British GT, Donington – Sunday Notes
Perfect Weather In contrast to Saturday, Donington Park was bathed in glorious sunshine on Sunday morning and the indications were that the BGT would finish on a perfect autumn day. Judging by the throngs at the paddock entrance, a reasonable crowd would also be in attendance; including one Damon Hill OBE – later spotted dining in the LNT hospitality unit with Lawrence Tomlinson and Richard Dean - who apparently suffered the ignominy of being refused entrance at the gate by a candidate for Jobsworth of the Year for having no pass and being forced to buy a ticket. The good weather contributed to a relaxed atmosphere, with the ten-minute warm-up session doing nothing to sour anyone’s mood. This was perhaps because it was possibly the most boring ten-minutes of track action for quite some time – absolutely nothing of interest happened; and slowly, courtesy of a slippery track. The best time would be 1:20.915 for the #16 CR Scuderia Ferrari. The Promotorsport Nissan was back out on track, but several cars were missing; most notably the VRS Ferrari and the ABG Viper. Adam Wilcox’s and Phil Burton’s pit garage was noticeably tidy, in that there was nothing in it apart from the car; and that was ominously pointing the wrong way. “We’ve got an engine problem that has plagued us all year,” said Wilcox. “It's okay for about 1.5 hours then loses all power, so we won’t be racing.” This left 23 cars for the afternoon race. The Viper, meanwhile, was in the final stages of an engine change; “We were down on pace yesterday and couldn’t work out why,” explained Craig Wilkins. “Aaron brought it in after qualifying and the guys diagnosed a misfire, so the engine had to come out. It didn’t have a clutch when warm-up started, but it’s all back together now.” Bjorn Gustavson was enjoying his BGT debut in the #101 Richmond Racing Ginetta; “It’s a new car and a new track, but it’s going well so far,” said the Swede, who was sharing the car with Andreas Bostrom. “We’ve driven Porsches in three-hour races back home, but the tracks are much more interesting in the UK and Europe. We’ve got eight tracks in Sweden, but only two even have pit garages. “The Ginetta’s a fun car to drive – not as exciting as a Porsche, but quite fast on a track like this.” Despite the car now being full GT4-spec, it is still running as an Invitation Class entry. Steve Tandy was stepping up to a GT3 Viper after a season of Ginetta GT4s; “It’s our first time out, so we’re taking it easy and concentrating on the race,” he said. “It’s all about consistency.” Tandy, sharing the #7 Viper with Richard Evans, only started racing in 2006, but has experience of big, grunty sportscars in the Masters Series where he races a Lola T70 C and a Jaguar E-Type. “We’re doing this with a view to 2009, but we’re enjoying the step up.” Nigel Greensall was impressed with his M-Tech team mate Duncan Cameron’s progress; “I’m here to help Duncan for this race, but he’s really making progress. His focus is spot-on and he’s already done his fastest laps around Donington this weekend. “He won the 2007 Castle Combe GT championship at his first try in 2007 and he’s going well in Britcar this year; now he’s looking at British GT for next year.” Greensall himself has, as usual, been very busy racing all over Europe; “I’ve been doing Belgian GT, BTCS, Fun Cup, and last week I was racing a Radical SR8 with Cameron MacDonald at Le Mans. It’s only his second race in the car and we won! I got to stand on the Le Mans podium – and that’s something I didn’t think I’d ever do.”
Piers Masarati explained that the Chad Porsche had been over-fuelled for warm up, hence it’s failure to set a time. He was also happy with Peter Bamford’s pace in qualifying. Team Trimite Brookspeed’s lack of pace, meanwhile, was being attributed to the car having an H-patter box this weekend. Next up, the race. MH | 
