Brands Hatch GP 16/17th August 2003

Due to a combination of our farm contracting operation being very busy, also with the harvest being early this year, time to the prep the car for Brands was non-existent.

This being the case we arrived at the circuit on race day with the car as it finished at Thruxton, albeit with the rear push rod that broke there, replaced. The gearing we knew would be too high and we intended to change the ratios after qualifying as no time before. We entered an open race qualifying session to try out the car and Nik felt there was much to be improved after that session and before qualifying, however with the qualifying session imminent, we made only minor adjustments.
The qualifying session itself was very hairy for Nik as the car was somewhat wayward on the old tyres that we still had fitted, (they were from the first Brands meeting of the year!) and the gearing made life difficult. His time kept him in second spot behind Manderson, up until the last couple of laps when Timpany bettered it.

Between qualifying and the race we fitted newer “old” tyres, (this weekend was to make up the numbers) and changed gear ratios, however we still had no correct third gear. More wing was applied and a softer roll bar setting chosen, we hoped these changes would help drivability and grip.

The race was a mixed affair, from third on the grid to second by the first corner, only to drop back to fourth as the car died out of corners where our too low third could not be used. Several laps were needed for Nik to get this sorted out and to drive round the problem. The black and yellow flag slowed the cars for several laps whilst crashed cars were recovered. On the restart Nik gradually pulled back Allen Timpany, who was holding third spot. As the race progressed, he passed Alan and set about the chase to catch Gilbert and Manderson. Fastest lap at that point saw him to within two seconds of the leaders but traffic and the speed of the front- runners meant it was a fruitless task.

So third place was the best we could achieve, we felt for the little effort that we had made it was an excellent result, it should be possible to make up the difference in lap times between ourselves and the Carbir with a bit more effort. What was very noticeable was that the two other Van Diemen runners in Duratec, namely Allen Timpany and Dave Mountain were driving much better handling cars than Nik. Hathaway Racing who runs both drivers has certainly made progress with the cars. I stood and watched both cars through Paddock hill bend and they were more stable than any other car on the circuit, I would love Nik to drive one with that set-up to see how much quicker they are than our standard car.

Allen Timpany again out-qualified Dave Mountain, and led him in the race up until the last lap, by which time I am sure his impeccable manners allowed a gap that was gratefully accepted by Dave. I think it is fantastic that Allen can return to racing after many years away and still compete with Dave who by anyone’s standard is a quick driver.

On the US front we shall soon be at the runoffs in Mid Ohio.
Nik will miss the first week due to work commitments but will be there for qualifying and the race. I will just go out for the week-end racing as like Nik, I am busy and cannot spend too much time away, I hope to sell a car or two if we get a good result!

Our third sale has been confirmed and a deposit taken, two cars have already been delivered and one will be at the runoffs in the hands of David Ferguson.
David is tipped to be on the podium in what is according to the reports, going to be the strongest field ever.

Nik is now the NorPac Champion with the points from his five wins from five races, so he is now an international champion, despite this he's not expected to feature in the runoff.