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2014 Highlights – Motor Racing

45 years after I was taken to my first motor race meeting in the middle of Africa it is hard to believe that one of my greatest joy’s is getting up in the middle of the night and heading to the next one.

M4 East Bound

This year I managed to get to at an average of one meeting month from March through to October.

Gould GR55, Colin Calder, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe,

For the last couple of seasons my motor racing year has got underway in March marshaling at the Bristol Motor Clubs Great Western Sprint, this year my duties in the pit lane were over for the top ten run off, above Colin Calder made his 15 hour trip from Scotland worthwhile by grinding out the fastest time of the day narrowly pipping his daughter heather by just over 1/10 of a second.

Lola, Goodliff, Elva, Woodhouse, VSCC Spring Start, Silverstone

The VSCC Spring Start meeting at Silverstone saw the start of the 80th Anniversary of ERA celebrtions, top race of the day was the Formula Junior event which saw a race long scrap twixt the red 1960 Lola Mk2 of Simon Goodliff and the 1959 Elva 100 driven by Mark Woodhouse fall in Simon’s favour.

Ocon, Verstappen, Dallara F312, Silverstone

2014 was Max Verstappen’s first season in car racing, in his third car race ever, above, he is seen overtaking Esteban Ocon on his way to second place in the 3rd European Formula Three championship of the season run at the Silverstone 6 Hours meeting. Even then he probably would have found it unlikely to believe that aged seventeen years and one hundred and sixty-six days old he is set to become the youngest driver ever to start a Formula One Grand Prix when making his 33rd race car start driving a Torro Rosso in the 2015 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne next season.

Benhard / Webber / Hartley, Porsche 919 Hybrid, 6 Hours of Silverstone

The 6 Hours of Silverstone meeting was my second visit to Silverstone in 8 days. Timo Benhard Mark Webber and Brandon Hartley in the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid above started the event in 6th place and survived to finish 3rd. At the end of the season Mark Webber became world news and ended up in hospital after crashing his 919 Hybrid with in half an hour of the finish of the race run in São Paulo an event which completely eclipsed the fact that #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid team mates Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb went on to score the teams first World Endurance Championship race win since returning to top level endurance racing at the start of the year.

Maserati MC12 Goodwood Cent 100, Michael Bartels, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At the end of June I popped over to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed where Sebastian Loeb driving his 2013 Pikes Peak winning Peugeot 208 was tipped to make an attempt on the Goodwood Hillclimb course record set by ‘Quick Nick’ Heidfeld driving a Formula One McLaren Mercedes in 1999. Dark horse for the Goodwood Hillclimb turned out to be Michael Bartles driving the specially liveried Maserati MC12 ‘Goodwood Cent 100’ which finished just over a second down on Loeb who missed taking the outright record thanks to the gearing being short on top speed.

Lotus Cortina, Shedden, Meaden, Silverstone Classic,

Gordon Shedden and Richard Meaden provided the tyre smoking dice of the day driving their Lotus Cortina’s on the Super Saturday morning of the Silverstone Classic meeting. Richard Meaden seen following above won with team mate Grant Tromans after Gordon’s car over heated during the mandatory pit stop in the Sir John Whitmore Trophy.

07 14 07 26 Lola T70 Voyazides Hadfield_2455sc

Having already won the Mustang Celebration trophy during the afternoon of the Super Saturday Silverstone Classic meeting Leo Voyazides swapped his Ford Falcon for his Lola T70 Coupé and won the FIA Historic Masters Sports Cars race with Simon Hadfield after Martin O’Connel’s 2 litre/122 cui Chevron B19 mysteriously went off road with out injury to the driver.

Mallock Mk 9, Michael Mallock, Oulton Park,

Over the August Bank Holiday weekend I managed to get up to Oulton Park for the Gold Cup meeting, while the day was fairly wet and miserable the racing was hot from beginning to end. Michael Mallock achieved the rare feet of not only winning a race in a car, #9 Mallock Mk 9 Formula Ford, bearing his family name but also beating a field of rear engined Formula Ford cars with the only vehicle carrying it’s engine in front of the driver.

Plymouth Satellite, Cheng Lim, Brighton Speed Trials,

Having encouraged readers to help save Brighton Speed Trials at the beginning of the year I managed to make my way down to Sussex for the saved event in September. Slowest car in the event but none the less entertaining was Cheng Lim’s Plymouth Satellite.

BY-Pod, Chipping Sodbury School, Renishaw Castle Combe Heat 2014

Counting as one of the most awesome vehicles I have seen all season is Chipping Sodbury Schools BY-Pod electric vehicle taking part in the Renishaw Castle Combe Heat 2014 of the Greenpower Challenge. I left the meeting with my spirits for the future of motorsport in what ever form it might take thoroughly uplifted.

Cooper Mk X, Steve Jones, Cooper Mk XI, George Shackleton, BAC MSC Challenge Trophy, Autumn Classic, Castle Combe,

One of the many highlights of the third Autumn Classic meeting run at Castle Combe was the dice between the Cooper 500 Formula 3 cars of Steve Jones and George Shackleton for the BAC MSC Challenge Trophy, Steve claimed the spoils in his slightly older #74 Mark X. Next year among the many attractions of the 4th Autumn Classic at Castle Combe on October 3rd will be one of the BRM V16’s which for my money would be worth the price of entry if nothing else showed up.

Thanks for joining me on this “2014 Highlights” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Americana Thursday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Prelude To Le Mans – 6 Hours of Silverstone

Easter Sunday emerged gray and overcast at dawn but nothing was going to dampen my enthusiasm for getting to Silverstone just in time for the gates to open because Porsche were due to make their first official appearance in top line sports car racing since 1998 Le Mans winning Porsche GT1-98 was retired from competition.

Dallara F312, Ocon, Verstappen, Silverstone

Before the pits walk about which would give spectators an opportunity to see the new Wundercar the third FIA Formula 3 race of the weekend was run. The cars were all mandated 2012 Dallara F312 but now running motors which are sealed and have to last a whole season. Much to the delight of his vocal fan club Ferrari’s protege Antonio Fuoco won the event by just under five seconds from sixteen year old Max “Son of the Boss” Vertappen who is seen above being gifted second place by third place finisher Esteban Ocon who wound up the weekend with the championship lead having finished 2nd and then 1st in the weekends earlier races. Max is son of former Formula One Racer Jos ‘The Boss’ Verstappen perhaps best remembered as the driver sitting in the Benetton which erupted into a fireball at the 1994 German Grand Prix and winner of the 2008 LMP2 Le Mans series title.

Porsche 919, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

By the time I got to the pit lane for the walkabout the queue was already enormous but within a couple of minuets it was moving and unsurprisingly spectators were standing 6 deep trying to get a glimpse of the Porsche 919 Hybrid which was started from scratch, leaving the past behind, as evidenced by the turbocharged 2 litre V4 and and two energy recuperation systems that has been developed over the last 30 months.

The #14 driven by Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb and the #20 driven by Timo Benhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley showed phenomenal speed in free practice being over 10 mph faster than their rivals in a straight line. They lined up 3rd and 6th on the grid respectively despite being the only runners in low down force Le Mans spec.

Anthony Davidson, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

The #7 Toyota TS 040 Hybrid driven by Alexander Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima was on pole ahead of the #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven by Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Tom Kristensen. Forth on the grid was the #2 Audi of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoit Tréluyer ahead of fifth place Anthony Davidson, seen seated above right, who shared the #8 Toyota with Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastian Buemi, seated above right. Less than half a second covered the qualification times of the 6 work LMP1 cars.

Toyota TS 040, Audi R18, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Toyota led the opening laps of the race but it was not long before André Lotterer in the #2 Audi, seen above about to relieve the Sebastian Buemi of third place, got to the front of the field. As the first hour of the race unfolded rain started to fall that would, unknown to anyone at the time decide the outcome of the race. Buemi pitted from fourth to take on a set of intermediates, Wurz pitted from second to take on full wets as Toyota wisely split it’s strategy between its cars while the ever optimistic Audi Team elected to stay on slicks.

Porsche 911 RSR, Holzer, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

The Porsche 919’s were running comfortably in 5th and 6th places until the #14 first lost a wheel and then returned only to experience a drive problem and retire after completing only 30 laps. In the LMGTE Pro class however the works 911 RSR’s were comfortably running 1st and 2nd with the #91 driven by Patrick Pilet, Jörg Bergmeister and Nick Tandy easing away from the #92 seen above driven by Marco Holzer, Frédéric Malowiecki and Richard Lietz. With less than an hour to go the #91 pulled into pit for full wets but when the #92 was about to follow suit the pit lane was closed, and was to remain so until the race was called nearly half an hour early handing the LMGTE Pro class win and 7th place overall to the #92 of Holzer, Malowiecki and Lietz who finished just over 40 seconds ahead of their team mates.

Morgan Nissan, Pla, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

The LMP2 class pole was won by Roman Rusinov, Oliver Pla and Julien Canal driving the #26 Morgan – Nissan, seen with Oliver Pla driving through Becketts above, from the similar #47 Oreca 03 badged example driven by Mathew Howson, Richard Bradley and Tsugio Matsuda. On their way to a 5th place finish overall the #26 had to change their nose twice, to repair damage the first time and then fit one with the correct dive planes the second, but managed to catch and pass the #47 which received a 10 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and was later penalised a lap for unsafe release from a pit stop.

Porsche, Toyota, Aston Martin, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Meanwhile the #7 Toyota, seen above about to overtake the #88 LMGTE Am Porsche RSR driven by Christian Ried, Claus Bachler and Khaled Al Qubaisi, on the full wets was struggling and fell behind the sister #8 car of Davidson,Lapierre and Buemi on intermediates which inherited the lead after the #1 Audi which di Grassi crashed into the barriers on slicks in the wet at Woodcote had to retire with a broken suspension pick up point and the #2 Audi also on slicks lost four laps and five places when Lotterer went off at Stowe.

Ferrari F458 Italia, 6 Hours Of Silverstone, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

While the #2 was making up lost time the #71 LMGTE Pro Ferrari F458 Italia, seen above was being driven by Davide Rigon and James Caldo to an eventual 5th in class finish ahead of the #81 F458 Italia driven by Stephen Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Sam Bird which recorded a third place class finish in the LMGTE Am division behind …

Aston Martin Vantage V8, Silverstone, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

two works Aston Martin Vantage V8’s. On this occasion #95 Aston Martin seen above brought home the GTE Am bacon with Danes Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemeir Hansson, Nicki Thiim recording a 15th place overall along with class honours.

Audi R18 e-tron quattro, Treluyer, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

On intermediate tyres Benoit Treluyer recovered to 4th place in the #2 Audi when just after the 3 hour mark he appears to have locked a wheel braking for Copse corner, clouted the inside barrier and then went sailing over the kitty litter to come to rest on solid ground against the barrier, which he hit hard enough for the front wheels to be facing in different directions. Benoit valiantly cleared up the worst of the mess, against the marshals better judgement, jumped back in the car fired it up and got it going all of 5 yards before the Audi steered its self into the gravel trap and retirement. For the first time in 18 races going back to 2011 neither Audi finished which “may” yet have effectively handed not just the race but also the World Endurance Championship to Toyota.

Porsche 919, Hartley, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

On his LMP1 debut New Zealander Brendon Hartley meantime kept the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid on the black stuff as it progressed to a third place with Timo Bernhard and Formula One™ refugee Mark Webber sharing the podium finish. Porsche will be keeping their Le Mans low down force spec bodywork for the next round of the WEC championship at Spa where they will continue their preparations for Le Mans which they are obviously very keen to win on their return to top flight endurance racing.

Lola B12/60 - Toyota, Heidfeld, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

“Quick Nick” Heidfeld was the immediate beneficiary of the #2 Audi’s misfortune as he was handed back 4th place in the race driving a triple stint in the long in the tooth Toyota powered Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 which by Le Mans should be replaced by a pair of Oreca built Toyota powered R-One LMP1 Coupés. Quick Nick with team mates Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche came home fourth overall a distant 8 laps behind the winning #8 Toyota.

Safety Car, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

With an hour to go the rain returned getting ever more heavy, this led to the Pace Car being brought out and for twenty odd minuets we had a curious situation where, other than those immediately behind the pace car when it came out, none could maintain anything like the pace necessary to actually catch it. For some like the #12 Rebellion Lola this may well have been because cockpit was steaming up reducing visibility, for others like the #91 Porsche RSR it was because they were on the wrong tyres and the pit lane was closed, because the pace car was out and so with twenty six mins to go the race director sensibly called the race.

The Wing, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Anthony Davidson is seen above celebrating Toyota’s 6th WEC victory with his team mates and the third place Porsche crew on the podium built into The Wing, while the rest of the cars are seen in Parc Ferme on the start finish straight.

The Silverstone 6 Hours, the 2014 edition of which can be seen on this link, has often been used by the works Porsche team as a prelude to it’s assault on the Le Mans 24 hours, on this occasion one of the cars performed well enough to show that the team should be in the ball park for victory in the 24 hour classic, while Toyota cleverly split their tyre strategy during a period of weather uncertainty to secure a victory for one of it’s cars leaving the other well placed.

Last years 6 Hours of Silverstone, Le Mans and World Endurance Championship winners completely dropped the ball when the weather threw a curve ball leaving both of their entries on the wrong tyres at the wrong time showing that not even the very best of teams over the last 15 years always has things to learn and room for improvement.

I am not sure that I’ll be able to make it to Le Mans or indeed any of the rest of the WEC rounds but I’ll be following it with keen interest until the end of the season.

Thanks for joining me on this “Prelude To Le Mans” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me for Americana Thursday tomorrow ! Don’t forget to come back now !

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