Britcar 24 Hours, Silverstone - Hours 4 - 6 Key Facts

21:04 – Safety car on track.  Flurry of pit activity ensued.  The safety car was caused by a driver ‘abandoning’ his car on Wellington Straight – he simply left the vehicle.
21:11 – Safety car comes back in and the race resumes.

Class 1:
18:30 – The MB Aston Martin lost a wheel, pitted and resumed running.
18:34 – The MacG Racing Ultima returns to the track after a series of problems, 73 laps behind the leader.
18:46 – The MB Aston got wheeled back into the garage. Bad vibration at the front left, where the wheel came off, and the under-tray had become loose.
18:48 – Tom Kimber Smith in the LNT Ginetta moved through into second place overall.
18:52 – The Strata Mosler #17 pits from the lead on lap 89.
19:01 – The MB Aston rejoins the race 6 laps down.
19:20 – The MacG Ultima continues to fall apart.  They fitted a new sequential gearbox, which was jumping out of gear – the cause of the original driveshaft bolt issue.  They welded everything up,  and the car was left stuck in fourth gear.  It was, however, continuing apace.
19:44 – The LNT Ginetta G55 #6 pitted from second because Richard Dean was having trouble seeing the track due to ongoing lighting issues - a problem that has troubled the car ever since daylight started to go. They took on fuel, adjusted the lights which were not fully working and changed driver. Mike Simpson got in, meaning they had completed a full driver rotation.
20:02 – Once again, the LNT Ginetta has lost its main headlights.  This is becoming a serious issue for the Yorkshire-based team. Once again the bonnet is off and the team are replacing fuses under bonnet.
20:04 – The Ultima has encountered another problem, entering the pitlane at reduced speed after an off at Luffield.
20:10 – The LNT Ginetta returned to the track, headlights ablaze.
20:12 – The race-leading Mosler encountered some issues in traffic, cut off into Woodcote by the Lotus.
20:16 – The lights on the Ginetta didn’t last long - the right headlight went out. A full stint would be run with one main headline while they looked for a solution.
20:20 – The race leading Strata Mosler came in for an un-scheduled pitstop due to a sticking throttle.
20:25 – The Strata Mosler rejoined the race, still with the lead. Unfortunately, the right rear brake light went out on it’s out-lap.
21:22 – A broken a driveshaft for the Strata Mosler.
21:28 – The Strata 21 car lost the lead, LNT taking over.

Class 2:
18:36 – Perfection Racing team manager called to Race Control.
18:59 – The leading Tiger Marcos goes backwards through Maggots and into the barrier, it gets pushed through the grass.  It was heavily damaged after contact with the Rogue Toyota and became a confirmed retirement.
19:04 – The Topcats Marcos pits, but gains the lead in Class 2 and third overall.
19:12 – The MP Motorsport BMW took the lead in Class 2 after the Topcats Motorsport pit-stop.
19:14 – The Strata Porsche got taken to the pits on a flatbed having run out of fuel
19:20 – Suitably refuelled, the Strata Porsche left the pits following a driver change, although there was an issue with the door - it fell off during the stop.
19:23 – The MP Motorsport BMW pits from the Class 2 lead.
19:15 – GT Classics changed the gearbox on their Porsche, but found the new box physically longer.  The team modified the gear lever to fit.
20:05 – Optimum had to replace a fuse on the fuel pump as it "refused" to work.
20:11 – Richard Abra’s class leading BMW makes it up to second overall.
20:14 – The second-in-class Topcats Marcos had problems in its stop. It lost all of it’s water
20:30 – The MP Motorsport BMW pitted and had a small front brake fire.
20:53 – The Topcats Marcos goes back into the garage, cooling issues again. They began the task of changing the whole engine.
21:28 – With the troubles for Strata, MP Motorsport took second overall.

Class 3:
19:05 – The Rogue Motorsport Toyota gets investigated for driving standards.
19:10 – Black flag for the Welch Motorsport SEAT Leon Supercopa. The car was too noisy; it came in to fix it and returned to the circuit.
21:01 – MMC Motorsport BMW E46 also black flagged for noise.
21:09 – The Strata Porsche was deemed too loud as well, and was taken into the garage for the issue to be fixed.

Class 4:
18:42 – The Carvelll Motorsport Jaguar XF-S gets taken into the pits on a flatbed.  The gearbox had broken on the diesel car.
18:46 – The Rogue Motorsport BMW was parked on the outside of Maggots with the driver out of the car.
19:09 – The Rogue BMW gets taken back into the garage for repairs. The car had no drive, thanks to a broken prop shaft, which was replaced.
19:24 – The Piranha Motorsport Ginetta pits from third in class. It was a lengthy stop while the team changed the front brake pads.
19:40 – Team Manager of the Toyota GB team called to Race Control, for a driver exceeding the three hour limit.
20:12 – Once again, Toyota GB Team Manager called to Race Control, this timem for speeding in the pitlane.
20:29 – The APO Motorsport Clio slowed on track due to their throttle cable bracket braking.
21:01 – The Carvell Motorsport Jaguar black flagged for noise.
21:05 – The Rogue Motorsport BMW leaves the garage to a round of applause after the team completed the propshaft change.
21:22 – #76 Synchro Honda Jazz joined the ranks of those pinged with a black flag for excessive noise.
21:29 – Mission Motorsport’s good progress continued, as they set their fastest lap of the race so far.

Martin Short “The trouble is we have no car set-up, we can’t get any tyre grip. We are just going to go round and round and see what happens.”

Class 1:
#6 Team LNT Ginetta G55 GT3 - 2:05.311 (105.16 mph, 169.23 kph)

Class 2:
#35 Topcats Racing Marcos Mantis - 2:12.699 (99.30 mph, 159.81 kph)

Class 3:
#26 Cor Euser Racing Lotus Evora - 2:15.985 (96.90 mph, 155.95 kph)

Class 4:
#87 Ryan McLeod Holden Astra OPC - 2:24.700 (91.06 mph, 146.56 kph)

JY & SK