Those of you who are still paying attention will have heard by now that the Gulf Racing McLaren of Ray Bellm and James Weaver supported by JJ Lehto emerged as victors in the Pokka 1000 GT race last weekend at the Suzuka track in Japan. Second a lap in arrears were the Anderstorp winners Anders Olofsson and Luciano della Noce in their ENNEA Ferrari F40 and third after a heap of troubles was the Harrods McLaren of Andy Wallace and Olivier Grouillard .
So much for the bald facts as recorded for posterity what really happened in the longest round of the championship? (the winners time was 6:18'48.637 to cover 1,000kms)
Well, the main talking point was that the conditions were not as bad as last year. Not much comfort for those like me who found that the sauna like atmosphere robbed them of much of their strength, even the effort of wandering around the track would leave me drenched as if caught in the rain and looking for the nearest cold drink. In fact it grew colder and progressively less humid as the weekend passed, just as well in a long race in hot cockpits wearing nomex.
The race's length and the predicted terrible climate meant that quite a few teams opted to run three drivers instead of the usual two and this contributed enormously to the spectacle.
Qualifying was held over two sessions on Saturday but the real Quick times were always going to be set towards the end of the second stint as the sun went down. With about 15 minutes to go we had all the topguns out cruising around shark-like looking for an opening to give themselves and their qualies a clear run avoiding the dreaded traffic.
I was on the hill behind the pits which for the drivers is a blind fourth or fifth gear left hander, uphill and the apex not in view as you commit, a real man's corners according to the film crew I was with. The fast GT s were awesome through here so god knows what the F1 boys are like as there is no room for error and little or no run off area. The film crew said that 500cc bikes are unbelievable cranking on the power with the bike sliding and slithering all the way up but keeping it wound on. The prospects for the next few minutes were good to say the least.
I am happy to record that there was no anti-climax. The banshee wail of BMW's finest V12 heralded the arrival the number 6 gulf entry with Pierre Henri Raphanel at the wheel fighting the errant machine all the way as the barriers attracted the blue and orange blur, Raph held the slide and powered on towards the Degner Curve. Next up was one of ENNEA F40s, Gounon I think, with that particularly explosive effect as the turbo kicks in rocketing the Ferrari past and on to the next obstacle. Lammers in the Lotus went by slowly, his run spoiled early in the run by an errant 911.
Finally the one I had been waiting for, Jykri Jarvilehto, a man on a mission. As with his French team-mate the Gulf McLaren bucked and kicked trying to get out of control but JJ was equal to it. From my vantage point behind the 500mm lens he sprung into view with a huge grin on his face, loving every moment of having 630bhp under his right foot, no bloody ground effect, only his reflexes and skill holding it all together, an altogether perfect moment. I asked him later about his lap and the broad smile never far from the surface returned with a vaguely embarrassed air as if his own enjoyment of the act was somehow wrong. There are great highs to be had in motor racing (and terrible, terrible lows) and for JJ this was one. "That one and half seconds reminds you of why you are doing all of this" he said of the time we had shared on the Dunlop Curve. As with all the quick boys his lap was interrupted by traffic and he lost a second or so but pole position was his.
Or so we thought as just before the flag went out in the dusk the little imp in the black Lotus scorched past, would Jan rain on JJ's parade with this last gasp effort but no the ever present traffic meant that this banzai effort would only secure third, the high point of Lotus's weekend. Worth a mention in qualifying was the lap early on from Max Angelelli in the Euroteam F40, running with steel brakes and the old engine and gearbox, almost matching the time of Olofsson and beating Ferte in Pilot car both running to 1996 spec with carbon fibre brakes and sequential gearboxes and uprated engines.
Where you may wonder were the other characters from central casting, DPR's two McLarens and the Lister? Price's team endured much over the weekend, starting with problems with the world's favourite airline failing to deliver all his spares. The next obstacle was the loss of all the best Goodyear rubber in a bizarre fire onboard a ship apparently near Manila. Just when things could not get much worse they did! Two laps into the first session Wallace suffered big oversteer in the Harrods car, the consequence of the engine leaking all it's water over the rear tyres. Net effect an engine change (using the only spare that McLaren had brought with them)! which was not as simple as it may sound. DPR has ploughed its own furrow in developing the 1995 cars for 1996 and the plumbing, wiring and other ancillaries of the latest BMW V12 does not fit easily being designed to fit 1996 models. This job took all evening, robbing the hard working mechanics of rest and the lost track time meant that Grouillard would not really participate in fight up at the sharp end. The Goodyear problem afflicted Big John Nielsen and left the West car down in seventh with its team-mate in 11th.
The Lister had promised much with a new driver in the mercurial Christophe Bouchut supplementing the regulars of Geoff Lees and Tiff Needell. Old sports car hands like myself had side bets that Lees would outpace the highly rated Frenchman and so it proved. Laurence Pearce, Lister team supremo became ashen faced as the car refused to run cleanly on the Saturday as a sensor on the crankshaft had broken. A real pity as they had hoped for a front row place, which would have given us all the amusing diversion of watching GTC/Gulf Racing team manager Michael Cane eating his hat, which he had promised to do if outqualified by the front engined machine. None was more disappointed than top taxi driver and ROSPA badge holder, James Weaver, who had sold tickets for the feast.
There was only two serious local entries in GT1, the SARD which now sounds like a true Detroit V8 stock block and this rumbled round to take a respectable tenth spot in the hands of Alain Ferte. The other new car was the much heralded but now rather late Lamborghini Diablo Jota (Diabro in the programme) which sounded glorious but was frankly slow. The prospects for battle in GT2 were as good as if not better than in GT1. The continued problems with Porsche GT1 EVO have driven the Konrad team to try to seek victory in he junior category. Bob Wollek was drafted in to partner Stephan Ortelli in an effort to improve on the second place achieved at Anderstorp. Ranged against them was the class leader Roock Racing's 911 with Ralf Kelleners rejoining regulars Bruno Eichmann and Gerd Ruch. Adding to the superstar content in GT2 was Lanzante's recruitment of Yannick Dalmas to co-drive with Soames Langton and Paul Burdell and as if this was not enough the locals had come up with two competitive Honda NSXs for the familiar Kunimitsu team and the PIAA version run by local legend Saturo Nakajima and on pole we had the Marcos. The cognoscenti figured that GT2 would be the race to watch.
Sunday's competition was pretty dull, probably the worst of the year so far. The GTC/Gulf Racing team did their job properly and everyone else did not for a variety of reasons. The pairing of Bellm and Weaver now lead the title race by 40 points from eventual GT2 winners Roock Racing. The Konrad car was second in class with the Marcos completing the podium spots. Heroes for the weekend as usual were the mechanics. This bunch of loonies did the customary fantastic job in appalling conditions of heat and humidity, thousand yard stares were the order of the day at the Log Cabin Bar before any beer had been consumed. Even by these high standards the OREACA Viper team warrant a special mention in dispatches. On the first lap of official practice Phillipe Gache was put into the barriers by an errant Porsche (lot of them about over the weekend) destroying the front end of the car and on a Viper there is a lot of front end to destroy. The car was recovered by 2.00 in the afternoon and then was worked on through till 5.00 the following morning to complete the rebuild. During the race the car ran well till a wheel fell off resulting in a slow lap Reliant Robin style. The piece de resistance was the front right tyre exploding about 30 minutes from the end of the race shredding the engine cover and other bodywork. The car limped into the pits and the boys threw themselves onto it taping the flapping fibreglass and jamming another wheel on. The cheers from the crowd as the battered vehicle stumbled back into the race were recognition of the hard work involved.
The other issue which was vexing everyone's minds (and tongues) was what is going to happen next year. The arrival of the GT1 Porsche has raised the game in the same way that the McLaren's first appearance at Jerez did in 1995. The predictions are that in GT1 we will have 8 GT1 Porsche's against the same number of Ferrari F50s and 1997 McLarens. Despite what has been said in the press the decision on whether to run the McLaren's with the trusty V12 or a V8 twin turbo will not be made till the regulations are published. The factory was testing a car recently at Jerez with a greatly enlarged radiator system "to help keep the drivers cooler!" or even to accommodate a turbo. Other contenders will be a new Lister, right on the weight limit and carbon fibre chassised and 4 Lotus Elises with also a new carbon fibre chassis and the V8 turbo from this year.
In GT2 Paul Burdell has purchased this years Esprits for Lanzante to run and their opposition may include works Vipers. The problem of how to fund all this expansion has been in people's minds and also how to keep the original spirit of the BPR alive i.e. gentlemen racing recognisable road going sportscars. Various proposals have been made, one of the richest coming from Ray Bellm himself suggesting limiting the driver pairing in each team to one gentlemen and one professional, I wonder who might benefit from that? The organisers have not shown consistency in their views on the future of the series, Jurgen Barth was loudly proclaiming the need for private teams over works backed efforts at the start of the season but now is advocating that things will have to go down the full works route. Jurgen's own role has been questioned with his job at Porsche seen to be a conflict of interest with the duties of running a series. Other issues such as proposing in June, two races counting for full points in Brazil in December, have left the leading British teams very unhappy. There were several meetings amongst the teams at Suzuka and they are going to have a formal chat with BPR at Brands.
More news from the front as it comes.
It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.
jb