The programme referred to the renaissance of the 1000 Kms after a 15 year absence: we’d prefer to think of ‘it’ as an interval of three years, because it’s that long since the British GTs raced at Spa (it wasn’t over 1000 kms in 2000 of course). And who won that 2000 race? (Short did.) While the prototypes only managed 11 entrants, the British GT crowd assembled 21, plus three guests – and to a man, didn’t they perform. The GT race was an absolute cracker, from the dramatic open laps, all the way to a fantastic win for guest driver Joao Barbosa, partnering Martin Short and Tom Herridge in the Rollcentre Mosler. The last hour was spell-binding, as Barbosa chased a fuel-starved Balfe Motorsport Mosler driven by Tommy Erdos. These two were pure magic: it really was a case of looking up to La Source to see who would appear first on the last lap. “The last thing we wanted to do was make it easy for them (Rollcentre),” summed up Shaun Balfe. Easy it wasn’t. The Cup Class saw the youngest ever British GT class winner (Tom Shrimpton), plus two ladies on the top step of the podium (Liz Halliday and Amanda Stretton). This was a race with a difference – or more accurately, probably about a thousand differences. We’re a little late providing this view of it, thanks to the dreadful service from Euro Tunnel. We’ll stick to the ferry next time….. Wet or dry then? The surface was drying as they lined up, but although the line was virtually free of moisture, it wasn’t dry everywhere. Slicks it was then for all, but only for two or three laps. No surprise to see Cor Euser head the GTs at the end of a dry lap 1, from the Gillet Vertigo (Kuppens on a mission), two Moslers (Erdos then Short) and two DeWalt TVRs. Rob Barff was already pressuring former partner Martin Short on lap 2, but the drops started to fall as they completed the lap, too late for a pit visit for most. Mauro Casadei did pit though in the GNM (Freisinger-powered 911), so promptly that the team weren’t ready. “If I make an accident, Graham will break my head,” he’d said yesterday. Good move to pit for wets Mauro.
Very good move. The rain poured down on lap three, and in they came. The pit lane was a car park, cars were going backwards and forwards, some had a smooth visit, while others were delayed thanks to the congestion – and Tommy Erdos had the advantage in GT, with a big lead on Martin Short. The race between the Moslers had already started, a fascinating to and fro routine that would continue throughout nearly six hours of drama. The Ahlers Morgan, Hector Lester in his Ferrari, the Scuderia Grifo Corse Lotus and the Gillet were the only four not to stop on that lap (two of them had five wheel stud fixings), but they had to stop after four tours: the rain was briefly torrential – again, on this typical Spa weekend. Erdos was sixth overall, Euser ninth and Barff tenth at this point. Renaud Kuppens in the Gillet was briefly second fastest man on the track (to Tom Kristensen!) when the rain was at its worst, while Erdos was lapping faster than Gabbiani, Barff was flying in the #192 DeWalt TVR – and Euser was struggling with his 650 bhp in the monstrous Mantara – for now.
15 laps was just over one-tenth distance (for the Audi R8 at least), and the GT order was Kuppens sixth, Erdos seventh, Euser 45 seconds behind the Brazilian wizard in ninth, Barff tenth (“Chasing Cor Euser was magic. He was spectacular to watch from behind”), the Lamborghini eleventh, then Lee Caroline in the other DeWalt TVR and Short in the silver Mosler. Pat Pearce was flying in the lead of Cup, and chasing SR2 cars, while Piers Johnson was dicing with Dan Eagling in the Peninsula TVR for nineteenth overall, ahead of Nick Adams in the Damax Ferrari. Then the sun came out! That was almost the last we saw of the rain. Eagling and Johnson passed Pearce as the track became less wet, and we’d had the grand total of zero retirements: the reliability of the GTO class cars would prove to be outstanding, although the CDL TVR was in trouble on lap one with a broken ball joint, and was further delayed with rear dampers that packed up: they kept on fixing it though. A drying track suited Short’s Mosler, and he picked off Lee Caroline before the first hour was up, at which point it became decision time regarding tyres. The Morgans – which had looked twitchy anyway when the track was slippery – were the first to pit for slicks, Neil Cunningham admitting that perhaps he’d advised starting driver Adam Sharpe wrongly: “We got him in a bit early: he was losing ten seconds a lap to the (#176) Porsche until it dried out.” The little Brunswick Lotus had a difficult gear linkage that needed fixing, while Mark Sumpter in the Golf had been ‘helped’ into the gravel by Beppe Gabbiani in the #2 Dome – but incidents between faster and slower cars were still remarkably few. Only one would affect the outcome of the prototype race. Just before slicks became a necessity, Short was really on the move, catching the heavy Lamborghini – but still 90 seconds behind class-leader Erdos. What a start the Brazilian had given his old mates at Balfe Motorsport….. Then the (fuel and tyre) stops came thick and fast, led by a suspect one for Barff’s TVR. His timing to come in was perfect, but his two minutes to refuel wasn’t. Twelve seconds quicker than the two minute minimum? That would result in a stop and go, which was no fault of Barff’s of course, but his TVR was still right in contention anyway, thanks to his wet pace – and a later stop for Erdos. Euser’s drying line pace (and 650 bhp) meant he’d rushed up to old partner Erdos before they pitted, the Balfe car perhaps stopping a little too late (for Shaun to take over), perhaps too keen to stick to a fuel schedule rather than a ‘tyre schedule’? Rob Barff was the class (and GT overall) leader at two hours despite his pit problems, 23 seconds ahead of the Gillet, 48 seconds ahead of Shaun Balfe and over a minute ahead of Martin Short. The Balfe to Short gap was the crucial one. Initially it was Short cracking on (used to the track conditions perhaps) and closing in, but Balfe then settled in and eased away again. The Mosler battle was well and truly joined.
Simon Pullan was having a good race with Graeme Mundy for fifth in GTO, but Eclipse were marooned in this position for much of the race: that would still be good enough for them to take their title challenge to the last race though. Peter Le Bas was tanking on in the Corvette and catching the TVRs (after a steady first stint from Ricky Cole), followed by the Damax Ferrari (a stop and go for a yellow flag infringement) and the Peter Cook / Franck Pelle Porsche. This one had spun and put Jan Lammers off the track, but this was the only major contretemps between the GTs and the SR1s. Ignoring the stops on lap three for wets, what we had at two and a half hours was the end of the second stints. Erdos switching to Balfe was now about to be followed by Jamie Derbyshire’s first and only stint in the #133 Mosler, while Rollcentre had a different (and developing) plan. Two stints from Short were followed by Joao Barbosa’s first on-track appearance of the day. Rob Barff’s double was followed by Richard Hay’s first time in the black and yellow #192 – and from here on, it was between the Moslers in GTO. How good is Barbosa? We were about to receive lesson one. The Portuguese took over before Jamie Derbyshire, and soon whipped past Hay in #192. We’d lost the Mantara when Jos Menten stopped with no drive: Calum Lockie had blasted on in the second stint in Euser’s colourful monster, despite a food poisoning induced ‘heave’ ten minutes before he got in. If it stayed dry, the beast was looking very good for a GT win overall, but there it was, parked on the track – presumably a transmission failure? Jos Menten: “It was 100% my fault, I missed a gear, spun and stalled the car. By trying to restart too often, I broke the starter. But it was after all a very good experience.” The Gillet had had a longish stop earlier and was fourth in GT (including Guests), David Addison convinced that the problem wasn’t to do with the car’s Alfa engine. How could it have been? Quite right Adipose - it was the starter. An Alfa component? Eclipse had a wheel gun failure at their Pullan to Lynch stop, so they stayed out of ultimate contention – and Shane Lynch (with no dry laps at Spa apart from the warm up) wasn’t expecting to compete with Barbosa. He did race hard with Paula Cook in the Corvette though. The silver Mosler was in the 2:28s / 2:29s, while the red and white one had Derbyshire in the 2:33s. The 26 second gap shrank to nothing in five laps, and Rollcentre led for the first time.
Just over half distance and we had the Safety Car out for the first time. The ISL Mantis and the Clio were in the gravel at consecutive corners, and the different tactics of the Mosler squads came into play. Martin Short (in civvies already): “We pulled him in straight away, for fuel and tyres. That’s our planned routine if there’s a Safety Car.” Barbosa rejoined a minute behind #133 (as the Safety Car let them rip again rather quickly). 60 seconds behind, and a stop under these regulations takes well over two minutes…… Paula Cook in the Corvette apparently hit the little white Lotus while they were in the Safety Car queue, leaving Colacino and Segatori very unhappy – but repairs were effected.
Barbosa was off again. At this point (about 85 laps for the GT leader), a light rain began to fall, but all the GTs stayed on slicks. Four hours was exactly 100 laps for the Kristensen / Ara Audi, and main rival Shimoda in the DBA pitted for hard wets. Barbosa and Derbyshire didn’t change their slicks, the Portuguese gobbling up the gap and taking the lead as the GTs passed the 90 lap mark. Was it time to start planning how to complete the stints to the finish? When would Tom Herridge get in the silver Rollcentre Mosler? Was Erdos going to take the rival car to the flag? When? Rollcentre had to get Herridge in sometime, but they knew Erdos was going to be their final stint rival. “We rolled the dice and decided to put Joaoa back in the car. He’s a good boy, isn’t he?” That meant that Tom Herridge would complete a very short stint, which would end with one full stint from Barbosa. Balfe Motorsport’s plan was necessarily different. By sticking to a conventional refuelling routine, Tommy Erdos took over and was a minute ahead of the Portuguese – and there was some doubt whether he could get to the finish. He definitely could have got to the finish if he wasn’t being pushed all the way by Joao Barbosa. The Brazilian versus the Portuguese – but were the dice loaded a little? What we didn’t know at the time was that Erdos wasn’t in radio contact with his pit. He was receiving the gap on his pit board, but was having to manage it single-handed, while saving fuel as much as possible. He let the gap come down by typically two or three seconds a lap, and it was clear that we were heading for an extraordinary finish one way or another. Barbosa was into the 2:26s at times, which is staggering pace (FIA N-GT pace). As the Kristensen Audi knocked off the laps, it was clear that the race would finish before the six hour limit, but did Erdos have enough fuel? He let the gap shrink, all the time aware that fuel was also the issue. The last five to ten minutes were endurance motor racing at its amazing best. It doesn’t happen like this very often, but when it does…. With two laps to go, the gap was three seconds past the pits – surely advantage Barbosa, whether Erdos could keep going or not? Or had the Brazilian saved just enough fuel? Up Eau Rouge, he had a slice of luck: Barbosa lost two seconds behind the Peninsula TVR: suddenly, Erdos had flown up the hill and away…..could he hang on? The team thought not: they reckoned he’d run out of fuel with a lap to go, which (they’d checked with officialdom) would leave them in third place at worst. They had to gamble: if they stopped for fuel, it would have been for an agonising two minutes. Might as well keep going! One lap to go, and it was a couple of seconds again. Would the red and white Mosler make it? The splits on the timing screen told the story as far as two thirds of the way round the last lap: the gap was 0.2 seconds. If Erdos did have enough fuel, they’d come out of La Source together – but in what order? Kristensen had already taken the flag, the prototype race had nothing left to decide, so everyone who could, peered up to La Source…where only one Mosler appeared. It was Barbosa’s. Martin Short went mad on the pit wall, while the Balfe Motorsport crew could only wonder….what if? Their car did appear, nearly a minute later, rolling down the hill silently. It had got to the Bus Stop……. They were philosophical.
Erdos looked drained, and bitterly disappointed, but what else could he have done? The dice were loaded, he simply couldn’t have won, with Barbosa pushing him all the way. Two nicer guys you couldn’t hope to meet. Nor two faster guys. “You find the words,” said Joao Barbosa. OK. You drove faultlessly, as did your rival. The two Moslers performed impeccably. Martin Short has finally won a British GT race in 2003. He couldn’t have done it without you, nor without Warren Mosler – and not without Tom Herridge either. The Championship contender looked bemused afterwards. “I owe Tom a huge apology, but we had to go with Joao,” explained Short Yes, they did. And didn’t it go with Joao at the wheel? We believe the points read Balfe Motorsport pair (Balfe and Derbyshire) 184 points, Eclipse’s Johnson and Lynch 180, and Rollcentre’s Herridge 179. It’s all to play for at Brands Hatch (25 – 20 – 17 – 15 – 14 etc.). Eclipse’s Chris Pollard summed up his team’s fortunes. “We lost a lap under each Safety Car, but if you’d told me at the start of the season that we’d go to the last race with a chance at winning the Championship, I wouldn’t have believed you.” And all this after Eclipse’s nightmare Friday. It was an extraordinary race, with only the #191 TVR retiring from the GTO runners – after oil cooler, diff and loose wheel problems, plus contact with another car. The sister car was an excellent third, Michael (Slick 50) Caine setting a superb 2:28 late on, the fantastic Gillet with its Alfa V6 power was fourth in GT overall, a great achievement for the team. 2003 brought a first podium in Belcar, a finish in the 24 hours of Spa and now this. The Peninsula TVR pipped Eclipse after a race long battle (well done both teams – Dan Eagling shone in his first TVR drive), and the Lamborghini, the Xero Corvette, the Peter Cook / Franck Pelle Porsche and the Damax Ferrari all had strong, reliable runs to the flag. Tom Shrimpton led ‘his’ ladies home to a clear Cup win, the youngest ever partnered by the prettiest ever. By far. Amanda beat partner Bob Berridge (in the retired #176), and the Morgans came home second and third in Cup. The Atlanta Clio and the Italian Lotus both finished, after assorted dramas. Alun Edwards’ ISL Mantis didn’t, nor did the Brunswick Lotus, but just to perform at this cathedral of motor sport is an opportunity not to be missed. Can we come back next year please?
Spa-Francorchamps was a fantastic British GT weekend. The teams performed supremely well in their first crack at 1000 Kms. Erdos and Barbosa made the difference: what wise choices by both Mosler teams. What have we missed? We’ll add some ‘quotes’ later on Monday, but our plan went haywire with Euro Tunnel’s late night schedules. Last thought for now.
Andy Wallace praised the GT teams for using their mirrors and keeping
out of his way. There were still many “oooohh” moments
as Wallace, Lammers, Kristensen etc. lapped the GTs, but only one
significant incident. It’s the speed differential that makes
these races – as it does in the ALMS and at Le Mans. A Lehto
or Wallace in traffic is a sight to behold. In other words, prototypes
and GTs is the perfect mix for action, drama and entertainment.
That was proven once again at Spa on August 31. Separate prototype
races? No thank you.
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Pearce and Griffin still
led the Cup Class, but their clutch was playing up: “The pedal
would stick to the floor,” said Griffin later. “You
had to hook it up with your foot.” Eventually the Championship
winner would be jammed in sixth, race over – and only the
second time they hadn’t won this year. The sister car took
over at the front, Tom Shrimpton having started well and coped admirably
with Spa in a downpour, Liz Halliday and Amanda Stretton then able
to stay ahead because…well, no one put up a challenge. The
Morgans had lost time with their early slicks, #166 was down on
power anyway, Hector Lester’s Ferrari had lost time changing
tyres and would soon retire with no drive – and there weren’t
any other threats. The Golf – a good bet for an Audi-type
reliability run – disappointed when its gearbox failed.
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