Well its been a helluva year....again....and all the other ones have been finialised with "what ifs"......not this year. This year the two cars that we had to beat to win the title crashed out, and we finally had the luck that has eluded us so many times.
I speak from bitter experience, last year we should have won the title, but at the last race, whilst in the lead by 20 seconds, our TVR broke down. If we had finished there we would have cleaned up the title. We didn't, and we had to go home with 3rd overall, and it hurt.
This year we went into the last race in third place, needing to win......and get fastest lap if the Balfe Mosler finished second. In testing we had ourselves a fast car, and topped the time sheets on the Thursday. Then on the Friday the Balfe Mosler just pipped us. Things were looking good. In Qualifying though, I could only match my best times, but Shaun Balfe did a good job and grabbed pole position, and we ended up 4th, lined up behind Barffy in one of two works TVR's.....now owned by Bob Berridge....more of him later....and a GT2 Porsche. We knew from this that our pace was probably not good enough to beat the Balfes, though we were pretty sure we had the measure of the Eclipse TVR, the other title contender.
We needed a bit of luck.....
Tom started the race, and had his best sensible hat wedged firmly on. Which was a good thing because lots of others lost theirs....heads that is...not hats. On lap 1 a Morgan flies off into the Paddock gravel trap, then fateful moment No.1.....Bob "last of the latest brakers" Berridge brakes so late (under waved yellows for the Morgan) into Paddock that he slams into Jamie Darbyshire and punts him off into the gravel. I was in the commentary box watching with a perfect view, and it looked like either the most stupid move ever....or the most calculating.....the later theory was given weight when having despatched young Derbyshire to minor placing in the Championship, he then appeared to do the same with Tom, who had to do some fancy driving to stay on the track.....Conspiracy theorists apply here.
It was a terrible way though for a years work to end and Bob should really have a long think about his actions......it certainly did not make TVR look good, and I'm sure its not how any TVR supporter would have wanted to see the Championship settled.
However! We now had 1 car to beat, and Shane Lynch was now in front of us in the Eclipse TVR. I got on the radio to tell Tom to keep calm after Bobs interesting weave, and focus on sitting behind the cars in front to see what happened....and something did happen.
A Marcos span right in front of poor Shane, who had nowhere to go. Shanes car hit the Marcos and the barrier and ended up in a helluva mess. The first we knew of this in the pits was when Tom came on the radio and said "If we finish this race we have won the Title!" We didn't realise what he meant until as the cars emerged in view there was no Eclipse car. Fortunately Shane was OK, but we now realised that bar a major balls up, we were Champions!
All we had to do was finish....well actually all we had to do was complete 75% distance, and that would have given us enough points. The Eclipse car brought out the safety car again, and the first 3 cars dived into the pits, we were third. After the slowest driver change we have ever done in 4 years of GT racing, we still emerged first! At this point I realised that somebody really was looking after us. We had settled on a gentle finish, not a win, and here we were, out front!
The race restarted witha thrusting Corvette having a sniff at me, but I had speed in hand and drove the car round just slightly faster and maintained a gentle 2 second gap, being really kind on the car and making sure that we would finish with no impending failures.
We caught lots of traffic and when we did I would make a small break, which gradually built up to a sizeable gap as it tried to rain. I had a very uneventful drive, but a very enjoyable one, thinking of all the times I had been denied Championship wins over the years, and here was this on the plate.
I entered the final corner singing "We are the Champions" on the radio. The team were hanging over the wall, Tom was at the top of the fencing going mad, Tony Herridge had been crying for the last 5 laps. 2 incredible wins at the end of the season and we were Champions. Tom took the drivers title, and the team took the Top Team Trophy. I had a good wave round the circuit, still not believeing it. I got back to parc ferme to be greeted by a horde....the team, friends, officials, TV.....Tom dived in the car and hugged me, I got out and hugged everybody, Tony Herridge was still crying....and I got down on my knees and paid homage to the mighty Mosler MT900R.
We had a bunch of very happy people. Off to the podium and I scooped Morgan up, with Michelle, and we grabbed the prizes and shook the Champagne. Tom was delirious.
We have worked hard all year, and after Thruxton almost gave up....but we persevered, and we came through.....with a little luck and good fortune on our part. I'm not sure how or why, but I promise to be a good boy for ever and ever Amen!
Brands Hatch report(Mosler) 2003
Well its been a helluva year....again....and all the other ones have been finialised with "what ifs"......not this year. This year the two cars that we had to beat to win the title crashed out, and we finally had the luck that has eluded us so many times.
I speak from bitter experience, last year we should have won the title, but at the last race, whilst in the lead by 20 seconds, our TVR broke down. If we had finished there we would have cleaned up the title. We didn't, and we had to go home with 3rd overall, and it hurt.
This year we went into the last race in third place, needing to win......and get fastest lap if the Balfe Mosler finished second. In testing we had ourselves a fast car, and topped the time sheets on the Thursday. Then on the Friday the Balfe Mosler just pipped us. Things were looking good. In Qualifying though, I could only match my best times, but Shaun Balfe did a good job and grabbed pole position, and we ended up 4th, lined up behind Barffy in one of two works TVR's.....now owned by Bob Berridge....more of him later....and a GT2 Porsche. We knew from this that our pace was probably not good enough to beat the Balfes, though we were pretty sure we had the measure of the Eclipse TVR, the other title contender.
We needed a bit of luck.....
Tom started the race, and had his best sensible hat wedged firmly on. Which was a good thing because lots of others lost theirs....heads that is...not hats. On lap 1 a Morgan flies off into the Paddock gravel trap, then fateful moment No.1.....Bob "last of the latest brakers" Berridge brakes so late (under waved yellows for the Morgan) into Paddock that he slams into Jamie Darbyshire and punts him off into the gravel. I was in the commentary box watching with a perfect view, and it looked like either the most stupid move ever....or the most calculating.....the later theory was given weight when having despatched young Derbyshire to minor placing in the Championship, he then appeared to do the same with Tom, who had to do some fancy driving to stay on the track.....Conspiracy theorists apply here.
It was a terrible way though for a years work to end and Bob should really have a long think about his actions......it certainly did not make TVR look good, and I'm sure its not how any TVR supporter would have wanted to see the Championship settled.
However! We now had 1 car to beat, and Shane Lynch was now in front of us in the Eclipse TVR. I got on the radio to tell Tom to keep calm after Bobs interesting weave, and focus on sitting behind the cars in front to see what happened....and something did happen.
A Marcos span right in front of poor Shane, who had nowhere to go. Shanes car hit the Marcos and the barrier and ended up in a helluva mess. The first we knew of this in the pits was when Tom came on the radio and said "If we finish this race we have won the Title!" We didn't realise what he meant until as the cars emerged in view there was no Eclipse car. Fortunately Shane was OK, but we now realised that bar a major balls up, we were Champions!
All we had to do was finish....well actually all we had to do was complete 75% distance, and that would have given us enough points. The Eclipse car brought out the safety car again, and the first 3 cars dived into the pits, we were third. After the slowest driver change we have ever done in 4 years of GT racing, we still emerged first! At this point I realised that somebody really was looking after us. We had settled on a gentle finish, not a win, and here we were, out front!
The race restarted witha thrusting Corvette having a sniff at me, but I had speed in hand and drove the car round just slightly faster and maintained a gentle 2 second gap, being really kind on the car and making sure that we would finish with no impending failures.
We caught lots of traffic and when we did I would make a small break, which gradually built up to a sizeable gap as it tried to rain. I had a very uneventful drive, but a very enjoyable one, thinking of all the times I had been denied Championship wins over the years, and here was this on the plate.
I entered the final corner singing "We are the Champions" on the radio. The team were hanging over the wall, Tom was at the top of the fencing going mad, Tony Herridge had been crying for the last 5 laps. 2 incredible wins at the end of the season and we were Champions. Tom took the drivers title, and the team took the Top Team Trophy. I had a good wave round the circuit, still not believeing it. I got back to parc ferme to be greeted by a horde....the team, friends, officials, TV.....Tom dived in the car and hugged me, I got out and hugged everybody, Tony Herridge was still crying....and I got down on my knees and paid homage to the mighty Mosler MT900R.
We had a bunch of very happy people. Off to the podium and I scooped Morgan up, with Michelle, and we grabbed the prizes and shook the Champagne. Tom was delirious.
We have worked hard all year, and after Thruxton almost gave up....but we persevered, and we came through.....with a little luck and good fortune on our part. I'm not sure how or why, but I promise to be a good boy for ever and ever Amen!
Martin Short
www.rollcentre.com