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Tuesday 2nd of April 2024 19:00:00
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September 30, 2004
Tuesday August 24, 2 PM. Wombwell Kart Circuit, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Out on the kart track, there are various sprint races going on every 30 minutes or so. Some of these guys are really quite impressive; committed into the corners, throwing the car through the chicanes and quickly learning the rules of drafting and geometry. Meanwhile, Andy and I chat about joining the International Grand Prix 3 Championship (IGP3C) in 2002.

"BSR team-boss Ben Saunders decided to expand his BSR team, and as a result created Power Horse Racing (PHR) - part of the BSR stable. A similar thing happened with Fox-BSR, for which Daniel Wilkinson drove. The PHR team were due to take part in Kari Koski's International Grand Prix 3 Championship, but were lacking confirmed drivers for that series. The LFRS 2002 was running a shortened season and the schedule was late. So literally at the very last moment, both me and Brian Crowley (who raced for BSR in LFRS 2001) contacted Ben and there it was - we were due to race in Australia within a few days!"

Melbourne, Australia - February 2002. New (now familiar) helmet design, PHR livery was quite stunning, and Porsche engines!

"At this point I was using my new Saitek R440 wheel. My first race weekend as a dedicated Wheel and Pedals driver! It was daunting, to say the least, and I initially had concerns over my pace as I had to start developing new set-ups. Luckily Artur Costa, a member of the BSR team in the IGP3C and influential in getting me switched away from the Keyboard, gave plenty of advice and provided potential set-ups that I could adjust to suit my own style".

Qualifying 14th, over 2.5 seconds off the pace. Race day was better - 8th out of 23 drivers.

And so Andy's IGP3 career began. "The major change for me was that I had obtained a wheel and pedal set that I felt comfortable with (Saitek R440 Force), and so I committed to driving in 2002 with the wheel only.

During pre-season tests for the BSR team, Artur Costa helped me out enormously in how to set up the wheel, and took me from 100% steering help to 0% steering help within a week. I didn't look back from that moment on."

It seems he was a little hard on his equipment though! "I went through 4 replacement wheels in 2002 alone!" he says. "Luckily they were all under guarantee!!"

---

True to form, Andy had very practical and realistic goals for IGP3C 2002, and was keen to see them through.

"My main goal was to compete in every race event - the whole season. That to me was the ultimate challenge. I didn't expect to be competitive, but my 'perfectionist' streak ensured that I just practised more and more and got better and better! IGP3C was a 50% racing league, but with no saves allowed until race end - plus unlimited drivers (quite often there were 20 to 30 drivers competing)," he explains.

Team owner Ben Saunders meanwhile would prove to establish a very good working relationship with Andy, to the extent that he became involved in the administration of the team. BSR was very tight-knit, with team members sharing various admin duties, but before long "suddenly the BSR site stopped being updated, and no contact was received from Ben, despite numerous emails," says Andy. The team carried on for the 2002 season, but Andy comments that, "I sometimes think the worst about what may have happened, as it was so out of character for Ben to just disappear like that."

Andy himself took on the operation of the Power Horse branch of BSR, and often drove without a teammate, but I asked whether it was more of a burden. "Not at all," he says, "I was concentrating on my battles in the Drivers Championship. Sure, it would have been nice to have the PHR team doing well in the Constructors, but with no team boss around to look after things, I struggled to find the time to find a teammate".

Debut for the BSR team in IGP3C 2002, driving the BSR02 at British GP Qualifying

"[By July 2002] the BSR main team was higher in the Constructors, Artur Costa (the no.1 driver) needed a partner to help out in the Championship, and so I moved to the main team as a result. As it happened, Artur only turned up intermittently for one reason or another, so I ended up being BSR's main points scorer until the end of the season."

A replacement driver was found for Power Horse Racing and Andy ended up finishing out the 2002 IGP3C season with BSR, replacing no other than a certain Mr Matt Maple. "Driving for BSR - being the team's main figurehead, was quite an honour," Andy says, but he did have a solid run of results during his time at PHR.

"For PHR, the highlight has to be the Malaysian GP, the 2nd race of the season. In the first race of the year in Australia, I had struggled due to my inexperience with the wheel. I literally practised Sepang for 15 hours in total in the run up to qualifying. I never got the opportunity to practice that much before an event for the rest of the season, but the effort was worth it. I qualified 5th and, despite a bad accident on the start-line (luckily for me there was a restart in the spare car), I raced to 5th place too. As it happened, it would be my equal best result of the season. The next race in Brazil was looking good too, actually racing in 3rd at one stage, but the rain fell and I went backwards big style!!"

"The Malaysian Grand Prix provided my worst shunt of the 2002 year. Off the line in 5th, I clashed with my team-mate, going over his left rear wheel and tumbling several times in front of him as the rest of the drivers sped past. A restart was in order, and the PHR back up car gave me a reliable platform to gain 5th in the race!"

The image opposite shows Andy from team-mates Brian Crowley's car, about 5 feet in the air and sideways on to the direction of the track! It can be seen that the learning process was a steep one, with many crashes in the process.

---

By the time Andy moved to the main BSR team, he had already settled into the Grand Prix Virtual World Championship 2002. He and I both joined the league at the same time, and I've always been curious as to what brought him around to the GPVWC. Andy's VWC debut came with James Menzies' MCR outfit at the Spanish Grand Prix in April of 2002.

It was in fact Pablo Arteaga who introduced him to the GPVWC, "in a round about way," says Andy, since Pablo was driving for Fox-BSR in the IGP3C and was considering getting out of the GPVWC, which of course is based on realistic variations of BHP and reliability. "Pablo pointed me to the site, I liked what I saw - in particular the fact that cars were not all the same in terms of performance, plus the testing and potential to improve your car. And, of course, the fact that any driver could break down, thus giving others a chance to shine. That really appealed to me," he says. "I went on the Forum, saw that MCR were after a driver, contacted James Menzies, and the deal was done very quickly. The only thing I had to ponder over was could I fit both the IGP3C and GPVWC in at the same time. But the schedules meant that I drove the same races in the IGP3C usually a week before the GPVWC, so I was able to carry my familiarity with the tracks over to the GPVWC," he explains.

At the time, the GPVWC and IGP3C were both running on Grand Prix 3, and so were ripe for comparisons. Andy was one driver who had a very active experience in both leagues.

"In the IGP3C, there was an unlimited number of drivers who could take part in each event. And the number of world class driver taking part was also high. The likes of Aki Koskinen, Arto Rissanen, Artur Costa, Daniel Wilkinson, Steve Elencevski, Kari Koski, and Pablo Arteaga (plus the one off appearances of the likes of Gaczella, Ytsma, Pocock and others) meant that it was a very tough league to compete in. I would have termed myself as "best of the rest" compared to these top guys, but towards the end of the season I could occasionally beat some of them. I had a 'ding-dong' battle with Robert Sorbara for 8th in the Drivers Championship, and my late season form ensured I pulled through. It was a tough challenge, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. Kari Koski ran an excellent league that year; it was brilliant just to be a part of it," he concludes.

With Andy's team, Phoenix F1, effectively withdrawing from the IGP3C for 2004, Andy has a bit of a wistful look when reminiscing on his experiences in the IGP3C 2002.

---

GPVWC 2002 Debut, for MCR, was at the fifth race of the season in Spain

In the GPVWC 2002, Andy was on the pace right away, qualifying between 5th and 7th and always finishing in the top ten.

"In the GPVWC, I was lucky enough to be driving with the powerful Mercedes engine behind me. It was not the top-performing engine, but enabled me to shine. The competition was still very tough in GPVWC 2002, and my performances (particularly in Qualifying) improved once I understood the league rules properly. For example, in Qualifying, I was driving the outlap and the fastlap in one go, saving at the end of the fastlap - then restarting from the Pits again. Once I realised I could save just before my fastlap and then reload from that point, I got much more time to actually Qualify. It is no coincidence that I employed this tactic from the British GP onwards. Out of the remaining 8 races I qualified in the top 3 five times, and against some very strong opposition. That was a real boost to my ego!" he exclaims.

If not for a DNF in Germany, Andy would have had a very real shot at finishing 3rd overall in the Drivers Championship in his first season, and with less than a full year of results. "To finish 6th was amazing enough though!" he says. A run of 5 top-three starts in eight races began at the British Grand Prix, and marked the start of regular appearances in the post-Qualifying session press conferences.

However the highlight of the year, and of his driving career thus far, came at the very next race in France where he finished 3rd for the first time in either the GPVWC 2002 or the IGP3C 2002. Andy is at his most passionate when talking of this performance.

"The French GP was, finishing 3rd, by far my best moment in the GPVWC. That race, perhaps along with my IGP3C 2002 Japanese GP and the LFRS 2001 Adelaide GP, was one of the few where I was almost in a trance whilst driving round the track. To beat Joe Consiglio at Magny Cours by taking him on the last lap, and to be racing on the pace of the leaders for half the race - that was immensely pleasing."

---

Andy would prove to have just one DNF (completing his race until an engine failure) in the GPVWC, and no DNF's in the IGP3C or DNS's in either league. It's a record to be proud of, and Andy is justly so.

"I think it says a lot about me as a person. I don't like failure, whether that be crashing out or not turning up for a race. The fact that I completed every event I ever raced in has spurred me on to continue in that vein - my personal goals evolve around finishing something I've started - whether that be a season of driving, running a team or being the Administrator of a League."

I remember towards the end of the 2002 season, Andy was consistently showing up in the top 3 in qualifying or the race (or both) and it certainly seemed to me that he was a very hot commodity. "As regards to having a growing reputation as a driver, I never knew I had one!!" he laughs. "Probably my Qualifying performances in the latter stages of both the IGP3C and the GPVWC may have raised some eyebrows down the pitlane, but my Race performances rarely matched my Qualifying achievements."

I begged to differ though, as his consistency punctuated by regular top five performances certainly made him a top driver. It was thus very surprising to hear how many offers he received from GPVWC teams. "Actually no, there were none," he says. "Never in my sim-racing career has a team actually tried to approach me to drive for them full time. I suppose I'm not quick enough to be a race winner!"

Quite a surprise, says I!

---

From GPVWC France-onwards he only had one finish lower than 5th, and that was 6th in Belgium. That race proved the hardest challenge to his achieving his goals of competing in all schedules events.

"The rain came around the time of my first Pitstop. Having a dry set-up, I struggled immensely just to complete the race. The CC cars were catching me by the end of the race, and the conditions were atrocious. I spent many hours trying to complete that race. It was the toughest of my career".

Andy also finished 3rd at the GPVWC 2002 one off GP4 race (now known as the 'Gold Cup Race', also held at Belgium, in September of 2002). He had a remarkable run of four straight top-three starts, capped by a front row start of 2nd on the grid at the final race in Japan.

All told, it was a very successful season in both the GPVWC and IGP3C. 6th overall in the GPVWC with 96 points and 8th with 131 points in IGP3C.

"I was very satisfied with 8th in the IGP3C Drivers Championship," he says. "Over 37 different Drivers took part during the season, and those drivers above me meant that I was 'best of the rest.' Only 1 of the top 7 drivers didn't win a race, so I was pleased that with no race wins I was right up there with the best."

As for the GPVWC, "I felt very happy at completing all events [I entered] in the GPVWC 2002, and in the one-off GP4 event I beat Mikko Jakonen over a 30% race distance in Belgium to finish 3rd behind Daniel Wilkinson and Joe Consiglio. The only ever time I beat Mikko, I think!" exudes Andy.

As for the rest of the competition, "In the IGP3C, early in the season I was beating Steve Elencevski! Then he turned on the rocket boosters!!! Seriously, it was Robert Sorbara who I was fighting with mostly in the Championship. He beat me nearly every race until the latter half of the season, when I got quicker and was able to return the compliment! On my day I could challenge the likes of Rissanen and Koski - but that was somewhat of a rare occurrence," he says.

GPVWC 2002 Italian GP Qualifying.

Exiting Variante Ascari. 3rd on the grid for the second race in succession, and third of the season so far.

"I would have to admit that I concentrated far too much on Qualifying than on Race set-up. At this stage we were using enhanced computer car performances, and the races were a real challenge. In hindsight, I should have put more effort into my race pace - perhaps that is my one regret throughout the whole of 2002 in both IGP3C and GPVWC."

"In the GPVWC, I could challenge anyone in Qualifying. In the race though, I was more inconsistent. Those events where rain fell, I struggled (Silverstone; Spa-Francorchamp), but in the dry I was probably looking at a 4th place as my hope for each event - all things being equal. Of course, I wanted more but perhaps just didn't have the talent to get there. Also, not having great experience in setting the car up for the race came into the equation."

---

The afternoon is wearing on and it's getting cloudier here at Wombwell. Andy and I decide to head inside to the circuit's café. They're serving stale coffee and ham sandwiches. "Reminds me of Donington," I say.

Reminiscing on our meeting last summer, Andy says, "I have a lot of respect for those people who spend time helping out, driving, creating teams. I always had my idea of what a perfect league would be, and short of the Time Limited aspect (which I personally think is a real way to race) I think the F1VWC 2004 is turning out to be just as I wanted it to. And from the people I've met, including you Ted, the age barrier doesn't exist either.

For example, I think I get on quite well with Matt Maple. Yet when he first came onto the BSR team, I didn't particularly like his language, etc. Meeting people in real life is the only way to judge them."

I agree, meeting people certainly makes the league much more real and tangible and is one of the best parts of sim-racing. As we're talking, a couple youngsters walk by with their racing trophies, freshly won from a day of karting. Conversation returns to the climax of Andy's full time driving career at the end of 2002.

"As the season drew to a close, I had made my decision to retire from full time racing, so I put that extra effort in over the remaining races, knowing that I probably wouldn't experience this again," he says. "So I was very happy with 6th in the GPVWC Drivers Championship - and helping MCR to achieve 4th in the Constructors.

I had also contacted Dan Lawrence asking about the availability of a team slot for 2003. I knew at that point that I wanted to take part in the GPVWC, but as a Team Owner (which I had always wanted to do) rather than a driver."

Continued in Part 3