Britcar Report – Spa June 16

Another One For Cook And Pelle

It was Peter Cook and Franck Pelle – again – who took the win the four-hour Britcar race on Saturday evening. This time, though, circumstance forced them to use the recalcitrant red Porsche 996, and the pair struggled manfully not only against the car itself, but with awesome John Gaw, who drove his Nobby’s Nuts off in the Kinfaun Porsche GT3.

“We’re the first people to use these new Grand Prix pit garages,” boasted James Tucker, and indeed there was not only a “just finished” feel to the place, but, in the office complex upstairs, a “not ready yet” ambience, the press room still in the middle of a fit-out, with timber and screws strewn over the numerous desks, wires dangling, and only a minimal amount of screens working, added to which some made the horrific discovery that the toilet they had just used wasn’t actually plumbed-in yet!

Some teams had arrived on Thursday for extensive testing, and, with a Saturday morning warm-up too, the increased running took its toll. Friday saw the demise of the red Geoff Steel BMW of Peter Mousdale and Scott Aitken, which crashed heavily. Luckily, Metcalf Motorsport had their notorious road-registered BMW Compact languishing in the truck, and a last-minute rental deal was struck for the race. Saturday morning’s warm-up saw trouble for the Chad Motorsport Porsche 996 of Michael and Sean McInerney, crashing heavily at Eau Rouge. “I haven’t got to the bottom of it yet, but Michael clashed with a white BMW,” said team boss Jim Hersey. That white BMW belonged to Anna Walewska, and the Geoff Steel team, with extra help drafted in from a team they had met on their BTCC outings, were as usual working hard to get Anna and new co-driver Peter Heintzleman out in qualifying. “It won’t look pretty, but we’ll get it out there,” said a determined Rob Steel. Anna looks pretty, though.

British GT refugees David and Godfrey Jones were considering their position as Mike Jordan and the Eurotech team swarmed over the Ascari. “A driveshaft sheared, and the wheel came off. We can fix it, but this is not the first time it has happened, and the twins aren’t really happy to race until the cause is determined,” said Jordan. Nevertheless, fix it they did, but missed the lunchtime qualifying session.

The warm-up had highlighted the speed – and the noise – of Cor Euser’s Marcos Mantis, and the yellow and black machine, running in the Invitation class, dominated the GT contingent in qualifying, Cor’s time of 2:27.712 putting him on the front row next to the polesitting Britsports Juno SS3 of stunt-pilot Will Curtis and veteran Dave Mountain, who posted 2:26.953.

The second row was another mixed affair, Barry Gates’ CN class Norma alongside the amazing Phil Bennett, in Nigel Mustill’s Opel V8 Star, sharing the drive with Reinhold Moelig. The last of the three Britsports runners headed the third row; Edward Lovett’s Norma, which he was sharing with JC Harris, next to the Kinfaun Racing Porsche GT3, usual pilots John Gaw and Jean-Marc Rotsaert being joined by Phil Dryburgh. “He’s an old friend of mine from Scotland, and he’s just got his National A licence,” explained Gaw. The fourth row was where the championship rivalry lay - Adam Sharpe’s Falcon alongside the Topcats Evo 2 Marcos Mantis, Mick Mercer and Richard Fores welcoming Rupert Bullock back into the team.

Ninth on the grid was number nine, Gerry Harrison once more enlisting the help of Mike Jordan in the old Jones twins Porsche 996 RSR, then the IN2Racing 997 of Paul Hogarth and Darren Knutton. Peter Cook headed the sixth row, but was not happy with the red 996, the brake calipers sticking, recurrent transmission problem still evident. “We’re just accepting the gearbox problem now, but the brakes are a worry,” said Cook, adding, “I’m going to ask the officials if we can use the old 911, and start at the back”. Thanks to the persuasive charm of Franck Pelle, the grid order was amended, so, provisionally, the Nero Motorsport Ferrari 360 of Aaron Scott and David Back, the leading GT Cup protagonists, moved-up a slot. Behind them were arch-rivals Pete Morris and Craig Wilkins, in the ABG ex-Tech 9 Porsche GT3, then “invitationalists” Dirk and Jean-Marc Schulz (Porsche GT3), Jon Harrison and Andy Ray in the Topcats GTC Mantis, and British GT regulars RSS Motorsport, Graeme Mundy being joined by Colin Willmott and erstwhile BMW specialist Chris Wilson, who explained; “I was going to do this race in the Z3, but I couldn’t find suitably funded partners. Fergus Campbell told me this seat was vacant, and, since, I’m considering buying a 996, it seemed like a good idea. This is my first time in a Porsche, and my first time at Spa.”

Strangely, Fergus Campbell himself returned to his old stamping ground at Metcalf Motorsport, with Mark Smith in one of the team’s BMW E30s.

Other well known names, a little further down the grid, were Mark Lemmer and James Kaye in the Barwell Honda Integra (P27 on the grid - the Class 2 pole by three seconds), and Rod Barrett / Jan Persson in the now plain white Porsche GT3 (28th). Claiming the Steve Wood Award for the ace move in qualifying was James Olden, who, in his little Robertshaw Racing Renault Clio, impatiently took both Witt Gamski’s Ferrari and the Jemco Marcos Mantis around the outside of Eau Rouge.

Now, the goings-on in a Porsche Open race are not normally the concern of this site, but on Saturday afternoon, they would have implications on the following Britcar event. John Gaw, despite qualifying third for the one-make race, wisely decided to give it a miss, as did Pete Morris, but both Paul Hogarth and Peter Cook, were maximising their weekend in Belgium, and were serious contenders. Hogarth, in his Britcar-bound IN2Racing 996, and Cook, in the white 911 he now intended to use in the four hour race, clashed at La Source on the opening lap. Hogarth was out on the spot, leaving the Dudfields with an urgent repair job, but Cook struggled on through the ensuing safety car period with a bent steering arm. Immediately the field went green again, Cook was helpless as the steering failed completely into La Source, sending him into Rupert Lewin’s 996 GT2-R, and ending the race for both of them. There was no choice, then, but for Cook to revert back to the red 996 he had qualified, and for Franck Pelle to exercise his Gallic charm on clerk Julian Floyd once again, to get the grid amended back to its original form.

So with a record number of starters – 50 – the Britcar field, boosted by three Britsports cars, six from Production Saloons, and a septet of invitees from the Dutch Supercar Challenge, took to the track. Starting at the back was Peter Heintzleman in the repaired Anna Walewska BMW, and David Jones in the Eurotech Ascari. Whilst it had been raining off and on all day, the track was now dry, but Godfrey Jones was confident it wouldn’t stay that way; “It’s bound to rain at some time during the race, and that will mean less load on the driveshafts, which means they have less chance of breaking”.

With the GP start line being used, it meant there was bound to be a scramble into La Source, and the three prototypes, who were needing to adopt a cautious strategy anyway, sensibly held back, or at least didn’t try as hard as the GT cars, and it was the amazing Gaw, and Mick Mercer who reached the apex first, on wildly different lines. Euser took control through Eau Rouge, and when they crested Les Combes, the yellow Marcos was just in front of Bennett’s Opel V8 Star. Behind them, Mercer was holding off Curtis in the Juno, and Sharpe’s Falcon. It came to grief on the second lap, when Mercer, now under pressure from Sharpe, got a wheel on what he called “the green stuff” at Blanchemont, spun, and took the orange Falcon into the Armco with him. Race over for the two serious championship contenders, and the immediate deployment of two safety cars, which served to split the field. Bennett had taken the lead whilst this was happening, and now led a train comprising Euser, Curtis, Edward Lovett’s Norma, Barry Gates’ similar machine, Gaw, and Cook. Then there was a gap of nearly two and a half minutes before the second safety car lead the rest of the pack around, with Aaron Scott’s Ferrari at the helm.

Lap 7, and the field went green again, but Bennett was missing, and Euser had taken the lead once more. “It just cut out at Eau Rouge,” said the Brummie back in the pits. The car was recovered, and did circulate again, before retiring after 24 laps.

So as the first half-hour elapsed, Euser’s top six, covered by 16 seconds, still had that long gap between themselves and Scott’s Ferrari, which was in front of Knutton’s Porsche, the amazing David Jones, Jan Willen’s Ferrari 430, Andy Ray’s Marcos, Pete Morris in the Porsche, and Chris Wilson’s similar RSS car.

A significant early casualty was the championship contending Seat Leon Cupra of the Cunningham family, ironically taken out by the similar car of Britcar first-timers Stewart Lines and Gareth Nixon. “The blue Seat went off, hit the wall, then spun back onto the track, catching me in the side, and taking me off. All this way for nothing,” rued Mark Cunningham.

Running well down the order, after qualifying 19th, was the purple Geoff Steel BMW, with Michael Symons at the wheel, and co-driver Andre D’Cruze explained; “Michael hit somebody – he doesn’t know who - at the hairpin, and damaged the steering. It’s understeering like crazy, and we’re going to murder the tyres, but we’re carrying on.”

Lap 13, and another safety car period. Barry Gates was in the wall with the Norma at Blanchemont, and whilst the field was under caution, Will Curtis came to a halt down the hill from La Source. With just 45 minutes gone, leader Cor Euser didn’t consider it too early to pit, and came in to hand over to De Castro Bermudez, who was sharing the car along with van Putten. “I need to give my co-drivers their track time,” explained Euser.

No sooner had the caution been lifted, after three laps, than there was more trouble; “cars 70 and 90 clashed at turn 15” was the message on the timing screen. It had been a torrid weekend for Moulsdale and Aitken, and now their hired Metcalf BMW Compact had clashed with Gary Smith’s MG. It has been a miserable season for Smith and Stuart Plotnek – serious championship contenders whose races have been ripped apart by a series of engine failures and getting involved in other people’s accidents.

With Euser’s Marcos now out of the lead picture, and likely to remain so, it was John Gaw at the front, with Edward Lovett upholding Britsports honours just three and a half seconds adrift, then Peter Cook, driving around his multiple problems, the Ascari fourth, and Aaron Scott leading the Cup class in fifth.

As the first hour ticked over, there were just 20 laps chalked-up, and the black and orange flag was shown to the Ascari, which pitted for attention, and made the mandatory driver change. “The diffuser was falling off,” explained David Jones.

You don’t get very far through this report without another crash, and this time it was Pete Morris, who had been getting closer to Darren Knutton, and had his chance at La Source stymied by an interrupting back marker. The two Porsches came to a halt facing different directions at the exit to the hairpin, and, whilst the IN2 car went no further, the ABG squad had a number of similar Porsche Open machines in the garage from which to poach parts, and Wilkins re-emerged in a multi-coloured machine sometime later to finish the race, though, 28 laps down, unclassified.

Gaw hung on to lead in the Nobby’s Nuts Porsche, but Peter Cook, despite his problems, was chipping away at the lead – 10.6 seconds, 7.5 seconds, 4 seconds, then he was just a second adrift, causing Gaw to respond big time, pushing the gap back to 3.6 again, though traffic could have played a part in that. Fergus Campbell pitted the Metcalf BMW E30 from an amazing eighth overall, handing the Class 1 car over to Nigel Stephens, though sadly their magnificent performance would end prematurely after 30 laps with an engine problem. Anthony Wilds had problems, retiring the BMW 320i he shares with Ian Lawson and father Mike, at La Source, but at the front, the lead battle was far from resolved, with Gaw and Cook, consistently just over two seconds apart, operating a call and response system, alternately punching in a series of personal fastest laps.

Gaw, though, had more to pull out of the back, whilst Cook was struggling, and with 90 minutes of the race run, the Nobby’s Nuts car began to eke away, though ten minutes later it was in the pits, and the relatively inexperienced Phil Dryburgh was taking over.

So, with two and a quarter hours left to run, let’s look at the leader board.

Cook – 34 laps, still not stopped

Back – taken over from Scott

Willmott – relieved Wilson in the RSS Porsche

Harris – now in Lovett’s Juno

Jordan – moving up the order after taking over from Harrison

Jones – recovering after technical problems

Bermudez – still hanging on in Euser’s Marcos

Kaye – not yet handed the Barwell Honda to Lemmer (leading Class 2 by over a lap).

Schulz – the brothers changed over in their Porsche

Smith – going well in the E30 after Cuff’s first stint.

At exactly half-way, Cook came in to hand over to Pelle, and the red Porsche, being a lap in front of the second-placed Nero Ferrari, re-emerged still in the lead. Just a lap later, rain began to fall, the second Nero Ferrari of Andy Ruhan and David Foster had stopped out on the circuit, and the safety cars were deployed once more. With the rain quickly intensifying, wet tyres were the call, and Godfrey Jones, Dryburgh, and Pelle were all back in again. Pelle overshot his box, stalled, and temporarily held up a queue of cars whilst Cook’s crew shuffled the car backwards, forwards and sideways by hand to get it back onto the pit apron. Once Pelle was on his way again, Cook reflected on the race; “The slick tyres were shot, but the brakes are ok now. We’ve still got the transmission problem, and the gearbox is changing up and down of its own free will. We’re still in the lead, and we’re fuelled to the end, but if we win this race, it will be because we benefited from other people’s problems – much like the one we just made!”

John Gaw had jumped back into the Kinfaun Porsche at the tyre change, and with the rain stopped, but the track still wet, had closed in on the Jones twins Ascari, which had climbed to an amazing second place. Once past, the pink-ish Porsche was nearly a minute behind Pelle, and there was an hour left. Gaw only needed half of that, though, and with half an hour to go, he established a lead of around three seconds, but then, strangely, was pit bound, to hand over to Jean-Marc Rotsaert for the final 25 minutes. The team had relinquished the lead, and almost certainly the win. “Jean-Marc had to have his time in the car – that was the plan,” said the Scot unemotionally.

Gerry Harrison handed the orange Eurotech Porsche over to Mike Jordan for a final short – and it seems, mad – fun-filled stint, the BTCC ace spinning on the straight up to La Source on what he thought was the last lap. “I’d been putting on a show for the boys on the pit wall, hanging the tail out, and thought I’d do a doughnut as the race finished, but they told me the race wasn’t over yet!” He’s obviously learning some bad habits from his new friends. Would Laurence Pearce have tolerated such behaviour?

It wasn’t all fun in the closing minutes, though – far from it. It was now pitch dark, and the Scott/Back Ferrari expired at Eau Rouge with a dead battery, to be joined minutes later by the Jones twins Ascari, driveshaft failure having thrown a wheel off again. This was cruel luck for both, but particularly championship regulars Nero, who had spent the early part of the race in the GT Cup lead.

So, a dramatic finish to a fascinating race. Cook and Pelle the winners, again, and the magnanimous John Gaw sharing the runner-up spot with Dryburgh and Rotsaert. The Jones twins’ late demise meant that the overall podium was completed by the RSS Porsche of Mundy, Wilmott and Wilson, who also won the GT Cup class. The Eurotech Ascari was classified fourth, and, it must be said, the two regular British GT teams really showed their class. Joyrider Jordan helped Gerry Harrison to fifth overall, and Witt Gamski, abetted by England cricket legend David Smith, brought the Ferrari 360 home sixth, and second in the Cup class. Seventh was the Stingray/Geoff Steel BMW M3 of Steve Bell and Ian Leith, taking the Class 1 honours. A popular third in the GT Cup class was the Jemco Marcos Mantis , Nick Reynolds joining regulars Leigh Smart and Kevin Hancock. Michael Symons and Andre D’Cruze struggled valiantly to finish second in Class 1, and the class podium was completed by the Butler Motorsport BMW M3 of Sarah Bennett-Baggs, Tony Brown, and Don Grice.

Not enough is seen of Simon Mason these days, and he marked his return to the championship with the Class 2 win for his old team TJH Motorsport, sharing the #77 Honda Civic with new owner Paul Collis. The pair of Robertshaw Racing Renault Clios completed the class podium, the David Philips / James Olden car finishing in front of Alan Taylor / Keith Issatt / Gary Robertshaw machine. The Barwell Honda had been as high as eighth overall - but jumped out of 6th gear and down into 5th during the race (over-revving the engine). After a routine pit stop under the safety car just before 3 hours, the engine dropped a valve and it was game over.

The Britsports prototypes found four hours a tough call, but both the Curtis / Mountain Juno, and the Lovett / Harris Norma were classified finishers after extensive repair work, and claimed the CE and CN class wins respectively.