British GT, Silverstone – Saturday Morning Notes
Mosler Woes While the forecast for raceday is dry and reasonably warm, track action began for the British GT runners on a damp and slippery surface at a cool and overcast Silverstone. Rain was no longer falling, but wets were the only realistic option for the first of the day’s two free practice sessions. 25 of the 26 cars took part in the session, with only the Joe Osborne Racing Ginetta sitting it out. The team owner finds himself alone this weekend after Osman Yusuf pulled out of the remainder of the season at very short notice for personal reasons. Although there was no time to find a replacement for this race, Osborne is actively seeking drivers for the remainder of the season. While most cars had uneventful sessions, this certainly wasn’t the case for the Rollcentre Mosler, as Martin Short explained; “We’ve got a major engine problem, which we thought we’d managed to fix yesterday; it’s somewhere in the wiring loom. It appeared on Tuesday – one minute it was running fine and the next it was like a bag of nails. “We’ve had four experts on the job and it’s still not resolved. We now need a wiring expert, so if there are any out there we’d love to see them in garage 10a!” The Mosler managed 12 laps during the morning practice, but further running was by no means certain. Things were happier in the RPM garage; “Everything’s fine so far,” confirmed Peter Bamford. “We spent most of the session running in new components that have been replaced since the Spa 24, so we haven’t really pushed yet. It was very slippery out there this morning.” “It’s really strange driving out there,” added Alex Mortimer. “Everything’s been pushed so far back from the track during the redevelopment that the usual reference points have gone – it’s like driving on a football pitch. “The surface is odd, too; the new tarmac seems to be grippier than the old, which you wouldn’t expect.” Adam Wilcox set the fastest time of the session – 2:11.701 – in the CCTV Predator Ferrari, while the ABG X-Bow of the returning Benjamin Harvey and Rory Butcher was fastest in G4 on 2:19.327. The Piranha Lotus had had an interesting session, with one of the Avon wets falling apart after only four laps; "It was controllable, but slow," said Simon Mason. "Like driving a classic car on cross-plies." There has been a significant rule change for this race, in that the minimum driving time per driver has been increased to 45 minutes. This follows lobbying from the Ferrari contingent after the relative fuel-efficiency of the Porsche and the Ford (as evidenced at the Spa round) threatened to hand those cars a major advantage. Championship Manager Benjamin Franassovici revealed that all the teams had agreed to the change in the right spirit, which reflects very positively on the sportsmanship of all concerned. As midday arrived in Northamptonshire, the gloom had lifted somewhat, but spots of rain were once more in the air. MH | 
