Brits abroad, part one: up for the cup

Hugh Colman is about to embark in his third season of racing in the International Supersports Cup in his ex David Goode Chevron B8. “It is incredibly good value for money compared to racing in the UK,” he says.

Having progressed through domestic club racing, Colman realised a lifetime ambition when he bought the B8 in 2001. “We go to some brilliant circuits. I’d rather go to Monza or Spa these days and we get decent race lengths. We usually get the garages and good hospitality, so it stacks up well against UK club racing,” he reckons.

His 1969 B8 spent its early life hillclimbing and even had a spell in Canada as a road can “It’s done hardly any racing,” says Colman. “It has probably raced more in the last two and a half years than in the previous 30.”

The Chevron still has its original bodywork and runs with a cost-effective 2-litre BMW engine. Running up to 1500 miles between rebuilds means that his engine should do more than a season without major attention.

To keep costs down, Colman does much of the preparation work himself, and runs the car from a trailer at race weekends. With six to eight events each season he believes it is very cost effective in terms of track time. “Doing it the way I do, I reckon a couple of seasons without a shunt or major mechanical drama costs less than £10,000, but I have to do all the work!”

Colman’s first aim for 2004 is the Supersports Cup. “It’s great to just be there and it is a privilege to be on the grid with some of the other cars,” he says. However, with a change of tyres, he could also run in Group 4 events and the races at Pau and Montlhéry have an obvious appeal. In addition, the end of season Supersports race at Bahrain looks too good to miss!