Snetterton - A Topcats eye view
Discussion
Report by Bob Skidmore
Another Fun-filled, Action Packed and somewhat cruel weekend was to be had on 20th 21st 22nd May at Snetterton. There was a great deal of thrills and spills as the races unfolded.
This was always going to be a busy one for the team as we were fielding all three cars in the 90 minute race on the Saturday and the two Marcos Mantis’ in the 5hr endurance race on the Sunday.
Car No. 2 TVR Tuscan Driven by Warren Gilbert in the 90 minute race on Saturday.
Car No. 42 Blue Marcos Mantis driven by John Harrison, Charlotte Gilbert, Dominic Lesniewski and Richard Gomes.
Car No. 43 Silver Marcos Mantis driven by Mick Mercer, Richard Fores and Luke Paillard.
It was great to see John Harrison back after his awful crash at Silverstone and a warm welcome was extended to Dominic Lesniewski as it was his first drive with Topcats. As well as the Topcats Trio, There was also the MGZR being driven by Kelly Mercer and Sarah Bennett-Baggs in the Production S1 Class.
Friday was test day, Saturday was qualifying followed by the 90 minute race and Sunday was a short qualifying period followed by the main 5 hour endurance race.
Friday dawned bright and sunny and we had a good days testing, one or two gremlins had snuck into Mick Mercers Silver Mantis (No. 43) during the night and were proving to be formidable opponents for Brian and Keith as they tried everything they new to eradicate an infuriating electrical problem. All through the day the Mantis would keep cutting out, then restarting, losing power then behaving again. None of these symptoms had been evident when the car was tested at Silverstone a couple of weeks ago, so came as a great surprise to Brian and Keith. All sorts of things were tried and by the end of the day, we still couldn’t be sure it had been sorted, but the lads had worked ridiculously hard and we could only hope. Apart from that, there were only one or two minor mechanical issues and the testing went smoothly for the other cars. The weather wasn’t too bad and most of the day was mainly dry with broken cloud, only the odd heavy shower here and there. With all three cars on the track we had our work cut out and after a long, hard day were all treated to a lovely meal and a few beers at a nearby hostelry before retiring to bed.
Saturday was a very early start; the morning was once again bright and sunny albeit a bit chilly. The cars were spannered and we got them all gleaming ready for the scrutineer. Qualifying was to start at 09:44 & we had to get all three cars out there on time which we managed to do without too much fuss.
The Gremlins were still in Micks Mantis, but we managed to get some good qualifying times.
Warren in the TVR Tuscan, qualified 6th on the grid, 2nd in class with a time of 1:13.509 & average speed of 95.59 MPH
Mick Mercer and Richard Fores in car 43 qualified 11th on the grid, 4th in class with a time of 1:14.909 & average speed of 93.81 MPH.
John Harrison and Charlotte Gilbert in car 42 qualified 13th on the grid 5th in class with a time of 1:14.966 & average speed of 93.73 MPH.
Kelly and Sarah had qualified 11th on their grid with 1:23.31 seconds in the production S1 race.
After qualifying, we were hard at it, getting the cars sorted for the race and we had only a few minutes to get the cars down to the collecting point. We rushed the Tuscan and Mantis No 42 & 43 out of the garage and lined up behind the exiting cars, before we could leave the pit exit the officials announced that the pitlane was now closed and refused to let Marcos No.42 out of the pitlane. Never have we seen such bloody mindedness and unnecessary force from circuit officials. Despite pleas to release us from the pitlane, after all their hard driving and good qualifying, the Blue Mantis had to start the race from the end of the pit lane and join at the back of the grid.
At 13:25hrs the race started with 24 eager, drivers on the grid and so had the drizzle. Rain and rough weather could be seen to the South of the circuit and was closing in. We started the cars on slicks, hoping for the best and anyway, the track was far too dry to run wets. After only 3 laps the Gremlins had started work and Mick’s car had cut out. He restarted her and brought her back to the garage for some more investigative work before being thrown back into the fray. Warren was going great-guns in the Tuscan, 4th overall, 2nd in class, John Harrison in No. 42 was in 20th position 6th in class, despite having to start from the pit lane. By lap 10 we had changed the wheels on all three cars as the showers had started some extremely heavy and at one stage, with three cars running, I think we were changing tyres more often than we were completing laps. By lap 13 Warren was 17th overall, Mick Mercer was 22nd 8th in class and John had spun in car 42 and was brought in for a change of tyres and was now 20th overall. Mick had to bring 43 in to the garage again as the electrical problems refused to go away. Warren was lapping at a really hot pace, a full second faster than anything else on the track and was currently 16th overall, 3rd in class after calling in for a tyre change. Lap 14 and the Safety car was deployed, which gave the lads a bit more time to work on car 43, the electrical fault proving very frustrating for all concerned. By lap 22 Mick was once again out on the track in car 43. The track was drying out again and Warren was hurtling round on wets, now 13th overall. Charlotte was now driving the Blue Mantis 42 and her last lap time was 1:27.3.
By Lap 30 Handkammer was leading the race, Warren had made his way to 10th overall/2nd in class, Charlotte was 19th overall/6th in class. Our luck was not going to hold and both the Marcos’ had to be retired, No. 43 with electrical problems after completing only 21 laps, No. 42, due to a serious tyre imbalance following a boot load of wheelspin which had forced the tyre to rotate around the wheel, initial concerns were that the driveshaft may have bent. This left Warren as the only hope for Topcats in this race. He did a splendid job bringing the Tuscan home 14th overall and 3rd in class and even set the second fastest lap time for the race of 1:14.150 seconds. He was only half a second slower than the Ford Falcon 6ltr car, very impressive indeed. All the drivers had proved their worth putting in some brilliant lap times, it was a real shame that fate was conspiring against them.
At one point, it rained extremely hard and a thunder storm arrived. The water was flooding down the paddock and Pit lane either side of the garage, making them more like rivers than roads. Unfortunately for us, it chose our garage to rush through and we spent a good deal of time with up to an inch of water in the garage. So much so that the circuit provided staff to help bail it out.
In the production S1 race, Kelly had a miraculous escape, after losing the car in the wet and taking to the Green stuff. She kept the car in one piece and was aided by the marshals in rejoining the track. The yellow flags were out and safety car deployed in order to get her recovered and rejoin the race, however, this was not to be. One of the cars, supposedly aware of the yellow warning flag, also lost control, left the Black Stuff and ploughed straight into Kelly, ‘T’ boning her just behind the driver’s door. The collision was hard enough to trap her in the car and made it necessary to cut the roll cage to get her out. Fortunately Kelly was not injured and that was a blessing, the car however, did not fair so well and will need a lot of work to get it back into race condition.
After the first 90 minute race there was a lot of work to be done and all sorts of everything to be tried and tested in order to track down 43’s electrical gremlin, including removing the Air Conditioning harness and eventually up rating a fuse. A completely separate problem had also been causing the Marcos to cut out, traces of oil were found around the alternator which had been acting as a barrier and stopping the charge, so it was off with the inlet manifold to find the leak and discovered that the engine builder (the Marcos had a new engine for this race) had drilled straight through to the crankcase! As there is a curfew on starting engines after a certain time in the evening, it was not possible to fully test the results and we were going into Sunday with our fingers crossed.
Sunday started out with plenty of broken cloud but quite bright, best of all, it was dry. There was a brief 15 minute qualifying period starting at 09:21hrs, where each of the drivers intending to race had to complete three laps. This was done successfully and all our drivers had qualified.
I checked the nuts and bolts on car 42, under the watchful eye and patient guidance of Geoff Clifton, and then changed the splitter on car 43, while Brian, Keith & Geoff set about the final preparation of the cars for the big race.
The race started at 13:19hrs with both the Topcats Mantis well down on the grid following Saturdays retirements, this was of no great consequence as in a 5 hour race, there is plenty of time for the drivers to settle down and get the cars through the pack, as Warren is often heard to say “the race will come to us”.
The cars set off in dry conditions with broken cloud and sunshine. Dominic Lesniewski was the first man out in car 42, with Mick Mercer taking the first stint in car 43. Our cars had a superb start and within the first few laps both had made up several places. By the 3rd lap Mick was 7th overall/2nd in class with Dominic 8th overall/3rd in class. Lap 4 saw the two Topcats cars swap places. On lap 7 the safety car was deployed. Lap 11 saw Dominic 5th/2nd and Mick 8th/3rd. Dominic was putting in blisteringly fast laps of 1:13.4 seconds. There was some concern about this, as in a 5 hour race it is important to conserve the car and maintain its reliability. Dominic was setting the place alight and the team were issuing instructions to take a second or two off the lap times. He was now in 4th/2nd.
Lap 18, 25 mins into the race, Dominic was maintaining his position and had adjusted his lap times to a more sustainable 1:14.5 Mick was still 8th/3rd also maintaining steady lap times 1:16.09 being his last lap time.
Lap 24 and everything was going great. Dominic was maintaining his position of 4th/2nd and steady lap times of 1:14. Mick was now 7th/3rd and matching Dominic’s lap times. The guys stayed with these figures and by lap 49 Dominic had achieved 3rd/2nd and was even catching up with the 2nd placed 600BHP Ford Falcon! Mick was lying 6th/3rd and quietly getting on with the job, we were all glad to hear that Mick was experiencing no further electrical or power problems and that the car was pulling like a train.. On Lap 48 it was worrying to see smoke coming from the rear of car 42, apparently gear or dif oil leaking.
Our first pit stop was 1m:29s as 2 fuel bottles had to be dispensed into the No. 43 car. Luke Paillard took the wheel rejoining the race 9th/4th.
Lap 63 saw Dominic bring 42 in for a pit stop and on inspection it was obvious we had to retire the car due to the oil leak. An oil seal on the sequential gearbox had gone which could only be replaced by opening up the gear box. This left car 43 our only hope. Luke Paillard had soon brought the car up to 3rd/1st.
2hrs 53mins to run and Luke was still 3rd/1st with 1m:14.4s.
The next pit stop/driver change was looming and Richard Fores was getting himself ready to do battle. We were anticipating a front near side wheel change, so had the necessary equipment and wheel out in pit lane.
Lap 118, 2hrs 25mins to go and we were 2nd/1st with a last lap time of 1m:14.4s
Luke brought the car in and we did a driver/wheel change and refuel in 1m:40s. Richard Fores rejoined the fray still 3rd/1st. Richard matching the respectable and sensible lap times of 1m:14s seconds. The drivers could squeeze more out of their times, but in the interest of reliability, this was the time they aimed to achieve.
The Holden/Falcon (2nd position) had oil problems and was a regular visitor to the pits. The Dockerill Porsche had suffered punctures and also made unscheduled stops; our car had taken the lead and was going well with a lap ahead of the second placed Porsche, Richard Fores doing a sterling job. 1hr 49mins to go and Richard was leading the race and even put in a lap time of 1m.13s just to prove his pace before settling down again into the 14s.
Another Pit Stop/Driver change saw Mick Mercer take the wheel for the last stint. His lap times 1:15.4 the Dockerill Porsche was taking 3 seconds a lap out of us and it was going to be a close run thing at the end, however, he had to do another pit stop. Mick Soon started reporting the brakes had “gone long” i.e. the pedal was travelling further than it should. There could be several reasons for this, brake fluid boiling, wheel bearing seizing etc. It was causing problems for Mick and slowing his lap times to 1:15.2. The Dockerill Porsche overtook Mick as they came down the pit straight which meant that the Porsche had unlapped itself from us and was now on the same lap as Mick and closing fast. Now we had Mick in our Mantis (1:15.2), the Dockerill Porsche (1:12) and Calum Lockies Ferrari 360 GT (1:13.8) all battling for the top 3 places. Micks brakes were getting worse and the other two cars were obviously informed by radio that our Marcos was slowing hence their quick lap times to try to catch us. It was going to be a very tight finish.
31 minutes (about 25 laps) to go and we were still leading, all the lap times were being maintained and two heavy showers were approaching the circuit. With a wet track and failing brakes his lap times were dropping to 1:26. The other two cars were gunning for us and gaining fast.
23 minutes 33 secs to go and the Marcos gave up the ghost. Mick brought her in to the Pit lane but couldn’t reach our garage. We all raced like Greyhounds down the pit lane and pushed the car home, where we removed the rear near side wheel. Our worse fears had been realised, the wheel bearing had seized, the CV joint had sheared in half & the brake callipers had blown apart. This was in no small part attributed by the fact that the extra power we were getting from our new engine was putting more strain on other mechanical components. The resultant heat had started a small fire and I had to quickly deal with that while Brian and Keith battled valiantly with the wheel/suspension. We had by now given up our lead to the Dockerill Porsche and Calums Ferrari was in 2nd place. It soon became evident that we would not be able to continue and had to retire the car. We considered pushing her up to the finishing line so that the driver could take her over it thus scoring another lap and maybe a higher finishing position. We were told that we had already earned the finish and soon worked out that we were that far ahead of the next placed car that we wouldn’t gain anything by doing this, which was fortunate as the wheel at this point was stuck inside the wheel arch, so we just sat and watched the race unfold. The Dockerill Porsche took the chequered flag, with Calum Lockie’s Ferrari a close second. Our guys lost 19 laps to the leaders due to the retirement, but still finished 8th overall and 2nd in class as the other 4 cars in our class failed to classify. It was small consolation that both the winning Porsche and 2nd placed Ferrari admitted that the race win should have been ours, but still, thats motor racing and congratulations and a big "well Done" to the victors.
So, a hard, exciting and cruel weekend but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Brands Hatch is the next round on 25/26th June. Porsches and Ferraris beware!
Another Fun-filled, Action Packed and somewhat cruel weekend was to be had on 20th 21st 22nd May at Snetterton. There was a great deal of thrills and spills as the races unfolded.
This was always going to be a busy one for the team as we were fielding all three cars in the 90 minute race on the Saturday and the two Marcos Mantis’ in the 5hr endurance race on the Sunday.
Car No. 2 TVR Tuscan Driven by Warren Gilbert in the 90 minute race on Saturday.
Car No. 42 Blue Marcos Mantis driven by John Harrison, Charlotte Gilbert, Dominic Lesniewski and Richard Gomes.
Car No. 43 Silver Marcos Mantis driven by Mick Mercer, Richard Fores and Luke Paillard.
It was great to see John Harrison back after his awful crash at Silverstone and a warm welcome was extended to Dominic Lesniewski as it was his first drive with Topcats. As well as the Topcats Trio, There was also the MGZR being driven by Kelly Mercer and Sarah Bennett-Baggs in the Production S1 Class.
Friday was test day, Saturday was qualifying followed by the 90 minute race and Sunday was a short qualifying period followed by the main 5 hour endurance race.
Friday dawned bright and sunny and we had a good days testing, one or two gremlins had snuck into Mick Mercers Silver Mantis (No. 43) during the night and were proving to be formidable opponents for Brian and Keith as they tried everything they new to eradicate an infuriating electrical problem. All through the day the Mantis would keep cutting out, then restarting, losing power then behaving again. None of these symptoms had been evident when the car was tested at Silverstone a couple of weeks ago, so came as a great surprise to Brian and Keith. All sorts of things were tried and by the end of the day, we still couldn’t be sure it had been sorted, but the lads had worked ridiculously hard and we could only hope. Apart from that, there were only one or two minor mechanical issues and the testing went smoothly for the other cars. The weather wasn’t too bad and most of the day was mainly dry with broken cloud, only the odd heavy shower here and there. With all three cars on the track we had our work cut out and after a long, hard day were all treated to a lovely meal and a few beers at a nearby hostelry before retiring to bed.
Saturday was a very early start; the morning was once again bright and sunny albeit a bit chilly. The cars were spannered and we got them all gleaming ready for the scrutineer. Qualifying was to start at 09:44 & we had to get all three cars out there on time which we managed to do without too much fuss.
The Gremlins were still in Micks Mantis, but we managed to get some good qualifying times.
Warren in the TVR Tuscan, qualified 6th on the grid, 2nd in class with a time of 1:13.509 & average speed of 95.59 MPH
Mick Mercer and Richard Fores in car 43 qualified 11th on the grid, 4th in class with a time of 1:14.909 & average speed of 93.81 MPH.
John Harrison and Charlotte Gilbert in car 42 qualified 13th on the grid 5th in class with a time of 1:14.966 & average speed of 93.73 MPH.
Kelly and Sarah had qualified 11th on their grid with 1:23.31 seconds in the production S1 race.
After qualifying, we were hard at it, getting the cars sorted for the race and we had only a few minutes to get the cars down to the collecting point. We rushed the Tuscan and Mantis No 42 & 43 out of the garage and lined up behind the exiting cars, before we could leave the pit exit the officials announced that the pitlane was now closed and refused to let Marcos No.42 out of the pitlane. Never have we seen such bloody mindedness and unnecessary force from circuit officials. Despite pleas to release us from the pitlane, after all their hard driving and good qualifying, the Blue Mantis had to start the race from the end of the pit lane and join at the back of the grid.
At 13:25hrs the race started with 24 eager, drivers on the grid and so had the drizzle. Rain and rough weather could be seen to the South of the circuit and was closing in. We started the cars on slicks, hoping for the best and anyway, the track was far too dry to run wets. After only 3 laps the Gremlins had started work and Mick’s car had cut out. He restarted her and brought her back to the garage for some more investigative work before being thrown back into the fray. Warren was going great-guns in the Tuscan, 4th overall, 2nd in class, John Harrison in No. 42 was in 20th position 6th in class, despite having to start from the pit lane. By lap 10 we had changed the wheels on all three cars as the showers had started some extremely heavy and at one stage, with three cars running, I think we were changing tyres more often than we were completing laps. By lap 13 Warren was 17th overall, Mick Mercer was 22nd 8th in class and John had spun in car 42 and was brought in for a change of tyres and was now 20th overall. Mick had to bring 43 in to the garage again as the electrical problems refused to go away. Warren was lapping at a really hot pace, a full second faster than anything else on the track and was currently 16th overall, 3rd in class after calling in for a tyre change. Lap 14 and the Safety car was deployed, which gave the lads a bit more time to work on car 43, the electrical fault proving very frustrating for all concerned. By lap 22 Mick was once again out on the track in car 43. The track was drying out again and Warren was hurtling round on wets, now 13th overall. Charlotte was now driving the Blue Mantis 42 and her last lap time was 1:27.3.
By Lap 30 Handkammer was leading the race, Warren had made his way to 10th overall/2nd in class, Charlotte was 19th overall/6th in class. Our luck was not going to hold and both the Marcos’ had to be retired, No. 43 with electrical problems after completing only 21 laps, No. 42, due to a serious tyre imbalance following a boot load of wheelspin which had forced the tyre to rotate around the wheel, initial concerns were that the driveshaft may have bent. This left Warren as the only hope for Topcats in this race. He did a splendid job bringing the Tuscan home 14th overall and 3rd in class and even set the second fastest lap time for the race of 1:14.150 seconds. He was only half a second slower than the Ford Falcon 6ltr car, very impressive indeed. All the drivers had proved their worth putting in some brilliant lap times, it was a real shame that fate was conspiring against them.
At one point, it rained extremely hard and a thunder storm arrived. The water was flooding down the paddock and Pit lane either side of the garage, making them more like rivers than roads. Unfortunately for us, it chose our garage to rush through and we spent a good deal of time with up to an inch of water in the garage. So much so that the circuit provided staff to help bail it out.
In the production S1 race, Kelly had a miraculous escape, after losing the car in the wet and taking to the Green stuff. She kept the car in one piece and was aided by the marshals in rejoining the track. The yellow flags were out and safety car deployed in order to get her recovered and rejoin the race, however, this was not to be. One of the cars, supposedly aware of the yellow warning flag, also lost control, left the Black Stuff and ploughed straight into Kelly, ‘T’ boning her just behind the driver’s door. The collision was hard enough to trap her in the car and made it necessary to cut the roll cage to get her out. Fortunately Kelly was not injured and that was a blessing, the car however, did not fair so well and will need a lot of work to get it back into race condition.
After the first 90 minute race there was a lot of work to be done and all sorts of everything to be tried and tested in order to track down 43’s electrical gremlin, including removing the Air Conditioning harness and eventually up rating a fuse. A completely separate problem had also been causing the Marcos to cut out, traces of oil were found around the alternator which had been acting as a barrier and stopping the charge, so it was off with the inlet manifold to find the leak and discovered that the engine builder (the Marcos had a new engine for this race) had drilled straight through to the crankcase! As there is a curfew on starting engines after a certain time in the evening, it was not possible to fully test the results and we were going into Sunday with our fingers crossed.
Sunday started out with plenty of broken cloud but quite bright, best of all, it was dry. There was a brief 15 minute qualifying period starting at 09:21hrs, where each of the drivers intending to race had to complete three laps. This was done successfully and all our drivers had qualified.
I checked the nuts and bolts on car 42, under the watchful eye and patient guidance of Geoff Clifton, and then changed the splitter on car 43, while Brian, Keith & Geoff set about the final preparation of the cars for the big race.
The race started at 13:19hrs with both the Topcats Mantis well down on the grid following Saturdays retirements, this was of no great consequence as in a 5 hour race, there is plenty of time for the drivers to settle down and get the cars through the pack, as Warren is often heard to say “the race will come to us”.
The cars set off in dry conditions with broken cloud and sunshine. Dominic Lesniewski was the first man out in car 42, with Mick Mercer taking the first stint in car 43. Our cars had a superb start and within the first few laps both had made up several places. By the 3rd lap Mick was 7th overall/2nd in class with Dominic 8th overall/3rd in class. Lap 4 saw the two Topcats cars swap places. On lap 7 the safety car was deployed. Lap 11 saw Dominic 5th/2nd and Mick 8th/3rd. Dominic was putting in blisteringly fast laps of 1:13.4 seconds. There was some concern about this, as in a 5 hour race it is important to conserve the car and maintain its reliability. Dominic was setting the place alight and the team were issuing instructions to take a second or two off the lap times. He was now in 4th/2nd.
Lap 18, 25 mins into the race, Dominic was maintaining his position and had adjusted his lap times to a more sustainable 1:14.5 Mick was still 8th/3rd also maintaining steady lap times 1:16.09 being his last lap time.
Lap 24 and everything was going great. Dominic was maintaining his position of 4th/2nd and steady lap times of 1:14. Mick was now 7th/3rd and matching Dominic’s lap times. The guys stayed with these figures and by lap 49 Dominic had achieved 3rd/2nd and was even catching up with the 2nd placed 600BHP Ford Falcon! Mick was lying 6th/3rd and quietly getting on with the job, we were all glad to hear that Mick was experiencing no further electrical or power problems and that the car was pulling like a train.. On Lap 48 it was worrying to see smoke coming from the rear of car 42, apparently gear or dif oil leaking.
Our first pit stop was 1m:29s as 2 fuel bottles had to be dispensed into the No. 43 car. Luke Paillard took the wheel rejoining the race 9th/4th.
Lap 63 saw Dominic bring 42 in for a pit stop and on inspection it was obvious we had to retire the car due to the oil leak. An oil seal on the sequential gearbox had gone which could only be replaced by opening up the gear box. This left car 43 our only hope. Luke Paillard had soon brought the car up to 3rd/1st.
2hrs 53mins to run and Luke was still 3rd/1st with 1m:14.4s.
The next pit stop/driver change was looming and Richard Fores was getting himself ready to do battle. We were anticipating a front near side wheel change, so had the necessary equipment and wheel out in pit lane.
Lap 118, 2hrs 25mins to go and we were 2nd/1st with a last lap time of 1m:14.4s
Luke brought the car in and we did a driver/wheel change and refuel in 1m:40s. Richard Fores rejoined the fray still 3rd/1st. Richard matching the respectable and sensible lap times of 1m:14s seconds. The drivers could squeeze more out of their times, but in the interest of reliability, this was the time they aimed to achieve.
The Holden/Falcon (2nd position) had oil problems and was a regular visitor to the pits. The Dockerill Porsche had suffered punctures and also made unscheduled stops; our car had taken the lead and was going well with a lap ahead of the second placed Porsche, Richard Fores doing a sterling job. 1hr 49mins to go and Richard was leading the race and even put in a lap time of 1m.13s just to prove his pace before settling down again into the 14s.
Another Pit Stop/Driver change saw Mick Mercer take the wheel for the last stint. His lap times 1:15.4 the Dockerill Porsche was taking 3 seconds a lap out of us and it was going to be a close run thing at the end, however, he had to do another pit stop. Mick Soon started reporting the brakes had “gone long” i.e. the pedal was travelling further than it should. There could be several reasons for this, brake fluid boiling, wheel bearing seizing etc. It was causing problems for Mick and slowing his lap times to 1:15.2. The Dockerill Porsche overtook Mick as they came down the pit straight which meant that the Porsche had unlapped itself from us and was now on the same lap as Mick and closing fast. Now we had Mick in our Mantis (1:15.2), the Dockerill Porsche (1:12) and Calum Lockies Ferrari 360 GT (1:13.8) all battling for the top 3 places. Micks brakes were getting worse and the other two cars were obviously informed by radio that our Marcos was slowing hence their quick lap times to try to catch us. It was going to be a very tight finish.
31 minutes (about 25 laps) to go and we were still leading, all the lap times were being maintained and two heavy showers were approaching the circuit. With a wet track and failing brakes his lap times were dropping to 1:26. The other two cars were gunning for us and gaining fast.
23 minutes 33 secs to go and the Marcos gave up the ghost. Mick brought her in to the Pit lane but couldn’t reach our garage. We all raced like Greyhounds down the pit lane and pushed the car home, where we removed the rear near side wheel. Our worse fears had been realised, the wheel bearing had seized, the CV joint had sheared in half & the brake callipers had blown apart. This was in no small part attributed by the fact that the extra power we were getting from our new engine was putting more strain on other mechanical components. The resultant heat had started a small fire and I had to quickly deal with that while Brian and Keith battled valiantly with the wheel/suspension. We had by now given up our lead to the Dockerill Porsche and Calums Ferrari was in 2nd place. It soon became evident that we would not be able to continue and had to retire the car. We considered pushing her up to the finishing line so that the driver could take her over it thus scoring another lap and maybe a higher finishing position. We were told that we had already earned the finish and soon worked out that we were that far ahead of the next placed car that we wouldn’t gain anything by doing this, which was fortunate as the wheel at this point was stuck inside the wheel arch, so we just sat and watched the race unfold. The Dockerill Porsche took the chequered flag, with Calum Lockie’s Ferrari a close second. Our guys lost 19 laps to the leaders due to the retirement, but still finished 8th overall and 2nd in class as the other 4 cars in our class failed to classify. It was small consolation that both the winning Porsche and 2nd placed Ferrari admitted that the race win should have been ours, but still, thats motor racing and congratulations and a big "well Done" to the victors.
So, a hard, exciting and cruel weekend but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Brands Hatch is the next round on 25/26th June. Porsches and Ferraris beware!
Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff