Rollcentre Racing
Discussion
Ok, now I know it isnt TVR specific, but these guys properly established themselves within this community through racing Tuscans and then the Cerbera GTO/ Tuscan R/T400R - they were the people that took TVR back to GT racing on a larger scale. As a result, I, like many TVR fans - always wish them well and like to keep track of them/ support them whenever they enter races internationally. Unfortunately, thier website doesnt seem to have been updated in a while and I was wondering if things are going ok for them? I know they've kept racing in GT (or atleast have done recently) - but I havent seen anything about them heading back to Le Mans??
Just want to find out if anyone knows anything about Shorty and the team? Would love to see them return to Le Mans sometime, having seen what they were capable of at times, I cant help but feel they have unfinished business there?? This is all off the back of the recent TVR success in GTCup, it got me thinking.
Thanks for any further information.
BCA
Just want to find out if anyone knows anything about Shorty and the team? Would love to see them return to Le Mans sometime, having seen what they were capable of at times, I cant help but feel they have unfinished business there?? This is all off the back of the recent TVR success in GTCup, it got me thinking.
Thanks for any further information.
BCA
Rollcentre and more specifically Shorty is still racing, but Moslers not LMPs. After Deutsche Bank pulled their sponsorship during the financial crisis, that was it for the Le Mans efforts. Since then Shorty has focussed on developing the Mosler side of the business - he is Mosler Europe and builds cars for sale here, in Europe and as far afield as Autralasia and Japan.
His racing has mainly been in the Dutch Supercar Challenge where there is a Mosler Challenge within the main races. He also does the odd Britcar round and the Britcar 24.
In the interim he did some British GT, but there were some protests and daftly written regs and the Mosler was booted out one year which I think left rather a bad taste in his mouth.
We raced against him 2 weeks ago at Donington. He has a new 'Super GT' Mosler out - despite our 500bhp he left us for dead.
His racing has mainly been in the Dutch Supercar Challenge where there is a Mosler Challenge within the main races. He also does the odd Britcar round and the Britcar 24.
In the interim he did some British GT, but there were some protests and daftly written regs and the Mosler was booted out one year which I think left rather a bad taste in his mouth.
We raced against him 2 weeks ago at Donington. He has a new 'Super GT' Mosler out - despite our 500bhp he left us for dead.
If you want to hear what the Tuscan R sounded like in 2001 from inside ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ebPRjwEWfI&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ebPRjwEWfI&fea...
Thanks to Holden racing for the updates.. Yes the Rollcentre website is in dire need of an update, but watch the space as they say. Meanwhile Mr Short thanks you for your interest and you might find the Mosler.co.uk website up to date. Martin has been racing in Dutch Supercar with much success over the last few years.. a series he really loves.. yes many problems with British GT, but onwards and upwards. and if you are on facebook check out the Rollcentre page.
Hi all.
Nice to see we haven't been forgotten! My TVR roots still run deep i am pleased to say, and I did notice the recent TVR success : ) Well done!
As Andy has kindly pointed out, once we knew that our 9 year sponsor,( found for us by TVR enthusiast himself Chris East) was being hit by the oncoming crisis, I sold the Pescarolo (sadly) asap, knowing full well that these cars devalue very quickly (I still have the two LMP 900 Oreca Dallaras that served us so well).
We had an amazing time with TVR, thanks to Peter Wheeler, Mole Valley TVR and Deutsche Banks support, and I do like to think that we were the cornerstone of TVR finally getting to Le Mans (again). Sadly, TVR treated us a little poorly at later times, and I needed to look elsewhere. i was actually supposed to drive in the TVR at Le Mans, but after another stressful episode with a certain blonde PR supremo (you know who you are ; ), I needed another direction, and Mosler was the way. WhenIi showed the Mosler in the paddock at Thruxton, that rather finished it all off.......
Thanks to Deutsche Bank, we had just the most amazing seasons after that, winning BGT with the Mosler, and then on to Le Mans.......well via Sebring first as the ACO couldn't actually believe that a BGT team now owned 2 LMP900 cars, and were asking to race at Le Mans. They were rather concerned. Those concerns waned after 10 hours or so of Sebring and the positions were Audi, Audi, Rollcentre Dallara, Audi.......sadly a broken throttle cable put us back to 5th overall, but after that, we had an excellent relationship with the ACO. Our 4th overall in 2007 was the highlight. Highest result by a private team (and I don't include Aston Martin in that!) for well over a decade. And we actually lead outright for half a lap! I was in the car and the guys wouldn't tell me......I knew something was odd as the helicopters were over me.....I just figured the Audis must be close!
The Mosler in the meantime has been a source of great times, and great frustration, with the SRO first allowing us into GT3, and then (with input from the FIA) not.....its been a long and troubled road, which culminated in the British GT rules not actually allowing us to race in our own championship due to incompetence at the SRO, and another team decided to remove the main opposition by clever use of the wording in the regs, and we were thrown out of the championship after 75% of the season. There was no appeal process. The MSA were very unhappy about it, but had to abide by the rules. They kindly made sure that the organisers, the SRO, were persuaded to ensure that we should be racing in 2010, and that we did.
Sadly though, we then realised, that whenever we did well, we were hammered with weight, ride height etc, until we were made to be at least 2 seconds off the pace, with a car so heavy it was criminal. We were unable to be competitive. We were given extra 'Balance of Performance' weight and rideheight at Rockingham for a pole position and finishing second, meanwhile the Porsche that had a pole and won both races and then went on to WIN the championship, was given nothing......
I protested to the Stewards of the Championship, who were sympathetic, but the regulations (again) tied their hands. The SRO had the final say. So we were stuffed. I asked the MSA this year to make sure that any competitor who felt their car was un-equally 'equalised' (god I hate this equalisation crap......thats why TVR era was so good....build a car to the regulations and race it....) could appeal to a power beyond the SRO. That didn't happen. So I haven't entered this year.......and it was no surprise that our loyal Mosler driver Gregor Fisken went to the Porsche. He realised that he would never be allowed to compete equally in the Mosler in that arena.
Anyway, a bit of a shaggy dog tale, but thats why we have given up on BGT, which looks like its doing rather well this year.
We have built now 4 Super GT Moslers, and I last raced my own Mosler Europe one a few weeks ago at Donington in the wonderful Dutch Supercar Series. I lead both races by a mile, but some silly new car tech issues resulted in a best of a second place. We build those cars to the regulations, which allow for innovation, aero work, development etc within a power to weight ratio.
The link for the start of race 2 is here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlPRp__qe-M
Its a bit of fun, 14th to 3rd in about two thirds of a lap.
In the meantime, its a struggle to survive with the current climate and with my cars effectively 'banned' from mainstream competition.
We are just starting a rebuild on a March 84G IMSA GTP car and I am hoping that this will head us into a historic race car business as another string to our bow. We are still building the occasional Mosler, and supporting the Moslers around Europe and as far afield as Australia (where fair play and competition is still seen as the standard to achieve).
We have a few road cars here, and still hope to get one of them on Top Gear. The road cars are still built in the USA, the race cars are all built here in Cambridgeshire.
Warren Mosler has got his USA Mosler Automotive company up for sale, and we at Mosler Europe would support any new buyer.
We still long to head back to the Le Mans Series and Le Mans, but that will take significant sponsorship, or philanthropic support. We live in hope!
On a final note, regards the Mosler race cars eligibility, see below: I have put this in for a bit of fun, to show that at least one person fought our cause........as you can tell, I am rather passionate about our cars......apologies for the boredom if you made it this far!
Original Message -----
From: peter
To: Bureau.GT@fia.com ; 'Stephane Ratel'
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 9:22 AM
Subject: FW: Mosler GT3
Dear All,
When we ask the Commission to consider the eligibility of the Mosler, I believe we must ask them to not only look at whether the car meets the FIA homologation requirements, but also define the philosophy of GT cars.
There seems to be a feeling that only the Grand Marques really count, and all the jumped up, racecar-based road GTs that people are trying to develop are in a different class.
Perhaps we should consider the history of the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Maserati.
When they started, only a few cars were built, and they were raced to prove them, advertise them and create an image. They didn’t have to build 25 cars first. If they were a technical advance (e.g. V-12 engine) over the cars already in production and/or being raced, they were applauded.
We have to provide a means by which people are able to repeat this process, but balance their performance to make fair competition. We cannot decide what future road cars look like, and we cannot set a criteria that a manufacturer that did not exist in the 1960s is ineligible.
Best regards,
Peter
Peter Wright.
FIA Technical Adviser
Peter was ignored sadly.
All the best. Martin Short.
Nice to see we haven't been forgotten! My TVR roots still run deep i am pleased to say, and I did notice the recent TVR success : ) Well done!
As Andy has kindly pointed out, once we knew that our 9 year sponsor,( found for us by TVR enthusiast himself Chris East) was being hit by the oncoming crisis, I sold the Pescarolo (sadly) asap, knowing full well that these cars devalue very quickly (I still have the two LMP 900 Oreca Dallaras that served us so well).
We had an amazing time with TVR, thanks to Peter Wheeler, Mole Valley TVR and Deutsche Banks support, and I do like to think that we were the cornerstone of TVR finally getting to Le Mans (again). Sadly, TVR treated us a little poorly at later times, and I needed to look elsewhere. i was actually supposed to drive in the TVR at Le Mans, but after another stressful episode with a certain blonde PR supremo (you know who you are ; ), I needed another direction, and Mosler was the way. WhenIi showed the Mosler in the paddock at Thruxton, that rather finished it all off.......
Thanks to Deutsche Bank, we had just the most amazing seasons after that, winning BGT with the Mosler, and then on to Le Mans.......well via Sebring first as the ACO couldn't actually believe that a BGT team now owned 2 LMP900 cars, and were asking to race at Le Mans. They were rather concerned. Those concerns waned after 10 hours or so of Sebring and the positions were Audi, Audi, Rollcentre Dallara, Audi.......sadly a broken throttle cable put us back to 5th overall, but after that, we had an excellent relationship with the ACO. Our 4th overall in 2007 was the highlight. Highest result by a private team (and I don't include Aston Martin in that!) for well over a decade. And we actually lead outright for half a lap! I was in the car and the guys wouldn't tell me......I knew something was odd as the helicopters were over me.....I just figured the Audis must be close!
The Mosler in the meantime has been a source of great times, and great frustration, with the SRO first allowing us into GT3, and then (with input from the FIA) not.....its been a long and troubled road, which culminated in the British GT rules not actually allowing us to race in our own championship due to incompetence at the SRO, and another team decided to remove the main opposition by clever use of the wording in the regs, and we were thrown out of the championship after 75% of the season. There was no appeal process. The MSA were very unhappy about it, but had to abide by the rules. They kindly made sure that the organisers, the SRO, were persuaded to ensure that we should be racing in 2010, and that we did.
Sadly though, we then realised, that whenever we did well, we were hammered with weight, ride height etc, until we were made to be at least 2 seconds off the pace, with a car so heavy it was criminal. We were unable to be competitive. We were given extra 'Balance of Performance' weight and rideheight at Rockingham for a pole position and finishing second, meanwhile the Porsche that had a pole and won both races and then went on to WIN the championship, was given nothing......
I protested to the Stewards of the Championship, who were sympathetic, but the regulations (again) tied their hands. The SRO had the final say. So we were stuffed. I asked the MSA this year to make sure that any competitor who felt their car was un-equally 'equalised' (god I hate this equalisation crap......thats why TVR era was so good....build a car to the regulations and race it....) could appeal to a power beyond the SRO. That didn't happen. So I haven't entered this year.......and it was no surprise that our loyal Mosler driver Gregor Fisken went to the Porsche. He realised that he would never be allowed to compete equally in the Mosler in that arena.
Anyway, a bit of a shaggy dog tale, but thats why we have given up on BGT, which looks like its doing rather well this year.
We have built now 4 Super GT Moslers, and I last raced my own Mosler Europe one a few weeks ago at Donington in the wonderful Dutch Supercar Series. I lead both races by a mile, but some silly new car tech issues resulted in a best of a second place. We build those cars to the regulations, which allow for innovation, aero work, development etc within a power to weight ratio.
The link for the start of race 2 is here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlPRp__qe-M
Its a bit of fun, 14th to 3rd in about two thirds of a lap.
In the meantime, its a struggle to survive with the current climate and with my cars effectively 'banned' from mainstream competition.
We are just starting a rebuild on a March 84G IMSA GTP car and I am hoping that this will head us into a historic race car business as another string to our bow. We are still building the occasional Mosler, and supporting the Moslers around Europe and as far afield as Australia (where fair play and competition is still seen as the standard to achieve).
We have a few road cars here, and still hope to get one of them on Top Gear. The road cars are still built in the USA, the race cars are all built here in Cambridgeshire.
Warren Mosler has got his USA Mosler Automotive company up for sale, and we at Mosler Europe would support any new buyer.
We still long to head back to the Le Mans Series and Le Mans, but that will take significant sponsorship, or philanthropic support. We live in hope!
On a final note, regards the Mosler race cars eligibility, see below: I have put this in for a bit of fun, to show that at least one person fought our cause........as you can tell, I am rather passionate about our cars......apologies for the boredom if you made it this far!
Original Message -----
From: peter
To: Bureau.GT@fia.com ; 'Stephane Ratel'
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 9:22 AM
Subject: FW: Mosler GT3
Dear All,
When we ask the Commission to consider the eligibility of the Mosler, I believe we must ask them to not only look at whether the car meets the FIA homologation requirements, but also define the philosophy of GT cars.
There seems to be a feeling that only the Grand Marques really count, and all the jumped up, racecar-based road GTs that people are trying to develop are in a different class.
Perhaps we should consider the history of the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Maserati.
When they started, only a few cars were built, and they were raced to prove them, advertise them and create an image. They didn’t have to build 25 cars first. If they were a technical advance (e.g. V-12 engine) over the cars already in production and/or being raced, they were applauded.
We have to provide a means by which people are able to repeat this process, but balance their performance to make fair competition. We cannot decide what future road cars look like, and we cannot set a criteria that a manufacturer that did not exist in the 1960s is ineligible.
Best regards,
Peter
Peter Wright.
FIA Technical Adviser
Peter was ignored sadly.
All the best. Martin Short.
All the best with trying to keep your cars on the racetrack Martin, you can always count on the TVR lot to cheer you on whenever you're at any event. Thanks for posting, I just thought about the moment where you led at Le Mans and with the recent successes of the privateer entries in GTCup, the thought of a return to Le Man for the Rollcentre team would just top things off nicely. Definitely unfinished business there for rollcentre (to me atleast!)
I hope you get a huge sponsorship deal soon and are able to return, we'll probably make a return to Le Mans ourselves just in support.
I still have/ use Rob Barff's old racing gloves from the Spa win all those years ago in the TVR! It is the closest I got to joining you guys, for the moment atleast...
All the best with things for the future.
Thanks for posting, I just thought about the moment where you led at Le Mans and with the recent successes of the privateer entries in GTCup, the thought of a return to Le Man for the Rollcentre team would just top things off nicely. Definitely unfinished business there for rollcentre (to me atleast!)I hope you get a huge sponsorship deal soon and are able to return, we'll probably make a return to Le Mans ourselves just in support.
I still have/ use Rob Barff's old racing gloves from the Spa win all those years ago in the TVR! It is the closest I got to joining you guys, for the moment atleast...
All the best with things for the future.
Just a fan, who bought the gloves from Rob (asking specifically for those...) They are still, I am sure you'll both be glad to know, used for porsche hunting on trackdays in the old Cerb and soon to be used in the T350c. Yes, I know thats immature and its not really racing at all (of course) but still, makes me smile.
Janatrollcentre said:
BCA: thanks for joining the Rollcentre Facebook page . Hope to see you at a racetrack soon. Come along and say hello to the team.
I will do, could you possibly give us a brief run down of future race meetings? I had a quick look on the Facebook page but couldn't see any future events listed (though this is perhaps because I haven't looked hard enough!) . Hope to see you at a racetrack soon. Come along and say hello to the team.BCA said:
I will do, could you possibly give us a brief run down of future race meetings? I had a quick look on the Facebook page but couldn't see any future events listed (though this is perhaps because I haven't looked hard enough!)
Sorry for the delay in reply.. so used to FB giving you a nudge when there is a thread..!This season has been less than settled for all the reasons given above by M. and plans have been fluid! Dutch Supercar at Assen next weekend, Mosler SuperGT car is being tucked up in the transporter and going over midweek.. and there will probably be an entry at Spa in DSC. Group C - again hopefully an entry in that to be announced, but car in rebuild at the moment. Because of the current climate and one or two other projects still under wraps the racing calendar is a bit Ad Hoc this year!! I will try and keep it up to date as and when the dates are firmed up- try the Events
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