Eurotech Racing Unveils 2010 CBT Mustang

Eurotech Racing - Brands Hatch
Britcar Production Championship Round One

When Stuart Scott introduced the world to his new Ford Mustang FR500 GT4 at Silverstone last year, the car looked fabulous but had too much weight and was only at the start of its development path. 50 weeks later, and with a season of racing and enhancements under its belt, the white beast was a very different entity indeed.

The recently-christened Savage Sally had lost an awful lot of weight over the winter, with Mike Jordan and his Team Eurotech crew having stripped out as much unnecessary mass as possible - replacing heavy doors and glass windows with lighter materials, for example - and now also featured a MOTEC engine-management system and a flat-shift transmission; all designed to engineer one result - more speed. New dampers had also been fitted, to improve the balance in the car through a race distance.

Sally was also sporting a new, meaner, white and chrome colour scheme and featured prominently was a new and significant supporter, Scalextric Digital; the slot-car manufacturer keen to play an active role in the team's season.

But not everything was different. Stuart was joined once more by Mike Jordan and Steve Wood on the drivers' roster and the car would again be racing in Class 1 of the Britcar Production Championship.

With such an early start to the season, the revised Mustang was only shaken down on the Monday of race week before being packed up for the trip down to Kent. The early start also meant that the race entry was not as numerous as might be expected; a situation not helped by the fact that Class 1 Production cars were now also eligible to compete in Class 3 of the Britcar GT Championship. However, this did mean that the chances of a good result - and a large haul of championship points - were that much higher.

The official test day on the Friday was the first real opportunity to see how the multitude of changes had all come together, but a combination of rain, hail, dropped oil and a recently-resurfaced Indy Circuit meant that running was severely restricted; to the extent that very little useful data could be harvested. Nevertheless, the drivers all felt that the car was very good in the conditions, and this gave them grounds for optimism come race day.

The opening round would be a one-day meeting, with a half-hour qualifying session in the morning being followed by the 90-minute race early in the afternoon.

The rain had stopped by Saturday morning, but the track was still very slippery with the residual water. Steve soon discovered that it was not wet enough for inters, however, and the decision was made to scrub in a new set of slicks. It would thus be his job to spend the majority of the session getting heat into the tyres before Mike would go out for a qualifying run.

Having accomplished this task, Steve handed Sally over to Mike for the final ten minutes.

With this being the Indy Circuit, traffic was an issue even with the reduced field and Mike had to back off on several occasions as he tried to find the space required for a 'hot one'. Finally, with just two minutes remaining, the track was clear and he went for it; stopping the clock at 53.725 on his 18th lap. This was eight-tenths faster than his previous best and good enough for pole by a third of a second; an excellent start to the day.

As was usually the case, Steve was handed starting duties and his first task was to reach Paddock Hill Bend first; something he managed without drama - the 2010 season was already off to a massively better start than the previous one, when Stuart had found an errant BMW sliding across the track in front of him, resulting in a major shunt.

As the Mustang climbed up to Druids, the usual Brands rough 'n tumble was taking place behind and Keith Webster's Geoff Steel Racing BMW M3 E36 emerged in second place. Beemers had been CBT's mortal enemies last season, but here Steve was able to stay ahead; and, as he settled down into a steady 51s pace, the gap widened by a few tenths on each lap.

This consistency meant that his advantage was seven seconds at the end of lap 35; the point at which Webster made his stop.

With no second driver, and with fuel and tyres not required, the BMW's stop was a rapid one; but even so, with the very short lap distance - just 1.2 miles - Webster rejoined down in seventh place.

Steve's nearest challenger was now 30 seconds behind, but he had to keep pushing.

"It was clear that we had a much more consistent car compared to last year car," said the Eurotech driver.
"Towards the end of my stint I realised that the BMW that had been in second place had come out of the pit just as I approached Paddock; and, talking to (Eurotech engineer) Adam on the radio, we realised that it was going to be close on the pit stop as the BMW had not stopped for fuel just tyres, but we would need both."

After a sterling stint, Steve headed for the pits to hand over to Mike; but, despite a great stop by the Eurotech crew, the Mustang's stop was, as feared, some 30 seconds longer than the BMW's had been. So, even though the stop only dropped the car to third, the Mustang's new driver had two thirds of a lap to make up in the remaining half-hour.

But we are talking about Mike Jordan here and not a mere mortal, and he began his stint in the only way he knew - at 110%. Within half-a-dozen laps, the Team Eurotech boss had caught and passed the second-placed Kalmar-Union Volvo and was chipping away at Webster's lead at the rate of one second per lap.

The gap continued to tumble, but it soon became clear that the chequered flag was likely to fall before the leader had been caught. This didn't deter Mike, however, who was enjoying the chase; "It reminds me of my Eurocar days - looking out the side window
coming out of Clearways!"

The CBT backed car set the fastest lap of the race - 50.496 - on lap 74, but ultimately the challenge was just too great; Mike's epic challenge falling just 8.325s shy as Webster took the win.

"I'm happy with the weekend overall, and last year we would have been very pleased with second," commented Stuart Scott. "However, it's disappointing to finish runner-up because we had the pace but lost out in the pitstop."

But there was some good news. The winning BMW was an Invitation runner and thus earned no points, meaning they went to Eurotech Racing instead.

Savage Sally had proven herself to be fast, consistent and reliable throughout the weekend, if a little thirsty. After the tight and twisty Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, she will now get the
opportunity to stretch her legs much more as the Britcar circus moves on to Snetterton in April.