Dutch SuperCar Challenge:

Donington Park. 6th - 8th May 2011

The team choose the UK round of the Dutch Super Car Series to test their endurance spec Civic Type R after its winter rebuild. The team welcomed a new face but very experienced driver in Martin Parsons and old friend Marcus Mahy who was hot from a podium finish at le Mans on the previous weekend.
 
Difficult and changeable weather conditions combined with practise and qualifying being cut short made it difficult for the team to finalise their setup. A dry race on Saturday finally gave out some useable data which enabled some fine tuning to the chassis overnight. Sunday morning’s race was wet but the new engine had finally loosened up and was running like a screaming cat while the suspension changes had sorted out the handling issues. Unfortunately just before the pitstop some debris caught in the wheel damaged a brake line beyond repair which resulted in the teams first ever DNF at an endurance event.
 
The weekend, however, had been designed as a glorified test session to blow the cobwebs out and iron out any glitches – these aims were all completed satisfactorily. We also made some interesting new friends in the DSC, a series that we are sure to be returning to this season.

Project 8 Racing Saloons & Golf GTi Championship:

Brands Hatch. 30th April - 1st May 2011 (MSVR Indy Weekend)

Brands Hatch is always a favourite with club racers and spectators alike. The May Bank holiday was the date for not only a pair of Project 8 Saloon races but also rounds 3 & 4 of the Golf GTi Championship.
 
In P8 Saloons Rob Sadler was at the wheel of his Class D E30 325 BMW for the first time in 2011. A seized viscous fan and resultant fanbelt failure cut his qualifying session to 5 laps and left him with work to do being third in class on the grid. Golf competitors John Mawdsley, Verity Young and Matt Weller qualified 9th, 14th and 17th in a busy session.
 
In Race 1 Sadler made progress through the grid getting up to 2nd but was demoted to 3rd after his tyres started to go off. An adjusted setup in Race 2 and an awesome start saw Sadler take the lead on lap 1, Don Hughes new for 2011 Peugeot 306 took the fight to Sadler setting a new lap record on the way but his charge ended in the Paddock gravel trap on lap 8. Which left Sadler to charge to his first class win of the season.
 
The first Golf Race was a spread out affair and resulted in Mawdsley coming home in 8th with Young in 12th - both moving up from qualifying. In Race 2 an early safety car kept the field tight for the early stages but once released there was some great racing down the grid. Mawdsley fought Bertram throughout to finish 7th while Weller secured 11th on the last lap and Young 13th after the team mates had enjoyed a race long battle.