Holly Birkett Handicap Relay Race
Silverstone 26th October

The 53rd 'Holly' Birkett Handicap relay race attracted 41 teams with over 180 cars from Morris Minors to Aston Martins, Darvis to Jaguar D types. The cars in each team were similarly assorted as was Larkies Loonies which consisted of 2 Caterham Superlight R500, Stuart in the VW Golf and Steve in the Porsche 944 with 5 drivers.

Although the team hoped to do well the race was being used to acclimatize Steve with the Porsche which he will be racing in two weeks time.

It was Steve's first ever outing in Stuart's Porsche and he was going to use the qualifying session to settle in to the car. Although the car handled well Steve found the driving position very uncomfortable. Stuart went out in the Golf and tested the new brake system and found the car now brakes in a straight line.

There are 3 ways to look at the Birkett race. One is the scratch race - first past the post wins. Within that are the class wins and alongside this is the Handicap race. This is calculated by taking the team who is expected to win and give all the other teams a number of credit laps according to their estimated performance. Just so that a team could not comprise of 3 slow cars and 1 fast one that then does most of the race, some cars were given a maximum number of laps they could race (this was not applied to Larkies Loonies).

The team was credited with 29 laps.

First out was a Caterham driven by Jason Krebs. The race commenced from a rolling start with Jason in 7th place. At the end of the first lap the first casualty came into the pits (a Rover's Return Mallock) with front end damage and tagged his team mate. The changeover happens when the racing car passes the front of the garage heading for the paddock and the second car can then leave the garage. It is necessary therefore for the next car to be ready with driver for the whole time the preceding car is out on circuit. As Steve was out second he sat in the Porsche in full race gear at the front of the garage.

After just over an hour Jason came in and Steve went out. The seat had been moved but it was not ideal neither was the fact the drive shaft broke at Beckett's after only 4 laps.
'Stuart has previously broken drive shafts - it's just one of those things. We have found out that the 944 turbos drive shaft is stronger so we will fit one of those for the next race', explained Steve.

Another Caterham was sent out that was being driven by Austin Reynolds. After 2 1/2 hours the team was running in 7th place when the Golf made an appearance and held it's position for the whole of it's stint. It was only ever overtaken by the much faster Lolas and Radicals until the turbo broke after 50 minutes.

The original Caterham went back out but this time driven by Lee and still the team held on to 7th. After 4 hours and 188 laps the team was 13 laps down from the leaders Woody's Wonders which showed they were running better than expected.

The Golf went out again with a replacement Turbo in it with Stuart at the helm. Immediately the oil warning light came on and a puff of smoke was seen. The team watched the car carefully from the pit wall and told Stuart to carry on. Again the Golf performed well holding all bar the leaders behind it but again an extended run was not to be. After 50 minutes the turbo went again (luckily just before the pits) and Stuart was left to tag the Caterham again.
'We knew that turbo was suspect as it was in the car when Alan (Sawyer) had his crash earlier in the year. They don't like going from fast to stop with no oil'

The Caterham finished the six hour race in 7th place, 3rd in class. The handicap was not available but it was 15th at 4 hours.

'I enjoyed it', said Stuart, 'I had 4 wheels on the grass at one point after a historic car I was overtaking moved over on me but I held it'.

'Rather disappointing not to have a lot of time in the car - it was like being at a TOCA meeting! but it will all be fixed in time for next weekend. The Porsche is a lovely car to drive, it handles really well. I just need to get comfortable', explained Steve.