8/9 Sept Britcar 24 Hours of Silverstone

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

Sunday Time 07:15
Meeting resumes - there is a 15 minute warning to all teams of the intended 07:15 start time, so a chance to wake up those sleepy pit crews and drivers. As you can see from the 1st picture, the track was quite foggy during the stoppage, a time when all cars on track were assembled on the grid and all cars in pit lane/garages were pused in front of their garages so no work could be carried out during the delay. A restart of 2 laps behind a course/pace car then preceeded the actual full on restart.

As 7:15 came, the pits were a fury of busy teams, the Clonis Porsche was quickly pushed into the garage and work commenced on changing the engine. I must say that the crew seem to operate like a well oiled clock, each knowing what is required of them both individually and as a team. 4 crew were busy below the car, one on the spare engine and another was dashing to and from the tool chests.

Talking of crews dashing about, whilst all was quiet during the delay, I took a walk about pitlane to view other cars, including the RollCentre Racing Mosler GT that was in the next pit. All crew were dozing, but I could not have predicted the sudden frantic awakeing as I mentioned to one of them that I had just noticed one of their front brake caliper pistons had popped out if its bore, leaking brake fluid and whilst they could not work on the car till the evernt resumed, fore warned is fore armed!.....
Photos: A foggy Pit lane, rear of the Mosler GT, a push back in to work and 'all hands on deck!'

ps - 07:55 and Malc's back from the land of 'zzzzzzzzzzzzzz'...

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Riveting stuff, I feel like I'm there. Wish I was in fact, best wishes for the rest of the race.

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

GO MALC GOOOOOOO, and too great footage by Paul surely one of the best part of malc staff.
We are all with u man..

when team owners touch the car ALWAYS something happens.
Momo Moretti and his red F333 sp was too famous for this. Ruined too many 1000km races in Monza for that (he owns all...he wanna play too..LOL),pilots usually make the pole and fastest lap....Momo destroy all...after..ihihihi

Feel as jackie ickx malc!!!remember u are a gt40 man!!

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

p:s. btw..who is winning and how about the italians?

 

[Ron Earp]

Great updates Paul, Wendy, and crew! Nice spot on the Mosler too Paul, I'm sure they were most appreciative if a little embarrassed. I know I'd be both!

How are things finishing up now?

Ron

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

Sunday Time 13:25
Well - what can I say....? Engine went in, but was reluctant to start. Once started it
seemed to be running rich and would not happily idle. Much tinkering later (dedicated
engineers!!) - they got it running again and so out Malc went. Unfortunately he only got
100M up pit lane before it died and refused to start again....

Pushed back to the garage, Malc sat in it for an eternity as the crew worked on it again and
about 10 minutes ago at they got it running again. Off he set and has now completed at
least a couple more laps.... Fingers crossed..... more pics to follow, car permitting!epper:

Photos: Engine and box mated, back in the car, Malc's face says it all, this bit looked a
bit worrying!, out into the pit lane, and back again....

 

[Ron Earp]

Great pictures! Wow, that is some tough luck. The team is dedicated, that is for certain. But those P-cars.........

How long does it take the team to pull a motor/transaxle out?

Ron

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

On a really good day I'm told 60 mins out and in.....

But they were being very careful....

A few 'on track' pics before my phone batt goes flat...

Malc is in the car till he turns off for refuelling, after which red tank tape appears on the nose.... I'll let him explain that one later....

 

[Malcolm]

Paul you are a bloody hero with those updates! Thanks and thanks again.

I'm knackered having just rolled in at home so pleased to say we did finish and car owner John Clonis took the flag in 46th place (out of 62 I think). I will post more tomorrow assuming I wake up! And report on those Italians for Paulo.....

Great weekend! (already thinking about next year.....)

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

I'm off t......

ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

One for 'Paolo'

and they got a podium position - 4th overall....

More to follow - once I'm fully awake.

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

eheh, grazie grazie guys!!
Too nice report for this too cool event!

 

[Malcolm]

My story of the race goes like this…….

4pm.
Paul White takes the car to the grid for the form up. I stay in the garage. We are 35th on the grid. 34th on the grid is my friend Matthew in his BMW E46. Only comments made here of note are by my sponsors. “You need pit girls for next year!”. Does that mean they wish to be involved again? John the team owner says that it is no problem to organise and for only a little extra money they will do favours too! The sponsor in question had his wife there so perhaps no sponsorship for next year now after all.

4:28pm
Safety car leads the field off for a single lap formation rolling start, next time past the safety car will have pulled off the circuit into pit lane and the race starts as the whole pack thunders past. Team Top Gear start from the pit lane after technical issues made them late for the grid form up.

4:33pm
What the f***? Paul brings our car into the pit trailing a river of fuel! We lasted a damn sight longer last year! The garage is evacuated as there is so much fuel about. The fuel rail has split. What are the chances of that? A replacement rail is fitted in just under 6 minutes and we are in the same place as last year……last!

4:40pm
No longer last as the other 993 Porsche retires from the race. In fact 6 cars retire within 30 laps. Bad luck? In motorsport there is only Motorsport, not bad luck, that is just how it is.

5:27pm
Motorsport strikes us again! Paul is recovered back to the pits by tow truck with a broken throttle linkage. The ball has popped out the ball joint. We lose about 10 minutes being recovered and 8 minutes affecting a repair. However Paul is lapping at a pace of 2 mins 9 secs to 2 mins 12 secs per lap.

6:06pm
Paul sets the team’s fastest lap of the race at 2 minutes 7.95 seconds.

6:34pm
Paul pits, was due about now anyway but there is a bad noise from the engine. Goes straight into the garage. Rumours fly about that he got hit up the back side but later I find out that as he was passing the pit exit a BMW came out and neither driver was prepared to concede the first corner. As Paul was on the left (left hand corner but with a right hander immediately next in sequence) he found himself with a choice of hitting the BMW or taking to the grass. He took to the grass. It is bumpy there and the car was launched up into the air and came down with a bit of a bump! This moment caused longer term trouble than was first realised but for now he pitted with a dragging exhaust, loss of sixth gear and a damaged drive shaft. When I say dragging exhaust the picture says a badly dragging exhaust! The cross member in this picture is the gearbox mount that the team carries as a spare.

 

[Malcolm]

Just over 50 minutes are spent changing the exhaust, fitting a new driveshaft and with realignment of the engine/gearbox 6th gear comes back into play.

7:32pm
David Smith takes over the driving and stays out for 2 hours without interruption. It is fully dark now and we are using a serious set of HDI lamps on the front of the car. We have great apex lights and it is important to turn them off as you come into pit lane otherwise you blind everyone in sight. When David pits we have completed 93 laps. We are moving back up the order and now we are in 48th place.

9:40pm
I have taken the hot seat. As I pull away I hear some awful clunking under the car. To me it sounds as though the engine or gearbox is loose. It is on throttle application that it thumps the chassis so I radio it in. This doesn’t seem right to me but I get the ok to go on out. Engine sounds good, steering ok so I accelerate down the pit exit onto the circuit. There are plenty of rubber marbles out there now. I turn in trail braking for the first corner and before I know it I am off! That was a really quick spin with no warning. Lots of dust and it takes just a second or too to work out all is ok so I rejoin. I radio in I had a spin and say I am coming in for a check over. Has something broken? I go round slowly but suspension wise all seems fine. I go straight into the pits. Up on the air jacks and the mechanics crawl around under the car. They check all they can but find nothing. I am talking with Kieran our very experienced crew chief/team manager. We agree it could have been cold tyres. When the new exhaust was put on it aligned differently and that may be bumping the chassis. Also I get told it could be pickup on the tyres. Take it easy for a few laps and see what happens. Let the tyres come to you I am told. David Smith leans in and shouts that he too had the thumping but nothing came of it. I am the novice here so I go out a bit embarrassed that it could have been cold tyres (what a daft thing to do if so) but not convinced that the thumping is just an exhaust knocking the chassis.

However I lap for another 100 minutes without incident (thumping away). I had expected to be slower at night than during day time so had agreed a window of times to aim for of between 2 mins 15 secs and 2 mins 20 secs. I achieved this quite nicely typically turning 2 mins 16/17 seconds. And I passed Team Top Gear for position on the track! We had lost 15 laps to them with the exhaust saga but now two stints later we were ahead again. Their problems were about to get worse!

Just before the end of my stint I was just getting onto Hangar Straight. Way down at Stowe I cold see some headlights which basically I shouldn’t see. Someone was off but on a straight? Then as I approach the bridge over Hangar Straight I see the Top Gear looking very sorry for itself. It had the front left side all staved in and possibly wheels pointing in odd directions. Then much, much further down the road I came across the owner of the headlights, a Mosler with its front clip detached. Clearly there was a connection!

 

[Malcolm]

The story as I hear it later is that Hammond (just taken over from Clarkson who I had passed) was happily plodding along as fast as he was happy to go when a whole gaggle of cars caught him up. He tried to not be there (which incidentally is a very sensible thing to do when a host of cars thunder up your back side!) but was forced onto the grass. He starting sliding and then speared back onto the track and caught the Mosler front left corner to front right corner. The speed differential must have been huge as the Mosler was a good 300 metres further down the track when it finally came to rest.

11:23pm
I pit having taken on board fuel. The fuelling happens in a separate pit lane which you enter as soon as you go past Bridge on the right hand side. For safety sake the organisers keep all fuel, bar diesel, away from the pit lane proper for the whole race meeting. No big dump cans, just regular petrol pumps as you would find at a filling station and they fill just as slowly. But it is the same for all cars. Our fuel consumption is actually very good. After 100 minutes of full on racing we have only used 60 litres. Given the chance we could do 2.5 hour stints, if the drivers could do that. After 100 minutes I am feeling ok and could have gone on a bit more if required which I am pleased about. Would I feel that way later after a bad night lacking sleep or if rain comes when you have to work the wheel quite a bit harder?

1127pm
Phil Brough leaves the pit lane after the car has been checked for oil levels and other things mechanics look for. Paul Thompson is right when he says the mechanics work very efficiently. I was impressed with the team last year and am again this year. Amazing. Each has a specific job to do and no one trips over anyone else and it is all quite calm.

Phil is a race instructor professionally and has been of great help to me in learning little tricks. On the test day Wednesday last week, we spent some time learning defensive lines and also alternative lines for given scenarios. How to make your car wider if needs be. Things like that. Not that I planned to be difficult to pass as this far into the race it is highly unlikely you are passing or being passed for position every time a car is caught or catches you. Drive for the flag and let them go if they really want to go. A 24 hour race is not a sprint race so conservatism would pay dividends.

As you would expect Phil is very consistent as well as quick and gets the odd 2 min 11 second lap in the dark. We are getting into the early morning now and the temperature is dropping. We are double stinting tyres now as the wear rate is very low. We had been told by Dunlop this would be possible and for budget purposes we are all glad it is possible too! £900 per set of tyres for 3 hours. The rear tyres are more noticeable on deterioration of performance in the second stint but the fronts are rock solid on grip even late into the second stint.

1:06am
Phil brings in the car and John Clonis takes over. John is a natural night person and is happy to do multiple night stints. He laps round safely and by now we are back where we started i.e. 35th overall! But it is not to last.

 

[Malcolm]

1:41am
John brings the car in. That thumping has deteriorated and now others are convinced there is a problem. Up goes the car on air jacks and the mechanics crawl around underneath again. After investigation a fault is found. The gearbox mount has broken clean off but it is not visible from below. Somewhere out on track or in the grass is a rubber doughnut with two broken aluminium castings attached to it! It takes 45 minutes to investigate and swap out the broken mount. This has to be a legacy of the first stint off that Paul suffered. But it is sorted and we have a working car again.

2:31am
We are about 150 laps ahead of where we were last year by now with a lap count of 186. But 8 laps later John re-pits having suffered brake failure on the approach to Abbey Chicane, not good as you are braking down from 6th gear into 3rd by then! The brake pedal had been getting longer during his stint and eventually it gave up with warning lights coming on. No brake fluid!

2:55am
John has the car back out with a replacement brake pipe fitted and bled in less than 6 minutes. It seems the gearbox was thumping not just the chassis but the brake pipe and eventually it fractured under the abuse. I am pleased that I was not wrong in my earlier assessment but this does mean I have to concede to a cold tyres spin which even now, 2 days later makes me feel foolish. John reports back in to say that the car feels much better without the thumping!

3:34am
John hands the car over to Paul for his second stint. With a clear circuit Paul laps in a consistent 2 mins 11 seconds. Seven laps on the trot all within 0.5 seconds. This is what drivers mean about getting into a rhythm. Normally it is traffic that spoils the run but also concentration is critical to keeping going in a tight window of lap times. I found that a small error on one corner, say you ran a little wide, was sufficient to knock my concentration out for a couple of laps and I had to back right off and build it back up again. Frustrating when it happened but also hard work. It is easy to drive in a rhythm but if not in a rhythm, it uses a lot more energy as well as losing time.

4:23am
There is fog rolling in now. This is something I dreaded happening but at least this year they planned to suspend the race if it happened. Paul lap times drop a bit as visibility plummets. The headlights of the cars are set for racing not for fog. It must have been horrible in the cars not being able to see where you are going at high speed. The commentators (yes they are still rabbiting on even at this ungodly hour!) talk of the race being suspended and sure enough it is announced that the race will be suspended but…..

 

[Malcolm]

4:53am
Just before the race suspension begins Paul limps the car in with a very sick sounding engine. We have completed 242 laps and we are just about to start our longest lap of the entire race with a lap time of 8 hours 30 minutes 32.57 seconds! Of course this is the time of night I had been told to report back for duty having been cozied up in bed for a few hours grabbing what sleep I could. So I wander in only to find the race about to be stopped, our car in the pits with not a lot happening and the driver schedule completely out the window!

The reason why the race is stopped for fog is that the local village of Silverstone can only hear the cars if they all group behind a safety car and it is foggy which makes the sound travel further. Last year there were many complaints which was not wanted this year. The overall noise limit had been lowered as well to just 102 dB static test which did cause a few concerns for some teams to pass. The same level of noise was also being used for drive by testing.

With the race about to be suspended the rules say that no car is allowed to be worked on during the suspension. Also any cars in the pit garages have to be rolled out into pit lane so it can be seen by all not to being worked on. Therefore this did delay the start of our engine swap over by about 20 minutes.

7:15am
The fog suspension is lifted. I had gone back to bed when the race stopped. An expected engine change would take 2 hours and the next driver was now David with a proposed 2 hour stint. With fog that would give me plenty more sleep. However I couldn’t really get any sleep so just dozed for a bit. When I heard the race recommence I returned to the pit garage t about 7:30am. Now something was happening.

To swap over the engine is an engine and gearbox out job. To drop that lot you need to remove the rear bumper and disconnect the rear suspension. Then swap over all the parts that need to be swapped over and then as they say in the best Haynes manual tradition, reassemble in reverse order! Last year an engine swap over took 1.5 hours. But that was with a fully professional crew. This year we have more volunteers in the team so we are told to budget 2.5 hours. Still pretty impressive and sure enough in 2.5 hours the engine is swapped out. But the new one won’t start!

During the operation of engine swap over there was much discussion at top level. John was all for getting back out on track ASAP. Kieran was not supportive of this idea at all. In fact there was quite a bit of support for stopping now and retiring the team from the race. Not because the engine could not be swapped quickly enough but because the fault of the last engine was as if a grenade had gone off inside the engine sending shrapnel everywhere, particularly down the oil lines on the car and into the oil coolers. The car carries 14 litres of oil that is not inside the engine and this was deemed contaminated oil. Even with two oil filters Kieran was not happy about running another engine on this basis.

Initially we all thought that the engine had dropped a valve like lat year. That is now not suspected of happening. What the current theory is (and this is yet to be proven by a strip down), is that a piston has melted. With the remaining saga yet to unfold the finger of blame began to be pointed towards a damaged ECU and bad fuelling on one cylinder. Or it just may have been a bad piston that let go. The end result was the same and a lot of damage has occurred inside the engine. It is just one of those motorsport things again.

I am not privy to all the discussions but John made his decision and once that was made and others realised he was not to be moved, the mechanics shifted up a gear. After the replacement engine was installed an extra hour was given over to cleaning out the oil lines and coolers as best as possible. It is announced that we have a planned restart time of 1pm so that we each get a 40 minute stint. Part of the deal to repair the car against the mechanics wishes had been that they would do it only on the condition that John would take the flag and not give it to someone else to do. The whole team concurred with that and a new energy began to seep into the team spirit.

But the new engine would not start!

 

[Malcolm]

There is a change of driver order. David has requested that because his family are coming up to see him his stint is delayed to wait for them. This bumps me into a really hot seat now. Will the engine, if the damn thing starts, last one lap or 80 laps as required? It is a gamble and John has rolled the dice, just which way up would they land…..

Thomas, our engine man who has come over from Germany to spend the weekend with us, is tinkering in the engine bay unmolested by anyone. He is the engine man. He built both engines and it is what he does. Let him get on with it.

The engine fires up but clearly the mechanics are not happy. It sounds a bit rough and everyone who is standing behind the engine moves to where the air doesn’t make their eyes water! It is over fuelling very badly. The ECU is compensating for something but what. Another hour goes by and then the engine runs up again and this time it does sound better. At least on 6 cylinders to my untrained ear. Thomas and Kieran are happy enough to warm the car up and tell me to get strapped in. 10 minutes go by as the car is properly warmed up and then I am pushed back out into pit lane. We are ahead of schedule and so we should be able to each get over 1 hour stints in if all goes according to plan.

But it doesn’t. I get just over half way down pit lane and the engine cuts out. Kieran talks to me through the radio system to try this and that just to see if it is a small glitch. It isn’t, it is a big glitch and the mechanics have to pull me back up pit lane around other cars moving around the pits. It is a slow process for safety reasons and frustrating. Kieran gets all gloomy again, but he still has the twinkle in his eye that shows he is not going to allow this problem to beat him.

He radios through that he thinks it is a faulty injector. With a faulty injector that leaks air, the ECU will shut down the engine. Once back in the garage all six injectors are swapped over. How do we know which one it could be so all six are changed to make sure. Takes a short while to do but not long really. I am still strapped in the car. The Monza GP is starting on the telly so it is moved to where I can see it clearly and hear the commentary. I am not sure if Hamilton’s use of the run off at the first chicane on the first lap didn’t give him an advantage but then who am I to judge these things?

I am instructed to switch pumps on and off, to turn over the engine and to use throttle, not use throttle and so it goes on. The engine fires without the fuel pumps on but it won’t run with them on. The throttle position sensor is changed. Other bits of wiring are changed. Kieran’s face gets longer and longer. I have sat in the car now 1.5 hours and am getting a numb bum!

Wendy wanders over to Kieran who is leaning against one of the tool chests. He looks beaten. Andy, the number one mechanic is still churning the problem over. He also knows the car very well being one of its regular crew. Wendy suggests to Kieran that perhaps this is the end and we are out. Kieran is just about to concede when Andy walks up and says he wishes to try just one more thing. Kieran gives the go ahead but looks at Wendy as if to say, you can try but I know it won’t work. Kieran by now really thinks the ECU is dead.

Andy pulls the temperature sender off the cylinder head. Leaves it disconnected. I am instructed to switch the fuel pump off. Turn engine over. It fires as it has before but dies as there is no fuel feed. Switch on pump, turn engine on. It fires and Thomas takes the throttle over in the engine bay to blip it as he wants it done, can’t leave this to a driver you know! Everyone is now watching, something like thirty people in the garage. It is a soap opera and this is getting close to the climatic scene at the end of an episode. There is one more test to be done.

I am instructed to switch the engine off. And then to restart it. Kieran says to Wendy, “It won’t start”…..

 

[Malcolm]

It starts immaculately! Kieran bounds back into life, orders wheels back on, Andy calls clear and drops the car back down and there is no shortage of hands to push the car back into pit lane.

13:24pm
We are back in the race!

13:24 and 30 seconds
No, I don’t spin on cold tyres come the first corner. Trust me, I remembered! We have 4 hours of race time left with 4 drivers to have their second stint and to get John to the finish line. Twenty hours in to the race, the sun actually shines on me for a while and being daylight, I can see the braking zones, turn in points and apexes! That makes me feel good and I hope for better lap times although I am using 500rpm less to put less stress on the engine and will be far more gentle in everything I do to help ensure John gets his stint.

Handling is not so good now. The car has been driven for 12 hours with two offs. The suspension joints will be getting tired but what makes it harder for the tyres to grip is the fact that the rear suspension has been removed to allow the engine and gearbox to be taken out. The suspension has only been realigned by experience and a trained eye. There was no time to do more!

The back end feels loose and the car has some push, something it has never done before. Still it is quite driveable, it always has been a forgiving car to drive. Coming out of Vale chicane there is a distinct surplus of power over grip and it is a balancing act on the throttle to get acceleration sufficient to snatch 4th gear mid corner without dropping out the power band and to keep the car on the track! I notice there is a TV crew down there so clearly this is a good spot for spectating with many cars moving about quite a lot. I pass Hammond in the Top Gear car with a bit of slide on which is fun. This time it is not for position as with all our drama we are now about 70 laps behind.

I achieve my personal best lap time of 2 minutes 13.70 seconds. This is 3 seconds slower than my best lap time of last year but under the circumstances I am pleased with it.

13:43pm
I am approaching Abbey Chicane full throttle in 5th gear. Hard on the brakes, down to 4th, and then down to 3rd for the first part of the chicane. Turn in with a bit of trail braking and …..monster sideways moment, lots of banging and vibration so I consider myself lucky to have kept going forward through the chicane. The car felt like I had picked up a puncture so I radio the pits. The next couple of corners prior to the pit lane entrance made me think that actually all it was, was a big lump of tyre pickup that had lifted the car just at the wrong moment and thrown it sideways. I decide to do one more lap and am proven right so continue with the stint. But I really could have done without that. And of course that would not be all to come my way.

 

[Malcolm]

Funnily enough, it is the exact same part of the circuit and I am closing very quickly on a VW Golf Diesel. Bright yellow it is and there is no excuse for not seeing it. Snag is, that doesn’t work both ways. I am pulling beside it to go past just before the turn in point and I notice it starting to turn in without a clue that I am there. I stand on the brakes to get me out of this situation and to concede the corner and having been fully alongside to falling just over half way back the Golf hits the front of the Porsche. I continue to stand on the brakes to prevent any more contact and I am pleased to see the gap widen between the two cars, but the VW starts to spin, fortunately towards the outside of the circuit giving me more room to go through, which I do. I didn’t feel any kick on the wheel so hope the contact was to the bumper only and the precious oil coolers on the front and the front suspension are unscathed. I monitor the oil pressure readout closely from now on. First sign of low pressure and I will stop.

13:52pm
Minutes later I get half a radio message (one of my ear pieces had been dislodged as I was strapped into the car) to say it was time to head for the fuel pit lane. Kevin our radio man at the fuelling station tells me which pump to go to and, sure enough, our two dedicated re-fuellers are there waiting for me. I stop the car on its marks, climb out and they get to work. I tell Kevin what happened with the Golf and I see that all that has happened is that the front bumper has been made loose. Several strips of red tape will cure that at the main pit and no further harm done. I am disappointed I made contact as zero contact had been one of my own personal goals that I had set for myself. That and not spinning! Hmmm. Still, fuel is now in and I strap back in with a marshal checking that I do up the straps properly. Kevin waves me out the fuel bay and I crawl round at the 20 mph speed limit in the fuel lane, rejoin the main pit lane in front of the BRDC club house and quickly up to 40 mph (being the main pit lane speed lane) and Andy guides me into our box outside our pit garage. I quickly climb out again and hand over to David for his last stint.

14:34pm
David radios in thinking he has a puncture, he pits but a quick check reveals no problems. There is so much debris out there that if you go just a foot or so off the racing line you will pick up a large amount of rubber which puts a huge amount of vibration into the car. It can get so bad it takes up to 3 laps to scrub the worst bumps off. We have one crew member whose sole job was to scrap off tyre pick up from the tyres so that they could be reused!

14:47pm
David hands over to Phil.

14:58pm
I am guessing at this time as Phil has yet to confirm but after his stint he did confess to a spin coming out of Becketts (the esses) and realising he was only half way through the spin he nailed the throttle to complete a perfectly executed 360 spin whilst staying on the tarmac and looking at the lap times only conceded 2 seconds to a slower lap time. He said he hoped it was being filmed as it was a really good 360! However he did use his experience to decide that actually there was something wrong with the front suspension and pitted to have it looked at.

Sure enough there was a loose suspension joint causing the understeer we had all latterly been suffering and once this had been cured (8 minutes) his lap times dropped and he set his personal best time of 2 minutes 9.361 seconds.

15:51pm
What the team had all been hoping for happened! John Clonis the car and team owner climbs in for the last stint to take the car to the flag.