Tag Archives: Tandy

Super Saturday Winners – Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic

Today’s post features all the winners on Super Saturday of the Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic Meeting, after an aqueous qualification day Saturday emerged as a beautiful sunny.

Lotus, Sam Wilson, Lotus Andrew Hibberd, Silverstone Classic

The action kicked of with the Historic Formula Junior race which was won by the blue #53 Lotus 20/22 driven by Sam Wilson, from 2nd on the grid, seen above being challenged by 4th place starter and 8th place finisher Andrew Hibberd’s red #79 Lotus 22 going into Copse on the opening lap.

Stirling Moss Trophy, Silverstone Classic

Gregor Fisker did a great job driving, the GALPOT Banner car, #46 Ferrari 246S from fifth on the grid to the win he is seen above chasing 3 Knobbly Listers and a white stripped Costin Lister while being pursued by the #25 Lotus by A. Wolfe and I. Vercoutere on lap 5 of the 21 lap / 50 minute race.

Warwick Banks Trophy, Silverstone Classic,

Three Mini’s secured the top three spots for the Warwick Banks Trophy race in the wet conditions, however they were soon swamped by more powerful Lotus Cortinas, BMWs and Alfa Romeos after the start. Richard Meaden in the #63 Lotus Cortina leads coming out of Village above on the opening lap while eventual winner triple British Touring car champion Matt Neal driving the #152 Lotus Cortina, he shared with 2012 British Touring Car Champion Gordon Shedden, has made up 7 places from 14th on the grid going into the third corner of the 50 minute / 18 lap race !

Kidston Trophy, Silverstone Classic

Andrew Hall driving the #69 Frazer Nash Supersports made a super start from 5th in The Kidston Trophy race for pre war sports cars to lead for a couple of corners before Gareth Burnett in the big green #52 Talbot 105 took command for the opening 7 laps of the race. A slick driver change helped Fredric Wakeman and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards take the lead and win the race in the #11 Frazer Nash Super Sports, seen on the extreme left of the photo above in third place.

Tyrrell 012, Martin Stretton, Silverstone Classic

Despite qualifying his #44 Tyrrell 012 nearly 5 seconds faster than Sam Hancock’s yellow #55 Fittipaldi F5A, Martin Stretton, seen above, had to eat Sam’s dust for three laps before pulling away to win the FIA Masters Historic Formula one race by just under 2 seconds.

Honda Dodd, Audi, Wrathall, Silverstone Classic,

12th place starter Frank Wrathall in the 1989 #39 Audi 80 Quattro is seen above lining up to overtake James Dodd driving the 1999 #1 Honda Accord for the lead which Frank would not relinquish on lap 4 of the Super Touring Car race.

Cooper T51, Harvey, Cooper T53, Nuthall, Silverstone Classic,

Racing an open wheeler for the first time since breaking his legs in a Formula Ford car early in his career was 1992 British Touring Car Champion Tim Harvey, who is seen above passing Will Nuttall in the #10 Cooper T53, for the lead on his way to winning the Maserati Trophy race driving Roger Wills #1 Cooper T51.

Jaguar, Nicholl-Jones, TVR, Whitaker, Silverstone Classic,

Mark Whitaker driving the #46 TVR Griffith starting 4th on the grid for the JET Trophy race had left the two Minis that qualified ahead of him way behind and as seen above already had pole sitter Matt Nicholl Jones #85 Jaguar E-type well in his sites as he exited Woodcote for the first time, Mark won the 9 lap race by nearly 18 seconds.

FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars, Silverstone Classic

Martin O’Connell driving the #4 Chevron B19 seen in second above never dropped out of the top 4 on his way to winning the FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars race from the #60 Lola T70 driven by Marino Franchitti and Richard Meaden seen above in 4th place.

Jaguar E-Type, Martin O'Connell, Silverstone Classic

There was little time for Martin to savour his victory as he had a pressing appointment on the 13th row of the grid to start the International Trophy race in his E-Type Jaguar, on lap 11 of the one hour 25 lap race he took the lead and stayed there to claim a second consecutive victory.

11 Nissan / Jaguar_9462sc

Steve Tandy starting from pole in his IMSA Spice, seen in a distant third above, held the lead on the opening lap of the evening Group C race but relinquished it to the #27 Nissan R91CK of Bob Berridge and #17 Jaguar XJR14 of Christophe D’Ansembourg, Bob held the lead for three laps before Christophe, seen in second place above, took the lead on the 4th lap and held on to it for the remainder of the race.

Thanks for joining me on this “Super Saturday Winners” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another Mercury. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Aqueous Friday – Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic

Weather predictions have been pretty unreliable in this neck of the woods this year so when I was told that an aqueous qualifying day was predicted for the Silver Jubilee edition of the Silverstone Classic I paid little attention beyond checking my wellies and rain coat were packed.

Alexis HF1, Duncan Rabagliati, Silverstone Classic

Qualification started bearably moist as Duncan Rabagliati, driving his #7 Alexis Mk 1 and his fellow Formula Junior competitors hit the track.

Lister Chevrolet Knobbly, Roberto Giordanelli, Silverstone Classic,

As practice for the Stirling Moss Trophy came to an end I headed out to Brooklands where Roberto Giordanelli is seen kicking up a little spray aboard his Chevrolet powered Knobbly Lister.

Frazer Nash Supersports, Hall / Grant Peterkin, Silverstone Classic

As the Pre War Sports cars came out qualify for the Kidston Trophy the heavens opened up and I was caught in the wrong place in the wrong attire as Andrew Hall and Michael Grant Peterkin took turns in coming to terms with their severely under steering chain drive Frazer Nash Supersports on their way to fifth on the grid.

Jaguar E-Type, James Cottingham, Silverstone Classic,

Above James Cottingham drifts his #73 E-Type Jaguar through Club corner above on his way to second on the grid for the Tourist Trophy race.

Williams FW07C, Christophe d'Ansembourg, Silverstone Classic

Christophe d’Ansembourg entered Abbey curve backwards and is seen passing the apex at 90º to the track before recovering from the mother of all tank slappers without exceeding the track limits to qualify his Williams FW7C for the FIA Masters Historic Formula One Race 21st from 38 runners.

Audi 80 Quattro, Frank Wrathall, Silverstone Classic

With all wheel drive one might have expected Frank Wrathall to be a contender for pole in his Super Tourisieme Audi 80 Quattro however since the whole Super Touring Car qualifying session was run behind the safety car he was only awarded 13th place on the grid based on previous form.

Kurtis KK500C, Geriant Owen, Silverstone Classic

Conditions such as this would never be tolerated at Indianapolis but Geriant Owen put on a fine display of driving skill and qualified his 1954 Kurtis KK500C roadster a fine 12th for the Maserati Centenary Trophy race.

Nissan R90CK, Bob Berridge, Silverstone Classic,

Bob Berridge’s Japanese Group C spec Nissan R91CK will have been no stranger to monsoon conditions and so it was perhaps no surprise he qualified on pole for the Group C race, following in the US GTP spec #5 Spice SE90P is Steve Tandy who qualified 9th on the sadly depleted Group C grid.

Bizzarrini 5300 GT, Tim Harvey, Silverstone Classic

Roger Wills stepped down from driving his collection of cars this weekend and let Tim Harvey do the hard work, above Tim gets to grips with Rogers Bizzarini 5300GT which was awarded 7th on the grid for International Trophy for Classic GT Cars as once again the whole session had to be run behind the pace car.

Porsche 911 RSR, Mark Bates, Silverstone Classic

Mark Bates took full advantage of the tricky conditions to drift his Porsche 911 RSR to an unexpectedly high 4th on the grid amongst a gaggle of more powerful Lola T70’s and faster 2 litre / 122 cui Lola and Chevron sports racing cars on the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car grid.

Fortunately as we will see next week the rain eased off over night to make for an interesting day’s racing on Super Saturday.

Thanks for joining me on this “Aqueous Friday” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Five Group C Classics – Silverstone Classic

Third in a series of five blogs celebrating Silverstone Classic’s Silver Jubilee today’s blog looks at five stunning Group C cars, which round out the meetings Super Saturday’s by racing into the evening, that have competed in the event over the years.

Jaguar XJR-11, Gary Pearson, Silverstone Classic,

Gary Pearson’s 1989 Jaguar XJR-11 above marks a significant ramping up of Jaguar’s efforts to remain at the top of the Group C tree by switching from a stock block derived 7 litre / 432 cui V12 to a MG Metro 6R4 derived twin turbo 3.5 litre / 216 cui V6 that produced around 750hp.

Nissan RC90, Steve Tandy, Silverstone Classic,

For the 1991 season Nissan sold one of there Lola built R90C chassis, #07, to Nova Engineering for use in the 1991 All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, Nova fitted a body developed in the Yatabe (Japan Automobile Research Institute—JARI) wind tunnel and called the car seen above with Steve Tandy at wheel, the R91CK.

Lancia LC2, Roger Wills, Silverstone, Classic,

Going back to 1985 is Roger Wills Ferrari powered Lancia LC2/85 with it’s distinctive wider body than the original LC2’s raced in 1983 and ’84.

Courage C26S, Georg Kjallgren, Silverstone Classic

I believe the Courage C26S, seen above with Georg Kjallgren at the wheel, started life as the second chassis built in Le Mans by Courage Competition in 1984 originally powered by a Cosworth DFL V8, in 1989 it was fitted with a Twin Turbo Porsche flat 6 and brought up to C26S specification for the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours where it failed to qualify on speed and was further disqualified for running under weight.

Mercedes Benz C11, Bob Berridge, Silverstone Classic,

Coolest of the Group C cars in my eyes is the Mercedes Benz C11 built for the 199O World Sports Car Championship which season during which it took seven wins from the eight races started securing the constructors championship for Mercedes Benz and Drivers Championship for Jean-Louis Schlesser and Mauro Baldi, I believe the car seen above with Bob Berridge at the wheel was the prototype which was never raced in period, but has a very successful career as a historic racer.

More, including tickets, on this years Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic can be found on this link.

Thanks for joining me on this “Five Group C Classics” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a trip to the recent Sonoma Historic meeting. Don’t forget to come back now !

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More Than A Bleu Rebellion – Oreca Nissan 05 #1

French Racing Team Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles better known as ORECA was founded by Hugues de Chaunac in 1973 and running Martini open wheelers the teams drivers Jacques Laffite and Rene Arnoux won the European Formula 2 Championship in 1975 and ’77 respectively, from ’79 to ’89 the teams drivers also won 8 French Formula 3 championships with Alain Prost ’79 and Jean Alesi ’87 being two graduates who progressed to find success in Formula One.

Oreca 05, Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nick Tandy, 6 Hours Of Silverstone,

In the late 80’s ORECA turned it attention to developing, preparing and entering Touring, GT and Sports Cars which produced a win at Le Mans in 1991 when the team running the Mazda 787B’s under the works Mazdaspeed banner.

Oreca 05, Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nick Tandy, 6 Hours Of Silverstone,

After developing, building and running the Dodge Vipers and Saleen SR-7’s in the GT classes and in 2007 ORECA took over Courage Competiton a manufacturer building LMP1 and LMP2 cars, the first Oreca branded FLM 09 sports cars appeared in the Formula Le Mans Cup and later LMPC classes in 2009, with a Courage based LMP1 car appearing a few weeks later.

Oreca 05, Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nicolas Lapierre, Le Mans

By 2010 the team was running a works supported Peugeot 908 HDi LMP1 car as well as building the Oreca 03 for the LMP2 series, more recently ORECA have run the Toyota Hybrid LMP1 cars since 2012 and built the Rebellion R-One LMP1 car in 2014.

Oreca 05, Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nicolas Lapierre, Le Mans

The Oreca 05 is built to meet the 2017 LMP2 regulations and uses the same chassis design as that of the originally Toyota powered Rebellion R-One but the body features many detail differences in the dive plains, turning vains and louvres which have benefited from further development in CFD (Computer Fluid Dynamics) aided design of the body, the car also uses electric power steering.

Oreca 05, Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nicolas Lapierre, Le Mans

To date three 4.5 litre / 274 cui Nissan V8 powered ORECA 05’s have been built chassis #2 is entered by Thiriet By Tds Racing in the European Le Mans Series and the same team ran chassis #3 at Le Mans in the LMP2 class. While today’s featured #1 chassis is entered by the Hong Kong based KCMG team in the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship for Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley and Nick Tandy when the latter is not called on to join the works Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 team.

Oreca 05, Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nick Tandy, 6 Hours Of Silverstone,

Matthew, Richard and Nick seen in the first, second and sixth images finished 19th overall and 4th in class on the cars debut in the 6 Hours of Silverstone Race, Nicolas Lapierre took over Nick Tandy’s seat at Spa where the car finished 12th overall and 4th in class.

At Le Mans Matthew, Richard and Nicholas qualified 14th overall and 1st in class and led the LMP2 class for all but 9 laps of the race despite leaving the circuit twice in the closing hours of the race to finish 9th overall and first in LMP1 by just 48 seconds.

Thanks for joining me on this “More Than A Bleu Rebellion” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some recent Group C highlights from Silverstone Classic. Don’t forget to come back now !

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When The Going Gets Cool – 24 Hours Of Le Mans

This years Le Mans 24 Hours race was probably won when someone at Porsche decided that this years 919 Hybrid challenger needed to be upgraded from last years 6MJ class to run in the 8MJ class, evidence of this was first hinted at by the 919’s performance on the Hangar Straight at Silverstone earlier in the year.

Le Mans 2015

Qualifying this year was a simple affair, the three Porsche 919 Hybrids locked out the first three places with the #18 car of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani on pole after setting a blistering pace with a time of 3m 16.887s in the opening qualifying session, next came the three Audi R18 e-tron quattro’s with the #8 driven by Loïc Duval, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis starting 4th followed by the two Toyota TS040 Hybrid’s who’s #2 driven by Alexander Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway started 7th, the first seven cars are seen above taking the prompt 3pm start of the race.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bell, Jeff Segal, Le Mans,

The American entered Scuderia Corsa #62 Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 of Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bell and Jeff Segal looked set for a fourth place finish in the GTE Am class at it’s final pit stop seen above. Then with less than an hour to go long time GTE Am leader and class pole starter Paul Dalla Lana inexplicably shot across the kitty litter at the Ford Chicane and hit the wall so hard as to retire his #98 Aston Martin Vantage V8 from the race instantly, fortunately without injury to the driver, all of which promoted all those behind him up one place in class meaning the #62 finished third in GTE Am, and 24th overall from 51st on the grid.

Porsche 911 RSR, Patrick Dempsey, Patrick Long, Marco Seefried, Le Mans,

A popular second in the GTE Am class after fending off the #62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari was the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR driven by Patrick “Grey’s Anatomy” Dempsey, Patrick Long and Marco Seefried seen approaching the Porsche curves above on it’s way to a 22nd place overall finish from 47th on the grid.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, Viktor Shaitar, Aleksey Basov, Andrea Bertolini, Le Mans,

After the retirement of the #98 Aston Martin the #72 Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 shared by Viktor Shaitar, Aleksey Basov and Andrea Bertolini only had to avoid beaching itself in the gravel as it had done at Indianapolis earlier in the race to score a first Le Mans class win for a Russian entrant, the SMP Racing #72 Ferrari is seen at the Dunlop Chicane on the Saturday evening as it headed for a 20th place finish overall from 43rd on the grid.

GT Pro, Le Mans

5 hours into the race the three leading GTE Pro runners were still racing nose to tail, above the #64 Corvette CR.7 is seen above being chased by the #97 Aston Martin and #51 Ferrari through the Chapel Descent.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella, Toni Vilander, Le Mans,

Unfortunately the #97 Aston Martin shared by Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Rob Bell retired after the latter damaged the oil feed on a kerb after completing 110 laps, this left the AF Corse #51 Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 shared by Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander to recover from a fifth hour puncture and challenge the #64 Corvette with 2 hours to go. An hour later the #51, seen above at Dunlop Chicane, pitted with a gearbox problem and returned to the track after a 30 minute break to hold on to a third in GTE Pro and 25th place overall from 35th on the grid.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, Davide Rigon, James Calado, Olivier Beretta, Le Mans,

Davide Rigon, James Calado and Olivier Beretta finished 2nd in the GTE Pro class, 21st overall, from 54th on the grid after a qualifying penalty was applied, having dropped out of contention for the class lead when the alternator on the #71 AF Course Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 was replaced at the cost of four laps.

Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Jordan Taylor, Le Mans,

Despite being the slowest GTE Pro car to qualify and starting from 43rd on the grid the works Corvette Racing-GM C7.R driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor came through to win the class and finish 17th overall 5 laps ahead of it nearest rival. The car proved to be bullet proof reliable and comfortable enough to drive at a pace that always kept it in contention if not ahead of the GTE Pro pack.

Ligier JS P2, Roman Rusinov, Julien Canal, Sam Bird, Le Mans,

Starting from 12th on the grid, 2nd in the LMP2 class, the last thing Sam Bird needed on his first pit stop was for his G-Drive Racing #26 Nissan powered Ligier JS P2 to catch fire along with the gloves of one of his mechanics as seen above. After the fires were quelled without injury, Sam with team mates Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal ran 2nd in class until they were demoted to 3rd in LMP2 during the 23rd hour of the race, where they remained finishing 11th overall.

Gibson 015S, Simon Dolan, Oliver Turvey, Mitch Evans, Le Mans,

Fastest LMP2 car in the race belonged to the Jota Sport, who’s Gibson 015S, formerly known as a Zytek when it won the LMP2 class last year, driven by Simon Dolan, Oliver Turvey and Mitch Evans, lost three laps to a sensor change before the trio completed the come back drive of the race to finish, just 48 seconds adrift of this years LMP2 winners, in 10th place overall from 14th on the grid.

Oreca 05, Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nicolas Lapierre, Le Mans,

Similarly Nissan powered as the 2nd and 3rd place LMP2 class finishers the Hong Kong based KCMG team’s new #47 Oreca 05 coupé is built to the LMP2 regulations mandated for 2017, drivers Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley and Nicolas Lapierre started from class pole and 11th on the grid. Apart from a drive through penalty for a pit lane infringement, a stop to fix a dicky illuminated number the car should have comfortably won it’s class, but two kitty litter excursions at the Mulsanne and Indianapolis corners on Sunday meant the three top LMP2 cars all completed 358 laps, with the #47 9th overall.

Audi R18 e-tron quattro, André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler, Benoît Tréluyer, Le Mans,

From fifth on the grid André Lotterer showed his hand early by passing two Porsche 919’s for the lead on the same lap after the first safety car period, however in the third hour team mate Benoît Tréluyer suffered a puncture and then glanced the barriers at Tetre Rouge handing the advantage back to the two leading Porsche’s. Further troubles for the Audi Sport Team Joest #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro manifested themselves when a part of the rear body work flew off, as seen above, when Marcel Fässler was at the wheel 16 hours into the race four hours before the car received a drive through penalty for a slow zone misdemeanor. Then 21 hours from the start André set the fastest race lap, 3m 17.475s, and thereafter unscheduled stops for more bodywork repairs and oil were insufficient to prevent the car from finishing on the third, just two laps down on the winning car.

Porsche 919 Hybrid, Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber, Le Mans

The #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber starting from second on the grid was the early leader of the race and despite giving up the lead temporarily to André Lotterer’s Audi it maintained the advantage if not always in the lead until midnight when the car was penalised for slow zone misdemeanor by Brendon Hartley with a stop go penalty that handed the advantage to the sister #19 919 Hybrid. The #17 could not keep pace with it’s sister through the night and eventually finished 1 lap down in 2nd place at the finish despite spending the least amount of time, 29m 42.060s, in the pits of any competitor.

Porsche 919 Hybrid, Earl Bamber, Nick Tandy, Nico Hülkenberg, Le Mans,

Starting from third on the grid the #19 driven by Le Mans novices Earl Bamber and Nico Hülkenberg sharing with two time LMP2 Le Mans starter Nick Tandy, performed better than all the others during the cooler night time conditions so that, even with a 10 second delay due to an overcrowded pit and a brief visit to the garage during a safety car period to repair some damage incurred by Nico after he tapped a back marker, the #19 was able to comfortably lead the #17 over the finish line just three laps short of setting a record distance for the event.

Porsche 919 Hybrid, Earl Bamber, Nick Tandy, Nico Hülkenberg, Le Mans,

The decision to run in the 8 MJ class benefited Porsche not only with consistently better top speeds on the long Mulsanne Straight, but also with a superior fuel consumption that over the 24 hours was estimated to have handed Porsche a 2 and half minute advantage over Audi thanks to four seconds saved per fuel stop.

Le Mans LMP1 Podium, Ickx, Tréluyer, Lötterer, Fässler, Tandy, Bamber, Hülkenberg, Webber, Hartley, Bernhard,

By winning this race Porsche, who last won the race in 1998, can now claim a record 17 Le Mans wins, four more than Audi, but more importantly the victory has proved the technology which sits in it’s 918 Spyder road cars that cost upwards of UK£750,000 / US$850,000.

Special thanks to my school friend Tom for getting me to the race for the first time since 1992.

Thanks for joining me on this “When The Going Gets Cool” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a US Le Mans challenger. Don’t forget to come back now.

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