Flying in to tackle Britcar 24 hours
The team is hoping it’s third time lucky.
NOT ones to shirk a challenge, a four-man team of Toyota fans are planning to tackle the Britcar 24 hours.
Billed as the UK’s toughest race, they are hoping for a spot of giant-killing in a supercharged MR2 Roadster. And they’re not content to win their class, they also aim to finish in the top 20 overall!
The Team Rogue Racing are hoping it’s third time lucky this year. Simon Aris, Patrick Mortell, Lee McKee and Alric Kitson hope that big improvements over last year’s car — plus support from Toyota GB — will give them an edge.
“The MR2 is fitted with a 3.5-litre V6 engine, a unit which is more used to delivering sufficient power to pull along a Lexus, so it’s quite a proposition in an MR2 weighing around 1100 kg — particularly when we add a supercharger to boost power output to 350-400 bhp,” said team leader Mortell.
Racing in Class 3, the MR2 will be battling proven race rivals, with the likes of GT4 cars by Ginetta, Lotus and Aston Martin listed as opposition. Throw in some BMW M3s and a GT3 Porsche and you get a sense of the challenge.
But they are not daunted. Mortell is “quietly confident” that the team will do well. “I would like to think that so long as we don’t have any unforeseen problems the overall top 20 is a realistic opportunity, and with it a good finish in class.”
All four men started their competitive careers in the MR2 Championship; two of them are flying from their homes at opposite ends of the globe to compete — Aris from Texas and McKee from Kuala Lumpur.
As well as backing from Toyota, as part of their campaign to support British Motorsport, Team Rogue Racing has other blue-chip backers, including Microsoft, which is using the event to publicise its Forza Motorsport 4 Xbox game, and Alpinestars.
“Our Alpinestars race suits will carry Forza branding,” adds Mortell, “and Microsoft will be demonstrating the new game to spectators in the paddock.” Emagine Productions will be filming a documentary about the team’s campaign.
Day and night qualifying sessions take place before the 24-hour race gets underway at Silverstone at 4pm on Saturday 1 October. A field of around 70 cars is anticipated.