Silverstone International Circuit, Round 11 - 8 -10th October 1999

Calum Lockie/Cor Euser - Marcos LM600 Mantara

Prologue

After the fantastic high of winning at Spa two weeks previously and again with Keith Ahlers in the Morgan the previous week, Melindi and I came back to earth with a bump to continue running the Gold Track Driving Club. Our next event was at Silverstone on the Grand Prix Circuit with 120 cars in attendance. All went extremely well and we started to look forward to the last GT race of the season.

Cor Euser was due to come across from his base in Holland, again with the 1999 Marcos Mantara. He had told me that some work had been done on the car since Spa where the engine had been running far too rich over about 5,000 rpm. This had left us rather short of grunt up the straights and I felt that we had had a fortuitous win there.

Testing 8th October

Marcos Racing International had arrived and set up on Wednesday evening so were all sorted out for the first session of testing due at 10.00 a.m. for an hour.

Cor went first to check the car and warm it up. He ventured out onto a pretty wet track on slicks and soon discovered that wets were the order of the session. In he came and the wets were bolted on enabling him to go out and set a 1 min 36.139 sec lap.

Next up I went out onto a still wet but very gradually drying track and really enjoyed slipping and sliding round to set a 1 min 34.251 sec lap to put me fastest overall in front of the 6 GT1 cars and the entire GT2 field! This made me feel great but of course as the session went on the track dried some more and Cor, back in the car, took another half second off my time to set a 1 min 33.752 sec lap but still 3rd overall. This was great!

After a 3 hour break the GT field reconvened and Cor went out to warm up as usual. On extremely old rubber he set a 1 min 22.101 sec lap to keep us first in class in the now dry conditions. He was trying out some new dampers which, he told me before I went out had put some life back into the car. Next up I went out and in a few laps set a 1 min 22.602 sec lap with the car moving around much more than before. The team had also taken half a degree off the rear wing which made the rear of the car considerably looser and hence somewhat more wild to drive with big oversteer slides under power and on the way through of corners. This left me quite pleased as I felt there was more time in me and certainly more time in the car from the rear wing angle. Cor then put the half degree back on and went out with some damper adjustments as well setting a 1 min 21.800 sec lap. Unfortunately I did not get another go as we were out of time.

Qualifying 9th October

Against all expectations the weather was dry. I was hoping it would be wet as I felt we had an advantage in the wet that I was not sure we had in the dry. However out Cor went in the first session at 10.25 a.m. With new slicks he spent 3 laps warming them up and then went into qualifying. Setting a 1 min 20.952 he came in and asked me if I thought he should put on the two new spares and give it a go as we were only third on the grid some 1.2 seconds off pole. This puzzled us till we heard a murmur that the ones in front were using two qualifying tyres on the left-hand side of the car getting extra grip for two or three laps. With nothing to lose, out he went with the new tyres but was unable to better the time. All this left me without time to qualify so I had to wait for the second session.

The plan for the second session was for me to qualify without putting any wear onto the tyres. This meant I just going to trundle round without going for a time. It was apparent from F3 qualifying that the afternoon session was slower so I was not going to beat Cor's time anyway. This I duly did driving round in 1 min 25.514 seconds.

Race Day 10th October.

Race day dawned dry as well. I had considered sacrificing a few chickens the night before but instead went to the Marcos party in the BRDC suite to celebrate 40 years of the marque.

I had the usual suite full of sponsor's guests well looked after by Melindi. I was also due to have several Silverstone Radio interviews as I have an involvement with the title sponsors of the Autumn Gold Cup, Bank One, the largest credit card issuers in the world. They have created three exciting new Motorsport credit cards, which apart from offering excellent terms also offer a fantastic range of prizes to be won when taking out a card. The prizes are all Motorsport orientated and cover things like tickets to the British Grand Prix and days out with my GT team "on the inside".

The race was due at 3.15 p.m. and as usual the time flew with autograph sessions, sponsor visits to the car and suite based talks.

An hour before the off I walked to the pit garage to start preparing for the race and to relax. The latter I did so well I completely forgot the time and all of a sudden someone was shouting for me to get in the car. Once settled into the car I was signalled that if I did not get a move on NOW the pit lane would close and I would have to start from the pits! Fortunately this did not happen but the emergency vehicle which follows every grid round on the green flag lap had long since departed and it was not until Bridge corner that I finally caught up with Silverstone Sid in his red Jaguar!

Sitting on the grid Cor came over to check everything was all right and told me that the left hand tyres had some warmth but the right hand ones were still stone cold. The one minute board was shown and I fired up the engine checking the dash for normal readings. Next came the green flag pace car lap and I weaved back and forth to try to get more heat into the tyres. Approaching Brooklands corner the field tightened up and the excitement rose. I really had to win the race to be assured of 3rd place in the championship so I was geared up for a battle royal with at least 5 cars capable of winning.

In second gear I approached the line with the NCK Marcos immediately ahead, the Lotus to its left, the first Lister GT2 alongside me with the second one crowding up behind. The lights went green and I was on the power a tad earlier than the cars in front but I could not find a way past. The other Marcos took a tight line and I tried going round the outside. This did not work as he started to squeeze me out onto the kerb. I pulled back over to the right as one of the Listers was trying to go up my inside and so on it went. Into Becketts corner for the first time and I was no further forward but also no further back. Then - disaster, but not for me! Two GT1 cars, the McLaren and one of the Porsches had a coming together, the McLaren spinning left and the Porsche spinning to the right. Meanwhile the Marcos went right and the Lotus went left giving me a lovely run up the middle - I was back in front, the others could make their own arrangements!

LM600 in 3rd overall
Above : The Evo LM600 holds 3rd overall in Calum's hands at the start of the race - Photo Courtesy Marcus Potts

I got the pedal to the metal and drove my socks off running out the first lap leading GT2 and 3rd overall! Things were looking good for the result I needed. As the laps rolled by it became clear that I was suffering poor slow corner grip and the Lotus in second place was taking chunks out of me in Brooklands and Luffield corners. But he was in turn under pressure from one of the Listers and I started to draw away. Sadly this was not for long as the Lister then got by the Lotus and set off after me. My engine was beginning to sound a bit flat and gradually the Lister caught me up. Going into Abbey curve on lap 5 the Lister gave me a bump and if I had fought it major damage would have ensued. So I moved left and concentrated on a good corner exit to stay right with the Lister. This I did reasonably well handing over to Cor only 4 seconds adrift.

The pit stop went badly, too slow, and Cor charged out onto track behind the NCK Marcos. This was a bit of a blow but he overtook it straight away. Unfortunately the engine problem was worsening and the place was lost along the next straight. The next blow was that the Lotus made a pit stop quick enough to get out in front of Cor so with the Lister still to stop we were running in 4th place.

LM600s trade paint!
Above : LM600s trade paint in battle for GT2 - Photo Courtesy Marcus Potts

Worse was to come. With 15 minutes to go there was still time for Cor to do the necessary place gaining but next lap round the car was smoking. I had a very bad feeling and this was borne out as the laps went by. The smoke increased and the car slowed down. It soon became obvious that a major oil leak was spreading oil all over the tyres and it would only be a matter of time before Cor could not keep it on the road or the engine blew.

Finally the oil pressure warning came on and it was time to call it a day. Cor came into the pits trailing a stream of oil and retired the car.

Well, the disappointment was large and all round. But these things happen. The result has left me a somewhat disappointed 7th in the championship but there is always next year. On the up side Cor has asked me to join him on the driving team for the Rolex Daytona 24 Hours in early February. As always there is the question of a certain sum required. Back to the real work!

Many plans are afoot for next year. What happens depends largely on sponsorship so if anyone out there can help please be in touch.

It has been a year of massive ups and downs: 2 wins makes me the second most winning driver after the Lister pair and I have demonstrated that I can do the job required to the full. I have had the most disrupted season imaginable, having driven a total of 6 different cars and been on the pace in every one. The experience - fantastic, but let's hope for a more settled season in 2000 so that I can really challenge for the top honours.

Many thanks to my loyal sponsors and to all the many supporters and fans who have written, e-mailed, phoned and supported at race meetings and in between. Thanks and here's to next season.

Thanks to:
Mark, John and all at Valtra Valmet
Gerard, Hugh and all at Thame Components
Colin at Kudos Thame
Tim at GT Logistics
Stacy at Stratos Sports
Alan at Demon Tweeks
Jan and Paula at Genesis Graphics
And others who do not want a personal mention

Last but definitely not least, Melindi for all her unstinting support of me through a difficult season and very hard work with all of the sponsors.

Many thanks for this report to Melindi and Calum - You can follow Calum's activities in 2000 on his website, but if he is out in a Marcos, you'll hear how he's doing right here!

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