Brunswick Show Well Again
The last British GT Championship round of 2003 was always set to be a thrilling affair, with 28 cars entering the event.
With long high-speed straight sections, combined with the classic sweeping challenge of Clark Curve, Hawthorn and Westfield bend, not to mention the plunging Paddock Hill Bend, this track is sadly under used in the Grand Prix format. Within easy driving distance of Central London, the crowd is always large and enthusiastic, there being fantastic viewing in the natural amphi-theatre of the Indy Circuit section.
Brunswick would again campaign their rapid but sometimes fragile Lotus Elise at this event, with regular driver Rachid Bouzouba being joined by Peter for the driing duties, over the 75 minute race distance.
The event began on Friday, as the teams participated in the traditional three session test day to set the cars up for the weekend's racing. With clear skies, the day would provide useful track time for Rachid, this being his first visit to the Brands Hatch Grand Prix track, as well as allowing Peter to experiment with some significant set up changes.
"At Spa the weather was so changeable, it wasn't possible to concentrate on a particular set up direction," Peter commented, "but here, we've been able to make a lot of progress, despite some technical hitches and glitches!"
These "hitches and glitches" were attributed to an electrical problem with the fuel injection system, and plagued the team intermittently all day. Nevertheless it was possible to improve the handling with changes to the suspension set up, The electrical problem prevented this advantage from producing a quick lap time, the car running slow along the straights, but the team remained quietly confident once the problem had been traced.
Their faith was rewarded on Saturday morning, during the Free Practice session when Peter ran a few laps on old tyres to assess a further suspension change, delivering a lap time of 1:36.867. As the car exited Clark on that lap, a small misfire showed something was still not quite right with the fuel injection system, something which can be difficult to identify until the car is driven on the limit.
"There is a lot more left in the car, which is a great feeling to have going into qualifying when we'll be on new boots (tyres). I was blocked by the Marcos at Druids on that lap, and by a Mosler at Clark, so all in all, we're right on the money."
Rachid then took over, and although the engine was not running clean, he was able to set some consistent lap times which boded well for the race.
In the break before qualifying, the skies clouded over as the team looked to resolve the electrical gremlins, and all seemed fine as the car was driven to the pitlane at three o'clock. Peter would take the first run, with the intention of running three flying laps, the track still remaining dry. However, no sooner had he left the pitlane than the session was red-flagged, the GTO Class Ultima having spun coming out of Stirling's Bend. As luck would have it, the early return to the pitlane coincided with a severe misfire on the Lotus, which was not cureable without the diagnostics equipment located in the team awning back in the GT paddock.
"The car really needed a good blast, but trailing around the line of cars on the red flag lap didn't help us at all. The plugs got fouled up and there was little that could be done in the time available. We just had to go out an qualify the car as best we could." A banzai charge yielded a 1 minute 41 second lap, the car losing huge chunks of time as the engine refused to cooperate out of the slower corners, and the race would have to be started from the penultimate place on the grid.
Overnight, the team completely stripped and replaced the fuel injection system (not to mention removing the engine to replace the clutch, in response to a driver concern), and the car would go to the grid with the engine running clear. "It's so frustrating to experience these problems now, when the electrics have never been an issue before," rued Dave Ashford, Brunswick Chief Engineer. "We've done everything we can - it's up to the drivers now!"
Indeed it was, and Rachid climbed into the Lotus on Sunday afternoon to take the first stint. This was to be a 35-40 minute run, before handing over to Peter, the pair having perfected a super-quick driver change routine helped in part by a clever seat belt modification. The skies threatened rain as the cars departed from the pitlane, and lined up on the grid, Rachid working the tyres and brakes to get some heat into them. The cars then proceeded around the green flag lap which preceeds the rolling start, the lights went to green and the race was underway!
Rachid took up a watching brief through the first lap, which was an ideal strategy as the cars ahead squabbled for position. Narrowly missing a spinning Ferrari 360 at Surtees, the Brunswick Lotus quickly closed up on the mid-engined Clio V6 of Rob Durrant. A safety car period followed before Rachid could make his move, due to a disasterous contact at Paddock Hill between the TVR of Bob Berridge and the Mosler of Shaun Balfe and Jamie Derbyshire which left the Mosler in the gravel and out of the race.
During the safety car period, the rain finally came down, heavily in some places, leaving the track treacherous for the slick shod cars, but it proved to be a quick shower and the anticipated stop for wet tyres was not needed. As the green flags waved to indicate the restart, Rachid was all over the back of the Clio, trying an ambitious move around the outside into Paddock and enduring a lurid sideways moment, before making the move finally stick up at the Druids hairpin!
In trying to defend the position, Durrant ran into the rear corner of the Lotus, striking the rear right wheel, but all seemed well with the car as Rachid set off after the Scuderia Grifo Corse Lotus of Segatori and Colacino.
Peter and the team watched anxiously from the pitwall as their car closed rapidly on the rival Elise, Rachid setting his fastest lap of the weekend, a 1:39.4, before.......disaster struck! As the pair rounded Clark Curve, a brief puff of smoke preceeded the sound of Rachid searching for fourth gear as he passed the pitlane. It was clear the the car had suffered a catastrophic failure, and with no drive, Rachid was forced to reluctantly park the car at the bottom of Hailwood Hill. It later turned out that the righthand driveshaft had snapped in two, a legacy of the impact from the Clio at Druids earlier in the race.
"Once again we have shown our speed but unfortunate contact from another car has led to our retirement" said Brunswick team boss Giles Groombridge. "We'll be back out at Donington in a few weeks with Peter and Rachid, and we are determined to grab the good result the car and the team deserve"
"It was gutting for everyone in the team," Peter commented, "but we have meade great progress with the car. I am absolutely sure we would have done a 1:33 lap in qualifying with the new tyres and low fuel, but with our engine problem, our rivals caught a break! They know we are quick and we'll get 'em next time!"
Next time will be the EERC evening
race at Donington Park on 18th October, where we hope to again
see all the supporters of the team who made the disappointment of
Brands Hatch a little easier to bear!
