Britcar 24 Hours – Hours 4-6
 
A sharp shower might just have caught a few teams out, almost half the field pitting for wets but then the rain stopped – The Aquilla had pitted earlier and stayed out, presumably still on slicks (Phil Bennett) and as the rain stopped the leader’s pace improved.
 
Several teams have problems at present, the Evora in the midst of a gearbox change (2 hours plus) the car had lost its flat shift in the first hour.
 
The RJN Nissan is in the garage too, the team are fitting a second fuel pump to counter fuel pressure problems.
 
The Strata 21 Mosler has had another unscheduled stop, this time it’s a paddleshift issue but the car is soon on its way – Piers Masarati is now aboard.
 
The #52 Porsche has been delayed with a sticking clutch problem and the Chestertom Marcos’s earlier delay was to investigate a loud banging noise at the rear of the car.  Nothing external was obviously awry.
 
The Speedworks Ginetta has lost its flatshift too.
 
At 3 Hours the running order was:
 
#3, 6, 22, 8, 1, 39, 42, 46, 60, 32, 21, 38, 44, 49, 59, 35, 34, 26, 37, 91, 71, 56, 83, 4, 51, 45, 57, 82, 7, 52, 33, 2, 19, 76, 79, 98, 86, 50, 94, 81, 77, 85, 80, 74, 54, 72, 87, 73, 29, 89, 68, 48, 58, 99, 92, 43, 84, 36, 75, 16.
 
The team manager of the leading car has been summoned to join a lengthy queue at race control!
 
The G40 again leads the Class 4 battle, 16th overall, with the #82 Chimptune Lotus (which, at 4 hours elapsed, had only had one pit stop!) catching the Ginetta quite quickly.

The Ferrari is running an untroubled and controlled race = looming in second but a couple of laps down.

20:43 and the Aquilla pits - early - and the engine cover is off.

At 4 Hours the running order was:

#3, 8, 1, 6, 22, 39, 42, 38, 32, 21, 46, 26, 49, 51, 52, 83, 82, 35, 45, 37, 59, 4, 34, 7, 44, 91, 86, 79, 81, 33, 85, 73, 94, 77, 89, 98, 74, 72, 54, 87, 50, 29, 76, 19, 80, 48, 60, 57, 56, 71, 99, 58, 2, 68, 92, 84, 43, 36, 75, 16.

The Aquilla pitted initially with rear lights not showing but whilst the team were fixing that the Aquilla engineer noticed that the top cross member of the suspension frame was cracked - at least half an hour in the garage for the car that has led all the way thus far.

At around the same time the Eclipse Mosler rejoined after a gearbox change - now 43 laps down.

Calum Lockie explained that the last out of sequence stop was to reset the fuel mixture for the Strata 21 Mosler.

We've not mentioned the little Mazda MX5s being run by Jota but Owen Mildenhall was keen to point out that his #86 car has been running well inside the top 30 "with only 160 bhp - The car is awesone through the corners, real fun."  

Johnny Mowlem was looking rueful as the Lotus mechanics continued the rebuild of the Evora's gearbox - "It was looking very good wasn't it?  We were up to fifth at one point and I was only a couple of laps from my 3 hour driving limit when I lost fourth gear!"

The Topcats Mosler leads but drops back as the pit stops wind out again, then it loses second to the Ferrari, still looking ominously steady. The Topcats car though is attacking again.

Leading though by a minute and 40 seconds at he 5 hour mark is the Rollcentre Mosler, the car going very well indeed on its Dunlop Inters.

Hour 5 positions:

3, 8, 1, 6, 22, 39, 42, 38, 32, 21, 46, 26, 49, 51, 52, 83, 82, 35, 45, 37, 59, 4, 34, 7, 44, 91, 86, 79, 81, 33, 85, 73, 94, 77, 89, 98, 74, 72, 54, 87, 50, 29, 76, 19, 80, 48, 60, 57, 56, 71, 99, 58, 2, 68, 92, 84, 43, 36, 75, 16

The second in class #79 Honda Integra comes crawling by the pits and is thus being reeled in by the Chimptune Lotus - the Ginetta G40 meanwhile has 4 laps on the chasing Elise.

The Honda has stopped before Copse- it rejoins after being recovered to the pits.

Andy Neate pits from the lead but the lead will be inherited by the Topcats car, as the 1 car has passed the Ferrari on the road. The rollcentre car though won't restart - it's pushed into the garage.

That's going to put the JetAlliance car back up into third with the #39 BMW going great guns and soon to inherit fourth. The Rollcentre car rejoins with Jon Barnes aboard back now in sixth.

#39 though pits and the class 3 lead is taken by the #42 Azteca Porsche.

Archie Hamilton is going great guns in the #45 SEAT, up from 19th to 12th and closing in on the Tischner BMW ahead.

The Aquilla is now having the final bits of suspension welding done in the scrutineering bay - the car is about to drop out of the top 40.

The Jemco Ginetta appears in pitlane on the end of a towrope- Aaron Scott having suffered a broken driveshaft.

The Rollcentre Mosler is back in after only 8 laps, Jon Barnes has been off into the wall at Priory.

The Aquilla has rejoined in 44th place 34 laps down.

The leading Topcats Mosler is missing out on track and the Ferrari leads the race for the first time.

The #1 car comes by after a 6:38 lap - the car must have been off the track at some point. The Topcats car pits next time around and is wheeled into the garage. JetAlliance take second place.

At the top of the hour the Rollcentre car rejoins in 18th place.