Review of Snetterton Round Three GT Cup 13th/14th June 2009
Wed 17 Jun 2009
The format of having a race on Saturday and finishing early on Sunday seems to have been well received all round and where we can we will repeat again this year (i.e. Knockhill) and consider more widely for next year. I'm sorry that my packed social calendar prevented me from seeing race 1. By all accounts competitors put on a great show. But I did see the Sunday race and a couple of ‘media types' confirmed what a cracking race it was with all sorts of action and adventure going on all the way through the field.
Race One ...With one or two of our regulars away this weekend on ‘other business' the racing was, as expected, still very busy. Mike Gardiner used his massive experience and the power of the Moore Racing prepared Viper to stamp his authority on matters from the outset and was never under much pressure which Marc tells me has attracted his attention from an equalisation point of view. Behind him Barrie Whight and Mitch Millett had their own race ahead of Peter Seldon.
In Group Two it was a Ferrari ‘lock out' following an early trip to the outfield for Andy Ruhan in his Porsche who put himself out of contention despite qualifying a creditable second in the Group 2 line up. Messrs Price, Leadley and Hartley gave F.F Corse a rather impressive 1st/2nd/3rd with GT Cup regular Leon Price recording his maiden victory having finally seen off Leadley after some epic duals in previous rounds. The F.F. Corse drivers are all good friends but there is an intense but friendly internal team rivalry which is what the GT Cup is all about.
In Group Three we saw the Geoff Steel prepared BMWs taking control with Michael Symons and Keith Webster having their own race leaving Alex Martin in his Porsche with a rear view mirror full of Jon Dhillon's Ferrari. Michael Symons had his maiden GT Cup win having crossed the line fractionally ahead of second place Webster after 25 minutes battling, with Alex Martin coming in 3rd.
Winning Group Four seems to rather suit Will Goff and his Heritage run Aston Martin GT4, he is now accustomed to the top step of the podium and we are not sure who will nudge him off his perch but several contenders are threatening to... Second was David Botterill whilst third went to Matt Cummings in his fiesty Lotus Exige. All in all a good race despite five non finishers due to mechanical failures.
Race Two ... Saw another busy grid that was spectacularly bigger than any other GT racing going on that weekend despite an unusually large number of mechanical gremlins which baffled so many during the course of the weekend and had knocked out eight cars by the end of Friday testing. Several competitors wresstled manfully with running repairs including John Taylor who replaced a clutch on his 996 GT3 but sadly often to no avail. It was reassuring though that on track accident damage was not to blame for the high attrition rate with some very fair but robust driving throughout the impressive grid.
In Group One clearly the man to watch was Mike Gardiner but Mitch Millett kept him honest and was in touch. Apparently Gardiner's dashboard was beginning to look a bit like the Blackpool illuminations... there were lights flashing everywhere. So he backed off and Mitch pounced at Russell to take the lead. Sadly Mitches' valiant effort to rein in the dominant Gardiner came to nothing as he retired with cooling fluid leaking from a blown gasket.
Meanwhile Matt Seldon and Barrie Whight were involved in a spectacular wheel to wheel race of their own. Matt's BMW could keep the pressure on the Aston Martin in the twisty stuff and Matt kept Barrie working hard to stay ahead. That was until the Aston picked up a puncture in the closing stages so the fun was over. Seldon crossed the line in second place with new comer Peer Slipsanger recovering well from an early spin to come 3rd in his beautiful Ferrari 430 GT3, prepared and supported by MTech. This left Mike Gardiner to pick up another dominent outright win in his Viper.
In Group Two JMH Automotive did a fine job to ensure Andy Ruhan's car was back on the grid in group winning condition. Andy who is new to the 997 this year and having got his head down and worked hard to master Porsches very physical new Cup car found his efforts paying off. Having clearly decided that all this Ferrari nonsense had to stop Andy had a fine race taking first place ahead of Leon Price 2nd and was another well deserved maiden victory in the GT Cup. Ian Hartley was lucky to recover from a big spin without damage and came in 3rd.
In Group Three Marco Pullen was driving in ‘what will happen next' mode! His paddle shift system had a will of its own and it was a voyage of discovery wondering what gear it would select itself next. When he got the hang of this and used whatever gear that came up effectively he came home first ahead of the diminutive but incredibly rapid supercharged Lotus Exige of Steve Taylor and the BMW of Michael Symons in 3rd. Just behind them was one of the best scraps of the weekend with Alex Martin and Henry Firman. ... Alex eventually prevailed by a mere 0.189 secs, not bad after 25 minutes of real racing!
Group Four belonged to Will Goff, keeping his 100% record of wins intact. If there was an award for courage in the face of adversity it would probably have gone to David Botterill and his Porsche 944 Turbo. David is one of our ‘single handers' who look after everything on their own and Dave had a busy weekend. However it all paid off and brought his ailing machine home second ahead of the Ferrari 360 Challenge car of David Hathaway who came 3rd for his first podium position.
I would like to thank Hannah and Steve for looking after things for me on Saturday, they were a little too good at it!
As always the ‘looking after you' team did their usual superb job, they make it easy to for us to forget all the effort that goes into catering for us and your guests in a mobile hospitality suite like the GT Cup Race Centre.
As always the paddock atmosphere was great fun as well as being very competitive. Jon Dhillon celebrated his birthday on Sunday and received the shock of his life when he returned to his awning to find his car had morphed into a toy pedal car resplendent with balloons. MTech had hidden his grown up car in another team's awning replacing it with said toy car. Not convinced his new stead was up to the job Jon opted to race his ‘reserve' car! Moore Racing introduced a novel flooring concept by using their tiles to spell out the initials GTC which Marc was rather taken by and contemplated making mandatory for all teams. Fortunately Hannah and I persuaded him it wouldn't be a good idea as we struggle to get people to even put up their flags!
2010 Season thoughts...
Those of you who were at Snetterton would have heard Marc talking about his thoughts for where to go next with GT Cup in 2010. Basically the idea is to leave GT Cup exactly as it is but as ever make continuous improvements, after all it is working really rather well and you guys seem to be enjoying it.
Marc is being approached on a pretty regular basis by people whose cars are not currently eligible for GT Cup by virtue of the fact they are too quick. One solution is to set up a companion series of exactly the same style as GT Cup for these cars with the current Group 1 moving to the second version thus putting the current Group 2 at the front of the grid again.
The intention would be to run both GT Cup and the new series which has the working title ‘GT Trophy' on the same bill whenever possible but where the Trophy may be an MSA Championship. It is relatively early days but Marc has floated the idea off David Scott and MSVR and if the cars are out there then there is a very good chance it will happen. However we need to hear your thoughts and particularly need to hear from anyone with a suitable car who would want to enter the ‘GT Trophy'.
Likewise an overseas round, at maybe Spa, is another firm target. It would need both series on the track together to get the seventy odd cars we need to make it work financially. Spa is the jewel in the crown but other circuits like Zandvoort, Dijon, Zolder etc are all excellent venues within reasonable reach of Calais and used regularly by the visiting Brits.
We have also been lobbied by those who believe there is a market for a ‘Mini-Endurance' series of perhaps two or three rounds next year. The projected distance would be up to the 500 kms range. Possibly one being a 2 hour and the other a 500km (approx. 3 hour) duration. This opens up all sorts of opportunities that need serious thought... for example do we follow the Le Mans pattern and invite open sportscars like LMP2, Radicals, maybe VdeV etc or do we stick to GT's. With two driver teams do we need to consider allowing ‘paid drivers' to take part? The main thing is we need full grids because that is what makes things work and is what Marc is hell bent on achieving... despite being a nice enough sort of chap Marc is not a registered charity ... apparently!
Marc asked to be quoted "I want to be clear that we will not fundamentally change the spirit or format of the GT Cup but I'm mindful of the need to consider driver progression and to make incremental improvement. Developing the scale of Bute Motorsport will also have long term benefits for all and help us offer even more value, options and enjoyment to competitors."
So if you have views on these ideas please e-mail Marc at marc@butemotorsport.co.uk
Marc aims to announce firm plans in the next few weeks.
Also when you get the chance go to www.gtcup.co.uk and take a look at the revitalised and much improved web site. I look forward to seeing many of you at Oulton Park on 25th July, if you are not yet entered best get your entry in soon.
Cheery bye
Jock Simpson (jock.simpson@btinternet.com)
