On the 8th, 9th and 10th November the BRSCC’s North Western Centre had the honour of organising the tenth Race of Remembrance at Anglesey Circuit, 10 years after the inaugural event took place.
During this period, the Mission Motorsport charity has significantly improved the lives of many, many thousands of ex-servicemen and their families by giving them a renewed focus and purpose.
The theme of remembrance was everywhere – not least on the striking poppy-liveried Bentley Bentayga Safety Car – resulting in another unforgettable weekend during which members of the British Armed Forces were honoured.
ClubSport Trophy
Prior to the main event, there was a 45 minute Clubsport Trophy race featuring a mandatory pit stop and a 38 car entry.
There was an initial hiatus when the contest was halted on the second lap after the engine in the Honda Integra of Alex Smith let go on the back straight covering the track in oil on the approach to Rocket.
After the marshals and circuit staff had dressed the oil slick the grid lined up to battle it out over the full 45 minute duration.
At the restart, Liam Crilly pulled away in the lead with his BMW Z4 Coupe ahead of the Lotus Exige of Huggins/Huggins. Meanwhile, as the pit window opened for the compulsory stops, Adam Morrison (Mini) was holding on to third place from Andrew Dyer (Audi TT).
The pit stops proved to be a key part of the contest. The Huggins’ Lotus never returned to the track while the stops for Crilly and Morrison were each a little shorter than the mandatory 2 minutes earning both a 30 second penalty. Only Paul Bancroft was close enough to take advantage of the woes of the leading duo, his Audi TT moved up to second in the final classification.
Biathlon of Foolishness
The Biathlon of Foolishness is always a highlight of the Race of Remembrance weekend. This is when a band of hardy souls race round the track on foot in fancy dress before taking a dip in the icy Irish Sea.
Madness!
Race of Remembrance
Early leader, Paul Cook RAF Motorsport BMW pulled rapidly away from Sam Heading who was driving a Lotus Elise entered by Rob Boston Racing and Jason McInulty in another Lotus Elise fielded by ES Motorsport. The gap opened up at more than a second a lap.
One of the most interesting cars was a motorcycle engined Citroen 2CV driven by Louis Tyson/Nick Roads/Nick Crispin. This was literally in a class of its own as it was the only entrant in the Invitation Class. It brought out the Safety Car for the first time when a wheel fell off at the exit of Target 45 minutes into the race. The car was repaired, ending up in 49th out of 55 finishers.
The yellow flags bunched the field up but Cook had so many lapped cars between him and second placed Heading that the lead was still 15 seconds. Soon it was Jason McInulty who was running in second place after he passed Heading. The latter soon pulled into the pits due to a slow puncture in the right rear tyre. The pit stop took just over the 4 minute minimum as Ben Brooks got behind the wheel.
After another 40 minutes, Cook pitted earlier than he ideally wanted to as fuel consumption on his BMW was very high. This put Jason McInulty in the lead ahead of another interesting entry, the RAF Motorsport Audi which was running on sustainable fuel made from corn oil with a driving roster of Alexander Smith, Oliver Waind, Matthew Isherwood and Ryan Parkin.
Just before the 100 minute mark, Jason McInulty pitted to handover to David McInulty allowing Isherwood into the lead – being a diesel, the Audi could run a long way before it needed refuelling.
At the end of the second hour, Isherwood still hadn’t made the first of the Audi’s 6 mandatory pit stops and had a 3 lap lead over Will Blackwell-Chambers who was sharing a Clapham North Mazda MX5 with George Grant and Rob Boston. Grant was soon to get behind the wheel.
Early in the third hour the hopes Heading and Brooks had of winning the race literally went up in smoke due to a fuel line fire in their Lotus. This heralded a long Safety Car period during which Isherwood finally made his stop handing over to Ryan Parkin who was able to re-join still with a 1 lap advantage over the McInulty car which was about to be passed by Don Henshall who was sharing a Lios Motorsport Caterham with Steve McCulley.
David McInulty handed back to Jason during the next Safety Car period when a BMW 1-series that had a missing wheel needed to be recovered. The length of David’s stint was only 90 minutes which meant by the time Jason handed back to David, he had broken the rule which restricts drivers from doing more than 3 hours behind the wheel in any 5 hour period. As a result, the team received a one lap penalty. Jason’s total driving time during this period had a discrepancy of just 34 seconds!
As Saturday’s section of the enduro came to an end, the lead Audi developed a few niggling issues, including a failed wheel-bearing, which meant the drivers were forced to take things easy. Their mechanics worked until 4:30 am to resolve these problems so that the car could deliver its full potential when proceedings restarted on Sunday morning.
The BMW of early leader, Paul Cook, triggered the first Safety Car of Sunday when it ground to a halt with a drive-train drama. Cook was sharing the car with Wayne Lewis and Colin Slator. They were running fourth overnight but after a spell in the pits to repair the car, the team was 21st in the final classification.
In third place, Jason McInulty was setting fastest laps on Sunday morning to lead the way on the road although the sustainable fuelled Audi was still ahead on aggregate with a 2 lap advantage over Steve McCulley in the Caterham. But then everyone had to slow their pace when heavy rain arrived 15 minutes before the contest was halted for a poignant Service of Remembrance.
Underlining how important this event is to the racing world, the Service was attended by David Richards who is the Chair of Motorsport UK.
The track was very wet when racing resumed but before long the sun was out and drying the tarmac, making life easier for the drivers.
A collision on the exit of Church brought the Safety Car out for one final time before the field was unleashed with less than 4 minutes and 1 lap remaining. A delighted Isherwood took the chequered flag a couple of laps ahead of Henshall/McCulley. Due to their driving time penalty, the McInultys were classified a lap further back in third.
The fuel economy of the winning Audi allowed the team the flexibility to make pit stops during Safety Car periods saving them valuable time.
As well as enjoying a fabulous weekend, the RAF personnel involved with the winning car gained experience of working under pressure which will be invaluable in their professional lives. Furthermore, they demonstrated the viability of the sustainable fuel which the RAF have begun to use in their trucks.
The BRSCC would like to thank the more than 200 marshals and officials who enabled this amazing event to take place. Everyone enjoyed a superb weekend of racing while remembering, and paying tribute to, those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Dave Williams