17^th/18^th April 2010

A weekend packed full of sunshine and Legends entertainment lay ahead at Brands Hatch in Kent for rounds 2 & 3 of The 2010 CPC Legends Cars Championship with three races scheduled for Saturday and three for Sunday. The Kärcher Handy Motorsport Team with drivers Simon Belcher & Stephen Treherne would be joined on Sunday by over 30 guests from Kärcher.

Brands Hatch is one of the teams favourite circuits and they were hoping for a good weekend, at the circuit that saw Stephen clinch the runners up spot in the 2009 championship, and where Simon took his first ever race win in a Legends car.

The Indy Circuit is a great place to watch motorsport, with the famous Paddock Hill bend, followed by the tight Druids bend hairpin, the lap is completed by sweeping around McLaren into Clarke curve & onto the Brabham straight.

Round 2 Warm-Up
Sometimes the warm up does not give you an awful lot of information to go on. However, the two things you could glean from this were how close this seasons racing is with the top 8 drivers being separated by just 0.897 seconds and Simon’s #11 car is on the pace as he came in 2^nd fastest behind #5 Higgins. All this was on a resurfaced track which was supposed to be slower than 2009.

Let’s Get Ready To Race …

Round 2 Heat 1
The ball draw gave Stephen a 2nd pole front row start, with Simon back on the 6th row of the grid. Carnage at the 1st bend with #4 Mickel doing a 360 on some oil laid down on the formation lap, Simon had to take evasive action so as not to get caught in the ensuing problems. Back markers can sometimes play a big part in the race of a quicker driver, that it was happened in this race when Stephen & #19 car of Davey came across the back marker who put Stephen on the dirt as he was passing. The Kärcher boys had to settle for a 6th for #12 Stephen and 8th for #11 Simon.

Round 2 Heat 2
This time Simon was off the 4th row with Stephen going off the back of the grid. Disaster struck on lap 4 for Simon who had made a good start only to be hit as he exited Druids in a collision that ended Simon’s race & broke his steering. Stephen had to battle hard with the #3 car of Ross Marshall & #19 Lawrence Davey before eventually finishing the race in 5th place.

Round 2 Final
It was a race before the race for the mechanics to get Simon’s car rebuilt in time for the start of the final, the task was completed with little if any time to spare. Simon would be starting the final from row 4 with Stephen on row 7. Simon’s car was not in great shape following his bump in Heat 2 and as we he was not able to drive it at 100%, he had to settle for 10th position in a very frustrating race for him. For Stephen it was completely the opposite, he was probably the happiest with his set up he had been all day, A race long battle with #19 Davey ensued, which had the crowd on the edge of their seats before Stephen eventually finished in 2nd place just 3/10ths of a second behind #19.

Round 3 Heat 1
No warm up today so it was straight into the racing, following a very late night rebuilding his car after yesterdays bumps and bangs, it was to be a very hectic race for Simon, with a lot of overtaking before eventually finishing in a hard fought 9th place, not bad considering he had come off the back row of the grid. Yet another great battle took place between Stephen’s #12 car & the #19 car of Davey, both of whom were struggling to match the straight line speed of the front 3. Stephen had to settle for 5th just 0.048 seconds behind #19.

The Cars, The Drivers & The People …

Round 3 Heat 2
Conditions were what can only be described as perfect for this race, dry with warm track temperatures. With the first 7 cars coming across the finish line with just over 1 second between 1st & 7th, it could have been anyone’s race. However Stephen & Simon finished in 6th & 7th place respectively.

Round 3 Final
It is widely believed in many classes of motor racing that the most dangerous part of the race is the start and the start of this particular final did nothing to disprove that belief. Both of the Kärcher Handy Motorsport cars suffered serious damage, Stephen had to complete the whole race with no exhaust silencer or rear bumper both of which were removed in what can only be described as a less than satisfactory start. Simon was not quite as fortunate as he sustained terminal damage to his engines oil cooler which caused him to pull off track on the 4th lap. Following the start line chaos and ensuing damage Stephen got his head down to finish in very creditable 5th place.

You can keep up to date with the teams progress in The 2010 Legends Cars Championship on Sky TV, Motors TV, British Eurosport and at

http://www.legendsracinguk.com/ukhome.html