GT: Silverstone
TVR 1-2-3 in three hour spectacular!
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The dominance of the Moslers in the British GT Championship was finally challenged today at Silverstone in a three hour spectacular.
The race got off to a busy start with most of the drivers seeming to forget that this was an endurance race. The Rollcentre Mosler made off into the distance, obviously with a light fuel load whilst the Balfe Motorsport Mosler stayed with the rest of the pack behind.
The Corvette was battling hard as were the T400Rs and the Ultima. Positions were swapped and much excitement was had as the cars fought it out in the first few laps. The Corvette was to push too hard however taking itself and the Balfe Mosler out with it. The Mosler rejoined but the damage to the steering left it off its normal hot pace.
The Rollcentre Mosler was to suffer problems too. A gearbox glitch left the car with just fourth gear and it was nursed around to a credible fourth place.
The problems with the Moslers played into the hands of the TVR teams who despite various problems during testing an qualifying ran a faultless race. Piers Johnson, Shane Lynch and Ben McLoughlin stayed out of trouble and stayed in front to bring the Eclipse T400R home first for a much deserved win. John Hartshorne and Graeme Mundy finished in second with the CDL T400R of Gareth Evans and Steve Hyde in third. If only they'd adopted a Le Mans style three-abreast finish!
Other racers of note included the Masters Motorsport Ultima which finished in fifth place. The Ultima has experienced many problems in the past but the team appears to have got on top of things now (perhaps its the PH stickers) and put in an impressive performance dicing with the TVRs - a battle we look forward to in future rounds.
The RML Exige also ran at great pace, surprising many. It flew around the track finishing ahead of the Morgans and took fourth in GT Cup class. This is a car to watch. Now its form has been sorted, it should rattle a few cages on the smaller tracks.
This was the first three hour race to be run as part of the British GT series and it can be judged a great success. It truly tested the mettle of the teams and provided exciting racing to boot.
A good result for the GT series and an historic result for TVR!
Link: Results (apologies to the missing third drivers - our system can currently only cope with two drivers per car!), Points Table
. More good track development time for the car and its engine/gearbox (I take it is the sequential they're using
) in preparation for Le Mans, which is less than three weeks away now 
. It'll be interesting to see the team stratergy there, whether they go for a hare and tortoise(sp?) to show the true speed potential of the car or two tortoises over the 24hrs for a double podium finish
. Again congats to all involved, makes you proud to be apart of the marque
. Harry
HarryW said:
More good track development time for the car and its engine/gearbox (I take it is the sequential they're using
I'm pretty sure that they are sequential.
see this topic. www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=37064&f=37&h=0
I was confused too!!!
I'd calculated the fuel consumption and projected laps again and again, so we were pretty sure we could one-stop, but it was such a relief when we passed our 'danger time' before Piers said the 10 litre light was blinking.
When the regulator broke off the air bottle, during the stop, and we had to send Shane out on the old tyres we were more than worried, but he kept it together and looked after the them while Rob was catching at 5-6 seconds a lap. Rob needed more fuel, though, which allowed us to change the tyres (down to the canvas, with steel wire poking out!).
Brilliant race. These long distance ones are just full of tactics - I hope it was good for the spectators, because for us it was a real challenge and great fun, if a touch stressful: three hours without a cigarette!
For the people wondering about Le Mans, well, our gearbox is a Hollinger, while the Le Mans cars are running Hewlands, so there won't be much gained from that, sadly. It's a difficult comparison (particularly in terms of engines), because the characteristics of Le Mans are so different to Silverstone. At least they'll know that it's possible to run a fair time on the fuel, though...
God it feels good to win at last.
Steve @ Eclipse
[url]www.eclipseGTO.com[/url]
Forgot to say on the other thread, fantastic to see the Ultima finish at last, and loved the flames!!
Did anyone else think the Peninsula car's engine had a slightly higher pitch sound than the others? Help, i'm turning into an anorak...
Ahonen said:
Brilliant race. These long distance ones are just full of tactics - I hope it was good for the spectators, because for us it was a real challenge and great fun, if a touch stressful: three hours without a cigarette!
Steve @ Eclipse
Yes....it was good for the spectators.............
well done...
...a well deserved win //P//
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