CBT Camaro shines but retires from Tour Ireland / Tour Britannia

For the first time in its history this year’s Tour Britannia was to take in Ireland, but the bulk of the event was to take place in North Wales and was based in Llandudno. Scrutineering took place late afternoon on Tuesday and the CBT Camaro passed all its safety and noise checks with flying colours. Steve and Stuart could then go back to the hotel to relax and get ready for their early start the next morning. The Camaro was being looked after by brothers Mark and Liam Yates of the BTCC front-running Jordan Racing Team, so the boys could concentrate on the driving over the next three days.

Wednesday 13 May
The start time for the CBT Camaro was 0835 and it was just a three-minute drive to the first two stages. Mark and Liam went to get the Camaro from the overnight parking and on start up detected that one of the fuel pumps wasn’t working. Luckily she has two! Drama over. The main competition for the boys on the event would likely come from Nick and Harry Whale’s BMW, the Dave Paveley/Andy Bull Ford Escort and a gaggle of Porsches headed by Stephen Radcliffe and Peter Gunson.

Great Orme SS1 and 2
This “Big Boys” stage is one of the UK’s classic closed road rally venues and must be treated with a great deal of respect. It is very narrow and quick and there are high kerbs and brick walls to contend with. Steve and Stuart have always driven their stages by “view” but, after discussions the previous night with professional rally co-driver and multiple Tour Britannia race winner Andy Bull, decided to give pace notes a go.

The first run was completed in a very respectable time of 3:26m and without any drama. It is better to play safe to begin with and drive at eight-tenths rather than 11-tenths; the rally can’t be won on the first day but it can be lost. The second run saw the mighty Camaro improve by 10 seconds to 3:16, which was the third quickest time. After the first two stages Steve and Stuart were seventh overall. Leading was the Ford Escort of Paveley and Bull, followed by three Porsche 911s.

After the Great Orme is was a 44-mile journey to Holyhead for the ferry crossing to Dublin. There was not a great deal of time for the road trip on the A55 but we had to be very aware of suspicious looking white vans in lay-bys as the event organisers are obliged to send the police the route. The route was, however, very scenic and we crossed over the Menai Straights courtesy of the Britannia Bridge, which was designed by Robert Stephenson and opened in 1850. The cars were all loaded for the two-hour crossing to Dublin and time on board was spent studying the road book and the four Irish Road Stages that lay ahead. On arrival in Dublin it was just a 30-mile drive to the next of our special stages.

Glencree 1, Laragh 1, Laragh 2, Glencree 2: SS 3,4,5 and 6
The first Irish stage was much bumpier than the Great Orme and again the first run would call for eight-tenths motoring rather than heroics. The stage was just under four miles long and was extremely bumpy and fast. It was completed in a time of 3:34 and Steve and Stuart were starting to get concerned about the hammering the Camaro was getting. The car was bottoming out nearly all the way around the stage and the underneath was getting a real pounding.

The next stage was just a few miles from Sally Gap and again would prove very bumpy, but this time it was just under six miles. The stage was completed in a very modest time of 6:27 and again the boys were concerned about the pounding the Camaro was receiving. The Camaro is not a road rally car but she was mixing it in with the purposely built rally cars.

The next two stages were the reverse of the previous two and it was decided to be very cautious and to claw lost time on the Irish Stages at Mondello Park race circuit. Laragh 2 was completed in a time of 6:30 and Glencree 2 in a time of 3:46, which shows just how cautious the boys were being. The CBT Camaro had dropped down to ninth overall but was leading its class by four seconds from the Sunbeam Tiger of Jeremy Holden and Angelica Fuentes.

The Wicklow Mountains were stunning but it was now time to leave and get the powerful Camaro on to home territory and a circuit race the next morning. It was just a 20-minute journey to the Powerscourt Hotel in Enniskerry for an overnight rest and a chance for Mark and Liam to check the Camaro over for underneath damage.

Thursday 14 May
It was discovered that the Camaro had flipped the power steering belt, damage had been done to the exhaust pipes and there was a small leak in the manifold. Hopefully after a night’s rest, she would be ready to go again.

Mondello Park Race 1 and 2
Steve and Stuart had both raced at the circuit in 2004 when they competed in a Porsche 996 GT3 in the British GT Championship. So the track would at least be familiar to them. It was decided that Steve would take the driving seat for the 10-minute qualifying and 2×15-minute races.

On the drive to Mondello it had started to rain and the track was quite damp for the qualifying session. Steve set a time that was good enough for sixth overall, behind the Whale BMW and Porsches. Steve made a good start and managed to get the mighty Camaro up to fifth. Towards the end of the race the brakes started to fade but he was catching the Whale BMW by two seconds a lap. Unfortunately the chequered flag came out. The CBT Camaro had moved back up the overall leader board to seventh and was leading its class by 7 seconds.

Race 2 would see Steve start fifth on the grid. The track was very wet and the Camaro was now suffering with low oil pressure at low revs. Again Steve made a great start and was keeping up well with the four Porsches ahead of him. He had a very close race with the Ford Escort of Mike Smith but, unlike race one, the Escort driver managed to pip Steve towards the end; sixth place was a great result for the suffering Camaro. Consistency and keeping out of trouble saw the CBT Camaro head back to Dublin Port in fifth place overall, behind three 911 Porsches and the Escort of Mike Smith. It also had increased its leading position in class over the Sunbeam Tiger.

The drive to Dublin Port was just under 40 miles, followed by a choppy two-hour sailing to Holyhead. From there it was a 15-mile journey to Trac Mon, Anglesey, with the CBT Camaro still suffering from low oil pressure at low revs. Mark and Liam thought that possibly a sensor had been broken with the pounding the car had had on the Irish Stages. A quick call to Peter Knight, the engine builder, confirmed that this was possible and, as we had full pressure at high revs, we decided to continue as the engine wasn’t at risk.

Trac Mon Anglesey
The Coastal Circuit was used and the start grid was decided by the race finish at Mondello, so the CBT Camaro would start from sixth position. The early evening race saw the sun come out and the track completely dry, perfect conditions for the Camaro to unleash its horsepower. And that it did… Steve was baulked at the start and dropped to eighth but after the first lap the Camaro made it through to fourth overall. A lap later and the Camaro was up to second and maintained that position, finishing just 5 seconds behind Stephen Radcliffe’s 911. It was a fantastic result for the CBT Camaro and the team maintained their fifth place overall, gaining time on the four leading cars ahead.

All was looking very good for race 2 at Trac Mon in the morning after an overnight stay in Llandudno. However, everything was to change on the 43-mile road section back to base. Not only was the Camaro suffering from low oil pressure but the power steering pump had decided to call it a day. It was a heavy car that made it back to the overnight stop and Mark and Liam set to work to get her ready for the final day. They managed to fix the power steering pump and got it to work but unfortunately as soon as it was put under pressure by driving it on the road it failed again. They tried and tried again but just before midnight we decided that we would get something to eat and made the decision to retire the CBT Camaro from the race. During the night Steve and Stuart received a text message from Mark and Liam to say that they couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to give up on a possible great result. It was 6am and they had worked on the car all night. They then went and showered and took a cat-nap as it was too early to start the Chevrolet’s V8 engine and wake everyone up on the promenade. We were all feeling very positive that we would be out and got our race suits on and would be ready to go into the final day. At 7am the car was started and drove 100 yards before the power steering failed again. How could we possibly give up after the brothers’ dedication and commitment? Unfortunately that was what we had to do…

The CBT Camaro was officially retired from the Tour Ireland early Friday morning and loaded back into the trailer for our long journey south. She didn’t give up on the Irish stages and did us all proud during the circuit races and decided to call it a day after an excellent race at Trac Mon.

It was so disappointing for everyone to retire the car from a possible top-five overall finish and its seventh consecutive class win. Steve and Stuart will be back again for sure with the CBT Camaro but hopefully not staying at The George Hotel. To add insult to injury the hotel insisted on charging for the rooms that were booked for the Friday night but wouldn’t be required…

Steve and Stuart would like to thank Mark and Liam for their tremendous work on the Tour Ireland, and Richard for building such a great car, as well as Alec Poole from Tour Britannia for organising such a great event and the marshals and time keepers.

Photographs courtesy Paul Lawrence

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