In fact Xero probably saved my life – it was a horribly cold and breezy Norfolk day and my dailysportscar fleece was simply not cutting the mustard in terms of keeping my body temperature at safe levels. Fortunately the Xero crew had a spare promotional jacket, which despite making me look like a bouncer from Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights at least staved off the frostbite… It also had a rather interesting motto on the back – “The Fear Nothing Tour 2003”. Quite a statement of intent.

Realistically, if the team have anything to fear at all it is a pair of Moslers and three of the highly competitive TVR Tuscan T400Rs – but as we’ll see, Peter Le Bas and Ricky Cole are getting closer every time they get in the fantastic yellow C5. The first round at Donington Park two weeks earlier turned out to be a race of survival and simply aiming for the finish, after the intended race engine gave up the ghost on the test day: Dave Beecroft was frustrated in Derbyshire, as he supervised the installation of the engine that had already covered upwards of 500 laps of testing – and the same unit was still in the car in Norfolk.

But the Good Friday test had gone well, and Peter Le Bas was down to a 1:11.003, within 2.7 seconds of the quickest Mosler: little by little, closer and closer…..race engine still to come.

Saturday morning practice gave driver Peter Le Bas another opportunity to check his pace against Shaun Balfe Mosler, which was circulating immediately ahead. But he was stuck on a 1:15.809. Dave Beecroft explains: “We still have problems with the front splitter – a bolt pulled through yesterday in testing and we have tried to fix it with a plate, but we need to have another go at it. The front end was jumping all over the place.” The problem was in all probability made worse by the howling wind on the back straight, which must have added to the speed of the air flowing over the car as it cracked the 140 mph barrier – and cracked the splitter.

It’s all good development work though, and it will pay off very soon: as the drivers get quicker, so Dave Beecroft has added more downforce at the front – which pulled the front down with such force, it pulled the splitter away from its mountings. But more downforce will mean more pace – soon.

Getting heat into the tyres - and Dave Beecroft - was a difficult task too, with the track so much colder than it had been on the test day on Good Friday, one team reporting tyre temperatures 30 degrees down. Supplies of Peter's favourite tipple were called for.....just in case it was as cold as this after Sunday's race.

Ricky Cole was keen to ensure Le Bas wore plenty of the ‘Xero’ brand deodorant that had been acquired from the local supermarket – presumably it gets a bit hot and sweaty in the car and Cole wanted things as habitable as possible. Le Bas’ experience with deodorant sprays seemed to be rather limited however as he attempted to use it as a mouth spray.

There was an intentional explosion later when the Corvette was fired up into life once more and Peter Le Bas rumbled out onto the circuit for qualifying. He soon wound the car up – and the time down – to a 1:10.537, which was good enough for fifth spot when he brought the car in for Ricky Cole. The team took this opportunity to carry out a rehearsal of the driver change. Although less crucial in a race involving a compulsory two minute period during which the car must be stationary for re-fuelling, it is always best to make sure each member of the crew knows exactly what they have to do, so that no mistakes are made when everyone is under real pressure. Ricky himself was not under any great pressure to set a time, because fifth was an excellent grid position given the experience of those ahead - and the current shortfall in power.

He used the track-time to get some experience in the car and after lifting off following a few spots of rain, worked his times down to a 1:12.392 - a suitable time for a race lap. “I’m pleased as we’ve not been to Snetterton before and with Peter in the car we were looking comfortably fast. To see us in the top six is encouraging, seeing as we’ve been playing catch up so far with the splitter problem and we both need more seat time. We can run these lap times in the race.”

The good news was the aerodynamic problems were now fixed – and as Ricky was breathing easily, seemingly Peter’s body odour had been tempered to some extent by the new deodorant.

A cheerful Dave Beecroft summed up. “That was good, we’re closer to the pace and definitely getting there – we’ve only just fixed the front so there is more time in the car. To be two seconds off the pace as opposed to four is a lot better. It’s sitting solid on the track now so once we get a lot more grunt and lose the ‘taxi’ engine we should be quick.” Top speed was already up 15 mph with the splitter secure. Hence Dave’s hopes for a place on the grid in the British round of the FIA GT Championship at Donington – “a Corvette is a bit different, so I’m definitely hopeful the organisers will let us in. Once the race engine is in, that’s when we’ll show our real pace – and Peter’s therapist will be happy too.”

Tactics for the race would be decided on Sunday morning, as Xero chose to save the car rather than bother with the 15 minute warm-up. Dave Beecroft explained that “we’ll just split the race in half. Ricky has to get us in behind the quick four [Moslers and TVRs] – if he can despatch the Marcos and stay calm, we’re realistically the fifth fastest car at the moment. Peter can run 1:10s all day on our fuel allocation, it’s just whether the TVRs and Moslers can run 1:08s at race pace – we don’t know yet.”

The rest of the day passed very slowly, with only a rehearsal of the refuelling procedure to occupy the crew – problems with backflow into the vent-pipe were overcome with a little ingenuity in the way the pipes were held and it seemed to work. Then all Ricky and Peter had to do was fend off the young ladies - who seemed intent to make them win Ferraris and take them for rides on their shiny scooters - and welcome the young autograph hunters.

Peter was pleased to see that the letter ‘s’ had been added to ‘Le Ba’ on the car and was hoping the timing sheets would also be suitably corrected after spending Saturday under the alias of ‘Le’. “I had worried I was going to become just Peter L, or just Peter.”

Ricky started the race and made a good rolling start: although he was unable to stay with the furious pace of the Moslers and Eclipse TVR, he was able to stay with those following them. He soon got down to consistent 1:11s which was faster than he had lapped in qualifying – and this on brimming tanks. A spin at Russell on lap 15 was a set back, but “there was some oil down there I think, because Shane Lynch went off as well on the next lap,” but fortunately Ricky recovered without any damage – but was no longer battling with Mundy and Eagling in the TVR and Marcos. The pace tailed off into the 13s and 15s as tyre wear became a significant factor.

The driver change saw Peter Le Bas charging out with work to do, yet tyres to conserve. Peter had a good battle with Amanda Stretton in the more powerful GT class Dodge Viper but Amanda’s efforts to keep him in sight led to her own spin at Russell. The expected 10s were 12s to 14s and by the end of the race the rubber was down to the canvas – but at they finished, in a very good fourth.

Peter: “It was grand, I just got a bit dizzy going round and round for an hour! I could have done 11s but I was just obeying orders! We weren’t going to get third so there was no point. At the end I was begging Dave to let me bang in a qualifying lap but he wouldn’t let me – and I wanted to catch my flight!” They finished a highly creditable fourth overall, the Ultima, a TVR and the Marcos all succumbed with mechanical failures, but such is the nature of endurance racing.

Dave Beecroft was pleased: “We’re the best of the rest behind TVR and Mosler and Peter drove a good solid stint and did as was told to – to see what the car could do in a worn condition. We’ve certainly learnt a lot about tyre-wear! Both drivers are learning fast about the discipline of driving a GT car and running for longer lengths at race pace – and it was a hot pace for everyone today.”

Ricky was happy too. “It went pretty well but the tyres were struggling from 20-30 minutes to be honest. We weren’t expecting the heat today after yesterday being so cold, so tyres became a big issue. We’re getting closer and closer to the pace all the time so hopefully we can get the job done.”

Next round is Knockhill in a fortnight’s time – good luck Xero. Edinburgh – lock up your daughters….
Paul Slinger