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Qual
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Sprint
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Feature
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Images
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Driver |
Team
Points |
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Snetterton - August 3/4, 2001
Team:-Andy Scott | Tim Sopp |
Andy Lofthouse | Gary Scott |
Martin Dickson |
Will Scott |
Rob Coombs | Phil Belcher |
Transporter Driver: | Ken Sly |
Snetterton in Norfolk was the venue for rounds 15/16 of the British Touring Car Championship. Dave Allan was away on business in America for Honda so Mark Lemmer had stepped in whilst Dave is unavailable. Hopefully Mark will be driving for Synchro Motorsport for the next three meetings until Dave returns at Silverstone in early September.
This round at Snetterton was the second of the night meetings in the BTCC calendar. All of the racing was scheduled for the Saturday. However there was a mandatory night practice on Friday evening at 10 o'clock. The track was dry and the weather cool. Mark felt comfortable in the car and reported that it was generally good. However, the bias on the rear brakes was too high and this caused him to spin as well as making late braking difficult. He still though managed to finish fifth of the seventeen starters.
Saturday August 3
It was dry and sunny and quite windy for the forty-five minute free practice
that started five minutes late at 11.10. The brake pads had been changed to
help brake prob. Mark started the session well. By lap 4, he was in fourth
place. There was a little concern, though, about the high-speed stability
of the car. By the end of the session he had dropped to tenth but had lost
over twelve minutes due to a couple of long pit stops caused by a problem
with the wheel nuts not releasing.
Page 2
The weather was warm and sunny for qualifying which started on time at 1.45. During the interval adjustments had been made to the car's set up and the wheel nut problem had been fixed. After six laps, Mark pitted for a tyre change as well as to fix the bumper that had split after he had 'collected' a marker at the Esses. At this time he was eleventh, the position in which he was to eventually finish. A further pit stop after fifteen laps, with just a few minutes left, was, in fact, the end of his session. The incident earlier involving the bumper, had loosened the exhaust and it eventually came off from its mountings.
By the time of the sprint race the weather had turned completely and rain had moved in. A steady drizzle continued throughout the whole evening. It was, though, a difficult decision whether to risk slicks or use the safer, but possibly slower, wet tyres.
The
17-lap Sprint Race was away seven minutes late at 20.32. Mark made an excellent
start and was up to seventh place coming out of the first corner. He pushed
hard to improve this position enjoying a good tussle with Simon Harrison before
a slight error at the Esses lost him a little ground and he was then unable
to get back onto the leading pack. He finished in a very comfortable seventh
place in the Production class.
Page 3
It
was still drizzling for the 34-lap Feature Race car. It started nine minutes
late, at 22.59. Again Mark had a good start and was hard on the heels of the
leading pack. He held a comfortable eighth position. But this was to change
when he made a pit stop at lap 15 to fit slicks to the rear wheels. However,
he needed to pit again one lap later as it was felt that slicks all round
were required. As a result of this he had dropped to twelfth position. The
tyre change radically improved his lap times. He was for a number of laps
the second quickest production car on the circuit. Any chance of improving
his position vanished, though, when the race was prematurely ended on lap
27 after a red flag incident when Dan Eaves went off in a big way at Coram.
The meeting was a success for Synchro Motorsport. The input provided by Mark was invaluable. Mark has long been a leading driver in many different types of cars. He currently manages Barwell Motosports challenge for the BTCC Production Class Championship. They run two extremely successful Accords, driven by two fine drivers, James Kaye and Simon Graves. The knowledge that Mark has gained from this experience is second to none.
There is only one week before the next meeting, which moves north to the Croft circuit just outside Darlington. The team will have to work hard to prepare the 'slightly bruised' Accord.