Recognised as the world's most challenging race track, the 14 mile Nürburgring Nordschleife race track in the Eifel mountains of northwestern Germany was the scene of the 6 hour ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen last weekend (27th August)
Pete was invited to drive alongside the usual suspects from the 24 hour race at the same venue, Peter Venn and Dave Allan, in their highly developed Honda Civic Type R. However, due to an unfortunate injury sustained by one of the mechanics in the workshop in Belgium, the car arrived late at the circuit for the practice session on Friday, and as Pete drove a couple of shakedown laps to make sure all was well, it was immediately clear the engine was not running cleanly.
"The car was simply gutless throughout most of the rev range, so much so that I was struggling to pass much smaller cars," Pete rued. "What was really frustrating was the fact that we should have had more power than at the 24 hour race, thanks to a new airbox."
With only a short time remaining in the session, spark plugs were changed, and even the airbox was removed, to try to establish the source of the problem, but with Peter and Dave both experiencing the same symptoms, it was clear the problem was more deep rooted. At the end of the session, the team decided to re-install the engine management software, having suspected this may not have loaded properly in the workshop. This seemed to make a difference, as far as could be told by running the engine in the pit garage. However, it would not be possible to know if all was well until qualifying the next morning.
Saturday dawned bright, although there had been some rain the previous evening, leaving the track damp and treacherous. Dave went out first, and it was immediately clear that the car was not as rapid as it should be. The Schubert BMWs were lapping in the low 9 minute area, whilst the Honda could not break 10 minutes. Dave handed over to Peter Venn, with Pete completing the last run (each driver having to do at least one lap according to the rules). With a dry line appearing at the end of the session, Pete was able to put in a 10:00:016 lap which was good enough for 11th in class, but was totally unrepresentative of the car's capability.
"The smell of fuel during my run was overpowering," Pete commented afterwards. "It was clear we had a problem there and it was only when I came in after qualifying that we found a fuel leak in the area of the tank, that would certainly have affected the engine."
Fixing the leak was a matter of minutes, but the team would not know if the car was able to generate full power until the race started at midday. Dave would take the first stint, having experience of the busy track at the start of the many VLN races both he and Peter Venn have contested at the Nordschleife.
With temperatures rising, it would be a dry race, and Dave's instructions were to "go for it" to try to recover the lost ground from qualifying. Sure enough, as the green lights shone, Dave was able to pass a number of cars in the first lap, including the Mäder Honda S2000 with which the team battled in the 24 hour race.
As the race progressed, it was clear the car was better but not perfect, lapping as fast as 9:41.028, which was some 12 seconds slower than previously achieved. The backmarkers did not help Dave's efforts to move up the field, contact with an errant VW Golf at Galgenkopf resulting in a damaged front wing and tyre. However, after a few laps, the Honda was up to 5th position in class, and it began to appear that a podium could perhaps be salvaged.
Pete was suited up in the pit garage on lap 5, coming up to the halfway point in Dave's stint, when the devastating news came through. Contact with another backmarker at the Adenauer-Forst chicane had forced the Honda over the grass and heavily into the barrier. Thankfully Dave was unhurt, but the car was parked at Metzgesfeld and would take no further part in the race.
"This has been a catalogue of frustrations. Had we not had the fuel leak problems in qualifying, we would not have been struggling to catch up, and the crash was really a result of that," Pete said afterwards. "However, I know the capabilities of both car and team, and I hope to get the chance to scare those Schubert BMWs sometime in the near future"
The race was eventually won by the #231 BMW 320i E46, driven by the star team of Claudia Hürtgen, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Torsten Schubert with a total time of 6 hours, 6 minutes and 26 seconds (fastest lap 9:06.352).
