Stephen Watson, a South African driver knows the team well having already driven in Australia, America, Europe and last year in Suzuka in another of the Chamberlain Vipers. Geoff Lister drove for Chamberlain in 1996 in a Jaguar 220 and Ben Devlin drove this year in a Chamberlain-run Viper team car for Hayles Racing, competing in the British GT Championship. Between them they have much GT experience to call on.

Qualifying was sensational with Stephen putting the car on pole position in front of the much-fancied Marcos of Cor Euser.

The start of the race was good, in fact too good as the judges decided that Stephen had taken an unfair advantage and had gone before the lights went green. This resulted in a 10 second stop-go penalty but before this could be implemented Stephen had a coming together with the Marcos, spinning the Viper off into the gravel.

Stephen returned to the fray two laps down but very shortly after found oil on the track and again ended up in the gravel, this time with light damage to the car. Some very good work was seen from the unsung heroes (our mechanics!) as they quickly dealt with the damage in the burning heat of the day. It was now Geoff's turn, with the car returning to the action some 14 laps down.

With the car still running strong, we saw some exceptional driving by the three drivers, particularly Geoff, with all of them trying very hard to close the gap on the opposition. Very slick pit stops and determined, but sensible, driving very nearly produced an exceptional result for the team. By the end of the day the car finished a creditable fourth in class, on the same lap as the second and third placed cars.