Silverstone 14th August. Outstanding Race!

[erictharg]

SR&GT were invited to be one of the support races at the Bentley Drivers Club weekend. This meant we got a 30 minute race instead of the usual 13 to 15 minute sprint. Pretty good turn out, with Dave Greenbank debutting his '65 Mustang, and a few TVR's thrown in for good measure.
I'd replaced the valve springs on the Eleven, as it felt like valve bounce was setting in at Donington at anything over 6500. I had also replaced the uprated rear barake shoes that were falling apart, and put stock shoes back in. I'll send the uprated ones back to Peter May. Must be faulty... Also put in a fresh sumpful of Total 10-50 Synthetic racing oil.
Practice went well with the engine having recovered its ability to rev thanks to the new springs. I was pleased to not be last, with John Dickson's Lotus Esprit being just over 0.15 sec behind me, and Dave's Mustang at the back having blown a fuel pump fuse soon into practice.
The Esprit was one of the cars I had a good race with at Spa but it was slightly sick then, so I was pleasantly surprised to beat it fair and square - at least in qualifying.
I managed to bog the engine a little at the start so the Esprit got to Copse a little ahead of me but I hung onto his tail and nipped up the inside of the first time traffic jam around Maggots / Becketts. We were on the short National circuit, which cuts back from Beckett's down the Complex and Luffield. I managed to stay ahead of the Esprit for the next lap but went too hard around Luffield and he got up the inside of me. The next few laps I managed to keep him in range - never further than 100 yards away. Then I started to gain on him on the straights - a rare phenomenon in the Eleven! Suspect he was losing a little bit of power compared to the start. For the next few laps I was all over him but could not quite get enough of a lead to risk diving up the inside without contact. Then he slid wide at Copse allowing me to just edge enough ahead to go up the inside of Beckett's again. And the whole 30 minutes was like that. Non stop battle, neck and neck. Even the commentators started to concentrate on us as offering the most exciting racing. The last few laps I was in front - just- and starting to loose my brakes a little and my tyres feeling past their best. But the Engine was still good and strong so I just managed to keep ahead for the flag. About 0.4 sec between us after 30 minutes racing. Fantastic! Cue lots of backslapping and stories back in the paddock.
So, a brilliant race and the most exciting yet. 70's Lotus vs 50' Lotus replica!
We're not sure what the end of season race will be this year. Donington has been cancelled due to some planning problem at the circuit. Maybe Oulton Park instead. Plus we hope to get allocated a slot to the Birkett 6 hours at the end of October, which is on the full GP circuit. Teams of 6 cars to run it as a relay. Not to be missed.
Then the annual strip and re-build for next year...

[erictharg]

Oops - replace any reference to "Beckett's" with "Aintree". That's the proper name for the corner after Maggots that brings you onto the back (Wellington?) straight on the National circuit.

[11admire]

Well done, nice to hear that the Westfield eleven can race, like a lot

[Mknight702]

Sounds like we missed yet another great race, however, at least this time we have a good excuse being in Tuscany!

[erictharg]

I'll give you that one Matthew - good excuse.

You may want to come along to the Birkett 6 hour on 29th Oct at Silverstone. I'm part of the SR&GT team there. 6 hours of racing to do between a team of 5 or 6 cars, as a relay race. Everything from 2CV's to Radicals. And it will likley be wet.