British GT Championship – Donington Park Shakedown,
Testing and Racing The
New Team “Last year it was the one Mosler, but now we’ve got 16 mechanics and six drivers, which is a huge move up for us. The team of mechanics is based around weekend warriors but they are all Lotus guys, which is excellent for us,” began Gavan Kershaw. He explained the move from GT2 to GT3. “It came about through SRO putting together a championship based on production cars and balanced on a power/weight ratio. We did some calculations and thought if we could get 280bhp from the engine, then we’d need a weight of about 740-750kg. The production car which we started with is the supercharged Lotus Exige 240R, which has 240bhp and weighs around 850kg, so we weren’t too far away already.”
With Lotus on-board, Cadena began work on a development car, which was built up in a very impressive 40 days, just in time to be taken to the Paul Ricard circuit for evaluation by the FIA. The evaluation process was carried out on all of the potential GT3 cars. Gavan Kershaw again: “As for those tests at Paul Ricard, they revealed a lot, but it wasn’t good news. It would have been OK if we’d had a platform to modify, but the car was so new when we took it out there: we were some way off at the first test. By the next test, we’d found a massive eight seconds, but of course everyone else had found another two! [The car that participated in the Paul Ricard test is car #18, driven by Paul Whight and Chris Randall]. That’s why we made the decision that would best benefit everyone, to do the British GT Championship. The nature of the races and the circuits would suit us better at this stage, and instead of spending all our time travelling across Europe, we’d actually have time to develop the car, which is what this year is all about for us. “Barwell Motorsport and Trackspeed have given us a reason to be here this weekend by entering their GT3 cars [three Aston Martin DBRS9s for Barwell and a Porsche 997GT3 for Trackspeed]. GT3s aren’t stupidly fast, but we did want to make a move up from the Cup class and we couldn’t run competitively in GT2, so it was the best choice. The seven cars here this weekend give us a class in itself. We want to see where we are against the Astons and the Porsche, to give us a benchmark of where we would be in the GT3 series. The Silverstone round of the GT3s has already shown that it probably is the way forward for GT racing. This is the learning year for us, the target is the FIA Championship though.” Seven cars would indeed be enough to provide plenty of intrigue, not to mention a highly relevant benchmark for Lotus Sport Cadena. “We’ve
got to keep one eye on 2007, and our main concern there is that
the FIA circuits tend to have longer straights and high speed corners,
where we won’t be so strong. A power/weight ratio is OK, but
you only accelerate up to a certain point until the power and torque
of the car really comes into it. The short wheelbase and the styling
of the car also means we struggle with drag, certainly compared
to the Porsche and the Aston Martin. “There is a lot of networking between Lotus and our team and we are learning a lot from them, but the information is already flowing the other way too, they should benefit us and we should benefit them. We can also help out with track-day modifications. For example, if we find a particular type of diffuser that works really well, then there is a market for that kind of thing. “The tyres are specific to the car as they are so small. Avon is just starting out with GT racing too, so we’re starting to build a relationship there and these are just the first stabs in the dark, but it is already clear they are taking it seriously, they are helpful and keen and their paddock set-up is probably second to none.” The six Lotus Sport Cadena drivers, all decked out in brand new team overalls all have experience in racing Lotuses, albeit some of them in rather less high-profile championships than the British GT Championship. Kershaw on the logistics: “Having the three cars is a luxury, but in some ways it is worse than running two cars or four cars! What we can do is try different things on different cars and see what works and what doesn’t, then feed all the information in and improve all of the cars. It is constant development, all of the data and all of the set-ups will be available across all three cars and hopefully at some point in the season, not too far away we hope, it will all mould together. “Most of the changes done on the #18 car between the Paul Ricard tests have been carried across onto the two other cars, but the aim is small changes throughout the season. #18 will also carry on doing testing for hours on end at Hethel. It is like the hare – always stressed and doing lots of miles. Any positive changes that work will find their way onto the other cars. It has got about 4,000 miles on it already, mainly at Hethel. It is a good track for development work, but not for a lap time. It is very bumpy, and as for run-off, well, that’s what you do after an accident at Hethel! You can’t just pound round and round working on lap-times, but you can test specific things like brakes, steering and suspension, by working on certain parts of the circuit. “The other important consideration is that we end up homologating the right car, as its lifespan will be 2-3 years, so we need to make sure everything is right, like the size of the tyres, the fuel tank, lots of things. Free
Practice
All three cars ran reliably through the wet, but drying, session, but the #20 and #18 cars did not venture out on intermediates and did not set representative times in the session. Practice afforded George Mackintosh and Sam Blogg in #20 (best lap 1:27.643) and Paul Whight and Chris Randall in #18 (1:28.678) an opportunity to become accustomed to the new car. Barrie Whight was also short on laps in the new car, but it was a relief to see that all three Exiges had survived the session in good health and were ready for qualifying. Kershaw, who knows the car better than anyone, had the opportunity to put some intermediates on towards the end of the session and go for a time, as the wet tyres used so far became a hindrance. The team was satisfied to see him leap to the head of the GT3 class, leading the Aston Martins and the Porsche by over a second, heading all of the GTC cars and posting the fifth fastest time overall, with a 1:22.242. Kershaw reflected on that first session: “It proves that we are there or thereabouts. We got the #19 and #20 cars quite late, only two days before the Thursday test in fact, so this weekend is just a shakedown and development weekend with some racing involved. It’s a two hour race to test in, so our expectations are not that high.” Qualifying #18 and 19 were ahead of the #88 Aston Martin, and towards the end of the session #19 made a good improvement. Helped by an aerodynamic tow from a Porsche, Gavan Kershaw moved up to 13th overall with a 1:14.234, before an unassisted 1:14.165, which was the best time for an Exige in either of the afternoon’s two sessions. In the second session he was down to a 1:14.288, before a spin into the gravel at the Old Hairpin. “I went into it a bit hot because it is flat through the Craner Curves and it got a bit messy through there! Once we’ve got the set-up, I think low 13s or a 12.8 in the dry should be achievable. It is good for us at this stage to be chasing set-up and speed rather than reliability though, as you could expect to be having lots of problems with three brand new cars.” In #20 George Mackintosh took the wheel for the first session and posted a 1:17.672. “My tyres were definitely over-inflated which made the car really quite nervous. We lowered the pressures between sessions and Sam went straight out and did a 1:15.123 so it shows the difference. We should be closer to each other than qualifying suggested, though Sam does have a few years advantage in racing Lotuses on me!” In #18, Paul Whight took the first session and managed a 1:16.253, before handing over to Chris Randall for the second session, who managed a 1:14.920. “I think he could have gone better than that actually as he should be a lot quicker than me,” was Barrie Whight’s reaction! “You needed to get your tyre temperatures up though and it was a short session to do that and fit in a good lap.” Sunday Tactics would differ between the three cars on race day, which is certainly one advantage in having three steeds in the stable. George Mackintosh explained the tactics for #19 and #20. “Sam and I are new to GTs and there won’t be any prizes for spinning off after five laps of a two hour race. Our strategy is to finish, whilst Gavan and Barrie will be stretching the car and doing a lot of development. We’re going to take it easy today, if at all possible, especially given the precarious conditions. It was our first time in the car on Thursday and whilst we are both very comfortable in the car, it is definitely a learning curve to be involved in this championship. Still, we’ve had no issues with the car at all, and with a new car, you would normally be putting money on something going wrong! There is a lot more to be got out of this car and the drivers too. As far as I am personally concerned, it is an absolute privilege to be racing for Lotus, it is exactly what I would have been dreaming about 40 years ago, when I was watching Jim Clark on TV!”
Paul Whight filled in the gap by explaining the tactics for #18. “All of the drivers are quite evenly matched, apart from Gavan who is quicker than the lot of us. If we can stay within three-quarters of a second of our qualifying laps throughout the race, and stay reliable over the two hours, then we should do well. Our orders are to hold back at the start and make sure we stay out of trouble. If we can get all three cars to the end of the race, then that is a good goal and will give us lots of information and lots of data. It’s often the little things, sometimes silly things that you only find when you go racing. This ‘T-Car’ has done about 4,000 miles already, and we are still finding new things this weekend!” Barrie Whight was looking forward to starting the race in #19. “We’re starting to find some Avon tyres that work well with the car, so the race should be quite intriguing. It’s not ultimate lap-times we are going for at the moment anyway, it is working out where the development needs to take place. At least we are trying though – as you can tell from me and Gavan both throwing it off the track, actually, the mechanics probably think we are very trying!”
Whight was alluding to a lock up putting him into the gravel at Redgate during warm-up, and Kershaw’s indiscretion at the Old Hairpin in qualifying. They were certainly trying hard and were finding the limits of the car in the process. Race At the start of the race the manifestation of the team orders was clear, as #19, #20 and #18 held back out of the ball of spray as far as they were able: by doing so they avoided all of the bumping and barging that was going on inside the fast moving watery column that disappeared in a haze down towards Redgate.
#19’s race was to be dramatically short – short as it was only around five minutes into the race and dramatic because of the fire that was to put the car out of the race. Barrie Whight “got a low oil pressure warning, so I brought the car in and stopped at the pits and as I sat there the guys starting trying to rip me out of the car and shouting ‘fire’! I had no idea the car was on fire, never mind badly, so I guess that bodes well for the car’s safety, but it was a baptism of fire for us! At least we’ve got another two cars still out there.”
The Jaguar fire tender thankfully only had to make a short trip from the top of the pit-lane, and before he knew what was going on, Gavan Kershaw was struggling to see his baby through the thick choking clouds of extinguishant. It was a big fire and could easily have destroyed the car, but it didn’t even look remotely singed once the smoke cleared. Apparent damage or not, it was still game over for #19. Whilst we will have to wait until the next round to see some Kershaw fireworks, it was up to #18 and #20 to provide the entertainment for the next 1 hour and 55 minutes.
Paul Whight in #18 had a good dice with the #66 Aston Martin for a couple of laps, but ultimately the Aston seemed to settle into its boots and ease away, leaving both Exiges with a bit of space.
The first safety car cost #20 (and the #66 Aston) dearly as they had just been lapped by the race leader, so lost almost a lap on everyone else in the class. Worse news was that the cause of the safety car was a beached car in the gravel trap at Craners – that of Paul Whight. Having dug-in after a wild backwards ride across the grass, the car was recovered and Whight brought it into the pits for a check-over, refuel and a driver change. The change was premature, as no one driver could have more than 90 minutes of the race, so Paul Whight wasn’t done yet. Regrettably, it already seemed that the win was going to the Porsche, or either the #33 or #88 Aston Martins. The #66 Aston Martin’s race went further downhill after a clash with another car and a broken steering rack: it was dragged into the garage, repaired, re-circulated but then pulled straight into the garage again and was retired. So it was Porsche versus the two respective survivors of each British marque. George Mackintosh had rather too close a view of the #66’s incident and had to head across the grass in avoidance, the focus being purely on getting the car home safely.
Chris Randall was having some fun in the opening laps of his stint in #18: disputing the same bit of tarmac with the #88 Aston Martin coming out of the chicane the two made contact and the Aston came off worst when it was hit in turn by the David Dove GTC Ferrari. As the Aston limped away with some heavy damage to the rear corner, it looked like Lotus would inevitably pick up a class podium, but amazingly Paul Drayson continued dragging it around and then handed it over to team-mate Jonathan Cocker. It survived for a remarkably long time, but then something gave up the ghost on the way down the Craners and there was only one Aston Martin left: the #33 car had stayed out of trouble and kept a consistent pace to take the class win.
The steady and consistent progress of Sam Blogg paid dividends then: matched by a similar drive from Mackintosh the duo shared the driving equally to take the final step of the podium, and #18 came home fourth in class, a fine recovery from the laps lost whilst stranded in the gravel.
There will be a mountain of data produced from the weekend and all three cars are expected to make a leap forward come the next round. By then, whilst testing will inevitably still be a major part of the weekend, the racing part should become the focus – Lotus Sport Cadena hasn’t shown us what the Exiges are capable of yet… The last words go to third placed George Mackintosh. “This was a nice introduction to GT Racing. I have raced at this distance once before (winning aboard a Lotus Elise with Dean Lanzante as a team mate) but most of my racing is around the 15 minute mark. We had a relatively incident-free race, a couple of trips across the grass in avoidance and a couple of times when I outbraked myself, but all in all it was fine. The conditions were rather challenging, but then again so was the aggression, there was a fair amount of leaning going on. A couple of the lead GTC cars had a coming together in front of me and I had to run across the grass to avoid them. Still, we stayed out of any big trouble and brought it home.” The next adventure
for the three Exiges is at Pau in France, with a four day meeting
beginning on June 2.
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Gavan
Kershaw’s links with the factory, and the fact that Cadena
is based at Lotus HQ in Hethel, were obviously instrumental in getting
the programme on track, but ultimately he explained that it was
“Lotus that decided there was potential in the idea and we
should give it a chance. Here was a real financial possibility to
build racing cars for a European championship that weren’t
going to be stupidly expensive. Lotus want to promote the road car
and sell lots of GT3 race cars around the world, so it is important
that the programme was done properly. Our experience of running
the Mosler last year, and winning the TAG Heuer race at Brands Hatch
at just the right time, gave us a pretty good negotiating base for
2006. And now here we are as a factory-supported team, though not
a works team as some might think.”
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