by Marvin Hall
Got up really early at 4 am to catch 6.35am flight out of Manchester airport. Met up with Colin Wing who would be sharing a room with me at Spa. Colin had prepped Alfa Romeo's for Ian, Marc and Pete in the early 90's when they did battle in the UK Alfa Championship. The flight was delayed...pilot overslept and/or the air-conditioning unit on the BAE146 was playing up, either way, I'm not terribly keen on planes with faults on them: you can't pull over to the side to repair them once underway!
Landed at Brussels. Pete was there and already queuing up at the rental car desk for 3/4 hour. Trust me to pick the only car rental company that had one member of staff on duty. All the other desks were well manned, with no queue. We went down to the underground car park, Pete leading the way, as a seasoned traveller, he knew where the office was. Luckily for us, as I had booked the hire car late in the day they upgraded us to a Diesel Astra estate, economical and roomy. Had a bit of fun with Pete as I went to get in the right hand side of the car...oh the sense of humour would be tested on this trip! I must admit that I was a bit nervous about driving, I have driven right hand drive cars on the right and left hand drive cars on the left, but a left hooker on the 'correct' side of the road was a new concept for me. Pete was also a little worried, especially when I reached for the gear lever and opened the window..!
We made the trip to Spa town with Pete on navigation duties, Colin got in the back and shut his eyes. After locating our hotel we made our way to the circuit, I must admit that I was now getting a bit excited as we approached the hallowed ground of Spa, and after picking up out car and pit passes at the Racing Hotel we drove straight in and parked under the new, enormous F1 pit garages. After a bit of a hike up the stairs we where back into the daylight of the magnificent new garages, complete with storage lockers, toilets and masses of space to work on the cars. After a round of greetings with the Abbey Motorsport crew, Pete got changed into his race suit to give the car a bit of a run. All the drivers had driven there before but not on the new Bus Stop and La Source layout, so it was an opportunity to learn for them before the practice sessions tomorrow. Whilst the guys where out in the car Colin and I went for a walk under the pit straight and onto the path that runs opposite the pit lane on the start finish straight. We made our way up and around La Source then down the hill towards Eau Rouge, stopping at every vantage point along the way to watch our car circulating, even putting a stop watch on it. The times were nothing special but it was wet and the drivers were just feeling their way in, and developing the set up. We then walked under the tunnel at Eau Rouge and found an open food stand ; neither of us had eaten since this morning so a Belgian Hot dog tasted pretty good.
The car had developed a misfire which was a worry, the team headed up by Tony played around with the timing, changed the plugs, swapped the leads, all to no avail . After we had left the circuit they decided to take the head off, and they found a broken valve cap . This was restricting the valve opening as far as it should so that's why we had the misfire. Will did a great job and had the car up and running by the time we got there on Friday morning (amazing work from the Abbey boys again, and it would show through the whole weekend ). We had a pleasant meal at the Italian in the centre of Spa after which myself, Colin and Nick went for a wee night-cap in one of the local bars....
Friday 6th July
Got to the circuit at 9 am, and it was my first job to fit a new front
splitter, not an easy fit as they don't seem to be made to the quite
same pattern as the bonnet but with some vice grips to help position
it and a few cable ties to hold it on the job was sorted very quickly.
Euro
spec decals where then applied.
mechanic in the next pit offered
advice that there is a square inch of bodywork on the car without a sticker
on it! There was also a bit of a graze (a memento from the racing at
Mondello park) on the right rear wing that needed tidying up and a with some
white vinyl and with another sponsors sticker that was soon covered up.
Pete, Marc and Lars -Fredrik, our reserve driver for the weekend, all had sessions in the Cuisine de France #190 car, and it gave us pit boys a chance to practice our pitstop routines, every time the car came in for a stop or a driver change we were checking the tyre pressures to try to ascertain the best pressures to run them at . Unfortunately, as it was raining it was a bit of trial and error and I was having to lower the pressures by 1 bar at each stop to keep them at the optimum as the track was starting to dry, and so the guys could start to work on a dry set up . Between the practice sessions it was decided to change the rear springs to give the drivers more of a feel for the car in the corners. We were running 77th overall but then on the drying track Pete put in a good time which jumped us up the order to 44th , but it was clear the power was just not there at the top end. The other Abbey car (#92 ) was up in 12th, but with less than 3 seconds covering the top 90, there was still some work to do.
At each stop during second practice we brought the car in and checked the timing, adjusting it up and down to try to gain those missing few bhp. Never one to shirk, I decided to show all round willing and helped to change wheels on the 92 car. In the second session the car was only pulling 6500 rpm so there was a bit of concern, especially after fixing the problems we had the night before. Later that night time Tony and Will worked on the timing, changing the dizzy and the leads again. They seem to have found some adjustment, and were happy with what they had done.
Will set me a few tasks to be getting on with starting with changing the front pads; the old set were to be used on the second part of the race, and as they were only fitted new yesterday, they were nicely bedded in. Still we had a spare set of discs and pads for the race as well, just in case. The next job was to fit the new headlight bar; this would be fitted during a pit stop in the race so there wouldn't be much time to mess about with it, so it had to be right now. There seemed to be an intermittent connection fault on the jackplug and Will had a bit of a fiddle and we found a spade connector that wouldn't stay in the plug, so a bit of re-wiring was required from me an d it was soon blinding those at the back of the pit garage. After that I went for a bit of a wander around. The Abbey team had a pit scooter and once all the days activities where done with we took it in turns to ride around the track...it was like a dream ! I hadn't realised the severity of Eau Rouge. I stopped at various 'famous' places and took a few shots. I was truly amazed at how steep some of the track was ! Yes Eau Rouge is one hell of a climb up hill, but also the drop from Rivage down to Pouhon really did amaze me, what a roller coaster ride that is. When I got back it was somebody else's turn to play so I went for a walk up Eau Rouge and back, how steep is that. legs ache like hell now...rang my wife... "Guess where I am.... " ! On the walk back there was still lots of activity in pits at 10pm...
Left the track at 11 with Ian White from the other race car in our team, as I didn't have my Room key, I rang Colin and discovered he was still in the bar round the corner... had two pints and "borrowed" a pint glass as a memento....
Later on it would amaze me that people would be pushing kids around in pushchairs in the pit lane during pitstop's in the race, at one point there were people wandering around aimlessly when cars where coming in. I had to push one guy out of the way as our car came in for a pit stop; these cars may not be as fast as F1 cars, but I still wouldn't like to get in front of one, and on more than one occasion I would have to ask people to move whilst we where busy working away in the pit lane. Then we had some kids try to nick a race suit from one of the next pit garages ; a bit of a scuffle broke out but I don't really know the outcome too busy! Final checks on the car. everything tight, tyre pressures correct, final polish. Watched the Belcars from the pit wall...nearly time! The Abbey girls in the pit garage fire up the Bar-B-Q and do a great job feeding us all.
With
the race underway, Pete made good progress and by the second lap was
up to 60th place, the car appeared to be going really
well. He had climbed to 48th
place when he was 'pincered' by two cars at Les Combes,
one of which had braked across Pete's bows leaving him with nowhere to go. He
had to do a slow lap with a puncture and a damaged front splitter. Worse
still was the damage to the sill of
the car and the clips and fastenings that hold the rear bodywork on the
right side were all smashed off .
There was a bit of hammering
and banging as Mark Gillam and Will got to work straightening things out and
cable-tying the body to the chassis rail. while the rest of us got on with
changing the front and the punctured tyre.
Went back out having lost 3 laps and a bucket load of laps ... just hoping
that we had got all our bad luck out of the way early in the race and
attrition would push us up the order a bit.
I then got on with repairing the damage to the front bodywork we had
taken off the car.
1Hr...5pm ....120th. ... 17laps done
Marc in car at 5:20pm. We
are running 3 laps down. Pete told
us all what had happened on the first stint.
However the car was still going ok with Marc
putting some good times in so hopefully there is no real damage done.
Could be worse: a car a
couple of garages down needed an engine change.
Abbey 92 car in at 5:40pm: good stop, I was fire extinguisher man, a bit daunting at first but as I did more stops I did the more confident I became. While we were all dressed up in balaclavas and some sort of fire protection, we where astonished to see other teams up and down the pitlane refuelling in just tee-shirts. Ok we where using proper push fit refuelling dump cans, but there was still a bit of fuel spillage.
As a bit of light entertainment ... we were sat in our fold up chairs in the middle of the garage when we could hear music ... it was coming from a garage a few doors down... we had a wander down there and there was a great sight: dancing girls!
2Hr..6pm....108th. ... 33laps
No stops in this hour, the race had settled down a little and there was a
little time to have a bit of a sit down and a chill out ... always need to
be on guard though as one of the cars could be in at anytime
3Hr..7pm....67th....52laps
Ian in the car at 7.05pm. Easy
swap over, 2 cans of fuel straight into the car ... back out in 73rd
4Hr..8pm....55th. ... 68laps
8.15pm Pete back in car, 1/2 ltr
oil in. Back out in 57th ... quickly
up to 51st ... making good progress.
Ian had
enjoyed his first stint in the car. There
was a bit of joy in the garage because the 92 car had made it upto 1st
place.. they were in the lead!
5Hr..9pm....41st. ... 86lap
The atmosphere around the back of
the pits was getting good now. Lots
of race fans were milling about in
the evening twilight, loud music coming from the hospitality tent a few
garages down, and every one getting ready for a long nights racing.
Next stop is due around 9.45pm with Marc due to go in . The front splitter is slightly damaged but as the laptimes are still up around 3.12 we were discussing leaving it alone. However the light bar needed fitting and as we had to take most of the clips and fastenings off to fit it we decided we may as well put the new front on anyway and we had set the light bar up on the new front so the die was set. Due to this, it was a slightly longer stop, but it gave us chance to check and reset the tyre pressures and top up the oil. There was a bit of falling over each other as we all descended on the car, but the job was done and the car was on its way with Marc driving without too much of a delay. We managed to get both cars in and done; both cars now have lights fitted and fuelled up for the next stint. Time for a coffee and a ciggie at the back of the pits...
6Hr..10pm....38th....102laps
Marc was clearly well on it as we where soon back on the pace...
Ian and Pete where both feeling happier now as the car was up into the to 30th at
10:15pm.
Ok we were still 3 laps behind the
lead but last year at this time we were in 19th
(and finished on the podium) so things weren't
looking so bad. The cars in front
were falling off here and there, losing the odd lap in the pits,
so despite the early dramas we where not that far behind target.
At around 10:45pm, Marc came
in and Ian went out for a stint. The
front splitter was damaged again but
as we where running well and the lap times were consistent
again we decided to leave it. Next
stop due around 12:15am. Time
to have a sit down again; the need
to preserve energy more important now that it's
getting later.
7Hr..11pm.... 27th ....119 laps
Quiet hour, the Abbey wive's had
disappeared for a bit of a break and so had the drivers. The
need to get out of the pit for a break from time to time was important.
I made my way up onto the amazing new pit complex roof
for 10 mins; incredible to see the headlights
across the valley coming down the hill to Pouhon.
8Hr..Midnight....Sunday 8th July...21st 136 laps
92 car in at midnight, fuel and driver change ... 190 car in about 12:15am with
Pete jumping into the car. Going
to be double stinting this one. Put
1ltr of oil in and fitted a red
flashing light to the car with the idea that we would be able to see him
coming down the pit lane easier (we
had come up with the idea of drilling two 1 inch holes in the back of the
roof mounted light which illuminates
the roof number, but it wasn't that
easy to see him ). With the red
light on as well we had no problem locating him.
There was a bit of drama at 12:40am when the 92 car came in the extensive damage to the front and one rear wheel pointing in the wrong direction. Will and Simon got to work on the back of the car, Tony going off down to the spares truck to pick up some rear hubs for the car. Something big had obviously happened in the dark as all the light bar was damaged and the front frame was severely bent out of shape. John and Tony set to work on the front with a porta power, hammers and quite a lot of brute force we got the front straightened to a fashion and a new light bar on. All the time the lads at the back were replacing hubs (one severely bent and the other with a damaged bearing). Brakes were replaced whilst the car was in and new tyres where fitted, but unfortunately 15 laps were lost whilst the repairs where being done and this dropped the car right down and went out running in the mid 70's. Mark reported back in that the brakes were poor but decided to stay out and persevere with them.
9Hr..1am....23rd.......155 laps
The 92 car
was in for about 45 mins and it gave us no rest as Pete was due in soon
(around 2am). He was double
stinting to give Marc and Ian more time for
sleep, so we were hoping for a very fast stop and get him on his way
again.
10Hr..2am.....20th......170 laps
Pete is still out in our 190 car. Running
nicely in the top 20 just trying to
stay out of trouble in the dark.
others arn't
so lucky.
at 2.30am, there is a
safety car again and Mark in the 92 car calls
in to complain of not feeling well (a
legacy of the accident); he pulls straight in and runs straight into
the toilet , so they send the car
back out with a fresh driver.
11Hr..3am...16th...188 laps
It's now 3am and the
Abbey boys are doing a bit of tidying up around the garage .
I can see that Simon is really struggling with his injured
knee now, probably a combination of the bike crash and tiredness .
I grab a snap-on kneel mat and have a bit of a sit down in a corner, writing up
my notes and reflecting on the fact
that I'm in the pits at Spa
in the middle of a 25 hr race! Yet
we are still not even at the halfway point yet! Had
some Proplus and strong coffee.
Ian is sat staring at the timing screen.
Nearly time time for Marc's double stint; he's been asleep in the back of Ian's car in the garages under the pits. At 3.30am Pete pulls in after just over 3 hours in the car, he looks totally shattered now. We fuel up the car and in his hurry to get going, Marc drives off before we have chance to finish putting oil in the car. We had to pull him straight back in to finish the job and secure the oil cap back on, so we lost a bit of time but we are still running well . Will reports that it's an oily mess under there now . Shortly after the 92 car is back in with a left rear puncture and the tracking slightly out. Luckily there's enough adjustment on the tracking to just straighten the back end out. Will cracks on with it with me and Walnut (Warner, Abbeys well-meaning engineering apprentice). 92 car out again at 3:55am... nearly 12 hrs in, not even at the halfway point yet!
12Hr..4am...16th...203 laps
I disappeared into one of the trucks
to get a bit of rest; it's
hard to sleep with the constant
noise of the cars screaming past the pits, and
I got disturbed by one of the Abbey boys looking for Tony, then
shortly after got a knock on the door as our car was due in at 5am for brake pads
and a tyre change. Walked back into
the pits and it was a bad sight that greeted me : the
92 car had been comprehensively shunted from behind! John
and a couple of others where busy patching the rear bodywork while Tony
and Simon where cutting and welding the rear end frame tiring to get it back
down from its near 45 degree angle...it's
not meant to be bent that high up!
Went for
a bike ride on Abbey's scooter around the infields of the track. Campers are
either just waking up or where woken up by me blasting past their tents
stopped at Stavelot to see Marc
on his way past but unfortunately I
had forgotten my camera
damn it...
14Hr..6am...22nd...237laps
Got back just in time for the pits stops. 92
car in first, fueled and oiled and
back on its way. Marc then in, with
Ian back in the 190 car
for a stint. Marc went off to get
some rest. He had driven very well
putting in our fastest lap so far with a 3.11.499
15Hr...7am...17th....254laps
16Hr...8am...14th....270laps
Ian into the pits, Pete
in car.
Ian did mention that there was a slight snick when he was trying
to select 3rd at certain points in the lap.
17Hr...9am....13th....287laps
Ran as high as 12th overall with Pete in the car, better than last year at
this time, which is pretty
incredible considering we where right at the back in
130th spot at 6pm last night . All
three drivers have done a fantastic job to get us where we are now, and with
Nick and Lars-Fredrik on the pit
wall working on strategy and Colin being spare man around the place covering
for refuelling on both cars and on the pit wall we where all feeling tired
but quietly confident. Team Tiger in the next pits where having 3rd gear
selection problems and that was dropping them down the order and the 131JPR
car who had lead the race were now down in 5th place.
We where gaining, but then our times started to get worse. Pete was having gearbox problems... Pete pulled the car straight into the garage after losing first 3rd gear, then second and finally fifth. "I was having to hold in in thrid through Rivage from the start of the stint, so I know something was amiss. It was just a matter of time before it would let go completely," Pete commented. Will knew that there could sometimes be a problem with the rosejoint at the bottom of the gear stick he did a little adjustment but we really had no 2nd or 3rd gears. We had the back of the car in the air and there was just a lot of noise where there should have been drive: no option but to change the box.
Dynamo Will set to work. We had to cut the cable ties that held the previously damaged side on the car, in an instant the rear bodywork was off the car and it was up on axle stands. Will got to work moving the oilcooler up and out of the way while myself and Warner started on the drive shaft bolts. everything under there was just so hot. Will got to work undoing the bellhousing bolts and making sure they came off in the correct order, before long we had everything undone . Just 4 bolts holding the back of the box into the chassis, Will was underneath and they where undone, with him under and me above, he gave the instruction to wiggle the box about a bit then he would help me out with it. Well it seem to come away very easy, i just lifted it and took it away from the back of the car, not that heavy...! Will then swapped the thrust bearing over and we where soon lifting the box back into the car, as four of us descended on the car, with Will giving us instructions as to what order the thing should go back together, we just got on and did it.I was bolting the rear frame back on whilst Will and Simon were fitting the starter motor plate and lastly the selector arm and with a quick check to make sure we had gears we where nearly done . Next we had the body back on and re-cable tied it on the damaged side, pushed it back into the pit lane, topped off the fuel and we where on way again in 1hr 8 mins (timed by Nick on the pit wall).
What I didn't realise was that we had quite a crowd gather while we were hard at work, occasionally a well intentioned well-wisher or spectator would get in the way, sometimes getting asked to shift . With the car off again, we wandered back into the garage a spontaneous round of applause erupted. I didn't realise there where so many spectators ... but I personally felt tired and grimy ; just needed a drink and a ciggie and two mins sit down.
18Hr..10am....35th. ... 299laps
19Hr..11am....82nd....301laps
Unfortunately the gearbox
problem had dropped us right down the order, but the car was now back upto
speed and we where hoping for a clear run to the finish
20Hr..12noon. ... 77th....318laps
21Hr..1pm....73rd....336laps
Quiet time, the cars are circulating, times are good, there are a
lot of tired faces in the garage now, and people
disappear from time to time either to get a rest or just have a bit of time
away from it all. I borrow the pit
bike again and disappear towards Stavelot, this
time with my camera.
However just as I am nearing
the inside of Stavelot the engine
on the bike dies.
bugger.
it has half a tank of fuel in it! I
ring back to the pits and talk to Will;
apparently the plug lead has a habit of falling off,
and sure enough there it is dangling in the fresh air. Refitted, I
carry on my way, stopping every so often to see Marc
going past in our car, but then the
lead falls off again, half way up the path at the side of Rivage.
I have to push the bike up the hill and administer to it yet again. Stop
halfway along the Kemmel straight thinking to my self "this
is where Hakkinen did that great......"
only to see Marc doing his Hakkinen impression, our car over taking one side
and another car going past a car on the otherside...Wow!!
Make my way down to Eau Rouge, and there I find the 92 car parked with Mark Gillam, and steam and smoke pouring out of the back of it. I ring back to the pits, they are aware something is wrong and await the car. Ian then rings me back: I'm needed soon as there's another pits stop, so I blast my way back, sounding the horn all the way through the pits to try to clear a path. Some people don't seem to hear, so they get shouted at (in a nice way); some let their kids run in front of me. Make it back just as the 92 car arrives back at the garage behind a course car. We open the back up...engine? gearbox? There is a conversation between the Abbey guys and it's decided to swap the gearbox. Simon and Will set to as I undo the driveshaft bolts (I'm getting good at this now). We then find the clutch has exploded. A new clutch is fitted and we replace the 'box just in case; in an hour or so the car is back out on track. Will is very proud of the fact that he has never had a car not finish a race and was determined to get 92 back out again. During all that melee we also did a pit stop on the 190 car ... running nice and smoothly now. too far down the order to make us happy but still going. and making up places
22Hr..2pm....71st....352laps
At 2pm we pull the 190 car in for a
stop and put Lars-Fredrik in the
car, A good friend of Peter, Lars -Fredrik
Berg is our reserve driver this weekend and
a Nurburgring expert . He's done
endurance racing before and Ian was quite
happy to let him go out for a stint . Unfortunately part
of his time in the car was stymied by safety cars, and although he
did manage a few fast laps I think
he spent more time behind the safety car than he would have liked.
The Bar-B-Q is lit up at the back of the garage and its time for a
bit of food...
23Hr..3pm....66th....369laps
24Hr..4pm....61st....386laps
At 4:15 pm we put Ian
in the car for the last stint. The
car's looking grubby and tired now
but it 's running like a train.
Now we are just counting down the 45 minutes
till the end and keeping our fingers crossed that there won't
be any more 'incidents'....
Finally the chequered flag emerges! The cars all drive past to the applause of the mechanics who all poured out and lined the pitlane ... we did it !! Sadly we had a couple of major problems that set us back, but without them we would have been right there at the front, as the car ran well and was doing steady times for the whole race. Last year the Cuisine de France car was on the podium for the Brits and 9th overall. This year we had been up as high as 2nd amongst the Brits and 12th overall. Next year we will keep out of trouble and WIN this thing!
25hr..5pm....61st....403laps
After we had said our goodbyes to the team and drivers, I retrieved my car keys and walked out to the carpark to get the hire car. I drove it back up to the pedestrian tunnel and picked a couple of our guys up and made the journey back to the hotel and a much needed shower...Went back to the Italian Restaurant that evening but unfortunately the Torro Rosso team where in and the seemed to be getting preferential treatment. (Italians). Did all I could to stay awake during the meal and we where soon trudging our way back to the hotel and a good night's sleep.....
Monday 9th July
Up at 8 am...felt
like death warmed up. Breakfast, morning
ablutions and as a treat to myself, Colin,
Pete and I headed back to the track and drove round the old Spa circuit. What
a magnificent old track. Those guys where very brave back then.
Stopped to have a look at a little classic
car garage at Stavelot ,
before heading back to the
airport to drop Pete off as he was catching an earlier flight .
Colin and I had a few hours
spare, so we went down to Waterloo
for a look around before heading back to the airport and a coffee. I
was back in my own home just after 6pm.....
