British GT - Round 3 - Silverstone 500
by Rory Butcher
After a four week break from racing I'm really excited to be back out in the Oman Racing Aston Martin this coming weekend and I look forward to the challenges that the home of British motorsport will throw our way. Round 4 of the British GT Championship has been named the "Silverstone 500" - a race which will cover over 500 kilometres of door to door racing around the 3.6 mile Silverstone GP circuit over 3 hours!
I'm travelling down today to continue my preparations for the event with some simulator work at Izone performance. iZone are the UK leaders in driver coaching and provide a state of the art motorsport training facility based at Silverstone with racing car simulators which use the same technology as todays F1 teams. I started using this as part of my race weekend preparation last season and feel it makes a big difference to my approach. They analyse every area of my performance from what I do to prepare for each event to how far I look ahead when driving. Every little helps and it's good to know that every box has been ticked when I leave the pitlane on race day!
We feel very hopeful that the Aston will be a strong package at Silverstone because of it's fast and flowing sequence of corners. The Aston is very strong aerodynamically; where we loose out in all out power we gain back in high speed corner grip and stability.
One series of corners which I'm excited to attack is the Maggots and Becketts complex, as you approach the section at over 150mph you then drop a gear before the road takes you left, right, left right at 100mph plus. It's so important to create a great flow through this series of turns, linking one apex to the next, but what will find the most time is pure commitment!!
Stowe is also a hold your breath bend as you approach the right hander in 6th gear after the never ending Hanger Straight. You drop two gears to 4th and roll momentum into the apex but the exit is slightly blind and the road falls away making the car nervous!
The 3 hour format is the longest race we have faced this year and with the longer distances it will be team work which brings us home in the points. Good strategy and tidy pit stops will be our main focus as we will be pitting three times during the race, as we must drive at least twice each. Luckily myself and my team mate Liam are similar sizes which makes the driver swap a little easier!! Liam did a superb job at Rockingham and has had a further test in the Aston since round 2 so he is much better prepared. We are gelling well and feel positive about our pairing!
I am delighted to announce that highlights of this Sundays Silverstone 500 event will be broadcast at 5pm on Motors TV straight after the real time race finishes! You will find Motors TV on Virgin 545, Sky 447 and Freeview 240.
Before I go please have a quick watch of the advert for the new racing simulation game The Grid Endurance, which has just been released for the Playstation 4. Within in the short film you will see interviews from myself and other British GT drivers.
http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2014&series=BF3GT&event=races&source=ed_bf3gt&eventid=142205
Please find all relevant links and info below.
Live Timing and Results
If you can make it down to the event then please follow my results on TSL Timing link below. You can watch races lap by lap as they happen by clicking the "Live Timing" button at the bottom of the page:
http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=major&season=2014&series=BF3GT&event=races&source=ed_bf3gt&eventid=142205
Race Weekend Timetable
Saturday 31st May
Free Practice 1 09.30 - 10.30
Free Practice 2 11.50 - 12.50
Qualifying 16.05 - 16.50
Sunday 1st June
Warm Up 10.10 - 10.20
Race 14.05 - 17.05
Championship Information
Please have a look at the British GT website to keep up to date with news stories, photos, race dates and tv times;
www.britishgt.com
TV Times
All British GT events are televised one week after the event on Channel 4 and Motors TV with the Silverstone 3 hour race being broadcast live on Motors TV on June 1st.
http://www.britishgt.com/television.php
This opportunity has been made possible because of the loyal support I receive from all my sponsors, so I’d like to say a big thank you to the following companies;
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