MOSLER CHALLENGE 2008: First impressions

Because one or two Moslers are never enough, how about a gridful? Recently announced, the Mosler Challenge will bring a field full of the GT3s and a new 'Mosler-lite' into racing as support to the Dutch Supercar Challenge.

Warren Mosler and Martin Short have cooked up a way of raising awareness of the marque- and the number actively involved in GT racing. The Challenge will be open to existing and new GT3 entrants but the interesting angle is the introduction of a new model - the Challenge car.

That still has the 570 bhp GT3 engine of the current model but has some lower spec components (or has them removed altogether). This brings the cost of owning a racing Mosler down (to 150,000 euros) and entry into a championship that Martin Short stresses will be conducted with a "fair play philosophy" where a "welcome and congenial atmosphere" should prevail.

With pitstop-time-penalties to handicap the field, the Challenge drivers may be in with a chance of winning the prize money pot in place for each race as well as for the season overall.

Perhaps the telling detail is that the Challenge car - which won't be 24-hour racing capable like its older brother - is expected to be upgraded to GT specification within two years. So, it seeks to perk up the marques presence within national classes - possibly with the intention of aiming for FIA GT3 homologation in 2010?

I'll be very interested to see who gets involved - how cool would it be to see the current British, Belgian, Dutch and Spanish GT Moslers going head to head! And with 'easy' financing deals and a 'gentleman driver' approach to GT, the Challenge could yet bring in ambitious young pilots, distinguished racers and existing teams looking to experiment with the car before choosing it as a national championship runner.

Some people involved in GT, particularly those who feel they've been burned when the Mosler failed to attain FIA GT3 homologation, are sceptical about the value of an all-marque field at this level. But many see it as a great opportunity to make the marque's presence felt and show that, in both sprint ands endurance racing, the Mosler has the potential to be superlative.

We'll be interviewing Martin Short as part of our season preview and hope to get to a few Challenge meetings (Britcar, natch!) so keep 'em peeled for more Mosler Lover gen on this unique championship.

Official website
http://www.mosler.co.uk/mosler/race_challenge_intro.asp

Dutch Supercar Challenge report (in English)
http://www.supercarchallenge.nl/news/0/1374/the_dsc___mosler_challenge_for_2008.htm

INTERVIEW: Chris Pollard, Eclipse Motorsport

In the first of an occasional series of interviews, I caught up with co-owner of Eclipse Motorsport, Chris Pollard, to see what he thought of his 2007 season.

"Diabolical!" was his wholly understandable reply. Let's face it, for a team used to endurance race wins, last season was the year when the wheels came off - literally. He ranks their Snetterton race as their most memorable; given that they lead for half of it before kissing goodbye to the right rear wheel at speed it was also fairly memorable for all who were there or saw the footage.

Chris thought that Silverstone suited the team best ansd was the team's season highlight - as their class podium place and 5th overall in the Britcar 24 hour race proved. The Mosler's suitability for endurance racing is something that attracted him to racing the Mosler initially, saying "it's an ideal car for distance racing.. it remains an extremely attractive, exciting racing car".

But it was an uneven season to say the least. Equalisation and ongoing homologation issues dogged the marque, and Eclipse certainly suffered. Chris was also clearly unhappy with the performances of the Cole brothers, "inexperienced drivers who were ill-matched for pace and who had wildly disparate driving styles".

Certainly a frustrating season all round for Chris, then. "It'd probably have been cheaper, more successful and far more enjoyable if John (Griffiths, co-owner) and I had simply driven the car ourselves", he commented.

I'm keen to ask drivers and owners what they'd change about the Mosler if they could. "Unsure,", said Chris. I get the feeling that he'd have liked to see the car developed as a full-on GT2 racer, properly homologated. Given that Eclipse had early success in endurance racing, I guess Chris could see the potential in the car and was keen on racing it on the international stage.

But that wasn't to be. The car sported a 'For Sale or Rent' placard when it was displayed at the recent Autosport International show and the Mosler story is over for Eclipse.






















Photos top and middle (c) dailysportscar.com;
bottom (c) Simon H Johnson