Round 5- Results & Report
2008 brought us to Brands Hatch for the penultimate round of the series.
Anyone who has followed from round 1 will agree it has been the most exciting track action on the scene and one which still continues to grow, shock and amaze the aftermarket tuning fans.
Saturdays weather was appalling, some of the teams had prayed and done rain dancing and it looked as if their prayers were going to be answered but a good nights sleep and an early rise saw beautiful sunshine and super dry conditions, GAME ON!
CLUB CHALLENGE QUALIFICATION
A couple of drivers used the usual trick of 'forgetting' to install their transponders early in the warm up and practise sessions but now we were getting the real times around the 1.1986 mile Brands Indy circuit and the picture was becoming clear who could and should be going through.
The 10 ten vehicles from groups A&B in club included only 1 N/A car, old fella Mileham in his TVR Tuscan mixing it with the F/I cars in sub 55 second laps.
Horsley who was 15 points ahead of the pack in the series points tally looked like he was having problems as smoke bellowed from his car after just 2 laps on track but even those 2 laps were enough from him to secure a 52.967 lap, just slightly out on last years overall club F/I record from Kev Atkins.
Sam Kerr, Andy Forrest, Barrie Rycroft, Kev Atkins and Shane Smith were all fighting hard with each other in the 53 second bracket, Terry Buckel just falling outside with a 54.012 despite losing 3rd gear on the way to the meeting, in 8th position was Mr Mileham in the TVR 54.071 after just 4 laps, Biggers, Reynolds, Darley, Deaton and Isherwood made up the rest of the 54 second club.
Only 15 F/I warriors would make it through and 5 N/A, Steve Thorpe, Alex Bruce and new boy Warren Kelly took the last 3 spots in F/I whilst Paul Hughes kept punting away for 14 laps in the DC5 taking 2nd quickest N/A, Chandler put in 18 astonishing laps for 3rd, Damon Gray in the M3 Evo BMW took 4th and the Cobra of McDonald stole 5th.
Top runner in N/A Winstanley returned after the mornings warm up session after his engine seized on the exit to clearways which has opened the N/A title battle.
PRO CLASS QUALIFICATION
49 Seconds was the record from 07, was it going to be smashed as per all the other records this year or was Brands going to keep its treasures?? only this afternoons sessions would tell.
Zen had Phil Glew back in the drivers seat for this round, he drove the GC8 within an inch of its life and hit the top of the qualifying time tree with a 49.367, things were looking good for the annihilation of that 49 second record, tucked in behind him and someone else who posted some amazing times last year was Steve Guglielmi, his 5th lap out in this session saw a 50.669 being pulled out of the bag, Olly Clark who has so far this season taken 3 top step victories was heavy breathing down Steve's neck with a 50.694.
Clive Seddon in Yellow RC Developments CP9A was back on form, A great driver but plagued with niggles this year he managed a 50.771 and 4th qualifying time.
A1GP star Duncan Tappy in Autosportifs Impreza took 5th with a 51.173 on his 2nd lap but then hit the gravel on the 6th at Paddock Hill bend and put himself out of the running, Jamie Stanley chewing his bumper time wise with a 51.337, Another Pro driver just a fraction behind, Guy Harrington in the AutoErgo Greek Evo with a 51.939.
A welcome trouble free return this weekend from Ron Kiddell in the RK tuning R32 GTR Skyline, a very respectable 52.160, closely followed by Simon Norris of Norris Designs in his Castle Coombe championship Evo 9 52.308 on his 5th and final lap of the session.
Thundering around for 11 laps was Darren Bly, another RK tuning car, 52.676 was his best with Adrian 'Fensport' Smith in the Celica taking the last 52 second space with a 52.868, Baldy Harvey was on form despite feeling ill from the start of the day, a 54.028 was the best he could rustle up after 15 hard laps, The Whifbitz Pro cars of Robinson & Linton tucking in behind him both with 54 second laps.
Tommy Field a new entrant for this round in his WRC Escort Cosworth retired after his first lap with drive shaft issues after posting a 55.178, we are sure he will be back for another round, Bob Parker took the last spot with a 56.385, a car which is coming on leaps and bounds with every outing.
SUPER BATTLE FINAL CLUB CHALLENGE
All eyes were on the Scooby Clinic pit garage after Horsleys earlier trouble and it was looking pretty iffy as to if the car would make an appearance, rumours were buzzing around the paddock of him not running, having to do a lap to get at least some points, that he had been kidnapped by alien life forms but none were true as the GC8 made its appearance from the pit.
He did trundle around for a few laps, Barrie Rycroft, Sam Kerr and Shane smith taking advantage of his problems and putting in some awesome driving and times, things were not going so great for Horsley it would seem and then out of nowhere, as if the aliens who had earlier abducted him had brought him back at hyper speed, he crossed the line and jumped up the screen to 1st place with a 52.242, fast, not his quickest of the day but none the less quick enough for him to be unbeatable for the rest of the session, or was he?
Rycroft was getting quicker for sure and it looked like the win was in the bag for the DCY Evo, knocking Sam kerr down a peg moments from the end of the session after 13 laps, Shane Smith doing his bit to put the cat among the pigeons too with Atkins who had had nothing but trouble all day making up the top 5 runners.
Jamie Reynolds in the blue Elise looked to be having a ball out on track, 11 laps kept him ahead of Biggers in the GTR, Mileham in the N/A TVR punching 15 laps out and a very respectable 54.061 a new N/A record for Brands, Hughes who had also put a larger number of laps in just missed out on the record with a 54.205 which was quicker than Nadine Geary in the Viper last year.
Looking very purposeful and sporting new front aero, Mike Isherwood number 56 in the Evo 5RS managed 10th place 54.212 with Steve Darley just 0.123 sec behind in the Impreza Wagon, covered in tape and battle scars from his earlier spins and off-track antics, Thorpeys Evo 8 0.038 seconds behind him after 10 laps.
Andy Forrest driving the Lateral GC8 managed 13th place with 54.492 after just 4 laps and Terry Buckel's GC8 just 0.105sec behind after having his gearbox issues come to a head and totally lock up after 9 laps.
Tim Chandler was on form in the GT3RS Porsche, a very respectable 54.908 was good enough to secure him third place in the N/A title run, Kelly was having Boost problems in his Cosworth and a 55.035 was the best he could manage on his second lap out.
Deaton couldn't beat his first lap time of 55.044 after 16 gruelling laps, Bruce was suffering with mechanical issues, McDonalds Cobra looked and sounded fantastic and the whole windscreen was taken up with his smile at one point, 0.079 behind him with a 56.835 was Damon Gray in the DG Property Consultancy BMW Evo.
Things were still up and down at the top of the tree but it was Horsleys 52.242 which saw him keep the top spot, Rycroft having to settle for 2nd, Kerr 3rd, Smith 4th, Atkins 5th, then Reynolds, Biggers, Mileham, Hughes, Isherwood, Darley, Thorpe, Forrest, Buckel, Chandler, Kelly, Deaton, Bruce, McDonald and last place Gray.
SUPER BATTLE FINAL PRO
If the Club Challenge final wasn't enough nail biting action for you then there was even more to come from the Pro class as one by one they exited the pit lane with what must have been in excess of 10,000 bhps worth of modified road cars.
Straight out the bat, 'Super Glew' posts a 48.901 on the first lap, Olly Clark a 49.810, Clive Seddon 50.571 with Pro driver Stanley in the other RC Evo behind him 51.270 Harrington took Auto Ergonomics CT9A on its hardest lap of the day and a 52.088 although retiring just 6 laps later due to his power steering pipe springing a leak!
Steve Guglielmi was putting in consistent times lap after lap after lap, a true testament to his workmanship as a tuner and also to him as a driver, on his 5th lap knocking Clarks GC8 down into third place, nobody so far being able to take on Zen's GC8.
Norris too was running well considering that this is not his 'Animal' Mitsubishi Evo 'SWEVO', he was using his mild in comparison Evo 9 GT, grabbing an excellent time of 51.845 after his 8th lap.
Tick Tock Tick Tock, the Zen team were stuck to the screen in their pit garage as were all the other close teams.
Ron Kiddell ran extremely well today managing a 52.371 which would be good enough for 8th overall, Adrian smith separated the 2 RK cars, a 52.429 on the 8th lap of 13 was enough for 9th and Bly took 10th, 52.464 from Robinson who looked as if he was finally getting to grips with the green Whifbitz beast, 52.957 after 6 laps was his best earning him 11th.
Baldy Harvey in the number 10 Pro car was definitely not his normal self today and even though he managed 17 laps in the session he managed a 53.116 just keeping Linton in the JZA80 away from fellow team mate Robinson, Linton gained 8 points with a 54.507 just ahead of Bob Parker GBH's S14 driver who came in early after a part of his throttle body made its way into one of the SR20's cylinders.
None of the back and forth wrestling was going to change the top spot, Glew and team Zen had it in the bag and as the final seconds ticked away on screen it was clear that they were going to be untouchable!
The final positions being Glew, 48.901 a new Time Attack Brands Hatch record, Guglielmi 49.253, Clark 49.810, Seddon 50.571, Stanley 51.270, Norris 51.845, Harrington 52.088, Kiddell 52.371, smith 52.429, Bly 52.464, Robinson 52.957, Harvey 53.116, Linton 54.507 & Parker 55.296.
I am sure that I can speak for everyone who was there in saying that as usual nothing is ever as it would appear it is going to be and never ever take anything for granted or as a given!
Clark is steaming ahead in the series with 100 points under his belt but as we know, anything can happen as the next 4 Pro spaces could be anyone's.
Make sure you join us for round 6, a brand new event, Modified Live which takes place at Snetterton on 12th October, don't miss out, see you all there!
Report: Rob Barnes / Pictures : Rich Sams / Ed Fahey
Pro Class Winners
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Club Challenge Forced Induction Winners |
| 1st Place | Subaru Impreza - Kev Horsley (Car No.2) |
| 2nd Place | Mitsubishi Evo 7 - Barrie Rycroft (Car No. 15) |
| 3rd Place | Subaru Impreza - Sam Kerr (Car No.3) |
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Club Challenge N/A Winners |
| 1st Place | TVR Tuscan - Jeff Mileham (Car No.4) |
| 2nd Place | DC5 Honda Integra - Paul Hughes (Car No. 91) |
| 3rd Place | GT3RS - Tim Chandler (Car No.49) |
Fastest Lap on the day regardless of session
| Club Challenge | 52.217 - GC8 Impreza - Kev Horsley (Car No.2) |
| Pro Class | 48.901 - GC8 Impreza - Zen Performance (Car No.1) |
Mitsubishi Lancer Register fastest Evo of the day
| Club Challenge | 52.530 - CT9A Evo - Barrie Rycroft (Car No.15) |
| Pro Class | 50.531 - CT9A Evo - RSE Motorsport (Car No.11) |
SIDC fastest Impreza of the day
| Club Challenge | 52.217 - GC8 Impreza - Kev Horsley (Car No.2) |
| Pro Class | 48.901 - GC8 Impreza - Zen Performance (Car No.1) |
HKS Hard Charger Award
Tim Chandler - GT3RS - (Car No.49) Club Class.
Be sure to check the points table to see how your favourite team or driver are shaping up.
Timings from the day are available [Download]
Visit the Gallery for pictures of the days events.
See you all at Round 6