It's no exageration to say the rain defined the race. Before we get into the race proper it's worth highlighting that the Snetterton Autosport 3 hour has serious history. Won by the likes of Ken Rudd, Jim Clark, Mike Parkes and Jack Sears and featured winning cars from Jaguar D-Types to Ferrari 250GTO's. Small engined cars dominated in the early years with Lotus Elite's winning in '58 and '59, but in 1960 Dickie Stoop's won in a 356 B GTL. It's pretty special to be racing in the footsteps of your heroes and idols. It's also what I would describe as a proper race. None of this 15 minute sprint nonsense. It's physically hard and shite breaks. Cars expire and people make mistakes, which all lends itself to an eventful and interesting three hours racing.
We spent much time the evening before talking through our pit stops, as our final position would be determined by our reliability and pit stop strategy. The 3 Hour requires two mandatory pit stops of a minimum of 3 minutes and the regulations around refuelling are tight ever since a crew member slipped with a fuel jug and poured fuel onto the exhaust of an E-Type a few years ago resulting in one crispy Jag and a few burnt eyebrows. There's a surprising amount to do as well: refuelling takes about 90 seconds and must take place with everyone in the pit garage and the car empty. Getting a driver in and belted up takes about another minute. We also have to check the oil level, clean the windscreen which gets unbelievably dirty, and in the 3 Hour we also plan on adjusting the brakes as this circuit canes the shoe linings, meaning the pedal travel lengthens beyond reach.
Thirty cars lined up for qualifying in a lovely but hardcore grid - E-types and Lotus Elan's dominate, (seven of the former, one a semi-lightweight, and six of the latter, one a genuine 26R). Other highlights include two Austin Healey 3000's, TVR Grantura's, a Morgan Plus 4 SLR and a Shelby Cobra Daytona that came second in the same Autosport 3 hour race in '64. After qualifying we discover that we're first in the GT1 (under 1,600cc) class by virtue of being the only ones in the class! Some would argue that any class result is therefore a bit academic, but as Robert Barrie succinctly pointed out, not many are plucky enough to enter the 3 Hour in a genuine 1,600cc, drum-braked, swing axle car built in the '50's, so any finish is a good one in this race! This is underlined when we scroll down the entry list - only one car is older than the 356 and that's the 1956 3.8 litre Lister Jaguar. We're certainly the only ones mad enough to contemplate doing this race on drum brakes. We qualify in 26th place ahead of a Mustang and MGB so instantly feel good about things as we're not last.
The start of the race is just mental - the usual madness of too many cars on too small a patch of tarmac at high speed, made worse by atrocious weather and standing water everywhere. A rolling start doesn't usually favour us as the bigger engined cars are able to use their horsepower to advantage, but I've learnt the hard way that the moment the front row of the grid crosses the start/finish line the race starts and you've got to be racing well before the fall of the flag. As long as you don't inch past the guy in front then it's all fine. With the wet weather the big boys can't put the power down and I manage to get tucked up right next to the Mustang. The spray from the cars in front reduces visibility to just the rain light shining brightly like a lighthouse beacon, the rest of the car being indistinguishable in the murk. With zero visibility and even less traction everyone is feeling their way on cold tyres, but I spy a green E-Type feeling his way a little too carefully, in front of the Mustang. The Mustang goes round the inside at Riches and while the E-Type is distracted I go round the outside. A manoeuvre like this on the opening lap is either brave or foolish depending on whether you pull it off. Fortunately there's grip and we go three abreast through the fast sweeping right-hander, and rush down to the first hairpin, Montreal. The Mustang struggles for grip and I accelerate past, first blood to the Porsche! Given the E-Type went on the brakes early last corner I sneak up the inside at Agostini, the next hairpin, and out brake him. The move sticks and we're now crawling all over the back of a blue MGB. We're both sliding around at ludicrous levels and there's a real danger we'll touch given the speed and closeness of the racing, but fortunately no-one swaps paint. I try the same manoeuvre at Williams, a fast right hander that leads onto the Bentley Straight, but the MBG is having none of it, shutting the door on me. Ahead is a red Austin Healey, also struggling in the wet to put his power advantage down, but I'm occupied by my mirrors which are now full of angry E-Type, the driver irritated by an impecunious little upturned bathtub that has passed him on the first lap.
We race up the straight at over 100mph - all I can see is the rain light of the MBG. Oh this way lies madness. The E-Type doesn't manage to pass me, and like everyone else I initially hook into the Bomb Hole, a lovely dip that usually allows you to catapult out the bend at full throttle, but this time it's full of water, making the car momentarily aquaplane scarily at speed. Won't do that again! Then it's into the second to last corner, Coram, a long, long sweeping right hander that seems to go on forever. The red Healey in front of the MGB is making hard work of it and I decide to take the longer but oddly more grippy wider outside line. It works a treat and I get past before we both have to go on the brakes for the sharp left hander before the main straight that is Murrays. I've carried more speed in so am forced to use the curb coming out and momentarily touch the grass. The rear snaps hard right in a huge slide but I keep my foot in and catch the slide. Three cars, not a bad first lap!
The field begins to thin out as the laps mount up, then someone starts leaking oil. As if it wasn't bad enough there's now a lethal cocktail of water, rubber and oil all mixed into a fine paste! I go wide to try and avoid the oil at Agostini and hit standing water. The car aquaplanes but oddly what catches my attention is the water being forced up through the hole in the floor like a whale's spout where the passenger harness usually mounts! By the final pit stop there's two inches of water sloshing about in the passenger footwell. The E-Type powers by me the next time we rush up Bentley Straight, then promptly spins at the Bomb Hole, a lurid grass-cutting off. He must have managed to keep it going as I see him back on the circuit later, but like any off it costs you huge amounts of time. The Mustang powers past me on Senna straight shortly thereafter and as I clock him in the drivers mirror overtaking me I almost plough into the back of the rapidly slowing blue MGB that emerges from the murk, obviously having a mechanical issue. A few laps on and I come upon a green Lotus Elan looking worse for wear, it's rear crumpled and it's drivers side front headlight missing.
This is him before his crash:
He's just getting back up to speed so obviously went off moments earlier. I try and overtake him but the inherent chassis advantages play out in this instance and all I can do is watch him slip into the horizon. Happily another Lotus Elan, this time yellow, suddenly slows down the Bentley Straight, his race run. Thank goodness the old adage of Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious holds true - it's not that I wish my fellow competitors ill-fortune, but racing is all about finishing.
I try and find an oil free line but it seems impossible. Off the racing line the track is waterlogged so just as slippery.
At this point I make a decision about our race strategy - cars are falling off the circuit everywhere, on one lap four cars go cutting the grass. This is rapidly turning into a race of balance and bravery - you really do have to treat the accelerator and brake pedal as though they've got fresh eggs under them. Accelerate too hard in any gear, including 4th and you get wild wheelspin and fishtailing, which I have to say is a first for me in a 356. Going on the brakes with any pressure provides the same reaction, this time either the rear swinging around on you unexpectedly or the front aquaplaning, instantly rendering you a passenger until you can wrestle control of the car again. What you can't do though is pussyfoot around as that never wins races, every moment is about searching for the limit of adhesion and correcting minute slides or attacking the corner a bit tighter. At the same time there is no point driving flat out in the first stint as I've got to save the car and more specifically the brakes for the others. We had intended to adjust up the brakes at each pit stop, but a quick practice in the garage highlighted this was going to be at least a two minute job. Making up two minutes in an hour long stint means finding 6 seconds a lap which is impossible in these conditions, so I opt for saving the brakes and avoiding having to adjust them. I hope the calculation now pays dividends when we pit, otherwise I've gone gently for no good reason. We had lost a wiper in qualifying so had to swap the passenger one to the drivers side. This now gives up too, so we're without wipers. It's not as bad as it sounds as we always RainEx the screen and the droplets rapidly slide from the screen as speed builds, but it doesn't help matters that visibility is reduced still further!
We blast past a red MGB but carry too much speed into the first hairpin (Montreal) and end up in a lurid slide, first understeer then oversteer. I do a Nick Faure trick and momentarily let go of the wheel and the car seems to sort itself out before it's back on the gas. The rest of my stint is relatively uneventful - a proportion of the field has expired and a long circuit means much of each lap is completed without seeing another car as their lap times aren't that much better than ours, and that's no bad thing as it's hard enough as it is without the added drama and complexity of another car slithering about on the track next to you. An endurance race like this is a different animal - it's all about conserving the car, not making mistakes, continuing to circulate with enough pace to stay in the race and to have a strategy. By the end of my stint I've long lost count of the number of slides, near spins and lockups I had - this has been the longest racing hour in my life but certainly the best in practicing car control.
My pit stop ends up taking just over four precious minutes but we avoid having to adjust the brakes up, so the strategy paid off.
Ian and Nick both do an amazing job of not falling off the circuit, staying out of trouble and keeping consistent and respectable lap times going.
And then the chequered flag is finally waved and we've done it! We've finished the race, a huge achievement in itself, won the GT1 class and finished in 20th place overall, ahead of two Austin Healeys, two MGB's, two Lotus Elan's and a TVR Grantura and just a minute adrift from the 19th place Elan. Our fastest lap was a 3:10.3 on the third lap before oil rendered any other comparisons irrelevant. Nick looks elated but absolutely shattered - his opening remark is that he loved it but it's the toughest race he's ever done. We agree that there's much development work to be done on the suspension to get the car handling better, but for now we just bask in the warm afterglow that is finishing a race with our head high.
Perhaps I won't rain dance quite so hard next time though….
Thanks to Alex, Darren, Ed & Lee for crewing - you guys did an amazing job. All photos taken by the immensely talented Mr Tom Fawdry (http://three50six.co.uk), who seemed to be everywhere. I didn't intentionally raise two fingers here in a nod to Steve McQueen, I recall I was describing how much water was sitting in the Bomb Hole, honest….
