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Britcar 24 hour race. Silverstone Sept 10/11th 2006
When you`re sitting in the saloon bar of the Rose & Crown, you`ve had a couple of pints and the whole world is starting to develop a warm glow doing a 24 hour race doesn`t seem that much of a big deal. When it`s 4 in the morning, pitch black, you haven`t slept all day, the braking point for Stowe at 140mph is a bit vague, you`ve just missed running into the back of a stranded Ford Falcon by a gnat's foreskin, a Honda has just run on and shot across the grass in front of you and there`s another hour in the car before you can hit the sack the enormity of the task hits you - hard !
The Wilhire 24 hour was the UK`s premier endurance event until it's demise 10 years or ago. This year saw a revival under the Britcar umbrella. We were going to be part of that historic event. Preparation had begun weeks prior. Engines needed rebuilding, gearboxes sorted, suspension renewed, crew booked, spare parts sourced and a hundred and one other things organised to deal with what ever eventuality the ordeal could throw at us. Up to that point in the season we were the only car to compete in and finish every round of the Britcar series. Would we still be able to hold our heads high 5.00pm on Sunday 11th September.
The driver line up consisted of Henry Firman, regular Britcar partner Pete Morris, Porsche Open regular Paul Howells and former British GT champion Mark Sumpter. With the exception of Mark none of the drivers had raced the Grand Prix circuit and this was to prove a problem early on in the race. Daytime qualifying went fine. We were never going to be gunning for overall victory, that was in the hands of the more powerful cars, but a top 10 time was fine. Things started to go downhill during the 2 hour night time qualifying session. Initially things were looking good. The track was dry and off in the distance there was a huge thunderstorm sending lightning down to the ground. It was a surreal experience behind the wheel powering round the Northamptonshire track then every now and again the sky would bit lit up with a bolt of lightning seemingly only yards away. It wasn't long before the storm rolled in. A marshal being struck by lightning made the fact that water started streaming through our garage washing our equipment down the pit lane seem fairly insignificant. The track was a washout and qualifying canceled. This gave us a problem. Not everyone had qualified to drive at night and 3 of the team hadn`t driven the circuit in the wet.
Fortunately we were not alone in our qualifying problems and the officials declared that due to force majure all drivers were deemed to have qualified. The race was due to start at 5.00pm and by 3.00pm it was clear we were in for a wet one. Given the lack of wet driving experience on the circuit we were forced to take drastic action to ensure everyone got to see conditions before nightfall set in. Pete started off in what can only be described as horrific conditions. Sterling Moss will have been glad to get back to his cocoa after doing the honours with the union flag. The spray made driving in the pack of 55 cars pretty dire. The rest of us weren`t too bothered not to be in the car, the pressure of not stacking things before the other guys have had a play is always in the back of your mind. 54 other cars inches away and more water than a Sunday afternoon at Cleethorpes weren't on our wish list. The plan was to change drivers every hour and run into the night with Paul who hadn`t managed a night drive. The additional stops were going to hit us hard but the alternative of sending people out into the dark unknown to discover standing water for themselves in the pitch black would have risked destroying the car. By the end of hour 4 we done all the necessary driver changes and could settle down to a normal rotation. We were in 20th position. The plan was to refuel the car every hour and twenty minutes or so and double stint both driver and tyres. Re-fueling was a painfully slow affair using pumps located in the assembly area by the medical centre. Once refueled the driver got back into the car and either drove through the pits onto the circuit or pulled in for tyres / driver swaps.
Because none of the corners were lit we had to make some on the hoof lighting changes to the car after Friday`s night time qualifying. Whilst racing you approach corners at right angles and so need to have good peripheral lighting. A road car doesn`t have this and only lights up the road in front. Even with our additional lights fitted things were less than perfect and most of the time was spent driving by memory. By the end of hour 6 we had clawed our way back up to 12th place but were suffering a reoccurrence of a fueling problem from earlier in the season. After 40 minutes or so we had to kill all the electrics out on the circuit the re-set the master switch and fire up the engine again. Always a laugh in the darkness ! We also had to re-fuel after 50 litres or so rather than the planned 75. This added to our down time and potentially would hit us hard. All was not doom and gloom however as the Spa hot tub was now up to temperature and going like a good `un. Fibre optics, high end audio, more massage programmes than you could shake a stick at, oh and a couple of energiser bunnies to keep the troops on their toes !
By the end of the 8th hour we had popped into the top 10 but were having to drive hard to make up for our additional pit stops. At the top of the field Kelvin Burt had had a coming together with a slower car necessitating a radiator change and once again we reminded ourselves to take things steady. By daybreak on Sunday morning we were back to 14th place but 6 of us were grouped very closely together. We decided to push on a little harder to try and make up ground. By 8.00am we were back to 10th place. By 11.00am we were in 8th place and only a couple of places away from our best potential finish behind the quicker cars. A couple of cars in front were running entire career driver line ups and so realistically were out of range. Could we hold on to 8th spot?
Sadly not. At around mid-day with Pete in the car a drive shaft snapped allowing the wheel to come loose. Annoyingly both shafts had been changed for the race, (at a cost of over £2,000 !), but that hadn`t helped. The car took an age to get recovered to the garage and the boys jumped on things as soon as it arrived. We had made provision for such a failure and changed the entire corner of the suspension in one go meaning we didn`t have to waste time setting up the geometry. Henry got in the car, did a couple of laps, came in for fuel and drove straight past the garage so good was the repair - no need for fine tuning. After that it was a case of damage limitation. There was no point in risking things to try and claw back any places, we were too far away for that.
With 4 or 5 hours remaining we were on the home straight, how strange that to most racers a 5 hour race would be the longest race of their lives ! Simply a case of staying on the tarmac and avoiding trouble. At a minute past 5 O`clock on Sunday 11th September we crossed the line to finish in 14th place. It had been an emotional journey, we were all a bit shell shocked but taking the chequered flag was a memorable experience with people hanging over the pit wall congratulating all the cars. The cool down lap was almost carnival like with the marshals waving their flags for all they were worth. Turning into the pit lane it was a sea of bodies, every now and again you'd spot someone you knew and wave. Before the event we were just hoping to finish in one piece, as it was we were as high as 8th overall against some strong competition and were it not for the failed driveshaft we would have been in the top few places, but that`s 24 hour racing for you.
Will we be there next year ? Ask me down the Rose & Crown over a couple of pints !
These images would not have been possible without the hard work of the following photographers :
Paul Cherry http://www.pbase.com/paulcherry/911virgin
Keith Neilson http://kfneilson.co.uk
Oliver Read Motorsport photography
A picture really does tell a thousand words - thank you for your efforts, they're much appreciated.