The car was “completed” at 2.30 am on Friday morning ready for a shake down test that day at Snetterton. We awoke to find a rain swept circuit with dark clouds all around. Not particularly inspiring for a shake down run but it was Snetterton after all! In fact, the car ran impeccably in the conditions. After the first session which was very much a checking session for the systems on the car we found we could run competitive wet times with our “compromise” settings. We decided early on that it was of little use trying to set the car up for the ultimate lap time either dry or wet because the race day was bound to be a mixture. That was proven to be correct. The last session of the day was dry and we got down to consistent mid 1.08 laps in traffic so although this is over a second off our ultimate pace we were happy enough given the circumstances and the conditions.

Saturday was spent doing our usual pre race checks so the car was practically stripped and rebuilt again. Everything looked good for Sunday. Disappointment was just around the corner!!

We took the shortish trip back to Snetterton on Sunday morning, set up camp next to David Ellis superb carbon Aston and settled back into the race routine. Scrutineering and noise test passed we were ready for qualifying. With 60 litres in the tank and the driver all fired up we expected great things. As the car accelerated up the pit lane it stuttered and then picked up and was gone. However, the problem continued in the car with the engine being starved of fuel under acceleration and the dash displaying low fuel pressure almost continually. A quick trip back to the pits later to switch on a few things did not work and we were loath to push the car because the engine was running extremely lean. The last ditch plan was to brim the tank – all 130 litres – and try again. This done we had time for 1 lap before the checkered flag and luckily it was a high 1.08 and good enough for pole. So, the first milestone was met but not quite in the fashion we envisaged!

Immediately after qualifying we stripped the tank to find the main fuel pick up pipe had perished and the fuel collector was no longer connected to the feed! Quite how this happened we do not know because this was all checked the previous week but that’s motor racing I guess. Our friend Kevin Riley , who drives the Mosler, kindly gave us a new pipe and we were back in business – or so we thought. The Super GT competitors were called to the collecting area and I have to say the cars at the front made a spectacular picture – a complete array of different machinery looking superb in the fleeting sunshine. Just what GT racing is all about in my opinion. As I accelerated away there was no stutter but almost unlimited power! The turbos were boosting to over 1.6 bar gauge (over 800 bhp) and let like that the heads would have blown off before the end of the straight!!! I tried to modulate the boost with the adjuster but to no avail – it simply did not work. Subsequent investigation revealed a minute particle of dust lodged in the diaphragm (presumably from the chassis rebuild) which stopped the diaphragm from sealing. However, we had to come into the pits to investigate and we decided the only solution was to disconnect the boost control and run on the spring pressure in the waste gates – around 0.7 bar and 450 bhp. Unfortunately, this is about 75 bhp down on our normal settings and with an almost embarrassing straight line speed deficit to the Mosler – yet alone the ballistic Aston, things were going to be difficult! We rejoined the race with 15 minutes to run and there was now only two objectives – overtake the two leading cars and set the fastest lap. After all, we had to “show” the competition what we could do!!!! Luckily, we managed both and salvaged some pride from the race. Things could only get better in the second race – or so we thought!

We decided to leave the boost adjuster disconnected for the second race as we had not found the reason for the failure and although it seemed to be working it was too risky to connect it up. I was to start from the back of the grid and on the green flag I increased the revs, slipped the clutch and BANG, a rear stub axle broke! These are brand new, made specially for use from special steel and they had lasted about 3 hours, including the initial shake down. To say we were all disappointed is the understatement of the year. We loaded the car up and watched David take the victory in the second race in awful conditions. Congratulations to him and Kevin, the winner of the first race, but be warned, we will be back for Thruxton with all the gremlins sorted out – hopefully of course!!

We have been racing for years and disappointment like we felt at the weekend is part of it. The best prepared car can always suffer from unexpected and random failures. I guess we pushed too hard to be at the race and our luck an out. Its a hard lesson to learn but CTR are professionals and we will be back better prepared and ready to take the fight to all comers!

 It took Zubin and I about 1 nanosecond to agree so the entire CTR team turned up at Brands with a race prepared GT3. Unfortunately, the entry was very sparse with around a dozen cars entered. This is a great shame, particularly because in previous years I think this race was known as the Bill Taylor Memorial with all proceeds going towards cancer research. However, I think its more to do with the current market conditions and the fact that the Porsche Club have decided to effectively can the Open for next year and have another series for GT3 Cup cars. I think that’s folly and it lets the membership of the club down but that is only my personal opinion.

Anyway, back to the race. It was of 60 minutes duration with a compulsory pit stop of 30 seconds! We qualified 4 th on the grid, 1st in class but the car was awful. No grip at the rear whatsoever. We decided to spend some money and buy a new set of Michelins for the race. With nothing else to do on the race car we set about cleaning and preparing Zubins beautiful 993 RSR for sale and we watched some of the EuroBoss racing. Wonderful cars but they did not do themselves justice and seemed too unreliable for amateur teams to run. We met our good friend Barry Smith from Judd there who was looking after the engine on the pole sitting Benetton. At least he was happy!

Eventually, it was time for our race and Zubin took the start. And what a start, 4th to 1st in 100 yards! Fantastic stuff. OK, so the GT2 Evo pulled past purely down to its immense power but Zubin had put down the marker. We were now running second but an incident at Paddock brought out the yellow flags and the poor driver in the GT3 behind was obviously so caught up in driving his badly handling car (it was not set up by CTR Developments) that he missed the flags and overtook Zubin going into the danger zone. Oh well, he was booked for a session with the headmaster after the race!). Zubin really had the hammer down and kept third until our pit stop. There is no way we can change drivers in 30 seconds and to prove the point we took a minute! Still, it was not a bad stop for us. I took over and drove to the flag. The car was fantastic, just a hint of oversteer due to some worn diff plates, and we duly came home third, first in class and with class fastest lap – thanks to Zubin.

All in all a great day out and a good result for the team. Thanks again to James for the car and to the team for bringing it all together.

See you out there soon.

Richard.

Our Lotus has had a pretty hard time of late. After its success in the Britcar 24 hours we ran it in a 90 minutes Britcar race at Brands and then a short while ago at a track day. The Silverstone race comprised 35 minutes of practice and 90 minutes of race time. We did our customary race preparation on the car, filled it with fuel and went racing.

The drivers for the day were Zubin Randeria and Richard Chamberlain. Zubin had not raced on the International circuit before but quickly got in the swing of things in the wet practise. Unfortunately, the Lotus was not set up for the wet and cold Silverstone circuit. The front springs were too hard and even a mild application of the brakes caused the fronts to lock up. Apart from this the car was singing and was qualified first in class. A few minor tweaks to the dampers and we were ready to race……Not so quickly though. The weather which had been awful suddenly perked up and we had to get a new set of slicks to go racing. Suitably shod, Zubin took the start only to witness a five car accident – what a shame and what a terrible way to start the season. After the safety car withdrew Zubin quickly got into his stride and set what was to be the fastest lap in class; everything seemed to be going well when down came the rain! This was swiftly followed by hail and Zubin had no choice but to pit for wets. Unlike the Porsche with its air jacks and centre lock wheels the Lotus is really a standard road car and changing four wheels is not a quick job. However, thanks to some help from the Britcar GT runners we changed the wheels in 6 minutes and off went Richard in pretty dreadful weather. He did not take long to get into his stride but his demon pit lane exit was just a little bit too demon and he was soon back in for a stop go penalty (note to Richard LOOK AT THE SPEEDO – IT WORKS!!). Some consistent lappery saw the Lotus take the flag at the end of 90 minutes, first in class and 6th overall.

It was an amazing result for a standard road car. There was some great driving from our drivers but this was complimented by the race prep and set up from CTR, together a wining team. Lets hope we can replicate this next time out!