Last weekend the Elise Trophy drivers found ourselves sharing the paddock with some pretty serious machinery, as we raced at Brands Hatch, supporting DTM.
As is becoming the norm for our races we fielded full grids of 32 cars in both races. An incident off the start line in race 1 meant a number of laps behind the safety car while 2 cars were recovered. Chris Randall recorded his 3rd & 4th wins in succession to become the man to beat in class C (and overall).
So there we were, 2 weeks before our next round at Silverstone (plenty of time to sort cars out), when we got the call from the organisers of the DTM (German Touring Cars) round at Brands Hatch – one of their support races had pulled out, would we like to try and get a grid together, and if so, could we get decent numbers? DTM at Brands is probably the 3rd biggest race meeting in the UK (after F1 & A1GP) so for a series in its 1st year this was a fantastic opportunity.
But, with only 8 day’s notice, could we get enough cars & drivers there to make up a decent grid? The response from the drivers was phenomenal, weekend plans were hastily rearranged, partners were placated (and in some cases bribed quite heavily!) and unbelievably, just 5 hours after the announcement, we had a full grid of 32 cars confirmed, plus a healthy number of reserves. Cars that were in pieces were reassembled, members of the LoTRDC committee put in hours of work to make all the arrangements, and we were off, to join some pretty serious machinery at Brands Hatch!
Our qualifying session was scheduled for Friday, with race 1 on Saturday and race 2 on Sunday. To keep things simple we decided to run 2 scratch races, with the grid for race 1 being determined from Friday’s fastest time for each driver, while race 2 would use the 2nd fastest time, so those drivers who didn’t manage to put in 2 quick laps during qualifying would find themselves moving down the grid.
Qualifying results from Friday
The forecast for qualifying was thundery showers and come Friday morning a couple of overnight downpours followed by a period of drizzle meant the track was definitely wet. We’ve been lucky so far this year and we’ve done pretty much every session in the dry (except the MSVR Invitation Handicap race at Brands Hatch in March which was both wet & dark!). Lotus Cars had kindly provided us with a large marquee (not to mention a 2-eleven circuit car!), so the 35 Elise Trophy cars looked pretty good in the paddock. All the drivers looked pretty relaxed at 10am, the skies seemed to be brightening up and we had over 2 hours to go before our session. Fingers crossed it would be dry!
Then, out of the blue, an announcement! Apparently the low cloud cover meant that the air ambulance couldn’t fly, which in turn meant that the neither the DTM nor the Formula 3 Euro Series could go out for their practice sessions. However Elise Trophy drivers are made of sterner stuff (not to mention clearly being dispensible!), we were given the call to action and would be going out in 20 minutes! For 10 minutes the paddock became frantic as cars were reassembled, race suits were donned, suspension was readjusted and drivers prepared themselves for what looked like being a wet session. However as we headed out onto the circuit it was immediately obvious that it wasn’t wet at all, the circuit was pretty much completely dry. So those drivers who had gambled on dry settings were on the money, while those who’d played it safe and had gone out on wet settings found themselves grappling with some pretty lively handling!
As seems to be par for the course for qualifying sessions this one seemed to be over pretty quickly but once again most drivers seemed to find some space for a quick lap. Andrew Walsh & Chris Randall headed the timesheets, with Walsh taking pole position by 0.05s. Less than 1s separated the top 8 on the grid. Steve Williams (4th overall) was the fastest in class B, followed by Chris Pearson (5th). It looked like we were in for another good tussle in class A, with less than 1s covering the top 6 cars, congratulations to James Knight for taking his 1st class pole.
Saturday dawned warm and cloudy, with a hint of rain in the air. We weren’t due to race until 2:50pm, but most of the drivers were in the paddock pretty early, absorbing the atmosphere, and watching the other practice/qualifying sessions (eg DTM, Sidecars (proper nutters!), FPA, Formula 3 Euro Series).
At 2:30pm we started to line up for the grid, 33 race cars (including one reserve – Anthony Clark, who would sit in the pit lane in case anyone didn’t make it off the start line), being led out onto the circuit by the 2-eleven was a pretty impressive sight. The green flag lap on the Brands Indy circuit seems to take no time at all, and doesn’t provide much opportunity to get tyres/brakes etc. up to temperature. All 32 cars lined up on the grid, but just before the lights came on it was obvious that David Harvey had a problem as he raised his hand and pulled off to the side of the circuit. The marshals immediately waved Clark forward to the front of the pit lane, probably quite a nerve-wracking experience for his first ever race! In fact the marshals tried to wave the 2-eleven lead car out in to the race as well, luckily Jamie was on the ball and didn’t go for it!
Then the lights went out and it was go go go! Randall got away cleanly at the front of the field, while behind him things were not quite so calm! Steve Williams tangled with both Simon Scuffham and Andrew Walsh before finding himself at right angles to the rest of the field. David Skeggs had a flier of a start, was unsighted by a slow starting Andrew Kell and t-boned Williams. Their 2 cars were clearly out of the race and the safety car was deployed for 7 laps while their cars were recovered. Meanwhile, just before the safety car came out, Malcolm Sanders had spun his car at Druids and found himself at the back of the field. Other quick starters who managed to find a way through the chaos included Sarah Crowder, who made her way up to 21st from 31st on the grid. Later in the race Crowder also made her 1st proper overtaking manouevre of the series when she passed Jez Braker into Paddock (although it's worth noting that he got his revenge a couple of corners later!). Graham Walsh & Tom Chatterway also had a minor coming together off the grid, but both managed to continue racing, Walsh albeit one wing mirror down!
Racing resumed on lap 8, and Randall, Scuffham & Walsh moved clear of the rest of the field, and in fact eventually took the flag in that order. Andrew Kell had dropped from 6th on the grid to 9th behind the safety car due to the start line incident. Once racing re-started he worked his way up to 5th and set about catching Neil McKean, who had managed to break away from the chasing pack. Russ Treasure was running a strong 5th when he retired on lap 8. Tony Doe was running 7th until he had a spin on lap 8, dropping him to 14th. Chris Pearson, Sean Bicknell and Christian Watkins had a good battle in class B.
Then, on lap 11 Sanders put his car well and truly in the gravel on the outside of Paddock Hill. It was a dangerous position ,and with not enough laps remaining to recover the vehicle the race was red-flagged. Congratulations to class C and overall winner Chris Randall, who led from lights to flag to take his 3rd scratch race victory in the Elise Trophy. In the end Kell caught McKean but didn’t get past him, crossing the line 0.17s adrift, with McKean taking an excellent 1st in class and 4th overall. Also an excellent maiden class victory for Paul Harding in class A.
The true spirit of the Elise Trophy was demonstrated overnight on Saturday, when a lot of people mucked in to help Steve Williams get his car back on the grid. Much to many onlookers' surprise they managed it too, with the help of a fair bit of gaffa tape, not to mention some good work with a hammer! The spirit arround the series reached new heights with David Skeggs being offered Malcolm Sanders’ car so that he could start from the pit lane if someone didn’t get off the grid.
Sunday dawned bright and warm, and crowds started pouring into Brands Hatch from pretty early on. This was clearly going to be by far the biggest crowd we had ever raced in front of. Thanks to Lotus for the marquee and 2-eleven, and Mark Gooday for the use of his trailer, our paddock looked great and generated loads of interest throughout the day.
We were due to race at about 4pm, but the long wait passed by really quickly and it seemed like no time at all before once again we were lining up to go out. Word of the start line crash in Saturday’s race had spread, and a lot of the crowd stayed to watch our race, clearly hoping for more of the same. Unsurprisingly the drivers were hoping for significantly less carnage!
Ex Lotus F1 driver Martin Donnelly led us out onto the circuit in the Lotus 2-eleven and we formed up on the grid. This time it was Sean Bicknell’s turn to have problems on the startline and he was pushed off the grid, this meant Skeggs would start from the pit lane.
Andrew Kell had mentioned to the race commentator, David Addison, that he had been listening to the commentary on the Brands Hatch radio frequency while forming up for the grid on Saturday. Kell & Martin Roberts were the only 2 drivers on the grid on Sunday with working radios and when David mentioned this as we were lining up on the grid, both drivers flashed their lights. This caused some consternation amongst the marshals, several of whom gathered round Kell’s car to see what was wrong. They seemed pretty bemused when they discovered he was listening to the radio!
Saturday's start line incident was probably preying on a lot of the drivers’ minds as the lights went out, but this time everyone made a clean start. Chris Randall made a good start from 3rd on the grid and took an early lead, with Andrew Walsh, Simon Scuffham and Kell slotting in behind him. Russ Treasure’s car spluttered off the line from 4th on the grid and retired on lap 1. The whole pack got through Paddock Hill safely and headed up towards Druids. Paul Golding had a spin on the exit of Druids and several drivers, including James Knight, had to take evasive action. Gavin Kirby took an early lead in class A, only to lose it when he spun at Graham Hill on lap 2, dropping him from 11th to 23rd overall. In the first few laps the top 3 pulled away, while Kell and Tony Doe had a scrap for 4th for a few laps before Doe dropped back. David Rowatt retired on lap 4 with engine problems.
On lap 6 John Thorne lost control of his VX220 coming through Clearways and buried it in the gravel trap, once again the safety car was deployed, unfortunately there was some confusion when the safety car came out and it picked up the 3rd placed car, that of Scuffham, along with a number of backmarkers. The safety car stayed out for 9 laps, while they recovered Thorne’s car from the gravel, then pretty much the whole pack was waved past the safety car so that it could pick up the race leader, Randall.
Battle was resumed for the last 4 laps of the race. At the front Randall, Walsh & Scuffham again broke away and finished in that order, both overall and in class C. Randall is becoming the man to beat in class C, having won the last 4 scratch races. Kell brought his class C car home in 4th, and was given a pretty hard time for the last couple of laps by David Harvey in his class D 340R, who made up for failing to start in race 1 with a strong drive to take 5th overall, just 0.5s behind Kell. Behind them a fierce tussle had developed between Neil McKean, Doe, Chris Pearson, Christian Watkins and Steve Williams, who had fought his way through the field from 32nd on the grid. In the end McKean took his 2nd class B victory of the weekend, with Pearson & Watkins taking 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Meanwhile there was another great battle in class A, between Paul Harding, Michael Edwards, Hans Baumhardt and Andrew Gordon. Harding looked keen to take his 2nd class victory of the weekend and was in the lead when his exhaust manifold failed on lap 16, putting him out of contention. In the end Edwards came out on top to take his 1st class win, with Baumhardt 2nd and Gordon an excellent 3rd in only his 4th race. Williams & Skeggs drove storming races from the back of the grid to take 10th & 12th overall.
What a weekend! Our biggest race meeting yet (by far!), full grids in both races, fantastic weather, one of our favourite circuits and more close racing, especially in class A.
The Silverstone races will be followed by visits to Castle Combe (15th July), Donington Park (1st-2nd September), Spa Francorchamps (12-14th October) and Brands Hatch (10-11th November).
