THE DRIVERS
GERRIT VAN KOUWEN (1984)
“People say that my final was boring. They’re wrong – it was the best ever! I’d enjoyed winning across Europe in 1983, but nothing prepares you for your first time at Brands Hatch. I made the final that year, but that was it, so for 1984, we set about doing things right. I had fantastic backing from Lola and, weekend after weekend, we transformed the T644E, carefully building up a very different car to what we’d started with.
“I worked closely with Minister too. Dave [Minister] and Graham [Fuller] were developing a way to pre-heat oil, as this showed an instant benefit of 2-3bhp on leaving the line. We fitted an industrial kettle element into the bell housing and ran it off a portable generator. You don’t win by standing still.
“Approaching Festival week, Graham told me not to join the early tests but to let others risk damage and set the times. The benchmark was 49.5s. We arrived on Thursday, I did just five laps, recording 49.2s. We knew we were quickest; now everyone else knew it too.
“On pole for the final, I maintained the three-tenths margin we held in
