Trackspeed – British GT Rockingham – 12 / 13 August 2006
Three Out Of Six And A 1-2

It was always going to be hard to match the success the team achieved at Snetterton in July (a 1-2-3 and a 1-2), but a win and two other podium positions was still a highly satisfactory outcome at Rockingham. The #3 Porsche managed two second places, the #5 scored a win and a fifth – while #4 had the most appalling luck, resulting in team manager Piers Masarati forcefully pointing out that “I hate gearboxes!”

The change in the driver line-up for this event concerned Ryan Hooker’s partner, again, in #3. He was joined by none other than Phil Keen – and Ryan Hooker was delighted to welcome his new mate.

Car #3 – Ryan Hooker / Phil Keen

“I’ve been lucky in a way,” said the personable Ryan Hooker, “because I’ve had quick drivers with me all the time. I started out sharing the car with David Ashburn, then it was Danny Watts, Damian Faulkner, Andy Demetriou and now Phil Keen.”

This meeting was a proper three day affair, testing on Friday morning being followed by the practice session in the afternoon – a session that normally takes place on Saturday morning. No need for fireworks on Friday then, it was really a case of getting all set up for qualifying on Saturday morning.

“Phil knows the track anyway, but I had to learn it on Friday,” said the regular driver on Saturday morning. “No problems so far – just fine-tuning.”

There were certainly no problems for Phil Keen – who set pole position for the Saturday afternoon race on his Trackspeed debut. His 1:25.223 was the fastest GTC time of the day “and I reckon I could have been in the 1:24s.”

Ryan Hooker was satisfied with fourth fastest time in the second 15 minute session.

“It’s more or less flat through Turn 1 in qualifying, on new tyres,” explained Ryan, “but come the race this afternoon, I’m sure Phil will have to lift after a couple of laps.”

Phil Keen and the word ‘lift’ don’t seem to go together well at all. Phil’s performance in the first half of Saturday’s race prompted the team manager to remark that “I’m well impressed with him. He’s really quick and he gives excellent feedback too.”

So what did Phil Keen get up to, to deserve such praise? Well, starting from the second row, and spotting that the two GT2 cars on the front row seemed more interested in each other’s progress than their own, “I thought, if they’re going to get involved with each other I’ll have a bit of that! I went around the outside and made it stick! I’m just sorry I couldn’t stay ahead any longer!” Ahead of the GT2 Panoz, that is.

It was a very impressive giant-killing act – although Luke Hines did find his way by on the opening lap, as did Gavan Kershaw in the fastest GT3 Lotus, leaving Trackspeed #3 fourth overall at the end of lap 1.

That’s where it stayed. But Phil Keen had Jonny Lang right behind him within a few laps.

”I got a big misfire after only five laps or so and before I handed the car over the brakes were getting pretty shot too. Without that we’d have held off the other car fairly easily I reckon.”

It was impressive stuff, the two Trackspeed cars racing round together in fourth and fifth positions. They looked to be absolutely in charge of this one.

The #5 car pitted first, and Matt Allison suspected that the traffic he got involved with might have given Ryan Hooker the advantage once he took over in #3 – but it didn’t work out like that. Ryan emerged from the pitlane two seconds behind the sister car – and with that slight misfire, he’d struggle to get on terms.

He had another problem though: Alex Mortimer was closing in, in the #96 RPM Porsche, a car that wasn’t blessed with success ballast. Sure enough, a misfire and extra weight – “I really noticed it in the infield” – meant that Mortimer took second place on lap 34, with seven to go. Prior to that though, the two cars had put on a great show of hard, clean racing: Ryan made the #96 work very hard for that second place.

But the tide has really turned for the #3 car these days, and when Alex Mortimer tangled with one of the Lotuses, and retired with a major cooling system leak, Ryan Hooker was there to snatch second place, just over ten seconds behind Matt Allison. That’ll do nicely in the circumstances, although it meant a slightly bigger championship lead for #5 – for now.

“We’ve still got the misfire,” said Phil Keen on Sunday morning.

“He’s an engineer as well as a driver,” reckoned Piers Masarati. “I felt it was a fuel-related misfire, but Phil reckoned it was more electrical.”

Anyway, it was fixed for the race, and Ryan Hooker’s only problem was the success ballast. And a very fast-starting Adam Wilcox. Ryan ran third early on, then moved up to second by passing Matt Allison in #5 (“I got a good run into the first hairpin, and dived up the inside”) – and spent most of the rest of his stint holding off the #96 Porsche (Mortimer again). They were side by side at times, the white car only slipping past on lap 15, when #3 was slightly delayed by the other RPM car spinning.

Ryan Hooker held off the #28 Porsche, then pitted for Phil Keen to take over.

“I don’t like finishing second – I only want to win,” said the Trackspeed newcomer. “Still, I suppose two seconds isn’t too bad – but 60 kg is too much.”

He emerged from the pits in third, but once he and Bradley Ellis had passed Phil Burton’s Ferrari, that was the 1-2 all sorted out.

“I think it’s six or seven points behind now (six it is), with 30 up for grabs,” commented a happy Ryan Hooker after the race. He’ll have been even happier to find out that his partner at the next pair of races, at Brands Hatch, is… Phil Keen.

Car #4 – Miles Hulford / Matt Harris

Dramas struck the #4 car on the opening day of the meeting – and probably had an effect even on Sunday. It was a desperately unlucky event all round for these two.

“The flywheel came off in testing on Friday,” related Miles Hulford.

A replacement engine was despatched from the team’s base at Dunsfold, and that was fitted on Friday evening – and everything seemed fine for qualifying. Matt Harris qualified fifth for the first race, Miles Hulford seventh for the second.

“I only did four laps in qualifying,” said Matt Harris, “and when I came in the Trackspeed cars were 1-2-3. I dropped to fifth at the end though.”

Piers Masarati suggested that Matt is a better racer than a qualifier, a point the driver accepted – and then proved by setting fastest lap of the first race. Quite a lot happened before then though.

“I had a miserable start,” related Matt Harris, “and was passed by both RPM cars, but I dived down the inside into the first hairpin, got by three cars there – then gave it too much power on cold tyres on the way out, and spun it.

“Before I could make up much ground, the throttle stuck open, and I went straight on at the first hairpin. But I did manage to get the car back to the pits.”

The airbox had come adrift and interfered with the alternator belt and throttle cable, and once that was fixed, #4 was four laps down. Red mist then Matt?

“It was more than red mist – I’d grown double horns.” That was when he set the fastest lap of the race, but there was too much ground to make up.

“The tyres had gone off by the time I got in,” explained Miles Hulford, “but I was lapping as fast as the leaders.”

But 16th overall, tenth in class, was all these two could manage at the chequered flag.

Unfortunately, it didn’t get any better on Sunday. Miles Hulford: “I was running well in the 1:28s and 1:29s, ahead of the Morgan – but only as far as lap 7. First of all it wouldn’t go into fourth gear, then it wouldn’t go down a gear, then I smelt hot gearbox oil, then it stuck in gear. That was it, I parked it.”

So frustration for the drivers in #4, probably even more so for Matt Harris, who didn’t get a chance to race at all on Sunday. The suspicion was that the flywheel problem on Friday had eventually caused the gearbox failure on Sunday.

Car #5 - Jonny Lang / Matt Allison

It was a rival team owner who summed up how Trackspeed has managed all of its recent successes, and his words apply particularly well to the #5 car of championship leaders (at the start of the meeting) Jonny Lang and Matt Allison.

“They’ve really settled down, they don’t abuse their tyres, and they treat it as a one hour race, not a blind thrash.”

So with Jonny Lang qualifying second for the first race, what was going through his mind as he chased after Phil Keen in #3?

“Our plan was to stick behind Phil and look after our tyres. The plan worked out very well, and that was probably one of the best races we’ve had all season. I could have worked the tyres a bit more and maybe had a look up the inside of Phil, but that wasn’t the sensible thing to do.”

Especially as Ryan Hooker emerged from his pit stop behind Matt Allison, who held onto his lead, and drew it out a little, especially once the #3 came under pressure from Mortimer in #96. The RPM 911 took second, and although the gap was coming down a touch, it didn’t really look like challenging for the win. Then it was out after that contact with the #20 Lotus, and Matt Allison could ease up a shade and still take the win. He referred to a bit of a struggle with the set-up on Friday, but it was spot on when it mattered – and although gearbox issues would be a factor before Sunday’s race, for now Jonny Lang and Matt Allison led the drivers’ title by ten points (up two) from Ryan Hooker.

It was a cracked gearbox casing that was the problem, and an evening’s work from the mechanics saw an H-pattern ‘box installed in the car for Sunday’s race.

The older style gearbox was “fine, Matt drove it,” in the Sunday morning warm-up, explained Jonny Lang. Would the replacement gearbox cost them a precious few tenths though?

Matt Allison was on pole, but it was Adam Wilcox in the #12 Ferrari who made a blinding start, demoting #5 to second place – then it was third and then fourth on lap 3, as first Ryan Hooker and then Alex Mortimer sneaked past. Weight and an H-pattern gearbox – not good.

Mark Cole made it past too (above), on lap 7, so #5 was running fifth up to the pit stops. But it was a very competitive fifth, the top group covered by only ten seconds or so.

After the pit stops, the #12 Ferrari led Bradley Ellis in #96, then Phil Keen and Jonny Lang. Car owner Phil Burton was doing a sound job in the lead, but he had a gaggle of younger drivers after him – and a Safety Car period helped close things up. Ellis took the lead, Phil Keen also passed #12, but Oliver Bryant was on a charge in the Morgan.

“He got me in the long left hander,” explained Jonny Lang. “I was trying to find a way past the Ferrari, but it braked early, I got held up and Olly went round the outside. It was a good move from him, but really frustrating. I didn’t have time to fight back.

“We’d had a bit of a rattle from the back of the car, so really I was cruising until the Safety Car, and looking good for a sensible fourth place, or better. Maybe I should have gone harder then – but perhaps the car wouldn’t have finished? We’ve lost a bit of ground in the championship now.”

Four points for fifth place against eight for Ryan Hooker sees it beautifully poised with three races left. There are just those six points between Lang / Allison (69) and Hooker. No one else has more than 49.