09/02/10

The Brunswick Automotive Aston Martin Vantage completed the 5th Anniversary running of the Dubai 24 Hour Race in January. The GT4 specification car which was driven by Nikolay Zhuravlev, Rigo Meys, Mark Griffiths, Nick Gooch and Ian Barrowman eventually finished in 7th position in a hotly contested GT4 category. Young Russian driver Nikolay Zhuravlev put in a strong opening stint and had the car as high up as 5th place in class and was battling with Peter Kox in the factory Donkervoort, unfortunately early into the second stint the car was delayed due to damage sustained driving over the debris left by a crashed Japanese entered Porsche. This was the first of several delays resulting from minor incidents but the crew worked tirelessly throughout the night to keep the Aston running and ensure it crossed the line at the end of a grueling 24 hours.

22/10/09

Brunswick Automotive enjoyed a busy start to October taking part in back to back endurance races at Silverstone and the Hungaroring. At Silverstone the team entered their BMW 130i in the 6 Hour Britcar 500 night race. Team regulars, Dominic Malone and Phiroze Bilimoria were joined for the race my Martin Parsons, who returned to the team after a season competing in the Belgian Touring Car Series. Having qualified in 2nd position in class, the BMW enjoyed a trouble free run throughout the 6 Hours which in spite of the changeable conditions and finished in an excellent 2nd place in class. The team then immediately set off for Budapest with the Aston Martin N24 for the second annual running of the Hungaroring 12 Hour Race. The Aston Martin was entered for Mark Griffiths, rapid young Russian driver, Nikolay Zhuravlev, James Baxter and Matthew West. In spite of being the only GT4 specification car present and faced with class opposition containing a number of GT3 cars, the Aston rose as high as 3rd in class before a late race driveshaft problem caused a small delay which dropped the car from podium contention. Next race for the team will be the 5th anniversary running of the Dubai 24 Hour Race in January 2010. (photos: www.dailysportscar.com & www.markrally.atw.hu)

17/08/09

Having scored a 3rd place in class finish in his race debut in the Britcar series at Rockingham in May, Dominic Malone went one better last weekend at Castle Combe, when together with race instructor, Phiroze Bilimoria he scored a 2nd place finish in the 90 minute race. The pair will next race the team's BMW 130i in the Britcar 500 in October on Silverstone's GP circuit where the Anglo-Indian combination will be joined by the experienced endurance racer, Martin Parsons. The BMW is pictured below rounding Quarry corner during the race.

27/07/09

Having completed the 1 Hour Inter Series race at the Spa Summer Classic meeting with a 4th place in class finish, Brunswick Automotive continued their European tour by participating in the Omnitel 1000km race in Lithuania. Held on public highway near to the holiday resort of Palanga, the Omnitel 1000km race is the largest motorsport event in the Baltic and attracts around 100,000 spectators. The Brunswick BMW 130i was driven in the race by Nikolay Zhuravlev, Rigo Meys, Giles Groombridge and Martin Parsons. Having been delayed by an incident in the early laps, and a stop-go penalty for speeding in the refueling area, the car then proceded to run faultlessly to complete the race in 18th position out of 44 finishers.

28/06/09

Brunswick Automotive succesfully completed the 3 Hour Britcar night race at Spa last weekend. The team's Aston Martin N24 driven by Mark Griffiths and Ian Barrowman finished the wet race in 21st position overall and 7th in class. The next outing for the team will be again at Spa Francorchamps this weekend when the Mazda RX7 of Giles Groombridge and Dave Ashford will compete in the Spa Summer Classic meeting. (Photo: Paul Cherry)

28/05/09

Brunswick Automotive competed in the world renowned Nurburgring 24 Hour Race for the 8th consecutive year last weekend. The weekend started badly for the British BMW 130i and its all Australian crew of drivers consisting of Ric Shaw, Stephen Borness, Rob Rubis and Anthony Robson when the BMW was crashed in the rain during Thursday evenings wet qualifying session. Repairs were effected by the team overnight and Ric Shaw duly qualified the car in 143rd position on the grid.

Another minor crash on entry into the Karusell on the 4th lap of the race delayed the team in the early stages but the car ran strongly for the remainder of the race, with the only unscheduled stops being for a puncture and a quick repair to the rear suspension, which was a legacy of the BMW's earlier brush with the wall. After 24 Hours of racing the BMW crossed the line with Anthony Robson driving in 75th place overall and 7th in the SP5 category.

08/05/09

Brunswick Automotive Aston Martin N24 was back in action for Rounds 3 and 4 of the GT Cup Series, running with the A1 GP meeting on the full GP circuit. An eventful weekend finally saw Sarah bag a podium finish. A full grid of 40 cars qualified on Saturday morning for the double header; Sarah qualified 2nd in class sandwiched between the two rival 4.7 litre Aston Martins with a fastest lap of 1.40.4 lying 30th out of 40 starters.

Race 1 didn't exactly go to plan. Having made a superb start Sarah closed in on her class leader Will Goff and briefly took the lead in an exciting battle during the first few laps, but on lap 3 it all went wrong when car 58 made a lunge to get past up the inside at Clearways, tapping her into a spin. The manoeuvre left Sarah stalled in the middle of the track facing the rest of the oncoming field. She rejoined the back of the pack once they had passed - dead last - and gave chase. After two or three laps she caught the back of the field and made up several places to 5th in class only to get shunted by another class opponent going into Druids. The rear end impact caused the car to spin again, stalling mid track, facing the oncoming traffic. Sarah rejoined the back of the pack dead last once again but the damage from the second impact caused exhaust fumes and smoke to fill the car forcing her to pull off the circuit not more than half a lap later.

Thankfully, in the GT Cup, grid positions for Race 2 are determined from the 2nd fastest qualifying lap. Since Sarah put in two excellent laps during qualifying she moved further up the grid for the start of Race 2 and back into 2nd in class (26th out of 40 starters). Race 2 was shortened by two incidents which brought out the safety car for 3 laps and subsequently led to the race being red flagged. However Sarah maintained her position of 26th out of the 40 starters to finish 2nd in class and picked up her first cup of the season.

Meanwhile at Rockingham, the Brunswick Automotive BMW 130i made its race debut in the Britcar Production Championship. Racing newcomer, Dominic Malone was joined by former British GT racer and professional race instructor, Phiroze Bilimoria. Having qualified 17th on the grid, Bilimoria and Malone enjoyed a trouble free race, consitently improving their laptimes to finish in an excellent 10th place overall and 3rd in Class 2. Shaun Hazlewood continued his dominance of Class C of the ARCA series taking yet another victory at Snetterton on Sunday the 3rd of May.

21/04/09

Brunswick Automotive have teamed up with Sarah Bennett-Baggs and her sponsors Adrian Flux Specialist Insurers and Clayton Holdings to race the team's Aston Martin N24 in the GT Cup series for 2009. Sunday 19th April saw their inaugural outing at Silverstone National circuit, despite only limited running in the Aston, Sarah put in some consistent times finishing both races 5th in class. Sunday's hectic race day was only Sarah's second outing in the car. But in initial free practice Sarah put in some respectable times which put her 4th in class, however qualifying didn't go so well, with only a 20 minute window, an unscheduled pit stop early on, then a safety car incident, followed by a red flag cutting it short meant that there wasn't the time for the golden lap and Sarah found herself at the back of the class with a 107.1. In Race 1 Sarah found the pace she was looking for recording a fastest lap of 105.5 and finished 5th in class, 25th overall out of 33 starters. With the grid start for Race 2 based on your qualifying times as opposed to your finishing position, Sarah started Race 2 at the back end of the field again, and finished 5th in class in Race 2 and 25th overall. Sarah commented "Considering we were still trying to find a way of enabling me to see over the steering wheel on Saturday afternoon I am not too disappointed with the result, the team have pulled out all the stops this week to get this show on the road, the car looks great and they have done a fantastic job. I just need to get some more time in the seat and up to speed with the way the car handles, I am happy with the times which we got down to in the race but I think there should be some more to come. The GT Cup seems a great series to race in, the organisers worked like mad to get the venue change sorted and are very driver friendly, they have a great format with a full grids, and high driving standards and a wide variety of GT cars I know we are going to have to work hard to get results"    Next rounds are at the A1 Grand Prix meeting at Brands Hatch on May Bank Holiday weekend.

Meanwhile at Cadwell Park, Shaun Hazlewood continued his fine start to the season in the Alfa Romeo Championship taking a pair of wins in Class C, to take the overall lead of the championship. Ray Foley was less lucky when he rolled his Brunswick built Alfa Romeo 156 whilst leading Class E in the second of Saturday's races, having taken 2nd place in the earlier event.

30/03/09

Brunswick Automotive's customers had a succesful start to the season in the 2009 Alfa Romeo Championship. Shaun Hazlewood took a win in Class C in his new Brunswick built Alfa Romeo GTV V6 24V, Shaun also set a new Class C lap record in the process. Ray Foley took an excellent pole position in Class E and followed this up with second place during the race, whilst Nick Gooch finished a strong 3rd in Class D having made up some 13 places during the race! Shaun's Alfa GTV is pictured below on its way to victory (photo: www.alfaracer.com)

14/01/09

The Brunswick Automotive Mazda RX7 finished in 2nd place in class in the 4th running of the Toyo Tires Dubai 24 Hour Race last weekend. Driven by British racers, Dave Ashford and Sarah Munns together with Kiwi Blair Cole, Belgian, Rigo Meys and the young Russian driver, Nikolay Zhuravlev the team kept the car out of trouble in an incident strewn race to claim a place on the A4 category podium, behind the Lotus Exige GT4 of WTCC racer Stefano d'Aste.

Back at the team's Cambridgshire base two news cars have arrived in readiness for the 2009 season, the first being a GT4 specification Aston Martin Vantage N24. The Aston Martin was raced to good effect by the Austrian Jet Alliance team in 2008, Niki Meyer-Meinhoff taking victory in the opening round of the FIA European GT4 championship at Silverstone in May. Brunswick Automotive will enter the car in the 2009 Avon Tyres British GT championship and are currently seeking suitable drivers. In addition to the Aston Martin the team have sourced a pair of BMW 130i race cars for use in major European endurance races including the Nurburgring 24 Hours, Spa 12 Hours, Palanga 1000km and the Silverstone 6 Hour Race.