GT CUP - Round 2 - Thruxton
8th May 2010
Being a one day event, it was going to be a tight schedule and our first big challenge was to secure the gazebo and prevent it straying onto the Thruxton airfield flight path - the monoposto boys had the pit garages which were even narrower than our "tent"
Practice
Sam had sneaked in a few training laps with an instructor on Friday afternoon to learn the circuit so he let Dad do the first stint of the Practice session. Colin re-familiarised himself with a circuit he had not raced on for over ** years. Times were mixed as the track was slippery and everyone was just getting a feel for grip and lines.
Qualifying
Colin ran the whole qualifying session with times consistent in the low to mid 1.20s. He however decided that we needed something to do before Race 1 and used the side radiator ducts as grass boxes following a 120 mph spin. Fortunately, no damage was done and we got all the grass out. His quickest of 1.21.6 was good enough for 11th out of 27 runners but importantly was P4 in Class 2.
Race 1
Colin started the first race but did not get the same barnstorming start as he did at Silverstone. He soon got stuck in though and got past the OMG 360 Challenge car after exchanging a bit of painwork and set off to chase down the 360 GTC of David Back. This turned out to be the dice of the race and after several attempts, Colin made his pass stick to go into P2 on lap 10. A lap later he made a "Horlicks" of Noble and Goodwood and allowed the Ferrari to catch up with him again and get pass going into Club. Colin set off after the black Ferrari again and was set to gain the place back when the race was red flagged following an accident involving Jeff Leadley in the second place 430 GTC. So another P3 in class 2.
Race 2
The accident involving the FF Corse Ferrari was a big one and Jeff was taken to Salsbury hospital. The ensuing long delay resulted in the organisers downgrading the race distance and changing it to non- championship status. Many teams thus decided to pack up. Following still further delays, BUTE decided to cancel Race 2.
So another successful but sombre end to the weekend
We now need to catch up with the class leading and very rapid BMW E36 which now appears more achievable as his fastest lap was only 0.4 sec quicker.
Next event for the Brandywine X-Bow will be the GT Trophy race at Brands Hatch on 22 May.
