It’s been a long wait, but one of THE characters of the British GT Championship returns in 2016. Martin Short will race an ex-Barwell BMW Z4 (the 2013 Championship winner) with GT newcomer Richard Neary. The circumstances of this union are worth explaining in some detail, with some history thrown in too.
“Richard’s business is building the hydraulic bodies for big, eight-wheeler tipper trucks,” explains Martin Short. “He also works with armoured vehicles, and he contacted me about four years ago, with the request for a roll cage for a Land Rover.
“Then we happened to meet in the pit lane at a GT Cup meeting in 2014: he was racing his Sierra Cosworth, I was in the Mosler.
Richard Neary has raced his self prepared Sierra for something like 20 years, but the prospect of an offered run in a Mosler was too good to turn down, but in testing, he was too early on the throttle (no lag in a Mosler), and although he was quick, he was inclined to spin on the exit of slow corners. Basically, he wasn’t confident enough to race the mid-engined beast. But circumstances would unfold to make a different project a reality.
“I had a 458 I was selling,” continues M. Short,” and found a buyer in Ireland. They wanted me to take the 2012 Britcar 24 Hour-winning M3 in part exchange. I didn’t really want it, but took a chance, and we arranged the swap at Richard’s premises near Liverpool.
“When Richard saw the M3, his eyes lit up! He promptly bought it, and we raced it together at the end of 2014 and throughout this year. We had podiums and wins all over the place, mainly in Dutch Supercars and Britcar. We even finished in the Barcelona 24 Hours.
“Richard was very keen to learn, and although I’m no instructor, we used the V-Box in-car video system, he changed his style (after all those years in the turbo Sierra) and he even got used to not always working on a race car. He’s very hands-on, prefers the shop floor to the office and is overall a remarkable chap. And quick.”
Thoughts turned to a new project for 2016. The mid-engined Mosler wasn’t a realistic prospect. What about GT4? In something front-engined? An Aston Martin, perhaps a second-hand one?
“I thought Richard might want to dip his toe in to British GTs. That’s where my racing really took off (see below) and Richard was keen for something really serious. But the Aston Martin would have been slower than the M3.
“My thoughts turned to a Z4, especially when I realised that there were going to be Barwell, Triple 8 and VDS cars on the market, so prices should be keen, and less than a new GT4 Aston Martin. Running costs would be higher, but we’d be in the top class.”
A Barwell car was the obvious choice, a proven championship winner (and almost again in 2015), run by a team that knows how to finish the Spa 24 Hours, Barwell would also be in the BGT paddock with their Lamborghinis, “and Mark Lemmer and I used to race against each other in TVR Tuscans, so we go way back….”
The Rollcentre BMW Z4 is a double winner already, at last weekend’s Britcar meeting at Donington Park. It even set fastest lap on the tyres it arrived with. That followed a successful test at Oulton Park, both drivers loving the short-wheelbase car.
“A fantastic GT car,” sums up Short.
Richard Neary even managed to overlap his M3 and Z4 careers by winning both classes in the same (Donington) race. He started in the M3, led the class, Mark Lemmer took over and won, while Shorty led overall in the Z4 from the start, and handed over to Neary, who crossed the line first.
“I think I’ve let the genie out of the bottle!” sums up the 57 year-old Rollcentre boss, on his new partner.
Having crossed two age thresholds (50 and 55), Shorty is now a bronze-rated driver, “but I think I should be iron!”
His 48 year-old partner is “very close to my pace”, but Short is actually more confident of his partner’s pace (relative to the other Ams), than he is of his own (relative to the other Pros).
“There’s no way I can compete with the likes of Nick Tandy!”
The Blancpain series gives incentives to Am/Am pairings, so perhaps British GTs will head in that direction: perhaps it will need to, as costs increase.
After a tough period in his career (“the Mosler is still competitive, it’s still winning in VdeV”), Martin Short is clearly very excited about the year ahead, “but I’ve got to raise my game. I’ve got a trainer, I’m going to the gym, I’m doing everything I can. I’m even conforming by running something conventional, rather than a TVR or a Mosler!”
We finished up with a challenge: what are Martin Short’s favourite British GT moments?
Number 1. “Leading outright in the Cerbera, first time out at Croft, in 2000. TVR had helped us finish the car in the paddock, but I did one flying lap in testing and was fastest! A wheel bearing failed in the race.”
Number 2. “Winning in the Cerbera at Spa, that same year, with Rob Barff. We used 22 engines that season, and we had to put an old nail in for the race. We only did one lap in qualifying, but that race was the first time anyone had beaten the GT3 Porsche anywhere in the world. I think that’s why Porsche Cars GB entered a car the following year.”
Shorty in tears on the top step at Spa, quite a moment…
Number 3. “Winning at Spa in 2003, the 1000 Km British GT race, run among the prototypes. Tom Herridge and I were trying to win the British GT title in the Mosler, against the Balfe car. They added Tommy Erdos, I asked Warren Mosler if we could have Joao Barbosa. It was wet and damp in testing, and I did most of the set-up, so I didn’t see what Joao could do. When he got in, he was two seconds faster than me. Bang, bang, every lap.
“I gave Tom Herridge the choice of doing a full stint or giving Joao the chance to win the race: he chose the former, but I chose the latter…. Alan Mugglestone was engineering the Balfe car and he’d worked out their fuel consumption to the last lap. They stopped with 75 minutes to go, we’d left it until 60. Tommy Erdos led by a minute as Joao set off, but had to eke out their fuel.
Joao went for it. The gap was three seconds starting the last lap – an extra lap as it turned out, because Tom Kristensen in the Audi had backed off a bit. We saw the green dots right together at Blanchimont…. Then we heard that one of them was out of fuel. Straining to see who would come round La Source…. and it was Joao. That was the greatest moment of my career. And all because of that extra lap.
“Joao stayed with me for the Dallaras, Le Mans (here bringing the car home fourth overall in the streaming rain in 2007) and the ELMS, and of course he’s won two titles in the TUSCC series. Absolute class.”
Number 4. “Winning the title at Brands Hatch that autumn, although I didn’t share it with Tom, because I’d missed a race. We were helped by the Berridge TVR knocking the Balfe car off at Paddock, and Shane Lynch crashed the Eclipse TVR.”
There were so many other Shorty moments in BGT over the years. I can think of a couple that stand out….
It was 2002, I think, with the Tuscan R at Brands Hatch. Marcus Potts doctored a photograph of Simon Pullan at the old Dingle Dell, to show the young charger about two feet off the ground. We showed Shorty on Sunday morning. “I’ll kill the bastard,” was his apt response, and we laughed uncontrollably. That photo became quite famous on the web, and took in many people.
Then there was the driver change on the old pit straight at Silverstone. What year was that, Martin? (I think it was the Cerbera, 2000?) The TVR had electrical trouble and stopped below the pit wall. The driver (Barffy?) got out and climbed over fence. Safety car? No, the team owner vaulted the fence, got in, jiggled with the electrics, fired it up, belted up and carried on racing! I don’t think there ever was any penalty applied… (there was, we were black flagged and after that driver changes were regulated as having to take place in the pit lane itself!)
So there we are, a look down memory lane as well as some wonderful news. As the names and faces inevitably change in British GTs, it’s marvellous to welcome back a man who has probably provided more British GT entertainment over the years than any other. What on earth will he achieve in his 58th year, with his new partner? It will be fascinating finding out.
Read all about it in Dailyshortscar, and in less detail in Motorshort News and Autoshort!
MC (even older than 57)
