British GT & F3 Media Day
With my first race of the new season in the form of Round One of the new Britcar Championships at Silverstone this coming Saturday, it was good to get back in the swing of things this week as I was at the British GT & F3 media day also at Silverstone this Wednesday.
The Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4
The Nissan GTR
You will all know by know that I am a huge GT racing fan and it was good to see a selection of this seasons cars there along with some of the new entrants for this season. The grid for 2012 will certainly be impressive. Alongside the usual suspects such as Trackspeed’s Porsche’s, United Autosport’s Audi R8, a selection of Ferrari 430’s and 458’s plus the GT4 Ginetta’s will be new contenders in the form of a Nissan GTR, A McLaren MP4-12C, A BMW Z4 and the new Aston Martin Vantage. Alongside theses, Ginetta step up to the GT3 plate with the new G55, as does Chevron with the GT3 GR8. However it’s not just the GT3 field that has new additions. So does the GT4 category with a Mazda MX5 and a BMW M3 set to join in the fun.
It’s not just the new cars that were on show, new drivers were also there to make an appearance alongside existing British GT stalwarts. A new streamlined Tim Harvey was there to give his new chariot, one of the three Trackspeed Porche’s, a run out along with his new team mate Jon Mishaw, who for those who follow classic and historic racing will recognise as the guy who is more than capable of flinging a Jaguar E-type sideways into corners at various race circuits in spectacular fashion. Another new driver of note is Zoe Wenham. Zoe will be the only female in the championship and steps up from the VW racing cup to take the wheel of the Century racing Ginetta G50 in the GT4 class alongside Dominic Evans.
Zoe Wenham will compete in the GT4 Ginetta G50
Tim Harvey
This has really got me excited for this seasons championship, however I am gutted I am unable to make round one at Oulton Park but I cannot wait for the European round to be held at the Nurburgring in May. The British GT championship is a great series and well worth going to see if you ever get the chance. You won’t be disappointed.
The F3 Championship was also at Siverstone as the two series race in partnership for most of their rounds. They go their separate ways for a few European races but you will see both these Championships during the same weekend in the UK so it’s well worth heading to one of the rounds. This season see’s the new F3 car in the shape of the Dallara F312. It certainly looks pretty impressive. As with the GT series, there are new faces taking to the grid. As the likes of current F3 champion Felipe Nasr moving on to GP2 and Kevin Magnussen moving to Formula Renault 3.5, up step current Formula Renault UK Champion Alex Lynn, Carlos Sainz Jr who’s dad is quite well known, and 2011 Formula ford drivers Nick McBride and Spike Goddard to name a few.
The British F3 championship has spawned a number of Formula One world champions such as Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Mika Hakkinen, Sir Jackie Stewart and a Brazilian by the name of Ayrton Senna. You may have heard of some of these guys. Current Torro Rosso F1 Driver Jean Eric-Vergne was the 2010 F3 Champion, so if you want to see the Formula One stars of the future, then get yourself out to one of the races this year.
The new Dallara F312 car looks great.
All this has whet my appetite for the coming season and I cannot wait. So first up is Britcar this Saturday at Silverstone. It’s a great race series, which will feature the three hour endurance race along with the 90 minute production cup race. There will be some great cars out on track so if you are at a loose end, why not pop along. All the qualifying and the races are on the Saturday and tickets are very reasonably priced. If you are coming along and you do spot me with my camera, come and say hello. It’s always nice to meet new people.
Here’s to a great season of Motorsport.
More photos from the media day can be seen on the Chris Gurton Photography Facebook group page here.
Childhood Memories, Crazy Dutch & Much Motorsport Excitement
The come down after a great weekend can leave you feeling pretty low, likened in ways to a hangover after a good night on the town. Today is one of those days.
This weekend was spent at Donington Park photographing the third round of the MSA Britcar championship. The 4 hour race was the longest of the season so far. That in itself makes for a great weekend in itself, but the support race line up made it very special indeed. The Mazda MX5’s were there as usual and the 4two cup made its debut, but the Dutch Supercar Challenge was also on the bill along with the Pièce de résistance, the BOSS GP.
The Third Round of the Britcar Championship took place at Donington
For those of you who haven’t heard of the BOSS GP, it stands for Big Open Single Seaters. It is a racing series open to ex Formula One, Champcar, Indycar, GP2 and World series cars. Although the at racing wasn’t an official championship round and the entries had dwindled somewhat, there were still some awesome cars in the field, such as a pair of 1997 Benetton B197’s, a 1995 Tyrell 023, a 1998 Tyrrell 026 Cosworth and my all time favourite a Jordan 191. The car that a sprightly young man by the name of Michael Schumacher made his formula one debut in back in 1991. My childhood memories came flooding back to me of days as a nine year old I would sit in front of the TV transfixed by these amazing machines whilst listening to Murry Walker scream excitedly and a calm James Hunt offered words of wisdom. Never did I think that some 20 years later I would be watching as one of these cars would scream past me for real just a few metres away. My excitement however did change somewhat, as I began to worry that one of these gorgeous machine’s, the Jordan in particular might crash and would resign it to a museum or even worse, the great scrap yard in the sky!
Clockwise from Top Left: 1995 Tyrrell 023, 1991 Jordan 191, 1997 Benetton B197 Judd, 1998 Tyrrell 026 Cosworth
Another great race series was the Dutch Supercar Challenge. Not a series that had registered on my radar, but it certainly left a great impression. Mainly because the Dutch are a bit bonkers! This is clear as you walk through the support paddock and see the mechanics with their head under the bonnet, a big cigar in mouth, a spanner in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. It is also quite clear when you see some of the cars that are entered. Split in to two race categories, the Sport Division and Supersport II division, with cars varying from Clio’s to BMW’s and Seat Leon’s to Ford Focus Sports, and the Supersport I and GT divisions that see the likes of Porsche 997’s Aston Martins, Corvette’s and Mosler’s. There were even a few Ford Mondeo’s in there. Well, I use the term Mondeo loosely, they may look like the Ford Saloon, but in fact they are just plastic body shells that house rear mounted V6 engines. It becomes clear that it’s only the body shell that defines a lot of them as underneath houses a space frame and whatever the biggest engine the crazy cigar puffing, beer swigging guys can fit in. My ears were drawn to an extremely loud rumbling and roar coming down the pit lane as an Audi A6 with a huge V8 growls by. Bonkers! Four hour long races with mandatory pit stops provided great entertainment.
Clockwise from Top Left: A fire Breathing V6 Ford Mondeo, The loud V8 Audi A6, An Aston Martin DBRS9 & Corvette CR6 collide, The Moster brothers Ferry & Robin's Seat Leon Supercopa
The Smart cars were accident prone
Speaking of entertainment, but on a whole different level, as the first ever 4two cup, a race series for Smart cars. Although not particularly quick, the short wheel base and relatively tall height, they were partial to rolling over. In fact, two rolled in the first qualifying which bought out the red flag on both occasions as Marshalls pushed them back onto their wheels before they continued on their way. A third roll came in the second of the two scheduled races but as the race wasn’t going to be stopped, it had to sit on its side on the inside of Riches corner until the chequered flag came out.
As for the Britcar race itself, the main attraction, it was a race that didn’t disappoint. However, if you want to read the reports then they should be on The Checkered Flag website, with photos soon. Unfortunately I can’t make the next round at Thruxton as it clashes with a small race I’m going to again in France, you may have heard of it, it’s called the Le Mans 24 hour.
What dreams are made of! The Jordan and Benetton do battle
More excitement for me to come this week though as rather than watching the racing, I’m off to pretend I’m a real racing driver as I go karting with the guys from Tin Tops UK in Brentwood on Wednesday evening. I’ll report back with news on that later this week!
