The first race weekend is nearly upon us and on Friday we took the chance to test the car at Brands hatch. Over the winter the Saker had been treated to an engine-out overhaul – new custom fuel tank, new cambelt, tensioners, clutch and the gearbox had a full strip and seal replacement (to stop the annoying leak it had developed). All this needed a full shake down before Donington on 25 April. A more significant change was the tyres; we had been running on Dunlops for Britcar last season, but a change of championship to GT Cup also meant a change of tyre manufacturer to Pirelli. When we signed up for GT Cup Pirelli didn’t actually make tyres that would fit the Saker, but were ‘working on some’. A leap of faith on our part, but we had no option. However, with Pirelli delivering the correct size tyres the day before testing, the sessions at Brands showed that the tyres and car worked well together – possibly giving a longer-lasting wear pattern than the Dunlops.

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Plans are also currently in motion to build a more powerful engine – 400BHP+ – for later in the season, but at the moment reliability is key for us and this engine had proved very reliable last season.

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The final action of the day was a seat fitting for Gary Duckman – now he can see over the steering wheel he has no excuses for not helping us to win every race!

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Don’t forget, our first race weekend is at Donington over 25 – 26 April; all are very welcome. I realise this is quite a trek for most people, so don’t forget the gala weekend at Brands Hatch over 9-10 May where we will be supporting the Blancpain GT International race car series, a great weekend of top racing.