Brands Hatch Night-Race November 2005
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Britcar Night Race Report - Brands Hatch, 19 NovemberA Scandalous End to the Season They won hearts and respect for their performance, in their Lotus
Elise, in the Silverstone 24 hours, and on Saturday evening Simon
Scuffham and Chris Randall, in the Prosport LM3000 that they were
still getting to grips with, took a fine maiden Britcar win. The Team Scandal pair had served notice of intent in the qualifying session that immediately preceded the 100-minute race, setting pole at 49.035 in the twilight. Their retirement in the Open race had caused an intense search for parts, and some urgent re-fettling to get out for the evening session. Mark Cole, qualifying the Adam Sharpe Falcon, but not taking part in the race, gave Alex Sidwell and George Haynes a front row position to work with, but over a second shy on 49.273. The Handkammer / Leslie BMW M3 annexed third, sharing the second row with the Seldon / O’Brien GTR. The Firman / Morris Porsche was next up, with the Class 2 Honda Civic of James Kaye and Leo Machitsky in sixth. Brown and White in the yellow BMW were fastest in Class 2, seventh overall, and it was James Kaye again in eighth, sharing the second Class 2 Barwell Honda Civic with Mark Lemmer. Returnee Andy Allen claimed ninth, sharing his BMW E46 with Adrian Watt, in front of novice Ben Aucott’s GTS Motorsport BMW M3, and the Geoff Steel BMW of Britsports regulars Angus Duke and Nick Padmore. The impressive Armstrong and Barnes were Class 3 pole, in front of Evo journalist Jethro Bovingdon and James Maynard in a Mini Cooper (right), then the similar car of Tony Skelton and Arthur Forster. The Doe / Robinson Honda CRX just about made the session, the team having to queue with the Saturday shoppers in Halfords to purchase an alternator belt, and it was a similar story for the Jemco team, neighbours Kevin Hancock and Nick Reynolds paying a visit to Pete Daniels to borrow a CV joint for their old-shape Honda Integra. Britsports competitors Steve Griffiths and Andy Perkins joined
the back of the grid in the ex-Richard Gane Honda Civic. There was virtually no time between the qualifying session and
the race, and as the grid was hurriedly formed-up, Scuffham was
re-directed to the other side of the front row, and Haynes, in the
Falcon, placed on pole, and further confusion ensued when Eugene
O’Brien drove the BMW GTR off the second row and into the paddock,
to hand over to Peter Seldon, who joined the race from the pit lane.
With only 15 minutes run, Leslie had established a 17-second lead over Scuffham, who in turn held a four-second sway over Haynes. Arthur Forster had swept the black Mini Cooper to the front of Class 3 runners, but coasted to a halt down the hill from Druids, handing the class lead to Jethro Bovingdon’s red example. James Kaye planted his Honda in the Paddock Hill gravel, and, with 75 minutes of the race to run, the safety car was deployed. Ben Aucott and Kevin Clarke took the opportunity to pit their BMWs at this stage, as did Seldon, handing the GTR to Eugene O’Brien. “Eug was going to start, but he had an ongoing dialogue with the officials, who wanted to see him just as the grid formed,” said Seldon, “so we had to do a quick change-over. I was certainly fired-up after that.” Neil Armstrong also pitted, but stayed in the driving seat. The field had bunched up behind the safety car, and once released,
Leslie’s advantage was down to six seconds, but he quickly
re-established the difference, and with 30 minutes gone, the gap
to Scuffham was back to just over 16 seconds again. The noise police were on patrol, and the first culprit to attract their attention was Nick Padmore’s BMW (above - doing its best to be as stealthy as possible). Responding to the black flag, a static test proved positive, and the car was pushed back into the garage, where some adept, skilful bodging by Geoff Steel had the car track-legal, and out on the circuit again. The Falcon was the next to be black-flagged, and once confirmed as too noisy, was also garaged for attention, but did not re-appear. The half-way mark saw the majority of the field come in for their mandatory stops. Scuffham had actually been posting quicker laps than Leslie immediately before pitting, which was impressive considering his plight. “I’m still getting used to the car – this is the longest continuous period that I’ve driven it,” he explained, “and the lights are atrocious, I can’t see a thing.” Leslie was the last to stop, and Harry Handkammer retained the
lead. Pete Morris, who had taken over the 911virgin.com Porsche
from Henry Firman, was pitbound with a puncture. “It was my
fault, I was trying too hard, got caught up with some back-markers,
and spun 360 degrees onto the grass. It cost us three positions,”
confessed the burly Midlander later. With 30 minutes left, Handkammer was having to respond to Randall’s Prosport, which was taking large chunks out of his 20-second lead. The pair began trading fastest laps, but Randall gained the upper hand, bringing his lap times and the gap down simultaneously. Ten minutes later, he was on the tail of the white BMW, passing it on lap 80, and establishing the fastest lap of the race in the process. Eugene O’Brien held third, but was called-in for a noise check. The test proved negative, and he was waved on his way, retaining his position, but losing a lap. Randall showed no sign of letting up, still punching in fast laps, which, Simon Scuffham revealed, might not have been the best approach. “We haven’t refuelled,” he explained, “we haven’t got the right adaptors, and we’ve no idea how much fuel is left. It could be just a spoonful for all we know.” There was no problem, though, and Team Scandal took a popular and well-deserved win. Scuffham’s early handling of an unfamiliar car, and Randall’s epic second stint, will go down in Britcar history. The perennial triers, often just the pair of them making up the team, have struggled valiantly all season, and the win was a testament to their determination, and undoubted skills. “First I was on the pole, then I wasn’t,” said Scuffham
(on the left, below), of the start, adding “I don’t know
how the Falcon got in front, but I saw Leslie behind me, and there
was no way I was going to get in his way, so I let him through.”
Chris Randall (below, right) explained his philosophy to push hard
to the bitter end: “I had no radio, and no clue what was happening”.
He did, however, have an idea of how they beat the opposition; “The
car’s got bags of grip. The Falcon is faster in a straight
line, but we can really get out of corners quickly, and get the
power down.” Handkammer and Leslie held second overall, a lap down, but a lap ahead of the third placed Seldon / O’Brien GTR. Tony Brown and Ian White were a fine fourth overall, and headed-up Class 1. The ex-Porsche racers reflected on their year; “We had an awful start, and it took four to five months to sort the car out, but we’ve ended the year on a high,” said Brown, alluding to their weekend tally of two class wins. Touring car stars Mark Lemmer and James Kaye (above) won Class 2, after an impressive run that saw them up to fourth overall at one point, and Class 3 honour once again fell to the Cartek Honda Civic of Neil Armstrong and Andy Barnes...with the Maynard / Bovingdon car relegated to second after a last-minute pit visit. Third-in-class Kevin Hancock and Nick Reynolds were pleased to walk away with trophies after a fraught day. “We got here late, only just making it for qualifying, and we had that trip to get the parts from Pete Daniels this afternoon, but it’s been a great first season for Team Jemco, and we’ll be back with the Marcos next season, and hopefully with some paying drivers in the Honda,” said Hancock. Pete Morris, third in GTC with the 911virgin.com Porsche, was keen to tell his story of the race, and the season in general; “Henry (Firman) did a really great first stint tonight, definitely the best he’s ever driven, faster in the dark than during the day, and it put me under pressure to pull something out of the box, but then I had that incident. The team has given us a well prepared car, and, while I missed the early races of the season, Henry has started and finished every Britcar race, with Robi Bernberg and Mark Sumpter when I wasn’t there. It’s been a cracking year, and I want to thank the EERC for a great season – this series beats the pants off British GT.” Thanks, Pete (below, left, with Henry Firman). Until next year, then. With thanks to Steve for all the Britcar tales this year –
and to Peter May and Mike Hoyer, in particular, for Britcar photo
duties. And thanks to the whole EERC team too. But where's James
Tucker? Result Not Classified 75 3 PERKINS/GRIFFITHS Honda Civic 1:36:17.187 26 N.C.F. 1:03.972
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