Track Masters at the VW Fun Cup 25 Hour Spa Race - 2008

(more photo's to follow)

“Great oaks from little acorns grow”

“We need a challenge” said Stormy at the end of the Goodwood Autumn Blast last year. “We should do endurance racing.”

Well the only answer of course is ‘why not?’. Well there’s a whole host of reasons why not!  For one thing, whilst we all enjoy our driving and do a lot of track days there is a big difference between track day driving and race driving; never mind endurance race driving. Then there’s the question of what endurance racing. 2CV? BritCar? Le Mans? Let’s get real!

An evening on the internet however turned up one interesting opportunity - Fun Cup racing.  The concept was originally conceived in Belgium based on the success of endurance karting.  From small beginnings, it has become hugely popular and successful across Europe with up to 160 cars on the grid for the annual 25 hour race at Spa-Francorchamps.  Racing has now also spread to France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK with the USA next in line.

The cars are race designed single-seater cars with a strong tubular steel chassis, mildly modified super strong Audi/VW engines and gearbox, race brakes and fully adjustable with rose jointed double wishbone suspension.  Over it all is draped a classic flat screen VW Beetle look-alike glass fibre body.

All the races are endurance races, typically 4, 5 or 6 hours each, complete with pit stops and driver teams of 2 - 6 drivers.  So, with the car engines and gearboxes sealed and regulations strictly controlled, the racing is super close and the running costs manageably low - for racing that is.  Uniquely, Jo Punter can simply hire a seat in a car for a race – no experience needed.  So it looked ideal for our purposes.  

“Best foot forward” said Stormy “Mark and Hugh should do it this year – Terry’s doing Time Attack and I have other commitments. Besides, you both have racing experience – we don’t.”  Hmm – everyone loves a volunteer.

The plan – nearly falls apart..

“So we need a plan” said Hugh (aka ‘Hugh-goo’ as he subsequently became known), “what are the Fun Cup cars like to drive?  Do we know Spa well enough?  How do we get into the right car?  What will it take to prepare ourselves?” So many questions – so little time.  

Mark could not be bothered with all that.  He simply rang Paul Rose at JPR Racing - who both organises the UK series and runs rental cars - and put his name down for a seat in the 2008 Spa 25 hour race!  “How can you do that” said Hugh – you’re committing to drive a car you’ve never seen in a race you don’t know, with a team you haven’t met!” There’s nothing like living dangerously then.

So, back to the plan.  We invited the JPR Fun Cup team to join us at the Donington Triple Club Track Day in March.  Bedsides getting to know the team, it gave us a chance to drive the cars for the first time.  And we were impressed on both counts.  The cars were comfortable and predictable to drive and they seemed to be about as quick as Stormy’s Spec C on a lap although we couldn’t of course time any of the cars – faster under braking and rapid through the corners, but slower down the straights.  Next step – the Euro-Combo which as regular readers will know included a day at Spa and provided us with invaluable track time.

Fast forward to May and Mark was working hard towards the race.  A new helmet and bits of kit were purchased, cycling and gym training underway, plus he’d entered one of the shorter Fun Cup races at Mondello in Ireland to gain experience.  Having now driven both the car and the Spa circuit, Hugh was regretting his decision not to commit to entering the race at the outset with Mark.  And then an email arrived. “There’s a spare seat in the car for Spa”. This time there was no hesitation and Hugh signed up.  Only problem was that Hugh’s last race licence expired over ten years ago.  Hmm. Too late to worry about minor details now.

Discussions with the MSA concluded that an ARDS test would be required to get the licence back and the only test slot available would be at Brands two weeks before the race at Spa.  No pressure then.  Now those of you who know anything about risk management will recognise the dilemma. The probability of failing the test might be low, but the impact – having committed to race – would be huge.  Not only would Hugh not be able to race, but it would put the whole team’s race in jeopardy.

Test day at Brands Hatch came around quickly.  The Chief Instructor was very re-assuring.  A 20 minute driving test focussed on driving skill and (luckily) not speed.  This was followed by the multiple choice questionnaire focussed on flags and safety.  Hugh passed with flying colours and his race licence for Spa was now secured. Phew.

Game On?

All was not well though.  A late drop out from the intended driver line up left the car with just 3 drivers – Mark, Hugh and Ed Cole who had been racing in the Fun Cup series for 18 months, and was with in Mark’s team at Mondello.  Racing as a “3” though seemed even more daunting and certainly more expensive then planned.  With a week to go and no other drivers on the horizon the whole plan was in danger of falling apart.   But in the weekend before the race a last minute deal was secured - we would run as a 3 even if another driver wasn’t found in time.  It was after all - Game On!

And so an apprehensive motley crew of Spa Fun Cup virgins tooled up in the F1 pits on a sunny Thursday lunchtime for some pre-qualifying testing.  In our crew was Mrk and Sonja, Hugh and his daughter Ciara and Ed.   We could not quite believe the sight that greeted us.  Our garage was a hive of activity with 7JPR cars being tended to.  Our car - number 108 - looked immaculate and our own mechanics – Tom and John George were pouring over the car making last minute adjustments before the test session started.  But that was just our pit.  The whole place was heaving with a further 133 cars up and down the two sets of pits, plus support vehicles, mechanics and hangers on all milling around.  It suddenly began to feel very real and very scary.

Ed and Hugh decided that Mark should go out for the first stint of the test – well it seemed like a good idea to them and gave them some time to acclimatise.  And time to go to the toilet.  And time to go to the toilet again. 

Mark got suited and booted, bravely climbed into the car and headed out. We waited anxiously for him to come around for his first lap but after 5 minutes, there was no sign of him.  And then back he came into the pits and poured himself out of the car, choking and spluttering. “Petrol fumes” he barked. “fuel was pouring out of the cap while cornering and coming straight into the cabin through the cockpit cooling pipes”.  Tom and Johnny jumped to it and soon sussed out the problem – a leaking seal on the fuel filler which had had to be modified to cope with the refuelling arrangements for Spa.  But it took another two attempts before the car was finally sorted and Mark, Ed and finally Hugh could get some laps completed.

Meanwhile, another unique feature of Fun Cup racing was revealed - 2 seater cars.  These run in the same races, but compete in a separate class taking ordinary punters out as passengers during the race.  Can you imagine what that’s going to be like?  Well we were about to find out.  Paul Rose - who runs JPR - was giving all the JPR team drivers the opportunity of a ride in a two seater to show us the lines and give us an idea of how to drive Spa in these cars at pace.  And what a revelation that was. The abuse he was giving the tyres was extraordinary – so forget driving to conserve tyres – they could take it.  And then there’s the kerbs.  Besides climbing all over every apex kerb, Paul was literally off the track on the entry to the critical Stavelot 2 corner that leads onto the back straight, claiming every inch of room there was and then some, to get the fastest possible line and maximum exit speed.   And any doubt as to how quick you could enter Eau Rouge and Blanchimont was banished as he launched the car into both, flat in 5^th without a hint of a confidence lift.  Wow !

And so Day 1 of the adventure closed with some chat over a couple of small beers and a pizza back in Stavelot.  Despite the initial fuel leakage problems, the test had gone well, the car felt good and the three of us were within a couple of seconds of each other in terms of lap time.  We were doing times in the range 3.13 – 3.17, with the pacesetters running around 3.08.  We had already learned a lot, and we had made it to base camp, but we knew we still had a mountain to climb.

To qualify or not to qualify – that is the question

We had a plot – well you’d expect nothing less.  To qualify, each of us had to do three flying laps.  Sounds easy, but at such a long circuit it would take about 20 minutes for each driver to complete the cycle of out lap, three flying laps and in lap, and that’s assuming no stoppages or safety cars caused by the other 132 cars who would be on the circuit at the same time.  So the goal for Q1 was to get each of us technically into the race, and then to use the second qualifying session to see what grid slot we could actually achieve.  We would also use our ‘out laps’ to explore the refuelling area which had been set up at the far end of the circuit, and where we would have to refuel the cars ourselves during the race with only marshals in attendance – not our own pit crew.

Q1 was wet.  This – paradoxically - was great news.  What none of us wanted was to have to jump in the car during the race and drive it for the first time in the wet – particularly at night.  So a few laps in the wet were a huge bonus and helped build our confidence behind the wheel.  Even in qualifying though, accidents abounded and it took the full 100 minutes of Q 1 for us all to complete our mandatory 3 qualifying laps. We qualified 31^st three seconds shy of pole thanks to a brave sodden from Mark.

Q2 started wet but the rain soon abated and the track began to dry.  By the time Mark went out he was able to make use of a drying line and put in a stonking lap in the 3.11’s – brilliant ! That was 2 seconds faster than in testing, and in the end only 3 seconds off poll.  It put us firmly into the top half of the grid at 57^th.  From our perspective, it was another successful day and another major step in our journey - Job Done!

But qualifying also provided other insights.  It confirmed for us the vital role that the whole team would play, including those on the pit wall.  We had to rely on pit signals for when to come in, capturing our lap times, monitoring the fuel consumption, and generally keeping us organised.  And as for the mechanics, the end of final qualifying simply marked another evening of meticulous car preparations. Whilst we headed back to our hotel and an early night, they stripped and checked every electrical connection on the car, checked the lights that would be fitted for night driving during the race and – amongst other things - cleaned and checked the fuel tank and system.  All in an effort to be as sure as possible that nothing stupid would trip us up during the race.  

And so we began to really appreciate - maybe for the first time but certainly not the last - that the whole team would be just as important to achieving a good result.  If we were going to finish, and especially if we were going to finish well, this would to be a genuine team effort with absolute commitment and focus from everybody involved.

Race day beckons and pressure builds

Stormy and his family, plus the rest of Hugh’s family and a couple of other friends, Alex and Tony, had arrived at Stavelot during Friday night after a pretty fraught channel crossing.  So after a bit of a lie-in and a leisurely breakfast the team gathered nervously in front of the hotel ready to head off to the circuit. 

In addition to specialist energy drinks and foods that we’d bought in advance, we also bought fresh fruit, nuts, and other foods to help keep us going during the race.  Along with vast quantities of bottled water – ‘if you’re not pissing clear and often – you’re not properly hydrated’ had been the advice.  

Once at the circuit we found that Tom and Johnny had finished what they needed to do to the car, but there was still be a lot we needed done.  Sponsorship stickers needed to be stuck on, the camel back drinks system that we had come up with to help keep us hydrated during our driving stints needed to be fitted, and the in car camera needed to be tested.  And it may sound strange but we wanted a clock on the dashboard to help keep us orientated during the race.  But we still had to decide who would drive the crucial first stint and finally agree on our strategy for the race.  Oh – and we needed to go to the toilet – often.  And it was raining.

Agreeing our strategy for the race was going to be crucial and had a surprising number of aspects.  How aggressive did we want to be on fuel and driver stints? What was our strategy for driving the race – to drive the car on the ragged edge and fight every car in every corner, or try to stay out of trouble and pound in the laps at a solid pace, taking care of the car?  There had even been real concern about the refuelling arrangements themselves, and the ability of only 8 fuel pumps to refuel 133 cars every 90 minutes or so.

All the research we had done prior to the event and everything we had heard since arriving told us that staying out of trouble was key to achieving a decent finish.   And we weren’t here to win it; we were here to experience every moment of it.  So we decided to run a conservative strategy.   More than anything, we wanted to be there at the finish, running strongly having not lost much time in the garage.  So we’d take a very early fuel and driver stop after only 50 minutes with the aim of putting us out of sequence with most of the field on refuelling.  And we’d swap drivers every 90 minutes rather than every 120 minutes, to make sure that fatigue in the car would be less likely to result in a serious driver error.   And Mark would drive the first stint with the aim of simply avoiding the mayhem that everyone told us to expect.   

So with our mechanics and support team briefed, it was at last time to finally get ready for the race.  At 15.50 we prepared to line up on the grid.  After all the waiting, the training, the preparation, the planning, the worrying – this was it.  This was the moment.

Start as you mean to go on

I have only seen two occasions of drivers putting themselves out of a race before the start. The first I think was Prost aquaplaning in the wet in a Ferrari and the second - Montoya warming his tyres in the McLaren.  So I guess the driver of car 218 will find himself in esteemed company as – directly in front and to the left of Mark, he accelerated hard into the back of another car on the run down from the La Source to the start line for the rolling start.  Holy mother - one car out and we haven’t even started the race!  Ed and I looked at each other – what on earth had we let ourselves in for?

The first laps were intense – the most intense that Mark has ever experienced.  It was like being in a cloud of bees as cars swarmed around you from every direction all looking for early advantage. The smallest error or loss of momentum and the cloud would swallow you up from all sides all at once and 10 places could be lost in an instant.  Mark was straight on it though, putting in 3.15s despite the chaos.  Cars were already in trouble – breaking wings with contact, destroying splitters as they ran wide over high kerbs.  The run from the top of Raidillon down the Kemmel straight was particularly frantic.  A 3mph advantage at the top of Eau Rouge translates into more than a 5 car length difference by the braking point for Les Combes.  And that’s assuming the cars were set up the same – which they weren’t.

Seven years of running at Spa had taught the JPR team how to optimise the set-up of the cars for this unique circuit.   Whilst the details of the set up are a closely guarded secret, the cars are optimised for faster running down the straights at the cost of some cornering performance.  Toe and tyre pressure settings are particularly important for this.  Car 108 was quicker than most down the straight, but not the quickest.  So good corner exit speed yielded a key advantage that could carry you past a number of cars.

After 50 minutes and just as the first safety car period of the race started, Mark currently running a fantastic 32^nd, pulled into the refuelling station, filled up, completed his lap and handed over to Ed.  One hour down, the car in one perfect piece, and only twenty four hours to go.

Ed got quickly into the groove and completed his first stint with some dramas but no crisis, and we were still climbing up the leader board, we were placed 21^st after two hours. Hugh was not quite as lucky.  Pulling alongside another car on the run up to Blanchimont at about 120 mph, Hugh was on the inside as they both headed flat out for the apex.  But the car on the outside was having none of it and kept turning into Hugh’s path. With nowhere to go, the choices were to lift, to take both cars out, or to take to the grass.  Hugh took to the grass on the inside of the corner, bouncing over the kerbs and then shooting out at a tangent across the track, ripping the front splitter off the car in the process, and dropping us into the 40’s. That is how close and frantic the racing was.

Luckily he didn’t collect anybody on the way, and in the scheme of things, got away with it lightly.  A quick call into the pits soon had the remains of the splitter ripped off from under the car and Hugh was out again to complete his stint with a bit more understeer than usual.

Running with the night

“So what will it be like at night” Ed asked Tom our lead mechanic. “Carnage” said Tom “utter carnage”.  This had been the same message from everyone.  And sure enough – right on queue, as dusk fell, it began.  The car in the garage next to us had caught fire out on track, and came back on the ‘blood wagon’ burnt out.  The car on the other side of the pits looked even worse, having rolled - destroying every corner. It had to be poured off the breakdown truck.  Both drivers were happily OK.

But driving Spa at night was something else – something truly magical.  Heading down into Eau Rouge you could see the stream of lights as the cars in front majestically sailed up over the brow at Raidillon, their lights gently illuminating the way.  But when you found yourself on your own it could be a dark forbidding place. 

As Hugh-go recounts “Arriving at Pouhon with no cars in front or behind, I turned in and hit the first apex OK, but then there was nothing but darkness.  The lights weren’t actually shining on the path the car was taking due to its slip angle and I was completely lost in space and in time.  Out of nowhere, the rumble strip appeared and I was out over it and into the run off area before I could do anything - but at least I now knew where I was!”

Somehow, we kept the pace up and our noses clean, pounding in laps in the 3.11 to 3.16 mark depending on traffic.  And then it happened.  The appointed time passed and Mark hadn’t appeared.  It was just before midnight. Where was he? Minutes passed and still no sign.  And then he was spotted – pushing the car down the pit lane having lost complete drive on the fastest apex of the circuit at Blanchimont, he said “I have no idea how I held the car from the resulting slide”.

The full team of mechanics now pushed the car into the pits and descended on it.  Gearbox?  Clutch? No – driveshaft!  Mark was out of the car, sweating from his exertions (maybe the time spent in the gym was worth it after all), and recounting the tale of having to wake up the guy in the breakdown lorry to get a push into the pits.  Meanwhile, the boys were working hard to replace the burning hot shaft….(are you aloud say that in an article like this ?) “How long ‘til it’s fixed” asked Hugh “two minutes” came the reply from Tom, still buried under the car.  The pressure was back on us to get Mark back in the car, belted up and back out on the circuit.

As Mark took back to the circuit 8 minutes after being pushed into the garage and as the dust settled, we were beginning to understand what this endurance game was really about.

By 4am, our pit wall team who had been on duty for close to 12 hours handed over to the replacement team whilst they got some well earned rest back at the hotel.  The black night gave way to a gentle dawn.  The sky lightened and a mist settled on the top of the circuit around Les Combes.  And still we kept pounding in the laps. We were now placed in 70’s;  after losing around 5 laps from the drive shaft failure.  In the grand scheme of things, we had emerged unscathed from the darkest period of the race.

Around 8 am, with about 15 hours completed and the smell of hot bacon rolls from the hospitality tent filling the garage we were climbing back up the leader board and now placed 55^th. Now was time for a scheduled brake disc, pad and tyre change.  But with that done and Hugh back in the car, all was not well.  Besides leery overseer on the entry to fast corners like Pouhon, the brakes were simply awful.  With a soft pedal and absolutely no feel to them at all, we were now having to brake before the 150m mark at the end of the Kemmel straight instead of braking around the 70m mark.  Lap times lengthened into the low 20s and in the car, Hugh was in two minds whether to come in or stay out.  Meanwhile, on the pit wall, unaware of the problem, all they could think of doing was giving Hugh the hurry up!  With no pit to car radios allowed, communication of anything out of the ordinary was impossible.  A safety care incident eventually allowed a heat cycle to be put into the new brakes and tyres and on the restart, good car balance and brakes were happily restored.

As we headed into the final quarter of the race (yes – only six hours to go!), tiredness now began to take hold.  Mark had decided not to sleep at all, whilst Hugh and Ed had each managed to doze, but for only a couple of hours.  All Hugh could see when he closed his eyes was an endless road which wandered from side to side unfurling in front of him like on one of those old arcade games.  It seemed that even in the sanctuary of sleep there was no escape from the perpetual circuit stretching in front of us.  

Our brains were toast.  Preparing for the last stints in the car, Hugh & Mark tried to work out when they would each be out next.  It was a simple matter of adding two numbers together – but the task was quite literally, beyond them.  We were now totally in the hands of our support crew.  Unable to think for ourselves, we simply did what we were told to do.

They were keeping a very close eye on us, and without us really being aware of it, making sure that we were OK – staying hydrated, eating the right foods, and ready at the right time.

Hugh had 30 minutes left to prepare for his stint, but no amount of coffee, stimulants or other energy drink were having any effect. Worried that he wasn’t actually fit to go out, he pulled on his sweaty cold race suit in the hope that it would fire him into action.  It didn’t.  But as he climbed into the car, something did happen.  Immediately alert when in the car within a few laps, Hugh-go – like Mark - had got down into the 3.09s and was on a charge.  The car felt better than ever and more than that, we were all driving better than ever. With the whole team leaning out over the pit wall cheering each of us on, we each kept pushing.  Whilst some others had already switched into ‘bring it home’ mode, we were in great shape and flying!

Tension was mounting. Mark with Tony’s help on the pit wall had worked out how we could save a fuel stop by altering our refuelling plan in the run up to the finish – that could be worth two laps.  Tom and Johnny looked on eagerly at the results screen as car 108 rose steadily – lap by lap - up the rankings.  Not only were we heading for a finish, we could be on for a real result!

We started to look at what might be possible – a place on the UK podium? Best result for a rental car?  Could we get towards the top 20?  Anything seemed possible as quick lap after quick lap clicked by.  But with us lying 33^rd and only 90 minutes to go, disaster.  Just as before, Mark hadn’t appeared at his appointed time.  Had he gone to refuel?  Were we pushing too hard?  Had we thrown it all away?

Then there was cry from the pit wall.  “Tom – Johnny – its Mark!” screamed Ciara as she spied him once again stranded at the far end of the pits.  Like a flock of birds the dozen or so black suited mechanics rose en masse and flew down the pit lane to get Mark and bring him back to the garage.  With intense urgency they set to work fixing our second driveshaft failure and after only a few short minutes and an extraordinary effort by them, and a driver swap Ed was back out on track.  But along with the failed driveshaft had gone any hope of a spectacular result.  We too now shifted into ‘bring it home’ mode, with each lap being a journey through hope and fear as we watched the time tick by on the stop watch and waited for car 108 to make its way once again past the our pit wall on schedule, another lap closer to the finish.

And so after an extraordinary 25 hours, it was left to Ed to drive us safely through to the finish, having completed over 1701 racing miles and 391 laps of this glorious, challenging and hallowed Grand Prix circuit, without so much as a scratch on the car.

A great result

We finished in our eyes a fantastic 37th, out of the 120odd cars that made it over the finish line, and that is despite the two drive shaft failures. Plus an even more respectable 6th from the 21 British entries.

Although still smarting with the disappointment of missing out on what would have been a truly stunning result, we began to let the euphoria of what we had achieved take over and lose ourselves in that moment. We had taken on the challenge of what was for us, the complete unknown. Of competing in the longest endurance car race in the world, and succeeded at that in spectacular fashion.  We started out alone, each with our own personal hopes, fears and dreams for this manic adventure. We left fulfilled, inexorably bonded through the shared experience of one of the most intense and enjoyable events of our lives.  Against what we had set out to do, we had come, we had seen, and we had conquered. This was much more than just racing.

Some ‘Thank You’s’ are in order:

To those who supported us on the journey:  Sonja, Sue, Ciara, Phil, Stormy, Helen, Tony, Alex, and Iain

To the JPR Motorsport team who made it possible: Tom, Johnny, Paul and Roxie

To Mrk, Ed and Hugh-go – without whom…

The End (for now…)