Round 12 of the 2009 Elise Trophy held at Brands Hatch Indy on 14 November 2009.
Introduction
Another season draws to an end and with winter fast approaching, the final race would be a 100-minute endurance special, with teams fielding solo drivers, two-driver teams and two-car tag-teams, with pitstops for driver/car changes and refuelling. With many drivers pairing up, the winner could come from anywhere. In addition, this would be the final Elise Trophy race featuring the Modified and 2-Eleven classes, the series being run to Production-only regulations in 2010.To even up everyone’s chances and account for fuel tank sizes, every team had to make a pit stop:
• One car teams would stop once, for a minimum of 6 minutes
• Two car teams would stop three times, at a minimum of 1 minute 45 seconds each
To spice things up further, the weather forecast for race day could perhaps best be described as ‘biblical’…
Qualifying
A brief respite in the wind and rain was welcome but the track remained damp for the mid-morning session, which would last half an hour. Jamie Stanley soon got into his rhythm with a time in the mid 56 seconds, this was soon matched by Chris Headlam, as Stanley then lopped another second off amongst the busy Indy circuit traffic. Jonathan Walker and the Ben Pitch/Chris Randall combination were close behind as Tom Chatterway/Tony Verrier found themselves up into second place but not for long as Pitch/Randall got the jump on Stanley, as did Headlam.
Mark Speller/Mark Gooday then took pole by nearly a second and a half, at this time well ahead of the 2-Elevens of Walker, Steve Williams/Scott Cruickshank and Chatterway/Verrier and all of these were comfortably into the top 10 at this point. The lead car stayed out and added another half second, but Stanley was getting quicker and closed the gap to half a second.
Leading production at this time were Andrew Walsh/Mark Wilson from Ben Clucas/Marcus Jewell, a second and a half back. Then Ken Savage/Martin Roberts held the pace as the sun came out. The clouds soon returned but the time held for a while longer, until Clucas/Jewell found half a second on them, putting them into the top ten and staying there when they took an additional second off the lap time.
With three-quarters of the session now gone, David Harvey/Brian Watts and BJ Chong/Paul McNeilly came into contention with 5th and 6th places respectively but there was no change up front as Stanley continued lapping, however the gap was dropping, now just over a tenth from pole.
Harvey/Watts went up to third, close to Stanley’s earlier time but Chong/McNeilly were stuck in the Gravel at Clark Curve, the stricken Exige bringing out the safety car with 8 minutes to go. Gooday/Speller still led from Stanley, Williams/Cruickshank, Harvey/Watts, Pitch/Randall, Headlam, McNeilly/Chong, Walker, Dan Norris-Jones and David Fenn/James Barclay. Just behind was the leading Production car of Clucas/Jewell, from Donald Canard/Edwin Jowsey, Russel Hill/Michael Edwards, Phillips, David Skeggs/Ian Berry, Savage/Roberts then Greg Noble/Steve Quick.
Stanley, Headlam and Fenn/Barclay dropped back as the safety car came in with 2 minutes to go, for the final dash for pole. Even so, it didn’t take long to get amongst the slower cars on the short track and whilst they were working at wresting the lead, Williams/Cruickshank stole pole by the smallest of margins as Fenn/Barclay were the only one of the three to benefit almost matching the fastest time. By the time the cars had all returned to the pits, the top five were separated by a tenth!
Race
Wind and rain lashed the circuit during the intervening hours, eventually leaving a drying track in between light spots of rain at the start of a distance reduced to 90 minutes, a consequence of incidents in previous races, understandable in the circumstances. Cruickshank, taking the first stint from pole, got away well, with Stanley assuming second from Fenn/Barclay, followed by Headlam, Gooday, Walker and Pitch. Immediately Stanley worked on the leader as they dropped the following pack. In production, the Clucas/Jewell team led, with Edwards/Hill being displaced by solo driver Simon Phillips and now having to fend off Savage. Skeggs and Harding followed closely behind.By the end of lap 5, Cruickshank got sideways at Surtees, handing the lead to Stanley as the chasing pack closed up. These were now made up of Fenn/Barclay, Headlam and Gooday as Pitch lost a few seconds to them. Headlam then took third place, whilst in Production Savage and Phillips were now battling for second as the Edwards/Hill team dropped off the pace, losing another place to Skeggs. Meanwhile up front Stanley wasn’t pulling away, Cruickshank keen to keep up with him and as the race settled down after the inital skirmishes, they circulated together, barely apart.
However, this didn’t last long and matters were interrupted by a safety car period, occasioned by Verrier going off at Paddock Hill in a big way and taking off a large chunk of bodywork. This triggered the initial round of pit stops, with Savage in to swap with Roberts being the significant one. Paul Harding and Andrew Kell also swapped places, as did Matthew Bartlett and Hans Baumhardt, the latter picking up a penalty along the way.
With just over an hour to go, the safety car came in, with Stanley leading from Cruickshank and Clucas/Jewell heading Production. Keen to make an early attack, Cruickshank shot into Paddock from the outside but Stanley had it covered and battle resumed. Two groups quickly formed – Stanley, Cruickshank and Headlam, then Fenn/Barclay, Pitch and Walker. Aside from the leaders, Production was becoming very crowded, Skeggs and Edwards/Hill right in with the traffic as Phillips and Clucas/Jewell got away.
Finding a bit more pace after a break in the action, Pitch overtook Fenn/Barclay but just as this happened several incidents, one at Paddock with John Cockburn-Evans and Stewart Rush and another involving the Harvey/Watts team at Clearways occasioned another safety car after only 5 minutes of racing. More seriously, McNeilly had hit the barrier under the bridge on the approach to Druids and required thankfully the briefest of attention from the medics. Taking advantage again, Roberts pitted and Savage took over, at present holding 19th place and three laps down but crucially with only one of their three stops left. However he left the pits just two seconds early and this was enough to earn him a 30 second stop-go penalty, plus the 2 seconds that were missed during the stop. Just as significant to the race, Gooday pitted, with Speller leaving the pitlane just as the safety car was coming in with 50 minutes to go.
Stanley now started to put in some very fast laps and eked out a small lead as the halfway point approached. Headlam pitted from third as Pitch and Fenn/Barclay now argued this place. Edwards/Hill then took the opportunity to effect a driver change as production was still led by Clucas/Jewell in overall seventh, from Phillips and Skeggs/Berry.
Back in 18th following the early stop, Speller posted a series of fast laps as he hoped to capitalise from the leaders making their stops under racing conditions. Cruickshank made his with 40 minutes to go and as Williams took over, Stanley was expected to stop shortly. Clucas/Jewell had swapped by then in the Production class, which now had Phillips leading Skeggs/Berry, David Alexander/Simon Deacon and Savage. All the while Speller continued his progress, now in 10th, some way clear of early contender Headlam. When Stanley made his stop, Fenn/Barclay and Walker led the race from Phillips, with two-thirds distance completed.
Speller now found himself ahead of Stanley and Williams, the latter gaining a few handy seconds during this sequence to close the gap to almost nothing. Fenn/Barclay now leading Walker, Phillips, Speller, Chatterway, Alexander/Deacon, John LaMaster/David Hay, Noble/Quick, Kell/Harding, Stanley, who was dropping Williams again, Headlam and Randall who had a disastrous pitstop, refuelling problems dropping them down the leaderboard.
With 20 minutes to go and dusk setting in, the leader pitted. Rejoining just as Stanley passed the pit exit, it was now Walker from Speller, Stanley, Fenn/Barclay and Williams completing the top 5. Walker was gambling on leaving it to the very last minute. In Production, Phillips stopped late on as Roberts took the lead, with LaMaster/Hay third, Noble/Quick fourth and Edwards/Hill fifth.
Walker finally stopped after one hour and twenty minutes, almost a Grand Prix distance! Speller was only a lap down and three ahead of the others so would easily take the lead but would he gain any time on Stanley, Fenns/Barclay and Williams? Powerless in a dark pit lane, he counted down the minutes. Speller took the lead, six and a half minutes before the flag. The others gained a lap and were now only two behind. The clock continued ticking. The Doug Setters/Chris Setters car pitted with steam pouring everywhere as Walker drove to the pit exit ready to restart but the clock was still ticking down his stop. Stanley was now on the same lap and the others weren’t far behind. Stanley was now second. Then Fenn/Barclay went third, Williams fourth and Headlam fifth. Finally Walker rejoined in sixth place, 2 and a half minutes left to run.
And that’s where they finished. By stopping during a safety car period and benefitting from the slower laps, not to mention a series of fast laps, Gooday and Speller jumped the field by three laps, completing a total of 86. Stanley proved to be no slower over an extended distance, with Fenn/Barclay putting their Britcar experience to good use to claim the final podium place. Willams and Cruickshank lost 25 seconds to Stanley over the duration but for much of the race it seemed a lot closer than that. Walker’s marathon stint between breaks meant he was amongst the race leaders, even if it perhaps cost him a lap over the distance.
Taking advantage of interruptions just as the overall winners had (despite their penalty), Savage and Roberts were happy victors in Production, the ‘Towcester Terriors’ a lap ahead of solo driver Phillips, who was just seven seconds in front of Edwards/Hill, themselves only just getting the nod over LaMaster/Hay at the end. With Noble/Quick and Clucas/Jewell not much further back, it bodes very well for the Production-only 2010 season.
Race summary – 29 starters, 24 finishers.
| Production | Modified | 2-Eleven | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
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Conclusion
What had started as a fun end to the season became an absorbing race, full of action. It’s been a great year, with the European rounds, new faces and new race formats and as the memories carry us into the off-season we turn our attention to the class-free format for 2010 and thank all those that have taken part, helped and supported this year and hope to see you again in the spring.
