The only bit of bad news for Xero this weekend (albeit only the first bit of bad news for driver Alan Bonner) was the withdrawal of the Cup Class Corvette. “A wheel supplier let us down, that is all that can be said,” commented a rather downbeat Dave Beecroft, as he cast his eyes over the orange car that wasn’t even destined to turn its engine at all whilst sitting in Kent. Still, it gave a nice preview to how the Xero awning will look for every race next season – a car in each class is an exciting prospect indeed. So, on to the good news and the weekend was looking encouraging before it even began for car #50 – sitting pretty in second after Friday testing with a low 1:29 that Peter was very pleased with – so much so that he spoke of little else all weekend! “I don’t know why Jamie Derbyshire is complaining about me turning in on him at Druids – if I hadn’t turned to take the corner, he’d have flown straight off!” was his view of the only controversy to surround the day.
A late start to Saturday proceedings saw Ricky Cole having the free practice session to himself, knowing the car was already in good shape. So his job was to bring home some figures on fuel consumption - crucial as the 75 minute race length meant fuel would be very marginal indeed come the end. Ricky drove a consistent pace and brought back some useful data ready to be fed into the laptop and calculators, to be checked and re-checked until they became convincing enough to make the important decision – stop or not stop.
Poor Le Bas had to wait until mid-afternoon to get his chance in qualifying, but he was justifiably disappointed to only be able to notch up a ninth place, seventh in class. “It’s not good enough, I couldn’t get near my pace yesterday. There was oil and chalk dust all the way up the inside at Hawthorns and I had to use a different line – I was pretty quick through there yesterday. I tried going up the inside of it but it was pushing wide, and when I tried going wider and crossing it there was no grip whatsoever and I had no confidence to try it again because the barriers there are so close.” A shame but not a disaster – 75 minutes of close racing awaited them tomorrow. Uniquely, there was no warm up on Sunday morning, so all there was left to think about before the race was who should be starting driver. “We talked about it for a while, but then me and Peter decided to just toss a coin. You can tell from Peter’s grin that he won, but you should see Ricky, he is crying around the back”, said the jovial Lancastrian (Beecroft’s quote, not mine). Peter’s grin was that of a schoolboy – racing really, really excites him – it is plain to tell. If fortune was controlling the coin then it was controlling it well – this order of drivers would suit Xero well, very well indeed.
“Peter’s instructions are to take it easy, wait for a safety car, because there will be one, he doesn’t have to push hard and try and overtake everyone in front of him,” explained the boss. When repeating these words to the driver, and adding “just drive like a grandma going down the shops”, they were received with a blank, non-understanding expression. I knew these words would not make any sense to an out-and-out racer like Peter! So how about fuel, would there be enough? “We use 100 litres in 75 minutes and it’s a 100 litre tank.” Translation: ‘we need a reasonable length safety car period!’ After Ricky’s father – Aiden – had provided the paddock with an acoustic onslaught by bringing fireworks night forwards a month or so, the team could get down to some beers. No worries of an early rise for Dave and his men - “it’s great having no warm-up, it saves the car and means we don’t have to get up early.” Hear, hear – if I wasn’t staying in a joke hotel the other side of the Dartford tunnel I would probably have had a beer or two myself… So Sunday gave me the opportunity to watch some of the excellent support races, none of which could provide the drama we were about to witness come the finale to the GT season. It was overcast with sunny spells, but every now and again an icy blast of wind and the odd speckle of rain would remind us that we are nearly half way into autumn now.
As the cars came round on the warm-up lap, Peter had made up a position already as the #8 Marcos had suffered a seized engine moments before it should have taken to the track. Just a few corners into the race and Le Bas had made up two more places – well, it was rude not to really, as he saw half a chance of nipping up the inside of the CDL TVR on the run into Surtees. He latched the big Corvette to the back of Shane Lynch’s title-chasing Eclipse TVR, and off into the countryside they thundered. “I won’t do anything to jeopardise his championship,” Peter had confided earlier, but maybe that was just because he was trying to get Shane’s two sisters (themselves popstars from the band Bewitched [apparently]) to teach him their dance? This really was a frantic race start, but then with three teams all in with a chance of getting their drivers to win the championship, this was something of a cup-tie atmosphere. First casualty to the pace was title favourite Jamie Derbyshire’s Balfe Motorsport Mosler, spinning off on the exit of Paddock Hill Bend following contact from the Berridge TVR - and beaching itself irrecoverably. Berridge limped on but had caused too much damage to the front left, so #50 were another two places up, fourth overall and third in class, the interloper being the hugely impressive combination of Mike Youles and a Porsche 911 GT2. The safety car was brought onto the track to recover the Mosler, and stayed out long enough to mean we could all breathe a sigh of relief on the fuel front. So when the safety car pulled in, Peter knew he was able to push hard and race without fear of the car spluttering to a halt on the last lap. “Once I knew that fuel wasn’t an issue I could just be consistent, consistent, consistent.” This could have been where Dave Beecroft’s tactics went out of the window, because here, after only quarter of the race had passed, was a very real opportunity to get that first elusive podium. Youles took the lead overall from Rob Barff in the sole surving DeWalt backed TVR and they pulled away from the two Irishmen – Lynch eking out an advantage along the straights as Lynch monstered him through the twisties - #50 as usual looked like it was superglued to the track. Peter was close, but true to his word, did not take any risks that may jeopardise his countryman’s title hopes. “I pulled alongside a few times, but just didn’t have the gee gees to get past.”
The next piece of drama was the second ex-Le Mans TVR slowing suddenly after the throttle cable broke – now Xero were third overall and second in class. Surely now, even if Shorty put in a stirling drive, we should get at least third in class? That was me being pessimistic – the realist in me saw that we could win – Peter was now faster than Lynch and maybe Shane would eventually let us through to get on with it? These two and Steve Hyde began to race away from the Rollcentre Mosler, and the tactic seemed right now to push – Short would doubtless be charging hard once he took over to try and get ahead of Eclipse and win the title… With lights blazing, they began to charge through the traffic, just before Alan Bonner’s bit of real bad luck, and perhaps the most dramatic incident of the entire season. Alan had a spin at Dingle Dell and was in the process of trying to catch the car when Corvette and TVR appeared at full chat. “He was facing backwards and still moving and it looked like it could go either way. Shane ducked left and I dived right but just then the Marcos rolled to the left and Shane hit it hard. It was a big impact – he went through the tyres and hit the barrier hard and next time round what was left of the car was a long way down the barriers from where he hit it. We were really, really lucky that we weren’t all involved in it.” Lynch was of course out on the spot, and it seems likely that the striking Tuscan would be beyond repair after this one. Peter had steered clear of the incident however, and that is how he inherited second overall and the class lead. Given that the GT spec Porsche had to stop for two minutes in the pits, this was potentially an overall win now… The safety car was inevitable, which played into Xero’s hands as it meant #50 could close right up on the leading Porsche – Steve Hyde was close enough under normal racing conditions that his closing up on the tail of #50 was pretty much meaningless. The safety car coincided with the thirty minute mark and the opening of the driver change window and as predicted, in they all dived. “This is the only frustrating thing – I was gesturing and shouting for Ricky to go, go, go because I could see Shorty blasting out of the pits, but he was just a little too slow.” Still, Ricky was right on the tail of the silver Mosler as both cars re-joined the train behind the safety car.
It was a long safety car period that gave Ricky plenty of time to calm down and focus on the task ahead and as soon as we were racing again, he looked more than focused. He was right alongside as they dived into Paddock Hill for the first time “really hoping the Cup class Porsche in front was going to block Short as I got alongside, but he got clear out of the way.” This was the start of a brilliant, determined, drive that saw young Ricky Cole match the experienced Short’s pace again and again, as the lead duo pulled convincingly away from the pack with a wonderfully clear track ahead of them. “Dave was telling me it was a really good pace and we were pulling away from everyone else.” There was of course still time for plenty of questions. How hard was Shorty prepared to push? Would he fight back if Ricky had a go? Would he let Ricky race clear as all he had to do was bring it home? How bloody quick was Peter Cook going in that monstrously powerful GT spec. Porsche and would he have enough time left to close up on and pass us??? With twenty minutes to go it was clear Short wanted to win this one for himself – owing to other championship commitments, glory would go to his team-mate Herridge but he wanted to end the season in style.
The Cook question was answered when he picked up a stop-go penalty – for passing just before the safety car period ended. With only fifteen minutes to go, Ricky was charging hard – by posting lap times two-thirds of a second faster than Short, David Addison began to suggest Cole would be a good nomination for 76 Fuels’ ‘Driver of the Day’. “I could run with him easily – but not pass him. Sometimes he’d have bad luck with the traffic, sometimes it was me pushing Porsches up hills!” I had team-boss fever now. Every time the car went past I was listening to the engine note, every pop and bang as Ricky flung it into Druids time and time again on the Mosler’s tail. Listening out for that death-rattle that might rob us of the podium… It was even worse for Jay in the pit garage, “he had to have a lie down” joked colleague Ian. In fact, if it wasn’t for the possibility of Ricky still finding a gap to pass Short, I’d have had the referee blow the final whistle now. Ricky held up well though, not succumbing to the nerves of surely his most significant drive to date. Trying to decipher my notes becomes rather more difficult now, as my hands were actually shaking with that heady mix of nerves and adrenaline. Moments like this make it all become clear why people are prepared to stake so much to go GT racing. With first and second placed cars racing through the traffic only a second apart, the skies darkened as if to intensify the atmosphere - and sure enough it began to rain. Was this the final twist that would make Martin back off and make Ricky push? No, the Xero team had worked hard enough all season and the risk of Ricky himself going off was too much compared with a guaranteed second place. He backed off with just three minutes to go, cruising home a comfortable seven seconds behind the winner. “I just wanted to bring it home, and it was starting to get a little bit slippery.” Martin Short on the other hand had decided seeing as he would already be classified a finisher and had therefore sealed the championship, he might as well keep pushing.
The champagne might have tasted sweet too, had it not been poured straight down the back of each other’s racing suits – Driver of the Day Ricky seemed to be struggling with the cork, but it wasn’t lack of experience, more because “Peter was pouring it in my eyes, my hair, everywhere. I couldn’t see and it was really stinging! I thought he was going to drop me when he lifted me onto his shoulders, and it looked a long way down. I was quite worried then.” Such worries
were soon forgotten though – the euphoria in the team
was plain to see on every face. And with that euphoria was a
sense of always knowing
that Xero would do it – satisfying? Immensely. Surprising?
Not at all.
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Paul
Slinger completes the story of Xero's maiden British GT season ……
Rapturous applause outdid
the Chevrolet V8’s burble as it crossed the line to take a
magnificent second. The underdogs had nearly, so very nearly, done
it but this tasted sweet enough. Peter: “OK, we had a couple
of lucky breaks but we really wanted that podium – it’s
just fabulous and it’s a fair second – the pace was
right there. I’m just so glad that we’ve been able to
pull it all back from such a bad qualifying. I cleared a space on
my mantelpiece back home at the start of the year, but it’s
gradually been filling up with ornaments and pictures and things,
there’s just a space left in the corner, but now I’ve
got something to put in it!”Contents Copyright © dailysportscar.com. All Rights Reserved. |