We wanted a drama free weekend given were travelling to the far away land of Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. We didn't get it - but it turned pretty well in the end.
With a lot of bureaucracy associated with towing in Europe we actually got there and back without a hitch and so were early to the track and our accommodation. After a long wait at 9pm we setup up car in the F1 pit garage looking forwards to a Friday consisting of signing on, scrutineering, free practice and finally a 30 min qualifying.
All of that went perfectly, with no FIA kit dramas and sailing through the more stringent FIA scrutineering. In free practice Mike was immediately fast and absolutely in the mix with the best time in our class, until on the last lap of free practice the car stopped on track.
When it was recovered back to the paddock, we found the clutch pedal to the floor and we had fluid leaking. The slave cylinder was new this year with the gearbox change so we were perplexed as to the cause.
Removing it revealed it had blown the internal seal and we then found the clutch mechanism was jammed. So, at about lunchtime we were resigned to starting the now familiar process to removing the gearbox...
It was obvious we weren't going to make official qualifying, and that session came and went during a surreal afternoon where I lost all sense of time.
With the gearbox out we resolved the clutch arm issue but then noticed more debris. Taking the clutch pressure plate off revealed a destroyed clutch disc - again just one race meeting old.
<clutch photo>
We had the spare stock clutch so refitting that was straightforward, but we still had to sort the slave cylinder. We had fluid leaking (spraying at times) everywhere as we tired repair it. Everyone in our garage lent rags and wipes - mostly to keep themselves dry, I think.
The guys from the NL based RFF (Race for fun!) team helped build a working cylinder from ours and a used (but also leaking) spare from another team. They weren't confident, so a new one was sent from their base nr Amsterdam, along with a slew of parts for other cars later that evening.
As we reassembled the gearbox it was now getting dark and everyone was pretty tired. We missed the BBQ night and got some takeaway kebabs, finally taking car for a run down the paddock road at about 10pm. The German BMW series in the adjacent garages gave us a massive cheer as it fired up - having seen it in pieces for virtually the whole day.
The race directors note came back, permitting us to start the race from the back of the grid. so fingers crossed for race day.
Race 1 (V. WET)
In rained heavily all morning and the races before us were running full wets. Garage chat was around how good the Yokohama AO52 is in the wet. Ours were one meeting old, rather than just scrubbed and the weather radar showed it getting worse not better, with 20mm of rainfall predicted in the next hour! We switched to our PS4 set of tyres.
The assembly area pre-gridding was a frankly a shambles, with the marshals turning up late, then seemingly only able to line up the cars from the first row backwards which took an age to sort out. When the race start time approached, they just sent the cars (in whichever order) onto the green flag lap with the safety car setting a ridiculous pace.
As I joined the track and went through the gears, the clutch pedal didn't come back up properly. I was aquaplaning on rivers running across the track and I though seriously about just pulling in. Every other gear shift I had to use my toe to ping the pedal back up into position - so limited my gear changes to the minimum.
The cars at the back, never caught the rolling start train (if there even was one) and I was unable to overtake cars going much slower until the start line. As we did so, there were no green flags to indicate we are racing and then the yellow panels were flashing down to Eau-Rouge and all the way the end of the Kemmel straight.
Eventually we went green and started racing now some 90 seconds behind the main field….Ridiculous! I just got into a smooth rhythm, driving with soft inputs to the steering, acceleration and braking. I started catching and passing cars. I had no reference to position of relative lap times as I was also being lapped by the GT3 class cars myself. You couldn't see thing when behind another car such was the extent of the spray. The windscreen was fogging around the edge and it gave me bad motion sickness - like being on a boat :-).
I pitted mid race, adamant of calling it a day - and after 30 seconds longer than necessary - I was convinced to carry on. “You're doing well", they said - so I went back out and finished the race.
In parc-ferme they gave the news we'd made the class podium. I was the fastest car on track at times. I had genuinely no idea - unbelievable!
Race 2 (Dry)
In between the races we re-bled the clutch several times to try and remove any residual air in the system which was affecting the pedal.
The forecast was for the rain to pass and a dry line was starting to form in the race before us. We switched to the A052 tyres which would be ideal in the damp to dry conditions.
The assembly area process hadn't improved, but at least the safety car train drove slowly enough for everyone to keep up for the rolling start this time.
It was wet, with a light shower passing as the race started. Mike made a great start and held onto the class position well in the opening lap for two. But then dropped back several places.
As the track started to dry, he got into the groove and his lap times were much faster than the cars in front. One by one he regained the positions by being fast through Eau-Rouge, using our straight-line speed, then being really good on the brakes.
Mike drove us back onto the tail of the class podium Boxster's and 968's. Twice we were side-by-side at the end of the Kemmel straight - just unable to make the move stick past the Mchugh car.
With the gap at around 5 seconds, we pitted for the driver change. Initially this went well but then discovered the belts were upside-down, so this cost an extra 10 seconds delay.
I was lapping consistently fast, catching cars in front and regained the positions lost in the stop, however cars overtaking us cost us a lot of time.
On the back straight the vigour with which double yellow flags were being waved made it obvious there was a big incident. Slow down and be prepared to stop! A 968 had hit the wall the inside of Blanchimont, which is a 120mph 5th gear corner for us. There was debris everywhere and it was obvious it would be a red flag, ending the race prematurely. The driver was getting out as we passed, and that was all that mattered.
The best lap times from both drivers were identical and P3 in class was well deserved - a first trophy as a two-driver pairing. To cap the event off we were awarded driver of day as well for not just getting the car to the grid - but driving to the podium.
An eventful weekend - what a weekend!
