There
was carnage at Oulton Park yesterday as the British GT Championship took to the
track only to be dumped on by torrential rain ten minutes into the race. A
particularly full field of cars was tiptoeing around a track still damp from an
earlier shower when a cloudburst resulted in instant flooding and chaos on
track.
On the sixth lap Saleens 8 and 9 both piroutted on the standing water, one
car careering into the other and then both cars were collected by the Viper of
Steve Watson. Marshals had clambered over the barriers to assist the drivers and
appeared to be caught up in the melee although we hear that noone suffered any
serious injuries in the horrific incident.
Also wiped out was the Rollcentre Tuscan R driven my Simon Pullan. Cruising
in a straight line, the water sent him wildly off course resulting in a huge
impact. The rollcage did its job (getting bent in the impact) and Pullan
survived uninjured. Other cars to suffer minor impacts included the Eclipse
Tuscan R, Mullen/Simonsen Ferrari 360 and the PK Sport car of Piers Maserati.
It was almost an hour and a half before the debris could be cleared and the
track declared safe once again. Fourteen cars took the re-start on a wet track
and it was the Lister Storm of Mike Jordan that then hit trouble with a spin at
Druids that cost two laps before Jordan could rejoin.
In the closing stages, the TVR got ever closer to the lead Saleen, but the
margin of victory was still close to ten seconds. "That was a tough race
for everyone," said Erdos. "It was horrendous in the rain,"
he added.
Into a fine third in GT came the Steven Brady/Neil Cunningham Ultima, which
caught and passed the Chrysler Viper of Peter Cook late in the race.
In the GTO category the remaining cars did the business and it was the PK
Sport 911GT3-RS of Piers Masarati and Robin Liddell that took the victory after
a fierce battle with the similar car of Steve O’Rourke/Tim Sugden.
"To be honest, I had no idea where we were, but I realised that Tim
was struggling with his wet tyres," said an elated Liddell. "That
was a really unbelievable race," added Masarati.
John Hartshorne and Piers Johnson turned in a fine drive to claim third in
GTO in their TVR Tuscan R, while David and Godfrey Jones worked their Porsche
ahead of the David Leslie/Tommy Rustad Ferrari late in the race to take fourth
in GTO.
It wasn't a good day for the GT teams - taking your car home in bin bags
isn't the idea.