top of page

Birkett Race Report 2022

Chris Valentine

The Birkett is a unique relay race held annually on the full Silverstone GP circuit accommodating 70 teams of between three and six drivers and cars. Each team has to lap the circuit as many times as they can within the six hours, with only one of their team cars running at any one time. As one comes into the pit lane, the next can be dispatched out onto the circuit.


Entry is an eclectic mix of vehicles, everything from 1960’s MG Midgets to BMW M3s, Smart cars, TCR cars, Austin A30s, hordes of Caterham derivatives and modern sports racing cars such as Radicals and Spires. Porsches have featured for many years, and this year the marque was well represented with 4 three-car teams entered under the CALM All Porsche (CAP) umbrella.


The last bastion of British motorsport, and the traditional close to the club racing season, this unique event has a concept and a tradition all of its own. ‘The Birkett’ is the iconic end to the season, fun to many but also a challenge to the competitive instincts of many racing drivers and the strategic wiles of a few team managers.


Motorsport can sometimes feel like misery punctuated by the occasional euphoric high – especially true in the Birkett! This season our teams certainly experienced the highs and lows of racing plus everything in between. These are some of our driver’s stories in their own words.


Dads and their Lads – Car 35. Drivers: Jon Walker/Christian Walker/Dan Crego/Jamie McHugh/Tom McHugh. Team Manager Anne Walker

Finished 1st in the CAP inter team race, 1st the 750 MC all Porsche team, 3rd, (of 70) in handicap race, Christian Walker won CAP Driver of the day award.


Dads and their Lads Car 35B/E – Boxster

Jon No 35 B

Stint 1 Took the start from P37 on the grid. The Track was semi-wet but drying out slowly.

Lots of fun working through a manic field with plenty of mini-battles going on every few corners. My pace was pretty good, I qualified 8th in my group so I had enough pace to make some good progress through the field. Because the track wasn’t offering that much grip it wasn’t too tiring and I felt I could have stayed out longer then my allocated 55mins. Pitted in P15 overall then handed over to Jamie McHugh.


Christian No. 35 E

Stint 1 Took over the running from Dan Crego and by that point, there was a fully dry line, although still fairly damp and greasy if you were to step offline. This was important as there was plenty of overtaking (and being overtaken) to be done with the constant traffic meaning you could rarely take the racing line into most corners. I fell victim to this about 10 minutes into my 55-minute stint when a red E36 chucked it up my inside into Brooklands and hit me on the nearside of my rear bumper. Thankfully the contact was all cosmetic, so I could carry on. For the rest of the stint I simply tried to maintain a steady pace I could, this became quite challenging when my lap timer lost power so I was left to guess what pace I was doing. Then at the end of my stint, I headed into the pitlane to hand over to Jamie McHugh.


Dads and their Lads Car 35D – 968

Stint 2 This time I was taking back over from Jamie, and now the track was fully dry. I got fed straight out into a little scrap with a navy E36 which I followed and raced all the way around to the Vale chicane where an old switcheroo after he ran deep allowed me to get a bit of clean air to settle into my next 55-minute stint. It was quickly apparent that the brakes were getting progressively worse from earlier in the day and now the vibration under braking was so aggressive it made it very tricky to get past a lot of slower cars. Then there was a safety car as Sam was stranded in the gravel at Brooklands after being hit. Luckily, I was 3rd in the queue which meant that when we resumed I had plenty of clear track to get into a good rhythm. On the restart, I was racing another BMW and this time we were jockeying about for a few laps with neither of us managing to pull away from the other as we’d get caught with some traffic. Eventually, I managed to lose them through a gabble of cars. I was now about halfway through my stint and now the brakes were getting very bad and the car started to pull left under braking and I was losing about a couple of seconds a lap. So, I radioed into the garage to let them know I was putting early to let Dan get ready to finish off the race with a slightly larger last stint!


Verum Builders with CAP – Car 40. Drivers: Rob Hardy, Alan Drain, Tom & Gerry Simpson Team Manager Anne Marie Hardy


Verum Builders Car 40 – 924

Finished 3rd in the CAP inter-team race and 64th in the handicap race

The race weekend started with the challenge of Scrutineering on Friday afternoon. I know the Scrutineers are unpaid volunteers but whilst some do it out of a love of the sport, others have different motives. Our scrutineers’ “thing” was fire extinguishers, having inspected our (brand new) fire extinguisher he took the model number down on a piece of paper and disappeared back to his computer then returned gleefully explaining that the number and type of nozzles in the engine bay was wrong. There was much sucking of teeth and heavy-hearted calling us to account. We explained the car was professionally prepared earlier this year by a Porsche Racing specialist company. He called his colleague over who finally took the view we would be allowed to race but should address the issue ASAP.


Saturday started out very wet and qualifying was very twitchy, any excessive use of any of the right foot was definitely not recommended!


Post-Qualifying team tactics were discussed, Tom 40B was selected to start the race, he’s a demon starter with fabulous car control skills. He got off well and put in some blisteringly quick laps considering the damp conditions. He was a good choice for starting and establishing a base that the rest of the team could build on. 50 minutes later he handed over to Rob Hardy 40C and a dry line was showing the track conditions were improving rapidly.


The #40 Boxster of Tom & Gerry Simpson

Gerry Simpson

We serviced the 40B/D car quickly as I was scheduled to run the third session.

When Rob 40C handed over to me after his 50-minute stint I was scheduled to drive for 35 minutes. The track was ever-improving but still venomously slippery “off-line”.

I felt my job was to make sure that I didn’t throw away the solid base that Tom & Rob had established, I was driving at what I considered was 95%. I was hitting 130MPH down the Hanger straight 100mph on the F1 grid straight and 120MPH on the Wellington & National straights. Careful in the corners keeping it smooth and being watchful of the really rapid boys in the Radicals and Caterham’s.


I was just entering the Hanger Straight one lap with no car near me and a clear road ahead, when something fell off the car, I felt it run over something? I checked all the dials and warning lights, but nothing….. I gave the car a tentative wiggle, all fine? I took it a bit easier into Stowe that lap, but it was fine. The next lap there was some debris on the track at that point, black plastic? It later transpired that the wheel’s inner lining had departed company from my car! I was happy with my speed and was about 28 minutes into my session when a BMW came past me on the entry to Stowe corner, he was clearly quicker than me and I didn’t fight him over possession of the apex. I thought maybe I should push harder…? Later that lap at Village corner the BMW was in the middle of the track pointing backwards with the front of the car hanging off and the back smacked in there was debris everywhere. I made a mental note that my speed was probably about right. The inevitable Safety Car period followed, and I was instructed by team control to stay out until the safety car was withdrawn.

I happily complied and seven minutes later the course went Green, I signalled the pit-wall that I would be in next lap. I had completed 37 minutes and my job for the afternoon went into “support mode”.

This Verum Builders Boxster served two drivers

Tom Simpson

I elected to start the race in very slippery conditions and had misunderstood the pace needed, in hindsight (what a wonderful thing!) felt we should have probably started our 944 car / Rob Hardy to combat the conditions with his speed and experience of the track would have made better progress.

The first couple of laps were manic, overtaken on yellows by 2 cars and a few spinners throughout the grid, luckily no Safety Cars! Once I built some confidence on the greasy track I started to chip away at my times. Dave’s chatter on the comms for company and support helped me make some progress but before I knew it, stint 1 was over and it was time to pit!


The second stint was worlds apart from the 1st, the track had a nice dry line and Rob had set the pace to chase with a 14 seconds delta on my previous best. I got up to speed pretty quickly and really started to push the Boxster to my limits, wiping the floor with my previous lap times – the track had evolved nicely and my knowledge of corners with it. Felt like I was spot on with pace and really enjoyed the 2nd stint.



Great weekend, shame I had a sore throat and no voice which made comms for the team hard work! Really enjoyed my first Birkett and Team, drivers and organisers did a cracking job!


#40 Verum Builders second Boxster

Alan Drain

My Race weekend started at 6.30am on Friday – taking the race car to the office so that I could get away early from work, which turned out to be 4pm. Finally arrived at Silverstone at 6pm. Find a space (only 25M from the garage – result!) Unload the car and straight into the queue for Scrutineering. As dark descended, we queued and queued, eventually getting into Scrutineering at about 7.30pm. This was a bit chaotic in that there was not enough space left between cars to allow those behind in the 2-by-2 format to get past the front car when it took longer. With the Boxster, there’s not a lot to see, so, fortunately, it’s normally quite quick, but then to sit and have to wait until the car in front was finished was somewhat frustrating both to me, and those behind still in the queue.


Back at the circuit at 6.30 am. I was quite apprehensive about the race, especially given the rain, and not wanting to spin off and let the ‘team’ down, so I took it very gingerly in qualifying as it didn’t matter in any case. Also, the windscreen wipers decided they didn’t want to work together anymore, and the driver’s side gave up the ghost just before the end of the session. When I got back to the garage, Dave then said, “your transponder’s not working!” Oh, not again! After checking the wiring, rewiring and still no luck, I removed the race key, twiddled the silver bits underneath, refitted, and hey presto! working transponder. After Tom’s initial stint, Rob went out and returned saying there was a drying line, which was encouraging. After Gerry shot past the garage, I was off! The last time I raced on the Silverstone GP circuit, the gearbox selector fork snapped on lap two, so I’d really only done a few laps until qualifying in the wet. Dave came over the radio and said that my lap times were spot on, so I just tried to keep going at the same pace, but it certainly felt quite pedestrian with some of the cars flashing past on track!


During the second session, I got cramp in my left foot and kept trying to stretch it out between gear changes and it eventually went off after what seemed ages, only to return in my right leg!


After 80 minutes of racing, I was pretty well done, and didn’t object when Rob said he was happy to extend his last stint!


It was a great day, with good camaraderie, lots of laughs and great company. Well done all at CALM and 750MC – same again next year?

Gary Campbell at the wheel of Jakob Ebrey’s 944 at the Vale chicane

Cap In Hand Car 65 Drivers: Sam Callahan, Jakob Ebrey, James Harvey, Gary Campbell. Team Manager Mark Callahan. 4th in our CAP inter-team battle

The drama started early for Cap In Hand and continued to plague the team throughout the day. First off, the start was Sam Callahan. On the final lap of his first one-hour stint, he pulled up on the Bridge Straight in sight of the pit lane with fuel starvation as a result of an airlock in the tank (editor’s note: should read… he ran out of petrol). Jakob Ebrey in his 944 took over and after a solid and consistent stint was relieved by James Harvey in his Boxster S. James then settled into a consistently good pace only to radio after 17 laps with an engine fault.

This meant from Gary Campbell was hurriedly released in Jakob Ebrey’s car and delivered a consistently quick pace for the next 22 laps before an excursion into the gravel at Copse. Sam followed on only to become victim to an out-braking Z4 going into the hairpin 4 laps later. The resulting suspension damage meant the end of the race for Sam’s car and the quick release of Jakob to take up the chase while the Student Motorsport pit crew made a valiant but futile attempt to repair James’s car. With only Jakob’s car left running, after Jakob’s extended 25-lap stint, Sam took over for the last seven. Against diminishing odds, finishing the race at all was considered a small victory by the team.

#45 Ryan Mone’s splendid 944 at the Vale chicane

CAP Ryan Insurance – Car 45. Drivers: Clayton Sampson / Ed Sampson / Andy Peck / Ryan Mone. Team Manager Kart Rossin. Finished 2nd in our inter-team race


This team was made up of father and son team Clayton and Ed Sampson, Andy Peck and Ryan Mone. Andy and the Sampson’s 968 had both been winners of our best-turned-out team award and Ryan won Driver of the day in last year’s Birkett.

Andy, Ed, Clayton and Ryan all stuck to their lap times and finished a creditable 2nd place in our own CAP inter-team battle. Andy’s car suffered an exhaust break dutifully welded up and refitted to his beautiful 968 by Army boy Matty. Team manager Karl Rossin, a CALM All Porsche stalwart, did a fine job ably assisted by Linda and Leigh Bowden plus our very own Clive Morison. Ryan was his usual super-fast and committed self, whilst Clayton and his son Ed did themselves proud. Ryan has a cunning plan about winning the handicap next year so watch this space…..



Karl showing off his radio juggling skills with Philip









Ant Sahota makes a flying visit to help with a faulty Boxster








Jakob Ebrey’s car being inspected after yet another stint











CALM trophies galoreAll of driversBig 750MC pots for #35 highest-placed Porsche Team – 3rd Overall in the handicap results












*Addendum On Monday we spoke to Lifeline & EMC regarding the fire extinguisher, they agreed the installation was correct, the scrutineer had got the number wrong and had confused the Zero 2000 with the Zero 2020. The Blue Book does not specify the number of nozzles in the engine bay, Lifeline recommends 2, which is what we have.

Following on from my race report. It turns out there was a change of standards on our Fire Extinguisher in 2021.

The unit we have was issued with revised capability and should have 4 over engine nozzles and 4 in cab nozzles and nothing over the battery and fuel tank?????

So, the scrutineer was half right. Apologies. EMC have accepted they should provide the missing components, FOC. We are making the recommended corrections to the system.

Race cars are never the finished article always a work in progress.

Complete results from the race can be viewed on the 750MC website. And a full gallery of 149 photos is on Flickr.

7 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments

Rated 0 out of 5 stars.
No ratings yet

Add a rating

CONTACT US

Philip Waters - Series Co-ordinator

Post: 39 Graydon Avenue, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8RG

Email: philip@allporschetrophy.co.uk

Mobile: 07974 034 654

Media and website - Chris Valentine

Email: orders@hockeyphotos.com

Mobile: 07712 255 148

Use the form below to drop us a message.

Thanks for reaching out! We'll get back to you soon.

Website created by Essenz Digital.    © 2021 CALM All Porsche Trophy. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.

SIGN UP FOR OUR RACE REPORTS & UPDATES

Thanks for subscribing!

bottom of page