American sportswoman Liz Halliday was delighted with the team’s performance at this weekend’s first ever Britcar 24 hour race which took place at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. Halliday was driving the class 1 BMW E36 of the Beechdean team and with team-mates Aaron Scott, Lawrence Tomlinson and Simon Pullan, secured a finish on the team’s debut 24 hour race. Despite a few technical issues hindering progress, Liz and the team finished a respectful 24th place overall and seventh in class.
After the race, a delighted Liz Halliday said: “I am really happy to finish my first 24 hour race of the year. This is great stuff. I had an excellent weekend with the team; everybody was fantastic, friendly and professional. Each member of the crew worked really hard to bring the car to the finish and they all deserve this result. It was a great experience for me, much more than I had anticipated before the weekend. My first time in the car was during practice on Friday and I had to re-adapt to driving a softer car without down force, which is not as simple as it looks.”
Halliday continued: “We made a great start to the race and after four hours the team was running in sixth overall, which was terrific stuff. Unfortunately we had two technical issues with the car and we lost a lot of time in the pits. Despite these unplanned challenges, the boys kept their heads down and fixed the car. We also had two punctures on the left front tyre which cost us time. It was a really interesting race, it was tough and it is really dark at night around Silverstone! You had to be careful all the time with a lot of traffic – 55 cars started the race and all running at different speeds.”
Although Liz is now used to driving faster cars in the ALMS and the FIA GT Championship, this weekend was still a challenge for her: “My first stint at midnight was the longest stint I have ever done in an endurance race, almost three hours, so it was a great experience for me. I did my second stint between midday and 2pm in the afternoon and I was cautious as there was a lot of debris on the circuit by then. We were also looking after the tyres, changing them every two hours instead of four.”
The English weather also played its part at this time of the year. The 26-year-old Californian said: “The changing weather was an important parameter throughout the race. We started with a lot of rain and standing water. Lawrence did a great job to keep the car on the black stuff. When I got into the car in the middle of the night, the rain had stopped and I was on slicks during the entire stint. The morning continued to be dry but then in the afternoon the air started to get charged with mist and the track became very slippery. It wasn’t wet enough for intermediate tyres so we had to stay on slicks and be cautious until the chequered flag. I would like to thank Andrew and the team for this great opportunity and I hope that we can work again together in the near future.”
Team Beechdean’s boss Andrew Howard was extremely pleased with Liz’s performance during the race: “The first ever 24 hour race for the team was eventful and to compete for the duration of this event is a fantastic achievement for us. Lots of credit to all the members of the staff, the drivers and the mechanics, they did a great job. Liz was unfamiliar with the BMW E36 and she had to drive her first stint in the middle of the night. She achieved regular and stunning lap times which set a platform for the team’s progress into the race. I would like to thank her for a great job.”
Howard continued: “Technical issues with the car cost us three and a half hours during the race. Before these problems we were up to sixth overall only four hours into the race, which was fantastic. Without the technical issues we would easily have finished in the top ten. Our next event will probably be the Britcar race at Zolder/Belgium in October and we’re also considering the 24-hour race in Dubai in January.”
