The Birkett Relay is one of the longest-running motorsport events in the UK, with the first running being held back in 1951, and has remained a staple of the 750 Motor Club‘s calendar ever since, rounding off the year for club racing in the country.
With 70 teams and 3-6 drivers per team, there’s typically around 300 cars seeing track time over the 6 hours, ranging from the latest machinery from Radical and factory-built TCR cars down to the staples of entry-level racing of KAs, BMW 116s and everything in-between.
The 2023 edition of the race took place on the 28th October, and saw 5 RAF drivers along with a fantastic support team descend upon Silverstone, ready to take on the event as well as compete for the Inter-Services Trophy against our Army and Navy compatriots. All military teams were accommodated in Garage 1, helping to foster the spirit of competition between everyone involved.
Qualifying sees 6 sessions, allowing for each driver to get around 20 minutes to familiarise themselves with the circuit and establish their approximate pace to allow the organisers to adjust the handicap calculated from previous racing results if necessary. The order follows the entry list, with Car A being sent first, Car B, C and so on.
Alex Smith took to the circuit first of all with a best time of a 2:38.65, putting him 35th of the cars in Group A, only half a second faster than the Navy’s Keith Attwood in 38th with his Mini Cooper S whilst the Army had a BMW 116 at the hands of Ben Gundry out first, setting the 65th best time.
Group B saw Alex Waldeck take his Peugeot 306 in to bat, with a 2:52.01 as his best effort on his first laps of the circuit in his own car and 64th place. The Army’s Nick Hills was 2 places behind in their BMW Compact whilst Adam Dewis from the Navy took their Peugeot 206 to 68th, so all three service teams were in close company for this session!
Group C and it was time for our other Birkett Rookie’s run, with James Flint taking his Ford Fiesta to a 2:50.56 and 55th place in session. The Army team had Jasmin Norman with her Audi TT out and setting a great time of 2:38.06 and 33rd place, whilst the Navy ran Gareth Moss with his Mazda MX5 being the 53rd-fastest of the group.
Group D saw everyone’s favourite BMW E36 “Eddie” with Dave Russell at the wheel, setting a 2:36.21 and the 20th-fastest time in the session for his efforts, with Simon Vernon’s Mazda MX5 carrying the Navy to 39th and Ben Moore taking the Army BMW 116 to 45th.
Group E being the final group for both the RAF and Army teams saw Si Frowen with his Ginetta G20 setting a strong 2:37.86 before his weekend was sadly cut short by engine failure. Whilst a hugely disappointing end to the season, it showed that he’s really fitting well into the car purchased merely a week before the start of the competitive season! Matt Davidson took the Army’s BMW Compact back out to 26th in the much quieter 5th session with Matt Fayers in the Navy Peugeot 206 running 28th.
Group F saw only one Service entrant, with Sean Graham running 17th in his Locost for the Navy. Following this the grid was set: The RAF would start 46th, whilst 10 rows behind the Navy and Army would be 65th and 66th respectively.
Being the end of October in the UK, the weather was constantly a concern and had certainly led to some mixed results during qualifying as the track was cold and greasy following some sprinkling of rain throughout the morning. By the time the race begun however, the circuit had been cleaned up with all the running that had taken place and it was prime for some good action!
The 6 hours got underway with Alex Smith our first driver on track, and he put in a great opening stint to put the team 2nd on handicap at the end of the first hour. With a change of Alex from Smith to Waldeck it was time to get the minimum lap count completed, 24 laps later took us past the second hour with a drop to 22nd place on handicap, but once these laps were completed there were no more restrictions to be met by the team, it was flat out with the fastest cars from here.
Dave took to the circuit and inherited 40th place on handicap, with the mission of bringing the team back to the front, a task he completed with ease; back to 11th by the halfway point of the race, 4th at the next half-hour, then 2nd as we entered the final 2 hours.
Alex Smith got a second stint once Dave had emptied his fuel tank, and at this point the team found themselves leading on handicap, with the challenge coming from Team 348 with their BMW 116s, The 3 Amigos with a trio of BMW Compacts, and Area Motorsport with their Civic Type Rs, Clio Cup and Audi TT. The chasing team would change at every half hour point with Area Motorsport making a strong charge at the end as the conditions changed again, passing Dave in the final bit of green flag running, but it wasn’t quite enough to allow them to overhaul us!
At the fall of the chequered flag, Dave Russell brought the car home ahead of Area Motorsport in 2nd and The 3 Amigos rounding out the podium. In terms of the Inter-Services the RAF successfully defended the trophy, Army Motorsport were 10th on handicap with Royal Navy Motorsport being scored 45th after a few mechanical troubles. For the Scratch race it was RSR Motorsport ahead of RJ with Daytona Motorsport and RJ Motorsport, all 3 teams running Radicals. The RAF were classified 27th, the Army 60th and the Navy 62nd.
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