Potentially the strongest field in British GT so far in 2010, was gathered at Silverstone last weekend for the two hour endurance round.
Twenty six cars are entered, and the competition is high level. Trackspeed's second Porsche will be in the hands of highly experienced Richard Westbrook and Beechdean will have Aston Martin works driver Darren Turner sharing the driving with Andrew Howard, amongst other top-line names.
Rollcentre Racing CEO Martin Short will be stretching the legs of the Mosler and is looking forward to competing in the quality field. He will be sharing the drive with Adrian Beer, someone Martin has known since he was a youngster. Adrian who is 26 has been racing in the MG Car Clubs BCV8 Championship since he was 17, and has also competed in the 6HR of Spa. His debut season in 2001 was impressive, finishing second overall in the title chase, Class Champion, highest-placed Novice and highest-placed Young Driver in the Top 10. He has since won the overall championship twice, a class title in each year that he has contested a full season, and holds lap records at five circuits, including the high-speed former airfield circuit of Castle Combe, where the average speed approaches 100mph.
"It is very exciting to see a strong entry list like this for Silverstone. Gregor Fisken who partnered with me so well at Rockingham has other commitments this weekend, but I am looking forward to teaming up with Adrian Beer. He has an impressive history in MGB GTs and his father Malcolm and I go a long way back. In fact Malcolm helped me in my early years, so its great to be able to do a bit of 'payback' for his lad. The fact that he is an accomplished racer in his own right is terrific, and I don't need reminding that the last time Adrian and I did something together was when my wife and I took him to St.Ives Fair when he was 6 years old!..... It will be an interesting experience to give Adrian a taste of GTs."
While most cars had uneventful sessions the first day, this certainly hasn't been the case for Rollcentre. Martin Short explained. "We have a major engine problem that developed during testing earlier in the week. We thought we had fixed it by late last night, but it's back. We have had four experts working on it during the week, and another one is on his way as I speak."
The Mosler managed twelve laps in the first session, but it was by no means certain that they would get out again. After a concentrated and methodical session in the garage with wiring supremo Fraser from Motec, the second session saw some improvement, although this came to an abrupt halt after Adrian had a spin and the car had to be brought back in. The team continued to work logically through all the possibilities and 'what ifs' before getting out for qualifying by the very skin of its teeth. Beer was out first, and did his qualifying laps, and then just as the heavens opened (well it is August, and being the height of summer...!) brought the car back in for a driver change. After the session Martin had a chat with the British GT Commentator Ian Titchmarsh " Well the car is running well now, but with the post-Rockingham BoP adjustment (30Kg extra plus a five millimetre ride-height penalty) we have qualified 14th - which is about as good as it gets. Don't get me wrong - when you are up against the likes of Richard Westbrook, you've lost two seconds straight away - but what was a potential race-winner at Rockingham has become a back-marker here.
On Sunday all was calm and order in garage 10A at Silverstone. The spectacular thunder and lightning storm which raged through the skies of Northamptonshire during the night cleared away yesterday's showers and the day dawned clear and bright. The track was good as Adrian Beer took the Mosler out first thing. Although there was an air of fatalism with the ‘success’ ballast imposed by the race organisers, the car was running well considering, and with Martin Short behind the wheel for the beginning of the race there was nothing to lose as he started 14th on the grid.
Martin soon started a heroic charge through the opposition, taking 6 places on the first lap and reaching second place by lap ten after Stuart Hall span in his Aston. He steadily lost out on the leader up to the driver change when Adrian Beer took over the driving at the halfway stage. Adrian settled in after a few laps while he got the handle of the Mosler and was making steady progress, but just after his two best sectors he unfortunately spun the car. However, he kept it going and did get make up some places, finally bringing the Mosler in at twelfth place.
“It has been a difficult weekend for all us,” said Short. “Adrian has had a big step up from what he has done before, and with the problems we have had with the car it has been stressful.. Adrian has had no time to get used to the car and that is not ideal. Overall, we still have issues with the ballast and ride height handicaps imposed on us by the Championship organisers which we have to deal with. On a positive note, there have been some puzzling technical troubles with the car which we think we have nailed down now. It has been great to see such a high quality field in British GT for this round – it has certainly attracted a top calibre of driver, which is always good for competition.
On a negative note sadly, since the Balance of Performance restrictions placed on the Mosler after Rockingham (the race winning Porsche had NO further restrictions) the Mosler has lost 2 seconds per lap race pace, and is now rendered essentially uncompetitive, when racing against the top drivers."
