DSC / Mosler Challenge Nurburgring 19-20th April 2008

In a busy weekend for European GT racing, this was perhaps the premier event. The Nurburging played host to the first round of the Dutch Supercar Challenge, which this season incorporates the Mosler Challenge.

With too few entrants to justify a grid of their own just yet, the Moslers raced with the rest of the GT pack to win points towards their own Challenge championship as well as the DSC overall titles.



Free practice on the Friday saw three of the four fastest GT entries from the Mosler marque. Martin Short, owner of Rollcentre Racing and the man behind the production of the GT3 car, set the fastest Mosler lap time. Less than half a second seperated Short from two other Moslers, with Kevin Riley & Ian Flux just edging out the Eigner pairing of Harry Mecke & Roland Rehfeld. The two other Challenge entrants finished a little further down the page, debut driver Berry van Elk looking promising and the brothers Woodcock bringing up the rear.


Saturday qualifying saw thick fog greet the gathered guests, including the man behind the marque, Warren Mosler. Roland Rehfeld used his knoweldge of the 'Ring to his advantage and slotted the Eigner car into the top spot. KRM sat at Rehfeld's right hand, with Short and the Woodcocks futher back. And way, way back was Berry van Elk, courtesy of his left front wheel going for a runabout by itself. If only he has the chance to take the matter up with whoever builds these things....


For the first race, the fog was still sticking to the circuit as the safety car took the pack around, hoping the weather would lift and let the racing get underway. Sadly, it was not to be - three laps around and the race was cancelled, the fog deemed too hazardous for racing in. Disappointment all round, then, for whay was shaping up to be a barnstorming opener to the Challenge.


Sunday saw early fog blazed away by sunnier weather, so the Challenge was back on! Moslers were spread right across the grid, Harry Mecke up in second, the KRM car in the top ten and the others strung out through the field, Berry van Elk starting from the back after his wheel-nut-wrenching escapades the day before.



Mecke got the drop on the pole Porsche as the lights went green but his lightning start was tempered by the need for thunderous braking, several places then being lost as the pack ripped around.


A superb drive by Cor Euser saw the Marcos LM600 take the chequered flag less than a second in front of the Audi DTM of Ardi van der Hoek and Arjan van der Zwaan. And, third overall and winner of the first Mosler Challange, were.... Kevin Riley and Ian Flux!
Second place in the challenge and fifth overall were the Eigner pairing of Mecke and Rehfeld, with the last Mosler Challenge podium place taken by a certain M.Short....


Berry van Elk rounded out his adventurous debut with a 19th place finish. The Woodcocks managed an unlucky thirteen laps before having to retire.

So, five Moslers eventually got the Challenge underway. Joining them for the next round will be Go-To-One Racing (who were over in England winning the G2 class at the FIA GT in Silverstone). And with seven Moslers under construction at Rollcentre, we could be looking forward to ten cars on the grid towards the back end of the season.

Next stop, Spa: I'll be doing whatever I can to get over there for what is shaping up to be a great, great race.

Thanks to Jeroen van Wissen for all the photos (except the podium shot, thanks to Robert Maas)

BRITCAR: Snetterton 20th April 2008

North Norfolk welcomed Britcar for their first visit of 2008, the first four-hour race of the season. With Kevin Riley off round the 'Ring in the Mosler Challenge, three teams stepped up for the marque at Snetterton.

Well, almost three: Andrew Tate's car suffered severe engine problems in the warmup to rule him out of the running, making it another Britcar no-show for the ABG team.

Eclipse nearly didn't make it either, with an alternator transplant from Tate's car needed to keep the McInerneys on the grid. At the right end of it, too, up in third with the Topcats Mosler next to them in fourth.


The two Moslers ran strongly from the start, keeping towards the upper reaches of the pack. Sadly, lap 13 was unlucky for Topcats - engine trouble seemingly contagious as Henry Taylor dragged the 'Cats car into the pits with a race-ending problem.

Meanwhile, Sean McInerney kept the pressure on up front and Eclipse finally overhauled the leading TVR on lap 43. Disappearing into the distance, Sean built up a comfortable lead.

And, I'm glad to say, father and son consolidated that lead and turned in their first overall win. Michael took the flag several laps ahead of the second-placed Cadena Aston.

Britcar is looking good for Mosler action this season - I'm hoping to get down to some races this year and, by the looks of things, report on more Mosler wins!

Here's a great piece of in-car footage from the McInnery's Mosler:

Photos (c) P J Cherry 2008

FIA GT: Silverstone 20th April 2008

It's cold and foggy. So, it must be April and Silverstone.

An early, early start as my Dad was convinced that the traffic jams would be horrendous. But most of Northamptonshire was still asleep as we swanned our way to the circuit. On the dual carriageway approach we were overtaken by two safety cars - I thought for a minute they were going to get the flashing ambers going and escort us in.

Parking up close to the national circuit straight, we made our way through the gloom to the Classic Dreams hospitality suite. Unsurprisingly, we were the first of the guests to turn up, but at least the owner, Matt Twynham, had a pot of coffee ready. His new suite was looking good, plenty of seats inside with plasma screens showing a live action feed as well as the official timings.

Outside on the terrace, it was fairly foggy looking out over the pits straight. More people soon turned up and pretty soon it was bustling in anticipation of the FIA GT warmup session (OK, the clip below is from the GT3 race but you get the idea).


Of course, the term warmup is all relative on a day like today. The drivers may not have been giving it all cylinders yet but it was still great to watch - the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I heard the first cars roaring out of Woodcote.

Now then, Matt had warned us that these cars would be loud. But they weren't. They were LOUD. As in, I-left-my-eardrums-at-Silverstone LOUD. No wonder there were complimentary ear plugs in a basket by the terrace door.


With thirty minutes of aural assault over, a hot sausage cob was dispatched before a stroll around the paddock. Matt had given us tickets for the pit lane walk, which gave me the chance to get up close and personal with the Go-To-One Moslers.


Now, they're almost in a class of their own. G2 - for non-homologated cars - was represented here by the two MT900 Moslers, a Gillet Vertigo and a Saleen S7-R (still not sure why that's in G2 when others of the marque are GT1). So, it's high hopes for a Mosler class win, yet knowing they won't be troubling the top of the field overall.

Eventually shepherded down the pitlane by the marshalls, it was back to the suite ready for the race start. After a few tentative laps under the safety car, the field took the rolling start.

From then on in, it was a case of hanging over the balcony (particularly during the pit stop window) and following the action on the wide screen TV as the pack lapped around. The Moslers sounded tame in comparison to the GT1 field, but it was still a wonderful grunt!


The race up front was nip and tuck towards the end of the two hours. Of course, the Moslers were toward the back and there to be lapped. Still, they did take first and second in the G2 class, the Vertigo retiring part way through.

So, it's congratulations to Kenneth Heyer and Stepan Vojtech for their top spot and to Ales Jirasek and Adam Lacko as runners-up.

An excellent day, many thanks to Matt and his staff for taking care of us so well - we'll be back! See more of what they have to offer at
www.classicdreams.co.uk

Because I'm reluctant to let them go, I tracked the Moslers down in parc ferme for for a few more photos.

Photos - (c) me except for the action shot and podium portrait, (c) www.fiagt.com

BELCAR: Belgian Race Kick Off, Zolder, 13 April 2008

It's April and it's raining. Must be time for the first Belcar race of 2008.

The 'Belgian Race Kick Off' sees two familiar teams taking their Moslers out again. G&A return with Guino Kenis and Michael de Keersmaecker in car 45. Gravity International Racing field two cars again but with a shift in personnel. Mosler 25 saw Vincent Radermecker staying to be partnered by Ron Marchal, who ran in the 007 Aston last season. The number 24 car is piloted by 2007's PK Carsport Corvette pairing of Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin.


And they were storming early on, qualifying on the front row of the grid for the second of the two one-hour races. Not to be outdone, Radermecker and Marchal took both pole positions, with the G&A outfit just a few rows back for both races.


With the rain plying down for the start of race one, Marchal started from pole then slipped back behind Max Soulet in the Porsche 997. But the Porsche's well-pumped tyres led them to give way to the Mosler onslaught, Marchal retaking the lead before Longin fought his way to the front.


Marchal's pistop swap to wet tyres seemed ill-judged; Kumpen left after his changeover only ten minutes later on slicks. True, Kumpen did spin later but that didn't stop him piloting the Mosler home to take the chequered flag. G&A just missed out on a podium place with a fourth place finish. Radermecker brought the other Gravity car home in 18th.


Race two saw more rain. The Moslers followed each other around Zolder before a quicker pitstop saw Longin dive out before Marchal into the lead.

And so the procession to the podium was set to continue, until a coming together between Marchal and a passing Viper saw a flat tyre deflate the chances of a Gravity 1-2, Marchal out of the race with two laps to go.

Bert Longin went on to take the victory to give him and Kumpen maximum points for the weekend, the lead in the driver's championship and their car at the top in the team championship . Kenis and de Keersmaecker had a solid set of results to put them in the higher reaches of both championships. The no-point scoring second race cost Radermecker and Marchal, leaving them too close to the bottom of both tables.

It's next stop Dijon for Belcar in May, supporting the French GT championship, with the Moslers well placed to make a sustained assault on this year's championship.

Pictures: second picture (C) http://www.belgiangt.com/
All others (C) Jacques Letihon

BRITCAR: Silverstone March 2008

Well, it's taken some time due to 'internet connectivity issues' (i.e. my dozy ISP forgetting to authorise a direct debit and then cutting my service off) but here's the first Mosler Lover race report for 2008.

The season starts here! With four Mosler entries in the championship, it's the marque's biggest lineup outside of the dedicated Challenge.

Thought for this first round, there was one less Mosler - Andrew Tate having to withdraw the ABG car as his co-driver Aaron Scott was riding the team's Viper in British GT over at Oulton.

Qualifying saw variable weather and a sleety storm to round out proceedings, by which time Ian Flux had taken the number 7 KRM Mosler to top slot on the grid by a margin of over one and a half seconds.
With their new Mosler not yet race ready, the Topcats team of Andrew Beaumont and Henry Taylor drove the factory demonstrator car (number 20) into an impressive fourth place. (although also into a less-impressive gravel trap at some stage of the race).

The last Mosler on the grid, that of the McInerney’s Eclipse Motorsport entry, qualified in 12th.

With the weather blowing wet and dry (and everything between), tyre choice was perhaps a moot point. It seemed anything could happen in the next two hours.

But we didn't have to wait that long. the first lap saw Riley fending off Richard Chamberlain's Porsche 935 GT as the snow began to fall.
The Mosler led the field across the line for the first lap, but the enveloping blizzard got the better of Riley. Too speedy in the snow, the KRM car span off through the gravel and grazed a barrier, eventually limping into the pits for some ad hoc gaffer taping of some drooping rear panels.

With Ian Flux taking the helm, KRM ran into more unpredicatable weather, blue skies giving way to blizzards.The safety car put in another appearance as Flux positioned himself for an assault further up the field.

Following the pitstops, David Leslie led in the BMW, but Fluxie was caning the KRM car, jumping up to fifth. Avoiding a spinning Peugeot and diving past a Porsche at Becketts, the Mosler was set to drag back the minute's advantage held by Leslie in the lead.

But with only 15 minutes left, even Mosler power couldn't reel in the BMW, KRM settling for second.
The Topcats team had a quiet race and came home in 14th. Sadly, the Eclipse Mosler did not complete the race.

Thanks to Flickr contributors for the photos - from top to bottom:

Petemags Photos (first two pics)
Tony P1 (next two pics)
Petemags Photos (in the snow)
Marc W
Jake Yorath Photography


Last word - still stunned by the death of race winner, David Leslie. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.