GT2002
by John Hartshorne

In December 2001 I started to have ideas of racing a TVR Tuscan R in the British GT Championship. The ideas arose following my best season to date in the TVR Tuscan Challenge, and were helped by my teammate Richard Stanton having just finished a successful year racing in both categories. He now fancied a new challenge and I secretly aspired to race his car.

In the January at the Autosport show he decided to move on to a new car and decided to sell his Tuscan R. One month later and the car was mine. One of the next hurdles was to find a co-driver and get up to speed. A February test at Thruxton showed much work to do, primarily on the owner’s mind. How could anybody race something this expensive!

As the month progressed Dennis Leech who was to run the car again advertised for a co-driver and testing was booked. As the media day for the series approached it seemed likely that my sponsorship support for the season would be minimal but that the co-driver would be Piers Johnson. He is a very talented driver who also had the benefit of two excellent sponsors: - Harman/Kardon Audio Systems, suppliers of audio equipment in cars, computers and homes and Oilfield Production Consultants (OPC) Ltd, who provide expertise, knowledge and management to the International Energy industry.

Following a wet media day when the team decided it was better to finalise the car livery than risk damaging the car, we approached the first meeting at Brands with a distinct lack of track time. After 8 laps to run a new engine in during testing at Brands the car was found to have damaged the differential necessitating a 500-mile trip to Exeter and back to get the spare. The replacement of the differential was followed by an engine failure. When the race started the drivers had done less than 20 laps in 3 days. High attrition meant that from a cautious start when the whole team wondered what would fail next we finished 5th in class and 8th overall. What a relief.

The next race at Donington saw our only engine failure during a race, just after Piers had got in the car, but through no fault of his. The glimmer of hope had come from Piers’ qualifying position – 4th.

The next few race meetings saw varied fortune from a suspension failure at Silverstone during qualifying to some stunning drives from Piers as he had more time in the car. Castle Combe saw our first podium finish – what a thrill to be there with Martin Short, Simon Pullan, Tim Sugden and Piers. The race at Oulton Park was very expensive for many teams. A sudden deluge of rain saw a number of cars go off whilst on slicks. I was one of them but following some quality taping the car got out again for the 2nd race start. I pitted to hand over to Piers in last place but some amazing driving saw him move up the field. Even the organiser’s timing screens seemed confused. After the race the team started to walk back to the paddock but people started congratulate us! The organisers said we were 3rd. Another podium.

Following Oulton where the car got fastest lap we set off to Snetterton. A suspension failure during testing was followed by Piers starting the race, getting fastest lap, leading the class then having an expensive gearbox failure before I could even get in the car. The mix of emotions is sometimes hard to swallow but at least the team had the pleasure of seeing Richard Stanton and Steve Hyde getting a podium place in the Eclipse Tuscan R.

Thruxton saw early damage to the front of our Tuscan when an Ultima refused to give way, then a strange race for me wondering what would next fall off. Towards the end even the front splitter fell off and I drove over it.
Donington was the last race of the year and Piers again got fastest lap in class and we finished 4th again, beaten by Ivan Capelli the former Formula 1 driver. We finished the season as 5th best pairing in GTO and second best Tuscan R.

As winter now approaches we are planning next season. I had support from Mobil 1 and Spar and would like to work with them again, Piers is keen to work again with Harman/Kardon and OPC. The calendar for 2003 has just been published with the challenge of Spa for a 1000kms race as part of the British series. I am working on my fitness and even having some driver training.

Next season will soon be upon us but we will be better prepared and hopefully better funded to take the TVR Tuscan R to where it deserves to be, first.