The first of two outings for Stuart Scott’s JordanSport Mustang in August took place at the very popular Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire. This fast and flowing track seemed ideal for the red, white and blue GT4, which had performed so well at Spa in June, and hoped were high for another good result. The planned enhancements – lighter wing and sequential gearbox – had not been implemented in time for this race, but that was no major concern.
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This was to be a 90-minute combined GT/Production race, although, due largely to the restrictive noise-limits imposed on the circuit by the local authorities, the GT Class 1 runners would not be taking part; making life slightly easier for the Production entrants.
Having had some thinking time since the pa race, Stuart had made a big decision; which was that he would leave the driving duties to Steve Wood and Mike Jordan – this duo having formed a most-effective partnership over the course of the season.
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Stuart would instead make the upcoming Tour Britannia the focus of his driving ambition for the time being, although he would remain very much involved with the Britcar programme and still planned to drive at the Silverstone six-hour race in October.
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The Britcar race formed part of the circuit’s Summer Racing Carnival, which would see seven other series taking part; and, on a two-day schedule, that meant that pre-race tracktime would be severely rationed. Fortunately, there was plenty of opportunity on Thursday (official test day) and Friday (open track) to become reacquainted with the track and uncover and resolve issues.
The official running began with 30-minutes of untimed practise on Saturday morning. By some miracle, the dreadful weather that had been ruining the British summer took a few days off and this part of the world was enjoying some rare warmth and sunshine; and so it was to remain for the rest of the weekend.
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32 cars took part in the session, and on a 1.85 mile track that makes for a busy time. Despite this, Mike, Steve and the JordanSport racing crew got to work and completed 13 laps; setting a fastest time of 1:12.257 – 13th fastest overall and second fastest in the 17-strong Production class. Two stops were made for adjustments during the available time, before the decision was made to start preparing the car for qualifying after 21 minutes had elapsed.
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The qualifying session would again be 30 minutes and would again be shared with the GT runners. This wouldn’t be a session to remember for the JordanSport team, however, with things just not clicking as expected – in fact, the Mustang was the only Production class car not to improve on its morning time, and fourth on the class grid with a 1:12.485 would be the result. This wasn’t disastrous, however, and the two cars immediately ahead had gone less than a quarter of a second faster.
The good news was that there would now be almost 24 hours before the start of the race, allowing the crew the luxury of an unhurried preparation.
With Mike again co-driving the JordanSport GT class Ginetta G50 with son Andrew, the Midlander would start the race and hand over to Steve, before swapping cars.
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A very good crowd was on hand to see proceedings – not unusual for this very well-run and friendly circuit – and there was a great atmosphere in the build up to the Britcar race, which was first up after the lunch break on Sunday afternoon.
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The opening laps would see the Mustang in the thick of the action, which began with the sight of one the two class cars directly ahead – the #66 Lotus Elise – drop down the order after a poor opening lap. This left Mike a second and a half shy of the #68 (Invitation) Seat Leon Cupra and just ahead of the #58 BMW M3. The class leader, meanwhile - #51 Intersport BMW – was a long way ahead and lapping much more quickly than the rest of the class.
After just three laps Mike had halved the gap to the car ahead, but next time round he was caught out when the Seat overtook the GT class Team Wireless Exige and Steve Kent took immediate advantage; taking the BMW past the Mustang and up to third.
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The JordanSport driver didn’t allow himself to be phased by this and hung on to the exhaust pipes of the German car, although he was now coming under threat from the #64 Seat Leon Supercopa of SG racing. On lap eight, the GT Elise regained its place from the JabbaSport Cupra and now just nine-tenths separated second in class from fifth.
Mike’s persistence paid off when, on lap nine, he found the space to pull off an audacious move; in the process going past the BMW and the Cupra to claim second in class, and also setting the Mustang’s fastest lap of the race.
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The positions stayed unchanged for seven laps, before Kent once more found a way past. Mike stayed ahead of the other two cars, with the Cupra retiring on lap 21.
On lap 26, his tyres now a long way past their best, Mike ceded third place to the #64 Seat and was unable to respond as it began to move away. It didn’t help that Mike was simultaneously talking to his team about the problems Andrew Jordan was having with the Ginetta, which was on the verge of retirement, but any impact on the Mustang’s race from this was negligible.
Mike stayed in fourth until he stopped to hand over to Steve at just past the halfway point. The car’s new driver rejoined in fifth place, although this soon became fourth after a long stop for the #64 Seat.
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With full tanks and new rubber, the car felt good and Steve set about hunting down the #76 Synchro Motors Honda Civic, which had yet to make its stop. The Mustang closed the gap at a consistent two seconds per lap and made the pass on lap 48.
The two leading class cars – the #51 and #58 BMWs – were too far ahead to catch through pace alone, so Steve settled into a steady laptime of around 1:15 and set his sights for home; the #64 Seat not being an imminent threat. Unfortunately, all plans were thrown out of the window on lap 55 when the Mustang clashed with the GT-class ProTran Venturi and suffered a broken wheel as a result. This necessitated an unscheduled stop for repairs and when Steve rejoined, he was a full lap behind the Seat.
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However, this was a very temporary state of affairs; for the second placed BMW had hit trouble and was falling down the timing screens. Steve gained back third as a result and had enough of an advantage over the next Production car to not have to push things for the remaining 15 laps.
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A second consecutive podium was just reward for the team’s hard work, and although it could have been second instead of third, it could just as easily have been a lot worse; and once again, Steve and Mike had put in sterling driving performances.
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The next round would be at Snetterton just three weeks later.
