Autosport – 01 August 2019

(backadmin) #1
Chamberlain beat new
de Zille Ferrari in opener

Veteran raced Nissan for
first time in tricky conditions

1 AUGUST 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 73

NATIONAL REPORTS CLUB AUTOSPORT

GT CUP
Races 1 & 3 Richard Chamberlain (Porsche 935)
Race 2 Laki Christoforou/Adam Carroll
(Ferrari 488 GTC)
Race 4 John Seale/Jamie Stanley
(Lamborghini Huracan GT3)

RADICAL SR1 CUP
Races 1 & 2 Shane Stoney

ELISE TROPHY
Races 1 & 2 Jason McInulty (S3 Cup R)

MONOPOSTO MONO F3/CLASSIC/MONO 1400
Race 1 Alex Fores (Dallara F301)
Race 2 Ashley Dibden (Dallara F301)
Race 3 Mark Harrison (Dallara F397)

HERITAGE FORMULA FORD
Races 1 & 2 Oliver White (Van Diemen RF89)

PORSCHE CLUB
Race 1 Simon Clark (Cayman S)
Race 2 Chris Dyer (Cayman S)

MONOPOSTO 2000/1800/1600 AND MOTO 1000
Races 1, 2 & 3 Dominic Shepherd (JKS)

7 RACE SERIES
Race 1 Phil Jenkins (Caterham 420R)
Race 2 Lee Wiggins (Caterham 420R)

SNETTERTON
WEEKEND WINNERS

deteriorating track conditions. While Hunt
was one of several drivers to drop down the
order, Stoney was imperious in the lead.
Finishing in second place was Chris Short,
who climbed from 11th on the grid to clinch
his best result in the series. Dean Warriner
managed third despite an excursion onto
the grass at Brundle while in second, having
locked all four wheels entering the corner.
Jason McInulty made a triumphant
return to the Elise Trophy, winning the
opening race of the weekend and the
reversed-grid event, passing Alex Ball
in a battle for the lead in both.
Ball had built a lead of 6.9s in race two
after surging from 10th on the grid to lead
at the end of the opening lap, but McInulty
caught and passed him in just three laps.
Alex Fores and Ashley Dibden each
claimed a victory in the first two
Monoposto Formula 3 races of the
weekend, before a gamble to run slick
tyres on a drying track paid off for
Mark Harrison in the final race.
A rapid launch from fifth on the grid
set the tone, as Harrison was able to pass
both Dibden and Fores in the space of
a lap to grab a lead he never relinquished.
Oliver White swept Heritage Formula
Ford honours in dominant fashion,
winning by 47.3s in race one and
29.8s in the second encounter.
KYRAN GIBBONS


Grahame Tilley has traded Ginetta for
Nissan in the GT Cup and unveiled his
brand-new GT-R in considerably less
than optimal conditions at Snetterton.
Having driven the Ginetta G55 GT4 in
the GTA class (for lower specification,
one-make series cars) during the first
two rounds of the 2019 season, Tilley
took the plunge to vault up to the
GT Cup’s top tier and join the open-
specification GTO class, adding Nissan
as a fresh manufacturer to the fold.
Frustrating races to start the season,
including an endurance event in which
he ended up lodged in Redgate’s gravel
trap, was one factor propelling his
desire to upgrade his machinery.
“After the last round here [at
Snetterton], I had done reasonably
well with the Ginetta, but if I made a
bad start or got boxed in then some
of the GT4 cars got ahead of me,” said
Tilley, who was a successful Formula
Ford racer back in the 1970s.
“And they are so fast in a straight line
that they would get ahead and, while
I was quicker through the corners,
probably two seconds per lap quicker,
I was too far back in the braking points.
“I started to drive a bit hairy to try
to get by them, including lunges and
that’s not my style. I thought I had
to do something.

TILLEY TRIES HIS HAND AT A NEW PIECE OF MACHINERY

“I thought I’d buy a more powerful
car and I looked at some Challenge
cars – Ferrari Challenge and that sort
of thing – but I rang a few people that
said they were too expensive. I was told
to think about the repair bills. I’d never
even thought about a GT-R to be honest,
but we worked out a deal.”
Mid-season car changes are not
uncommon, with Graham and Daniel de
Zille also debuting a new car at Snetterton,
having migrated from the Ferrari 458
to the 488, remaining in the GTC class.
But Tilley’s change was riddled with
complexities beyond the power increase.
With the UK’s July heatwave in the
rear-view mirror, Snetterton endured
a damp weekend. With the car only
finished in time for Tilley to perform a first
shakedown on Friday, the team did not
have the time or equipment to perfect
a wet set-up and was forced to run with
dry settings throughout the weekend.
The Nissan’s left-hand drive
configuration also required Tilley to
adapt his driving style. “The problem
is that when you’re judging the kerbs
by a few inches, I keep running over
the kerbs on the opposite sides to
where I’m driving and I’m not realising
I’m on the kerbs, which is especially
tough in the wet,” he said. “It keeps
spinning up and throwing me sideways.
“I’ll get used to it – it just takes a bit
of time. The Nissan’s got twice the
power of the Ginetta.”
Tilley’s first race in the GT-R ended
early with a fuel pressure problem when
he was running in third place. The car
proved reliable for the remainder of the
weekend, with Tilley’s results improving,
to end on a best of fifth overall.
KYRAN GIBBONS

For full results visit: tsl-timing.com
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