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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED FOR PHIL QUAIFE IN BRANDS HATCH BRITCAR

Phil Quaife competed in this weekend’s Brand Hatch Britcar round with two missions – to promote the Teenage Cancer Trust and to prove the reliability of a new Quaife gearbox.

He achieved both these goals in the challenging ‘into the night’ race with partner Phil Keen. The weekend began with a test session, but with only half the grid out running on the short Indy circuit Quaife and Keen were cautious in their optimism for the race.

It was the Aston Martin that was the car to beat in testing, but with nearly 200 more horsepower, Quaife always knew it would be a tough challenge for the team’s Porsche. The test session also highlighted the limited intensity of the Porsche’s headlights and despite scouring the local automotive outlets, the team was unable to improve on the bulbs already fitted.

The Saturday race day began with qualifying and with nearly 20 cars on the Indy track, it was a busy flurry of activity as each team sought to put in a quick lap and produce a good grid position. Quaife and Keen were determined to start as far forward as possible, but it was a tall order with so many cars of different categories and speed.

Fifth quickest lap gave the team its third row grid slot with Quaife saying, “There was just so little opportunity for a clear lap and we just had to take any and every chance we could. I think we overtook three cars on our grid-setting lap, which shows just how crowded it was out on track!”

A short 15 minute break between qualifying and the race gave the team little time for final preparations and Quaife was soon lining up for the green flag start. The Aston Martin on pole spun out at the start of the race and the Quaife/Keen car was soon up to third behind the Viper and the Marcos.

The lack of horsepower became evident in the race with the Porsche unable to stay with its rivals on the straights, only catching up through the corners. The headlights also proved to be a hindrance to the two Phil’s, with Quaife saying, “When darkness fell we just weren’t able to try and improve on our position. We could only see a couple of feet in front of us and were relying on the rear lights of cars ahead to work out our turning points!”

The Teenage Cancer Trust-liveried Porsche ran well with its new gearbox proving to be reliable throughout the race. Frustratingly, it was a mere gearbox cable that was the downfall for the team, with the cable breaking during the race. The team were determined not to let this end their day and they set to work to replace it and prove that the gearbox was capable and reliable. Quaife explains, “It should have been a third place finish for us and it was annoying to be sidelined by such a silly thing as a cable problem. Thanks to the team they were able to replace it and get us back out there. It proved the Quaife gearbox has the reliability and I know Phil (Keen) was very happy with the handling of the car, so we certainly achieved our aim today, it was just a shame that we didn’t finish on the podium.

Although the car had been running well in third place for most of the race distance, in the final result the Quaife/Keen entry was unclassified, as the duo eventually finished over 30 laps down on the winners, due to the cable replacement. Phil sums up his Britcar experience, “It was great fun doing the Britcar event - we’ve raised money for a very worthy cause and gave the Quaife gearbox its first race outing, so overall I’m pleased with the weekend. I’m off to Dubai tomorrow for the final round of the GT3 Cup and I really want to be on the podium for that and finish on a high.”