Britcar Trophy - Donnington National 10th August 2022
A step upward!
Winter 2022 and Team boss Richard was on the hunt, something to take the ‘step up’ and get the team into the semi professional series of Britcar endurance racing. In early February 2022 the decision was made to purchase a Clio Cup car, with Britcar having a dedicated class to run them in. So with some hunting around one was found, checked and promptly purchased. A last Generation 3 Evolution model, a former Dutch championship car which had been in private ownership, and rarely used since its Clio Cup Europe days.
The car was brought back to the teams Distington workshop, checked over and dispatched on a test session down at Donington in early March. The car ran well with Dave Crozier at the wheel, but with work to do to get it back to race spec. We then went to Silverstone to partake in the Britcar official test, which proved the cars pace with Gary Mitchell behind the wheel
Some time went past, with Richard committed to Le Mans series events for the next few months and we chose to take part in the Donington Park round on the 10th August 2022.
A full strip down and overhaul of the car was carried out beforehand including new seat, belts, extinguishers, gearbox rebuild, engine check and general refresh of anything that moved, to ensure it was in perfect working order pre race.
The team departed on the 9th August, foregoing the pre event test, as the race itself would be simply a test outing with team regular and race winning driver Gary Mitchell at the wheel.
Qualifying went well, albeit cautiously, with the team running the car heavy on fuel to simulate race pace, and to assist with knowledge of where the tyre pressures needed to be, the slick tyres having a small optimal operating window. P28 on the 41 car grid was the result, a position we figured we could improve upon during the race.
Each race consists of a 50 minute mini endurance race with a mandatory pit stop of 120 seconds.
Race 1 - Gary started well, the rolling start going to plan, and maintaining position over the first lap. As the race progressed we ended up in clear track, and slowly moved our way up the field. 30 minutes elapsed and Gary had moved the Clio into 24th and Rich made the call to box (Pit). Gary comes in, tyre pressures checked, the clock being watched closely. We released the car slightly over our minimum time to avoid penalty, but still managed minimal loss, which saw us jump another 4 places. Now P20 the race was on! 18 minutes to go and Gary went on a charge, gaining another 3 places by the finish to take the chequered flag in 17th and a faultless finish. Get in!
After race 1 the team set to, getting the car spanner checked, and altering the toe settings to get a bit more initial turn in on the faster corners for race 2.
Race 2 – Grids set from race 1 results this time, so up the order to a 17th place start put us right in the middle of the pack – never a nice place to be on lap one! The pack rolls round on the formation lap and the lights go out on the rolling start, the race is on! Now there is some very quick machinery in Britcar and despite being a factory fully sequential race car the 208bhp of the Clio struggled to hold some of these at bay. By lap one we dropped to 23rd and remained there for a few laps. A battle had begun, between our Clio and a Fiesta Cup car. The Fiesta was lapping on average 2 seconds slower than Gary in the Clio but had more grunt on the straights so was very difficult to pass. After some time Gary made the move, and made it stick, however no sooner had we jumped our blocking car than the yellow flags came out, followed by the safety car, followed by a red flag. A huge crash had put a halt to proceedings. As the Clio made its way to the pit lane, the temperature was creeping up – never a good sign! Mechanical sympathy was shown and the engine switched off to avoid damage and Gary coasted to the pit box. The team were greeted by a solid jet of coolant coming from the front of the Clio, accompanied by a piece of gravel lodged in the radiator! The Fiesta battle had came at a price! Red flag means parc ferme rules apply – no touching the car. To get heat out the engine bay the team had no choice but to touch the car, and get the bonnet open, and that unfortunately would mean us out the race. A cruel twist of luck but that's racing as they say (and an engine saved from any damage!)!
A lot learned, some tweaks to work on to find a few tenths next time, but on the whole a successful test race, and one to build on with thankfully minimal damage to repair.
Thanks for reading!
Richard
Team Manager
RABsport Racing
