| |
News: TTRS 2009 Race Report – Round 8 – Silverstone (Grand Prix)
The TTRS saw a bumper grid enter for the Britcar 500 support races at Silverstone on the 2nd & 3rd of October, meaning that there would be 3 races, with all the drivers divided up into 3 groups, thus meaning that all the drivers who entered would get to race in 2 out of the 3 races.
Race 1:
For the first race, both sets of qualifying times were combined and then split into 3 groups, A, B & C. Group A had the fastest 24 cars from both qualifying sessions combined with Group C the cars classified from 49th to 67th.
The class pole sitters were:
• Colin Tester – Class A
• Tony Ellis – Class B
• John Willcocks – Class C
• Will McAteer – Class D
• Gail Hill – Class E
• Rob Smith – Class F
Off the line to start race one, pole man John Willcocks made a great start but still dropped back to sixth place due to the pace of the class A cars, which left Class B pole-man Ellis leading from Tester (Class A), Sam Clarke, who had come up from 6th on the grid, Robin Welsh and Roger Kneebone. At the end of lap 1, the positions had remained the same.
Class leaders after lap 1:
• Tester – Class A, 2nd overall
• Ellis – Class B, 1st overall
• Willcocks – Class C, 6th overall
• McAteer – Class D, 13th overall
• Hill – Class E, 16th overall
• Smith – Class F, 18th overall.
Lap three saw Robin Welsh claim third from Sam Clarke, and at the same time take second in class behind his next target, Colin Tester, and Welsh took the class lead away from Tester the following lap. At the end of lap 4, Welsh had a gap of 4.713 seconds to make up on the race leader and leader of class B, Tony Ellis.
Further back, The leaders of Class D, Will McAteer and Tom Ibrahim were running next to each other on track, with McAteer having the advantage by 7.450 seconds.
Class leaders after lap 4:
• Robin Welsh – Class A, 2nd overall
• Tony Ellis – Class B, 1st overall
• John Willcocks – Class C, 6th overall
• Will McAteer – Class D, 13th overall
• Gail Hill – Class E, 16th overall
• Rob Smith – Class F, 20th overall.
Lap 5 saw the third placed runner and second in Class A, Colin Tester drop back to 7th place, after a spin at Vale after turning in too quickly and going round 360 degrees, but managed to save it. This promoted Sam Clarke, Roger Kneebone, John Willcocks and Stacy Vickers into the top 6. Meanwhile, further back, the D Class battle had been split up by a charging Kevin Guiness in a Class A BMW E36 M3. The gap between the leaders was coming down as well, and Ellis’s lead over Welsh was 4 seconds, down from 4.7 seconds.
The following 5 laps saw Welsh whittle down the lead Ellis had built up as they started lapping the back markers, and by the end of lap 10, the gap was 0.104 seconds, with Clarke having taken the lead along the start/finish straight. With the lapping that was occurring, the gap to third placed driver Roger Kneebone had come down to 2.227 seconds. The D Class battle was just heading up as Tom Ibrahim had got the gap to Will McAteer down to 2.8 seconds, while Gail Hill and Rob Smith were having an easy race in their class.
The class leaders at the end of lap 10:
• Class A – Robin Welsh, 1st overall.
• Class B – Tony Ellis, 2nd overall
• Class C – John Willcocks, 4th overall
• Class D – Will McAteer, 13th overall
• Class E – Gail Hill, 15th overall
• Class F – Rob Smith, 18th overall.
Tony Ellis retook the lead on lap 11 from Welsh, and set about building up an advantage and within 2 laps had built up a gap of almost 2 seconds over Welsh. However, the last lap saw Ellis lose the win after spinning at Luffield, handing the victory to the BMW of Robin Welsh, and crossed the line forth behind John Willcocks and Roger Kneebone. Willcocks and Kneebone had changed positions on the previous lap.
Overall honours went to:
1. Robin Welsh – 13 laps in 34:51.909
2. John Willcocks +2.175
3. Roger Kneebone +5.336
Fastest Lap: Sam Clarke, 2:15.403 - Lap Record.
Taking the honours in each class were:
• Class A: Robin Welsh, 1st overall – BMW E36 M3
• Class B: Tony Ellis, 4th overall – Mazda RX7
• Class C: John Willcocks, 2nd overall – BMW E30 M3
• Class D: Tom Ibrahim, 11th overall – Vauxhall Astra GTE
• Class E: Gail Hill, 14th overall – Jaguar XJ40
• Class F: Rob Smith, 15th overall – BMW E30
There were also 3 new lap records set in the opening race, with the Jaguar XJS of Sam Clarke taking almost 3 seconds out of the Class A record, which was previously held by Adrian Kneebone. Tony Ellis and Will McAteer also took new lap records.
A few other events of note – Kristian Dean, who, after qualifying had to replace the engine managed to finish 2nd in class F, one lap down but a result for the hard work and effort of everyone connected with Project 8 Racing.
Robin Welsh, who claimed the overall race honours and class A honours, wasn’t even sure if his car would be ready in time. His car is the same one that he’s used in the British Drifting Championship.
Race 2:
Race 2, consisting of the cars who qualified 25th to 48th (Group B) and for Group C:
Their second race of the weekend. This race was held in damp track conditions.
Liam Crilly, a Production BMW Championship regular started on pole for this race with Brian Jordan starting alongside him on the front row.
The class pole positions went to:
• Class A: Brian Jordan – 2nd on the grid
• Class B: David Ball – 14th place on the grid
• Class C: Ken Lark – 7th on the grid
• Class D: Ian Carvell – 4th on the grid
• Class E: Dave Robbie – 8th place on the grid
• Class F: Liam Crilly – pole position
Off the line for the second race of the weekend, Liam Crilly lost the lead as the more powerful cars came past him, thus ended up forth while the new race leader, Ken Lark, had an awesome opening lap. After starting seventh of the grid, Lark, in his VW Corrado VR6 led the rest of the field across the line with the Class A BMW of Brian Jordan in second, Ian Carvell in his VW Scirocco Gti in third place.
At the end of the opening lap, the class leaders were:
• Class A: Brian Jordan, 2nd overall
• Class B: David Ball, 15th overall
• Class C: Ken Lark, 1st place
• Class D: Ian Carvell, 3rd place overall
• Class E: Dave Robbie, 12th overall
• Class F: Liam Crilly, 4th overall.
Further back, at the end of lap one, James Hebditch, in the Class E VW Golf Gti had climbed his way up to 16th place after starting 30th on the grid, while Nick Padmore also made up a number of places from 19th on the grid, Padmore crossed the line at the end of lap 1 in 10th place.
Lap 2 saw a change for second as the D Class Scirocco of Carvell took the A Class BMW M635csi of Jordan, before Jordan retook second the following lap from Carvell and then on lap 4, took the lead away from Lark.
As the front drivers chopped and changed positions, this gave the charging Hebditch the chance to climb up even more positions and crossed the line at the end of lap 4 in 8th place, 22 places higher than where he qualified, and the class lead was taken by Hebditch on lap 3, when Dave Robbie was passed.
Class positions after 4 laps of the race:
• Class A: Brian Jordan, 1st overall
• Class B: David Ball, 11th place overall
• Class C: Ken Lark, 2nd overall
• Class D: Ian Carvell, 3rd place overall
• Class E: James Hebditch, 8th place overall
• Class F: Liam Crilly, 4th place overall.
As the race progressed towards the latter stages, Brian Jordan was able to pull away and on lap 9, had managed to pull a gap of 8.164 seconds over Ken Lark, who in turn had a comfortable 4 second lead over Ian Carvell, however the real action was happening just behind the top three as James Hebditch, who had been on a recovery drive took forth place away from Liam Crilly.
Crilly also had to defend from Nick Barke, and this gave Crilly a real buzz. As the tyres on Crilly’s BMW E30 had gone off, Barke closed in and kept him honest, Crilly could build a gap at Maggotts/Becketts and Chapel yet by the end of the lap had lost the advantage.
All of this scrapping meant that Hebditch could build a gap and had a 3 second lead at the end of the ninth lap.
Class positions after 9 laps:
• Class A: Brian Jordan, 1st
• Class B: David Ball, 11th
• Class C: Ken Lark, 2nd
• Class D: Ian Carvell, 3rd
• Class E: James Hebditch, 4th
• Class F: Liam Crilly, 5th.
The last 2 laps saw the dominant Jordan pull away from Lark and took the win by a comfortable margin of 3.879 seconds with the third step of the podium filled by Ian Carvell.
Liam Crilly reclaimed 4th place on the 11th lap as the impressive Hebditch ran out of fuel and was forced to retire, this also meant that the equally impressive Barke fifth place and still glued to the rear bumper of Liam as they crossed the line.
Further back, the class B winner David Ball had a trouble free race as he finished in 10th place overall, and the Class E win went to class pole-man Dave Robbie after the non finish of James Hebditch.
Overall Honours:
1. Brian Jordan: 12 laps in 34:02.077
2. Ken Lark +3.879
3. Ian Carvell +16.928
Fastest Lap went to Brian Jordan in a time of 2:22.275 on lap 6. this lap time was 1.6 seconds faster than the next overall fastest lap.
Class honours went to:
• Class A: Brian Jordan, BMW M635csi – 1st place
• Class B: David Ball, Jaguar XJS – 10th place
• Class C: Ken Lark, VW Corrado VR6 – 2nd place
• Class D: Ian Carvell, VW Scirocco Gti – 3rd place
• Class E: Dave Robbie, Jaguar XJS – 13th place
• Class F: Liam Crilly, BMW E30 – 4th place
Race 3:
So for the final race of the weekend, for Groups A and B, this meant that the fastest 48 cars would contest the final race. There were a number of withdrawals before this race.
Stacy Vickers withdrew after his race 1 DNF, so he could investigate the cause, while Paul Cowland withdrew before the first race due to the rear axle stub being fully worn away which left a very well worn split pin holding it all together. Due to this, Paul didn’t fancy risking taking the start and losing a wheel after about 2 laps.
The other withdrawals were Craig Jamieson and his Ford Sierra Cosworth and Peter Seldon in his BMW E30, and Julian Newman opted to start from the back of the grid.
Pole position went to the BMW E30 M3 of John Willcocks, with the Class A pole-man Colin Tester starting alongside him on the front row of the grid.
The Class Pole Positions went to:
• Class A: Colin Tester, 2nd place
• Class B: Tony Ellis, 4th on the grid
• Class C: John Willcocks, pole position overall
• Class D: Will McAteer, 10th place on the grid
• Class E: Gail Hill, 11th on the grid
• Class F: Rob Smith, 13th on the grid.
When the lights went out and race 3 started, pole-man John Willcocks made another good start but was out acclerated on the run to the first corner, which left Colin Tester in the Class A Ford Sierra Cosworth in the lead with Robin Welsh in the Class A BMW E36 M3
in second.
Photo: www.snappyracers.com
Further back down the field, the other class pole sitters were making steady progress, with a new leader in Class F as the 2008 Renault Clio Champion Ben Winrow took the class lead from Rob Smith, while Liam Crilly, who had been up with Winrow after a mega start dropped back after running out of racing room and finding himself rubbing wheels with the Alfa Romeo of Richard Ibrahim.
Class leaders after lap one were:
• Class A: Colin Tester, 1st
• Class B: Tony Ellis, 3rd
• Class C: John Willcocks, 5th
• Class D: Will McAteer, 12th
• Class E: Gail Hill, 14th
• Class F: Ben Winrow, 18th
Lap 2 saw the Class F leader Ben Winrow drop one place to the Vauxhall Astra GTE of Mike Collins, who then went and joined in the midfield scrap between Lawrence Ball in the Jaguar XJS, Will McAteer in the VW Golf Gti, Gail Hill in the Jaguar XJ40, Tom Murphy in the Ford Sierra Cosworth, Brian Jordan in the BMW M635csi and Tom Ibrahim in the Vauxhall Astra GTE.
At the front of the field, the Sierra Cosworth being piloted by the race leader and first year racer Colin Tester was pulling away from his rivals and by the time Tester had crossed the line to complete his 4th lap, he had built up a gap of 3.618 seconds over Robin Welsh.
Third place, however had changed on the previous lap as Sam Clarke had passed the Class B leader Tony Ellis, who on the forth lap dropped back even further as his Mazda RX7 developed problems. Ellis retired on the fifth lap, giving the Class B lead to the Jaguar XJS of Lawrence Ball.
After 5 laps, the class leaders were as follows:
• Class A: Colin Tester, 1st
• Class B: Lawrence Ball, 16th
• Class C: John Willcocks, 4th
• Class D: Will McAteer, 13th
• Class E: Gail Hill, 15th
• Class F: Rob Smith, 17th
Lap 7 saw a change of lead in the Class F category as Ben Winrow retook the lead from Rob Smith.
The overall race leader, Colin Tester, had built up a big lead as he started to encounter the backmarkers on lap 9, with the gap being 5.677 to second placed Robin Welsh.
Class leaders after lap 9:
• Class A: Colin Tester, 1st
• Class B: Lawrence Ball, 18th
• Class C: John Willcocks, 3rd
• Class D: Will McAteer, 14th
• Class E: Gail Hill, 13th
• Class F: Ben Winrow, 16th
Lap 11 saw the Class D leader, Will McAteer retire from the race which left Tom Ibrahim in his Vauxhall Astra GTE in the lead of the class, with the Class F leader Ben Winrow hassling him all the way to the chequered flag, with Ibrahim winning the duel, and taking the class win.
The overall win went to a delighted Colin Tester, who had just taken his first win in his career, and in his first year of racing. Colin always believed that his Sierra Cosworth could win a race, once the reliability problems had been overcome.
Following his across in second, having closed the gap up from 7.973 seconds at the end of the tenth lap was Robin Welsh in his Class A BMW E36 M3, while the third step was taken by John Willcocks in his Class C BMW E30 M3. John had had a race of his own, as he finished 10.054 seconds behind Welsh but with a 25.585 second gap back to forth place Sam Clarke in his Class A Jaguar XJS.
Overall results:
1. Colin Tester: 13 laps in 34:35.758
2. Robin Welsh +4.789
3. John Willcocks +14.843
Fastest Lap:
Colin Tester on lap 2 in a time of 2:16.085
The other class wins were claimed by:
Class A: Colin Tester, Ford Sierra Cosworth – 1st
Class B: Lawrence Ball, Jaguar XJS – 16th
Class C: John Willcocks, BMW E30 M3 – 3rd
Class D: Tom Ibrahim, Vauxhall Astra GTE – 13th
Class E: Gail Hill, Jaguar XJ40 – 12th
Class F: Ben Winrow, BMW E30 – 14th.
The end of this race saw the end of some driver and car combinations, Tom Ibrahim competed in his last race with the Vauxhall Astra GTE he picked up from a very windy hill farm in Wales, Mynyddislwyn to be exact.
Dean Spurr also did his last races in his Rover Tomcat, which he hopes will still
be raced in the TTRS.
Every driver who took part commented on how well run and friendly the series is, with
the close clean racing and that they can’t wait for the next round of the series.
Race Report by Matt Auger (matt_macau_bmw320si@hotmail.com)
|
|
|
