November 3rd, 2011 by paulbates.
When the 4two cup raced at silverstone on the Britcar 24hr package we managed to get coverage on motors TV. This is being aired at the moment so check for programme times on motors TV.
But here is a snippet from the show.
October 21st, 2011 by paulbates.
Last weekend we took 7 of the 4two cup cars out to Spa to race with the Belgium and French cars. What can I say… A great weekend was had by all. The sun was shinning all weekend, the racing was great and the entertainment was spot on. Here is a race report from Sarah Moore and a great comment from Ben Constanduros.
Well it might of been a last minute deal, but what a weekend it was! Changing positions every corner on every lap.
Qualifying was hard because I had never been round the track before, except from maybe a couple of times on the playstation, but its not the same! But i still managed to qualify 3rd, 2nd and 1st out of 21 cars which I was very happy with to say that a lot of the drivers had been round there before.
The first race was a close battle for 2nd as Silvano got away from the start and I ended up battling with David Di Costa, Ben and my little brother. But I managed to pull a gap in second whilst the other three drivers were battling for 3rd. But there was too much of a gap for me to catch up to Silvano, so i settled for 2nd.
The second race was a battle for the first corner as my brother started next to me in first position, but I managed to mess up the start by changing up a gear slightly to early, which meant I dropped back to about 8th. So I took a chance going into the first corner and went flying up the inside, locking all brakes up and just missing Silvano by inches! But that put me back in the battle for 3rd with my brother, Silvano and Ben. But with my brother lacking a bit of straight line speed I managed to pass him and pull away into second with Silvano not much further in front. Unfortunately I didn’t quite have the pace to catch him up. So yet again I had to settle for 2nd!
In the third race I was more determined than ever to win as I was starting on Pole and had the inside line into the first corner. I tried my hardest to try and hold everyone back before the first corner so I could pull a bit of a gap, but Silvano managed to stay on my back and we battled all the way to the end of the race, changing positions at just about every corner on every lap. With Silvano having just that little bit more top end speed I knew that he would be able to pass me down the straights , the only way I could get him was into corners as I knew I had better brakes. Unfortunately Silvano managed to get past me going up Eau Rouge and pulled a bit of a gap, it was on this lap he managed to set his fastest laps and he had pulled enough of a gap to keep his position. I was happy that I was able to keep up with him as he was the fastest driver round the track.
All in all I think it was probably one of the most enjoyable weekends I have had. Definitely the closest racing i’ve had in a long time. If only James had listened to my advice then maybe we could of had a couple more of us Brits up the front. Hopefully I will be out again for Brands hatch and show Silvano how its done.
A big thanks to James and Paul and my Mum and Dad for getting me out, it was a great weekend.
Sarah Moore Tockwith Motorsports
‘To Race at Spa has always been a dream since it was the first F1 i remember visiting. In never thought I would fulfil the ambition in a Smart car but what a great week. The atmosphere with the benelux teams was great both on track and off, and I think I am even a little addicted to the little things!
Ben Constanduros
October 9th, 2011 by paulbates.
The 4two cup was lucky enough to be one of the support races for the well attended Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone. With this in mind, we invited the smartcup cars over from Belgium. They would run as a second class using their own regulations. This added 6 extra cars to the grid.
Friday morning see an early start for the drivers as we were first on the track at 9am for qualifying. All cars completed their laps with 2 cars stopping at the smart pit garage (24hr car)
for quick driver changes. David Moore did not have it all his own way as Silvano Ciara set the quickest lap on lap 3. Sarah Franklin then had a blow out at Farm curve, the very fast left hander after the new pits. This sent her into a spin at over 100mph followed by bouncing over the kerbs and onto the grass where the car dug in and rolled over several times. But to the surprise of the marshals she open the door and walked away, a bit battered and bruised.
Classification.
Silvano Ciara
David Moore
Tom Mills
Pat Blakeney
Sarah Franklin
Max Cornelius
Ben Constanduros
David Nash
David De Coster
Andrew O’Dell
Sarah Moore
Jake Jackson
Damien Verleyen
Valerie Somers
Laurent Montiel
Round 7 took place later that day, David Moore got off to a great start with Silvano getting bogged down and ending up back in the middle of the pack. The race went on with some great battles all the way down the field. Silvano started to fight his way back up the field, only to end up coming together with Ben on lap 2 and both ending up in a spin on the exit of Copse.
This dropped Silvano back to 9th position. David Moore’s smoothness in the car showed yet again as he took his 6th win on the trot.
Race classification.
David Moore
Pat Blakeney
Tom Mills
Sarah Moore
Jake Jackson
David De Coster
Max Cornelius
Ben Constanduros
Silvano Ciara
David Nash
Damien Verleyen
Andrew O’Dell
Laurent Montiel
Fiducaire Etienne
Valerie Somers.
Later that evening all the drivers and teams had a great BBQ, a beer or two and discussed the days racing, well where we could as they could not speak much English and we can not speak any French. But even so a great night.
Again Saturday morning was an early start as we were 2nd race of the day and mixed in with the Caterham Academy cars, giving a grid of 44 cars. After much discussion with Drew at the BRSCC we decided that the Caterhams would go off first with us 30seconds later. Off the little cars went with Silvano determined to make up for his 9th place start. David Moore shot out from the front being chased by Ben and Tom. Again there were battles all the way around the circuit. David Nash was battling hard with one of the Belgium cars, but took some avoiding action and ending up reversing in to the barrier at Maggotts and becketts ending his race. Silvano then set out to chase down David Moore, overtaking Ben, Jake, Max and Sarah before having a battle royal with Pat Blakeney. Exiting Luffield Silvano managed to get a tow off of Pat’s car and went past him on the straight. By the time the David took the Chequered flag Silvano was only a few seconds away closely followed by Pat and the rest of the field.
After the race Ben Constanduros said “Firstly a massive thanks to you and your team for providing an excellent car and series to enjoy the GP circuit on. I truely have never had so much fun in a Race car and hope I can help you promote the championship to be well supported in 2012.”
Pat Blakeney “What great cars, I never expected them to be quite like that, I would love to race in the series again”
Race Classification.
David Moore
Silvano Ciara
Pat Blakeney
Max Cornelius
Tom Mills
Ben Constanduros
Sarah Moore
Jake Jackson
Dvid de Coster
Damien Verleyen
Andrew O’Dell
Laurent Montiel
Fiducaire Etienne
Valerie Somers.
The 4two cup are off the Spa next weekend to race with the Belgium cars again on their own turf. We will keep you informed of all the results.
Many thanks to all who supported, helped attended the race weekend.
Paul Bates
October 7th, 2011 by paulbates.
Smarts4youracing which owns and runs the 4Two Cup, a race series for the little town car, entered the larger forfour model owned by the smart club into the prestigious Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone. It was the first time in the world that a Smart car had been entered into such a gruelling race and was up against some very fast cars from marques including Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin.
The drivers consisted of four very experienced racers: 4Two Cup founders and former Britcar winners, Paul Bates and James Palmer, local racer Tom Mills and 16 year old David Moore, the current 4Two Cup series leader. Nigel Moore from Tockwith motorsport help build and run the car as our chief engineer. Nigel is the youngest British driver to race at Le Mans for a works team, So plenty of experience there.
Paul Bates said: ‘We had a very good team running the car and some great sponsors, including CFT Financials and drum and bass label, Ram Records. The team set out with one goal and that was to finish the race.
Things didn’t start off too well during Thursday practice as the car had a misfire, which took until the early hours of Friday to rectify. This meant that the car went into qualifying without any testing on the tyres that would be used in the race. Qualifying took place and due to their practice problem this left the team on the starting grid in 54th place out of 57 cars.
The race got underway at 4.30pm on Saturday afternoon and first to take to the wheel was Paul Bates. James Palmer was followed by Tom Mills and finally 16 year old David ‘Nipper’ Moore. At this point the Smart car was up to 27th overall. Near disaster was about to strike as darkness approached when David radioed through to the team with a fuel surge problem.
James Palmer added: ‘ He came into the pits for a check and the team found that the fuel tank had split. So 6hrs in to the race a decision was made to take the fuel tank out of a road car, fit all the special fitting and put this on the race car. 1hr and 5mins later the car was back on track, but had dropped back to 36th place.’
The car pounded on into the night gaining places and was back up to 33rd, when a wheel bearing broke causing the brakes to fail. As Paul Bates said: ‘What a scary moment, I was approaching Brooklands at 125mph with no brakes.’
Once again the car pitted for a new wheel hub and brakes and less than an hour later the car emerged from the pits in 37th place. On it went for the next 11 hours with only the scheduled stops for fuel, new tyres and driver changes. As the race went on the team climbed back up the leader board. By 4pm on Sunday the car was not surprisingly looking worse for wear. Half its wing was missing, it had no side skirts, a very badly cracked windscreen and a suspension issue. But despite all that on it went to take the chequered flag on a late Sunday afternoon in 28th place overall.
The car had completed a total of 456 laps of Silverstone race circuit, a total of 1,672 miles.
740 Litres of fuel had been used and 6 sets of slick tyres.
We would like to say a massive thank you to all of our sponsors and team. Without them this would have not been possible
Luke harnesses and Corbeau seats
August 15th, 2011 by paulbates.
After a very busy 4 weeks for smarts4youracing and the 4two cup it was off to Snetterton for the next 2 rounds in the series. Fortunately all the cars had been prepared and checked by the boys at the garage whilst we were away in Italy at smart times 11, so it was a quick rush back check the 3 cars we had taken with us to Italy, reload the vans and get to Snetterton to set up.
Saturday morning the weather was not looking too good and by the time the cars made there way to the assembly area the rain was falling hard. As none of us were familiar with the new circuit it was going to be entertaining and quite scary at the same time. Out we all went speeding towards Riches for the first time. Keith Robinson then made a quick dive down the inside of Sarah Franklin and drove off towards Montreal hairpin, only to start aquaplaning off on to the grass. For the next 3 or 4 laps cars seemed to be spinning everywhere, The new Coram was also a challenge for the little cars, trying to hang on to it whilst side ways and braking for Murrays. A new circuit in bad weather was proving difficult. But never the less, everyone seemed to settle down, learn the circuit and set some reasonable times. All the cars took the chequered flag intact, except for the odd bits of Mud.
Qualifying results.
Race 1.The sun came out for the rest of the day and dried up the track very quickly, so when we made our way on to the grid it was like learning the circuit all over again, different lines and braking points. Everyone started well and it was very tight going into Montreal, Palmer and Agostini.Sarah Franklin then pushed a little too hard and had a big spin going in to Palmer, Keith Robinson then followed her and came back on just in front of Andrew O’Dell. Sarah seemed to loose quite a lot of time and ended up at the back. Battles then went on all the way down the field and Sarah then managed to work her way back to 7th Place, Great Drive…
Final positions.
Race 2: It was now very sunny and warm, Most of the drivers had adjusted suspension set up and tyre pressures ready for the next race. We were all held in the assembly area for nearly an hour while the marshals tried to free a Fiesta that had berried itself in to the barriers and gravel under the bridge. Finally we were let out on the grid. Everyone seemed to get away well except Marc Kemp in number 12. He stayed stationery for quite a while. As I learned later, he loosened his belts to adjust his wing mirror on the 5 second board. Not a wise move… Marc then drove like a man possessed and I had quite a few laps trying to fend him off, Until he decided to dive don the inside coming into Brundle. I have never seen a smart car doing about 80mph completely side ways and trying to brake and turn the other way into Nelson… Great move Marc. The rest of the race was great with all the drivers getting quicker and quicker. I think David Moore decided to see how much dust he could through into the crowd by the new elevated viewing area, as every lap he went wider and wider, but they seemed to like it.
Final Positions.
There was a couple of great statements made the weekend.Keith Robinson reigning Britcar champion and last years 24hr winner said “ The last time I drove round here in the Ferrari I did a 2 hour stint and the 20 minutes in the smart has made me sweat more and has knackered me out”.
In the bar Saturday night a marshal said to me “ the smart cars really surprised me, I was expecting them to be slow and boring and they were far from it”A big thank you to all the members of The smart Racing Club for helping set up, delivering cars and washing cars. Also Marc Waller for the use of all his photography.
Roll on Silverstone and the the 24hr race with the smart forfour.
Paul Bates
Smarts4you racing
July 28th, 2011 by paulbates.
Well what can I say. The sun was shinning all weekend, the racing was superb with battles going on all the way down the field. Here are a selection of pictures showing what a great time was had by all. Roll on Snetterton…
July 24th, 2011 by Oliviagauch.
History was made in the second race of the 4two cup in what was a highly entertaining race.
Pole-sitter David Moore made a good start with Tom Mills behind. But it was Nigel Moore from the back of the grid that had a lightening getaway and by Quarry was already upto 3rd.
By the end of the first lap he was upto 2nd and Tom had to do battle with another Moore, this time, Sarah.
On what was a ding dong battle throughout the race, the Moore brothers each took the lead several times, Nigel going up the inside at Quarry, but ultimately losing out at Camp Corner.
With them battling, the gap closed between Tom and Sarah to the leaders. The female racer braked late into Quarry and went up the inside of Tom. Despite being side by side heading to the Esses, Tom was unable to keep her at bay and a few laps later Tom retired due to a lack of fuel. This meant Sarah was free to join in the battle between her brothers.
At the finish line it was David that took his second win of the weekend with Nigel 0.285 seconds behind. Sarah took the final step to make history as the first family to take all the steps of a podium in a race.
David just managed to keep his brother behind him: ‘Nigel was behind me from the first lap and throughout the race. We both had a bit of trouble with the cars going into limp mode, so sometimes he was infront of me and I was chasing and vice versa. We made it entertaining and it was a close battle.’
Nigel had a good race despite missing out on the top step: ‘I started from the back but got a good start and then battled with my brother. The car went into limp mode which kept costing me, but I nailed him back under at Quarry. I’d love to do another race as it was such a good weekend and the first time our family has raced in the same class.’
Sarah admitted she didn’t start very well: ‘I had a rubbish start, Nigel came flying through and then I was battling with Tom for ages. He then made a mistake and I caught up with my brothers and battled with them for the last few laps. Everybody thinks the smart cars are going to tip over, but they don’t and they’re just great fun to race.’
1. David Moore
2. Nigel Moore
3. Sarah Moore
4. Sarah Franklin
5. James Palmer
6. Andrew O’Dell
7. David Nash
8. Paul Bates
July 24th, 2011 by Oliviagauch.
Race one saw David Moore and Tom Mills battle it out from the start with the former leading for most of the first lap. Tom got a run into last corner, Camp Corner to take over at the front, but it didn’t last long as David was back ahead on the start/finish straight.
The only female racers in the series, Sarah Franklin and Sarah Moore had a good dice, with Moore slipstreaming at Avon Rise as they then headed side by side into Quarry. The youngster stuck it up the inside on lap four to take 3rd.
Further down the field, Andrew O’Dell and James Palmer, fighting for 5th, provided more entertainment for the crowds, putting up a good fight throughout the race. James closed the gap everytime going into the Esses, but Andrew, racing a smart car for the first time kept the 4two cup founder behind him.
Up at the front, the duel was getting closer, but when Tom locked up at the Esses, it put an end to his challenge. David took his second race win in the series by 2.667 seconds. Tom and David’s sibling Sarah, took the final steps of the podium.
David was pleased to take another race win: ‘At the start it was fairly close and then after the first couple of laps most of the pack dropped off and Tom stayed behind me. He made a mistake and then I had a pretty clear race.’
Despite his mistake, Tom was happy to get on the podium: ‘It was a fantastic race because the cars are very evenly matched. During the first five laps we were trading places which was really good fun. The cars are a joy to drive.’
A first smart race for Sarah and she was disappointed not to have made the top step: ‘I would have liked a first, but I’m not quite as good as my brother just yet. Nigel is in the second race so it might be more difficult, but he starts from the back of the grid so that should be interesting.’
1. David Moore
2. Tom Mills
3. Sarah Moore
4. Sarah Franklin
5. James Palmer
6. Andrew O’Dell
7. Howard Kayman
8. David Nash
9. Paul Bates
10. Paul Abraham
July 24th, 2011 by Oliviagauch.
Qualifying for round 2 of the 4two cup took place at a sunny Castle Combe circuit. With the addition of two more members of the Moore family, Sarah and Nigel added to the grid, it was younger brother David that took pole position. His time of 1.30.877 was a mere 0.011 faster than Nigel. Sharing a car with Howard Kayman, who was to contest the first race, this meant Nigel’s time was irrelevant and so Tom Mills was to line up alongside David.
The first ever race winner, Sarah Franklin took third, edging out Sarah Moore, while James Palmer completed the top five.
1. David Moore
2. Tom Mills
3. Sarah Franklin
4. Sarah Moore
5. James Palmer
6. Howard Kayman
7. Andrew O’Dell
8. David Nash
9. Paul Abrahams
10. Paul Bates
