Impressive Trip North For KÄRCHER Legends

1st September 2008

Handy Motorsport made another long journey this weekend as the Legends Cars championship rolled in Croft Circuit near Richmond in north Yorkshire. Both drivers had a superb day's sport with Stephen taking second overall on the day with Simon in fourth.

Legends race meetings consist of two heats where the grids are decided by ballot with a third race where the starting positions are based on points scored but with the top drivers at the back. This format is designed to promote overtaking and ensure that the trophy winners really do earn their awards. "There's probably more overtaking in one of our races than a whole season of formula one," says the driver of the number 11 KÄRCHER car, Simon Belcher. "It's an amazing formula to compete in and it's very hard work to maintain your position let alone improve on it."

Hard, physical competition is not an issue for Belcher who was a multiple European and British champion in Jet Ski-ing before he moved into motor racing. "You have to keep fit in any sport and it that is every bit as important as the preparation we do on the cars before each event. Car and driver have to be ready for three gruelling races each day - more often than not starting at the back of the field. We currently have over thirty drivers in the championship so there is a lot of overtaking to do!"

"Croft is a race track that includes everything to challenge a driver. The lap starts with a long straight then a fairly fast right hander which carries on around to a chicane and then a very long straight where power is everything. After that it's all down to the driver again with some more sweeping right handers followed by a very complex section which runs three very tight curves left, right and left again into a hairpin. The last corner can only be taken at about 30mph which is a stark contrast to the top speed of over 120mph we're reaching on the back straight."

Stephen Treherne, who races the KÄRCHER 12 car has nearly 10 years more motor racing experience than Simon and he has proved to be a major asset to the team this year - both in gaining results as a team mate and as a mentor. He says: "A couple of seasons back Simon would have been a lot slower than me but this year he's really running close both in terms of lap times and championship points. At times it's looked like formation running in the KÄRCHER cars."

The team's usual hard work in the gym and the workshop paid off again as the pair worked their way through the grid in all of Saturday's races. Stephen took 3rd in race one, 2nd in race two and 5th in the final. The aggregate results saw him claim the second place trophy overall but he was the top ranked 'Pro' driver. Simon's races yielded two 4th place finishes in the first two races and he shadowed Stephen to 6th place in the final. Simon was fourth overall and 3rd in the 'Pro' category.

"These are very good results for us," adds Simon. "Most of the other top teams are using a 1,250cc engine but we've always stuck by the 1,200s. We feel there is more flexibility in those at the moment and they seem to be more reliable. You need that with the Legends racing format. It's also good for us to buck the trend towards the 1,250s."

The team has a few weeks to recover from the journey to Yorkshire but face another long journey for the next round of the championship which takes place at Oulton Park in Cheshire at the end of this month.