Lister Team Report
During the Silverstone LMES 1000km race, the Lister Storm LMP showed its' potential - the final result did not reveal the true race at all. Various minor accidents meant that the LMP did not finish the race but the four hours it did race were thrilling.
Justin started, immediately passed the MG Lola and from lap 1 threatened the Dallara, which was holding him up. Before long he passed this car to take 7th position and proceeded to haul in the next car on track - a Zytek. In a magnicificent manoeuvre at the end of the pit straight he was past and up to 6th with just three Audis and two Zyteks ahead of him; he was setting the same lap times as these cars.
Our first pit stop showed that the Storm LMP is more fuel efficient than the Judd engined cars and only slightly less than the Audis and Zyteks - encouraging news at this early stage of the engine's development.
Justin stayed in the LMP for a second stint, during which he was hit from behind by Robbie Kerr in a Zytek - Justin spun off track but rejoined. This incident would have later implications but in the meantime Justin finished his time at the wheel to hand over to Rob.
After a short time, Rob returned to the pits - a bearing in the rear suspension had been damaged in the earlier collision and had now broken. The team replaced this but time was lost and the LMP dropped from 6th position to about 24th. Rob made up the time during his two stints, moving back up to 13th before getting tangled up in a passing manoeuvre - he had passed the Dallara and was about to pass one of the Zyteks but was blocked and inadvertently had contact with the spinning Zytek. Back to the pits to repair a damaged steering and more time lost!
So, the LMP returned to the track with Justin at the wheel who was positioned between two of the Audis and racing with them. However, a sudden problem with the brakes caused him to spin - he hobbled back to the pits with no front brakes - probably related to the earlier accident. With about only 1 hour to go we were down in 18th position and decided that the LMP should retire.
This race has shown that the Lister LMP can race with the fastest - the lap times were always among the top five. The driver pairing this weekend, Justin Keen and Rob Barff was very equal and, without the accidents, we would have expected to have finished in 3rd or 4th position.
Quotes from various people 'it was the first time we have seen the LMP actually race', 'the first two hours were the most exciting racing I have ever seen', ' the car looks and sounds awesome' , 'the pit stops showed the team meant business'.
The race also showed the only cars faster in the 900 category are the Audis - the Zyteks (although grouped in the same overall class) are 675's, a different category with different technical specifications.
There is more time to come from the Storm LMP - it is the youngest car on the grid and development on the chassis and engine is only just starting ……… an exciting prospect.
The final LMES race is at Spa on 12th September - we would also like to race the final two rounds of the ALMS series in America, Petit Le Mans on 25th September and Laguna Seca (California) on 17th October but first need to secure a suitable budget.
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