Team Lizard Racing - Brands Hatch 8 June

[Tinyflier]

Trotted over to Brands today to watch the Team Trophy in which Team Lizard competes - thought you might like a little write up. (sorry for the quality of the pictures - I think I need to invest in a "proper" camera!).

 

Unexpectedly chilly for the morning’s practise/qualifying session at about 12C but at least it was dry.

 

The Team lizard 350Z was looking good in paddock and on track seemed to acquit itself quite well with a qualifying place of 10th on the 30 strong grid.

 

By the time the race start arrived the sun had broken through and although it was a little windy the temperatures had lifted nicely.

 

The start was “interesting†as the Seat on the second row of the grid didn’t get away dropping to virtually dead last (looked like wrong gear had been selected and car totally bogged down on the green light). Luckily everyone managed to avoid the almost stationary car and the grid thundered into Paddock Hill bend.

 

Steve took the start in the 350z and ran a good stint picking up a place in some close racing, incurred a 5 second penalty for exceeding track limits but resolutely kept up his pace and pressure in the pack he was running in.

 

A heart-stopping incident as the leader tried to lap a couple of back markers going into Paddock Hill bend saw him tagged at the front end and a half spin ensued – how he managed to avoid the inner barrier on the right side of the track is a total mystery before he ended up embedded in the gravel trap on the LEFT side of the circuit – as everyone around him took evasive action (successfully!).

The Pace car was brought out as marshals pushed the (now ex race leading SEAT) out of the gravel trap and soon the pit lane looked like the M25 on a Friday evening as most of the field came in for their compulsory driver change.

 

Steve was now leading the field and did so for about 3 laps before pitting and Mark took over. His pace was superb, clearly the car was running well and he was picking off the cars in front with some very clean overtaking moves .

 

Soon the Zed was into 4th (on the road) place but to maintain that position Mark needed to pull out a 5 second lead over the Renault Clio Cup car behind him. The gap started to increase, 1 second, 2 seconds, 2.7seconds, 3.4 seconds but Mark was unlucky with traffic as a few times he caught groups of car just before the entry points to corners and while he was able to despatch them easily it cut into his lead meaning that the 5th place Clio was able to keep the gap below the needed 5 seconds and Mark simply ran out of race time and the team finished in a strong 5th place.

 

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable race and if you have the chance of going to a Team Trophy event I thoroughly recommend it as the cars are varied, well prepared and the racing is very entertaining.

 

David.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lmc]

Good write up

[WhackyWill]

Well done all..sounds like a great result.. :#1:

[MrLizard]

Thanks guys , cheers for the support David, I shall do a small write myself later as well =) awesome pics =))

[Ebized]

Also enjoyed a visit to Brands on Saturday to see how Team Lizard got on and to see the team and drivers at work.

 

Tinyflier has provided a great report and pics so all I need to do is add a few of my pics and a couple of vids to share with you what we enjoyed.

 

I do have to add that Mark and Steve did seem to have a difficult qualifying, trying out harder springs that made the tail end just a little to lively and coupled with some new entrants led to their 10th place on the grid. But watching much of the race at Druids it was a pleasure to see Steve and then Mark start to cut through the pack to give them a well earned 5th place, particularly after their required pit-stop that got tangled with a safety car period and led to a bottleneck at the pit entry - which I'm sure Steve will detail in due course.

 

 

Out for qualifying

 

Competitor being shown who's boss

 

 

Team at work after qualifying with Abbey's GT86 stealing the view

 

Small problem with the washer bottle coming loose and rubbing on the tyre (Nice brakes )

 

Slightly bigger problem for some

 

Potentially, the strongest competitor

 

And some others

 

And another Seat competitor's 'shed'

 

 

Ist lap of the race at Paddock Hill

 

2nd - 5th laps at Paddock Hill

(suggest you enlarge to full screen)

 

Graham Hill bend is always lively and saw a few take to the grass.........mentioning no names

 

Well they got box repaired but obviously got up close and personal with someone

 

And a couple of shots of Team Lizard at Druids

 

 

and a short vid of Mark at Druids - have to say both he and Steve were very consistent on their lines through the hairpin

 

The weekend racing included other categories including Nascar, Pick-up trucks, Historic V8's and Atoms and I'll bung up another thread of pics of some rather tasty and perhaps not so tasty muscle cars shortly.

[Tinyflier]

Superb pictures and now I KNOW I need a proper camera!

 

Great additional information to my little essay.

 

As for Abbey's GT86 - I had a play with it the other week - what a lively car. As I said to Mark - feels like a little boisterous puppy - all eager just to get up and get going - super fun. Delightfully sharp turn in and balance through corners, responsive to throttle, lovely weighting on brakes. Felt a little "light" compared to the Zed and not as relaxed as a mile munching tourer - but an absolute hoot with a good level of kit and build quality - apart from the handbrake which I thought was too close to driver's side.

 

David

[MrLizard]

thanks for taking the pics and vids colin, looks excellent )

[robzracing]

Another great write-up for Steve and Mark

[ChrisB]

I must say that I've been enjoying these lizard threads. And I love the look of your black zed (that coming from a silver lover). Your car sounds great too in the video - waayyy better than the 4 pot fart boxes on track !!

 

Keep up the good work

[WhackyWill]

Let me know next time your at Brands and I will come down, used to be an instructor at the Racing School for many years.

 

Would be more than willing to help, if necessary. Great pics yet again. :thumbs:

[MrLizard]

Thanks for the support everyone =) hope to out at brands again soon on the gp circuit potentially =)