Danny Winstanley and Matt Seldon Master the Conditions

The sun and heat of Saturday’s free practice and qualifying were distant memories at a distinctly drab Brands Hatch on Sunday, but the GT Cup Championship again produced two dramatic races, and thoroughly entertained the ranks of spectators around the GP circuit.

Race One
The weather was a key variable in both of Sunday’s GT Cup Championship races at Brands Hatch, but it was the rain that began to fall just as the first of the two encounters began that had the biggest impact on the fates of the assembled runners.

It had been spotting for some time as the noontime start approached, but it was only as the cars headed out onto the parade lap that it began to fall sufficiently hard enough for it to be officially declared a wet race. All of the cars were still on slicks, however, and when the pace car headed for the pits, the track surface had become treacherous.
The more powerful Group 1 runners were particularly tentative at the start as they struggled for grip, but the first casualty of the race was the Group 3 Chevron of Andy Yool; the GR8 entering a spin all of its own and hitting the tyre wall on Paddock Hill Bend on the first lap with sufficient force to ensure that it would be taking no further part in proceedings.
The track was so slippery that poleman Michael Saunders considered parking his TVR Cerbera in the opening couple of laps, but he persevered and headed a line of twitchy cars round the 2.43 mile GP circuit. He had lost the lead, though; first, to the #71 Porsche 997 GT3 of Stephen Ritchie; and then – after Ritchie spun at Surtees – to the #45 Group 2 KTM X-Bow of Benjamin Harvey, who appeared to be the only driver enjoying the conditions.

After Rupert Martin’s race in the #49 Ferrari 430 GTC ended with a spin into the pitwall at the end of Lap 1, the officials decided that conditions were such that a caution period was warranted and summoned the safety car onto the track as Harvey began the third lap. With there being such a small amounts of precipitation, only two cars stopped to change to wets, leaving 14 cars on the lead lap when the race went green again with 16 minutes remaining. Harvey in the X Bow made a good restart and started to pull away from his pursuers.

Saunders’ battle with the conditions ended on Lap 6 with a spin into the Paddock Hill gravel, leaving the bright green TVR Sagaris of Danny Winstanley as the new second-placed runner. Soon, however, the first inkling of a dry line was beginning to emerge and the lap times were beginning to fall; and two quick laps from the Sagaris saw the gap from first to second fall to 0.318s.

Tom Andrew had by this point taken the Morgan Aero 8 past Colin Broster’s #15 Porsche to take second in Group 2, but now he was himself being pushed by Gary Eastwood, who was eager to take the Group 1 fight to Winstanley; the TVR having just taken the overall lead from the X-Bow. At the start of Lap 9, Eastwood saw his route past the Morgan and was up to third. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the yellow flag which was being waved while the Cerbera was moved to a place of safety and this would have consequences later on.
More immediately, however, Stephen Ritchie had another spin and dropped his Porsche into the Clarke’s gravel, necessitating a second caution period.

At this point, with seven minutes to go, Harvey’s KTM was the only non-Group 1 car in the top six, but he still held second overall. His six-second advantage over Eastwood had now disappeared, however.  Andy Ruhan, meanwhile, had just set the fastest lap of the race so far to close up to third in Group 1. Further back, Mark Radcliffe had just taken advantage of a slow lap from the BMW E46 of Adam Hayes, to snatch the Group 3 lead in his #19 M3. 

The safety car pulled off with less than three minutes on the clock, meaning only two more laps would be possible. Eastwood pounced too soon on the restart and passed Harvey before the line, but this time realised his error and back off to allow the positions to reset themselves. But with the track now quickly drying, it wasn’t long before a legitimate pass was completed; Ruhan and the #66 Ferrari 430 of Michael Symons also going by the X-Bow.
Danny Winstanley began Lap 13 with a 1.2 second lead and took full advantage of the clear track ahead to finish the race with a new fastest lap of 1:33.973, and taking the flag for the second time this season 2.096s ahead of Gary Eastwood. Andy Ruhan finished third, a further two seconds back. A steward’s decision post-race would, however, see Eastwood penalised 20 seconds for passing under yellows and this dropped him to fifth in Group 1 and tenth overall, Symons being promoted to third in the process.
Despite losing another place on the final lap, Benjamin Harvey had enough in reserve to take the Group 2 win, with Tom Andrew a close second in the Morgan. Colin Broster took third in Group 2, finishing behind the Invitation BMW E92 of Wayne Gibson.
Mark Radcliffe completed his final two green laps in strong fashion to claim Group 3 honours, with Adam Hayes taking second. Barclay Dougall had had a difficult time in the obviously under-par #37 BMW E46, but his refusal to give up saw him rewarded with third in the group and more valuable championship points.
 
Race Two
Between the first race ending and the second beginning, the rain began to fall over Kent more forcefully, but this at least meant that wets were the only option as the 16:00 start time approached.

The race began with two laps behind the safety car because of the conditions, the clock starting at the start of the second. When the cars were released, it was Matt Seldon who grabbed the lead at Paddock Hill bend in the Group 1 #23 BMW E46 and held on as the cars sped on out into the woods. Michael Saunders was second in the #99 Cerbera, with Andy Ruhan third in the #6 Porsche 997 GT3; and – there he is again – Benjamin Harvey leading Group 2 and fourth overall in the #45 KTM X-Bow.

As the leaders emerged into Clearways and rounded the Clark Curve, Seldon led by 1.3s, with Ruhan a further second back. Gary Eastwood took fourth from Harvey in the #89 Ferrari along the Brabham Straight, but Danny Winstanley was down in eighth in the Race One-winning Sagaris. Tom Andrew was second in Group 2, but there were five cars between the X-Bow and the Morgan; while Group 3 leader Adam Hayes had the luxury of only one car separating his #9 E46 from Mark Radcliffe’s #19 M3.

Eastwood took third from Ruhan with a bold move down the inside of Paddock Hill Bend at the start of Lap 3 and began the task of closing on the yellow TVR ahead. Saunders, however, had just set the fastest lap to close to within a second of Seldon.   

The Group 2 battle looked poised to close up as the Group 1 runners continued to pass Harvey’s X-Bow, but Andrew almost immediately put himself out of contention for group honours by dropping the Morgan into the Druids gravel on Lap 4 and causing the safety car to be scrambled for a third time. The Morgan was recovered and continued without pitting, but the two laps lost were never likely to be recoverable.

The race went green again at the end of Lap 6, with almost exactly ten minutes left on the clock.
Seldon held onto his lead, but the restart was not without significant incident. Andy Ruhan managed to spin the #6 Porsche at Clearways, even before the race went green again, and lost several places; while Mark Radcliffe’s BMW and the #49 Ferrari of Rupert Martin tangled at Surtees on the restart lap. Both were able to continue, but the Group 3 race was settled in favour of Adam Hayes at that moment.

Saunders was once more applying the screws to Seldon and had worked the gap to the leader down to just a quarter of a second by then end of Lap 9, but as the two dived down towards Graham Hill bend on the next lap, the BMW’s rear end seemed to snap out a bit and Saunders took avoiding action. Fortunately for Seldon, he held on and retained the lead; unfortunately for Saunders, he spun and dropped to fourth.  

With three minutes remaining, we had two Group battles closing up – Seldon v Eastwood in Group 1 at 1.154s after ten laps, and Harvey v Broster in Group 2 at 2.024. These gaps halved on the next lap, meaning that changes were possible on the final lap.

All eyes were on Clearways as the clock ran out, but it was the BMW that came through first; the Ferrari clearly too far back to make a move in the distance remaining. Matt Seldon took the win by 0.472s from Eastwood, with Danny Winstanley taking third in the #99 TVR Sagaris.

Moments later, it was the X-Bow that emerged from the GP loop with enough of an advantage to take the Group 2 win; Colin Broster falling just 0.546s shy of Benjamin Harvey after a great battle. Francis Galashan took third in the #57 Porsche 996.

Things were less dramatic for Adam Hayes, who took the Group 3 win by 25 seconds from Mark Radcliffe. Barclay Dougall again nursed his ailing E46 to a distant third.

Results:

Race One
Group 1
#78         Danny Winstanley       TVR Sagaris               13 laps                        25:45.174                    
#6           Andy Ruhan                Porsche 997 GT3       13 laps                        25:49.402
#31         Michael Symons         BMW GTR E46           13 laps                        25:49.597
Group 2
#45         Benjamin Harvey         KTM X-Bow GT4         13 laps                        25:52.654
#7           Tom Andrew               Morgan Aero 8 GT       13 laps                        25:54.497
#15         Colin Broster               Porsche 996 GT3       13 laps                        25:55.010
Group 3
#19         Mark Radcliffe             BMW M3                     13 laps                        25:59.505
#9           Adam Hayes               BMW E46 M3              13 laps                        26:07.497
#37         Barclay Dougall           BMW E46                    12 laps

Race Two
Group 1

#23         Matt Seldon                 BMW E46                    12 laps                        25:43.980
#8           Gary Eastwood           Ferrari 430 GTC          12 laps                        25:44.452
#78         Danny Winstanley       TVR Sagaris               12 laps                        25:47.864
Group 2
#45         Benjamin Harvey         KTM X-Bow GT4         12 laps                        26:06.132
#15         Colin Broster               Porsche 996 GT3       12 laps                        26:06.678
#57         Francis Galashan       Porsche 996 GT3       12 laps                        26:17.752
Group 3
#9           Adam Hayes               BMW E46 M3              12 laps                        26:26.555
#19         Mark Radcliffe             BMW M3                     12 laps                        26:52.021        
#37         Barclay Dougall           BMW E46                    11 laps
Round four out of nine of the 2011 GT Cup Championship takes place at Snetterton 300 on June 25th/26th.

The pace has been flat out since the Easter Thunderball, as we get ready for the UEM Main Event at Santa Pod at the end of this month. It seems the faster you go, the more attention to detail is spent between rounds and it just sucks the time up.

As mentioned in previous blogs, we bent an inlet valve in taking the win at the Thunderball and as a result the motor came down to the last nut and bolt. We had planned to do this anyway – we had some new ideas in there already, and also we learnt some things during the meeting, so we wanted to use Easter as a test, then get some more development work done.

Straight after the meeting, the motor was down and with some help from crew member Richard Cawthorn and good old FedEx, the components were in the US the same week. The top end has been in Professor Paul Gast’s workshop, not only to replace the valve, but for some subtle but important modifications to be carried out. Paul’s guys worked all last weekend to get this done and it was fully rebuilt and ready to drop on by early last week. To show what commitment the FBG team has, Paul Gast himself even jumped in the car and drove the head to FedEx in order it could get back to us a day early. As well as the head, some trick clutch parts also made their way over from the FBG Grand Island workshop.

Down in Florida, Eric’s top-notch team were all over the block and pistons, installing some new liners and pistons with some trick new coatings. An uprated Falicon crank was also sourced as well. Mike Berry let us have some upgraded parts for the vacuum pump, plus some new ceramic bearing parts courtesy of Dave Conforti’s Worldwide Bearings have made their way into the mix. Don Plesser of PR Factory Store is working with us closely on some ignition modifications. We have even gone to the lengths of spending a lot of time discussing oil and lubrication with Steve Clark at Nimbus Motorsport.

While in themselves, these are all tiny improvements, I’m hoping that together they can give us that all-important edge. As I have said many times, the rest of the guys haven’t been sitting around all winter, as evidenced by PBs from Martin Bishop, Kalle Lyren and Jesper Thiel in the Hungary round.  Here we are with four top-flight players having run a personal best at their first meeting of 2011. This isn’t going to be a season where anyone can sleep.

So this weekend has been all about painstakingly putting the number one motor back together. And it doesn’t finish there. The backup motor was also treated to some new parts, so once the record setting motor is back together, then another needs stripping and rebuilding.

None of this has come for free and I have to thank Dom Trickett of team lead sponsor TVR Power and Stephen Moon for stepping up in a big way with financial support. Thanks very much guys, we wouldn’t be racing this year without your backing. As well as this support MTC Engineering, Fast by Gast, PR Factory Store, Worldwide Bearings, Nimbus Motorsport and VP Fuels have all stepped forward with expertise and parts, or in some cases both. I’m very fortunate to have the backing of these top quality people.

I spent hours and hours looking at the data from the Easter meeting and I really think we have a fast motorcycle here. As always, Paul Gast was happy to step forward and look at the data in some depth as well. His view was that other than a very small possible change to a clutch setting, the bike was as close to spot on as it could be and he felt it would have run well into the sixes if fielded at the Gainesville NHRA opener. It’s great that Paul takes the time to look at the data, and it gives me a lot of satisfaction when one of the world’s best tuners tells me I have the tune up in there.

Only two weeks to go now! The plan is to give the motor a gentle half pass at the Peak Performance Day on the Thursday, then spend Friday taking the motor down and checking it all out, prior to the first qualifier on Saturday. And when we line up on Saturday, I am giving it everything, we are showing up fully loaded for the win.  It would be nice to challenge our new European best of 7.06 as well, but for now, let’s focus on the win.

Round 2 - Oulton Park - 14th May 2011

RACE 1:
Alex Martin, making his first 2011 season appearance in the GT Cup Championship, looked to have the day’s first race wrapped up within a couple of laps, but then it all went wrong in the final minute and Danny Winstanley found himself taking a win in the #78 TVR Sagaris.
 
Pole-man David Tomlin made an excellent start, and held the lead on the opening lap, but Alex Martin soon had the measure of the heavier Ferrari and pulled alongside as the two began lap two, taking the lead into Old Hall. With an open track ahead of him Martin soon pulled out a considerable lead. 
 
Behind him a thrilling battle developed between Tomlin, Tarrant-Willis and championship leader Ruhan. These three diced nose-to-tail for the next 15 laps, with little between them but a few layers of paint – and occasionally, even less than that. Tomlin defended his line with remarkable cunning, while Tarrant-Willis needed one eye permanently on his mirrors just to keep tabs on Ruhan. The Porsche driver tried every opening, but a full 60 kilos of success ballast denied him the grunt he needed to punch a way through.
 
Otherwise preoccupied, nobody quite grasped that the real threat was looming large in the shape of Danny Winstanley in the Sagaris. From 6th, the youngster was challenging for fourth by the beginning of lap 5, passing Ruhan down the pit straight, and instantly latching on to Tarrant-Willis. The TVR was through to third at Cascades later on the same lap, and then caught Tomlin out of Lodge. Winstanley powered over the crest and onto the straight to snatch second across the line. 
 
He then began shaving seconds off Martin’s advantage with every lap, and with the leader running two seconds shy of his earlier pace, the margin shrunk to less than nine seconds. Even so, there seemed little hope for a change before the flag, so it was some surprise when Alex Martin failed to turn up for the chequered flag, and Winstanley swept across the line to record his first win of the season. 
 
No change for second, third or fourth, with the same trio taking the flag in the order they’d started lap two: Tomlin from Tarrant-Willis and Ruhan. Martin, meanwhile, was embedded in the gravel at Island. “I just couldn’t hold the line. I drifted out onto the marbles and next moment I had a wheel onto the grass, and that was it,” he said later.
 
The race in Group 2 held similar parallels. Tom Andrew in the #7 Morgan Aero had established a double-figure lead by lap six and looked comfortable for the win, but in the final stages a fuel pressure issue set in, allowing Colin Broster, in a smoky Porsche 996, to close. He took the group lead on the penultimate lap and then won by nearly three seconds. Colin Simpson took third in the rumbling #16 Marcos Mantis.
 
Andy Yool had started the race from the back row in the Group 3 Chevron GR8, but with the set-up issues that had curtailed his qualifying run fully sorted, he was able to steer the svelte coupé through the tail-end and take the win from tenth overall, although his margin over Barclay Dougall (BMW E46) was a mere eight-tenths at the flag. Adam Hayes finished third.
 
RESULTS:
 
Group 1

 
Group 2

 
Group 3

RACE 2:
If the day’s first race had been a thriller, then Race Two offered even more entertainment, and a very different outcome.
 
With pole-setter Alex Martin scrubbed from the entry after his earlier accident, the front row was shared by David Tomlin and Andy Ruhan for the afternoon race, but it was Ruhan this time who got the flying start. He was into Old Hall and clear of Tomlin even before the pack reached Cascades. Toby Tarrant-Willis held third from Benjamin Harvey, heading Group 2 after a stunning run in wet qualifying.
 
Those opening seconds might have held the script for the rest of the race if an unfortunate Colin Simpson hadn’t run wide through the first corner, and gone grass-tracking. He regained the tarmac, but next time around went off again into Cascades, perhaps with a front wishbone failure, and thumped heavily into the Armco. The Mantis bounced back across the track, and the Safety Car was instantly deployed.
 
A couple of laps behind the Safety Car bunched the field up nicely, but on the restart Ruhan and Tomlin were swiftly back into their stride, easing out a comfortable cushion over Tarrant-Willis and Harvey. As before, the one to watch was the mercurial Danny Winstanley, starting from 10th but running 4th by lap seven, and closing fast on the leaders.
 
Another moving quickly through the ranks was Mike Saunders in the TVR Cerbera, through to 6th by lap 8 from 11th and gunning for Don Grice in the BMW M3. The yellow TVR looked strong, despite running on tyres that were two races old already. Saunders took 5th out of Cascades on lap 9, and then eased into fourth two laps later.
 
With Ruhan leading by more than 3 seconds, the pressure was mounting on David Tomlin in second. Winstanley and the vivid green TVR were closing fast, and the two started lap 12 almost nose-to-tail. The TVR was up the inside into Old Hall, and then side by side on the exit. Accounts differ, but the result was the same. Side on contact saw Tomlin loosing out and spinning off across the grass, and then spearing backwards across the track and relatively unscathed into the gravel at Cascades, narrowly missing the tail of Winstanley’s Sagaris.
 
This briefly elevated Saunders to third, but his tyres were well past their best, and next time through Druids the rubber finally let go and the Cerbera was backwards into the gravel. “I out-drove it really,” he shrugged,. “All my own fault”.
 
No such dramas for the leaders, with Andy Ruhan, blissfully devoid of success ballast this time around, delighted to take a third win in four races. Still pumping adrenalin from his earlier success, Danny Winstanley took an emphatic second, with Toby Tarrant-Willis a second consecutive third of the day.
 
Once again, Group 2 provided close racing throughout, with Tom Andrew’s Morgan closing to within 2 seconds of Harvey in the KTM Xbow by the flag, no recurrence of the earlier fuel problems. A somewhat distant third was Francis Galashan’s Porsche after Colin Broster’s a close-running but smoky 996 gave up on the last lap.
 
A switch of fortunes in Group 3, with Andy Yool missing Race 2 with a holed radiator and honours falling to Mark Radcliffe in the #19 BMW M3, well clear of Barclay Dougal second and Adam Hayes third.
 
RESULTS:
 
Group 1

 
Group 2

Group 3

 
The full race report and more pictures will be posted to the official Championship website in the ‘2011 Season Info’ section later in the week.  
Look out the GT Cup Championship half hour program on Motors TV at 7.25pm on Friday 27th May with repeats in the following days and on the website.

TVR Pover 4.5 speed six/ Elite sequential gear box from craig winstanley on Vimeo.

www.gtcup.co.uk
 
Next round - Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit - June 4th/5th.
 
For a race entry contact: Hannah Wilson Championship Coordinator – email: Hannah@butemotorsport.co.uk
 
Photographs courtesy of Roy Ng – For copies please email royng08@googlemail.com
Race report written by: Marcus Potts

• TVR to Porsche to TVR. TVRs young gun returns to the fold

  Many will remember Danny Winstanley as the big news of 2009. He and his father (Craig Winstanley - CW) bought the FIA Tuscan GT from Sweden and after returning it to its former glory (and painting it Kwacker green!) campaigned it very successfully throughout the DTEC (Dunlop TVR European Challenge) season taking a maiden win and narrowly missing out on the Championship and A Titles after being robbed on the start line at the final race when his new diff let go.

  

  In 2010 he moved to the GT Cup series (joining Mike Saunders and John Wilson in their Cerbera GTs) up against £100k Porsches and Ferraris. Again Danny was right up at the front. On the podium many times and consistently fighting for the lead, he found his Tuscan GT was handicapped, having to run at 100% all the time (to match the Porker power for the 40min races) and as he was unable to run a sequential box (which all the others have) the occasional missed gear and no flat shift were losing him precious time. Half way through the year the cars (The Tuscan GT and a new “bitsa” Tuscan in build for DTEC) were put up on the market.

  

  They weren’t there as long as they expected and when a very good offer came in on a package deal from Oz, the decision was taken to sell both the cars and run a Porker that Craig had in his track car stable. Danny moved to the dark side in the latter part of the 2010 season but it was soon evident that the car wasn’t up to it and so they keenly looked around.

  

  

  Deciding that a competitive Porsche was CW “…stupid money”, and with Danny missing his Tuscan, they looked at TVR again. Not wanting to repeat the disadvantages of the Tussie GT they spoke to the GT Cup Team and got a verbal OK for a sequential in a late production TVR of equivalent age to the 996s, 997s, and 430s racing at the time. The only cars possible (in age) would be a Sagaris or T350 so they set about finding a car.

  With no light accident damaged cars around and knowing the amount of time required they bought a serviceable (in fact mint) 2006 car and took it to Dom at TVR Power. Discussions had been had on a suitable power plant for the race car and Dom has been keen to get his 4.5L super sport SP6 in a car too, so it was a natural partnership.

  The car has now been for its first shakedown at Oulton Park and my spies tell me it went well. It ran all day without issue and was quicker than expected whilst being held under 4000 rpm and only on an old set of Dunlop semi slicks. Craig did much of the driving with Danny following (they had their Porker there too) and both Craig and Danny were “noticeably excited” by the days run.

  

  

  “Balance and feel is fantastic” Craig told me. With the new Elite box in there and only a basic set up put on after some of the modifications – Cage/Fire/Fuel cell – the set up was an educated guess. The car also benefits from air jacks and the brakes from a Porker Le Mans racer. 
  “At 360mm, the rear discs are bigger than the fronts were in the Tuscan” Craig told me. “It stops in a heartbeat, much faster than the Tuscan and feel is great,” he said. “We were lucky with a 50/50 weight split it seems and Danny can’t wait to test properly when the engine is OK’d. The low down torque we asked for has been delivered beautifully,” The car has now returned to Dom at Power for a fettle and tweak. “We had no issues all day” reported Craig “It just an oil change and re-torque and it’ll be back out”.

  The engine -Dom’s 4.5SS - has actually had to lose power to stay in the power to weight regulations. CW “…with so much power on offer, we’ve been able to pull back the revs to gain reliability and keep fuel consumption down. It also means we don’t have to skin the car down to the bone. We think it’s going to win us races…it’s a win/win.”

  Well that we’d love to see.
  Danny’s also been testing with the Glynnsport GTF. With Sam moving to the Topcats Marcos GT for 2011, Steve is looking for suitable co-pilots for the Britcar season. Ofcourse the now very experienced Danny fits the bill nicely. He loved the car with its epic grunt. and will, I’m sure, make more than one appearance in the purple GTF in the coming year.

  It’s looking good for Team Winstanley in 2011.