Thruxton 14th/15th

[viperman]

any vipers entered this weekend? i hope so!

[egomeister]

One viper - here's the entry list.

1 GT Lister Storm Racing Mike Jordan / David Warnock Lister Storm
7 GT Graham Nash Motorsport Tommy Erdos / Ian McKellar Saleen S7-R
8 GT Graham Nash Motorsport Nathan Kinch / Robin Liddell Saleen S7-R
9 GT Graham Nash Motorsport Mike Newton / Chris Maries Saleen S7-R
17 GT Master Motorsport Steven Brady / Neil Cunningham Ultima Sport
19 GT Taylor's Foundry Motorsport Gerry Taylor / Paul Stephens Marcos LM600
27 GT TVR Engineering Limited Michael Caine / Rob Barff TVR Cerbera Speed 12
38 GT Desperado Racing / QM Engineering Randolph Watkins / Stephen Watson Chrysler Viper GTS-R
51 GTO Harman Kardon / OPC / Mobil Piers Johnson / John Hartshorne TVR Tuscan R
52 GTO Johnson's Motorsport Ltd / Unico Chemicals Matt Johnson / Robert Ross Lotus Esprit
55 GTO Rollcentre / Deutsche Bank / Texaco / Mole Valley Martin Short / Simon Pullan TVR Tuscan R
57 GTO EMKA Racing with Vent-Axia and Infinity Tim Sugden / Steve O'Rourke Porsche 911 GT3-R
77 GTO Preci Spark / Team Eurotech David Jones / Godfrey Jones Porsche 911 GT3-R
86 GTO Veloqx Motorsport Tim Mullen / Allan Simonsen Ferrari 360 GT
88 GTO Veloqx Motorsport Andrew Kirkcaldy / Jamie Davies Ferrari 360 GT
99 GTO Eclipse Motorsport Richard Stanton / Steve Hyde TVR Tuscan R

[viperman]

cheers egomeister! wicked, 3 saleens again! OH GOD, i think its risky runnig three, hes just asking for them to get smashed up!

[egomeister]

I can't share your enthusiasm about the 3 Saleens - I'm supporting the no 17 Ultima! It's a mission to get anywhere near the podium with 3 of them on the track (although they managed it at Oulton!)

Apparently the Colin Blower Ultima is back too.

[viperman]

no, you miss-read my post, im not a saleen fan, i think graham nash is asking for them to get samashed up running 3 cars worth £600,000 each+ !

[egomeister]

Sorry, bit of brain fade there...

Hopefully they will take each other out at the beginning allowing the Ultima to have a good fight to beat the viper to a podium

[viperman]

yeah! lol, in our dreams! it will be a saleen 1-2-3, they should f**** ban them but next year they are going to run 1 i think in the new GT0 class. i wish all teams other than saleen good luck in todays race, whats hapening with the stealth? they are really good when they work!

[sandman]

I'm confused .... someone please fill me in. I am fairly new to GT racing and am wondering why everyone is so down on the Saleen's. I went to watch the races and I was amazed at how much quicker the Saleen's were compared to the other cars!! Awesome. I was lap-timing the number 7 Saleen doing between 1:11-1:12 's - around 1 second quicker than anything else!!!!

[egomeister]

Exactly! No-one else gets a look in!

[GrahamG]

Hence time for tubby bye byes for the GT class next season!

[ultiman]

quote:
Exactly! No-one else gets a look in!

Egomeister, surely much of the difference is a result of different engine restrictions. lf the Saleens were restricted like the Ultima they would have less of an advantage. Does anyone know what the restrictions are that are currently in force?
Also, did the Colin Blower car make a reappearance? it would be good to see the two Ultimas racing together.

[backman]

Colin Blower's Ultima did make an appearance but retired after 31 laps. (dont know the reason for the retirement - sorry)

[egomeister]

I'm not sure about the restrictors. There are regs to state what size restrictors should be used depending on engine size etc. I think the Saleens may have had extra restictions imposed because they are so much faster.

The main reason they are faster than snything else is because they were originally designed as a race car, not a road car. The road cars were only built for homologation to allow them to race. I'm not sure how many road cars they have actually built but it isn't many for sure! The car was designed by RML (Ray Mallock) who were also responsible for the Vauxhall Cavalier and Vectra touring cars and the current Corsa Super 1600 rally car amongst others. They are running an ASCAR team now and they also ran Team St George (Darren Manning) in the CART race at Rockingham, so they have a racing pedigree!!

As for the Blower Ultima, I believe it retired with a gearbox problem. The #17 Master Motorsport Ultima of Steven Brady/Neil Cummingham was spun on the 4th lap by one of the GTO TVR's and recovered to finish 10th overall, 5th in class.

[egomeister]

Here are a few pictures I took:

Ultima
Viper
Ferrari
Tuscan
Rolling Start

>> Edited by egomeister on Wednesday 18th September 17:13

>> Edited by egomeister on Wednesday 18th September 20:17

[egomeister]

more photos added (see previous post)

[GrahamG]

The #7 Saleen has a restrictor and currently carries 90kg of ballast - At Thruxton #8 was also given a restrictor and was carrying 50kg of ballast.

[viperman]

good pics egomeister, what happened to the harmon/kardon tuscan? and the 360 NGT that DNF'd?

[egomeister]

The harmon/kardon tuscan was the one that spun off the #17 Ultima. It had to pit for about 4 laps for the team to apply gaffer tape....

No idea what happened to the 360.

[mutley]

The missing F260 had a suspected oil fire

[viperman]

the harman/kardon car looked like it had been through the wars! i dont like the dodgy bits of white on the red 360 NGT, its like frost!- hope you know what i mean!