Garage.Awesome.

EVENT: Time Attack 2012 – Club Challenge – Rd1 – Cadwell Park

Posted: 8th May 2012 by Ollie in Motorsport
Tags: Ben Shimmin, Cadwell park, Chris Hamer, Club Challenge, Cross Roads Subaru, Eurospec, GTR, Milltek, MSA, Pro-R, Richard Marshall, Ronnie Amis, Steve Fitzpatrick, Steve Peel, Time Attack, Umar Masood

Whilst the Pro classes really draw the crowds to see the very best of the best of the tuning world do battle, there is always that feeling of it being ‘out of reach’, don’t get me wrong, these tuners and teams put hours of work & development, skill & knowledge into all of their cars and are at the peak of awesome, but for your average trackday hero or modified enthusiast it’s just a little out of most people’s budget to begin to compete with these guys, heck these guys can lap a circuit faster than the BTCC drivers!

Fortunately for all of us, we have the Club Challenge class which provides us with a real spectacle of varying cars, varying budgets and to a certain degree, varying driving talents. There is no other motorsport in the world where you can pit your trackday prepared hot hatch against a fire breathing 4WD monster, against a classic rear wheel drive Ford against… well, you get the idea!

Club Challenge class really allows anyone to experience what it’s like, in fact if all goes to plan at the end of the year, we will be able to tell you exactly what it’s like as I’m hoping to give the Snetterton 200 round a go myself so I can offer you first hand experience of what it’s like to line up in the pitlane at a Time Attack event! This year sees many familiar faces from years gone by and many changes to their cars but it also adds an element of the unknown as a selection of new drivers, cars and One Hit Wonder entries take to the track and cut their teeth in this amazing series for the first time, so “how did it all pan out?” I hear you cry.

Positioning myself perched over the pit wall in the center of the track for the first session was a brilliant place to be, not only did I get to watch the field of 28 cars come down the hill and take their place ahead of the green flag dropping for the first time in 2012, but I could also see Coop positioned at the top for the action as the cars exited the slippery hairpin & Barn sections of the track therefore knowing we had the action covered, but I also had the company of Gerry Atkinson’s crew who were truly amazed by the TSL mobile timing screen I had open on my generic fruit-based mobile telephone device, and allowed them to put away the old school stopwatch they had to time Gerry’s eventful laps!

This is what I love about Time Attack, sure BTCC is epic and you get to meet the drivers in a crowded pitlane, but for modified enthusiasts, Time Attack is the holy grail and it’s so easy to feel part of it, to be talking to the drivers and teams to find out about their cars that they all are more than willing to talk about or drinking in the bar the night before with Ronnie Amis & Jonny Fletcher (*cough, for example..). Back to the action and the green flag dropped on warmup with 28 cars streaming out all ready to test their Winter’s hard work, Time Attack 2012 was go.

Club Challenge class has a few classes within the club bracket, this year we have Club Rear Wheel Drive, Club Front Wheel Drive, Club 4 Wheel Drive and a Club Naturally Aspirated class. The first man to appear back into view on the first lap was Ben Shimmin in the Pro R Impreza who eventually went on to be the quickest man in the session in a car that’s undergone some changes but is still recognisable as ‘Shirley’; the car that Jon Mathers took to victory in the championship last year, Jon coincidentally was driving the Course car inbetween sessions. Rich O’Dwyer had some of the big guns really worried as he managed to get what we believe to be the quickest 1/4 mile mini in the country round the track just under a second behind Shimmin and topping his FWD class although being a OHW entry he would be unable to earn championship points even if his form continued.

We went to see Richard Marshall test at a Trackday a few weeks ago, again at Cadwell, which resulted in a small off, but the car was repaired and was brutally fast on the straights, but the GTR is a big car to be throwing around a narrow, damp Cadwell. Defense of Bo Nielsen’s title was off to a good start, 4th overall on the time sheet in the Astra and topping his FWD class for championship points was just what he needed after the car has had more work breathed into it at his main sponser; Forge Motorsport. Tony Hume was another OHW who instantly impressed, his Evo looked fairly tame in bodywork but was flying over the mountain and put in some impressive laps, hope we see more of him this year! Neil Holden was another driver who tested at Cadwell a few weeks before and his TDI North FN2 Civic Type R lead the N/A class from Steve Fitzpatrick’s BMW E46 M3 and Robert Burkinshaw’s Honda Integra DC5.

Robert Dixon, who we spotted mastering the art of sticker placement in the wind and rain earlier, took an early lead in the rear wheel drive class, but with him being a OHW also, it was the constantly on fire RX7 of Umar Masood that ranked the highest. The rest of the field were just gauging the tricky conditions, although others found other problems would hamper their efforts with James Procter in a stunning and rare Civic FD2 Type R returning to the pitlane early on, but minus his front bumper, Marc Kemp’s Evo looks almost unrecognisable from last year’s car despite it being the same one but a broken pin on his gearbox linkage saw him having to sit it out, and Jonny Fletcher managed to put some laps in in the Astra, but transponder problems left him with no idea of his initial pace.

Switching my vantage point to the Hall bends for the practice session, which was declared wet, meaning that all drivers would be out on their chosen list 1A tyre, meaning the times wouldn’t be comparable to the earlier session, but would show who had the grip in the pouring rain! The heavy rain brought patches of standing water and it was no surprise that the 4 fastest times were all set by the 4WD entrants, with Shimmin making it 2 out of 2 at his first ever event and really impressing us with the way he handled the Impreza. Dave Coe returns for another year and hands down wins the Garage Awesome award for the largest rear spoiler, the extra downforce pushed him to second followed by another great drive from Hume and a stunning performance for a driver who you usually find in the Dutch series; Evert Thomas and his amazing Audi S2.

Despite the wet, Mike Cantelo took charge of the RWD class, with a few VX220s rumoured to be involved this year, he showed the pace that took Jimmy White, who has to sit this year out due to the much more difficult task of first time parenthood, to the 2011 title. Holden again not only topped the N/A class but stayed within the top 7 cars overall, much helped by his comparable lack of power and extra grip I’m sure, interestingly enough he was quicker than the leading turbo FWD cars which in this session wasn’t Bo, but Simon Smail, who put his Sitech Focus RS, which unless we’re mistaken, is sporting the front end of a 2010 Team AoN Focus BTCC car, on the top of the list. The rest of the rear wheel drive cars struggled for grip with Ronnie Amis & Umar Massod coming past me with the back end hanging out on a few occasions. Simon Deaton was very tip-toey in his lovely Porsche 964, Simon, who last time we saw him involved in Time Attack was driving a bright pink Evo, which is now a bright purple Evo driven by Alan Freeland in the Club Pro class! Gordon Wright seemed to be having a few issues in his Skyline and Alistair Bryne was demonstrating just why the 200SX S14 chassis is such a popular drift car, but also demonstrated superb car control, often gathering it all up after getting back on the power a tad early in the wet put him into a slide.

It wasn’t just the rear drive boys struggling, 4WD front runner managed to get his 800bhp Evo totally sideways coming through the Hall bends after his N/S/R tyre just brushed the slippery kerb, but managed to get away before anyone came round the bend to find him stranded in the middle of the track! The same fate befell Gerry Atkinson, his FWD Seat Leon Supacopa managed to do almost the exact same thing and after a short grass detour, he was back on his way to the 10th quickest time of the session. Marc Kemp had yet another nightmare with coilpack issues meaning he didn’t manage a hot lap at all!

Then the real nitty-gritty started, as both Coop and I stood towards the top of the mountain knowing that the drying track would really make these cars fly, it was the best place to be! Lee Bullen in his Impreza is a solid OHW driver, he has had decent results in the past, would be great to see him involved in a full championship battle and was quick out the blocks, his car leaping over the mountain and the first to put in a hot lap, but would leave the session after completing that one. Steve Peel hasn’t been mentioned yet but spent the first 2 sessions there or there abouts, his Evo three seems to set up really stiff, another one not only leaping up the mountain but often on three wheels on the corners leading up to it, and with huge smoke clouds as he would catch the limiter, the power he needed was obviously there and put him second overall and gained the first set of championship points. Chris Hamer proved he lost no confidence in the Team Eurospec Evo from his earlier spin getting within 0.2secs of Peel and making it 2 new-to-the-championship drivers, in the top 3. The first time Ben Shimmin was off the top spot, but only just he was less than a second behind the leader and lined up 4th.

Bullen slipped down to 6th with Marshall still struggling to tackle the twisties in the GTR, but was way quicker than anyone through the 2 speed traps making his way to 5th with Coe 7th and Hume 8th overall. 9th saw the fastest FWD car, with Gerry Atkinson putting in a quick lap before totally missing the first corner braking point and for the second time of the day found his Leon skidding across the grass right up to the top of the hill between Coppice & Mansfield. With O’Dwyer a good 4 secs off Gerry’s pace it left a good battle between him, the second Mini of David Ward, Jonny Fletcher and Smail’s Focus, regular competitor; Antonio Giovinazzo remained running in his Alfa, but still is lacking the initial pace to keep up with the class leaders. Less than a second separated the top three rear drive cars, Cantelo holding on in the Vauxhall from Deaton and Amis with Masood and Bryne starting to make use of the drying track and moving up the board. Both Fitzpatrick and Burkinshaw managed to topple Holden’s grip on the N/A class, with the latter coming out on top before managing to put his Integra backwards into the barriers causing some minor damage and a series of yellow flags.

But topping the entire qualifying session was Marc Kemp, who had no idea until he spotted me as he was returning to the paddock and take a peek at my TSL timing screen only to then immediately point out that he was still on wets, so had managed to run fastest, on the wrong tyres! What a fantastic drive from Marc!

The final loomed, the field down to 23 cars, meaning more space available out on track to set that oh-so-special winning time, and the man to take full advantage was Steve Peel, who quite simply outclassed the field in his Evo putting in a time not only 1.5 secs faster than anyone else, but a time that would have seen him 4th in all the pro categories, Kemp managed to recover what could have been an awful day but when it mattered and on the right tyres made second place whilst it was only right that Ben Shimmin would taste the podium champagne on his first outing after such an impressive performance. Marshall, Bullen, Coe, Thomas and Hume made up the top 8 with just over 4.5 seconds separating all of them and with Coe only managing 1 final lap, 6th was a fantastic result. One man who didn’t have a great final was Hamer, after the Eurospec team were busy repairing Romain’s car, Chris’ head gasket chose a bad time to give up, costing him a real chance to be fighting for the lead finishing a lowly 16th, but there is plenty more to come from both car and driver and with giant killing Romain as a teammate, you can’t discount a genuine championship chance. Gerry Atkinson continued his impeccable record of managing to visit the grass at least once a session, this time at the mountain, but his time was fast enough to gain full FWD championship points ahead of Ward and a first-ever Time Attack podium for Jonny Fletcher in the Astra GSI.

The closest of the classes was without doubt the RWD, half a second was all that separated the top 4 drivers wit Deaton narrowly missing out on the podium. Umar Masood took the third step behind a triumphant Cantelo and class winner Ronnie Amis in the Sierra Cosworth in a lap record breaking time too, must be the JD & Coke Ronnie! Despite a poorly looking Integra, Rob Burkinshaw hung on for the win in the N/A class but as far as the championship goes, Burkinshaw’s OHW status meant it was ‘Fitz’ in the Beemer that claimed the top spot with Holden’s Civic second.

So, there we have it, some amazing action at the wet Lincolnshire venue, our next stop in just under 5 weeks is the gorgeous Knockhill, where we are expecting all the action and then some as we are likely to see some extra cars in the form of both OHWs and full season entrants whose cars just couldn’t make it to Cadwell. So it’s a fond farewell to round 1 as we look ahead to round 2 and all the shenanigans that goes with this incredible motorsport, which of course we will be covering every inch of.

Words – Ollie // Pictures – Ollie/Rich

EVENT: Time Attack 2012 – Pro/Club Pro – Rd1 – Cadwell Park

Posted: 6th May 2012 by Ollie in Motorsport
Tags: Alan Freeland, Cadwell, Cadwell park, Club Pro, David Leigh, Gareth Lloyd, Gavin Renshaw, Jamie Wilson, NR Autosport, Pro, Pro Extreme, Rd1 2012, Rob Cowling, SVA Imports, Time Attack

Finally, it has begun! It seems like an eternity since we packed up our things and left Snetterton back in September last year as the Champions of 2011 were crowned, and pretty much every day since then we have been gearing ourselves up and getting way too over-excited in anticipation of the opening of the 2012 UK Time Attack series and as ever, we will bring you season long coverage of the entire championship!

Now, it’s fair to say our excitement levels have increased 10 fold since the new tyre regulations were announced, this appears to have spurred on some drivers to get heavily involved and even come back to the championship in cars that have been developed away from Time Attack. We have been (pretty much) stalking the drivers and teams on social network sites, we have been at trackdays and testdays and even been down to visit some cars being prepared, all in anticipation for this very day!

Cadwell Park was the Round 1 host, a familiar track for some, a stranger to others and for all, mixed in with the rather changeable weather conditions a real challenge to find out just how well they have improved their cars and in some cases, if they worked at all! As always we shall start with the Pro classes round up followed by all the action from the Club classes shortly after.

With warm up being held on a damp but drying track, it immediately threw the teams into a tyre-based quandary, with some opting for the slicks & road-legal track tyres, whilst others fearing the grip levels and lack of run-off at the Cadwell Park circuit, opted for wets. Our focus on the Pro class actually covers 4 separate classes, with the Club Pro & Pro classes being allowed on the road legal MSA List 1b tyre and the Pro 2WD & Pro Extreme this year being allowed full slick tyres!

Club Pro saw many of last year’s crowd returning, with Russ Paton, Walter Morris, Dave Jackson, Warren Kelly, Neil Robertson & Rob Cowling all fighting out the 2012 Championship, but would this year be joined by Romain Levesque, who will compete the entire 2012 season as a Club Pro car. Jamie Wilson, who we last saw in 2010 in the Exige & Scott Robson, who again was oh so close to claiming the title in 2010, was out in his RA Motorsport Developments Impreza. Andrew Barbour also joins the list after making the step up from a successful season in Club class last year, his NR Autosports prepared Evo has undergone some surgery too since we last saw it.

David Leigh was the only competitor to run in the Pro 2WD class at Cadwell, so his Leon just had to survive the day for the win, and Duncan Graham’s last minute push to get the car ready wasn’t enough, leaving last year’s champions Gavin Renshaw and the Metro 6R4 of Mark Pollard to scrap it out in the Pro class. Finally, Pro Extreme would see the highly anticipated return of Gobstopper, and Driver; Olly Clark along with previous champion; Gareth Lloyd & the Midland Performance run Skyline of Marcus Webster, which sadly would also not make it in time for Cadwell.

Lloyd dominated warm up, with his time over 5 seconds quicker than anyone else, showing just how quick these cars are on slick tyres, and the reason he has been chosen to drive the Redbrick Racing Evo in the World Time Attack series! Gavin Renshaw was the closest man and topped the Pro class charts whilst the SVA Imports Evo, which in previous years has never seemed to deliver its potential, climbed to the lead of the Club Pro class, 3 seconds ahead of Jamie Wilson’s Lotus. Olly Clark, Scott Robson, Romain Levesque & Rob Cowling were all out, but failing or faulty transponders meant that they had no recorded times to compare.

Practice was a whole different ball game, with a ‘Wet Race’ declared, the entire field would need to be using their wet option tyres and would see the lap times grow by 4/5 seconds a lap. Although many of these cars are 4WD, getting 500, 600, 800+ bhp onto wet tarmac is no easy task, and the job in hand was amplified for the FWD CRX of Romain Levesque, whilst Pro 2WD competitor; David Leigh sat this one out along with Olly Clark and the Gobstopper Impreza. Gavin Renshaw finished the session at the top of the time sheets, with Lloyd & Pollard behind. Andy Barbour took his first session win as a Club Pro competitor, his Evo really is looking quick and looks like loads of work has gone into the car over the off season. Scott Robson was quick but seemed to be having teething issues, Neil Robertson & Alan Freeland were hot on their heels too, with Freeland showing off his new striking Purple and Yellow livery. Morris was another struggling with issues, Russ Paton blew a silicone hose after only 3 laps and Rob Cowling, who hasn’t managed to run his freshly built Evo in yet, failed to put a quick lap in and of course you can ready the Ameon Racing story, later in the week!

After a dinner break, the track had managed to dry out and the first points of the year would be contested over the 20min qualifying session. Jamie Wilson lead early on before the see-saw of the lead went between Lloyd & Renshaw who, despite actually running in different classes, were locked in a gripping battle for the overall fastest time. Lloyd came out the eventual victor with a stonking 1.28.701 sec lap, beating Renshaw by a fraction over 1 second, although it wasn’t until his 9th and final lap when he could pull the magic time out of the bag. Jamie Wilson grabbed the first Club Pro points putting the Exige at the top, but both Alan Freeland and Andy Barbour were within touching distance of his time. Levesque’s day worsened with an off causing damage to the front & rear of his giant-killing CRX. Scott Robson also struggled, the car had lost its earlier pace and had developed some kind of misfire at the top end of his rev range, a problem shared by Rob Cowling. Olly Clark’s day ended early but not after he had put on an epic display, flying over the Mountain on almost every lap.

The way the day had panned out meant the final was always going to lead to some drama, with Walter Morris, who if memory serves us correct was using teammate Marcus Websters 2011 car (F2 MWM) & Olly Clark out it left 12 cars to contest the session, however only 11 appeared into the pitlane from the holding area with the missing car being NR Autosports’ Evo and driver; Renshaw. despite frantic efforts from the team, they were unable to start the car in the holding area and consequently missed out on the session, and the chance of first round points. The remaining 11 gave a great show, there was always going to be one man to post the fastest time and with both Renshaw & Clark out, Gareth Lloyd ran an almost exhibition style display posting the fastest time of the day, some 7 seconds ahead of anyone else on the track and with it took the Pro Extreme win in the Bob Moore racing Evo.

The Club Pro was a fierce battle, in the end the first 3 were separated by under 1 second, but it was Jamie Wilson who marked his Time Attack return with a fantastic victory, Andy Barbour flew the flag for NR Autosports with a great second place and Alan Freeland, who despite leading early on, took the final podium spot in his flying Evo. Romain Levesque and his CRX must give the 4WD boys sleepless nights, he managed to not only get his FWD car into 5th in the Club Pro, just 2 seconds off Wilson’s best time, but he did it with most of his aero kit and downforce in the pitlane after his previous off rendered them useless! What a car!

Bit of a frustrating day for Rob Cowling who, despite getting quicker, was struggling with a lack of testing in the Ameon Evo. Robson’s misfire had not gone away, costing him top-end speed and Russ Paton had to pull in just past the pits after his Evo ran into problems. David Leigh managed to steer his Leon round to win the Pro 2WD class by default, just hoping that we get to see some of the cars that were sidelined today in 4 week’s time at Knockhill. I’m sure Duncan Graham, Marcus Webster & Warren Kelly are already at work on their vehicles in preparation!

Time Attack is back, and back with a bang. OK, so the weather was pants in places but the action was hot! Having Gobstopper out was a great treat for the crowds, Lloyd showed just how fast a Time Attack car can be, but for us, just the sights and sounds of what we saw today will replay over in my head right up until they’re refreshed when we hit Knockhill for Round 2. We love Time Attack, and are so pleased that it’s back for the year and that we are involved in the whole operation! Huge well done to all the drivers and if you have missed it… you only have 6 chances left to see these guys in action this year! Log on to www.timeattack.co.uk for more info and results.

Words – Ollie // Pictures – Ollie & Rich

EVENT: Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship & Britcar Production Cup – Silverstone – Rd1 2012

Posted: 19th April 2012 by Ollie in Motorsport
Tags: 2012 MSA British Endurance Championship, Abra, BMW, britcar, Endurance, GT, Morcillo, Mosler, MSA Britcar, Production Cup, Seat, Silverstone

With the apparent rush to get our own projects completed, and visiting various sites, businesses and race tracks around the UK to get the lowdown on all the 2012 information, it’s left us with a fairly hectic start to the season, and that has meant that a couple of reports have been festering on my desk that we really need to get out there for you to see & enjoy!

Now, as I’m sure you’re aware, we are no strangers to the Britcar Endurance Championship, we covered a good handful of the rounds last year and if you asked any of the team what their favourite event to enjoy and work at, it’s safe to say the end of year 24hr race would; in Family Fortunes style, be the top answer!

Whilst some of us were sunning it up at Santa Pod, Coop was trackside at Silverstone and inhabiting the pitlane to give us fantastic coverage of the first rounds of both the main championship races and the Production classes, and with there being no official media day for the 2012 season and only an entry list to go off, there is plenty of new and improved cars that we managed to uncover!

For the first time and no doubt due to the popularity of the championship, we saw the field run 2 separate races. Last year would see the production classes called in after they had completed their race distance and the remainder of the field in the hunt for the overall British Endurance Championship title would continue running until their longer race had run its course. So with the production class out first, that’s where we will begin our coverage starting with a qualifying run-down.

The teams with the fantastic Seat Leon Supercopas dominated the qualifying pace with an astonishing 3 of the top 4 places being upheld by the Leons with only Michael Symons managing to put his BMW M3 amongst them. The Sub-Zero Wolf Team took pole with ex-BTCC driver Adam Jones putting in a lap over half a second faster than his nearest rivals and the entire field of 28 Production cars spanned a 26 second time bracket around the Silverstone GP Circuit.

The 90min Production race was a great spectacle, with a huge variety of cars to enjoy and follow through the race. The Leons were joined by a handful of superb BMW M3s, Civic & Integra Type Rs, some Mini Coopers, a couple of MX5s, Clio Cup cars, the lightweight Ginetta G40 and even a Seat Toledo! Of course, not all of these cars were in the same class, within the Production bracket there were 5 classes to be won.

The race was dramatic, the same as you would expect from a short, single-make, circuit race and the endurance fans were treated to an epic battle! Mark Cunningham quickly moved his Leon up to the front of the grid where it remained for his stint, accruing a huge gap over his closest rivals. Peter Cunningham took over and although they remained in the lead, gearbox issues meant that the Symons BMW was taking time out of their lead each lap, unfortunately the time was being made up by the over-zealous driving style and despite warnings for exceeding the track limits on numerous occasions, the team were issued a drive through penalty.

The trouble didn’t stop there, as upon entering the pits, the rather frustrated team came in a little too hot which really annoyed the man upstairs, which in this case was the clerk of the course and on lap 34, 9 minutes from the end of the race, the team were disqualified from proceedings. The battle up front continued and the drama went right to the wire as the struggling Cunningham team were caught and passed by Richard Abra’s BMW with only 3 minutes to go, leaving the MP Motorsport team victorious. Symons had set the fastest lap in the class. Class 2 saw another ex BTCC star; Mike Jordan bring his Eurotech Integra home 7 seconds ahead of the Topcats Leon.

Over in the main race, which was contested over a traditional 3 hour event, the action remained fierce with some truly amazing sounding and looking machines out on the track, we don’t say this unless we really mean it, but an endurance race is not a bore and we urge you to give it a go and go witness these cars for yourselves!

Mike Millard lead for most of the qualifying session in his stunning Rapier SR2 only to be pipped at the post by the Michelotto Ferrari F430 driven by Andy Schulz & Paul Bailey. They were also pipped at the end of the session leaving pole position to be occupied by a Mosler driven by Javier Morcillo.

The first of the Topcats Marcos Mantis found itself 4th overall and topping the Class2 list with its sister car 6th overall separated by yet another Marcos driven by Chris Beighton. In the remainder of the classes we saw a hugely mixed grid, just like we witnessed in the Production class, with more Ginettas, BMWs, Lotus Elises & Evoras, Ferraris and a pair of Chevrons.

The race saw the 21-car field spread out fairly quickly and Richard Abra, fresh from his Production victory finding it much harder going, retiring his car after just 5 racing laps. Steve Gugliami is a name we have come across before, the ex Time Attack driver, partnered up with Jeff Mileham in their Elise, managed a 1st in class and 9th overall result, always nice to see drivers we have followed in other series make a sideways step and try something totally different.

Martin Byford may have struggled to get to grips with the AmD Milltek BTCC Golf, but behind the wheel of his Lotus Evora, he topped his class and managed to cause a real stir, running 6th overall and only 4 laps down on the lead drivers at the chequered flag! The Jones/Tiley Topcats Marcos managed just over half way before they had to retire, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom as the O’Neill/Huggins car had a clean race and not only managed the Class 2 win, but also stood second overall.

From the start it was a 3 way battle for the lead, Morcillo in the Mosler, Schultz in the 430 and Millard in the Rapier, right away the top 3 pulled a gap over the rest of the chasing pack. Schulz took the early lead with Morcillo right behind. Soon after, the Mosler got past and the Rapier was after the F430 aswell, Morcillo started pulling a gap and after roughly 45mins in, the Rapier managed to put a move on the Ferrari as it was hurting its tyres in the battle to hold its position. The Motionsport Lotus Elise was in after a couple of laps with a misfire, they sent it back out but not long after was back in again, didn’t take them too long to sort before it was back out at full pace. Motionsport’s new Ferrari 458 Challenge car had a decent race but has some oversteer and they are looking forward to getting the Aero on but despite this managed 7th overall.

An hour in, and the Mosler was way in front but after they pitted after 75mins to hand over to Cintrano, they came back out in the lead but not by much, Heward was in the Rapier and taking chunks of time out of them every lap. The Bullrun Evora made it to half race before needing to come in for its pitstop, and at the end of hour 2 this had got them up to 4th overall. Bailey/Schulz had problems, caused when pitting, and lost 20 laps fixing them.

The Mosler had a lucky break after a pitlane speed infringement saw them gain a penalty, although their luck resumed as the closing Rapier was in trouble with suspected electrical problems, and despite its speedy recovery to the pits, they were too many laps down to put in a challenge, allowing Morcillo to take his place behind the wheel for the last stint and cruise to the chequered flag to take first blood in the Championship Season.

2 Fantastic endurance races at Silverstone, the diverse nature of the cars, the enthralling racing and welcoming staff & teams are the main reasons that here at Garage Awesome we add these dates into our calendar as one of the first and ‘must get to’ championships of the year, and as we have previously stated, it’s certainly worth trying to get there yourselves! Next races are happening this weekend as the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship takes on its next 3 hour race at Donington Park and of course another 90mins of action from the Britcar Production Cup. We will be there, and of course full coverage right here once the action is over! For all your Britcar needs, head over to www.britcar24hr.co.uk to find dates, news and all the classified results.

Words – Ollie // Pictures – Rich

EVENT: The Fast Show 2012 – Santa Pod Raceway

Posted: 28th March 2012 by Ollie in Modified Car Events, Uncategorized
Tags: 1/4 mile, drag racing, ESC, Modified, RWYB, Santa Pod, Santa Pod Raceway, Show & Shine, The Fast Show 2012

Not a moment too soon has the 2012 Modified Show season burst into life, after what seems like an eternity of Winter and not enough snow to keep us occupied, we have been anticipating and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and there is usually no better place to get the feeling and love back than the first show of the year which for most happens to be Santa Pod’s; The Fast Show.

Now, ever since the demise of the traditional season opener; ‘Donny’, The Fast Show has taken the reins and given modified petrolheads the chance to get out nice and early in the season, run their cars up the strip to test the new power, gauge trends in the show and shine area, watch some clever drifting and, let’s be honest, have a piss up with the rest of your club! Usually there is a price for this early enjoyment, no we’re not talking about the entry fee, usually The Fast Show is accompanied by hypothermia, wet feet, chattering teeth and the hard working Santa Pod crew desperately drying the track before the next downpour…

This year, however, the team pulled off the unthinkable; sunshine! We had near on 20ºC of glorious sunshine, not a cloud in the sky let alone a rain cloud, we came home without feeling like polar explorers, in fact we picked up Sunburn, that’s SUNBURN at The Fast Show! Top marks Santa Pod, we will take that weather for every event please!

Consequently the show was huge, by far the biggest Fast Show since I’ve been going and I’d be hugely surprised if it wasn’t the biggest ever, both fields were packed with campers on the Saturday night and reports from people entering the show on the Sunday claimed over 2 miles of modified cars queuing to get in. So with the sun on our backs and the place jumping with everyone full of enthusiasm, let’s get in amongst the action!

Firstly some housekeeping, the standard attractions that are a staple part of the Santa Pod diet were all there, we had the Terry Grant Stunt Show, including a rare slip up when he ‘parked’ his Legend race car into his TVR. The Drift What You Brung boys and girls were playing in the same pen as Terry, probably a bit small compared to what they are used to, but with the ongoing development of Santa Pod evident, the guys are running out of space! The ‘Pod’s very own Monster Truck was in action as well as the ‘Red Dragon’ giving you a chance to actually go out as a back seat passenger in a Monster Truck! No trip to Pod would be complete without various runs from Fireforce Jet car, an attraction that just never gets boring, I’d love to know how many times I’ve seen that car run, each time just as good as the last!

For those wanting to test their own car against the legendary Santa Pod quarter mile there was plenty of opportunity, with a full RWYB programme all weekend and no bad weather breaks to contend with. The cars kept coming round keeping the startline and timing staff busy all weekend. Sure, there was some cars run that don’t need to be mentioned in regards to their time but overall the level of RWYB seemed to be pretty quick with lots of cars running down into the 13, 12 and even 11s over the weekend!

As far as the RWYB winners went, Matt Marsden’s mighty, green Pug 205 took the Class A win (FWD N/A) running through in a 12.6. Class C (RWD/4WD N/A) saw Ian Tune’s Kadett run 11.9 and in the boosted sections Chris Green’s Golf went 11.8 in the B Class (FWD + Power Adder). I had the pleasure of being trackside when Stuart Nice launched his white RX7 on its way to the class D (RWD/4WD + Power Adder) win with a highly impressive 11.1. The non road legal class winner was Ian Cox’s Ford Escort Mk2 RS2000, who narrowly missed out on a 10 second pass.

Away from the track for a moment we swing our attention to the crowded Show and Shine Paddock, now we do have a slight grumble with this, no fault of Santa Pod’s or the Autoglym Show and Shine officials, but if you’re not going to clean your car and make the effort required for a show and shine competition, then go park somewhere else or leave it in the campsite. Too many cars were in that just weren’t presented to the standard that is required. And we’re not going on about taste and style here (otherwise there is a good few we wouldn’t have even let in the main gates!), just if you are Show and Shine-ing then make the effort to Show and Shine it, not use it as a convenient parking space!

The trophies for the Show and Shine were given out to some owners who had bothered to make that effort, with the top prize – Best Of Show, making its way to Anita Bestwick with her black and pink Vauxhall Tigra. The top 5 were worthy winners in our eyes, Scott Austin won USC overall in his Skyline and picked up a top 5 place at Fast Show along with another previous winner; Tony Nelson and his Fiesta. Aaron Taylor’s Signum is also no trophy stranger, if my memory serves me correctly he picked up Best Interior at USC, this time he was part of the top 5 and Chris Coghill’s smart Polo was the final recipient. The Judge’s Choice went to a rat look Golf, not our cup of tea, but we can’t fault Dom Clarke’s dedication and actually turning out a smart rat look car… if that’s at all possible!

There we have it, the Show Season is officially underway and what a start! The Fast Show was a huge success, and if one observation sums up just how good it and the weather was, it was that we’re usually one of the last ones to leave, right at the very end of all shows to avoid queues and because usually none of us can think of anything we would rather be doing, but on this occasion, we were far from the last out, the early rush hadn’t happened and everyone was still there… it makes us wonder if people are still there just refusing to leave and enjoying the weather!

For more information and reports on this year’s Fast Show head to www.thefastshow.com, for all other events and information it’s www.santapod.com and keep the 12-13th May free in your diaries to join us at Street Nationals, a new kind of event for Santa Pod!

Words – Ollie // Pictures – Ollie/Chris

EVENT: BTRDA Rd2 2012 – Malcolm Wilson Stages

Posted: 6th March 2012 by Ollie in Motorsport, Uncategorized
Tags: BTRDA, Cumbria, Ford Focus, Grizedale, Hugh Hunter, Malcolm Wilson Stages, Paul Bird, Rally, Rallying, Rd2, WRC

It seems we are a tad rally heavy so far this year, and for that I make no apologies as we’re well into the rally season! The elements may hamper most track based events, and car shows are a total no-no until at least the spring in the UK, but the one thing we can rely on are the forests being as busy as ever as the rally season springs into life!

Obviously the high profile WRC is well underway, and the British Rally Championship began last weekend with the Sunseeker, but for the BTRDA championship we’re already 2 rounds in and Garage Awesome have been at both bringing you fantastic coverage through our hardened rally specialist; Coop.

If you put our round 1 and 2 reports side by side, it looks as though they could be months apart, with the Wyedean covered in snow and slush whereas for the weekend’s Malcolm Wilson Stages, although heavy rain overnight made the stages muddy, glorious sunshine and warmer weather greeted us over the Cumbrian landscape.

The action was immediately fantastic and it took just one special stage to kill off the chances of Charlie Payne making it 2 wins out of 2 as he put his Focus off the road deep into the stage. With Payne out, it left the other WR1 drivers to fight for position, Hugh Hunter and co-driver Andy Marchbank were quickest through the first stage in the Focus, chased by Roger Chilman in their Impreza with the pair split by the Class B car of David Wright. Stage 2 saw Hunter fastest again, although Davis Wright had climbed within 5 seconds of the leaders in his Evo. A further 15 seconds was all that separated the top 6 with Paul Bird, Steve Perez, Euan Thorburn and third overall; Roger Chilman all vying for the lead.

Hunter was also quickest through stage 3 making his gap over Wright now 9 seconds and the top 5 separated by 17 seconds. Thorburn had lost time placing him 8th overall after the Greystoke Stage. Jamie Anderson appeared to be the fastest Group N runner, just 41 seconds off the pace and heading into SS4 in 7th overall in the Evo.

The famous Grizedale stage was the first of the day that didn’t go to Hugh Hunter, he lost 6 seconds to the storming David Wright, making the gap for the overall rally lead just 3 seconds. Perez appeared to be way off the pace, and trouble at the end of the stage meant his rally would be over, leaving Paul Bird closest to the leading pair with a 13second gap. Round 1 hero Julian Wilkes was heading the 1400 field again, and at the end of SS4 had over a minute over his nearest rival and was running 24th overall in the mighty Nova.

A disaster in SS5 saw front runner David Wright stop in the stage and join both Payne and Perez out of the rally leaving just Bird, who incidentally posted the quickest stage time and Thorburn, who had done well to make up for his SS3 mistakes, with a chance of the rally win. The second running through Greystoke saw Bird take another 7 seconds off of Hunter’s lead, meaning going into the last stage the pair would be separated by only 5 seconds, Jamie Anderson was now 5th in Group N, and Wright’s departure left Shaun Gardener leading the B Class and 5th overall. With only the final Cumbrian stage looming, it was too much for Thorburn and 4th place WR1 driver; Michael O’brien to make up.

In a dramatic run through Wythop and the final stage, Paul Bird drove the wheels off his car, desperate to make up the 5 second gap, but although he won the stage, Hunter was only 2 seconds down the road leaving a 3 second gap and enough to claim the Malcolm Wilson Stages rally win. Thorburn remained 3rd overall, just over a minute back from the leaders. Shaun Gardener remained the Class B winner and 5th overall, Anderson remained group N winner and 6th overall and Julian Wilkes climbed to 18th overall spot and taking his second 1400 class win of the BTRDA season.

With 81 out of the 117 starters completing the rally, the Malcolm Wilson Stages gave the spectators plenty to see right through to the very last stages, and with 45miles of forest stage to have 2 drivers within 2 seconds of each other at the end, it really was a cracking show to watch and follow and has us really prepared and ready for the rest of the motorsport world to kick into life over the next few weekends!

As we have mentioned before, if you are into your rallying and want to find out when they are close to you or are next in action (21st April, Somerset Stages – Minehead) then head over to the BTRDA website www.btrdarally.com or for more specific news from the Malcolm Wilson Stages visit www.malcolmwilson.co.uk.

Words – Ollie / Pictures – Rich