We had an early start to the 2022 racing season, as we made a one off entry to the Britcar Endurance Trophy race at Silverstone on the GP Circuit.
With it being in March, it gives us another month to fully prepare for the first rounds of both the Turismo-X Racing Championship and the 750MC Club Enduro Championship, which we are competing for the whole season. All the details and dates for those series can be found on the Darkside Motorsport Page.

A layout of Silverstone is below. We get detailed analysis of sector times and speeds. Sector 1 takes us from the Start / Finish at the Historic / National Pits all the way to end of the Hangar Straight, Sector 2 ends on the Wellington Straight and Sector 3 completes the lap.

The TT and Golf had both been on track here at Silverstone back in October for the 750MC Birkett Relay, where we very nearly won despite issues with both cars. Unfortunately we won't be able to make that race this year due to a clash with the Turismo-X series.
The Britcar Trophy uses a similar class indicator as the Endurance series, called the Bricar Endurance Performance Indicator (BEPI). It takes a massive amount of data about the car then puts you in a class. This is much more complex than the usual Power to Weight classes. We found that the Rear wing of the cars had a massive affect on how much power we could have. With the rear wing on, we would have had to reduce the power of the cars to uncompetitive levels. With them on, the TT would be in the middle of Class 1, and the Golf right at the bottom. We decided to remove the wings and go into Class 2, and with us only signed up to the first round, we were in the Invitational Class, which means we would be able to gain podiums and trophies in with the other Class 2 vehicles, but were skipped for Points, which makes sense for the drivers signed up for the full season. So the timing screens and results show '2 INV' and '2' for the classes, and the position in class (PIC) separately, but for Podiums / Trophies, they are counted as the same class.

Racing in mid-March is always going to be a risky business, since the British weather can't be relied upon in the Summer! However, the forecast was not looking too bad, possibly some rain through the night and chances of it through the day. The quandary we were in was around tyres. The Britcar series requires Dunlop Direzza for Dry, and Goodyear Motorsport Wets. We purchased the Dunlops from the series supplier, HP Tyres, who said we could just purchase the wets on the day if we wanted them. At £1500 a set and no plans to run in this series again this year, we were erring on the side of not bothering with them, what is the worst that could happen?
With Corona a thing of the past, we are back to proper scrutineering and in person driver briefings. This meant getting to the track at 07:30 on a damp Sunday morning, not ideal but it was nice to be back in the paddock and bumping into familiar faces. Rob at Area Motorsport was there with 3 of his Mk7 GTIs, and we figured they would be our main rivals for the class honours, since their Power to Weight was similar to the TT. We are also going to be coming up against them in the Club Enduro in April, so it would be the first time we were up against them on the track at the same time.

Full Race Day Vlog

We have a full Vlog from the weekend, with snippets of the race:

Drift Day:

Watch as me and Ryan have no choice but to turn into a drift team!

Qualifying

As I had been away while Ryan, Adam and Pete tested the cars, I hadn't driven the Golf since the last race of the season in November at Brands Hatch, so it was going to be a baptism of fire going into qualifying. We had also decided against the wet tyres, purely because Ryan is a tight Yorkshireman, so we were hoping that the damp track would quickly dry as the Direzzas are not known for their superior wet grip!
Alas it did not dry out, and we were dancing on ice for the whole session. Ryan came in to try removing the Anti Roll Bars, but didn't get the chance for another flying lap. I span twice in the space of 1 lap, and Ryan didn't do much better, it was crazy. I think removing the spoiler didn't help either!

If you can't see us, look right near the bottom! We ended up 41st and 42nd out of 51 cars, crazy! Looking around in Park Ferme, it made more sense. We were one of four cars on Dry tyres, with RaceLab in their BMW in 45th and Kester Cook in his Fiesta in 50th. So we did pretty well against those on the Dunlops!
It was really strange, the cars felt OK on the first lap, then it just seemed to slide more and more. I went as fast as I dared on my final lap and managed to jump just ahead of Ryan, but still 1.3s slower than the next guy, and 21.5s off the leaders. We were praying for no more rain!
Rob from Area did great in the tricky conditions (and the right tyres!), managing to get P2 overall, ahead of some much quicker cars. FWD for the win in the wet!

Qualifying Laps

Our 'fastest' laps are shown below:

Race 1

Row 21, we have not been this far back ever I don't think! But as we had said to the guys back at the pits, the only way was up (hopefully)! The weather was always threatening to rain, with the odd drizzle every now and then, but other cars circulating on the track seemed to be creating a nice dry line at least, dry enough that we figured most if not all drivers would opt for the dry tyres, since they do not last many laps when they get too hot on a drying track.
The starts are 2x2 rolling, which was going to be a bit lairy with the differing conditions depending which side of the track you were on.

Mine and Ryans full race 1 video is below. I've done a quick rundown of what went on during the race as well, for those that want to have a bit of a read!

Ryan Race 1

Scott Race 1

I made a pretty decent start, jumping from 41st to 24th and Ryan from 42nd to 27th as we both weaved through the traffic, with Ryan having to avoid a Civic and one of the Area Golfs coming together in the Loop. By Lap 2 Ryan was in 20th and I was in 22nd, where I got stuck for a few laps as some of the lower class cars battled in front.
It was still not easy with the differing grip across the track width, making overtaking difficult and punishing mistakes with your lines. It also started to rain a little, with the spots on your windscreen adding to the nervousness.
In the pack I was having a good battle with Kester Cook, who we have raced against in the TDC over the years. He gave me a little love tap around Luffield, then as he dove down the inside at Copse, on the greasy part of the track, we were both sideways and nose to tail!
By the end of lap 4 were were up to 19th and 21st, still nowhere near the position we should have started, and over 40s behind the lead pack by now.
By lap 7 Ryan had jumped to P14 and I was in P19, now ahead of Kester Cook and battling a Class 1 Ginetta for position. The car had felt a little nervous all day, but with the drying conditions I had the confidence to push. Over confidence as on lap 8 I had a nice spin into Becketts, dropping a few places.
Ryan pitted on Lap 9, hoping that we could make a few adjustments to the pressures to stop him drifting quite so much as well. I left it another lap and jumped in as Ryan was on his way back out.

Both pit stops were a lot slower than what they should have been, the aim was 2 minutes line to line. Ryan's was almost 10s too slow, and mine was 13s slower, the tyre pressures had come right up so it took forever to bleed them down, Jake was still bleeding the drivers front as I was pushed back to set off!
We had both come out well down from the top 20 as quite a few were needing to make their stops, however after a couple of laps, things were a bit more settled and Ryan had jumped to 12th, and I was in 20th, which was 4th and 7th in class respectively.
The race we were hoping to have with the Area cars was not to be, with only 10 minutes left Luke Handley's HPFP decided to die, dropping him right down the order.
By lap 16 Ryan was up into the class Podium places as I reeled in a couple more of the Class 2 cars, but it looked like I was going to run out of time, as I was over 40s away from Ryan with only seven minutes on the clock.
With just over 6 minutes to go, another bit of bad luck hit Rob Baker in the other Area Motorsport Golf. He had been in a solid 2nd position, not that far off the lead, when the V-Band on his Downpipe decided to drop to pieces. The downpipe touched the fuel return line, erupting into flames. He was sensible enough to pull up next to a marshal's post and put it out with an extinguisher. What a sad end to a great race for him.
This promoted Ryan into 1st in Class and 8th overall, with me 4th and 14th overall. Shortly after that, two of the Class 1 cars, a Ginetta and BMW suffered, the BMW in the Gravel and the Ginetta retiring in the pits.
While this was going on, I was hunting down Cook in the Fiesta, and managed to close up on him with less than a minute on the clock. If it stayed like this, we would both be on the Podium!
Last lap! Ryan was now P7 and 1st in Class, I was P12, 3rd in class with only 1.9s from the M240i in front, currently occupying 2nd position. For some reason, the M240i pulled off as we went into Maggots, so I took 2nd!
Ryan held on to 7th by 0.192s to the Class 1 Ginetta behind as they took the chequered, and I came home 11th.

Ryan managed to nab the fastest lap of all the Class 2 cars as well, by a fair margin. Once the TT is fully dialled in, it will be unstoppable, it still has the wrong suspension!

Ryan did his fastest laps and sectors at the start of the race, when the conditions were way worse, so clearly he didn't get a decent clear lap towards the end when the track was much drier.

My fastest laps were right at the end, which makes a bit more sense. I was also pushing as hard as possible when Mathisse said there was a chance of a podium.

Comparing our sectors to everyone else, we are where we need to be, most of the cars ahead are Class 1 cars, with much more power.

Race 2

With Race 1 determining the grid for Race 2, we were a little further up the order this time, Ryan on Row 4 in 7th and a car between us back to me in 11th. We were both on the inside of the track for turn 1.

Videos of mine and Ryan's full race 2 are below.

Ryan Race 2

Scott Race 2

I got a decent start relative to the guys in front, but then was wedged between the 308 TCR and the pit wall so lost a bit of ground. Kester who had started to my left was positioning his car in all the right places, quickly jumping me, Ryan and a few others.
Ryan had dropped a place to the M4 and I'd lost a few places on the straight to the quicker cars from behind, but made a few back, then pretty much stayed there until the Safety car was deployed on Lap 2. Luke Handley, in an Area Motorsport Mk7 Golf was T-Boned by the Peugeot RCZ at the chicane, putting the RCZ out of the race and him stuck in the gravel.
With Luke out of the kitty litter and at the back of the pack, we resumed racing again with me closing in on the 308 for it to pull away every time we got onto the straights. I was pushing hard, and as we started lap 7, I had a massive slide at Copse. Just as I thought I had caught it, the car snapped and spun me the other way. I managed to get back going pretty quickly, but lost places to the Fiesta and M3. All that hard work catching the 308 for nothing! While this was happening, Ryan managed to get the M4 to move back to 7th place. Looking at the lap times it was going to be difficult as he was doing mid to low 2:22s and the guys in front were all doing low 2:21s or better.
Within half a lap I had caught Callum and Kester and managed to get past the Fiesta at Brooklands, one of my favourite overtaking spots at Silverstone. The Pit Window was now open, with 30 minutes to go, but we decided to stay out as late as possible in case of a safety car.
I had a great battled with Callum in the Purple M3, right on his tail as I slid at Stowe, putting him under pressure into Vale, his back end slithering all over, I was able to get past at Club. Ryan up to 5th then battling M240i, some good close racing impressed the commentators and some huge slides received some thumbs up from the Marshalls too!
With just over 5 minutes left before the Pit Window closed, it was my turn to pit. We had said ideally we just wanted to do 1 car at a time, since Ryan's TT needed refuelling, and whoever was in the lead would get the priority. Within about 40s of me pulling into the pits, the Safety Car was deployed. I knew at that point that the race was lost for me, but it was advantageous for Ryan as he would get another full pace lap in before having to pit while we all drove at a snails pace behind the safety car.
The order as Ryan jumped into the pits was M240i 1st, TT 2nd and Ginetta G55A 3rd. This is important for later in the race!

My stop was not too terrible, but still 5s longer than the required 2:10. Ryan's was terrible, 23s longer than necessary. Despite coming in 4s later than the TT, the Ginetta did a VERY short stop, 1:49.9, which would result in a Drive through penalty of 11s normally. At this point Ryan was directly behind that, with the M240i in front of them both.
A few laps behind the safety car seemed to go on forever, as they allowed lapped cars past. However, they also made a major mistake, and allowed the Ginetta through, grabbing the M240i directly in front of Ryan instead. This meant he was able to pull a lead of almost two minutes before the end of the race. Even with the 41s penalty they added to his time, he was still over a minute ahead of the pack.
I'd come out behind Nigel Greensall in the yellow E36, but we were stuck behind a Ginetta that was going very slow once we were waved round, so I couldn't wait for the green flag to get going again! The track went green with less than 5 minutes to go, and into turn 1 I had a massive slide, one of many of the day!
I made up a couple of places over the next 2 laps, just managing to get past the M4 to nab 13th place at Brooklands. Ryan just up the road was all over the M240i and made a move at the Loop, securing P1 in class as well as P2 overall on the last lap. Adding to the calamity of the safety car incident, the Chequered Flag was then shown to Ryan, despite him being in 2nd position on the track, which meant everyone had a lap less than expected. I am sure I could have made up at least 1 or 2 more positions, but I was still 11s off P3 in class, so no trophies were going to happen for me regardless!

This time the Team Brit M240i (driven by Julian Thomas who owns Racelogic) did a mental 2:20.941 vs Ryan's 2:22.218, so we need to get the TT dialled in a bit better to close the gap!

Traffic definitely had an effect on the consistency over the long lap, with the times all over the place for Ryan.

Mine weren't any more consistent either!

The fastest sectors are below, Ryan's ideal lap was 8th quickest of the race, mine 12th. Improvements to be made again!

Fastest Laps

Our fastest laps of the day, both were in Race 2 as conditions improved massively:

It was a completely unexpected weekend really. We knew that we were going to struggle in Qualifying without the wet tyres, but we all didn't let the terrible result get our heads down, and knew it would make it much more interesting for Race 1.
So in the end, we had 4 trophies, 1st and 2nd in Class for Race 1, then 2nd overall and 1st in Class Race 2. Not bad to say the TT was not quite at the top of the power to weight for the class, and the Golf was nowhere near!
Thanks to all the team who worked tirelessly to get the cars ready, and were on the ball throughout the weekend making this happen. The driver can easily lose a race, but it takes the full team to win!

Photos courtesy of Mick Walker and @Scruffybearpictures.