The Winning Radicals live up to their name – 2014 Birkett Relay

The 2014 edition of the six hour Birkett Relay saw an almost capacity grid with 69 teams taking to the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit which meant well over 300 cars were in attendance. After clinching victory last year, the renamed ‘Winning Radicals’ returned to defend their title and they did just that.

Aaron Bailey, Doug Carter, Brian Murphy, Lee Bailey and John MacLeod in their SR3s and PR6s were consistent throughout the distance to come out on the top by over a lap. Bailey started the race and chased ‘Inspires’ driver Tim Gray but was unable to stay with him until Gray’s Spire suffered suspension failure on the eighth lap of the race allowing Bailey through as he limped to the pit lane.

‘Inspires’ got back out in front on lap 29 and then pulled out nearly a lap advantage during a lengthy Safety Car period which began on the 49^th tour when a driver was airlifted to hospital.

When the race eventually restarted more drama struck Gray as the car burst into flames heading into the Loop for the 65^th time. Richard Wise also had trouble in his Spire as he challenged for the lead which decided ‘Inspires’ fait and put them in third place with just the two Spires of John Cutmore and Alistair Boulton in action.

This left ‘The Winning Radicals’ to dice with Paul Rose, Steve Harris, Mark Burton and Tim Wheeldon who formed ‘Team JPR’ for the victory. JPR, who ran Sakers, fell behind the Radical on lap 98 and then couldn’t live with the quicker pace of the Radicals – four seconds on their best laps – which gave ‘The Winning Radicals’ the victory after some close on-track scraps during the race.

‘Racing Greens’ and ‘RG Bargy’ had near faultless races allowing them to finish within the top five despite being nearly ten seconds slower than the front runners. ‘Racing Greens’ led when the fastest four teams stopped as their Caterhams had much bigger tanks than the sports racer around them. Nevertheless over the distance weren’t able to run with them but were the best Caterham team with Pascal and Richard Green joining up with Barney Prior and Bill Hailstone for driving duties. ‘RG Bargy’ headed the all-RGB teams with Adrian Moore, Tim Hoverd, Colin Chapman, Charlie Thomas, Dan Bromilow and Duncan Horlor racing.

‘Free Radicals’ overhauled ‘The Hart Attacks’ in the final stages of the race to take sixth place. ‘Rogues Allstars’ took eighth – their team involved Sports Specials racer Patrick Mortell, as well as Ginetta GT4 Supercup racer Fergus Walkinshaw aboard his G55. ‘Gold Arts’ took ninth beating ‘Anetec Automac BMW’, which were the best of the many BMW teams.

Three cars finished on the same lap in the handicap part of the race. ‘Six Signatures’ came out on top by just eleven seconds. The team ran Caterhams with James Needham, John Toshack, Kurt Brady, Spencer Horgan and David Rowe piloting the cars.

They beat ‘Jagnuts’ to the prized victory that were aboard their XJ12, XJ40 and XJS’. Lawrence and Charles Coppock, Chris’ Boon and Palmer and two Sam Clarkes piloted the big beasts. ‘Gradsports’ claimed the third spot with Alex Gurr, Tristan Judge, Zoltan Csabai, Scott Lawrence, Tom Woodcock and Jason Gale holding up the honour for the Caterham Graduate Championship.

A further eight cars finished just a lap down on the handicap winners and the best of them was ‘RG Bargy’ who beat the Roadsports racers of ‘Turtle Wax’ with David Garner, Adam Dawsosn, Rebecca Jackson, Chris Mills and Sanjay Tallwar at the wheel.

Tim Gray’s Spire GT3 set the quickest time during the 141 lap race when he circulated in 2:07.25. Alastair Boulton’s RGB car ran on slicks and set an impressive second fastest time, just 0.67 seconds shy of Gray. John MacLeod’s Radical SR3 was the third and final car to be within a second of Gray’s lap time. Fergus Walkinshaw was the quickest of the tin-top cars in his Ginetta G55 Supercup machine as he set a time of 2:15.30.