British GT, Snetterton – Race One Report
Advantage Preci-Spark

Saturday’s race at the Norfolk circuit was a curious affair; for the most part being a series of duels, but featuring – almost – a classic finish.

A day shy of his eighteenth birthday, Dan Brown knew that it was crucial to get to the first corner, Riches, before anyone else did; and despite a concerted effort from David Jones, he successfully managed the task. The pressure continued round Sear Corner, but over the course of the opening lap Brown asserted his authority and the #9 Mosler MT900R crossed the line half a second before the #22 Ascari.

As is usually the case on the first lap, there were winners and losers. Craig Wilkins gained two places in the ABG Viper at the expense of Chris Hyman’s Chad Ferrari and Andrew Howard’s Beechdean Aston ; the silver machine being followed through by the VRS Ferrari of Phil Burton.

Alas for the Knockhill winners and title contenders, the Viper suddenly slowed on just its sixth lap and became the first official retirement with a broken differential.

By this stage of the race the duels were beginning to form, with the only car on the circuit not directly involved in one being the #2 RPM Ford of Phillip Walker. Brown led Jones by 0.842s; Piers Johnson (#90 Barwell G50Z) led Duncan Cameron (#21 MTECH Ferrari) by a second, some six seconds adrift of the lead; Burton led Hyman by 0.7s, a further eight seconds back; Howard was 0.6s behind Hector Lester (#23 Rosso Verde Ferrari); and in GT4 Jody Firth (#54 Team WFR G50) was three seconds ahead of Ian Stinton’s #46 Stark racing Ginetta.

Andrew Howard had recovered from his poor start and challenged Lester for seventh on lap eight. The #23 driver, however, was very aggressive in his defence and moved across the track three times in order to block the Aston; prompting Ian Titchmarsh observation over the tannoys – “That’s not very Christian of him!” The tactic worked, however, with Howard being pitched into a half-spin as he tried to anticipate the next block, dropping back 12 seconds and losing position to the Ford.

A slow lap from Brown allowed the Ascari to close to within a quarter of a second of the lead, but the Mosler driver quickly recovered and began to pull out a lead on his pursuer.

On lap 11, Cameron’s efforts in the #21 Scuderia paid off when he found a way past the Ginetta and crossed the line a second clear of the Invitation class entrant. Thereafter, however, the Scot found that he was able to pull away from the G50Z, but was unable to make an impression on the Ascari’s advantage over him; the Preci-Spark car itself being unable to keep pace with the Mosler.

In GT4, Ian Stinton’s early ability to keep station with Jody Firth quickly began to fade as his under-prepared substitute car began to show its faults.

Further up the road, the Beechdean Aston recovered eighth from the RPM Ford on lap 12, and then rose another place on lap 18 when Chris Hyman pulled off to retire the Chad Racing Ferrari; a driveshaft-boot failure having led to a small fire and ended Hyman’s almost-successful pursuit of the VRS Ferrari.

A couple of minutes later the pit-window opened and Howard was first in, followed by Walker and, a lap later, by Burton, Lester, Firth and Stinton. Cameron and Johnson stayed out until the end of lap 24, but the two leaders left it as late as they could – Jones lap 28, Brown 29.

The order with all stops completed was 9, 22, 21, 90, 12, 23, 7, 2, 54 and 46.

Martin Short had a four second lead over Godfrey Jones, but as he left the pitlane he noticed that the water temperature was registering a concerning 138 degrees. It subsequently dropped to 118, but thereafter vacillated between the two, causing the Mosler to lose power. It would not be until after the race that a split radiator would be diagnosed.

As the lead came down, we again had duels forming further back. Olly Bryant (#90) was challenging Mike Wilds (#21) for third, while the usually storming Allan Simonsen seemed unable to do anything about Adam Wilcox’s tenure of fifth in the VRS Ferrari. Michael Bentwood, however, was able to do something about Jamie Smyth for seventh; the Ford overcoming ten laps of stubborn resistance from the Aston on lap 33.

Even with the power issue, Short was able to hold back the Ascari for several laps before the lead changed hands, and this had allowed Wilds and Bryant to close significantly on the lead pairing. With the third and fourth placed cars continuing to lap quicker than the leaders, the four cars quickly closed up; to the point that it looked like a grandstand finish was on the cards.

Unfortunately for the MTECH driver, however, an unaided spin at Riches while closing on Short led to the Ferrari’s demise; “It was purely my mistake,” admitted Mike Wilds. “I got over-excited chasing the Mosler and got on the power too soon going onto the straight. I then couldn’t get the car out of gear to restart it – it’s got a neutral start. I’m sorry to the team for making a schoolboy error.”

With the #21 out of the way and with Short obviously down on power, it was clear that the Ascari would bag GT3 honours, barring any further dramas. However, there was still the glory of crossing the line first to fight for.

Further back, Simonsen was finding speed in the Rosso Verde 430, but not enough to find a way past the resolute Wilcox. But, having looked a cert for a third-consecutive podium finish, the VRS Ferrari slowed suddenly on the final lap and Simonsen was through into third in class. The white car did manage to cross the line eight seconds after the red version, but was closing to a halt as the flag waved; no fuel in the tanks being the reason.

Just a few seconds before this drama, the Ascari had emerged from Coram just a few lengths ahead of the Ginetta. Godfrey Jones had seen his lead reduced to under half a second, but he was not in the mood for errors and took the flag 0.316 ahead of Bryant.

"The Ginetta was catching quite quickly," said Jones. "If there had been an extra lap it would have been even harder work. We had to push hard right to the end..."

Only three other cars took the flag; the #2 RPM Ford – running strongly, but too far back – and the two GT4 Ginettas; Nigel Moore leading home Hunter Abbott by 30 seconds. The Beechdean Aston pitted a few minutes before the end due to non-existent brakes.

MH