19/10/07

Round 8 of the 2007 Elise Trophy held at Spa Franchorchamps on October 12th to 14th 2007. Supported by Cunninghams Auto, the official QPod and QT car dealer for East Anglia and the South East.

For round 8 of the 2007 Elise Trophy series, the Elise Trophy drivers headed to probably the best circuit in the world, Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. While a handful of the drivers had raced there before, and others had driven it on track days, for a lot of the drivers it was their first visit to the picturesque circuit in the Ardennes. Anticipation was high In the weeks leading up to the meeting. Ex Lotus F1 driver Martin Donnelly would once again be competing, this time in Christian Watkins’ class B Elise. A handful of drivers from mainland Europe had also been invited to join us on the grid at Spa.

Qualifying – Fri 12th

As we gathered in the paddock on Fri morning there were a few nervous faces as a light drizzle began to fall, but it didn’t last long and the circuit was dry as we headed out for qualifying. Even with a 39 second difference from first to last on the grid, with 34 cars on the 4.3 mile circuit most people managed to make themselves some space.

Chris Randall was the pace-setter in his class D Exige, with a time of 2:42. Martin Roos, in his class D Exige 240R, was only 0.6s behind and looked set to keep Randall honest. Andrew Kell set the fastest time in class C, a 2:47 putting him 3rd on the grid, closely followed by Andrew Walsh (who it transpired had engine problems and in the end didn’t start either Elise Trophy race) in 4th and Russ Treasure in 6th.

Steve Williams, with a time of 2:50, put his car 5th on the grid to head up class B, followed by Chris Pearson in 7th and Neil McKean in 8th.

The class A qualifying battle was won by Malcolm Edeson with a time of 2:58, 14th on the grid, followed by Paul Quinn & Michael Edwards. Donnelly was unable to set a time in qualifying in Watrkins’ car due to mechanical problems. In the end he reverted to the car he raced at Donington Park in September, Paul Golding’s class A car, and would start from the back of the grid.

Race 1 – Sat 13th

Race day dawned dry and bright, with the Spa Francorhamps circuit looking spectacular in the Autumn sun. The formation & green flag laps seem to take forever on a circuit this long, but at last we were lined up, the red lights went out and we were off! Randall got away cleanly at the front, while Roos made a slow start from second on the grid as he couldn’t see the lights due to his Hans device! As the field piled into La Source for the first time, it was Randall in the lead, followed by Kell, Treasure & Williams. Treasure outdragged Kell on the run down to Eau Rouge and took 2nd place as they headed along the Kemel straight. By the end of lap 1 a hard charging Roos had made his way up to 3rd, before spinning off at the Bus Stop and finding himself well down the order. Treasure retired with a puncture at the end of lap 3. Meanwhile Donnelly was carving his way through the field from the back of the grid, making up 20 places on the first lap, and was leading class A by the end of lap 2!

In the end Randall took a comfortable lights-to-flag overall victory, setting the fastest lap in the process. Kell and Williams battled pretty much throughout the race, until Williams spun exiting the Bus Stop, giving Kell some breathing space. In the end Kell finished 2nd overall to take the class C victory, 48secs behind Randall, and 3.5secs ahead of Williams, who took the class B victory with 3rd overall. McKean & David Harvey tussled throughout the race in class B, with Harvey finally outdragging McKean over the finish line to take 2nd in class by 0.1sec.

In class A Donnelly showed his class by coming from the back of the grid to take the class victory, and 10th overall. Edwards had driven a storming race and was running a strong 2nd in class when he tripped his inertia switch though Blanchimont on the last lap, and ground to an agonising halt, yards from the line! In the end Edeson took 2nd in class, followed by Hans Baumhardt in his S2 Elise. BJ Chong retired on lap 3 with clutch failure. Mark Peasey under-estimated the amount of fuel needed to race at Spa and found himself coasting to a slightly embarrassed halt when his engine cut out on lap 6!

Race summary – 31 starters, 28 finished.

Race 2 – Sun 14th

Sunday once again dawned dry and sunny, we were starting to think this was standard Spa weather! After a few mechanical failures it was a slightly depleted grid of 26 cars that lined up for race 2.

As the lights went out Randall, starting from pole, found that he couldn’t see the lights due to glare, only realising the race had started as cars streamed past him! This time it was Williams, front runner for the Elise Trophy curmudgeon of the year award, who made the best start, leading into La Source. Randall quickly got back on the loud pedal, getting past Williams on the Kemel straight to take the lead. Treasure once again made a good start, getting past Williams on the ‘endurance’ pit straight to move into 2nd place. Donnelly, once again starting from the back of the grid, gave the class A drivers a masterclass in overtaking as he made his way up the order off the start.

Randall once again led the race from lights-to-flag, to take the overall and Class D victory. Treasure, who has suffered reliability issues all season , took a well-deserved 2nd overall and class C win. Williams & McKean tussled throughout the race, swapping places a number of times before Williams, who was closing in on Treasure in the final laps of the race, brought his car home 3rd overall to take the class B win, followed by McKean & Harvey. In class A Donnelly once again took the class victory with 8th overall, followed home by Edeson & Quinn (10th and 11th overall respectively).

Race summary – 26 starters, 26 finished.

Heritage GTCC Races

We had been invited to enter cars in the two Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge races at Spa over the weekend. The response from the Elise Trophy drivers was enthusiastic to say the least, with 26 cars and 36 drivers entered in the 50min endurance race on the Saturday. This race included a compulsory pit stop, with driver changes for a lot of the cars, and with a couple of cars needing re-fuelling.

The 25min qualifying session was on Friday, with 3 Elise Trophy cars, driven by Randall/Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Gooday/Walsh and Kell occupying the first 3 slots on the grid. Donnelly showed what he could do in Golding’s class A car, recording an excellent time of 2:53 putting him 8th on the grid. Qualifying was an eye-opening experience, with a mixed field of 53 cars including Elises, Aston Martins, Morgans, Triumphs, Caterhams & BMWs!

The 50min race was on Saturday, with Randall/Fitzgerald making a clean getaway to take the race win. Treasure & Kell battled for 2nd place for 5 laps before Kell suffered an engine failure and retired. Chris Pearson, in Treasure’s car, was running in a strong 4th place when he mis-interpreted a “P4” pit board and came in to the pits for an unnecessary stop, dropping them to 13th! Other strong drives included: Harvey/Sean Bicknell who took 4th place in Harvey’s 340R; Donnelly/David Skeggs – 5th in Goldings’s Elise; Jan Van der Kooi – 8th; Matthew Bartlett/McKean – 9th; Gooday/Walsh – 10th.

A handful of Elise Trophy racers also entered the Heritage GTCC 25min race on Sunday afternoon. Congratulations to Treasure/Pearson who took the outright win in Treasure’s day-glo Exige, Gooday/Walsh who took 3rd overall in Gooday’s 340R. Skeggs & Jeremy Braker also had strong drives to take 7th & 8th respectively.

Thanks to Heritage for inviting us to join their races over the weekend and for their excellent hospitality.

Heritage GTCC race report

Conclusion

Another excellent weekend’s racing at an awesome circuit. Congratulations to James Knight, who is the only driver to have completed all 16 races this year, despite a spin and some inter-car contact at La Source in race 1! Congratulations also to Jan Van der Kooi who completed 3 races over the weekend and was awarded a trophy for Best International Driver.

Look out for further television coverage of Elise Trophy races on Motors TV (the first showing of the Donington Park races is on Fri 30th November at 8:30pm). For further details of our television coverage and to see a short promo, please check out the Race Television web site.

Our final race meeting of the year sees us back at Brands Hatch on 10-11th November 2007. Fingers crossed it’s a bit warmer than it was in March!

Official photos courtesy of Jean-Philippe Moreau

Gavin Kirby’s S2 Exige	David Skeggs	The wheels are off Malcolm Edeson’s car	Chris Pearson & Russ Treasure
Tom Chatterway & Paul Pattison	Martin Donnelly explains racecraft to a rapt audience	Andrew Kell being interviewed by Gemma Scott	Steve Williams patches up James Knight’s car
Race 1 class B podium – Williams, David Harvey & Neil McKean (1/2,/3)	Race 1 class D podium – Chris Randall, Martin Roos (well in fact that’s Kell’s mother!) & Cai Cederholm (1/2/3)	Heritage GTCC race	Heritage GTCC race
Treasure’s Exige	Randall’s Exige	Harvey’s 340R	Paul Quinn chases down Pattison
Graham Walsh	Jeremy Braker followed by Harvey	Nigel Goater back in his old car	Skeggs & Donnelly collect their trophy in the Heritage GTCC 50min race
Randall & Scott Fitzgerald, outright winners in the GTCC 50min race	Sunday morning was chilly!	McKean’s car gets some attention	Kemel straight
Knight’s S1 Elise