18 June 2009
Round 4 of the 2009 Elise Trophy held at Snetterton on 13 and 14 June 2009.
Introduction
Situated just a few miles from the factory, Snetterton circuit is the ideal location for the 2009 Lotus Festival and amongst all the attractions, including the all-new Evora’s debut as the safety car, we had a welcome return of the popular 4-race format, separating Production from the Modified and 211 classes.
Production Qualifying
Another welcome return was the sun, following an uneasy period of wet weather leading up to the weekend, with the Production cars heading out on Saturday morning.
The session promised to be good, with Paul Quinn having suffered a few misfortunes in recent weeks, even with local knowledge, his position at the very front looked to be vulnerable. The challenge came from Hans Baumhardt, James Knight, Marcus Jewell, Ken Savage and Mark Speller. Baumhardt put in some quick laps early on as another frontrunner, Paul Harding, pitted with clutch failure.
As the minutes ticked down the focus of attention was on both Quinn and Knight as the latter put in a succession of fast laps, closing in on the polesitter. A fastest lap put him at the front, then Quinn responded. However with a carefully-chosen clear track and unstoppable momentum, Knight sealed the pole with 5 minutes left to run, both himself and Quinn unable to improve any further. Following this pair were Jewell, Speller, Savage, Greg Noble, Rob Myers and then Baumhardt, who had fallen down the order. With a second between the top 8, prospects for the race were tantalising.
Of course all eyes weren’t just on the battle for pole. Making his race debut in something a little slower than his usual steeds,
World Land Speed record holder Wing Commander Andy Green was knocking on the door of the top ten before several of the regulars improved their times, eventually demoting him to 23rd.
Modified/211 Qualifying
Later on in the afternoon, the Modified and 211 classes, together with a selection of Production cars, prepared to set their fastest laps. The session quickly boiled down to a battle between returnee Jamie Stanley, Ben Pitch and Chris Randall. The former two got down to business early, with Stanley setting a searing pace. Randall joined the battle after refamiliarising himself with his newly-rebuilt Europa, the more slippery-shaped car benefitting from the long straights of the Snetterton track. He used it to take a provisional pole position but Stanley hit back and recorded a faster time.
The session was halted, however, by a stranded car 48 at Sear corner, which brought out the red flags, necessitating an anxious 10 minute wait in the pitlane. Sitting conveniently at the front of the queue, Stanley set off like a scalded cat, determined to confirm his place at the front of the field. To his great advantage, Randall and Pitch were at the other end of the line and had to make space in the final 5 minutes of the session.
It was all academic however, as none of them could improve upon their times and lined up in the order Stanley, Randall and Pitch, half a second separating the three. Next up was Steve Williams, heading Pat McBennett and David Harvey. Behind them the 211 class was topped by former Autobytel Elise champion Mark Fullalove, lapping a couple of tenths faster than series regular Gavin Kirby, who had swapped his usual ride for a GT4-spec car.
A handful of Production cars also took part, with Michael Edwards posting the fastest time, back in 18th place overall.
Race 1 Modified/211
Jamie Stanley made a poor getaway and left the way clear for Chris Randall to set off into the lead, with Steve Williams, Connaire Finn and Chris Headlam also getting ahead of the white Honda-powered Elise. Immediately Stanley was eager to atone for this and soon passed Headlam, with Ben Pitch following closely behind. However, during his comeback Stanley was to make a mistake entering the Esses and rejoining in third, was some way behind the lead battle between Randall and Williams.
With Pitch tracking his moves, Stanley made serious inroads into the gap between himself and second place, at this point held by Williams, who was finding himself unable to peg the gap to Randall. Catching the Duratec car at Russell chicane, Stanley made his move but with Williams getting a better exit onto the Senna straight, he had it all to do again.
He soon got the job done and set off after Randall at a relentless pace, despite being given a warning flag from the marshalls for his driving. This seemed to slow his progress a little but if he had done anything it wasn’t enough to satisfy the stewards, for he was given a pitlane drive-through penalty. Drawing this out to the last minute, it wasn’t enough to maintain his second place and he finished the race in 5th.
Randall took the win, a fine achievement considering that the car had just been finished following a lot of hard work after it was nearly written-off in a crash at Brands Hatch six weeks earlier. He headed Williams by 11 seconds, who just held off Pitch at the line after a good dice. Six seconds back was Headlam, then after the unfortunate Stanley the 2-Eleven pair of Gavin Kirby, taking the GT4 version to a place ahead of Mark Fullalove and Tom Chatterway, who finished behind Modified runners David Seear and Doug Setters. Top Production runner, in 14th place, was Paul Harding.
Race summary – 28 starters, 20 finished.
| Production | Modified | 2-Eleven | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Race 1 Production
Before the cars even sat on the grid the big drama of the race was that James Knight was unable to take his place at the front of the field, electrical problems relegating him to a pitlane start. This appeared to be very good news for Paul Quinn but as the cars made their way into Coram, Quinn and Marcus Jewell together, Quinn’s car was not turning into the corner and spun on the grass placing him firmly at the back of the field. Jewell was unable to capitalise, straightlining the chicane and would be headed by Mark Speller.
Speller would maintain a healthy lead, whilst behind Jewell, Ken Savage and Hans Baumhardt lapped in close company, followed by Greg Noble and Matthew Bartlett. These four would provide some good entertainment as first Baumhardt stalked Savage before making a move to claim third place. But a moment at the Esses dropped him to fourth before Savage had an even bigger moment, handing the place back to a happy Hans. Noble and Bartlett fared worse, the latter making a move on the former but unable to make the exit of the corner he spun and the unfortunate Noble collected him, however Noble was able to continue whilst Bartlett pitted.
Several drivers were making comebacks from the rear of the field. Quinn barely gained ground, perhaps a legacy of his earlier incident, whilst Paul Harding and Knight worked their way up. Knight’s progress was one of the stories of the race – pulling away from Harding, he chased down the leaders, posting the fastest lap of the race, and although a podium place became a lost cause after a late-race error, he still finished a creditable 7th.
In the end it was a clear victory for Speller, nine seconds ahead of Jewell, himself over six seconds in front of Baumhardt. Next up was Savage, then Noble and Harding. Behind Knight, Martin Roberts headed the unfortunate Quinn and John LaMaster rounded out the top ten.
Race summary – 27 starters, 19 finished.
| Overall |
|---|
|
Race 2 Production
With a reversed top-ten grid, Matthew Bartlett led the field off on the first lap, with Stuart Kirkbride unable to make the race, Hans Baumhardt should have challenged but retired almost immediately with a misfire. With the rest of the grid doing well to avoid the stricken car, Mark Speller took advantage of the confusion and found his way to the front. Marcus Jewell followed, as did Paul Quinn soon afterwards, however James Knight was taking his time picking off the runners. He was certainly struggling to dispose of Bartlett, trying at the chicane to take another scalp. At the second attempt the two made contact with Knight spinning, losing a couple of places. At this point the safety car was scrambled for another incident and for two laps the focus of interest was on the Evora lapping Snetterton.
At the restart Knight found himself unable to capitalise on the bunched field and retired with recurring electrical problems. Speller, Jewell and Quinn lapped together for some time before Quinn dropped back a bit. Some way behind, Greg Noble, Simon Phillips and Bartlett fought over 4th place.
At the flag it was Speller completing a double but this time only just over a second from Jewell and a more competitive Quinn not much further back. The trio finished some way ahead of Phillips, Noble and Bartlett, ten seconds ahead of the remainder of the top ten, Martin Roberts, Paul Harding, Mike Davies and John LaMaster.
Race summary – 27 starters, 20 finished.
| Overall |
|---|
|
Race 2 Modified/211
Another reverse top ten saw Gavin Kirby lead the field for the first time in the 2-Eleven GT4 but Ben Pitch was happy to relieve him at the Esses on lap three, taking a useful lead whilst the other front runners, Steve Williams and Chris Randall, picked off their next target, Mark Fullalove, who was keen to avenge his defeat to Kirby in race one. Not long after, Randall found himself in second and was soon under pressure from Jamie Stanley, who had also taken Williams. The two circulated as one for the entire distance, with Randall having the distinction of both the only and widest Europa in the field. At one point Stanley started a move at Coram, taking Randall into the chicane but his compromised exit handed back the advantage to the more aerodynamic coupe.
Behind them Williams, Kirby and Fullalove entered the chicane almost three abreast and despite the odds, somehow made it through in one piece. With Williams and Chris Headlam eventually clearing the 2-Eleven pairing, Kirby and Fullalove provided a mirror image of the Stanley/Randall fight. Time and time again one of the 2-Elevens would pass the other, only for the other to get past and the process would then start again. This lasted until the penultimate lap when, entering the Bombhole corner, Kirby felt the engine falter and pitted with fuel starvation caused by an almost empty tank.
So it was a finely-judged victory for Pitch, pacing the final laps to finish less than a second ahead of Randall but with the battle for second, the race had been won long before the cars crossed the line. Stanley never did clear the Europa but with Randall had provided all the entertainment as the top three completed the race distance almost fifteen seconds before Headlam, holding a similar gap to Williams, with the leading 2-Eleven of Fullalove another six seconds in arrears. Rob Beves had a quiet race to seventh, then it was the second-placed 2-Eleven of Tom Chatterway, David Seear in ninth and Doug Setters tenth. The leading production runner was Simon Phillips, in 13th place overall.
Race summary – 20 starters, 16 finished.
| Production | Modified | 2-Eleven | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Conclusion
A fantastic weekend and four hard-fought races marked a successful return to the separate-grid format. Our guest racer, Wing Commander Andy Green progressively improved throughout the sessions and recorded 18th and 15th place finishes, using his considerable calm and fighter pilot experience to get stuck into the action in his second race.
With a Lotus Cup Europe round at Hockenheim in a weeks’ time, the next Elise Trophy round is at Brands Hatch on the 17-19 July, this will be a Production-only grid, with the Modified and 211 classes out at Oulton Park at the end of July.
