Round 1 of the 2009 Elise Trophy held at Silverstone National 19 April 2009.
After the long winter months, new registrations, hectic build schedules and organisation, it was finally time for anticipation to stop and reality to take over. As well as saying goodbye to some drivers and welcoming new ones, there was the matter of the new regulations. Out went classes B and C, replaced by a new Modified class, equalising performance between the two and hopefully leading to closer racing. Class A was renamed Production and the 2-Eleven Class, new for 2008, remained with a boosted field. Matters were complicated by the late cancellation of Donington due to licensing issues and it looked as though we would have to wait another fortnight before seeing the drivers in action. Thankfully some very hard work was put in over the Easter weekend to secure the Silverstone National circuit and although both track space was reduced and field size increased (a one-day meet necessitated a combined grid), the drivers actually had more track time and coped admirably.
Practice & Qualifying
An extra familiarisation session gave the drivers a chance to bed in their new or refreshed steeds. Chris Randall picked up where he left off by topping the timesheets in his Europa, believed to be the first race-prepped Europa in the world. Sean Bicknell, back in his Audi-powered Exige, posted the next fastest time but the big surprise was third, which fell to Scott Cruickshank. Not only was this his first appearance in a race meeting but the 2-Eleven driver didn’t even expect to be racing until the night before! Ben Pitch was next up, followed by Chris Headlam, both with normally-aspirated Honda powered Elises. Series regular Gavin Kirby was back in his 2-Eleven with its new snake-hips livery, ahead of Pat McBennett, Connaire Finn & Benji Hetherington, the youngest driver to have competed in the series, then Mark Gooday, also in a 2-Eleven.
Fastest production runner was James Knight in 15th place, feeling more comfortable in his new pink livery. He headed Martin Roberts, Matt Franks and Hans Baumhardt, with regular class frontrunners Paul Harding and Gary Broad next up.
By the time the cars had finished qualifying a couple of hours later, Randall’s Europa had been overhauled by Bicknell but neither were on pole. Pitch had headed the timing screens for much of the session and couldn’t be caught. Not far behind was David Harvey, his Rover-powered 340R revelling in the new modified class, with McBennett, Finn and Headlam up next before the first of a gaggle of 2-Elevens was taken by the impressive Cruickshank. Kirby, Hetherington, Simon Deacon and Gooday followed behind.
Roberts took an excellent pole in the Production class but engine woes ended his afternoon early and he was unable to race, so Ken Savage effectively took class pole, from Marcus Jewell, Knight and Harding.
Race 1 All Classes
| Production | Modified | 2-Eleven | Overall |
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As the grid lined up after the warm-up lap, tensions were high. Pitch got a good start but was powerless to resist the torque from Bicknell’s Audi and with the additional aid of a bit of bravery, the Red Exige led out of Copse. As the dust of the first few frantic laps settled, a clear group of Bicknell, Pitch and Randall surged ahead, with Harvey keeping up in his 340R but not quite able to challenge the leaders. Pitch fought hard to get his lead back and he and Bicknell duelled for several laps, which enabled Randall to get stuck in, making this a fierce threesome.
The 2-Elevens were up next, Kirby getting a good start but it was to be Cruickshank that would get the advantage, taking Headlam along with him. Clear of the remaining cars in his class, Gavin would fall back from this pair.
Meanwhile, Production looked to be a walkover for Knight, who pulled clear of the rest, headed by a squabbling Kirkbride, Broad, Harding, Baumhardt and Savage. Kirkbride would be the winner in this encounter and set off in hot pursuit of Knight.
By the midpoint of the race, traffic was coming into the equation for the leaders and this was providing huge pressure for Bicknell. His car was fast in a straight line but was often finding that there would be another car to follow through the corners. Late in the race he made a mistake at Becketts and spun out of contention, handing the lead to Randall.
A vastly experienced race driver, Chris absorbed pressure from Pitch. At the flag he was just three-quarters of a second to the good, with Harvey trailing by another three. Next up was Cruickshank, ten seconds back but an excellent class win first time out and beating the modified car of Headlam. Kirby was a quiet sixth, from Finn, Gooday, McBennett and Deacon, the midfield 2-Elevens and Modified cars running together well.
Back to Production and Kirkbride was reeling in Knight, his stirring drive putting him within reach, with a little help from the traffic. James was unable to resist and if it wasn’t for the Bicknell-induced yellow flags at Becketts, may have lost second to Broad, who had also broken clear of the pack after a stirring drive from the back of the grid after problems in qualifying. Harding, Baumhardt & Savage made up the top 6.
A thrilling first race and the crowd were looking forward to more of the same later on.
Race summary – 40 starters, 34 finished.
Race 2 All Classes
| Production | Modified | 2-Eleven | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
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The second race featured a reverse top-ten based on qualifying positions. This meant that Hetherington’s 2-Eleven was on pole, next to him the similar cars of Kirby and Cruckshank, then Headlam, Finn, McBennett, Harvey, Randall, Bicknell and Pitch. Clearly with the new class structure, the fast guys would not have it all their own way.And so it was at the start. While Bicknell and Randall were able to use their grunt to take several scalps off the line, they were not in the lead pack and Headlam used his second row slot to take the early advantage. Often unlucky in the past, in normally-aspirated specification his car seemed to be happy with the pace. Cruickshank was holding a fine second and looked as though he had been doing this as long as the others.
Back in Production things didn’t go so well, in the midfield John La Master got it wrong on the outside of Copse and his car swerved violently towards the inside, T-boning the rear of Russ Treasure’s car, which was thrown up at a angle and into the Broad, charging through from the back of the grid. Treasure was able to continue, albeit with loose bodywork, however things weren’t so good for the other two. La Master slowed to a halt after the pit exit whilst Broad got out, flipped the inertia switch and carried on, for which he was black flagged. All this brought out the safety car for a couple of laps while the track was cleared up.
At the restart Bicknell got stuck in and was soon up with Headlam, desperate to make amends for his mistakes in race one. Headlam did all he could but was unable to resist the Exige. Or Cruickshank’s 2-Eleven – buoyed with confidence from his earlier performance and not prepared to return to his qualifying position, he bagged a stunning second place with a fine mixture of pace and racecraft.
Headlam secured the final podium position and held off Randall, who was unable to repeat his victory but did stay ahead of Pitch as before. Kirby took another sixth place, beating the 2-Elevens of Hetherington and Deacon, with David Harvey rather more subdued in ninth and McBennett tenth.
Meanwhile Knight had once again pulled ahead of the rest of the Production field. Savage gave chase in 2nd but Knight kept his advantage throughout the race, preserving his brakes and taking a well deserved class victory. Race 1 winner Kirkbride came home in 3rd, followed by Harding, Marcos Burnett and Baumhardt.
Race summary – 39 starters, 34 finished.
Conclusion
What could have been the race that never was turned out to be a real cracker and the perfect way to start the 2009 season. The new class structure appears to be working well and we look forward to the next race, supporting A1GP at Brands Hatch on 1-3 May.
Look out for television coverage of Elise Trophy races on Motors TV. For further details of our television coverage and to see a short promo, please check out the Race Television web site.
(The Elise Trophy on Motors TV is sponsored by Hot-Lap.com – performance enhancements for your race car at affordable prices)
