Froggatt, in another Impreza that was wearing a novice cross, took a well deserved 2nd on the grid despite a somewhat wild qualifying session which saw a couple of offs at the end of the Revett Straight, but he lost out during the first race after the Nissan 350Z of Steve Burke and Paul Hughes Honda Integra took 2nd and 3rd.

Race two was a shorter affair as the race was red flagged due to a heavy rain and a couple of offs.  Fletcher took the win, with Steward Hutchinson’s Honda Integra 2nd and Darren Hughes’ Impreza third.

The Porsche 924 series (which includes a class for Boxsters) put on a healthy display of cars, with David Clark and Sean Cooper taking Boxster honours apiece, with Jayson Flegg and Andrew Hannington claiming spoils for the 924 class.

Formula Acadamy were the big no-show, the debut event for this series designed for youngsters was cancelled after a problem with fire extinguisher certification.    They hope to make their debut at Silverstone on the weekend of the 26/27 June.

The gap in the timetable was partly filled with a hastily arranged 924 non-championship race, with reversed grids and the Boxster class starting 20 seconds after the 924s.   It didn’t take long for the Boxsters to sycthe their way through the field with the win going to David Clarke hotly pursued by Richard Sykes.   Andrew Hannington took 924 honours.

Photography: Norwich Photo

For those that have not encountered the VW Fun Cup before I’ll give a brief summary of what it is all about.

Fun Cup cars are purpose built single seater space frame chassis, clad with a fibreglass VW Beetle silhouette bodyshells.   Powered by either a 130bhp petrol engine, or 170bhp turbo diesel, both from the VW/Audi family, the two classes give close racing, even after several hours on the track.

Endurance is the name of the game, with Fun Cup races often being between 4 to 7 hours long, with exceptions – a 45 minute ‘sprint’ race and the 25 hour race at Spa.    Each car has to come in for routine fuel and tyre stops, and during these stops a driver change is also permitted, with some teams running up to 6 drivers.

A 1 hour timed practise session gives all the drivers a chance to familiarise themselves with both car and track, although the grid order is decided by a random ballot which makes for a topsy-turvy grid.

The entry costs and running costs are kept low, made easier by the large entry numbers, and in terms of £ per mile VW Fun Cup must be one of the cheapest forms of circuit racing in the world.

32 cars took part in an hours qualifying, sadly one car didn’t make the race start, but of the remaining 31 cars, 27 cars were classified, after 4 hours of very close racing and 159 laps.   Of those not classified, two were still running, but had lost a lot of laps due to extended repairs.

The race was won by Team Honeywell, driven by Neil Plimmer and Geoff Fawcett.   2nd place was the Happy Racing car, their bright green machine driven by Jason Porter and Max Hunter with the RAM car of Richard Ince and Austin Reynolds 3rd.   As predicted the race was won by the turbo diesel class, their power advantage and economy meaning they can run longer.

The race for petrol honours was taken by the JPR Credit Crunch Racing team of Tim Wheeldon, Nigel Griffiths and Dominic Jackson with the David L Walker car 2nd driven by Paul Calladine and Tom Walker and Scarab Racing’s Bram de Groot and Phill de Groot-King 3rd.

Calladine, who has raced single seaters with Monoposto tells me the two cars are surprisingly similar, both rewarding a smooth and consistent driving style, however the lower cost of Fun Cup and huge amount of tracktime made the decision much easier.

The next round is on the 15th May at Rockingham which is a 7 hour race.

Words: Andrew Cliffe
Photography: Norwich Photo

Ma5da Racing got their 2010 season off to a great start, with 62 cars and 6 exciting races on a sunny Brands Hatch Indy circuit. The new race day format spliting the drivers into 4 groups, with each race consiting of 2 different groups, there was plety of action and overtaking.

Race 1 featured Tom Roche and Jonathan Greensmith’s groups,  Tom won this time, but as ever it was a good close race. Further down the field there was plenty of close racing, with a lot of new cars and new drivers.

Race 2 was Rob Boston’s race, after starting 2nd next to his team mate Dave Connor, he built up a massive, by Ma5da standards, lead of 9s. Charles Plumley was in second place, with new driver Matt Davies had a great debut in 3rd place.

Race 3 was the Blendini Motorsport show, with the green liveried cars of Tom Roche and Charles Plumley leading from start to finish, although Chris Dawkins and Dave Connor were never far behind, but locked in their own battle.

Race 4, the last of Saturday’s races, looked like it was going to be a re run of the last race of the 2009 season, with Rob Boston up against Jonathan Greensmith at the front of the field, however, by the time end of the first lap, Rob had slipped down the field, but had made it back to second, albeit with a large gap, by the time the safety car came out for an incident at Paddock Hill bend. After the safety car came in Rob was able to overtake Jonathan and stay in front for the rest of the race.

Further down the field there was a great 4 way battle for third place with Chris Woodger, Ben Robinson, Mark Pierpoint and Martin Stevinson (finishing in that order) after a lot of overtaking.

Race 5 came after two races which had been red flagged on the first lap (the second one also got red flagged on the restart), so there were a lot of people waiting anxiously for the Ma5das to get round the first lap, all in one piece, they managed Paddock Hill Bend and Druids without any problem, but David Neville span off on the exit of Graham Hill Bend/the Cooper Straight, hitting the armco fairly heavily, causing the safety car and then the red flag to be used. Then all track activity had to stop, for the Kent Air Ambulance to pick up a casualty (not related to any of the on track action). With the amount of delays, it was decided to shorten the afternoons 15 minute races to 10 minutes.

From the restart it was Jonathan Greensmith who led the pack away and won the race, although Charles Plumley was challenging hard for most the race, even taking the lead from Greensmith up the inside at Clearways, only for Greensmith to win the position back and then Plumley to lose a few more positions with a mistake at Paddock Hill Bend. This promoted Adam Gore, on his first race weekend, to the second step of the podium.

Race 6 was the one I’d been looking forward to, Tom Roche and Rob Boston each had two wins each from the Saturday and would be going head to head. The first lap passed without too much incident, only Ben Robinson ending up in the gravel trap at Druids, second time round Gary Hufford and Andy Coombs ended up nose to nose, also at Druids, but managed to escape and rejoin the pack, which was now behind the safety car, after Martin Tolley and Kevin Taylor collected eachother at Paddock Hill Bend.

When the marshalls had cleared up, there was only time for a few laps of the shortened race, which provided an excellent dash to the line, both times Tom and Rob came past me they were side by side, which continued to the finishing line as they were only separated by 1/1000th of a second, with the yellow and black car of Rob Boston just infront.

A full gallery of images from the weekends racing can be found at LewisCraik Photography

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.

Formula 3 Racer Kat Impey suffers blown engine in final pre-season test

Formula 3 racer Kat Impey suffered a blown engine during her final official pre-season BRSCC F3 Cardinus Championship test at Silverstone, home of British motor sport and the 2010 Formula One British Grand Prix.

It was a hugely disappointing day for Impey, whose enrolment on the Motor Sports Association (MSA) Academy’s Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) programme marks her out as one of the UK’s most promising young drivers.

Impey said: “This couldn’t have happened at a worse time, as it’s just before the opening weekend of the season. We are running on an extremely tight budget and have no contingency for a replacement engine so early in the season. We are now busy trying to secure some additional funding to allow us to purchase a new engine in time for the next round at Snetterton in May, but it will be a tough challenge.”

Testng at Snetterton ©NorwichPhoto

Impey is currently inviting offers from potential sponsors while also working on her fitness regime at the Porsche Human Performance centre, a world-class facility based at Silverstone.

For further information please contact Kat Impey by email or (07828) 284308

The first round of the Cardinus BRSCC F3 series kicks off at Silverstone this weekend.    Whilst there are many single seater racing series in the UK, with Monoposto currently being the largest, only BRSCC F3 (formerly Club F3) has special dispensation to run at the ultra low ride heights that these cars were designed and originally raced at.  Everyone else races at 40mm.     One of the big differences between 15mm and 40mm is that the underbody aerodynamics work as intended, so you can run less wing, but still maintain the same levels of downforce, with less drag.

They can do this because all cars are period F3 cars running to original specificiations, both mechanically and for bodywork.     Tyres are control tyres from Avon, and fuel is provided by Sunoco.

Magic Motorsport’s Mark Harrison is looking to do well in what will be his third year of Club F3.   The former Monoposto and British Sprint Champion had a difficult first year, but towards the end of the season found a setup which worked well and was consistently fast throughout 2009, finishing the season with two third places, and 2nd overall in the Championship, however race victory eluded them.   They will be looking for race wins and podiums this season.

Kat Impey also joins the series with her ex-Rowan Racing Dallara F302 Mugen Honda.  The former Formula Jedi and Monoposto racer has been testing in her new car and had steadily improved her times.   Once she has got the car to her liking she will be fast.

For 2010 the Championship has been demoted to a Series, as the numbers of participants during 2009 was not enough to maintain championship status, but hopefully the economic recovery will encourage more cars out of storage and for BRSCC F3 to regain its championship status.

Formula 3 racer Kat Impey completed her third and final unofficial pre-season test at Silverstone, home of British motor sport and the 2010 British Grand Prix, in preparation for the opening round of the BRSCC F3 Cardinus Championship on 10^th-11^th April.

It was a productive day for Impey, whose enrolment on the Motor Sports Association (MSA) Academy’s Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) programme marks her out as one of the UK’s most promising young drivers.

Impey said: “It has been a difficult day’s testing due to the amount of traffic on the circuit, and it was very tricky to get a clear lap. However, I’ve made significant improvements which I’m very pleased about.”

Besides preparing her race car over the next two weeks, Impey will be working on her fitness regime at the Porsche Human Performance centre, a world-class facility based at Silverstone.

Source: Kat Impey
Photo: Norwich Photo

Owing to an influx of new drivers for the 2010 season Ma5da Racing, along with the BRSCC, have decided to change the format of race meetings. For the 2010 season, the Ma5das will be spilt into two groups for qualifying, with the qualifying times used to divide the field into 4 groups, with the 1st, 5th and 9th fastest going into group A, 2nd, 6th and 10th fastest into group B etc.

There will be up to 6 15 minute races, consisting of two groups, all groups will have three races, each time with a different group. This is a similar system to the Caterham Roadsports and should ensure plenty of exciting racing.