The 14 mile Nürburgring Nordschleife race track in the Eifel mountains of northwestern Germany is recognised as the most challenging race track in the world, attracting drivers and teams from a wide range of countries including Japan, America and Russia. Approximately 230 cars (split into several classes) take the start each year and 2005 was no exception.
The track was slightly longer this year, due to the use of the full Grand Prix circuit (versus a shortened version in 2004). This meant the lap times were around a minute longer, a fact which has to be considered when planning pit stops and refuelling strategies.
Pete arrived at the track on Thursday before the event, in order to have a seat fitting, having never even seen the Honda Civic Type R touring car he would be sharing with regular drivers Peter Venn and ex-BTCC racer Dave Allan, as well as talented German Marcel Hoppe. However, the car was still in Belgium, with constructor ELR, who were carrying out some last minute preparations! The car eventually arrived in the late afternoon, and was scrutineered without problem, leaving plenty of time to get Pete comfortable in the car.
Friday morning dawned wet, as is typical for the region, and the first qualifying session (10am-midday) would not provide the best conditions for Pete to drive the car for the first time! Dave Allan went out first and in the rain was able to set competitive lap times before handing over to Pete. The rain stopped at this point and a dry racing line began to appear.
"I was really impressed with the car. The track was pretty treacherous, but the Honda responded very well, and was perfectly balanced in those conditions"
The times got quicker as the track dried and it was clear that intermediate or even slick tyres would soon be needed. Pete completed his two laps, the second being an 11min26sec, good enough for 33rd overall. Marcel then took over but decided to stay on wets until he had seen the track conditions. By the time the car came around again and pitted for intermediate tyres, rain was starting to fall and it was not possible to match Pete's lap time. Peter Venn then went out on intermediates but the rain became heavier and it was impossible to keep the car on the track. With no harm done the car returned to the pits whilst the team watched their grid position fall to 60th overall (5th out of 44 in the A3 class) as the other cars had managed to put in quick laps in the brief dry period.
The second qualifying session was run in the evening, between 7pm and 11pm, to give the drivers experience of driving the track at night. The weather had improved and the track was completely dry, which meant the earlier qualifying session times would be easily beaten. All four drivers went out as before, and lapped within 10 seconds of each other, the quickest time being a 10:21, which was good enough for 8th in the A3 class. "The traffic and yellow flags meant I could not get in a faster lap, even though the car was capable of it. It was a little frustrating because there were three other A3 cars only a couple of seconds ahead of us, but it's not really a problem in a 24 hour race!".
The leading A3 class car was the #132 BMW 320i which, together with its sister car #133, was extremely impressive in the dry conditions, putting in a fastest lap of 9:39. "The BMW has a lot of power: I could see it powering away up the long climb out of Bergwerk or along the main straight. But if it rains, we are much closer..."
With a long wait until the start of the race, the priority for the drivers was to get as much sleep as possible in preparation for the gruelling event to come. Saturday proved to be wet, the drivers happy to be woken by the sound of rain pounding on the proof of the caravan. The car stood a much better chance of a good result in the slippery conditions...
Dave Allan would take the first stint, from 3pm until 5:15pm. The car left the pitlane around 1:30pm to go to the starting grid, and at 2:45pm, the cars moved off around the warm-up lap, the tens of thousands of fans invading the track as usual to touch the cars and high-five the drivers. However, as 3pm approached and the cars crossed the start line, it was clear that the torrential rain now falling would necessitate a second safety car lap. Eventually the race proper got underway at approximately 3:15pm and it was immediately clear that the conditions were catching out even the best drivers.
Dave kept out of trouble and was lapping consistently fast, until, on the run down through Hatzenbach just over and hour into the race, he encountered a Honda Integra backmarker, which indicated left for Dave to pass, but then inexplicably jinked right and put the Civic into the crash barrier! Dave was able to limp back to the pits where the team sprang into action to repair the front end, as Pete strapped himself in for the next stint. Needless to say Dave went off to have a "quiet word" with the Integra driver...
After 50 minutes in the pits, in which the ELR boys (ably assisted by Fleper Motorsport) re-adjusted the geometry of the front suspension, and fitted a new headlight and bumper, Pete departed the pit in 199th position overall (and 38th in the A3 class). "The team were totally on the case! I had to do a short lap of the GP circuit which showed the front suspension uprights needed to be replaced, but after that, the car was absolutely fine and I could push straight away. We had a lot of catching up to do in the remaining 22 hours!"
Pete handed over to Marcel shortly after 8pm, the car having recovered to 164th position, and he would be in the car again around midnight, by which time Civic was up to 111th position with Dave enjoying the dry conditions. A strong stint to shortly after 2am left the car in 82nd position overall, and the team began to realise the despite the shaky start, a good result was on the cards.
"It was perfect night driving conditions, dry and cool, so the engine was pulling well. The power steering was working only intermittently which was difficult, but the only other problem was the new headlight which was only working on dip beam, so we had to drive a bit by memory on the right hand corners! We're climbing the order well but as we get nearer the front, it gets harder as the cars around us are quicker..."
With only a few hours to grab some sleep, Pete left for the race truck, whilst Peter Venn and Dave Allan took the next two stints, lapping very quickly to haul the car up to an excellent 55th overall. Pete then took over for the dawn session. "This is the best stint of the race. The sun is just coming up, there is mist and campfire smoke on the track and you can even smell the bacon sizzling!"
The car ran faultlessly throughout Pete's third session, and the power steering problem had disappeared. The rain held off, enabling the fasted laps of the race to be set (10:04.912) in the optimum conditions. By the time Pete handed over the car, the team was up to 43rd position overall, and just behind the #123 Integra which was 6th in the A3 class.
Marcel, Peter Venn and Dave then put in faultless stints, a key moment being the driver change to Dave when wet tyres were fitted just as it started to hail and snow! The team were able to immediately jump 5 places to 30th position as other cars were caught out on the track with slick tyres in the lethal conditions. Dave continued the good work, and with two hours to go, the Civic was 27th overall and 6th in class. The big challenge was to achieve 5th in class, which was perhaps possible because the #114 Mäder Honda S2000 was just minutes ahead, having made a long pitstop due to a technical problem.
Pete took his fourth and final stint to the finish with one thought in mind: to catch that S2000. "I was aware that the car had done 22 hours of racing, and been in the wars, and I was short-shifting to avoid stressing the engine, but it just was so strong, I could still put in good times. I was only into my second lap when I saw the S2000 pulling off the track with some kind of problem before Döttinger Höhe! Next time around though, the S2000 had gone, so it was not clear whether I could ease off, so I just kept pushing right to the flag! It was a bit tricky at one point when a rain shower soaked the track, but it dried in a couple of laps so there was no point in pitting for wet tyres."
In those final laps, as the rain steamed off the hot track surface, the Civic even unlapped itself by passing the class leading #133 BMW 320i, and shortly after 3pm, the car crossed the line in 22nd place overall (5th in class) with the teams scrambling up the pitwall fencing to cheer their charge home! Within minutes of the finish, the skies darkened and an immense hailstorm hit the circuit. leaving everyone to run for cover!
The overall win was once again taken by the BMW Motorsport M3 GTR, this time driven by Pedro Lamy, Boris Said, Duncan Huisman and Andy Priaulx, completing 139 laps, only 19 laps ahead of the Honda Civic Type R.
"I have had an absolute blast this year. The car and team were absolutely on it - to come through from our low of the start showed a lot of determination and the car was able to stand being driven hard throughout. I would like to thank Peter Venn and the team for giving me this opportunity to drive; it was a pleasure to compete alongside such accomplished drivers, and I'm looking forward to joining the team again in the future, either here at the Nürburgring or elsewhere!"
