The Motorsport Journalism thread.

[adam46]

Hello,
I am Adam and as some members of this excellent forum may already know, I aspire to be a Motorsport Journalist. So I thought I would start a thread where I can share any race reports/articles I do, and also let other people who have a similar dream join in. Hopefully this may even become a viable source of Motorsport News & Results.

So here you are folks, please don't let me do this on my own!

[adam46]

I think I will start this off with my Britcar report from the last round at the Brands Hatch GP circuit.

Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship Round 6: Brands Hatch GP.



Brands Hatch played host to an exceptional endurance race on the 15th July. The two hour race was full of excitement, attrition and exceptional driving from the Britcar teams…



After the amazing overall victory from Class 3 team Bullrun, many teams from lower classes felt they could feasibly emulate the performance of the team.



Bullrun’s rapid Lotus Evora was just one of many cars in contention for the race. Britcar Class 1 regulars SB Race Engineering are always competitive in there Ferrari 430 GT, as are the Neil Garner/ Azteca Mosler of Spanish duo Javier Morcillo & Manuel Cintrano. Wessex Vehicles were back with a new car, the ex-United Autosports Audi R8 LMS. They would certainley be hoping for a good result in the car, with Nigel Mustill being partnered by John Martin, who has a good history at the Brands Hatch GP circuit including wins in the Superleague Formula in 2010.



As usual Marcos was well represented by the experienced campaigners Team Tiger and Topcats Racing. Simon Phillips and Pete Storey would provide good competition for the Marcos’s in their Motionsport Ferrari 458. In class 3 Team Webb looked a force to be reckoned with in their BMW M3 GTR.



Qualifying.



It was Andy Schulz in the SB Racing Engineering Ferrari 430 who managed to take overall pole for the race ahead. He faced stiff competition from Javier Morcillo in the Mosler, The Topcats Racing Marcos and GT Racing newcomer John Martin in the Wessex Vehicles Audi R8. Eventually it was Morcillo who came second, with the Class 2 Topcats Marcos lining up third and the Wessex Vehicles Audi rounding out the top four.







Race:



On race day a large majority of the fans that turned out for the F2/International GT Open races stayed on to see the 2 hour endurance race.



As the order sorted itself out through Paddock Hill Bend and Druids, The Bullrun Lotus Evora made up several places, while the Mosler of Manuel Cintrano dropped down to forth by the end of the first lap and continued to decend right out of the top 6 as the lower class cars swamped it. Another Class 1 car swamped by the pack was the ex-United Autosports Audi which was started by Nigel Mustill.



The Team Tiger Marcos Mantis showed great pace early on in the race, competing with the SB Racing Engineering Ferrari, being driven by Paul Bailey, and the Bullrun Lotus Evora of Martin Byford. Unfortunatley there race was cut short due to a rear-end vibration. Meanwhile the Azteca Mosler was still in the lower half of the top 10, but managed to stay on the leaders lap as the pit stops started.



Paul Bailey stopped quite early on to get the cars faster driver, Andy Schulz, in to hopefully seal the win for the team. Meanwhile the Mosler of Manuel Cintrano pitted quite late and then managed to take advantage of the first safety car of the race with there faster driver Javier Morcillo behind the wheel. The Bullrun Lotus did not pit, Martin Byford instead opting to do a long stint.



Once the race got underway again Andy Schulz started edging out on Javier Morcillo, getting a nice cushion over the Mosler. Then the Spanish driver looked as if he was starting to start catching the Ferrari again, just as a second Safety car was deployed. Meanwhile the Wessex Vehicles team’s new Audi had pulled in the pit twice in quick succession, Firstly to put John Martin in the car to try and make up ground. He hadn’t even managed half a dozen laps before he was back in for the second and final time due to a issue that spelled the end of the race for the team in their first outing with the new car. The Bullrun Lotus had now dropped out of the picture slightly after there penalty seconds, a consequence of there amazing performance at Oulton Park.



After the second safety car an epic battle commenced between the leading Andy Schulz and Javier Morcillo. Every lap the Mosler seemed poised to make a move as they went into Surtees, but due to some master defensive driving from Schulz, he could not get past. Meanwhile it was the Motionsport Ferrari leading Class 2, despite a niggling problem with the electronics.



Upfront the battle between Schulz and Morcillo was still raging as they went into the penultimate lap, with the Mosler much closer around Paddock Hill Bend than before. As they ran up into Druids Morcillo pulled alongside the inside of the Ferrari. Schulz attempted to shut the door on the Mosler but the front end of the American machine came into contact with it’s Italian counterpart, spinning Schulz and putting him out of contention for the win.



So it was Morcillo who now had the comfort of cruising across the line for a great victory. The SB Racing Engineering Ferrari came second but was notably slower than before, almost losing second overall to the Class Four victors Ryan Ratcliffe and Joe Osbourne. Fourth place went to the Class Two winners Pete Storey and Simon Phillips in there Motionsport Ferrari 458, while the class three winners Tom and James Webb came fifth overall in their BMW GTR.



Due to Ratcliffe and Osbourne being an invitation class car, the solo drive of Adam Sharp in his Porsche 996 was awarded full class points.





So a great race rounded off a great weekend at Brands Hatch and bodes well for a competitive next race at Snetterton in August.







Result

1 1 Morcillo/Cintrano Mosler MT900R 70 laps

2 1 Bailey/Schulz Ferrari 430 70 laps

3 4i Osbourne/Ratcliffe Ginetta G50 70 laps

4 2 Phillips/Storey Ferrari 458 69 laps

5 3 T Webb/J Webb BMW GTR 69 laps



Points

1 Byford / Green/Adams Lotus Evora 184 pts

2 Morcillo / Cintrano/ White Mosler MT900R 183 pts

3 O’Neill/Huggins/Winstanley/Fiorentino Marcos Mantis 179 pts

4 Phillips / Storey Ferrari 458 177 pts

5 Bailey/ Schulz Ferrari 430 168 pts.

The Britcar Press Officer Steve Wood quite liked this; But what do you guys think?

[andrewc]

You could contribute to Racing Exposure site if you wanted to...

[adam46]

Didn't know there was such a thing. Thanks for the tip.

[retrognome]

Hi, if you attend any historic meetings we would always consider a 500 word report. It's good to see someone who is prepared to write and not just take pictures. Good luck Peter Baker www.retro-speed.co.uk

[adam46]

Hi,
I've just had my report from the Britcar Production Cup put up on the Daily Sportscar site.

I would hyperlink it but I have no idea how to do such a thing.

Retrognome; I am a regular at Brands Hatch so next time I am in attendance at a historic meeting I will see what I can do! You are not the first to make the picture remark...

[JurekB]

I write as well as taking pictures. Seems a bit daft to take pictures and not write about them.

[adam46]

Hi,

I have nothing new to post at this moment in time but I will be doing several season review's over winter. If any Championship/Driver/Team wants a review of their season don't hesitate to contact me.

[adam46]

Hello everyone.

I have just started a page for my journalism on Facebook. I will be doing Daily Round-Up's of the Motorsport news every evening. Here is today's one, the first ever!

"For many UK citizen's today has been completely white, but this didn't stop those more familiar with the 'black stuff' creating some news for people like me to report on!

In Formula One, Williams announced it's 2013 car, the FW35, will not appear at the first test of the season at the Spanish Jerez circuit. Instead, a 2012 FW34 bearing the 2013 livery will test, with some parts being tested for this year's car.

Force India were featured in a couple of stories today; The team denied their future was in Jeopardy, and also stated they would not confirm the identity of their second driver before or during the launch of their 2013 machine. They also said that they will 'probably' reveal who will partner Paul Di Resta before testing begins. Ferrari-backed driver Jules Bianchi and former Force India driver Adrian Sutil look to be the two most likely candidates.

Now to rallying, and Sebastian Loeb has dominated the WRC-opening Monte Carlo Rally thus far. His chances of winning were aided today as his former Citroen protégé Sebastian Ogier took a careful approach to the icy roads. The VW driver is not overly concerned about Loeb getting away though, since the Nine-Time Champion is not going for a 10th title and is only competing on a part-time schedule. Evgeny Novikov is the current holder of third place, after Dani Sordo lost time with a spin during the day; The gap between them is 1.7 seconds.

Jari-Matti Latvala is currently fifth position, having taken the place from former teammate Mikko Hirvonen.

Touring Cars; Turkington's back! The 2009 BTCC Champion Colin Turkington has returned to West Surrey Racing for a campaign in the new NGTC BMW 125i. His WSR teammate Rob Collard describes his return as a lift for the squad, and it will certainly lift the excitement to a new level for the new season. Over to the Aussie side of the tin-top spectrum, and the V8 Supercars. It's been announced that they have lost their slot on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix support bill this season. This could be considered a blow to the series, but it has been said that the FOM informed them of this in December, which means they have had enough time to plan the schedule knowing of this news.

Meanwhile in the WTCC, the weights of all 2013 cars has been levelled. All cars will run at a weight of 1150kg, including the driver.

Now to a somewhat quiet day in GT's. Today's stand out news was the addition of Rhino's Leipert Motorsport on a full season entry in British GT. The team competed in some races last season with their Beautiful Lamborghini Gallardo LP600, and this year they are planning a two car entry.

Have I missed something? Do let me know! (I will update on any Dakar news later on)"

Please give me some honest feedback, and like my page, which can be found here! http://www.facebook.com/AdamTheMotorsportJourno?ref=hl

Thanks for your time!