British GT, Silverstone – Sunday Notes
Hospitality And Potentiometers

It’s lovely and sunny at Silverstone today, which always transforms this place from a windswept and bleak former airfield into a warm and sunny bleak former airfield.

The paddock was a busy place from the word go; track-action kicking off at 9.00 with the second of the three Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo races of the weekend.

With the BGT runners getting a lie-in – warm-up not beginning until 10.30 – there was plenty of time for Andrew Howard to check that the impressive Beechdean hospitality unit was ready for the guests to arrive; “This is all part of the longer term plan,” he began. “British GT should be a venue for corporate hospitality and we’re doing our bit in getting that going.”

Howard’s co-driver Jamie Smyth was to be found wandering the pitlane prior to warm-up and was not just looking forward to racing this weekend; “I’ll be in the Topcats Mosler at the Zolder 24 next weekend,” he revealed, “sharing with Andrew Beaumont, Pat Gormley and Ben Clucas.” And what was the sum total of his Mosler experience to date? “Well, I’ve looked at one,” he laughed. “I’ve never been to Zolder either, so it should be an interesting experience. At the end of the day, though, a car is a car; and after five laps it’ll feel natural.”

Unfortunately, the field is back down to 12 as the Invitation class Morgan has been withdrawn following fuel pressure problems.

Graham Goodwin bumped into a bedraggled Oliver Bryant in the paddock after the Barwell driver had endured an interesting journey to the circuit. Having decided that his preferred method of transport was on the back of his motorbike, he had the unfortunate experience of glancing down to discover that the majority of the engine’s oil was spraying all over his boots; with the result that he had to ditch the bike and thumb a lift in. Fortunately, Piers Johnson was scheduled to drive the Ginetta G50Z during warm-up.

Phil Keen was present in the paddock, although not driving this weekend. “We’re hoping that the [ABG-entered KTM X-bow] will be out again at Brands Hatch, when it should be sporting some new aero,” he explained. So what was it like to drive in the wet at Donington? “It wasn’t very pleasant, but the car itself is great fun – it’s almost like driving a single-seater. Considering it’s got basically a Scirocco engine, with only about 250bhp, it goes very well.” Future aspirations for this very distinctive car apparently include GT3 and Le Mans.     

Keen was recently in action at the 25H Fun Cup race at Spa; “It was great fun, but we were unlucky with problems that cost us a good result. I qualified sixth, and I reckon we could have had a top ten finish with a bit more luck.

“I drove for 11 out of the 25 hours, but because there were 150 cars out there I only had one lap where I didn’t overtake somebody!”

11 of the 12 cars took part in the ten-minute warm-up – only the Stark Racing Ginetta sitting it out – and Allan Simonsen had the previously troubled Rosso Verde Ferrari up to speed (potentiometer problems causing the throttle to stick during free-practice and qualifying on Saturday), with his second lap being a 1:23.559; a time that would have placed the car on the second row of the grid had it occurred during qualifying.

Of course, there was one major topic being discussed throughout the paddock, but we’ll address that after this weekend.

MH