April 14th seen the team roll out onto a packed grid of 35 identical Ford KA's with a five hour challenge ahead with the aim to secure a podium position at the legendary Silverstone National Circuit.
Door to door chase into Copse Corner alongside Pro- Am Racing
If we were to ask any of you to drive flat out the equivalent of a drive from Edinburgh to Northampton for 357 miles in a 1300cc Ford KA then you would think we were mad? Well that's the distance Team LARR Motorsport and fellow competitors achieved in five hours during the race taking in 218 laps along the way.
Qualifying seen Team LARR Motorsport post a time of 1:20:760 just 1.3 seconds off the front row and as in all EnduroKA events the top 24 cars are split by less than 1.5 seconds which shows how close the racing can be.
However, at the final part of the qualifying session Duncan MacBeth coasted the LARR Motorsport KA to a halt at the far end of the pit lane due to loosing all power and cutting out. Unable to restart the car, the support team frantically run the length of the long pit lane to recover Duncan. As soon as back in the garage the team began to work on diagnosing the problem. Thankfully our good friends at GM Performance were in the adjacent garage and Gary Mitchel hurried over to help. Gary seen the problem immediately as the immobiliser light was showing on the dash clock, a quick check of the wiring under the steering wheel found the wiring harness / relay had come loose..!!! Just shows the true camaraderie of the EnduroKA paddock and a BIG thanks to Gary, Ian and Darren from GM performance who have mentored ourselves since we joined EnduroKA last season.
747 taking in the smooth flowing Silverstone National Circuit
Starting the race from 11th on the grid Jordan Bannon took the first session behind the wheel with a view to a driver change to Mike Collinge after around an hour and a half. At 1hr 23 min (64 laps) into the race Jordan swiftly and without delay handed the car over to Mike.
At two hours (87 laps = 142 miles) Team LARR were holding 8th Position with Mike at the wheel. The leaderboard would soon begin to shuffle due to the differing pit stop and and refueling strategies. Mike took the car as high as 7th and the team were aware that positions would tumble once the next pit stop was called, which included a refuel. This of course would pose a challenge to work our way back up the pack.
Some on track close racing ensued and the team prepared for Duncan MacBeth to take over and the multiple British Superlight Champion was focused upon the job in hand to maintain or improve the teams position. With lap consistent lap times being recorded Duncan had settled in well into his rhythm and on lap 193 put in a credible 1:19.978.
The team still had to make one final stop to comply with the regulations and with just 17 mins of the five hour race to go the support team hurriedly prepared for the arrival of Duncan in the pit lane to make a swift change to Mike to run the KA to the flag.
From four wheels to two wheel action
As the 5 hour race neared its conclusion Mike maintained composure and avoided any unnecessary moves bringing the car home in a very credible 14th finish position.
Congratulations to the podium finishers who took the race right down to the wire this includes top place 'Pro-Am Racing', second spot 'MilnAir' and third 'Autotech Motorsport 2'
BIG thanks to GM Performance --- we owe you one.!
All of this would not be possible without the dedicated support from our sponsors:
Steve Antrobus at Newton Garage
Peter Kitchin at C&C Catering Limited
Patrick Loftus at Aspire Building and Joinery
Demon Tweeks Demon Tweeks
We would never be able to pull this all together without those behind the scenes:
Graeme Norris
James Bannon
Michael Greenhough
Sarah Norris
Jessica Horricks
Bev Jay
Sponsor Alert - Join The Team
We are always open to partners / sponsors joining the team for a season, or a one off event and in return we will offer you or your brand outstanding coverage. Prices start at £50
Drop a line to larrmotorsport@gmail.com
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