BRITISH GT - Snetteron 02-03/06/07

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Andy Downes
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BRITISH GT - Snetteron 02-03/06/07

Post by Andy Downes »

Following the mayhem left by last week's 24 hour 2CV race - the British GT rolls into Snetterton this wekend for a 2-hour race with a madatory refuelling stop.

FRIDAY TESTING
Arriving early to bag a decent paddock slot, the day is spent refining the car's suspension setup. An awful lot of work pays of as the performance comes together and having played second fiddle to the Beechdean Ferrari (spannered by ex-Libra man Ian Grimes) for top GTC spot the Morgan finally nails it in the final session with a 1.13.912.

SATURDAY QUALIFYING
A slow day with only aftrenoon Qualifying to worry about. Expectations are high - but things didn't work out as planned :-

GTC TIMES
54 GTC RSS Performance Graeme Mundy Jamie Smyth Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 1.13.051
70 GTC David Dove David Dove Jim Bickley Ferrari 360 Modena 1.14.778
88 GTC Richmond Racing Richard Hollebon Nick Marsh Ginetta G20 GTR 1.15.200
50 GTC Team Aero Racing Keith Ahlers Steve Hyde Morgan Aero 8 GT 1.15.616
80 GTC Maxspeed Engineering Chris Dawkins Sean Crosswaite Toyota Supra RZ 1.21.062
98 GTC Beechdean Motorsport Andrew Howard Aaron Scott Ferrari 360 Modena no time

The Morgan Aero 8 is positively pedestrian compared to Fridayand things for the Ferrari even worse they have a gearbox rebuild in progress, whilst the Ahler's Morgan is revealed to be running on 7 cylinders.

SUNDAY RACE
I'm supposed to be at Snetterton today but have had to pull out because I'm not feeling too good, Melvyn and Adam Rutter are on refuelling duties. A quick conversation with Keith reveals that they have fixed the engine problem - so look out for the typical strong race performance from Team Aero as they fight to regain their rightful place !

More later as http://www.dailysportscar.com or Keith update me.

Incidentally you can sample the Dailysportscar website free at the minute using :-

Login: dscfreebie
Password: britcarnec

Have (British GTC) Fun
8-) 8-) 8-)

Andy
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Andy Downes
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Post by Andy Downes »

WINNERS !

From the MST website - no further details yet.

The Morgan Aero 8 finished 8th overall and 1st in GTC to claim its first win of the season.

Fantastic work guys - Keith Ahlers/Steve Hyde & Billy Bellinger/Jack Bellinger.

More later as soon as I get anything.

Have (winning) Fun
8-) 8-) 8-)

Andy
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Mary Lindsay
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Post by Mary Lindsay »

Congratulations on a great result for Keith and the team.

You all deserve it!
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keith.ahlers
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Post by keith.ahlers »

Yes, we won our class by seven seconds after two hours racing!

A great effort by all involved and thanks to the Morgan "Heritage Series" racers for their support too.

Having scored a first, two seconds and two third places in the first five races of the season we now lead the championship with 38 points to the 30 points of the second placed team.

Only another nine races to go!

Best wishes, Keith.
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Leigh Sebba
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Post by Leigh Sebba »

Well done. Sorry couldn't be at 'local circuit' to support you - but was flying back from visitng daughter in Malawi !
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Phil Egginton
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Post by Phil Egginton »

Well done Keith and all at Team Aero
Phil Egginton
"Think very carefully… because if you ever start, you will never be able to leave it alone" — Donald Campbell CBE
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Andy Downes
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Post by Andy Downes »

A few snippets courtesy of http://www.Dailysportscar.com

"A similarly fabulous scrap was taking place for the lead of GTC. Graeme Mundy had caught and passed Steve Hyde for the class lead on the 10th lap, but Hyde came back and retook the place on lap 23. Like the two GT3 cars, they were separated by little more than a tenth of a second and they swapped places again two laps later. This remarkable duel continued in this way for almost another 20 laps, and it took the intervention of a Mustang to end the fun, “The Mustang caught up at Coram and I could see the blue flags waving, so I thought I’d let him through after the chicane. But instead of following me through he was all over the back of me and when I went to move over he tagged me.” This moment cost Mundy 10 seconds and Hyde had a breathing space for the first time."

"Unfortunately, any hoped for dramatic ending at the front of the race did not appear to be materializing, but things were more interesting in GTC. Jamie Smyth was closing the gap to Keith Ahlers at a rate of knots, taking up to three seconds a lap out of the Morgan’s advantage. "

"Keith Ahlers, meanwhile, got the balance between preservation of the car and sufficient pace exactly right and brought the Morgan home to a hugely popular third win; “That makes it Richard Thorne 2 Team Aero 3, the car is now the winningest Aero,” beamed the Jersey driver afterwards.

“I chose to leave the tyres on after Steve’s handover and Jamie took rear rubber. That helped us and the second safety car helped us and hurt Jamie.

“We got our money’s worth out of that set of tyres.”"

Brilliant ! :lol:

Andy
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RICHARD PLANT
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Post by RICHARD PLANT »

Congratulations to all the team Aero, a fantastic result. :lol:

Richard
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