Back On The Podium

On the surface it’s been a quiet few months for Eurotech Racing, with Round 5 of the 2010 Britcar Production Championship at the end of July being the first race for ‘Mustang Sally’ since the season opener and win at Brands Hatch back in March. But appearances are often deceiving, and much has happened to the FR500 in the intervening time.

This was actually the second trip to Snetterton this year, with the team having every intention to contest the second round of the series at the Norfolk circuit in April. However, during the test day preceding that race, smoke from under the bonnet indicated that something significant had happened to the five litre engine and the car was withdrawn from the meeting. A delay in obtaining parts from the States prevented the car from taking part in the next round at Croft, and by this point Stuart Scott had decided to call in some old friends to make sure that Sally’s return to competition would be on the best terms possible; “She’s now running a Mountune-prepared engine,” said Stuart. “Mountune were on hand at Snetterton for the Friday test to dial out a few issues and it was good to be working with them again for the first time since the Apex Motorsport Jaguar program.  They’ve done a great job with the new engine.”

Stuart was accompanied at the test by both Steve Wood and Mike Jordan, and the trio were soon hard at work finding out what the new motor could do. "Conditions were good for the first run," said Steve. "We gave the car some installation laps and after a bit of fine tuning by the Mountune guys we were given the green light to put some laps in and find a set-up for the weekend."

The settings tried out included taking the ride-height to its lowest-ever setting, and within a short time a set-up had been found. This left the majority of the day available to concentrate on fine-tuning the race-pace and the test closed with the team in a very positive mood.

As is often the case with Britcar meetings, the race timetable at Snetterton was condensed into one day, with practice and qualifying in the morning and the race following in the afternoon. However, the format of the race was most unusual on this occasion; both GT and Production classes racing together, but with the Production cars being flagged off after two hours, leaving the GT cars to race for another two. There was the option for Production cars to race for the full four hours – meaning they would become Invitation class runners in the GT race – but Eurotech Racing did not take this up, deciding to keep things simple.

Saturday began with a 60-minute free-practice session at 9.00 in bright and dry conditions. The CBT crew took things at a sensible pace and spent the session checking settings, rather than looking for outright speed. 18 laps had been completed by the end of it, with a best time of 1:14.260 – third fastest in Production and 12th fastest (of 33) overall – coming on the 15th lap. After 45 minutes, the team was happy that they had achieved what they wanted from the session and started to prep the car for qualifying.

What should perhaps be mentioned is that Steve was driving solo at this point in proceedings. Mike was taking part in a race in a Ford Lotus Cortina at the Silverstone Classic that morning – a hundred or so miles to the west – and would only arrive at the circuit once the race was underway! Thus, Steve was handed qualifying duties also.

Steve began the 50-minute qualifying session with the tyres that he was going to start the race on, so he gave himself just two slow and one flying lap; managing a 1.13.034 - a time that, had he called it quits at that point, would have been good enough for second. he then pitted to switch to the tyres that Mike would be starting his stint on.

His only goal was class pole and so Steve needed to find a good lap to improve the time. He gave himself two slow laps and two flying laps, and on the first of those managed a 1.12.781; a tenth faster than the Gino Ussi BMW E46 M3 and good enough for pole. An excellent effort.

Curiously, despite the race starting just two and a half hours later, there was a half-hour warm-up session just after lunch and the Mustang was one of 18 cars that took advantage to make final preparations.

With Mike still blasting along the A14 towards Norfolk, Steve took his place at the head of the production class, on the eighth row of the combined field; the Ussi Beemer lined up alongside.

With the need to conserve fuel a major consideration, the priority was not a drag race with the BMW and it was no surprise to see Ussi take the lead on the first lap. Steve immediately adopted a sensible race pace and discovered to his delight that his car was fantastic to drive. He kept the BMW in his sights and had a comfortable gap to his pursuers.

It wasn’t long before his consistency brought the class leader back within striking range. Unfortunately, a hobbled GT Ferrari that was falling back down the field managed to lodge itself between the Mustang and the BMW and then a combination of slower cars being lapped and faster cars lapping forced the two cars further and further apart. On lap 17 the #57 BMW of Calum Lockie took second from Steve; but this car would be racing for the full four hours and so could not really be considered a direct competitor.

Steve stuck to his task and maintained his consistent pace and things were going to plan. Mike had almost arrived at the circuit and preparations were starting to be made for the pending pitstop.

On lap 34 the safety car was called out while a stranded TVR was recovered, and the Mustang spent several laps at a much reduced pace, affecting the strategy. However, this had the effect of saving fuel and Steve was given the order to push once the race went green again on lap 40. He immediately lowered his laptimes by two seconds and started to gain ground on the cars ahead. At the end of the first hour, the Mustang was just 15 seconds behind the Lockie BMW and, with the Ussi BMW having pitted, was effectively in the class lead. Steve ended an excellent day’s work eight laps later when he handed over to the now-present Mike.

The strategy now was for the veteran racer to push hard and Steve had handed the car to him in excellent condition. The Mustang was now third in class, owing to the In2Racing Ginetta having made up ground by stopping during the safety car period. The laptimes came down to the low 1:14s and the chase was on.

The gap was coming down at the rate of two to three seconds per lap and a change for second looked inevitable. On lap 63, Mike set a 1:13.651 – not only the car’s best, but the fastest Production lap of the race.

Just seven laps later, however, the safety car came out for a second time while a Ferrari fire was extinguished and it would stay out until the two-hours were up. Mike’s efforts were thus stymied and the Production race ended under caution conditions.

But while a potential second-place – or perhaps even a win? – had fallen by the wayside, the CBT/Eurotech could be satisfied with third on Sally’s return and a job very well done. The Mustang performed beautifully and the new Mountune engine didn’t miss a beat. Next up is Rockingham at the end of August – can Sally go one, or even two, better?