WINDER MOTORSPORT News

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Following a very successful 2010 summer/autumn season, In 2011 we participate in the high profile GT CUP Championship, for more information about the championship, please follow this link www.gtcup.co.uk.

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11th March 2012 - 2011 Season Review
The 2011 season was our first race season, so we were overjoyed to have achieved 3rd place in the Group 2 GT CUP Championship.
We had an enviable record of finishing every race and achieving 6 podium finishes in rounds that ranged as far afield as Spa, Belgium to Silverstone, England.

Subsequenly we were delighted to receive the Champoinship Trophy at the Awards Evening which took place at the Haynes International Motor Museum in Somerset.

We now look forward to selected races and events in the 2012 season along with our promotion partners, and also to embarking on our iminent circuit driving instruction work; providing one to one Driver Instruction, enabling novices or regular trackday drivers to significantly improve their confidence, enjoyment and safety whilst driving on-circuit.
2nd Dec 2011 - WINDER MOTORSPORT is pleased to announce the imminent arrival of its 2012 High Value Promotion Package.
Aimed at companies or individuals with smaller budgets, for a price of only £3,495, we will be offering a very special package which will include...

* Joining the Team for a full day at Silverstone F1 GP Circuit, with (optional) Passenger Rides in the WINDER MOTORSPORT FERRARI Race Car

* Logo placement on the FERRARI Race Car

* Logo Placement on the Lotus EXIGE Race Instruction Car

* Photography and Video

* Plus other benefits, to be announced

Full Details to be announced shortly, but with only five of these packages on offer we recommend registering interest early.
8th Nov 2011 - We were proud to have the WINDER MOTORSPORT FERRARI play a small part in taking our Royal Marines for passenger rides around Brands Hatch Circuit on Thursday, 3rd November. A small gesture of appreciation for the sacrifices these guys make on behalf of us all. Great guys, great fun for us, and a real privilege to be involved with such an event!
17th Oct 2011 - Two Podium Thirds in the last race weekend of the season seals the result of 3rd in Group 2 Championship and 7th in the overall Championship for the WINDER MOTORSPORT FERRARI - A fantastic first-year result. With team-mate Andy taking the overall Championship along with the Group 1 Championship in his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.
Snetterton 300 - GT Cup Championship - Season Finale Race 17 & 18
A brilliant outcome to the season, resulting in the JMH Team being the 2011 GT CUP Champions!!
Our congratulations also go to Tom Andrew and his Team, on taking the Group 2 Championship this weekend!
5th Oct 2011 - Great racing but disappointing results in Belgium, we remain a strong third in Group Championship; team mate Andy pretty much guarantees his Overall Championship Title...
Spa Francorchamps, Belgium - GT Cup Championship - Race 15 & 16

Please see video below...
7th Sept 2011 - Exciting twist to the later stages of the Championship scoring, which leaves us now third in Group, and in a very strong position to challenge for the Group Championship...
With only the final three race weekends of the 2011 GT Cup Championship ahead of us, the point scores take on an interesting twist. It is mandated that each competitor must drop their three lowest scoring rounds from their championship points total, meaning that at the end of the season the point score totals actually look different to the actual points scores total. In simplistic terms this allows a competitor to effectively have three races where things can go badly wrong without affecting their championship hopes.
This presents us with an interesting twist whilst nearing the end of the season; so far the WINDER MOTORSPORT Ferrari has finished every race and acquired points at every race, meaning that we are forced to drop 3 x 19 points (57 Points), whereas the two competitors (now ahead based on the “dropped round” scoring) have each dropped 3 x zero points. To simplify again, this means that the two competitors ahead of us in 1st and 2nd position, now have no room for misfortune, whereas we still have “3 in the bag” to call upon.
The summary of all of this is that whilst we are now in third position in the Group 2 Championship; the guys ahead (Tom and Francis) are now under a lot of pressure to have no misfortune of any kind in the next six races that will prevent them finishing a race. We have no such pressure, and because of this we are opting to “sit out” the two Anglesey rounds. This will mean that effectively we will still earn 2 x 19 points as we will earn 2 x zero point rounds by not taking part, and still have 1 round in hand if something was to go wrong at either Spa (Belgium) or Snetterton. This of course also means that we will reduce our expenditure with little to no detriment to our Group Championship chances.
This will be a close and exciting final stage of the Championship and we will be anxiously spectating with the team at the Anglesey round to see how it pans out!
14th August 2011 - We were competitive on times, but not the best Donnington meeting, we just hold onto the lead in the GT CUP Group 2 Championship...
Donnington Park - GT Cup Championship - Race 11 & 12

21 July 2011 - The WINDER MOTORSPORT FERRARI features on MSVR's website home page... www.msvracing.co.uk
17th July 2011 - Two Podium Finishes at Brands, we take the lead in the GT CUP Group 2 Championship...
Brands Hatch Indy - GT Cup Championship - Race 9 & 10

The Brands Hatch Indy round was a strange affair, with it being more of a point scoring exercise rather than a challenging race weekend. The mission was plain and simple, to get championship points with minimum risk taking. There was everything to lose and little to gain from hard race effort here, with the two group 2 cars achieving first and second in both races, being significantly quicker than ours on this circuit in these conditions.
Qualification was on a very greasy track and caution was the name of the game here, Race 1 was dry and entertaining but was spent viewing the rear spoiler of Robert Koenig's Porsche 911 for most of the race.
A rash move here would have gained nothing in terms of points, so despite a few attempts at overtaking him, common sense had to play out.

Race 2 was wet and the team correctly identified that a clean uneventful finish was in order, this was duly delivered by the driver who in any event, wasn't relishing the track conditions.

Despite the nature of the exercise, this was a good result for the team, leaving the WINDER MOTORSPORT Ferrari leading the Group 2 Championship. Donnington Awaits....
26th June 2011 - Two Podium Finishes at Snetterton...
Snetterton 300 - GT Cup Championship - Race 7 & 8

A good dry Friday’s testing, gave way to a wet Saturday morning practice 1; the team decided to sit the morning practice out in the pit lane with the Ferrari and Porsche sat motionless, there was nothing to be gained from practice in these conditions; not wet enough for wet tyres (they would overheat and destroy themselves under any punishment), and too wet and slippery for slick tyres, where you would be risking leaving the circuit yourself or someone else taking you out. This approach did create some interest in the pits initially, but driver after driver later came up to us and said we had made the right call.
In the afternoon temperatures rose and the track dried pretty quickly leaving us a dry practice 2 and qualification. Qualification left the Porsche on pole, but the Ferrari had some “gear change speed” problems, leaving a lackluster qualifying performance, not at the back of the grid, but not far off. Fortunately for us, the championship group 2 leader had an even worse qualifying session which resulted with his Porsche being placed directly behind our Ferrari. on the starting grid.
The Sunday race day was dry, hot and sunny, close to the point of being uncomfortable, and it just got hotter as the day went on. The day’s news improved as it as did the day, with the team Porsche having an easy outright win in Race 1 and the Ferrari achieving a hard earned 3rd in group 2, hard earned because of a very pressured defense against the GT Marques Porsche for most of the race, this went on until the bitter end with the WINDER MOTORSPORT Ferrari just edging out the GT Marques Porsche by two one hundredths of a second, a great race and a great result for us!
Race 2 had exactly the same results again for both members of the team, but under completely different circumstances, with the misfortune of a couple of the competing Porsche 911s colliding and being badly damaged, the race was terminated prematurely. This left us with a lucky third rather than an earned third.

All in all a great result for the team, leaving the WINDER MOTORSPORT Ferrari trailing by only two championship points of the lead in group 2 and a healthy 18 point gap between us and 3rd place!
18th June 2011 - Looking forward to Snetterton 300
Snetterton 300 is a new circuit, west of Norwich, Norfolk. This fact is great news for us, as this for the most part, it will equalize driver capabilities by removing the big advantage that most of the other drivers have in knowing intimately the circuits we are racing on. We did a great days testing there last week!
5th June 2011 - Poor lap times at the Third Event of Season...
Brands Hatch GP - GT Cup Championship - Race 5 & 6
This was unfortunately the first visit ever for the Driver to the technical, hilly Kent Circuit. The learning curve ultimately being too steep to be able to put in a competitive rhythm to the weekend. The Brands Hatch GP circuit is notoriously difficult to get decent testing time on, with the Friday's testing only being on the Indy Circuit, this left most of the corners of the GP Circuit a complete mystery until the two twenty minute practice sessions that immediately preceded the twenty minute qualification.
Both the lack of track time combined with being a relative novice at racing and thus assimilating new tracks, culminated in us being 4-5 seconds off pace per lap, not good at all. We did have some minor problems with fuel pumps which needed replacing as we were lacking power during Saturday, however this realistically didn't have any real effect on the lap times worth mentioning.
The race day on Sunday didn't help matters, with odd spots of rain starting to appear just before the race and with brand new rear slicks (not scrubbed in) needing to be put on the car due both previous (scrubbed in) new rear slicks sustaining some damage during qualification, things were not looking great at all.
On the out-lap of the race prior to the start, the rain drops increased significantly. When the race started there was mayhem, with cars spinning off for the first three corners.
We made up four positions very quickly due to this, only to have three of them taking back when the WINDER MOTORSPORT Ferrari came very close to leaving the circuit on the downhill section after the hairpin at Druids (see in-car video). This was enough for the driver to play safe, hope the rain would continue and go for an immediate pit-stop to change to full wets. This could have paid off, but didn't, as the rain immediately stopped and we were left struggling for grip on the wrong tyres. On a positive, we finished unscathed where others hadn't, but that's about as positive as we can be.
Race 2 was easier for tyre choice as by now the rain had truly set in, and the track was most definitely wet by the start. This held its own challenges as this was actually the first time the driver had taken part in a wet race on wet tyres, unfortunately another steep learning curve. Again, we finished safely; trying to go any quicker wasn't going to bridge the gap between the front runners and Brands Hatch GP is not a forgiving circuit for "getting it wrong".
All in all, a frustrating race weekend, but a lot learnt! The finishing of 5th and 4th respectively (though some way back)hasn't damaged the championship point scoring too much, so all is not lost. We look forward to Snetterton 300 Please see in-car highlights video on the Photo and Video page.
17th May 2011 - 2nd Position in Group Championship Classifications
Following the Oulton Park event, we are standing at 88 Championship Points; leaving us second place in group and only 2 points behind the leader. Good results at Brands Hatch should clinch the lead!
14th May 2011 - Great Result at Second Event of Season...
Oulton Park - GT Cup Championship - Race 3 & 4

Friday saw a dry days testing, with some great progress on lap time improvements for us. Oulton is unique in it being a very short race weekend, with Qualification and the two races being held on the Saturday.
Saturday however, did not start well at all with a poor performance on a wet slippery track during early morning qualification, resulting in a near back of grid placing. We were however to count our blessings as others were unfortunately not able to start the races due to badly damaged cars from high speed impact with the unyielding ARMCO surrounding the circuit, thankfully no-one was hurt in any of the incidents that marred that morning.
Starting at the rear of the grid for both dry races left the WINDER MOTORSPORT Ferrari a lot to do, but due to some positions gained by overtaking and other drivers misfortune, we achieved two fourth places, which are good consistent results which are sure to position us strongly in the championship standings.
Of more importance looking forward from this point, is the promising lap times the WINDER MOTORSPORT Ferrari was achieving, with the majority of Race 1 being in the 1:48 to 1:49 range, and the knowledge that the driver can go quicker.
Team mate Andy, achieved an impressive fourth (burdened by success ballast) and an outright win, meaning that as a team we are looking really strong at this early stage in the championship.
13th May 2011 - GT Cup Championship tops TV viewing figures.
Official BARB viewing figures show that the 2011 GT Cup Championship attracted more viewers than any other programme on Motors TV, with over 35,000 fans watching the opening round from Silverstone in its first weekend on air. See the GT Cup Website for further details
8th May 2011 - Upcoming Douglas Macmillan Hospice Golf Day appearance on Thursday, 12th May 2011
The WINDER MOTORSPORT Ferrari Race Car, will be in attendance at this years Annual, Douglas Macmillan Golf Day on Thursday, 12th May 2011 at Trentham Golf Club in Staffordshire. The driver will also be accompanying the car, along with another member of the team. We look forward to the start of our fund raising support, for which, this event will mark the start.
From there, we will then be transporting the car straight up to Oulton Park, for the start of the race weekend, with testing commencing early Friday.
3rd May 2011 - 3rd Position in Group Championship Classifications
Following the Silverstone opener, we achieved 44 Championship Points; leaving us in 3rd place in group standings www.gtcup.co.uk, a great start to the season
NB don't forget to check out the Photos and Video page on this site, for video re-runs of the MOTORS TV coverage of the races.
Oulton Park is our next racing event in the GT Cup Championship, on Saturday, 14th May 2011. A very scenic, tight circuit with many elevation changes, good qualifying here will be key!
17th April 2011 - Great Result at First Event of Season...
Silverstone GP - GT Cup Championship - Race 1 & 2

Friday's testing was pretty average, with too many race cars from different series all thrown into the mix. To make matters worse Andy (my team mate) got badly hit in the side of his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Race Car, whilst entering the pit lane at 50mph!! A case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This forced the JMH team to work into the early hours after having parts shipped up from Reading that same evening. The guys did a great, job, turning around some nasty structural damage to the rear suspension and bodywork.

From this point the weekend just got better and better, with a good showing in practice and qualifying on the Saturday, although we did have three punctures in the team that day!
The two races came on Sunday, with the weather warm and dry with occasional sun. And things were about to get brighter, with Andy achieving two outright wins!! The WINDER MOTORSPORT FERRARI achieved a very reasonable 5th and 4th in the two races within class 2, which is a great achievement as the most novice competitor in the series.
In-car video from Race 2 below, find another two videos from Qualification and Race 1, with more photos, on the Photos & Video page...

The car was adorned in Douglas Macmillan Hospice logos to mark the start of our support.
2nd Apr 2011 - Douglas Macmillan Hospice
WINDER MOTORSPORT are proud to announce that we are offering our support to the Douglas Macmillan Hospice www.dmhospice.org.uk.
Last Thursday we were kindly shown around some of the newer ongoing developments at the hospice and were lucky enough to meet some of the dedicated team there. This is a highly worthy cause, and we are very pleased to be able to offer our assistance in their vital fund raising efforts. More details to be announced soon; please watch this space!
29th Mar 2011 - Pre-season "shakedown"

very first 2011 outing

JMH

15th Mar 2011 - 2011 Season Car Preparations...
With the upcoming season quickly approaching, the FERRARI is nearing final completion, following a full mechanical overhaul with weight reducing modifications, leaving "no stone un-turned". Driver has confirmed he is "not enjoying his diet at all, and is really missing apple crumble"!
12th Dec 2010 - WINDER MOTORSPORT Web Site Launched -
Offering companies tangible commercial benefits, including National and International TV and media exposure, alongside total emersion into the world of GT Motorsport for their clients, guests and employees.
30th Oct 2010 - Night Endurance Race marred by Gear Selection Problems
Snetterton - GT Trophy Endurance Series - Round 2

The bad news came at the mandatory driver changeover in the pits, David mentioning (as we hurriedly swapped seats), "2nd gear won't engage at the series of tight corners at the end of the main straight". Not the news we wanted, and unfortunately the problem got steadily worse lap by lap, making the gear change a "lucky dip". Incredibly, due to other retirements we achieved a 2nd in class. The problem turned out to be a faulty Ferrari F1 Gear Selection Pump, which has to get the pressure up to 50bar (an extremely high pressure) between gear changes, unfortunately the faulty unit wasn't able to keep up with the high number of gear changes required at Snetterton. This was my first ever night race and my lingering memory will be the number of photographers camera flashes going off on the dark corners.

For the video of this race, please click here

9th Oct 2010 - A Welcome return for Donnington Park
Donnington Park - Pirelli Ferrari Open - Round 11
Poor visibility on the Friday's test day morning eventually relented and left us with a dry race Saturday. with Ferrari F430 Challenge GTC cars spinning at the first corner on cold tyres, it left the field wide open, a further batch of spinning cars resulted in a safety car being deployed for three laps whilst the grounded cars were recovered. The result was a third in class, 2.5 seconds behind the class winner. A three minute in-car highlights video can be viewed below..

21st Aug 2010 - Slick Tyres on a Wet Track
Oulton Park - Pirelli Ferrari Open - Round 9
A late start for the race and an accident on the start line resulted in a race that should have been declared wet, being started with a field of Ferrari's on slick (Dry weather) tyres - far from ideal!! More a case of just bringing the car home in one piece. More by luck, we survived and did exactly that, achieving a second in class. Others unfortunately were not that lucky, resulting in three badly damaged Ferraris and more retiring in the gravel.