British GT Championship contender Adam Sharpe competed in this weekend's Spa 1000kms driving the Salisbury Motorsports TVR alongside Steve Hyde and team regular John Hartshorne.

“It’s great to be back at Spa again, I got a third here last year in the Morgan and to be back at this world famous circuit for such an historic race is fantastic.”

Sharpe’s teammate, Steve Hyde, started the race in difficult conditions – these were to continue throughout the rest of the race:

“Steve started the race and he’d got about 3 laps in when the passenger door caught on fire” said Adam “he then had to pull into the pits to rectify the problem, which I think was caused by the exhaust, and we dropped back……”

Sharpe put in a solid second stint:

“The conditions were very damp and greasy and I had to get used to the TVR - first for me. would have liked to have spent a bit more time on set-up, but overall the car felt good. After about an hour and three quarters, I passed the car over to John (Hartshorne). Unfortunately, he had a coming together with one of the prototypes and a spin lost us a bit more time.”

Steve Hyde was back in the car for the final stint, but unfortunately about 20 minutes from the end an electrical component melted on the car and put the whole circuitry out leaving Hyde no choice but to retire from the race.

“It was a shame to come all the way to the Ardennes and not get a finish so close to the end of the race, but I had a great weekend and it’s invaluable experience to my future in sportscars and a full season in LMES” said Sharpe.
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Full Race Report: Malcolm Cracknell of DailySportsCar.com writes:

Peninsula TVR - Spa 1000 Kms – September 10-12

It was a revised driver line-up in the Racesports-run, Peninsula-backed TVR at the fourth and final event of the maiden Le Mans Endurance Series, at the classic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. This time, John Hartshorne was joined by (regular TVR exponent) Steve Hyde and teenager Adam Sharpe – although he wouldn’t be a teenager by race day.

“I think we’ve got the strongest drivers we’ve had in the car so far,” indicated Hartshorne. “We know how quick Steve is in a TVR, while Adam is very experienced, despite only being 19.”

The problem the TVR suffered at its last event – the power steering was playing up – was cured in time for qualifying on Saturday, but the total of four, short, 45 minute sessions meant a general lack of laps for all the drivers.

“I think I’ve only done four or five timed laps in the dry,” reckoned Adam Sharpe on Saturday afternoon. “Steve is quicker than me through the quick stuff, but I haven’t driven a TVR before this meeting, so I’m still finding the limit. It seems a much bigger car than the Morgan or Porsche, but maybe that’s just the long bonnet. It feels like a very predictable endurance car – I’m loving every minute of it.”

One reason for the lack of dry laps was the wet/damp track in first qualifying on Saturday morning.

“Steve did a really good job, we were fourth quickest early on in the session (in the GT Class), and we stayed on intermediate tyres throughout.”

None of the drivers felt that they had extracted the ultimate lap from the car in qualifying, “but our 2:34 / 2;35 pace in qualifying should be our race pace,” thought Steve Hyde. But this car can do a 2:32 I’m sure.”

Qualifying hasn’t been the TVR’s forte this year, but the team has always looked to preparing for the race as a more important factor than one quick lap in qualifying.

A damp warm up session early on Sunday morning went smoothly, and Steve Hyde was down to start (and finish) the race, with Adam Sharpe completing the second stint and John Hartshorne the third. The plan almost worked.

Steve avoided the early laps mayhem, but an early shot of him on the TV screen showed the black and yellow TVR turning left at Eau Rouge, not right.

“I had a fire burning down by the door! I didn’t fancy carrying on like that!”

Very sensible move Steve (race leader Pierre Kaffer in one of the Audis had driven his car the length of two pitlanes with the rear of his car a raging inferno).

“It must have been rubber pick-up that had caught fire. It went out very quickly, so I waited for it to cool down, drove it back to the pits, and Dennis (Leech) did his magic to get us back out again.”

Unfortunately the time lost meant that the crew were heading for a recovery drive from the back for the rest of the afternoon.

Adam Sharpe was sent out on wet tyres for the second stint, because rain showers were sweeping across the four mile circuit.

“It rained, dried out and then rained and dried out again,” said the (now) 20 year old. I stayed out on wets, but I had lots of understeer as the fronts overheated, so I came in for slicks. It was exactly like this in the Morgan last year.”

The Ardennes region – notorious for its fickle weather – stayed dry for the balance of the race - but the adventures continued for the #91 TVR. John Hartshorne was the next man in.

“It was going well, but on one lap, as I turned in to the second part of the Pouhon corner, a prototype dived inside me and the touch launched me into the gravel trap. I kept it straight in the gravel and drove out, but as I attempted to join the tarmac, I must have had two wheels on grass and two on the tarmac. That spun me across to the other side of the track, but I got it going again after that.”

The Motors TV commentary team thought that Adam Sharpe was in the car at the time (that’s what the monitors were ‘saying’), so Adam was a little indignant to return from a trip to the toilet to find that he was apparently in the car!

The trip into the gravel had slightly damaged the front splitter of the T-400R, but the drivers still had a raceable car to get them to the chequered flag. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out like that.

Steve Hyde got in for the last stint, but with five hours 33 minutes elapsed (of what would turn out to be a six hour race, all bar one minute), the car stopped out on the circuit.

Dennis Leech grumpily explained that “the radio shorted out the electrical master switch. It wasn’t a car problem at all, it was a radio problem.”

No electrics meant that the TVR wasn’t going anywhere. Adam cycled out to find the car, but “I couldn’t really help Steve as I don’t know too much about TVRs.” In reality, the car was unfixable, and another finish in the LMES was unattainable.

“Realistically, we were heading for an eleventh or twelfth place finish this time,” summed up John Hartshorne. “Unfortunately the general level of reliability in the GT Class this time was bonkers.”

The Peninsula TVR had covered enough laps to be classified as a finisher, but in these endurance races, you have to be running at the flag to be classified – and the TVR was stationary at the time.

More next year John? “Oh yes, we’re ridiculously addicted to these events.”

So the highlights of the team’s LMES season were the eighth place finish at the Nurburgring and the seventh place at Silverstone. But Monza and Spa had also seen the distinctive TVR competing hard, and each time the car completed more than 100 laps.

“Ridiculously addicted,” perfectly sums up the appeal of these Le Mans Endurance Series events. Roll on 2005.