Xero Competition At Knockhill
“The Fear Nothing Tour 2003” Heads To Scotland
dailysportscar’s Paul Slinger reports on Xero Competition's visit to Knockhill. There were just as many adventures as you'd expect...

It always seems to take longer than expected to get to the northernmost stop of the British GT Championship at Knockhill in Scotland, but Xero Competition arrived ready for business (and play) as usual – for testing on Friday.

This was a 'four seasons in one day' affair, with testing taking place on a wet track leaving driver Peter Le Bas hoping for more of the same all weekend: "We were second fastest in the wet. Fastest was the Cup Class Porsche, but it was just getting better traction out of the hairpin. We'll be doing rain dances all weekend because we've still got the 'taxi' engine in. If it rains, we'll be on the podium for sure."

The 'taxi engine' refers to the team's second choice engine, which is "significantly down on power and a bit baggy with less revs than the race engine, but we'll have that in for Silverstone," explained Team Boss Dave Beecroft.

The bright (American taxi?) yellow and newly-Saltire-adorned Chevrolet Corvette led the pack out for a dry Saturday free practice session. Dave Beecroft explained that "we're always looking at ways to give something back to the fans and because you look down on the cars at this circuit we thought we'd put a big Saltire on the top." Driver Peter Le Bas had also enhanced his helmet with a smaller version. but it was Ricky Cole alone who would be open to scrutiny in this session. He managed to rattle off 19 laps before he was radioing in to the pits. "I heard noises from the car, it sounded like the exhaust had broken - and it had." The right choice was made and the session was over prematurely. It seemed the aggressive lines that have to be taken over some of the kerbs could have been responsible for the damage.

The work to the exhaust was completed in time for qualifying, while the drivers entertained themselves with some unorthodox off-road use of paddock bikes. Knockhill is truly a complete motorsport centre, with its circuit, kart track, rallycross track and off road motorbike courses, so why not explore the limits of a moped?

Come qualifying it was back to work and Peter threaded his way out of the pitlane under a threatening, black sky. Realistically, Dave Beecroft reckoned if it was dry, they could only realistically hope to be best of the rest behind the TVRs and Moslers - so it was therefore unfortunate that the rain held off long enough to allow the more powerful cars to set competitive times. Ironically, it seemed that there was a ring of rain almost entirely around Knockhill: the good Saturday turnout seemed pleased about it, even if Dave Beecroft was still rain dancing. Peter got the car up to sixth place on the grid “getting progressively higher and higher off the chicane kerbs” - so much so that the idea of painting to a Saltire on the bottom of the car would have not have been a ridiculous idea!

The rain duly came, spitting at first then heavy enough to make drivers switch wipers on. It was only a brief shower and the strong cold winds made sure the track was greasy only for the shortest possible time. A red flag after the little Lotus Elise suffered electrical gremlins and stopped on the track gave a good opportunity to get Ricky in the car and when the session started again with 14 minutes to go, the Corvette lay sixth with a 53.160 second lap. The rain really came down right at the end of the session though, allowing Ricky to gain some confidence in the car, but not helping the grid position.

Still, the car was in one piece so the mechanics only had the usual fettling to do and were then free to explore the delights of Saturday night Edinburgh nightlife, only 30 minutes away from the ‘highland’ circuit. A hearty and well-deserved meal was swiftly destroyed, Ricky's so swiftly that he went on to lay claim to an extra burger that had found its way onto their table. Dave Beecroft went on to revel in the tasks he had in mind for this writer in his new role of pitcrew for the Spa round - but more of that later, much later (August in fact).

Back to the meeting at hand and Sunday saw dry conditions yet again, Ricky got some more seat-time in and was cutting past the Cup class cars with a new confidence and controlled aggression in the warm up. He then brought the car in for Peter to complete two laps, which he seemed to be enjoying - then Peter brought the car in again for a practice driver change, leaving Ricky time to do one last lap. Busy, eh? All that in 15 minutes.

This order of events showed a change in team tactics for driver order over the usual, and suggested Dave Beecroft wanted Peter to go and hassle the living daylights out of the TVRs right from the moment the pace car peeled off for Race 1.

He actually managed better than this with an explosive start, taking him past the 27 CDL TVR. "I was so much quicker through the twisties, so much so I had to back off and that hurt my exit speed. The lack of power of this engine meant that on the long straights the TVRs could then just pull away, so it was the worst kind of car to be following, because we couldn't challenge them." Peter pressed on though and kept the others as honest as he could before a safety car period five minutes before the pitstop window allowed him a second chance to really pressurise them again. Peter also had Neil Cunningham's flying Cup Class Morgan separating him from the Ultima behind, so he could concentrate fully on attack rather than defence.

Several of the cars ahead opted for early stops so the Corvette climbed up to third place, despite a few hairy encounters with traffic, such as the Porsche that claimed the paintwork on the Corvette mirror on the entry to Duffus. "The mirror has Porsche rash, we both wanted the corner, but I definitely wanted it more than him." It is certainly a tight little circuit to be throwing such big powerful cars around, but it made for a great spectacle and the Scottish fans did the series proud as usual, turning out in their droves and filling the car parks seemingly to bursting point.

They were treated to the sight of Peter starting to really wind in the Peninsula TVR in the hands of John Hartshorne, and at one point he had to lift right off on the exit to the chicane as he was inches away from the rear of the Blackpool beast. The power advantage on the straights was plain to see however, so Peter had to wait until Hartshorne pitted before he could take the place.

It was a great pitstop for Xero, 10 seconds faster than Peninsula and putting Ricky out seven seconds ahead of Graham Mundy. The latter was "meeting the backmarkers in better places than me so he closed right up, then I came across the battle for the lead in Cup Class between the Morgan and the Porsche. I went one way, Mundy went another and he ended up ahead of me by the end of the straight. The brakes were better than usual though, thanks to the new Mintex bits."

So the cars ended the 40 minute race in grid order, but as it had stayed dry, it was mission accomplished for a happy Dave Beecroft: "We're best of the rest behind TVR and Mosler, I'm really pleased with the pitstop. Peter must have had some earwax in his ear though because I told him to come in at the same time as the TVR but he did another lap! Mintex have given us some excellent brakes here and the Dunlop tyres are working really well for us. I'm really pleased with Ricky too, for the first time he was only half a second off Peter's times. The gap to the rest of the frontrunners is coming down too. At Donington it was four seconds, at Snetterton it was two, now it’s only one. With the new engine we should be right there."

Peter Le Bas had indeed been having "great fun, I could just about get up the side of the TVR a few times. If we just had a few more miles per hour going up the hill: you have no idea how hard I was pressing the throttle." The speed traps suggested the lack of speed was in the region of 5-10mph – but not for much longer…

So it was back off to the garage (for the car - Peter had other things on his mind, above) for a re-fettle ready for Race 2, Beecroft, Ricky's dad Aiden and Peter Le Bas all taking the taxi analogy a little bit too far by sitting on the car for the long journey of all of about 15 seconds back to the awning. Ricky had suggested that there may be a little bit of understeer to dial out of the settings but "maybe we won't because it is going to rain now and we're going to win Race 2."

The theory was never tested and Race 2 was indeed another dry affair, an absolute deluge beginning only five minutes after the chequered flag. Zero luck on the weather front for Xero. Both drivers drove brilliantly however, Peter Le Bas taking the Corvette up to fourth with another demon start, then up to third as Herridge slid the Mosler wide on some oil at the hairpin. He was keeping the second placed TVR more than honest, but his attention had to turn to his mirrors and defending his position once the recovering Mosler hunted him down, together with the Eclipse TVR which had started from the back after difficulties starting on the formation lap.

Peter battled away but the extra grunt of the other cars was again apparent on the straights and it was all too frustratingly back to the starting position of sixth. The Irishman was in difficulties though: "The gear lever snapped off in my hand leaving only about an inch of lever to change gear." A great drive anyway, but especially in the circumstances.

When Ricky took over, a crude fix in the form of a wrench being attached to the stick was attempted, but it was still a difficult task for him, and his bruised and battered hand was testament to the pain he had gone through to preserve the sixth place. It could have been fourth had Steve Hyde not skilfully avoided the spinning Peninsula TVR at Clark. At Knockhill speeds such a collision would undoubtedly have eliminated both cars. It was not possible for him to hold off the Ultima however and it got through on lap 38, leaving the Corvette seventh.

It was a great weekend for Ricky though: he had shown great dedication to the team, put maximum effort in and it did not go unnoticed. "He's really pulled himself round this weekend." (Beecroft). "I was trying to work out how Peter Le Bas had managed to do a double stint, then after the race I realised it had been Ricky." (The double-stinting Morgan driver Neil Cunningham).

Peter had enjoyed himself - that was very clear from the way he was throwing the car around the track, but he confirmed it: "It’s been fabulous to be up here, the crowd have been fantastic. I could feel that podium, I really could. I could smell it."

It will be fascinating to see the new lease of life this much anticipated race engine will give the team, so come along and support them at Silverstone on the late May Bank Holiday weekend. Here's hoping your hand has recovered in time Ricky.
Paul Slinger

PS. The lovely girls cuddling Peter, above? He was voted '76 Driver of the Day' by the commentary team. Well done Peter Le Bas. And when Ian Titchmarsh couldn’t find the right person to present the trophies for Race 2, who do you think volunteered? And of those present at Knockhill, who was the only one likely to give Neil Cunningham a congratulatory kiss for the Morgan driver’s maiden Malvern win in modern racing. We’ve got the evidence too…