Britcar 24 Hours - Hours 2-3
Lots Of Lead Changes The Chad Mosler is the first to make a scheduled stop, Vergers out and Michael McInerney in. Eclipse too has pitted together with the KTF Viper which leaves the Duller BMW Z4M leading the Rollcentre Mosler by almost 50 seconds with the second Duller car, the BMW M3 E46, now up into third, a further minute behind. The KTF Viper has an oil leak and is in the garage, a repeat of a problem that has shown itself in earlier sessions. The team is investigating a possible oil cooler problem as Rob Huff leaves for a wedding reception: he’s due back at midnight. The Britcar regulars aren’t to be denied either, GTS Motorsport now up into fifth, with the #24 Topcats Marcos sixth and the very fuel efficient little Team Scandal Lotus into seventh.. The Rollcentre car pits at 1:10 and we have a Duller Motorsport 1-2. The Marcos Racing International #27 Mantis gets the black and orange flag with an apparent oil leak. The Mosler trio have all pitted and Stuart Hall stays in the #2 Rollcentre car, with George Haynes into the Eclipse machine. Tischner Motorsport’s earlier problem was a driveshaft, now fixed. The #29 Racing Box BMW is in for a long stop with a differential problem, the Euser Marcos was in noise trouble. Almost 90 minutes and the Z4M still hasn’t pitted for fuel, this looks very good indeed for the little BMW which now leads its team-mate M3 by over a lap. It pits finally the next time around, after an hour and a half and 45 laps. The #32 car unlaps itself immediately and sets off around to try to take the lead. With the fuelling routine a time consuming one here, Fabrizio Gollin sweeps around to become the 4th race leader within 2 hours. Gollin pits the next time round and now Nigel Greensall leads, still to pit in the #15 Chad Porsche with David Leslie in close attendance, 19 seconds back, in the GTS Motorsport BMW. But now it’s the Chad Porsche’s turn to pit, Leslie now leads. The Top Gear BMW hits trouble, it had risen into the top 35 but now the Stig is pushed down the pit lane, bonnet open and lots of puzzled faces as Clarkspon theatrically berates the Stig. As the pit stops roll out the Rollcentre Mosler is fast catching the Z4M, Stuart Hall consistently into the 1:56s as Quester laps at around the 2 minute mark. This pair is currently second and third at 1 hour 45 minutes, with the leading GTS BMW still to pit. Behind this trio the Team Scandal Lotus is fourth with the #34 Moore Racing BMW fifth and the #43 Geoff Steel Racing BMW sixth. The Chad Porsche hits trouble in the pit lane with a jammed wheel nut costing a bucket load of time, the Chad boys pushing the car into the garage for some less than tender loving care. The Cor Euser Marcos is still in noise trouble, the scrutineers checking out the latest fix in the pit lane and the thumbs down leads to some very sorrowful looking Dutchmen. Cor Euser is an unhappy bunny on the circuit PA. The #58 Moore Racing BMW appears to have lost a wheel out on the circuit with Mike Gardiner at the helm. The car is crawling back to the pits. The Team Scandal Lotus pits before two hours, rather earlier than we had been led to believe, and it seems for a long stop (fuel pump failure), as the Chad Mosler pits out of sequence: Michael McInerney stays in the car as the engine cover comes off. It’s a bizarre failure of the cool suit which has flooded the cockpit: the team does a quick clean up and the car rejoins. David Leslie finally pits just before the 2 hour mark and the Z4M sweeps back into the lead with Stuart Hall now closing in fast, just over 20 seconds back at 2 hours. The Intersport BMW is a retirement at this point, Ian Donaldson’s dream of driving in a 24 hour race with both of his sons will have to wait a little longer. Quester is driving a conservative race but Hall is piling it on with a string of sub 2 minute laps, that time around overtaking five cars in the braking area at Stowe. Catching up with a few other fan favourites, the lead RJN Nissan is in ninth place, Henry Firman’s Porsche is 14th, just ahead of the Simply Racing Porsche 964, with the Apex Jaguar in 20th. The EVO magazine crewed Nissan is 23rd and the Richard Thorne Morgan Roadster 24th. The lead gap is down under 10 seconds with a similar gap from third to fourth, the #32 Duller car catching the #34 Moore Motorsport car but Cappellari himself is being caught by the GTS Motorsport car, Stuart Wright currently at the wheel. A backmarker spins in front of the leading duo and the gap is down under 2 seconds as Hall flashes his headlamps at Quester, he takes the lead threading the needle on the exit of Club corner as Quester makes his way by a backmarker. The Mosler pulls away immediately. The #32 Duller car is now third, and the GTS car has taken fourth as the Moore Racing car finally pits for fuel after 2 hours and 15 minutes. The Xero Motorsport run Windrush BMW is a retirement, the engine has put a leg out of bed with Raun Austin at the wheel – far higher attrition this year. The theory that The Stig would race for the whole 24 hours is blown away as the re-fettled BMW with the amusing quips on the doors leaves the pits with James (Captain Slow) May at the wheel. With almost 2 and a half hours elapsed, two cars in the top 40 have still to pit, the 14th placed #49 GPO Motorsport BMW and the 37th placed #81 Racing Box BMW. Good news for Dutchmen everywhere as the Cor Euser Marcos finally passes a noise test and rejoins the race. And another long stopper, the Chad Porsche, which suffered the jammed wheelnut, finally rejoins too, down now in 44th place - after leading the race! 2 hours and 30 minutes and Hall pits with a 20 second lead, Quester now takes the lead. Andy Neate replaces the mercurial Stuart Hall at the wheel of the Rollcentre Mosler. “We had the power steering too light and to get any feeling on the tyres you have to turn off the power steering,” said a very happy Stuart Hall, Neate rejoining now in fourth place with all three Moslers still in the top 8. The Eclipse Mosler pits at 2:40, Del Delaronde jumping aboard. The 9th placed #40 Nissan gets a black and orange flag, pits, rejoins and then crawls back with Alex Buncombe at the wheel, with a lap taking 11 minutes. Neate is lapping faster than the three cars ahead of him, all of which have yet to pit this time. Some further problems – the Prosport 3000 is in differential trouble, the Apex Jaguar has a jammed front right wheel and is in the garage, the Buddha Motorsport Aston Martin is having its fuel pump attended to. Still to pit, the Z4M now has a 2 lap lead over the #32 Duller car with the GTS BMW a further 20 seconds back. Neate trails the #26 car by 47 seconds and the Topcats Marcos is next up in sixth. The remainder of the top ten is formed of the Paragon and 911virgin Porsches, the Geoff Steel BMW (including a great recovery from a monster spin) and the Simply Racing Porsche, as the Chad Mosler again pits out of sequence, reason unknown at present. A recovery drive is underway by the plucky Team Scandal Lotus, almost back into the top 30 after its fuel pump failure and now battling with the Evo crewed Nissan. The #6 Viper had rejoined with owner Ken Finneran at the wheel but it’s back in again with a further oil leak. The #40 RJN Nissan’s earlier technical warning flag was for a somewhat bizarre reason, the Nissan’s fuel cap went missing when it was being refuelled and the team is still trying to source a replacement!
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