Britcar MSA BEC Silverstone - Report
First Round, First Win for Azteca/Strata21

Javier Morcillo, Manuel Cintrano and Paul White, in the Azteca/Strata 21 Mosler, took the overall honours in the opening three-hour counter at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon, but they didn’t have it all their way as the early stages of the race saw a three-way battle for the lead.

Qualifying

With the  heavy-hitters all sticking around 2:10 halfway through the 45-minute session something had to break through, and a final sequence by Javier Morcillo saw the Mosler finally establish pole at 2:03.473, whilet Andy Schulz responded with a time just one-tenth shy in Paul Bailey’s new Michelotto Ferrari 430 GT2. The Flat Six Racing Rapier SR2, resplendent in its new Martini-inspired livery, had topped the times for much of the session, but Mike Millard could only offer third-best  as the session drew to a close, a further second and a half off of Schulz’s time; “We’ve modified the exhaust to get the noise down, which has lost us a few BHP, plus we’ve fitted new dampers, but they came with no indication of settings and so the car is very unstable,” rued the Mallorca-domiciled jeweller.
 
The three Class 1 machines were nearly seven and a half seconds ahead of the Class 2 front-runners – strangely a Marcos sandwich – with the returning Team Tiger car between the two Topcats variants, the team’s “orange” car ahead of the “big green” machine. In Class 3, the Invitation entries crashed the registered–entry party, with the FF Corse Ferrari 430 and In2Racing Porsche 997 leading the new Bullrun Lotus Evora. Class 4 saw another new car, Jensen Lunn’s Chevron GR8, annexe pole.

Race

Morcillo led the pack away as the lights went green, but it was Schulz in the black Ferrari who led as they came round through the complex for the first time.

The first three – Schulz, Morcillo, and Millard in the Rapier – had already drawn out a six-second gap over the rest of the pack, which was headed by O’Neill’s Topcats Marcos and followed by Beighton in the Tiger car, Toby Tarrant-Willis in the FF Corse Ferrari, and a fast-starting David Cuff in Harry Handkammer’s BMW E90. Richard Abra’s BMW GTR came past stone last of the 21 starters, seemingly having encountered an opening-lap issue, and the Motionsport Lotus Elise of Ben Gower was an early pit visitor, taking the first of several stops (and a circuit recovery) due to a persistent misfire.

With the timing screens locked on Lap 1 for the opening 20 minutes of the race there was confusion over the lap-count, but you didn’t need a screen to tell you that Morcillo had dived down the inside of Copse to seize the lead from Schulz – around lap six – or that Millard was now threatening the Ferrari too.   Waved yellows covered the recovery of Steve Glynn’s Sagaris, which had come to a halt at the exit to Stowe, and  David Cuff’s race came to a premature end as the BMW E90 slowed along the pit straight and came to a smoky halt in a safe area on the outside of Copse.

The timing screens eventually came alive, showing that nine laps had elapsed, just in time to catch Chris Beighton taking the Team Tiger Marcos past Owen O’Neill’s similar car for fourth overall and the class lead.

Richard Abra had by now retired the BMW GTR he was due to share with Mark Poole to the garage.

Millard took the Rapier ahead of Schulz, who had probably now seen the best of his tyres, and by lap 15, just over 30 minutes into the race, the three leaders had spread out with a six or seven second gap between each of them; and in turn they were, probably literally, a country mile ahead of the Beighton, who now had O’Neill on his tail again.  Lee Mowle received a five-second penalty for exceeding the track limits in the Optimum Ginetta G55 (the officials had shown no mercy on such transgressions through the meeting), and later attracted a drive-through for further similar misdemeanours.

It was an early first stop for Tarrant-Willis who handed the FF Corse Ferrari 430 Challenge over to Charlie Hollings after just 42 minutes, around the same time as Peter Storey in the new Motionsport Ferrari 458 was getting to grips with the machine and moving up to fifth overall in front of O’Neill’s Marcos. There was a change at the front, too – Millard had seen enough of the Mosler’s exhausts and took the Rapier into the lead through Village.

Matt Smith pitted just before the first hour ticked over, handing the Redgate/Virgo Ginetta G55 over to father Peter, and Millard was in next time round, overshooting the box and needing to be pushed back. Schulz also brought the Ferrari 430 in, but what was planned as a scheduled stop went awry – the team began fiddling with the front valance as fluid poured onto the pit apron from the front end of the car, which was then pushed into the garage for attention.

Come the end of first hour, the Mosler headed the Rapier, which had stopped, by two laps, then a clutch of non-stoppers – Beighton, the new mounts of Storey  (458) and Richard Adams (Evora), both going well in their first race, and O’Neill. Ian Heward had taken control of the Rapier but the car came past the pits sounding flat, the timing screen revealing a lap time some 13 seconds off the expected pace. A glitch, it seemed, for the car was back up to speed next time round.

The legendary fuel range of the Azteca Mosler was not tested to its limits in this race, for Morcillo was pitbound after 75 minutes, handing over to Manuel Cintrano, whilst Owen O’Neill brought the Topcats #35 Marcos in for Neil Huggins to take over. The Mosler retained the front position, but the Spanish surgeon was now under threat from Heward in the Rapier, who was chewing around three seconds a lap out of the lead.

The halfway point marked another round of pit stops – first time for Adams (handing the Bullrun Evora to David Green), Jensen Lunn (being relieved by Mark Steward in the Chevron), and Jeff Mileham’s Lotus Elise. Steve Guglielmi took over the Elise, but it had endured a stop exceeding the regulation duration by around two minutes, as the mechanics laboriously struggled with the five-stud hub fixings while changing the rear tyres; “I thought Steve had gone to sleep – he was supposed to call me in after an hour,” said a relieved Mileham, adding “We may have to change the front tyres too, before the end.”  

The Steve Glynn/Andrew Clarke Sagaris had by now been parked-up in the garage, Glynn blaming fuel pressure problems compounded by brake knock. They'll be back for Donington though, hopefully with team-mate Tim Hood's yellow machine as well.

The Bailey/Schulz Ferrari 430 had rejoined with Paul Bailey belatedly taking his stint,  now some 20 laps behind the leaders; “We think we disturbed the radiators, or plumbing, when we jacked the car up to change the front wheels, causing a massive leak,” explained Andy Schulz. “It’s fixed now, and we aim to get back to 50% of the winner’s laps, to claim points”.

Kyle Tilley had been biding his time in the #34 Topcats “big green” Marcos, assuming the class lead, and was the last to take a mandatory stop about 80 minutes into the race; handing the car to new driver Dan Jones, who had  previously driven just one Friday test session and part of qualifying. His stint, sadly, barely lasted a few laps, as the Marcos ground to a halt out on the circuit with suspected clutch or transmission failure, leaving Tilley to lament; “I was really happy with the car, just cruising at the start, being consistent to go long on fuel, then I speeded up when the others made their stops, leaving the car with a comfortable class lead. I just can’t say anymore......”

Paul White had now taken over the Mosler, but somewhere in  the Cintrano in/White out process the officials has detected a pitlane speeding offence, leaving team boss Neil Garner shaking his head as he walked back from his dressing-down by Dave Pierre, to call White in for a drive through.

With the penalty duly taken, there was further drama at the front as the leading Rapier came to a halt at the start of the Wellington Straight with suspected electrical problems, having just suddenly cut out, leaving the Mosler back in the lead once again.

“I suffered a fuel surge during my stint in the Rapier and it just felt like an electrical problem, so that maybe that was an early sign,” said Ian Heward.

Now the Intersport BMW M3 had made it to the front of Class 4 with Kevin Clarke, after a final stop inside the last hour, holding a comfortable two-lap buffer over Steve Guglielmi's Lotus.

It was all to go sour shortly, though, as the black BMW began touring, posting consistent-ish 2:43 laps. With now just around 25 minutes to go, Wayne Gibson identified the team's dilemma; "It's misfiring and we think it might be one of the spark plugs, but what do we do – call him in and change all six plugs, or keep going and hope we make it to the finish?" They chose the latter option and Clarke saw his lead erode, then disappear, as the Lotus, then the Lunn/Steward Chevron, passed him. They were classified finishers, though, 16 laps down but third in class.

Another BMW in trouble was the GTR of Tom, James and Martin Webb. They were fifth overall, and trailing the Bullrun Evora for the class lead by just three seconds at the top of the second hour, but a problem with the differential or drive shaft saw them retire before the end, though they were recorded as the last classified finishers.

The Rapier had rejoined, having fired up without a problem once recovered to the pits, and Millard was circulating in the 2:09s, with only Schulz's Ferrari quicker on 2:06s. They were respectively 12 and 20 laps adrift, though, allowing the Mosler to take a comfort stop within the last hour - a splash of fuel and Morcillo installed to run to the end.

A last-gasp attempt in the closing minutes saw Martin Byford take the Evora past the In2 Porsche for fourth overall, then post a 2:30 lap which saw it drop back to sixth behind the Tiger Marcos, which had suffered a drive through slightly earlier for a pit lane speeding infringement. 

A nice round 80 laps were completed as the three hours clicked over, and a jubilant Javier Morcillo skimmed along the pit wall as he took the flag; surprisingly the first overall Britcar win for the team.

”It was impossible to beat the Rapier, but we had some luck, and I must give a big Thank You to the team for a fantastically-built car, the best car on the track,” smiled the Spaniard.

Amid the drama, Neil Huggins had come home second in the #35 Topcats Marcos, a solid trouble-free run for the “orange” car started by Owen O’Neill, which has now been up-graded to a spec close to the team’s “big green” machine, pleasing team boss Warren Gilbert. 

There was a convincing argument in this race to keep your head down, stay out of trouble, and get the result, which was what the two invitation entries did; the Toby Tarrant-Willis/Charlie Hollings Ferrari 430 and the In2Racing Porsche 997 of Mike Donovan and Nick Dudfield came home third and fourth overall, first and second in Class 3 - though that may have changed if Martin Byford hadn’t suffered a puncture and made a pit stop in the closing stages in the Bullrun Lotus Evora.

Nevertheless, it had been an impressive debut for the Adams/Green/Byford trio, who had done but a handful of laps in the car prior to Friday’s test sessions. The Motionsport Ferrari 458 was a similar success story for a new car; far from finding their way around, Peter Storey and Simon Phillips had gone in to race and a Class 2 podium spot was their reward.

Young George Murrells had shared the Optimum Ginetta G55 with Lee Mowle and, those earlier infringements notwithstanding, they had thereafter run solidly, capitalising on the troubles of classmates Schulz/Bailey and Millard/Heward, and finishing second in Class 1. The lesser-powered G55 of Peter and Matt Smith also ran solidly, the father-and-son pairing having no dramas as they ran to scoop the second-placed points in Class 3.

In Class 4, the Mileham/Guglielmi romped home seven laps ahead of the Lunn/Steward Chevron B8; “It’s a fantastic car, but we ran out of fuel on the last lap,” remarked Mark Steward on the podium. The similar Tracktorque car of Nick Jarvis and Matthew Parr, but running in Class 3, spent some time in the garage during the race, but still bagged the third-place points in the class.

A mixture of new and old like never before seen at the start of a Britcar season, has rejuvenated the championship. It’s still too early to establish benchmarks, and more are set to join the fray at Donington next month. A classic season threatens!

Steve Wood