27th June had the GT Cup at Snetterton for rounds 5 and 6. TVR interest in the series is still strong with the entry list bragging two Cerbera and a Tuscan. The timetable had practice and qualifying on the Saturday and two races on the Sunday. Sadly Mike Saunders in the ItsallYellow Cerb didn’t make it to Snetterton at all, it is understood he still has engine problems and as some of you know he is also building his GpA Tuscan. The Silver and purple Cerbera of John Wilson was there but he also has had more than his share of issues. They spent all practice session trying to find the root cause of the overheating that has plagued them since the conversion to the 4.7, the result was a need to protect the engine and a poor qualifying session that had John at the back of the grid for both races.

The Green Tuscan of Danny Winstanley was also there, Danny and the Tuscan are creating a bit of a stir, the commentators and the crowds love them, I suspect his fellow competitors less so. The car also had the prime spot in the race programme. Looking around the paddock early in the morning the divide on budgets couldn’t be more obvious, some of the teams look like they spend more in a weekend than Danny, Mike and John budget for in a season.

Talking with dad Craig in the morning and it was clear they weren’t without problems either, the engine has either a hairline crack or has gone porous and is leaking water into one of the cylinders and this is causing it to run very hot. The concerns over the engine stopped any participation in the practice sessions and Danny had only 11 laps in qualifying but this didn’t prevent him taking a third on row 2 for the first race and fourth on row 2 for the second.  Add to the engine problems 40kg of success ballast from Thruxton added to the weight already on board to get the car into the power to weight ratio, the ban on running a sequential box and the weather at 30C and the outlook was a little pessimistic. Craig was hoping for a top 5 at best and at least getting the car out would remove that ballast. To get the 40kg into perspective Danny only weighs 62kg!

The rolling start for race one had Andy Ruhan and Alex Martin on row 1 both in Porsche 997’s and sharing row 2 with Danny was the BMW M3 V8 of Dan Grice. From the off Danny edged ahead of both 997’s going into Riches only to get a slightly less than friendly tap from Andy Ruhan to force him wide and they were back in grid order going into Sear. Down the Revett straight Danny has a distinct disadvantage and both the Porsches began to pull away but he was back with them going into the Essess where Alex Martin in Porsche 87 was clearly to fast in, over braked and span off. This left Andy Ruhan in the lead and Danny a very close second, for the entire race the mirrors of the Porsche would be full of Green TVR at every corner and the Porsche would pull away a bit on the straights. Dan Grice pulled into the pits after about 3 laps and then came back out again in front of the leaders and promptly stayed there in everyone’s way ignoring all the blue flags and eventually a driving standards flag.  He held up the leaders for 4 laps allowing Alex Martin to catch up to the group and the conspiracy theorists felt there might be a hidden plan, this was strengthened when the Ruhan Porsche eventually got past and the BMW continued to block the TVR for a further two laps, Grice must have been quite surprised when the Tuscan took him on the inside at the Bomb Hole to get back to trying to challenge for the lead. No conspiracy in reality though, he went on to hold Alex Martin up as well. Now with both cars past the BMW, the earlier pattern for the race was recreated but unfortunately Danny was unable to find a gap and the race finished with Ruhan in first and Danny a superb second. Fastest lap was the Alex Martin Porsche on lap 5 with a 1:11.840.

John Wilson’s race was cut short with an explosion of coolant on lap 4 that forced him to pull off at Sear. The compression of the 4.7 is such that John believes it is forcing the heads away from the block. It looks like a maybe a return to a lower power output and a move to group 3 but the racing was over for John for this weekend.

For race 2 Andy Ruhan was given the company of 60 kg of success ballast and it immediately showed with the car melting back from the front row of the grid to eventually finish third. The race was a case of déjà vu without the BMW and with a different coloured Porsche. It was Alex Martin’s turn to have mirrors full of TVR and to try to make the car as wide as possible to prevent Danny taking him on any of the very few obvious overtaking spots for 18 out of 21 laps. The ballast and engine issues not helping his cause, Danny backed off for the last three laps taking second 5.6 seconds behind the 997 Porsche of Alex Martin. He was still 8.4 seconds ahead of the Ruhan Porsche in third though and took fastest lap on lap 7 with a 1:11.743. The two second places were way beyond expectations and a great result.

The championship reaches mid point in the season at the end of July beginning of August when rounds 7 and 8 are on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. Hopefully the engine issues for John and Mike will be sorted as this is their home circuit and the Tuscan should be more at home there as there aren’t the long straights that favour the Porsche and Ferrari cars. Add to excitement the fact that the point’s situation couldn’t be tighter, Keith Webster leads overall with 146 with his Group 2 BMW and Group 1 has Alex Martin on 144 and Danny Winstanley on 143.  The GT Cup is the support race for the Superleague Formula and the GP circuit provides great viewing so it will be well worth a visit to fly a TVR flag and support the guys.

Mal from clickmotorsport.com for TVR Monster.