BTCC Round 5 Report - Snetterton - 05 / 07 / 06

This years BTCC passed it's half way point when our drivers headed north to Snetterton in the heat of June, Sean tells us how it went for our south west drivers...

HOW FAR IS SNETTERTON!!!!!!

After packing car and trailer Friday night we headed north at 3am. Eyes wide shut; I used the force to get me to Exeter services to meet Paul H and Les, Paul R, and James. Mike, Wayne, Justin and James M had already made the trip Friday so they could be fresh on Saturday. After trying to find a place open for breakfast we eventually landed at Fleet services and after a quick bank loan for breakfast Jason showed some southbound traffic his finest ASSet. (Ross' Note - Thank god nobody caught that on camera)

A view of the splendid Snetterton track from the rostrum...

Arriving at Snetterton at 9am we set up camp and looked around this HUGE track and tried to imagine some descent racing lines. I again was 1st to hit this track and did exactly what I said "I hit everything". Justin and Jason were to go out and look very fast and precise right from the start. The 2 cars by this time were cloned as Jason copied Justin's set-up as he was running a T2 for this event. Both Pauls went out and found great speed from the start but both seemed to be a little unstable. Wayne went out and looked the opposite with a stable 415 but a little off the pace , but as with Wayne this was expected as he is always quicker on race day. Mike was looking like he knew the track and was joined by James M who clearly didn’t! James B went out and with a Pro 4 looked like he could improve on recent results. Finally Les took his 8th scale out and resembled a wallowing whale which by now is costing him a fortune in tyres due to massive wear.

Big isn't it!

The longer the day went on the bigger the gap between Jason / Justin and myself grew with Jason and Justin having the usual great tussles that I was used too. I did join them for a practise but under pressure from the both of them I buried my MSX in a bunch of tyres, 30mph to 0mph in a 1000th of a second!!! When the other 2 eventually stopped laughing they carried on without me leaving me to pick up my own pieces. Both Pauls by mid day were now looking pretty hooked up and Wayne was now with them with speed also. Both James's were now learning this track and looked a bit more confident with Les's GTRE still fish-tailing all round the track. Mike was looking like he was there to compete this week with good lines and speed I was worried he was after my spot in the "A"s. Then came this weeks "TIT" Gary Dyson. He promptly parked in the infield and Jason had no chance of missing him. Gary "TIT" Dyson then made the mistake of calling Jason a name. I then showed my true speed as an x footballer and showed the tit the error of his ways. This mistake was to result in a certain hoover to be pitting on a wet table the following day. A certain "Team Scream" contingent were drinking too much beer Saturday night and had to relieve themselves somewhere. Mmmmm Nice!
On to race day and with all my bad driving and showing how bad I was at this track I was rewarded with a qualifying spot in the "A"s. How glad I wasn’t. Justin was with me to hold my hand and Jason was in the "B"s. As I am in front of Jason in the championship then I took the big spot. Both Pauls by the same reward qualified in the "A"s in 19t.

Still more! ;-)

After all qualifiers were done then the 1st 10 places in 27t were separated by 4 seconds and fortunately the A final didn’t have me in it. Justin held onto a 10th spot in the A with Jason being very unlucky not to join him with some superb driving but only making 5th in the "B"s. I was right with my Saturday prediction and put myself 5th in the "C"s. Mike finished of the 27t with 3rd spot in the "D"s.
Paul R was top 19t SW driver with 9th on the A grid with Paul H 7th in the B's with Wayne sat 3 places behind him. Both James’s were to fight it out in the D final. Les finished the day in 8th place in the GTRE.

Justin finished highest in the 27t class with some very consistent and smooth driving to finish an overall 6th with Jason finishing 2nd in the "B"s and bringing home the 1st trophy with some of the best driving he has done to date. Putting young Matt under pressure for 4 1/2 minutes in his 1st final and leaving the following 7 cars for dead in his 2nd. I finished somewhere in the "C"s without finishing my 1st final and finishing 4th in my 2nd. Mike was the next to grab the shiny plastic with 2 solid drives in his finals but suffering from extreme interference again robbing him of his 1st win.

Smart matching colours for Wayne & Mike Belcher...

19t was finished with Paul R in an overall 9th place with a couple of steady drives but could have done better with a bit of luck. Paul H finished 16th after some hard and maybe unfair driving from a fellow team-mate and Wayne after some fantastic to watch racing with a red car finished an overall 9th in the "B"s. James M was not to finish his 1st final but went on to win his 2nd after some great advice from a "Legend" and James B continued to compete and finished an overall 6th in the "D" final which was to be 1 place behind James M. Les finished an overall 7th with a difficult to drive 8th scale and will look to improve a set-up for the next trip away. After packing up and leaving we were greeted by a 7 mile tail back by a closure on the M11 due to a serious crash which got us home at 12.30am Monday morning.

TRAK had enough committee members present at this venue to go ahead and purchase a BRM can Zapper from a fellow racer. Now watch me hit those barriers harder at the Cotswolds!!! Well done to all and see you all at Kemble Airfield.

Thanks for another informative and funny report Sean and also thanks to Mike and Wayne for the pics. Best of luck to everyone at Cotswolds next time out, let the march up the grid continue guys! :-)

Click here to return to News Archive