"It was virtually agreed within one meeting, I didn’t have to go to any more meetings to put my case across, and I think that just shows what Britcar’s reputation is like within the industry.”
Claire Hedley’s drive and determination has taken the Britcar Endurance Championship to new heights for 2022. It has been granted national status by the governing body Motorsport UK, and therefore becomes the British Endurance Championship for the coming season. It’s testament to the effort put in behind the scenes by Hedley – managing director and owner of the Britcar brand after she bought it from founder James Tucker in 2016 – and her team.
The granting of national status is the culmination of the past five years’ work. Grid numbers have steadily risen, a new category – the Britcar Trophy – has been introduced, and a growing manufacturer in the form of Praga has generated interest through the championship and will have its own standalone races this season, still under the Britcar banner.
PLUS: Inside the lightweight Czech sportscar making its mark on the UK
Hedley makes no secret of the fact that she runs her championships as a business and “for our customers”. It might seem obvious, that listening to what customers – or drivers and teams in this case – want should be a given, but translating that into healthy grids isn’t always an easy task. Although in the case of ‘national’ status, it was almost unanimous.
“I spoke to a few of my regular clients, saying, ‘Would it make any difference for you? Would it help in getting drivers? Is this a sort of stepping stone for your drivers going on to do the World Endurance Championship?’” says Hedley. “And they said ‘definitely’, so I knew verbally I had the commitment, and when we put the social media out there it was very much ‘go for it!’ You have to get that response and that confidence to risk it, because obviously it’s a financial and a long-term commitment to do these sorts of things.”
That commitment is a three-year agreement with Motorsport UK to run the British Endurance Championship. And despite the opening race being nearly two months away, 34 entries have already been confirmed for the new championship, which bodes well.
For any series to continue flourishing, especially in the midst of a global pandemic, is no easy task. And, despite an upward trend, even the Britcar Endurance Championship wasn’t immune to the fallout from the virus.
At the end of 2019 it was announced that the series would visit Spa in support of the World Endurance Championship, something that was rightly publicised as something of a coup for Britcar. But, by the time the event came around in August 2020, just 10 cars were entered (most of them Revolutions) in the now non-championship event, because of strict travel restrictions.
“There was nothing that we did wrong,” says Hedley, who adds that Britcar was unable to move the WEC support race to another year. “People were saying, ‘We would have come if we could have got through the borders.’ They were all wanting to come but they couldn’t risk their businesses because 90% of our drivers are professional businessmen. They couldn’t risk being quarantined for two weeks when they came back. So it was nothing Britcar, the brand or the championship was doing wrong.”
Warm-up and qualifying will be combined into one 50-minute session, with the race taking place later the same day. That worked well when implemented in 2020 because it meant drivers and teams spent less time away from family and business commitments, as well as spending less money in general
The disappointment of Spa has meant any further overseas adventures are unlikely to happen, at least for the foreseeable future. But the 2022 calendar is still a strong one, with two visits to the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit planned, as well as trips to Donington Park (on both the National and GP layouts), Oulton Park and Snetterton.
There will also be a variation in race lengths, with two being held over three hours, while the remaining four are two-hour contests. To help cut costs, warm-up and qualifying will be combined into one 50-minute session, with the race taking place later the same day. That’s a formula that was implemented in 2020 for both the Britcar Endurance and Trophy series, and worked for drivers and teams because it meant they spent less time away from family and business commitments, as well as spending less money in general. Again, another tick in the box for a championship listening to its customers.
This isn’t to say that Hedley doesn’t have ambitions of her own, and there’s a long-term goal of reintroducing a 24-hour race for GT cars, something not held in the UK since 2018. There’s also an appetite to get new manufacturers involved, after proving what can be achieved with Praga. The Czech company only joined with two cars in 2019, yet this season will have standalone races with “16 to 20 cars” expected.
All of this success, of course, is no guarantee of a flourishing future, and Hedley is all too aware that nothing can be taken for granted. But, if the past five years are anything to go by, then there’s no reason to believe that the British Endurance Championship won’t become a staple of UK racing.
“I’m hopeful,” says Hedley. “I’m not stupid to say we’re the best thing since sliced bread and we’re going to be here forever, who knows, but I’ve got every intention of making this work.”
In this week's issue of Autosport magazine, celebrating the Monsters of Motorsport, you can find special features on Brabham's 1983 Formula 1 title-winner, Nissan's fearsome Bathurst-winning 'Godzilla' and the most outlandish machines to grace the Pikes Peak hillclimb. See more here.
