British GT Championship – Brands Hatch Title Showdown – GT/GTO Report
Full Of Surprises

What a bizarre race this turned out to be. You’ll probably have seen the results and the quick report immediately after the race, so what we need to do here is fill in the detail behind some of the unusual events of the final afternoon of the British GT season.

In no particular order, here are some odd conclusions and general thoughts – from a very odd afternoon.

How is that the GTO cars can race for nearly six hours around Spa with an almost impeccable finishing record, yet they turn out for a 75 minute race and mayhem ensues?

Well, there were 28 starters this time, around a circuit of conventional length….

How was it that two of the title challengers ended up off the track, one of them sadly with a car almost completely wrecked (Eclipse) and with one driver apparently in shock and another fit to burst into tears?

Was it right and proper that Martin Short’s car (if not Short himself) carried Tom Herridge to the British GTO title?

Wasn’t it appropriate that the Eclipse TVR was ‘rollcaged’ by Rollcentre, thereby ensuring that Shane Lynch walked away from a big one?

Wasn’t it ironic that Eclipse provided the Mantis engine for the car that spun, giving Lynch nowhere to go but into the barrier?

Wasn’t it ironic that some teams were wary of the Youles / Cook 911 GT2 – whereas others were more accurately looking elsewhere for a cause of trouble? Mike Youles was sufficiently perturbed to ‘have a dig’ on the podium: after all, it was he who set pole here in a British GT race in 1997, and went on to win it, with Geoff Lister – in a 911 GT2.

For more details and some of the answers, read on….

“Your son has been the quickest driver, you’ve had the fastest car, and I wish you only good luck for the race – but I hope we have better luck!” That was Martin Short to David Balfe at lunchtime: a nice touch, between two team owners who haven’t always got along this year. Short was a witness to the demise of his Mosler rival, and he showed only frustration at the loss of a competitor so soon into the 75 minutes.

Starting drivers were as expected (Derbyshire, Herridge, Lych) in the title contenders, so with an Ultima with a repaired gearbox, a Taylors Foundry Marcos that seized its engine in the assembly area – what dreadful luck – and mainly bright sky above, we were ready to go. Balfe Motorsport had thought through their pre-race plan: Jamie Derbyshire was last out of the pits, and switched off at the back of the grid: the team pushed him through the pack onto the front row. Saving a thimble of fuel?

A great sight, 28 of them very well behaved along the pit straight, Barff side by side with the red and white Mosler at Paddock – and round the outside at Druids. Through to challenge him was Mike Youles, pressuring Derbyshire straight away, and into second by the time they reappeared from the back of the circuit.

Bob Beridge was fourth in the second DeWalt car, then Herridge and Lynch, Le Bas in the Corvette, Steve Hyde in the CDL car, the Marco Attard Ferrari, and Glenn Eagling in his Mantis. Graeme Mundy had spun the Peninsula TVR at Paddock (“Graeme (Mundy) got the tiniest tap up the rear and we got some splitter damage” – John Hartshorne), and was mixed in with the Cup cars, as was Steven Brady in the Ultima (starting at the back).

Rob Wells (#46 Morgan) was stuck in the gravel at Paddock, so thoughts turned to a Safety Car…Bob Berridge turned a “maybe” into a “definitely” as he lunged at Derbyshire’s Mosler with his black and yellow TVR into Paddock on lap two (with yellows waving), the view from the Commentary position suggesting that he wouldn’t have made the corner without contact. “He clearly hadn’t seen the yellow flags and came around the bend fully locked up,” said a distraught Derbyshire. “It was lucky for him that I was there to stop him flying off.”

The Mosler was buried in the gravel, and one contender was out. Bob Berridge then got stuck into the other Mosler at Druids (Herridge had got ahead of him in the first kerfuffle), but didn’t make it further than the pits: a wishbone bolt had broken in the incident with Derbyshire, and one black and yellow TVR was out (too).

Two laps, and two GTOs were out – and the SC board appeared. The revised order was Barff, Youles, Lynch, Le Bas, Hyde and Herridge. Mundy and Brady were sixteenth and eighteenth.

In title terms – it was equivalent to Schumacher being eliminated and it would go to Montoya or Raikkonen (Rollcentre or Eclipse). It was a straight fight – and Eclipse were three places ahead.

They went racing again completing lap seven, and the top six split into pairs initially: Barff/Yoles, Lynch/Le Bas and Hyde/Herridge. What we didn’t know was that one Irishman (Le bas) had told another (Lynch) that he wouldn’t jeopardise his championship hopes. It didn’t look like it! Le Bas had the Corvette right with the TVR, especially from Graham Hill Bend to Surtees. Lynch usually reappeared at Clearways with a small gap between them. Steve Hyde soon joined in, while Tom Herridge watched developments from a second or two back. A touch of caution – what a welcome change (in this race).

Youles had taken the overall lead at Hawthorns on the first racing lap after the five lap SC spell, but Barff kept within a second until stopping in the country on lap 12: “Broken throttle cable.” Four serious contenders gone. Bugger.

The white Porsche pulled out seven or eight seconds over the Irishman (and Steve Hyde) by the time the pit window opened (30 minutes – 18 laps) – and in the 11 laps to this juncture the best GTO racing was the three car train racing for second, and the Marco Attard (Damax Ferrari) and Glenn Eagling squabble over sixth. Eagling looked to have the pace to get by, but Attard defended hard.

The Championship fight was all over on lap 17. Alan Bonner spun the #44 Mantis (at Sheene Curve) and Shane Lynch had nowhere to go but the barrier. It was a hard old impact, the Irishman was shocked – and Eclipse had just failed to score points for the first time this season, through no fault of their own.

Peter Le Bas saw it unfold: “It happened right in front of me, he was just plain unlucky. We came over the blind brow to see the Marcos broadside across the track. Shane went left just as the Marcos rolled back, and the impact with the barrier was massive. I’m really pleased he got out OK but he’s totally gutted that it ended like that.”

All Rollcentre had to do was score some kind of finish, but having failed to win the first nine races, they won the last two – this one more comfortably than that Spa epic. Much more comfortably, as it turned out.

The only GTO car not to pit after 18 laps (when the Safety Car came out to allow the Erclipse mess to be cleared up) was the Graeme Mundy TVR, so in 30 minutes he’d gone from a spinner at the first corner of the race to the leader. Rollcentre showed their experience by vaulting the Mosler ahead of Xero and CDL, while the Safety car’s lack of pace allowed Peter Cook to emerge after a two minute stop in the 911 GT2 without losing a lap. It took him some while to get onto the tail of the queue, including a few corners stuck behind a limping Golf.

Mundy pitted a lap after everyone else, at which point Tom (17 years old) Shrimpton led the race in the #77 Cup Porsche – and we only had 17 cars left!

Completing 24 laps and they were off again, and although it may have looked quite close to the flag 20 laps later, Martin Short versus Ricky Cole in the Corvette was no contest – although Cole drove beautifully, and earned a first Xero podium, as well as Driver of the Day.

“I got on the radio and asked them to tell me when we’d passed 75% of the likely race distance,” explained the wily Short later. “Once we passed that point, I knew we’d got the points to make Tom the Champion.”

The GTO race was pretty uneventful for those 20 laps, enlivened mainly by Peter Cook in the white 911. He earned a stop and go penalty for passing before the line on the second restart, and although he dropped to sixth, he passed John Hartshorne (Peninsula TVR), Gareth Evans (CDL TVR) and Dan Eagling (Eagling Mantis) to run home a very quick third. Without the stop and go, it might have been victory for this car, thanks to the refuelling stop while the rest were in the queue.

The Porsche did deprive Dan Eagling and his father of a podium – a result that would have been as popular as it was deserved. They’ve persevered all season, and fourth was almost like a win…but third would have been even better (Eagling Jnr. having passed Evans and Hartshorne).

The Damax Ferrari (Nick Adams – he of qualifying heroics at Le Mans in a Chamberlain Spice Hart Turbo in the 80s – a 3:36, and very quick down Mulsanne) slowed badly with a lack of gears, the Ultima had its last gearbox trouble of the season (no gears left, ‘box locked, Hewland for next year”), and the Rollcentre hospitality area went mad as Shorty completed 44 laps, with “a bit of a spurt at the end, once I was sure we had the points”. Ricky Cole was seven seconds down, but had matched Shorty’s 1:31s and 32s almost throughout his stint.

Bob Berridge wasn’t the most popular man at the track, and collected three points on his licence and a £250 fine. That was no consolation to Jamie Derbyshire and Shaun Balfe. Martin Short would have preferred a win after a straight fight, but it wasn’t to be.

“Sixteen years, some of them have been waiting for me to win a title,” said Short of his loyal sponsors and friends. He still hasn’t won, but his car has. He may have been a “bloomin’ idiot” for going FIA racing (sorry Martin), but the satisfaction was there to see today.

He deserves it. No one has given more to this Championship over the last four years – 2000 with the “old snotter” Cerbera, 2001 developing the Tuscan R, 2002 when he deserved it (with Simon Pullan), and now 2003.

An epic season in some ways, certainly an epic race at Spa – and next year is going to be very strong from the outset. The British GT Championship has rediscovered itself, and that is a huge relief. Pats on the back all round.
MC & GG

Last words to a few significant racers today:

Rob Barff: “The throttle cable snapped, a simple fault. It was going really, really well – I was hanging on to the 911 but not bothering to challenge it. It could blow me away on the straights, so I was conserving fuel, looking after the tyres and getting set to hand over a healthy car to Michael with a shot at a race win. At least I got the (GTO) lap record but that’s about one out of ten on the consolation scale.”

Dan Eagling: “Dad drove really well and brought the car back in great shape, I still had to drive very hard to beat a TVR though. We’re a bit gutted that the big Porsche means that we missed out on a podium. Third in GTO should mean more in those circumstances.”

Peter Cook: “That was great, I really enjoyed it, I just feel a bit of a prat for jumping the gun. I’d better listen more carefully at the drivers briefing next time, I suppose.”

Chris Pollard (Eclipse co-owner):“The most important thing is that Shane is OK. He’s very upset about the accident but by all accounts he had nowhere to go. The car is in very bad shape but held up very well. Of course we’re disappointed but if you’d have offered me third place at the start of the season I’d have probably said yes. It doesn’t feel like that in the circumstances though.”

And finally…

Tom Herridge: “Fantastic, I feel really great that the team has got the reward it deserves for the efforts this year and in previous years. I thought I’d be nervous but I’ve been feeling amazingly cool and calm all weekend.”