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Britcar Silverstone race report - March 26th 2005

2005 has marked a change in the race format. Up to now all our races have been sprints lasting for between 20 and 45 minutes and with a single driver. This year all the events are multi driver endurance races lasting for between 2 and 5 hours.  The Willhire 24 hour at Silverstone also forms one of the rounds with invitational entries from other European championships and series.

Under the umbrella of the EERC, (European Endurance Racing Club), the Britcar series brings together some spectacular machinery. Where else can you see a Ferrari F40, battling it out with a Ferrari 360 or 355, a Porsche 911 GT3 or 911RSR, a Dodge Viper, a works DTM Opel, a BTTC Peugeot 405, a BMW works M3 or a special V8 M3 RSR, as well as entries from Lotus and Marcos two name but two. Then there are the drivers from all walks of motor sport. British touring car, former F1, veterans of Le Mans, British and FIA GT, single make championships and even the odd the odd gentleman racer . We`ve had to re-work the GT3 a little bit to cope with the demands of longer races and the boys at Jaz who run the car did a sterling job to get things ready in time. We`ve also had to boost team numbers in the pits to cope with driver swaps, re-fuelling and tyre changes. 

Endurance racing relies far more on teamwork than sprinting where once the car starts racing all the crew can do is watch on as spectators. In endurance racing a sharp driver change, re-fuel, timely tyre change or mid-race car suspension re-work can win races. Not only that but the wrong initial car set up or something overlooked in preparation means a car will destroy it`s self in 5 hours of hard driving. This first round was held on Silverstone`s international circuit,  a format I`d not driven in the past and testing on it is neigh on impossible. With that in mind Friday`s two 55 minute practice sessions were vital, any mechanical gremlins would be disastrous. Fortunately all went well and we were all set  for the big day. There was very strong competition both in terms of cars and drivers. 

British touring car veterans Kelvin Burt and David Leslie looked strong, Leslie particularly so if the weather turned nasty, he and partner Harry Handkammer perform well in their meticulously prepared BMW and as a pairing have vast endurance racing experience. Gavin Kershaw and Barrie Whight`s Lotus was always going to be in with a chance, as were the Ferraris of Ian Flux, Terry Coleman and Calum Lockie. Nigel Greensall, fresh from Le Mans, Daytona, Bathurst and just about every other international event involving 4 wheels looked strong partnering Philip Harris in his Porsche GT3. Car-wise the former DTM Opel of Steve Hirst and Rick Woods looked stunning with acres of Carbon fibre, (amazing what a full works budget can produce), as did the Cole brother’s  Ferrari 360 and the Sebastian / Jones Ferrari F40. Aaron Scott had teamed up with Greensall (driving two cars !), in a modified BMW mini – a real unknown especially if the weather turned nasty.

A busy rolling start saw me lose a few places, I was very aware there were 2 hours to go and didn’t want to get taken out on the first corner of my first Britcar race !  Halfway round the first lap things settled down and I began to assert the GT3 a little more. One of the joys of GT racing is discovering the strengths and weaknesses of individual cars. The two Marcos cars for instance carry good entry speed into a corner and behave well on the slower corners due to their superior weight balance and rigid chassis but they fall down on initial acceleration and ultimate speed. In the practice sessions I`d taken the time to follow as many of the cars as possible so had half an idea as to likely overtaking opportunities. The Ferrari F40 was an early casualty at Abbey with damage to the rear of the car and a wheel assembly that parted company from the main body of the car.

Inevitably the safety car was deployed, the marshals taking more than their usual care in loading the old girl onto the recovery truck. Not surprising with a price tag of £150,000 and body panels setting you back several thousand pounds a pop !  Once normal service resumed I set about clawing back a few places. No one was giving positions away but it was refreshing to see everyone doing their best to avoid contact. To that end I`m convinced I pushed the pads clean through the brake discs trying to avoid taking the back end of one of the Ferraris at Abbey. I had a bit of fun for a couple of laps looking for a way past. My perseverance paid off when the car, which had been getting more out of shape each lap, span at Brooklands and I snuck past. Not only that but the cars on my tail were forced to drop back to avoid being collected by the spinning car giving me some breathing space and time to look forward and press on.

The two Marcos cars were never far away with our GT3 the meat in their sandwich for a while.  Another Ferrari 360 provided some good racing and proved a little harder to un-nerve. I eventually managed to find a way past at Copse and then put in a few good laps to try and play catch up with the two Marcos cars, much to the delight of the pit wall I popped in our fastest lap of the day. The promised rain started sporadically just taking the edge off the track. Once again I played safe and backed off a little to conserve the car. The Porsche 911 RSR gave up the ghost at Abbey, partly I suspect as a result of an earlier out-braking excursion into the kitty litter at the same corner, (the marshals at that post must have wished they were paid on piece work - or paid at all for that matter!). Another victim of the same corner was the DTM Opel which ended up in the gravel but did manage to free it`s self for a while until fuel problems forced retirement.

Taking advantage of the safety car I dived into the pits to hand the controls over to Robbie. Whilst I`m not sure we`ll have any of the F1 teams quaking in their boots we managed our first re-fuel / driver installation without incident. 20 minutes or so into his stint the heavens finally opened and at the advice of our Dunlop tyre technician we swapped to full wets and put a wet suspension setting on the car but not before one of the Marcos cars lost the back end at Woodcote making what would probably have been a 110 mile an hour visit to the concrete wall. Thankfully the driver walked away with no lasting injury, the car was less fortunate and will need a couple of hours in the workshop before brands Hatch. Unfortunately the rain didn`t last and on a drying track Robie had to wrestle with a very loose car. He had a little play with Kelvin Burt`s Porsche GT3 now in the hands of co-driver Cameron re-taking a lap from them.   

At 17.56hrs David Leslie crossed the line to win the first round of the 2005 Britcar series. Just over a minute later Robbie crossed the line in car number 51 to take the chequered flag, we had finished a very credible 9^th from a starting field of 22 cars and achieved our goal of finishing the race. We have learnt some valuable lessons both in terms of driving the car and working on it during the race. There will be a few changes to make before Brands Hatch but I cant tell you what they are or I`d have to kill you. We don`t want to give all our secrets away now do we !   Thanks must go to the Jaz team based in Wembley who prepare the car. Porsche road car service specialist they run race cars because of a passion for the marque rather than to fund expensive lifestyles. Steve, Warren, Tony and Rob pulled out all the stops to make sure the car ran well, I know everyone always thanks their team but this driver really means it !

Finally thanks to Wilden Services and Rocket medical supplies. Without their support we wouldn’t` have had any wheels on our wagon ! Next stop Brands Hatch April 16th.

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