Silverstone International Circuit

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CMR and Basingstoke driver Chris Mohan began their 2018 season at Silverstone in a new race series.

The series being, the “CSCC Motorsport School Turbo Tin Tops & Smart 4Two Cup” is organised and run by the Classic Sports Car Club (CSCC).

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Rather than a two day event the series format is a single day comprising of 30 minutes qualifying and a 40 minutes race. The event is open to single and dual drivers with a mandatory pit lane stop irrespective of number of drivers per car entry.

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This was a new experience for the CMR team and the weather over the weekend was the warmest of the year so far. This had positive and negative points as this was the first time the car would be racing and qualifying on longer time/distances than previous years.

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Qualifying was a busy event with a total of 52 cars from various races on the Silverstone International track. After the cars and times were placed into their respective race groups the Basingstoke driver was placed 2nd in class and 11th overall from 20 cars on the starting grid.

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The race began with a rolling start and for the first half of the race the Golf kept its position in what was turning out to be venture into the unknown with temperatures reaching the highest of the year so far. The mandatory pit stop was carried out along with a request from the driver for a reduction of front tyre pressure. After a few laps and once the majority of cars had pitted and resumed racing the Basingstoke driver found himself in 7th place overall and 1st in class. This position was held up until the last lap where the Golf was still in the lead with 50 seconds to spare. Unfortunately the Golf started to experience vibration at the front and started pulling to the left. To avoid any undue damage the Golf was brought into the pits to find that the nearside driveshaft had succumbed to the heat. This was unfortunate as this was the last lap of the race which meant the car could not leave the pit lane or try to resume the race and was classified as DNF. An unfortunate bit of timing but lessons will be learnt for future races. A big thank you to ISN and Finsport Racing for their support and assistance, it is greatly appreciated.

Next Race meeting:  Oulton Park, Cheshire on the 2nd June

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Oulton Park International Circuit

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CSCC RSV Graphics New Millenium & CSCC Motorsport School Turbo Tin Tops

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After navigating the various motorways between the South and North, CMR and Basingstoke driver Chris Mohan arrived at the Cheshire circuit for his third visit to his favourite circuit.

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An early start with signing on and scrutineering beginning at 0700 hrs was successfully carried out in preparation for the first Qualifying of the day at 0830hrs.

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In Qualifying the competitors were greeted by a rather mild but cloudy and damp morning giving the circuit a damp coating. A combination of the mild weather and the variety of powerful cars including the Holden Monaro, Ginetta and BMWs saw the circuit improve throughout the session. This was seen quite clearly with the Golf improving by 15 seconds after a visit to the pits and another 7 seconds on the final lap.

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The Basingstoke driver found himself qualifying in a credible 11th from 19 drivers having bettered some of the more powerful BMWs and the Holden.

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Whilst preparing the car for the race at 1310 hrs a transponder issue was rectified and the race setup adjusted again to suit the deteriorating weather. By this time the circuit had evolved into a greasy track which can and did cause issues especially at the start of the race.

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Within a few seconds of the start and mid-way down  the pit straight there was a coming together after one of the more powerful cars struggled off of the line. The evasive action of the following cars saw contact with a car spinning and sliding off the track backwards and into the barriers. A BMW was seen to be parked further down the straight again alongside the barrier and with the driver door missing. A total of 4 cars were taken out of the race and although the ambulance was in attendance there were no serious injuries to the drivers. Suffice to say the race was red flagged.

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After a lengthy delay in which the weather didn’t improve the race was restarted. As in the initial start Mohan made good progress and managed to gain four places to 7th before the first bend. With the greasy conditions the drivers were careful not to overdo it but another BMW lost it in front of the Golf but fortunately exited stage right without contact.

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With the race shortened to 30 minutes the Golf held its own, dropping to 8th and then back up to 7th before pitting in the 8th lap just before the mandatory pit lane window closed. A combination of a slow pit lane stop and the drying conditions allowed the more powerful cars to improve their times and on re-entry to the circuit the Basingstoke driver found himself in 12th position. The remainder of the race was spent alternating between 12th and 13th and finishing in the latter position.

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Whilst regretting the slow pit stop the good news was that Mohan finished 1st in class and gained his first win in the CSCC.

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Great credit needs to go to car and driver as this is a new endeavour with the longer race times and we are picking up great experience whilst at the same time continuing to punch above our weight. It has to be mentioned that this will be the 4th different series where both car and driver have succeeded which is a very positive outcome which was not envisaged 5 years ago.