Chaps,
I write a little blog about automotive matters, specifically race meetings. If there is any interest, I will gladly post reports to Exiges.com. This is the latest one.
Andy
They say it only takes two cars to make a motor race. Well in the GT Trophy we had three, but it looked for all the world like a classic two-car Porsche vs Ferrari battle for the first half of a fascinating encounter. While some races during the day featured huge, capacity grids, the GT Trophy showcased a small, but representative field of GT racing cars. A two hour race, a rhythm was immediately established at the front with the Ferrari 430GTC of Gary Eastwood heading the Porsche 997 GT3 of Nick Duffield. As if tied together, the pair proceeded for a full hour with barely a car�s length between them. Duffield tried eveything he knew, but Eastwood almost revelled in the pressure and at no point did a move look to be on the cards. Behind, the chasing pack was left breathless.
The complexion of the race changed at the pitstops, with the #8 Ferrari of Eastwood retiring with mechanical maladies. It looked as if the race was all but over, with Michael Donovan now in the #97 Porsche and looking comfortable to the flag. This, however, did not take account of the charging Rob Barff. He took over the #88 Ferrari 430GTC, twin to the previous race leader, at the pitstops and proceeded to reel off one of the great domestic GT drives. He was a little over a lap down at half-distance but quickly closed down the gap and unlapped himself. From there it was head-down, lap record stuff. Barff was flying � hammering through the Craners and lap-after-lap the gap reduced. With only a handful of cars on the track he was without hinderance from traffic.
Just a few minutes from the end and he was on the leader�s tail, making a clean, almost easy, move into Schwantz corner. A ballsy drive worthy of the best and certainly one of the finest performances I�ve seen in recent times.
Behind this pitched lead battle, reliability was a factor and the small entry should be seen as a starting point only. The awesome fight at the front and thrilling British GT encounters of 2 hour duration at Silverstone and Donington Park in 2010 proves the validity of this format of racing in a domestic context. While international GT racing � in the form of Stephane Ratel�s World GT1 Championship � heads towards a sprint format, a mini-enduro offers up a fine balance between tactical intrigue and outright speed. I look forward to more of the same over the balance of the season.
The rest of the race card featured a mixture of saloon and single seater encounters from a variety of the different series under the MSVR umbrella. The day was interupted by heavy rainfall which led to spectators seeking shelter under the canopy of the pit straight grandstand, and competitors diving into the pit lane for treaded tyres. The rough and tumble of the VW Golf GTI Championship led to a number of cars left stricken in the gravel at the Goddards chicane and the JCB snatch vehicle worked overtime. In spite of this, the racing was generally clean and included a rare loss for Colin Tester, whose Sierra Cosworth was finally vanquished in the Production Saloons encounter. This bodes well for a season of fierce competition to look forward to. Manic motorcycle engine screamers thrilled in the second Monoposto grid and contrasted with the recent F3 cars which raced earlier in the day � huge rooster tails of spray being hurled into the air by diffusers and broad treaded tyres.
So, despite foolishly omitting to pack an umbrella and subsequently receiving a chilly, but probably deserved, soaking, once again it was a tremendous day enjoying the best of UK racing and I am genuinely excited for the new GT Trophy�s prospects in providing endurance format GT racing around some of our finest circuits.
