JAGUAR TEAM WIN THE
2009 BIRKETT
There were 56 teams including
2 totally Jaguar teams:
Katuka Motorsport-
Stewert Lyddall, Andrew Harrison, Sam Clarke, John Lock, Chris Palmer & Phil
Woods.
Six Potters-
Gail Hill, Chris Boon, Matt Skelton, Dave Bye, Peter & Richard Dorlin.
Tortoise Stable Racing Team-
Also fielded two Jags, Andrew Kieth-Lucas XK150 & Chris Keith-Lucas XK120.
RAFMSA Help For Heroes-
team included a RAM Jaguar D-Type driven by Martin Astley.
Kutuka were the team to beat
with considerably more horsepower available (and they very nearly won the
2008 Birkett) plus a team of top drivers and a very competent team manager.
The six Potters are not lacking in tallent either but were praying for rain.
A monsoon ensued!!!
Strategy rather than horsepower
is usually one of the main factors in endurance success! I'm not totally sure
what the Six Potters strategy was (other than prayer) but it certainly worked!
The Potters were the first all Jaguar team to win (on handicap) the prestigous
Birkett relay in 60 years! It was also the first Jaguar endurance race win
since Le Mans!
Solicitor by day, Andrew Harrison was
driving one of the slower Kutuka cars (not that any of them could be described
as slow). Photo Scott Mitchell
Gail Hill hunts down Andrew Harrison.
Pic Gary Walton
Gail Hill (Yellow XJ40) was the
first of the Potters to take to the track and it wasn't long before She made
a succesful move on Andrew Harrison (Kutuka Blue XJS) and continued to open
the gap for 50 minutes. Gail also passed another 15ish cars until concerned
about possible lack of fuel Chris Boon took over!
Gail Hill follows a frogeye sprite in
extremely wet conditions in the early stages of the Birkett
Chris Boon XJ6, Six Potters. Photo Scott
Mitchell
Chris Boon followed Gail, but
strugled with grip! The amount of standing water can clearly be seen in the
above picture.
RAM D Type replica driven by Martin
Astley (RAFMSA Help for Heroes)
A harrassed Harrison under attack
Alex Harrison (red XJS) behind Chris
Boon (XJ40) but not for long!
Dave Bye (Potter) XJ6 Coupe. Pic
Gary Walton
Dave Bye (XJ6) was the third
"Potter" out on the wet Northamptonshire track. He was using Toyo
R1R 1B tyres that are tipped to be the new control tyre for the JEC XJS &
possibly Saloon series in 2010! Dave found they provided plenty of grip in
these conditions! Daves lap times were 2:13 ish compared to 2:19 for Chris
Boon on 888's
Dave Bye finding plenty of grip with
the new R1R tyres.
Pete Dorlin on his first stint!
Peter Dorlin XJ6 was the 4th
"Potter" out on track and as with all the other teams, getting the
strategy right was not easy in the ever changing conditions. This time the
team decided to use unscrubbed T1R road tyres in an attempt to find maximum
grip if the track stayed very wet.
Matt skelton's 6 cylinder XJS, another
Six Potter. Photo Scott Mitchell
Next out was Classic Spares driver
(Another Potter) and JWM monthly editor Matt Skelton also on R1R's. Matt achieved
2:03 on a drying track. He also did a 1 hour and 10 min stint having retained
a standard fuel tank in his road going JEC class D car.
Matt Skelton & Sam Clarke in very
different Jaguar XJS's Pic Gary Walton.
RAM Cobra of Chem Lim & Jaguar
XK150S of Andrew Keith-Lucas
Only two XK's made it to the 2009 Birkett.
Andrew Keith-Lucas XK150S. Photo Scott Mitchell
The Black XJS driven by John
Lock (Kutuka) has probably won more races (at the hands of Derek Pearce) than
any other XJS in the JEC Championship series. Unfortunately for John (also
a Championship winner) most of his debut race in this 6L Cat was under safety
car! Good to see it back out on track though!
Chris Keith-Lucas in his stunning XK120
Sam Clark's race winning 6L XJS. Photo
Scott Mitchell
Sam Clarke has had an impressive
season, winning races with TTRS and the JEC, it is little wonder that Kutuka
enlisted him in the team having mislaid my phone number!!!
Sam as expected posted the fastest
Jaguar lap time of 1:45. Sam had a great race with the orange MR2 of Mark
Jessop, then went on to pass it and gradually pulled away after a few side
by side laps!
Despite being passed by Sam Clarke,
the MR2 driver did not give in easily!
Richard Dorlin XJ6. Photo Scott Mitchell
Richard Dorlin should have been
the last of the "Potters" as the Birkett drew to a close, unfortunately
the Marshalls had noticed some smoke eminating from the XJ6, and suggested
a change of car or a black flag were the only options!!!! Consequently Peter
Dorlin went out for his second stint, and the predicted result was now uncertain!
On his unexpected second stint,
Pete Dorlin pushed very hard to keep the dream alive with 1:49 lap times,
worryingly the temperature gauge crept into the red, and Matt Skelton very
nearly needed to do another couple of laps! Fortunately the chequred flag
cam in time & Pete completed the "Potters" Birkett outing securing
a handicap win for the team! It was not until nearly 6PM that the final results
were anounced. The team were so happy, they all celebrated with a nice cup
of tea! Kutuka had to settle for 11th and the Tortoises (XK) 47th.
THANKS
Many thanks to everyone who helped
with this report including Simon, "Potters" team manager, motorsport
photographer Scott Mitchell, some amazing motorsport pictures can be seen
on Scotts website www.scmmotorsportpictures.co.uk
&
motorsport photographer Gary Walton. Many other motorsport pictures can be
seen (and purchased) on Gary's Photobucket pages
Birkett
2009
Please note: these pictures have
been edited by Jagracing. All non credited pictures are owned by JAGRACING
THE SPINNERS
As can be expected from 6 hours of a very
wet Birkett race there were a number of drivers that lost their way.
JAGRACING has captured many of these!
Check back in a few days for some great pictures of several drivers getting
it wrong! MORE PICTURES SOON!!
