‘Birkett Six Hour Relay’
The 68th running of the 750 Motor Club’s Six Hour Relay – honouring founder Holland Birkett – brought an unprecedented Scratch result as a team of front-wheel-drive saloons covered the greatest distance.
In the presence of a winning Bentley from 1951’s inaugural event, 66 hopefuls set off on the Grand Prix circuit for the annual event.
If Carl Swift, Stewart Lines and 2013 handicap winners Lee and Shayne Deegan’s intent to outrun Radical SR3S with a trio of mighty Seat Cupra TCRS sounded like bluster to some, they hadn’t factored in their speed or the wet weather.
But for a broken CV joint on Swift’s Team Cupra car at the beginning of his second stint, the Spanish machines made light work of increasingly sodden conditions once the forecasted rain came.
Superb drives by the Deegan brothers on their debuts in Area Motorsport’s car led to EX-BTCC racer Lines holding off Breakell Racing Heroes’ Wade Eastwood’s orange SR3 over a heart-inmouth 135th and final lap in traffic, battling standing water and near darkness.
Having rounded Brooklands and Luffield together, they accelerated through Woodcote and were split by two cars lengths at the chequer.
“That was incredible, but I’d have preferred to be the chaser,” said Lines.
“These cars are awesome, even when it was aquaplaning on the straights,” added Lee Deegan.
The battle for the Handicap trophy wasn’t quite as close but still provided plenty of intrigue.
Paul Rose (JPR Motorsport, Saker), Classic Clubmans champion Clive Wood (The Defibrillators, Mallock Mk21/23 Proto) immediately split the Radicals of Eastwood and Brian Murphy (from James Breakell’s twin squads) and Elliot Goodman (RAW Motorsport).
The Subaru engine in Rose’s car developed a misfire second time out, but Steve Harris in his new 540bhp Saker and VW Fun Cup driver Dominic Jackson (Rapx) got them home fourth.
Debutants Podium Preparation’s handicap hopes took a blow when Andrew Stacey’s Mini Cooper S broke in Friday testing, but a dash back to Andrew Jebson’s Lincolnshire base to fetch a substitute Citroen C1 showed spirit.
With Chris Bailan’s BMW 330 and Andrew Peck’s Porsche 968 clearly much pacier, and expectations revised by the calculator boffins, they were surprised to lead the field for almost four hours.
By the end of the fifth hour Honda Civic Type R equipes Reasonably Northern and Area Motorsport on 106 laps each – although the former would receive one extra credit lap in the final reckoning – went top. As the deluge continued, they hit a glitch apiece as Daniels Reason and Hobson slid off.
Led by Civic Cup champion Rob Baker and runner-up Mark Grice, Area’s clincher was a set of shared wet tyres to their rivals’ cut slicks.
That wasn’t enough though, for Red Rascal’s BMW E46 M3s shared by Chris Lovett/jamie Ingram, Russell Clarke/ Kevin Dengate and Kenny Coleman/ Reece Jones – leading a very strong marque representation – maintained their momentum and growled to victory.
Its 127 laps was topped-up to 144 with credits, a gross score matched by the Mostly Rusty Two Seaters Toyota MR2 Mk1s of Gareth Baxter, Neil Stratton, Adam Lockwood and Dave Hemingway, who received 30 bonuses, with Area Motorsport third.