2008 Race Season
The car is Jamie Masarati's MY2003 996 GT3 Carrera Cup Car and is driven by Jamie's son Miles, Tony's son Chris, and the occasional drive from Miles' brother Piers, a GT "veteran". Drives are also available in Britcar for suitably experienced drivers with a realistic budget. The car originally raced in the 2004 Carrera Cup with Andy Britnell at the wheel, in which he had several podium finishes.
Photo courtesy of Matt Cockburn
Photos Courtesy of
Gary Walton
The last race of the series for 2008 was the short 90-minute 'Into the Night' race on the tight Indy circuit at Brands Hatch. Apart from missing the pit exit window at the start (along with several others) Chris made a good start and was sitting comfortably in 3rd place in class. As he pulled in to the pit lane for the driver change the auxiliary drive belt snapped, and everything went dead. Luckily he coasted to the pit, but the time lost in changing the belt meant that Miles had an impossible task. He battled on, but wasn't able to make any headway.
Overall though, it's been a very encouraging first season for the team. Miles and Chris finished joint third in class for the season, and fourth overall in the championship. We have all gained invaluable experience with the car, and look forward to a fresh start next spring. Onwards and upwards!
Oh dear! This is sounding like a broken record. After a very satisfying qualifying session that put us second in class on the grid, our chances of any success were dashed after 3 minutes into the race. An over-zealous BMW driver, trying to win a four hour race on lap 2, pushed Chris off the circuit, damaging a wheel and puncturing a tyre. Over two laps were lost in getting the car into to the pits and back out on track.
From that point on it was a case of pushing as hard as possible trying to make up some time, and hoping the front-runners had trouble along the way. They didn't. Britcar Class two is a closely fought series, and there is little difference in the pace of the top 5 runners this season, so we ended up in 5th position in class and 10th overall. Having played our Joker, the extra points were somehow felt to be wasted, but it means we are currently lying 2nd in class and 2nd overall for the championship.
Photos Courtesy of
Gary Walton
Photos courtesy of
Paul Cherry
Photo Courtesy of
Gary Walton
Hopes were high after Piers recorded the fastest in class in the qualifying session. Miles started the race, but after less than half an hour was shunted up the back by another Class 2 GT3. This caused an unexpected stop to check damage, and put him to the back of the field when he got back onto the circuit. By the time he handed over to Chris after the first hour we had gained a couple of places, but it all came to a halt again about 40 minutes later when the rear PU caught fire, probably due to the heat shields being dislodged in the first incident.
Piers took over on fresh rubber but with a missing rear end, and continued to make progress, finishing 5th in class, but time had run out to make up any more places.
Currently we are placed third in class in the championship. Let's hope Lady Luck swings our way soon!
Chris started the race and had an uneventful few laps, before hearing a disturbing ‘bang’ from the underside, and experiencing a lot of vibration about 10 minutes into the race. He brought the car in to see what was wrong, but there was nothing apparent. However, it lost about 4-5 laps on the short Indy circuit, and dropped us down to the back of the field. The vibration soon subsided, so we can only assume that it was tyre pickup. Chris maintained a good pace, and handed over to Miles after 70 minutes of the 3 hour race.
At 90 minutes the safety car was put out on the circuit following an incident, and a quick decision was made to pit Miles early, brim the tank, and finish the race without any further stops. Hopefully we could make up some time if the others pitted under race conditions. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, as the safety car had several outings, and there were plenty of opportunities for the others to take similar advantage. Miles put in another solid performance, slowly working up the field, but not making an impression on the two leading Class 2 cars. To top it all, he experienced the same tyre pickup problem, and made a quick stop towards the end of the race. However, it didn’t make any difference to the overall result, finishing half way down the field, 3rd in class.
Looking back on it, I think we were all a bit disappointed with the 3rd place this time out as expectations were high, but experience has been gained, from which the guys have learned.
Photos courtesy of
Paul Cherry
Photos courtesy of
Paul Cherry
Miles took the first stint and had an uneventful and solid 80 minutes, and the handover to Chris went like clockwork. Chris continued to lap solidly and consistently until just before handing over to Piers. Unknown to the pit crew, it started raining on the whole of the circuit except the parts they could see. There was a slight miscommunication on the radio, and when Chris pitted a brand new set of unscrubbed slicks were fitted, instead of intermediates or wets. Piers managed a couple of laps before he had to come in for wets. Then the tracked dried out quickly, so had to dash back in for the slicks. Once back up to speed, Piers logged the fastest time of the day for class 2, but it wasn't enough to regain the lead that was lost by making an extra stop.
So it was smiling faces all round after the best result so far this season - 2nd in class. And to top it all, the car came home perfectly unscathed and without a mark. Roll on Brands on 14th June!
Race 3 - May 3rd & 4th - Brand Hatch A1GP Meeting
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the two 50 minute races at the A1GP meeting. Miles started Race 1 on Saturday well, but we had some snags during the pitstop and lost about 40 seconds in the handover to Chris. Despite losing several places, Chris clawed his way back up to 4th in class and 25th overall from the 47 starters.
Needless to say, there was some pitstop practice carried out before Sunday's race! This time everything went according to plan. Miles started again, and drove a solid first half to hand over to Chris in 3rd place in class. Chris picked up one place during his stint and was lying 2nd starting the last lap. At Druids the No 50 car of Bell and Evans barged past him, causing a near spin, to take 2nd spot. Fortunately the damage was confined to a small dent in the rear wing, and both offside wheels. Subsequently it has been found that the Bell/Evans car pit stop was under the 60 second minimum time, which means that we should have taken 2nd place.
Still, a 4th and 3rd isn't too bad considering, and takes us on to Spa Francorchamps with renewed enthusiasm..
Photos Courtesy of
Andy Robbins
Photo courtesy of Marc Waller
Photo Courtesy of Gary Walton
Race 2 - April 19th & 20th - Snetterton
Miles and Chris were joined by hot-shoe Piers for the 4 hour race. Sporting a brand new front end, the car went well during testing on Friday and everyone was happy with the way it was performing. Piers was really flying during qualifying on Saturday and put the car at the top of the list of Class 2 times.
Unfortunately, it wasn't to last for the race itself. Piers got a great start and was mixing it up with some of the faster Class 1 cars, when a stub axle broke on the 5th lap and fired him off the circuit coming out of Coram Curve at about 95mph! Fortunately he was perfectly OK and the damage to the car was a lot less than it could have been. The boys had to sit out the rest of the race, as the car wouldn't be recovered until the safety car came out - but that didn't happen until 25 minutes from the end of the race, too late to make repairs.
Race 1 - March 22nd - Silverstone International
Test day on Friday was an absolute disaster. Miles had a spin on the first lap of the session and damaged the front PU and centre radiator. All day was spent patching up the front end and fitting a new radiator, and fixing one of the couplings which refused to seal. Eventually, everything was sorted, but only two laps were completed at the end of the day.
For qualifying, the objective was purely to get the required three laps in for each driver. Both Chris and Miles were very tentative under the dreadful conditions, and ended up right at the back of the grid. Both were happy and relieved to have made it into the race after the trials and tribulations of Friday.
The race itself showed a complete change of fortunes. The weather was horrendous, with a heavy snowfall 2 minutes after the start. We had decided to start on wet tyres, which proved to be a very wise decision. As everyone dived for the pits, Miles drove a confident and rock solid first half , and by the time for a driver change was in around 10th position overall, and second in class. Chris had an equally steady second half, but we lost a place on the second compulsory pitstop, finishing only 13 seconds behind the second place Class 2 car of Firmin & Morris. All in all the 3rd in class was a great result for the first time out, and it was smiles all round, and a huge encouragement for the rest of the season.
Photo courtesy of
Gary Walton
Photo courtesy of
Marc
Waller
