Our Spa Weekend...
FRIDAY 9am. Ingenious Creative set off from Jordangate House to watch our good friend, client and all-round good bloke James Pickford take part in the world's longest motor race, at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, nestled in the picturesque Ardennes region of Belgium.
By half one we're at the Eurotunnel, having made great progress in our transport for the weekend, a mildly bling Volkswagen Caravelle supplied by Votex, the garage owned by James' Dad, Keith. Nice one, Mr P!
Half an hour later we're off into France, and on our way to Spa. Within an hour we're over the border and into Belgium, before arriving at the circuit just before 9pm.
The championship James is competing in this weekend is the 'Fun Cup', a race series for rear-engined spaceframe chassis clothed in a bodyshell based on the original Volkswagen Beetle. They look a bit funny, truth be told, but they're deceptively quick. The Spa 25hrs sees the UK Fun Cup, plus it's Belgian and French counterparts, all compete together in what has become the centrepiece event of their respective championships. There's over 130 cars competing, each crewed by a minimum of 3 drivers.
So, where does our hero, a quadruple British champion, some-time British Touring Car Championship driver and ex team mate of Jenson Button no less, finish up after the evening qualifying session?
Pole. By half a second. On a three minute lap. That's where. Get in there...
Fair enough, it's not F1, but it never ceases to amaze that, despite not having driven one of these for a year, he just jumps in and sticks in on pole. James and the very green Happy Racing, we salute you!
So, Friday night sees us head to our hotel - one night of luxury. Saturday night we'll either stay up for the entire race (!) or kip in the bus at the track. Best make the most of the bar, then...
SATURDAY On arrival at the track, the British GT Championship are in the middle of their first race. This is a 'proper' (sorry, Fun Cup!) race series, and one James competed at their previous meeting, at Brands Hatch in May. We're (that's James and Ingenious in our capacity as his marketing 'team') working towards a full-time drive in British GT for 2012, so watch this space...
Eventually, the Fun Cup line up on their Grid. Two grids, actually, one before and after the first corner of the track. Well, with 130 cars you've got to put them all somewhere...
A few downpours of rain before the start add to the tension, and whilst all the cars run on treaded tyres, so no slick / wet malarkey like other racing series, 'our' team are unique in taking the precaution of changing from a set of 'scrubbed' (worn) tyres (better for the dry) to new ones, allegedly more appropriate for the wet.
When the race starts, with a rolling start, James immediately drops to second, where he sits comfortably for his entire two-hour stint, before coming into the pits to hand over to the first of his two team mates. Having grid and pitlane access gives us the chance to see the team work from close quarters, and some of us, it must be said, were definitely into the 'backstage' feeling of the day. Or maybe it was the quality Belgian lager...
By the time James is scheduled to get back in the car, at 10pm, number 252 has slipped out of the top ten. We positioned ourselves in the pit lane to watch the driver change, and again were astonished by the level of precision and discipline involved in turning the car round. The outgoing driver is literally yanked from one side as the incoming driver hurls himself into the recently vacated seat. He's then strapped in by the team and with a wipe of the windscreen, off the car goes. The (almost road spec) tyres are only changed every second or third stop, and initially puzzled by the lack of fuelling, we learnt that for this race, the driver has to fuel the car himself, from a separate pitlane elsewhere on the track. Bizarre...
As darkness fell, and James got back in the car, he immediately began to make progress up the leaderboard. We retired to the bar above the pitlane where, despite the frankly dreadful Belgian DJ (immediately christened 'Ray Van-Von') we had a great time, watching the race unfold from the balcony, keeping an eye on the sector times on the data screens, and of course continuing to sample the delights of the local brew.
Whilst we were having a great time, James was absolutely flying, setting quickest sector times, fastest laps and generally bombing along. He handed the car back in fifth place, and when we arrived back in the pits to see him come in, any doubts about how much hard work this race driving lark is were immediately dispelled. In the lovely cool night air the poor lad had plumes of steam coming off him. Suddenly, we all felt a bit guilty about having a laugh and a beer and some chips whilst he drove his bits off. But we got over it...
Whilst James went off for a well earned rest, not scheduled to be back in the car until 4am, we wandered around the pits and generally took in the atmosphere. Despite some of us being petrolheads and having been to Le Mans and the like, it's always astonishing to see just how hard the pit crews have to work in an endurance race. There's always something to do, particularly if your car's having trouble. Happily for Happy Racing, number 252 was running like clockwork...
SUNDAY By the early hours we were flagging, frankly, so headed back to our bus for a bit of a rest, only watching some of James' 4-6am stint from opposite the pits where we'd set up camp. (sorry mate, but we were done by then!) Still, it was a lovely sight watching the sun rise over the circuit, before grabbing a couple more hours sleep then heading back into the paddock to see how things were going.
Car 252 had run faultlessly all night, but despite James' best efforts, it was on the outer edges of the top 10 again. As the day dawned bright and sunny, and JP's final stint drew closer, it was going to take a mega effort from 'the Macc Stig' to get the car back in contention. But before he got in it, disaster struck...
The car was on its way in on the end of a tow rope. A driveshaft had broken at the far end of the circuit and a number of laps had been lost whilst it was recovered to the pits. Sterling work by the team got it changed in about 15 minutes, but when it went back out it was down in 15th overall. By the time James got in, that had become 19th place.
Two hours later, back in the top ten. Awesome effort from James yet again, partly helped by other's technical problems, but obviously 'we' had had some of our own as well. A much happier bunny when he got out than when he got in it, we all agreed...
From there on, it was 'just' a case of running to the finish. Too many laps behind the car in front, and too far in front of the one behind, to make any impression. As the end of the race drew near, the tension was noticeably building. Nobody wants a retirement this close to 25 hours of effort, but thankfully, car 252 swept across the line in ninth overall, and second in class (for the UK entered cars).
As is customary at Spa, all the cars running at the end of the race pull up on the start / finish line, to be greeted by their respective teams, before the seemingly never-ending podium celebrations. With different classes, championships, categories and whatever else, it seemed a bit like one of those non-competitive sports days where everyone gets a prize, but it's fair enough really. Anyone who can stay awake for that long, never mind drive or mend a racing car as well, deserves a medal as far as we're concerned...
We hung around for some post race celebrations, but given that we had to drive (and be back at the office on Monday morning!) we made tracks for the Eurotunnel around 8pm, giving us plenty of time to get back to Calais for our 1am crossing. We eventually arrived back at Jordangate House at 6am Monday, just enough time to change and put a full day in back behind our desks. Oh the glamour...
Big thanks to all that put up with us over the Spa weekend, especially Roxie and the entire JPR hospitality team. Well done to Happy Racing, and sorry for tripping up over your spanners and generally getting in the way in your garage. Last but not least, thanks to Keith for the bus!