Xero On Tour – 2004 – Mondello Park – Rounds 3 And 4
Xero Competition in Ireland – Pace and Problems

No Belgium for the British GT Championship this season, so it was off to Ireland’s Mondello Park instead, for a weekend away with the Xero boys and girls.

It wasn’t so far away though for Irish-man Peter Le Bas - who was keen to exploit his local knowledge to the limit. Before any cars had turned a wheel he was already imposing psychological damage on one of Xero’s closest rivals – RSR. Their driver Nigel Greensall decided to tune in to his car radio on arriving in Ireland and what should be the first thing he hears – Pete espousing the virtues of GT racing to Dublin’s population!

A tie-up with Dublin Q102 radio station would keep the team quite busy for the weekend – stickering up the car, handing out free t-shirts and doing a couple of laps with a competition winning punter alongside Ricky Cole, and all that on top of their usual schedule. It was down to work on Friday for testing, with local boy Le Bas leading the times after the first session “but after that you could see people learning the right lines and everyone’s times started to drop.”

Practice on Saturday was to set the scene for the rest of the weekend really – the cars up front would be the expensive Porsche and Ferraris, so fifth or sixth would be the realistic goal, the nearest rivals being the 2004 newcomers Embassy Racing with their Corvette and RSR with their TVR.

First qualifying looked like it might have turned out even better than that – with only a minute remaining Ricky’s time of 1:46.262 saw him third on the timesheet. Last-gasp efforts from Scuderia Ecosse and GruppeM Tech 9 dropped Xero to fifth on the grid for Saturday’s race “but there’s no disgrace in chasing those buggers, I can tell you” enthused a visibly proud Aidan Cole – revelling in the fact that his son’s driving was really coming together here – probably the high point of the team’s trip to Ireland.

“It felt slow actually – the track was really greasy and slippy with dirt, grass, pebbles – everything all over the place. Anyway, who is in front of me…?” This was a very ‘hungry’ Ricky Cole.

In second qualifying Peter echoed Ricky’s fifth on the grid with an excellent 1:44.265, which would have put him on pole if he had set it in the first session – something he was understandably quite excited about. Ricky, watching the times, was impressed: “He is awesome around here, I don’t know how he does it.” Pete was however up against the quicker drivers of most of the cars, Greensall putting the RSR car ahead, but at least Sumpter would be behind in his Porsche. The other three up front were the same as for race one. “That was hard work, it was much quicker than the first session. I went for a time right at the end, after coming in to check the tyre pressures, but got stuck behind the Holden ‘Movano’ (Xero’s take on another of GM’s products which sounds similar to Monaro and is about the same size…) in the final turns. It’ll need a stormer off the line in tomorrow’s race, it’s all going to happen…” A stormer from the start for Le Bas? At least he is used to them, he never does anything but!

Race one on Saturday seemed to creep up out of nowhere and Ricky Cole found himself strapped in alongside mascot Oscar, the hairy donkey. The grid had a very balanced look to it – two Porsches on the front row, two Ferraris on the second row and the two Corvettes side by side on the third. The blazing headlights on the Xero car showed that Ricky was aiming to go forward and split that order up.

His aggressive line away from the rolling start and up the inside into the first corner did not pay off, as Neil Cunningham was able to carry more speed around the outside and pass both Ricky and Niarchos’ Ferrari. Ricky latched on to the back of the Ferrari and pushed hard for three laps, before coming across oil flags at the last corner.

“I saw the flags and everyone slowing down and going wide, but even after slowing down they seemed to be sliding everywhere, so I had a look up the inside anyway as a few of them were tip-toeing.” It didn’t pay off though, the car did a quick and uncatchable half-spin on oil laid down by the exploding engine of the Cup class Corvette, planting the nose of the Xero car on the grass verge and grounding the front end. The marshals were attempting to tend to the Cup car first (it was still on fire by the pit-wall) so Ricky remained neglected for two whole laps before the Xero team jumped the wall, legged it over and gave him a shove. Engineer Jay said “we shouted at the marshals, who were over by the car on fire so we asked them if we could sort him out and they said we could, so we jumped over the wall and ran over.”

Now rolling again, all Ricky could do was bring the car home, hoping for others to have problems, to bring Xero up and into a points position. With Pete installed however, he saw an opportunity to race Kirkaldy’s double Donington-winning Ferrari, even if Xero were two laps down. The fact that Pete held him off for nearly two whole laps showed off the true pace of the Corvette.

Problems for the Eclipse TVR and the Holden eventually promoted Xero back up to seventh in class. Pete had nothing to race for, but couldn’t resist scrapping with other cars laps ahead – as if to prove the pace of the car and show where Xero could have been. His best lap was fourth quickest in class, so but for that spin, Xero could have had a very good showing indeed in Ireland.

Would the luck of the Irish be with Pete on Sunday then? It may have been to some extent, but it didn’t exactly shower the entire team with joy. Once Guinness and vodka (surely that should have been Jamesons?) headaches had been shaken away and lots of Q102 t-shirts thrown off into the crowd, it was time for race two.

Ricky had the opportunity of a few more miles on Sunday morning, as the Dublin Q102 competition winner Sophie was strapped alongside him for two unforgettable laps around the bumpy and twisty Mondello Park. “It was amazing, I didn’t know what to expect when we were sitting at the top of the pitlane but I want to go again now – it didn’t last long enough!”

In the race Pete made a strong start, but so did the first two rows. He held his ground, which was impressive enough given those around him, but their pace soon began to test the Corvette. “The Porsches and Ferraris have such good traction, we can only realistically hope to be the first of the front-engined cars,” summed up Dave Beecroft.

So Pete did all that could be hoped of him, clocking up a 1:45.253 before handing over to Ricky with just over half of the race gone. Ricky’s job now was to hold onto fifth place, but he could do little to fend off a charging Mike Jordan in the JWR Porsche, who was already up to speed and the fastest driver out there on the track at the time.

Sixth then evaporated too as the power-steering belt slipped off and Ricky had to make an unscheduled stop. “All those testing miles and its never even caused a problem before,” said a disbelieving Dave Beecroft. “The steering went straight away without any warning,” were the words of a disappointed Ricky Cole. “But he drove really, really well,” praised the team manager, a sentiment echoed by Peter Le Bas and pretty much all of the team.

Indeed he did – re-joining in 14th overall (seventh in class again), but with extra points available for passing Cup class cars in the overall standings, it was worth pushing on. This time it was Ricky’s turn to have some fun chasing cars laps ahead – Kinch’s Ferrari not making much ground on him at all through the dying laps, as he caught and passed three Cup class cars to cross the line 11th overall, still seventh in N-GT.

“ We played it all a bit steady and safe,” summed up Le Bas “but without the unscheduled stop we’d have been in a much better position – still, we finished and its all points – we’re here for the whole season after all.”

And the season should get stronger too. All concerned know they have to raise their game if the mighty Ferraris and Porsches are to be toppled, but Xero know they can do it, and on present form, with a problem-free weekend, it is clear they are already knocking on the door.
Paul Slinger

www.xero-competition.com