Darren Turner’s super-fun summer of motorsport time-travel continued last weekend as he competed in the world-renowned Silverstone Classic festival.
Following on from the sophistication and gentry of the 1930s Aston Martin LM4 Turner raced a couple of weeks ago on Silverstone’s National circuit, the multiple-championship winning sportscar star switched codes to touring cars as he returned to the Northamptonshire venue on the Grand Prix lay-out. This time, he rolled up his sleeves and took on the audacious, 1970s bully boy that is the Cologne Capri with its mighty 450bhp + power, lightweight chassis and giant tyres.
Prepared by RaceWorks Motorsport and owned by Grant Tromans, the 1973 RS3100 Capri really is as brutish as the TV super-cops that charged around in road versions of them in those 1970s detective shows…
“It was great fun to drive!,” said Turner. “I’ve only ever been in one Capri before, and that was my Dad’s. I was too young to drive that one…”
“The thing I was warned about was how heavy the steering was and they weren’t exaggerating. It’s the heaviest steering known to man, it’s super physical, and by the time you’ve done 20 minutes around Silverstone your arms are pumped!”
Turner shared the recently-restored machine with historic specialist Andy Wolfe in the MRL Historic Touring Car Challenge, and the pair qualified the car eighth on the grid (and second in the HT2C class).
"Andy had been testing it beforehand,” said Turner, “so he took the car out at the start of qualifying. We ran into a small tech issue, which often happens with newly-restored cars, and once that had been solved I got to go out in it. It didn’t take long to get on the pace and to understand the car, and once I had it was beautiful to drive.”
The 50-minute race was started behind the Safety Car, as summer threw a typical weather curveball and doused the circuit from the BRDC Club House to Becketts in heavy rain, leaving the rest of the circuit bone dry.
“We had no choice but to start the race on wets,” said Turner, “and Andy did a really good job in the early stages, charging up from eighth to third at one point.”
Having navigated a couple of further Safety Car periods and a busy circuit of multi-class traffic, Wolfe brought the Capri in for Turner to complete the second half the race. And the Aston Martin Performance development driver left the pits in 11th place.
“As soon as I got on the track I realised we should have changed to slick tyres,” he said. “There were only three damp corners by that stage and the wet tyres were overheating very quickly with 20 minutes of the race left to go.”
Undeterred, Turner began to work his way to the front over the next 15 minutes, climbing up to seventh.
“I was having a lovely time, and I was really enjoying the car,” he said. “It is really difficult to drive in those conditions, when the rear tyres are basically melting underneath you, but that just adds to the fun of the whole experience.
“But then one of the rear tyres just let go, coming through Club, having overheated. And that was it, I had to pull over on the spot. It was a disappointing way to end the race, but there were so many positives to take away from it.”
The Silverstone Classic festival is one of Turner’s favourite events on the racing calendar, and not just for the chance to race. “I love it,” he explained. “As a BRDC member, it makes you proud to see Silverstone packed with fans and soaking up the history of our sport. It’s great fun to walk around the paddock and see all the different racing machinery. It makes for a wonderful atmosphere and a lovely weekend.”
Turner’s next racing adventure sees him jump back even further in time as he races three different cars in the Goodwood Revival – including an Aston Martin DBS3 – from 8-10 September.
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