2008 final race and season report

The final race of the season was as expected, a real nail bitter. We had the two championships within our grasp, the Class 2 title and the overall Britcar GT title but our main opposition were literally snapping at our heals and had a very good chance of snatching away both accolades.

This last race was a night race so we had the extra pressure of dealing with night conditions on a circuit that had very little flood lighting so extra car lights were very necessary. We, the drivers, all had experience of night racing but these events are few and far between so the qualifying session late on the Saturday afternoon was the only chance we had to get to grips with the type of conditions we would be dealing with. The session went well but we were piped to the fastest qualifying lap by a very quick Marcos, only by 3/10ths but the 996 gave everything it had to get that close thanks to Jay Shepherds supreme effort.

There was supposed to be a half hour gap between the end of qualifying and the race start but for a number of reasons, some of which are still something of a mystery, we were called up almost immediately with a call to join the grid within 1 minute. This was just an impossible task as we had not yet re-fuelled so instead of taking up our hard fought for 11th grid slot, we faced the prospect of starting from the pit lane in effectively last but one position, circa 25th. Our main opposition, the Virgin 911 team managed to make the grid and took up station in the 15th grid slot, we were therefore some 10 places adrift, and further disadvantaged by starting from the pit lane behind at least 8 or so cars that also failed to get on the grid, none of which could join the race until the formed grid had passed through having completed their 2 green flag tyre warming laps.

The original plan was for Jay to start the race with enough fuel for a stint of 55mins. We only had fuel for 35mins so Rod was hurriedly placed in the car, an inspired call, as it proved later, made by our preparation and main strategy manager, Neil Garner. The instructions were a touch blue to repeat word for word, but in simple terms, Rod was told to do whatever he could to bring us into contention, or words to that effect !!!. With Jay’s capability as our quickest driver, we had hoped to establish a decent lead had the original plans worked out, so we were now very much on the back foot and could see the championship slipping away.

The pressure was on for in real terms it would take the pit lane starters a lap or two to get their tyres warmed up so by the time Rod got on the track, we estimated that he had a mountain to climb as we were effectively up to 30 seconds behind the Virgin 911 lads. We did however have a few cards up our sleeves that proved essential to our progress and luck played it’s part in terms of 2 safety car periods that assisted in bunching up the pack.

The basic requirement was for Rod to chase down the Virgin 911 car, which was by now making excellent progress. Throughout the season, Rod and Jan opted to drive at about 90% of their quickest times for a combination of safety and strategic reasons, thus they kept 10% in reserve for those odd occasions that it might be needed. This was such a time, so Rod was asked to wind it up right from the start and use 110% if he could and put in lap times that even during daylight hours would have impressed Diane Barrett, his wife, and our team manager. Rod didn’t disappoint, he was up to race pace within 1 lap, low 52’s followed by 51’s and the odd low 50’s which was a surprise to all concerned, for he was moving up the order at the rate of one car per lap or thereabouts.

The team knew that this was a risky strategy, but there was no other choice open to us, fingers were crossed and as stated previously, the luck came our way in the form of two safety car periods. Rod continued to reel in the Virgin 911 car, making up to a second a lap on them according to the official timings and by the time the pit lane opened, he was less then 10seconds behind, not too bad for one third into the race.. At this point the Pits to Driver radio failed, we had no contact with Rod and despite holding out pit boards to signal him in, he kept closing in on his objective seemingly unaware of the drama unfolding.

What appeared at the time to be a further bout of bad luck via failed radio links, turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for Rod was very aware that his fuel was almost exhausted but decided to put in one more lap as on the pervious lap, a large part of a Marcos lighting system had detached itself and was lying on the track. Rod hoped that this would bring out yet another safety car and this proved to be the case, and as Rod negotiated Clearways, on came the yellow lights plus the SC board just in time for a dive into the pit lane entrance. Jay was ready to take over and after re-fuelling and timing the stop to perfection thanks to Diane’s stop watch and her refusal to stand clear until the allotted time was met, Jay headed for the pit exit and cleared it by 1 second before the lights turned red to allow the safety car train to pass through. This really was a lucky break as we were effectively a lap ahead of the Virgin 911 car, as for some inexplicable reason, they decided not to pit during this very advantageous safety car period.

We now had the position we needed and with Jay in the hot seat we had a full range of capability should we need to call upon it. Fuel was still an issue as we had just enough to finish the race if we kept to a 52/53 pace so we instructed Jay to ease off from his faster pace, reserve as much fuel as possible, and keep out of trouble. It was now all down to the car performing as it had throughout the season so we put our trust in a combination of Jay’s abilities, Neil’s excellent preparation, and the seemingly doubtless reliability of the Porsche 996.

We did have a small worry in the back of our minds as the engine had now clocked up 78 hours, some 18 hours over it’s rebuild time but she was running beautifully and we had the utmost faith in the car’s ability to do the job we were asking of it. We had to keep an eye on the Marcos as it was running well at the hour mark and was gaining on us, the Virgin car was now nearly 2 laps behind but with Steve Bell as the second driver, we knew that the gap would start to come down. We held our nerve, maintained our slower pace, and avidly watched the screens as the last half an hour of the race unfolded. This last part of the race is a little more difficult to report on as tensions were running very high and memory fad had it’s effect on the writer!! The Marcos was gaining rapidly, but then it encountered a problem, which effectively put them out of contention as it was forced to pit.

The Virgin 911 car was now second in class and gaining on us, we told Jay to let them through as they would still be a lap behind and we didn’t want any type of fight on our hands at this late stage knowing full well that bar our car failing, they didn’t have the time to catch us up. The last minutes and then seconds ticked passed and finally the chequered flag was shown, we had done it, first in class and 20 points to add to our now unassailable total, so we now knew that the two titles we were desperate to win were ours, Britcar Class 2 Champions and almost unbelievably, Britcar GT, Class 1 and 2 overall Champions.

The trophy presentation event was held at the Kentagon Bar within the circuit, normally, this would happen at the annual Britcar dinner and dance but this had been cancelled on the grounds of costs so although we were in excellent spirits when we pitched up to receive our prizes, the event itself was rushed and in general terms something of an anti climax.

Hawthorns Motorsport and the drivers, Rod, Jan and Jay wish to extend their gratitude to Neil Garner and the Performance Engineering team for a truly excellent season, the car never missed a beat, and although Porsche had a lot to do with quality of their superb product, maintenance and preventive measures carried out by the preparation team ensured a 100% reliability record. The drivers also wish to thank the Britcar series organisers for all the hard work and effort they put in to making the 2008 season so enjoyable, and finally, but far from least, a big thank you to Diane Barrett who as the eyes and ears of the team performed a stunning job as team manager making sure that we were all where we should be at the right time and kept to the rules and regs especially on pit stop timings.

Thanks also to our many supporters and for the sponsorship some of them provided, in particular, Brian Haworth of Haworth King chartered architects, Chris lock and Geoff Reeve of Wadham Isherwood chartered surveyors, Andrew Wright of Wright & Wright solicitors and Signs Express (Reading) Ltd for providing the excellent decals.