Yep the BPM Racing and Gamma Motorsport Clio Cup 197 Enduro took 1st in Class and 16th overall in the Silverstone Britcar 24 hours this weekend from a starting position of 42nd on the Grid.
For the 24 BPM and Gamma had joined forces to field the BPM Clio with Gamma Driver Gary Whitehead as part of our driver line up along with Steve Bell making up the driver numbers.
Whilst the Clio has been built from the start as a 24 hour car (hence our excellent reliability in Britcar PS1) this was a big challenge for it. We knew it could do it, just not if it would do it ;-)
The start of the race was less than ideal with a Mosler loosing it big time pretty much on the start line and carnage following fairly swiftly when taking avoiding action the TVR hit the wall hard followed shortly after by the Ginetta hitting the now parked and badly damaged TVR. The resulting carnage meant the first hour of the race was behind the safety car.
All the drivers were within a couple of seconds of each other and the Clio was running very well and very consistently. We had a minor issue with our fuel tank/s breather causing us problems filling the tanks but we could take on more than enough fuel for our stint lengths so no real problem there.
The car ran well until around 6 hours in when Gary had contact with a Golf, usual night racing issue where by Gary was overtaking and the Golf simply missed him and turned in. This damaged the lights on the PAS side of the car along with wing, bumper, HID ballast etc. etc. quick return to the pits saw the car back together and rolling down the pit lane 7 minutes later.
The car again ran very well putting in solid laps with Gary driving very well. The driver change and fueling went well with Ash taking the car out for the 12 – 2:30 stint. However a greasy corner saw the Clio in the gravel and requiring a return to the pits. Luckily the only damage was to the front undertray, splitter and bumper and some quick cable tie action saw it back out very quickly once we’d removed the gravel from the car.
Daylight came without event and whilst everyone around us was having problems the Clio just ran and ran, by morning we were 3rd in Class and halfway up the second screen and as the day wore on more and more teams/cars had problems, issues or failures. The Corvette in the garage next to us lost an engine in a big way and the Chimp Tune Elise was in and out several times. The only Class 5 cars racing for anything but the finish at this point were the Chimp Tune Elise and the MG ZR. Both of which were considerably quicker than the Clio but both of which had small tanks and Rover involved in them. At 7AM we were P3 in class, 14 laps behind the MG and 8 laps behind the Elise. Between 7am and mid-day thanks to driveshaft and upright failures on the Rover, dodgy electrics on the Elise and our much greater fuel capacity we caught, overtook and then pulled out a 15 Lap lead on the Elise and the MG. At the three hour remaining mark we took the decision to save the car slightly and rather than push it hard to maintain the gap (which would require 2:17 – 2:18 laps) we decided to run at 2:20 – 2:22 and bleed 5 laps or so over the remaining three hours. Hopefully at the same time as the MG and Elise were pushing hard to catch up.
At 4PM we were ten laps clear of the MG and Elise and planning to bleed another two laps to the finish to allow a solid P1 in class finish with an 8 Lap (i.e 20min lead). However then we had our first proper issue of the day. The safety car was out due to debris on track when at 4:08PM Owen came over the radio to report he had lost steering input, the wheel was just spinning. Mildly panic’d conversation ensued while we tried to work out a fix the driver could manange. As it was we couldn’t due to the nature of the failure and after some back of fag packet calculations we worked out that if the safety car was out for another 4 mins we’d win.
As it was it was out for 3:30 and the Chimp Tune Elise, pushing extremely hard for the last 15 mins, managed to equal our lap count………… however we had clocked up our laps 24 mins before Chimp had and despite finishing the race in Parc Ferme we had completed the required 80% race distance hence our result counted. So BPM P1 in class.
Final result First in Class and 16th overall from a starting position of 42nd on the Grid.
I would have liked the car to have finished under its own power and with a convincing lead on the opposition but a win is a win and after 23 and a half hours of hard racing I think we deserved that 1st LOL.
So well done to everyone involved. Thanks to those who came to see us, Thanks to Matty and Naith from Meganesport who ran our tyres for the weekend and well done everyone who made it to Silverstone and especially those who made the distance.
With a bit of luck maybe Renault may see fit to support us in the smallest of possible ways now. After all BPM is now 1st in class in the Britcar 24 hour, 1st in class in the Britcar PS1 Championship and after the PS1 P1 Overall CSL went bang in a big way during the 24 hour we may well end up 1st Overall in PS1 as well…….. if we can get the car out there!
Cheers
M
For the 24 BPM and Gamma had joined forces to field the BPM Clio with Gamma Driver Gary Whitehead as part of our driver line up along with Steve Bell making up the driver numbers.
Whilst the Clio has been built from the start as a 24 hour car (hence our excellent reliability in Britcar PS1) this was a big challenge for it. We knew it could do it, just not if it would do it ;-)
The start of the race was less than ideal with a Mosler loosing it big time pretty much on the start line and carnage following fairly swiftly when taking avoiding action the TVR hit the wall hard followed shortly after by the Ginetta hitting the now parked and badly damaged TVR. The resulting carnage meant the first hour of the race was behind the safety car.
All the drivers were within a couple of seconds of each other and the Clio was running very well and very consistently. We had a minor issue with our fuel tank/s breather causing us problems filling the tanks but we could take on more than enough fuel for our stint lengths so no real problem there.
The car ran well until around 6 hours in when Gary had contact with a Golf, usual night racing issue where by Gary was overtaking and the Golf simply missed him and turned in. This damaged the lights on the PAS side of the car along with wing, bumper, HID ballast etc. etc. quick return to the pits saw the car back together and rolling down the pit lane 7 minutes later.
The car again ran very well putting in solid laps with Gary driving very well. The driver change and fueling went well with Ash taking the car out for the 12 – 2:30 stint. However a greasy corner saw the Clio in the gravel and requiring a return to the pits. Luckily the only damage was to the front undertray, splitter and bumper and some quick cable tie action saw it back out very quickly once we’d removed the gravel from the car.
Daylight came without event and whilst everyone around us was having problems the Clio just ran and ran, by morning we were 3rd in Class and halfway up the second screen and as the day wore on more and more teams/cars had problems, issues or failures. The Corvette in the garage next to us lost an engine in a big way and the Chimp Tune Elise was in and out several times. The only Class 5 cars racing for anything but the finish at this point were the Chimp Tune Elise and the MG ZR. Both of which were considerably quicker than the Clio but both of which had small tanks and Rover involved in them. At 7AM we were P3 in class, 14 laps behind the MG and 8 laps behind the Elise. Between 7am and mid-day thanks to driveshaft and upright failures on the Rover, dodgy electrics on the Elise and our much greater fuel capacity we caught, overtook and then pulled out a 15 Lap lead on the Elise and the MG. At the three hour remaining mark we took the decision to save the car slightly and rather than push it hard to maintain the gap (which would require 2:17 – 2:18 laps) we decided to run at 2:20 – 2:22 and bleed 5 laps or so over the remaining three hours. Hopefully at the same time as the MG and Elise were pushing hard to catch up.
At 4PM we were ten laps clear of the MG and Elise and planning to bleed another two laps to the finish to allow a solid P1 in class finish with an 8 Lap (i.e 20min lead). However then we had our first proper issue of the day. The safety car was out due to debris on track when at 4:08PM Owen came over the radio to report he had lost steering input, the wheel was just spinning. Mildly panic’d conversation ensued while we tried to work out a fix the driver could manange. As it was we couldn’t due to the nature of the failure and after some back of fag packet calculations we worked out that if the safety car was out for another 4 mins we’d win.
As it was it was out for 3:30 and the Chimp Tune Elise, pushing extremely hard for the last 15 mins, managed to equal our lap count………… however we had clocked up our laps 24 mins before Chimp had and despite finishing the race in Parc Ferme we had completed the required 80% race distance hence our result counted. So BPM P1 in class.
Final result First in Class and 16th overall from a starting position of 42nd on the Grid.
I would have liked the car to have finished under its own power and with a convincing lead on the opposition but a win is a win and after 23 and a half hours of hard racing I think we deserved that 1st LOL.
So well done to everyone involved. Thanks to those who came to see us, Thanks to Matty and Naith from Meganesport who ran our tyres for the weekend and well done everyone who made it to Silverstone and especially those who made the distance.
With a bit of luck maybe Renault may see fit to support us in the smallest of possible ways now. After all BPM is now 1st in class in the Britcar 24 hour, 1st in class in the Britcar PS1 Championship and after the PS1 P1 Overall CSL went bang in a big way during the 24 hour we may well end up 1st Overall in PS1 as well…….. if we can get the car out there!
Cheers
M
