TVR Tuscans go International
Discussion
Many congratulations to Andy Holding and Darren Dowling who took a third overall podium place and won the GT3 class of the International GT 90's race at Silverstone today.
After a superb start in the first race on Saturday and a huge dice with 2 Porsche GT2 cars over third place, the engine in Andy's car let go big time so it was all the more sweet that after changing engines overnight they showed what a Tuscan can do against in period 90s Ferraris, Porsches Stealths, Venturis etc. Brilliant.
Steve Glynn and Tim Hood driving Steve's Tuscan also had a great weekend. They finished 5th overall in both races winning the GT3 class on Saturday and finishing 3rd in class on Sunday.
This just shows how competitive the Tuscan Challenge cars really are and they can still be seen racing in the BRSCC Dunlop Tuscan Challenge at a circuit near you. The cars still provide the biggest value in performance per £ you can get.
Well done everyone.
After a superb start in the first race on Saturday and a huge dice with 2 Porsche GT2 cars over third place, the engine in Andy's car let go big time so it was all the more sweet that after changing engines overnight they showed what a Tuscan can do against in period 90s Ferraris, Porsches Stealths, Venturis etc. Brilliant.
Steve Glynn and Tim Hood driving Steve's Tuscan also had a great weekend. They finished 5th overall in both races winning the GT3 class on Saturday and finishing 3rd in class on Sunday.
This just shows how competitive the Tuscan Challenge cars really are and they can still be seen racing in the BRSCC Dunlop Tuscan Challenge at a circuit near you. The cars still provide the biggest value in performance per £ you can get.
Well done everyone.
Thanks Hui, it was a great weekend, really well organised, top people looking after the GT90's Revival and amazing company with all the big current FIA GT's in the same package.
Taking the win on Saturday, was extremely satisfying given that the problems Tim and Terry had getting the car together meant that neither of them got any sleep for literally 36 hours, we had to miss the two practice sessions and only made qualifying by 5 minutes. So qualifying blind in that it's nearly 10 years since Tim's done Silverstone GP and I've never raced the GP circuit before was fun!!!
We had a few problems with the car today, diff oil everywhere which ceased the power steering forcing Tim to pit for a second time. Certainly cost us second in class which was a shame but nevertheless another podium finish was very pleasing.
Thanks to everyone who came to support and say hi to us in our awning, great to see you.
Steve
Taking the win on Saturday, was extremely satisfying given that the problems Tim and Terry had getting the car together meant that neither of them got any sleep for literally 36 hours, we had to miss the two practice sessions and only made qualifying by 5 minutes. So qualifying blind in that it's nearly 10 years since Tim's done Silverstone GP and I've never raced the GP circuit before was fun!!!
We had a few problems with the car today, diff oil everywhere which ceased the power steering forcing Tim to pit for a second time. Certainly cost us second in class which was a shame but nevertheless another podium finish was very pleasing.
Thanks to everyone who came to support and say hi to us in our awning, great to see you.
Steve
Well done Steve,excellent result for you and Tim , seems Terry did a blinding job keeping everything right on the mechanical side.
Plus Andy and Darren gaining an overall 3rd as well, proving that despite the Tuscans being the most affordable cars in the series ,they were far from outclassed by the exotica.
Hope to see more races like this in the future,to see Tuscans out there ,holding there own in this sort of company is just glorious , if a touch poignant...www.gt90s-revival.com/pics/index.h
Plus Andy and Darren gaining an overall 3rd as well, proving that despite the Tuscans being the most affordable cars in the series ,they were far from outclassed by the exotica.
Hope to see more races like this in the future,to see Tuscans out there ,holding there own in this sort of company is just glorious , if a touch poignant...www.gt90s-revival.com/pics/index.h
Thanks Darren, Terry and Tim did a remarkable job, although one I'm sure they'll want to try and forget. Tim was saying that they've never experienced anything quite like it in their 10 years with Tuscans!
Anyway, as you say, great to see the Tuscans out there, hopefully it will encourage more to come and play. See you soon mate.
Steve
Anyway, as you say, great to see the Tuscans out there, hopefully it will encourage more to come and play. See you soon mate.
Steve
dave porter said:
Short memory steve,......?
Edited by dave porter on Monday 7th May 16:30
Appologies Dave, I'm so used to Tim and Terry doing everything as they've looked after me for nearly two years now and have never encountered anything quite like it before. Your help at Silverstone was hugely appreciated by us all, certainly not forgotten and as I'm sure you know, we wouldn't hesitate to ask for your help again. Please don't be offended by my previous omission, it wasn't meant badly in any way - and yes you certainly deserve your share of the credit. Many thanks again,
Steve
I guess as the Tuscan Challenge continues to get more and more cars on the grid, Dave's going to be getting a bit busy. I'll get into trouble for cross posting, but here is our race report from the GT Racing forum:
Arrived on Thursday to set up. The Tuscan Challenge boys will no doubt be pleased to see that the bay trees have thrived during the winter and were joined this weekend by some floral displays within the awning
The new tyre trolley was also a great success, right up to the point where it knocked me over on the way to the podium yesterday...
Terry and Tim had huge problems getting Steve Glynn's car ready, missing both Free Practice sessions. Darren lent them our spare gearbox which enabled them to get out for qualifying - but not until after 36 hours or so of endless grief.
In FP 1, and as a consequence of moving the seating position around to accomodate Darren in the car, I fluffed a downchange on my first time at speed through Copse (stretching for the pedals) and put a shock through the transmission, losing all drive. The drive shaft flange had pulled out of the side of the diff.
We changed the diff for FP2 only to have the ECU pack up mid way through the session. A sprint back to the awning for the spare got us back out again but only for a few laps. By qualifying Darren had done 3 laps, and I had done 5. Only a little better than Steve and Tim who had none at all. Tim and Darren raced on the full GP circuit in the Tuscan Challenge in 2003, but Steve and I have never raced on it - losing practice time was not the best preparation, but c'est la vie, you crack on with it (see how the French Venturie guys have infiltrated this report without me even noticing)
Qualifying went without a hitch, and the combined average of our two driver's times put us 5th on the grid, first in class and ahead of all the GT2s. Tim and Steve were in 9th, 3rd in GT3.
Come Saturday we decided Darren would start the race and hand over to me at around the 20 minute mark. He got a blinding start into 3rd and a three or four lap battle with the Stealth and then the two Porsche GT2s, before backing off slightly to secure the GT3 win. With a very comfortable cushion of some 30 seconds or so, we signalled for him to pit for the driver change. Unfortunately at the end of the Hangar Straight the engine let go in a huge fashion, with a rod blowing a hole in the side of the block and through the bottom of the sump pan. Bitterly disappointing as third overall was on the cards, and the GT3 class win was in the bag. But as they say, to finish first, first you have to finish....
This left us with a lot of work to do, with Andy from APM Automotive and Charlie Barnard bearing the brunt of the work to fit the spare engine, working late into the night. Huge thanks to them both for their sterling efforts.
We would start 12th on the grid for race 2, and I did the first stint. The first lap and a half were good fun carving through the slower cars, but once I passed Steve on the Hangar Straight on Lap 2 it was a case of driving steadily, not making mistakes and short shifting to ensure we had no repeat of the previous day's engine issues.
We pitted on lap 12, leading GT3 with a buffer of about 29 seconds over Steve. Darren then drove a smooth and steady second stint to take third overall and the GT3 win by a huge 1 minute 43 second margin over the #68 Venturi, after Tim was forced to pit a second time for a mechanical issue in the other Tuscan.
Overall it was a great weekend. Very hard work, but hugely satisfying to pitch the Tuscan against international compatition and to do so well. The series should grow from the relatively small grid at Silverstone and SRO are hoping to have a race at Spa during the FIA GT 24 hour weekend in July. There is a confirmed round at Magny Cours in October.
There were a few teething problems which no doubt will get sorted - the pit lane entry was completely blocked during live qualifying by a course car and an FIA GT3 car, the first race was shortened without any of the teams being notified, the minimum pit stop duration was changed as we walked into the pitlane, and finally the podium arrangements were, erm, disarranged. Somewhat surprising for an FIA run event, but no doubt the GT90 team from SRO are on the case and I suspect it will all run perfectly when the boss (Stephan Ratel) is out in his F40 at the next round.
It did feel slightly surreal sitting on the dummy grid alongside a Lotus GT1, a Ferrari 550GT and F40 behind, with my view of Liz Hurley wandering up the grid slightly obscured by the (pert) bottom of my FIA GT brolly girl...
For the record Liz Hurley's husband was the last of the 10 finishers, but he seemed like a jolly nice chap.... (in fact all the Venturi guys were great fun!).
So there you go. In this new International series, it appears that if you want to win GT3, the car to have is a TVR Tuscan!
Arrived on Thursday to set up. The Tuscan Challenge boys will no doubt be pleased to see that the bay trees have thrived during the winter and were joined this weekend by some floral displays within the awning
The new tyre trolley was also a great success, right up to the point where it knocked me over on the way to the podium yesterday... Terry and Tim had huge problems getting Steve Glynn's car ready, missing both Free Practice sessions. Darren lent them our spare gearbox which enabled them to get out for qualifying - but not until after 36 hours or so of endless grief.
In FP 1, and as a consequence of moving the seating position around to accomodate Darren in the car, I fluffed a downchange on my first time at speed through Copse (stretching for the pedals) and put a shock through the transmission, losing all drive. The drive shaft flange had pulled out of the side of the diff.
We changed the diff for FP2 only to have the ECU pack up mid way through the session. A sprint back to the awning for the spare got us back out again but only for a few laps. By qualifying Darren had done 3 laps, and I had done 5. Only a little better than Steve and Tim who had none at all. Tim and Darren raced on the full GP circuit in the Tuscan Challenge in 2003, but Steve and I have never raced on it - losing practice time was not the best preparation, but c'est la vie, you crack on with it (see how the French Venturie guys have infiltrated this report without me even noticing)
Qualifying went without a hitch, and the combined average of our two driver's times put us 5th on the grid, first in class and ahead of all the GT2s. Tim and Steve were in 9th, 3rd in GT3.
Come Saturday we decided Darren would start the race and hand over to me at around the 20 minute mark. He got a blinding start into 3rd and a three or four lap battle with the Stealth and then the two Porsche GT2s, before backing off slightly to secure the GT3 win. With a very comfortable cushion of some 30 seconds or so, we signalled for him to pit for the driver change. Unfortunately at the end of the Hangar Straight the engine let go in a huge fashion, with a rod blowing a hole in the side of the block and through the bottom of the sump pan. Bitterly disappointing as third overall was on the cards, and the GT3 class win was in the bag. But as they say, to finish first, first you have to finish....
This left us with a lot of work to do, with Andy from APM Automotive and Charlie Barnard bearing the brunt of the work to fit the spare engine, working late into the night. Huge thanks to them both for their sterling efforts.
We would start 12th on the grid for race 2, and I did the first stint. The first lap and a half were good fun carving through the slower cars, but once I passed Steve on the Hangar Straight on Lap 2 it was a case of driving steadily, not making mistakes and short shifting to ensure we had no repeat of the previous day's engine issues.
We pitted on lap 12, leading GT3 with a buffer of about 29 seconds over Steve. Darren then drove a smooth and steady second stint to take third overall and the GT3 win by a huge 1 minute 43 second margin over the #68 Venturi, after Tim was forced to pit a second time for a mechanical issue in the other Tuscan.
Overall it was a great weekend. Very hard work, but hugely satisfying to pitch the Tuscan against international compatition and to do so well. The series should grow from the relatively small grid at Silverstone and SRO are hoping to have a race at Spa during the FIA GT 24 hour weekend in July. There is a confirmed round at Magny Cours in October.
There were a few teething problems which no doubt will get sorted - the pit lane entry was completely blocked during live qualifying by a course car and an FIA GT3 car, the first race was shortened without any of the teams being notified, the minimum pit stop duration was changed as we walked into the pitlane, and finally the podium arrangements were, erm, disarranged. Somewhat surprising for an FIA run event, but no doubt the GT90 team from SRO are on the case and I suspect it will all run perfectly when the boss (Stephan Ratel) is out in his F40 at the next round.
It did feel slightly surreal sitting on the dummy grid alongside a Lotus GT1, a Ferrari 550GT and F40 behind, with my view of Liz Hurley wandering up the grid slightly obscured by the (pert) bottom of my FIA GT brolly girl...
For the record Liz Hurley's husband was the last of the 10 finishers, but he seemed like a jolly nice chap.... (in fact all the Venturi guys were great fun!).
So there you go. In this new International series, it appears that if you want to win GT3, the car to have is a TVR Tuscan!
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