A great weekend of racing at Snetterton. On Saturday we woke up to some light drizzle, but this soon past leaving us with a damp track for the mornings qualifying, which was exciting to say the least, a few spins and plenty of cars using the outside of the track and some..
Under the new rules that have been set by the MSA, all 4 wheels must remain on the circuit, this means within the white lines. So this lead to a quick briefing explaining the new rules to all the drivers and a few questions being asked. So during the first race in the afternoon, with the sun out, most of the drivers were being very restrained and trying to find the limits of their cars with less track to play with. But it still made for a great race with Sarah Moore and jake Jackson bumper to bumper all the way to the chequred flag. Behind them was a great scrap for forth with Simon Horribin, in his first ever car race and Kart world record holder Howard Kayman. They swapped places countless times until Howard took the chequered flag by 0.109 seconds.
Results Race 1.
David Moore
Jake Jackson
Sarah Moore Howard Kayman Simon Horrobin
David Nash
Paul Bates
Tom Knight Martin Clatworthy
James Palmer
Rob Baker.
race 2 proved to be a different affair at the front, Jake Jackson shot off in to an early lead chased hard by David Moore and his sister Sarah. David then took over the lead and for the rest of the race all 3 battled hard and crossed the line within 1.4 seconds of each other. Simon Horrobin had a comftable forth place and Howard Kayman had to fend off David Nash for most of the race. James Palmer then swapped places with Martin Clatworthy and Rob Baker, until Martyn in the Ski StMartin car had a monumental spin coming out of Oggies. In Martin’s own words ‘A bit of off piste never did anyone any harm’
Race results for race 2.
David Moore
Jake Jackson
Sarah Moore Simon Horrobin Howard Kayman
David Nash
Paul Bates
James Palmer Martyn Clatworthy
Rob Baker
I would like to finish off by saying a big thank you to everyone who made this weekend possible and roll on Brands Hatch. Due to transport problems the Belgium and French cars could not make Snetterton, but with a fair wind they will all be at Brands Hatch and with a grid of over 20 cars the racing can only get even better.
Trophy Fens / Spa-Francorchamps Moore reigns in Belgium Following its impressive debut season, the 4two Cup series embarked on its 2012 season last weekend at the infamous Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. With a long winter break drawing to a close, initial fears that the unique series would fail to attract a healthy number of entrants were quickly abated as the 4two Cup rolled into the Ardenne with a combined field of over 40 cars ready to compete for top honours as part of the Fens Trophy.
With both British and Belgian organisers of the series joining forces with their Smart 450 (90bhp) and 451 (130bhp) machines, the racing was as competitive as any other one-make series in Europe. The compact cars provided exciting, close battles throughout the field and the estimated 5,000 spectators left the circuit raving about all they had seen and heard.
While the standard of drivers was high, the weekend belonged to one man – Britcar –sponsored driver David Moore (driving the #1 car), who dominated the weekend securing an unprecedented four wins out of four starts in the Smart451 category. The Englishman was the class of the field in the slippery conditions in Saturday’s opening race and continued his winning form into the following three races on Sunday while younger sister Sarah maintained the Moore in securing two 2nd place finishes in what ultimately proved to be a mixed weekend for the #6 Spacewise sponsored driver. Also impressing around the 4.35mile Grand Prix circuit, Jake Jackson in the First Containers #9 machine who registered two 2nd place finishes, two 3rd place finishes and rounded off his weekend with two fastest laps. David De Coster was the leading Belgian competitor – his best results being two 3rd place finishes while the #3 JC Motorhomes-sponsored car of James Palmer impressed alongside the Smarts4Uracing #2 car of Paul Bates.
Saturday morning brought dawned with the traditional Spa weather front – a mixture of mist, drizzle and gloomy conditions. Yet to the delight of the spectators, the racing failed to mirror the dire conditions and the opening race of the 2012 season was filled with plentiful racing throughout the field. The Indycar-style rolling start saw James Palmer take the lead from 4th on the grid going into the La Source hairpin but down the hill to Eau Rouge it was David Moore who lead the field while behind, fellow Englishman Jake Jackson spun the #9 car at over 100mph cresting the top of Radillon and dropping to 12th in the process. A little further round the track, Sarah Moor lost it entering the right hander after Stavelot before recovering without losing position. The slippery conditions brought with them copious amounts of close racing throughout the field but it was David Moor who took the chequered flag after 25minutes racing on the 6th lap, leading younger sister Sarah home by 20s with Jackson a further 31s behind in 3rd place and David Nash in the Smart7racing #7 car in 4th. Only Maiken Rasmussen and Michael Marek managed to stem the British onslaught – positing 5th and 6th place finishes respectively and hoping for a better run in the final three races on Sunday. In the Smart 450 category, Gregory was offered Cosse’s first victory over David Etienne and Cedric Albers.
Spring conditions greeted the drivers for the remaining three races on Sunday and while the weather had unquestionably altered from Saturday, the ultimate race pace in the second race of the year had not as David Moore swept to another victory (and recorded the fastest lap) ahead of Sarah Moore and Jake Jackson. After a dismal opening race the previous day, David De Coster was delighted with a 4th place finish ahead of the gallant Palmer, Damien Verleyen, Paul Bates and David Nash who were locked in a race-long battle for 5th. As for Maiken Rasmussen, she was the victim of engine misfire that resulted in her car going into safe mode without warning. In the 450 class, it was David Albers taking the honours for Cedric Etienne and Gregory Cosse, consoling himself with the fastest lap for the 450’s.
By late morning, the third race brought little change with Moore winning again and the younger Moor being hindered by problems, – Sarah’s car developing a fault in the turbo. This time however, the winner didn’t have an easy run to the flag with Jackson only finishing just over a second behind the #1 car and setting the fastest lap in the process. De Coster ran out a fine 3rd ahead of the chasing pack lead by Rasmussen, Palmer, Verleyen, Bates and Nash while in the 450 class, Cedric claimed a second win.
The final race of the day promised to be explosive, and the spectators were not to be disappointed. At the green flag it was David Moore, Sarah Moore and Jake Jackson who lead the field into La Source – with Jackson battling between the two Moore’s cars. Up Eau Rouge and into Radillion and suddenly the back of Jacksons car stepped out at 105mph, the 451 seemingly destined to connect heavily with the tyre wall before the Englishman had displayed supreme skill in righting the car, dropping it down a couple of gears and heading off up to Le Combes and on his way to an eventual 2nd place finish. With oil all over the track – courtesy of an earlier Historic Touring Car race, the conditions were as bad or even worse (depending on which driver you spoke to) than they had been 24 hours earlier yet once again, through it all came David Moore in the #1 Britcar-sponsored machine to round his dominating start to the 2012 season. De Coster claimed third ahead of Rassmussen, Michel Marek and Paul Bates while Sarah Moore was the victim of mechanical woes.
After an eventful season-opener in front of a healthy crowd of 5,000, the series heads to the UK and Donnington Park on April 21st-22nd where the Belgians will try to beat their British rivals in their own back yard. Are we in for ‘Moore’ of the same in Derbyshire? Place your bets…
Smarts4youracing have just launched a road version of the race car suspension.
These height adjustable kits are made primarily for the modified road smart car. (451 model)
The main features of these kits are:
On car damping adjustment
Shortened body and stroke lengths to allow a -10mm to -30mm ride height adjustment
The units have a coarse acme form thread for ease of adjustment and to minimise corrosion
Zinc plated dampers
All units are provided with high quality coil springs. (options are available)
Kit Includes
2 x Front adjustable coil over shock absorbers
2 x rear fully adjustable shock absorbers
2 x up rated rear springs
2 x adjustable spring fixing plates (allowing ride height to be adjustable
1 x Height adjustment spanner
1 x Socket for damping adjustment
Our suspension comes fully guaranteed and the shocks are fully serviceable by us.
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
David Moore
Tom Mills
Howard Kayman
Sarah Franklin
Marc Kemp
Keith Robinson
Paul Bates
Andrew O’Dell
David Nash
James Palmer
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.
David Moore
Tom Mills
Howard Kayman
Keith Robinson
Marc Kemp
Andrew O’Dell
Sarah Franklin
Paul Bates
David Nash
James Palmer
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.
David Moore
Tom Mills
Keith Robinson
Andrew O’Dell
Sarah Franklin
Howard Kayman
Marc Kemp
Paul Bates
David Nash
James palmer
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
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…
