Trackspeed – British GT Pau – 4 / 5 / 6 June 2006
One Win – But Some Mixed Fortunes Too

With Team Tiger having decided to skip the Pau rounds of the British GT Championship, a big opportunity had opened up for Trackspeed to make up some ground in the drivers’ and teams’ championships by getting some valuable points in the bag; and in the process bag a few bits of silverware. This was no foregone conclusion, however, and the team would face some major obstacles to the potential spoils; as we shall see, the weekend was one of mixed fortunes for each of the three cars.

Car #3 – Ryan Hooker / Danny Watts

Ryan Hooker arrived at Pau with a new team mate, after David Ashburn had decided to focus on the Porsche Carrera Cup (racing at Thruxton this weekend). In Ashburn’s place was the very rapid Danny Watts, who had already proved himself to be a bit of a dab hand in a 997, in both the Carrera Cup and also the last BGT round at Donington Park. This time he would be racing the older 996 for the first time.

The weekend started well for Hooker and Watts, with encouraging early practice pace being found on this very different and tricky circuit. On Friday evening, the car ended up fastest of the British runners and sixth overall with a 1:26.157 at the end of the 45 minutes. On Saturday morning it finished in second place behind the #5 sister car, but the drivers had upped the pace by a second and a half to 1:24.608.

With no other track time on the Saturday, and only a drivers’ briefing at 16:00 that afternoon to occupy them, it was back to the hotel for the two drivers and a strenuous session of sunbathing by the pool in the glorious weather that had taken up residence over the Pyrenees that weekend. Before leaving the track, Ryan Hooker gave his initial impressions of the circuit and the proceedings.

“So far the weekend has been really good,” he began. “It’s always nice to go to new circuits, but because it’s new you have to build the pace up over the first few laps; but the car’s been very good and we haven’t had to make any changes so far.

“Getting a clear lap is mega hard here, especially with the FFSA cars, so it’s easy to lose time.”

The next morning, with the BGT runners having their own qualifying session, the opportunities for that clear lap were more prevalent and Ryan Hooker took full advantage.

For much of the session, Hooker topped the times; but Oliver Bryant, in the Team Aero Morgan, was using his knowledge of the circuit to the full (having raced on the circuit just the previous week in the Historic meeting) and took provisional pole mid-way through the 20 minutes. Piers Masarati’s instruction was simple – do a better lap.

Hooker got down to business immediately and on his ninth lap, while Bryant was pitting to check tyre pressures, produced a 1:22.770; six-tenths faster than Bryant, and good enough for pole position.

Thanks to Ryan’s efforts, the #3 would start in eighth place on the combined grid, but would have the Morgan right behind him. A good start was therefore crucial.

His efforts would be aided by an instruction from the Clerk of the Course that no overtaking would be allowed until the field had passed the Lycee Hairpin, and he held the lead as the field streamed across the line at the end of the first lap in the evening sun.

After an early Safety Car period that bunched the field up, Hooker had a blinding restart and crossed the line several seconds ahead of the Morgan. After that, he continued to build his lead until it had grown to ten seconds at the halfway point. But then disaster almost struck, when he got badly held up by a slower French Porsche. Within a couple of laps his advantage over Bryant had disappeared and he was under pressure once again.

Despite the close attention of the Aero 8, the Trackspeed car fended off all attempts to pass and Ryan Hooker pitted from the lead with just under 24 minutes of the race remaining.

He had driven an excellent race and he was handing over to a very strong driver. However, the #3’s race began to fall apart from this moment on, losing position even before the pitstop was over.

The FFSA pitstop rules specify that the duration of the stop must be a minimum of 60 seconds, from entering the pitlane to leaving it; whereas the BGT rules insist on the car being stationary for 45 seconds. Keith Ahlers interpreted this new rule in such a way that he moved off after a swift driver change and moved slowly down the pitlane until the seconds were up, thereby gaining track position.

Worse was to follow for the #3, though, when the sister #5 car swept through into the lead. The loss of pace behind the French Porsche had been costly indeed.

However, despite expectations that Danny Watts would quickly depose Keith Ahlers and set off in chase after the lead once more, the Morgan stayed resolutely ahead and the Porsche seemed unable to challenge. Something must surely be wrong, and so it proved.

“Misfire,” said Watts succinctly. “It was evident as soon as I moved off, but then just got worse and worse. It got so bad that I couldn’t change out of third gear going up the hill; if the race had gone on much longer, I probably would have parked it!”

After the promise of the weekend so far, this was a major disappointment. Watts fell back through the field and eventually finished fourth. The five points that came with this position were of scant consolation.

The only good news to be found for this car was that the problem was soon traced to a fuel pump and the problem soon apparently cured.

In fact, a miracle cure appeared to have been applied, as Danny Watts’ pace in the Monday morning qualifying was simply stunning.

It was obvious from the grandstands that he was throwing the Porsche through the corners and must have been willing it off the walls; and at the end produced a time of 1:21.659, a full second clear of the rest of the grid. “I’m pleased to be at the sharp end,” smiled Watts. “I know how difficult it is to pass around here, so I had to be near the front. I had to really maximise the grip level when the tyres were at their best – I had a few moments, but I was in control; although on the limit.” One of the few drivers present with experience of street racing, Watts suggested Pau was “a smaller version of Macau.”

As a result of his qualifying time, Danny Watts would start the Monday race in fourth on the grid, and would have only French cars around him. His race start was as good as Ryan Hooker’s and he was still in fourth place at the end of the first lap.

Despite the pursuing cars having 100bhp more than the 996, Watts defiantly kept the FFSA cars behind him and it would be nine laps before he would yield track position. When this eventually happened, his lead over the second place car was 16 seconds and was not going to go down.

From the outside, Danny Watts looked to be in full control, but inside the car the driver had begun to notice something both ominous and familiar; “The misfire was back,” said Watts later, “in exactly the same way as yesterday, getting progressively worse. By the end of my stint I was five seconds off my best pace.”

This wasn’t yet obvious to the thousands of spectators lining the circuit and Watts handed the car over to Ryan Hooker with a healthy lead. Indeed, for the first few laps of Ryan’s stint, all looked well as he maintained the gap to the second placed # 96 RPM Porsche of Bradley Elliott. But soon the gap started to decrease.

Agonisingly for Hooker, he could see his lead decreasing by more than a second a lap, and could see the white and black car getting ever closer in his mirrors.

By now, it was clear that the car was seriously hobbled and with four minutes to go, Ryan was powerless to prevent the RPM car taking the lead. But worse was to come for the desperately unlucky driver when Oliver Bryant pulled out of his slipstream and stole second place just yards from the chequered flag.

At least Ryan Hooker and Danny Watts had managed a podium, but the pair could only see the two victories that were so cruelly pulled from their grasp.

For Ryan Hooker, a few days in Biarritz would allow him the opportunity to get over the disappointment ahead of Mondello Park. He and Danny Watts made a very strong team, but it is unclear at this point who will be his partner in Ireland. Whoever it is, some of the famed Oirish Luck would not go amiss for the #3 car.

Car #4 – Matt Harris / Miles Hulford

Matt Harris was bitterly disappointed at the end of the Donington two hour race, after the weather had intervened to his considerable disadvantage, but it was a much more positive young driver who arrived at Pau a fortnight later. He and Miles Hulford were determined to come away from France with some points in the bag.

The car ran without a transponder on the Friday and Saturday sessions and so no times were recorded, but one had been found by the time Sunday qualifying came round. Both drivers were happy with the way things went in the Free Practice periods, despite a clutch problem on the Saturday.

Qualifying for the first race didn’t go as well as Matt Harris might have hoped. “I was two laps in to the session and suddenly found myself faffing around with the David Dove Ferrari,” began Harris, “and for some reason I just couldn’t get past him. Eventually I fell right back to try and give myself enough space to go for a quick lap, but then discovered that my tyres were past their best and the time never came.”

Harris’ best of 1:25.152 was the sixth fastest GTC time and would leave him slap bang in the middle of the combined field; 16th out of 31 starters.

Despite the overtaking ban on the first lap, the Trackspeed car arrived at the first corner in the middle of a huge gaggle of Porsches, Vipers, Corvettes and Lotuses. Somehow order was maintained - and Matt Harris was enjoying himself; “I made a mega start and got past loads of cars on the first lap. I’d just caught up with the (Hunter Abbott pedaled #17) RPM Porsche when the oil went down and the safety car came out. I initially fell back, but was right behind him again when the lights went green.”

But Harris’ race was not destined to last much longer. The #4 was in serious, but unusual, mechanical trouble. “The gearbox started missing downshifts, which is almost impossible for a sequential,” said Harris. “Eventually, the box jammed in sixth and that was that.” The car retired on just the 12th lap leaving Miles Hulford all dressed up but nowhere to go.

An inspection revealed that the gearbox mountings had begun to tear away from the underside of the car and the box was in the process of falling out. This had bent the selector arm, causing the shifting problems. Fortunately, despite the retirement, the repairs would be carried out before Monday’s qualifying.

This time, it was Miles Hulford’s turn to qualify and he was very happy with his sixth fastest time of 1:25.174. “It’s the first time that I’ve been in the car since Saturday morning and I’ve set a time that was as fast as the other guys when they’d had as much seat time,” said the 18 year old. That his time was 18 thousandths off the qualifying time of Matt Harris, illustrated his point perfectly. There were no issues from the gearbox and things were looking promising for Monday afternoon’s race.

Miles Hulford had to ‘use the force’ at the start of his race (appropriately enough for the former Formula Jedi driver) when, “I was right up behind a Porsche and couldn’t see the lights; I basically had to guess when the lights changed. Fortunately, I got it bang on and had a good start. The start wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be; everyone was quite sensible.”

Sensible maybe, but Trackspeed alleged foul play from three other cars on that first lap; and allegation that would subsequently become a post-race protest. “I was overtaken by the Morgan and two Porsches on the first lap in the no-overtaking zone,” said Hulford. “That slowed me down a lot and then I got stuck behind the Porsches, which made my stint a lot harder than it should have been.”

Nothing came of the protest because, despite the #4 having an onboard camera, the French stewards decided that they were unable to identify either of the Porsches and that therefore they were unable to penalise the Morgan.

For the majority of his stint, Hulford was locked in mortal combat with the #19 Cadena Exige; “I was right with him for a long time,” said Miles, “but you really have to use the kerbs here to get maximum speed and I didn’t want to risk damaging the car; it was a compromise, but I got him in the end.” Although the Lotus was in another class, the move promoted the car overall and Hulford stayed ahead until the pitstop, which happened after 29 minutes.

Matt Harris was also to have an enjoyable stint, his chase down of Phil Burton’s JMH Ferrari being the highlight. “I just got my head down and got on with it. Traffic was difficult; there are some really fast cars out there and some really slow ones.”

For once though, fortune smiled on this car and it emerged unscathed at the end of a gruelingly hot stint (not helped by having the car’s fan set to ‘hot’) fifth in class.

Hulford and Harris were pleased to bag four points in the second race, but were sure that they would have finished higher, but for the alleged shenanigans on the first lap.

The pair had enjoyed the weekend, though; “That was my first street race and it was something else,” said Harris. “I’m really looking forward to racing in Ireland now.”

Car #5 – Jonny Lang / Matt Allison

Like the #3 sister car, Donington Park had ended in disaster for Jonny Lang and Matt Allison, with a probable win being washed away in the downpour that arrived in that race’s closing stages. And things didn’t start in a much more promising fashion in Pau on Friday, either, with Friday’s practice session ending on the first lap when the engine and its oil parted company.

Fortunately, things were much better on Saturday and the car ended up the fastest of the eleven British cars present, with no ill effects being noted.

For Matt Allison, this was his first race in Europe and his first street circuit and he was enjoying its particular challenges. Some aspects of it, less so however; “It’s very tight in places and the Lambo collected a Porsche ahead of me at the hairpin. Both cars stopped and I couldn’t get past; then I stalled! I suddenly realized that I was sitting in the middle of a race track with no engine – not a nice feeling!”

Jonny Lang was similarly having his taste of a street circuit, and he was loving it; “It’s a privilege to be able to race here,” being his opinion of the place.

Unfortunately for Lang, things wouldn’t be so positive on Sunday morning during first qualifying. After just five laps the Porsche was in the pits with front end damage, after a coming together with the David Dove Ferrari, and wouldn’t be taking any further part in the morning’s proceedings. Fingers were being pointed in the Northerner’s direction, but the driver was adamant that the blame lay elsewhere; “As far as I’m concerned, David was repeatedly blocking me. I had my nose alongside at the fastest part of the track – indicating that I was going to pass - when he moved over on me and braked; you just don’t do that! That’s when the car was damaged. We actually survived that, but then the driveshaft failed on the next lap.” Despite this, Lang had set the fifth fastest time in class and knew that there was much more time in the car.

For the start of the race, Lang’s priority was to stay out of trouble and stay in contention. This didn’t stop him from deposing the #17 RPM Porsche on the third lap. Just three laps later, however, the Safety Car was leading the field round the tight circuit and the Trackspeed driver had a very good view of the rear end of the other RPM Porsche, #96. Four laps later, the track was clear once more and racing resumed.

“I just wanted to make sure that I gave the car to Matt in as good a position as possible, so settled down to a steady pace,” said Lang, “then Piers made a superb pit call.”

Elsewhere on the track, Gavan Kershaw’s Exige had just hit the barriers and yellow flags were flying. Piers Masarati immediately brought the #5 in, to change drivers. This worked to perfection as, out on track, the leaders were rapidly losing time while stuck behind slower cars.

When Matt Allison resumed, “the track was clear. I really pushed for the first few laps; in fact, I was pushing so hard I nearly put it off a few times.

“I knew that I had to get my foot down because of how far the others were ahead, but Danny and the Morgan resumed just ahead of me on the track as I was braking for the first corner. I went past and then they got blocked by a French car that was following me and I just got on with it!”

From that moment on, Allison drove away from the rest of the GTC field and would eventually lap the second placed car. When the chequered flag flew, Matt Allison and Jonny Lang were the very willing recipients of Trackspeed’s first ever BGT winners’ trophies. “I’m ecstatic; and so are the whole team;” beamed Allison. “The weather screwed us at Donington and the gearbox did for us at Oulton. Today, it just went right. Even though we’re only at the fourth race, it feels like it’s been a long time coming!”

With just 12 hours to go before the next day’s qualifying session started, any celebrations would have to be tempered; but the SRO party in the paddock had a few happy visitors that evening.

With a 30kg slab of ballast now fixed to the footwell of the Porsche, qualifying would obviously be more challenging. But despite this, and Danny Watts pace in the #3 car, Matt Allison qualified in second with a 1:22.670; a tenth faster than Ryan Hooker’s pole time for Sunday’s race.

With two chargers in the car, a second win of the weekend was far from impossible. But Allison was unable to make the crucial first move by getting past the two cars separating him from Danny Watts; to be fair, it was more a case that the faster French cars were unable to get past Watts. As a result, Watts built up a big lead and the gap was sustained for most of Allison’s stint; the latter’s cause not helped by becoming embroiled in a fight with a couple of French Porsches.

With half of the race run, the #5 car was in a strong position and Jonny Lang was waiting in the pits to take over. Moreover, Watts’ car was now beginning to struggle with the misfire.

But just as the planets seemed to be aligning for the #5 car, it failed to re-emerge for the 19th time and the weekend was over for the car. Another driveshaft had failed near the Casino. Matt Allison jumped straight into a taxi for the trip back to Lourdes, where he had a flight to catch.

After the highs of race 1, the French weekend finished on a bit of a low for Trackspeed. But now they knew that they could win and were hungry for more. They were also now joint leader with RPM of the GTC teams’ championship.

After all that had been learned at Pau, the team and drivers were confident of good things at Mondello Park in three weeks’ time. The Tiger Mantis won’t look as daunting next time around.
Mark Howson