Rain does strange things to a man. Some shake their fist at the sky because of it, while some with old cars that have more horsepower than grip hold their head in their hands when droplets fall from the sky, especially when using the Dunlop Racing tyre, which is pretty much useless in the rain. Those with a 356 rub their hands in glee though, for it means the power advantage of an AC Cobra or E-Type is neutralised and a level playing field suddenly created. Donington magnifies this because aviation fuel is dumped by aircraft flying in to Midlands airport, making the surface as sticky as wet glass. This year the Historic Festival race for pre-66 GT and sports cars was being run by the GT & Sports Car Club and was oversubscribed with 58 entries for 36 places - a lovely series that runs across a number of high profile events in Europe. A mouth-watering selection of cars made up the grid: Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta ‘Breadvan’, Wolfgang Friedrichs’ Aston Martin DP214 Project car, eight Jaguar E-Types including a genuine Lightweight, six AC Cobra 289’s including Voyazides’ AC Cobra Daytona, four TVR Grantura Mk III’s, one driven by fellow DDK’er Robert Barrie, and two Morgan Plus 4 SLR's and in the smaller classes a number of Lotus’, MGB’s, Mark Hales driving a Triumph TR4, and us, the solitary Porsche and only German car invited.
As usual we had a quick peek at last years results to get the benchmark times. It showed our best qualifying lap was a 1:38.2 and our quickest race lap a 1:37.7 - we always run faster during the heat of the race, while prior years showed the best a 356 had run was 1:36.4, so that was the time to aim for (excluding the 2 litre Carrera with disc brakes which had run a 1:34). Qualifying was a mad affair however, with neither Ian or I get a clean lap - I know it's the first excuse racers use for not putting in a decent time, but in this case it was true! Our quickest lap was a 1:36.8 so we felt happy that we had gone quicker than ever before, but frustrated because we knew with a clean lap we could've gone quicker still. We start 34th on the grid.
And then it rained overnight and that put any quick laps completely out the window. I'll try and give a sense of what it's like to race in the rain on Dunlop's: firstly they're basically a cross-ply, so the moment you turn the wheel they adopt a slip angle of about 17%, giving the slightly disconcerting impression that you've lost all traction, before they then grip. When it rains though that grip never materialises. You'll have driven in the snow - it's basically the same. Accelerate without careful metering of the right foot and the rear wheels spin, turning excess power into a fishtail. Carry too much speed into a corner and the front instantly goes light with no effect on the steering. Turn into a corner too abruptly or with excess power and the rear instantly swings around on you. And beyond a small window of grip you simply become a passenger until the speed has been bled off, which on Donington's tarmac can take forever.
We've been racing long enough now to know that the you need to leave plenty of time leading up to the actual race so you're not rushed. With 15 minutes before official assembly though they called us early, damnation! I jumped into the car, turned the key and nothing. No electrics. Get out, check the external cut-off, check the internal cut-off, turn the key. Still nothing. shite! Ian checks the battery terminals, latches the bonnet, fiddles with the external cut-off and the lights flicker. This is the third electrical cut-off switch we've had in as many years and they are simply rubbish (someone could make a killing as we all use them and everyone complains about them). Anyway, with a bit of jiggling Ian finds a sweet spot and we're sorted - we just hope it lasts for the race. Even Mark Hales looks miserable as we dash for the assembly area:
The circuit is sodden with puddles everywhere and a river running across the bottom of Craner Curves. Everyone is taking it carefully on cold tyres and wet circuit but no-one is getting away from us. In fact we're gaining on cars ahead. Either I'm being reckless or the hurried changes in tyre and suspension settings for the wet racing have worked. Well only one way to find out - I push a bit harder, searching for the limits, the 356 communicating loud and clear on where these are. We seem to have a decent level of grip, especially out of corners accelerating. A TVR Grantura lifts Coppice and I sneak round the outside of him and put my foot down, slowly but surely pulling ahead as we exit down the straight.
A red MGB is next - he's concentrating on a Morgan Plus 4 that overtakes both of us on the right, so I nip left and push a bit harder down the main straight. He loses me in his mirrors and lifts momentarily and I'm past. The Morgan has bottled as we come into Redgate and I shut the door on him gently but firmly, making the decision about who goes first for him. The car feels fantastic. With the new cage the whole car has been transformed, while the exhaust has definitely improved the mid-range punch and top end power. The wet set up seems to have worked a treat - it's been a long time coming but we finally seem to have found the sweet spot for a wet set up. The Cooper Bobtail in front spins in front of me in a graceful and slow-motion pirouette, which would be lovely to watch except he's now travelling backwards across my path. A gentle twitch of the wheel (not too much or we'll join him in his merry dance) and we slither past. Here we are on a drying track a lap before I pass him.
A quick thumbs up for Ian and crew chief Mav as we barrel down the straight before Redgate again. Christ it's slippery. At the bottom of Craner Curves a green Healey 3000 and the Ferrari Breadvan are just exiting up the hill. Two laps later and I'm right on top of them as we brake for the chicane. I know we've better traction than the Healey with it's front-engined layout, so this time I drop it to second to get more power and hope the wider line will compensate as we go round the outside. We pass him as we flash past the pit boards. As usual Mav does a sterling job as pit crew chief, keeping cool, calm and in control as we seem to have brain fade every time we get close to race time. This boy does an amazing job. This race Ian's better half Nicki also helps out, lending a bit of glamour to proceedings - thanks for the help guys!
The pesky Morgan SLR sneaks by at the end of Regate but the Ferrari Breadvan is just up ahead now, slipping and sliding as he tries to put down almost twice as much horsepower as us. I follow him around for a lap sizing him up. He doesn't pull away at any point and brakes early for corners. He's not watching his mirrors though as I put the nose alongside on a couple of occasions and get no reaction. Either he's very brave or not worried about bending a multi-million pound car. As he lifts for Redgate again I leave my braking as late as I dare and put the nose far enough in front that he can't not see it. At least I hope that's the case because if he turns in now he'll collect us both. Thankfully he brakes and I've passed him, but now I'm carrying too much speed into the corner. A gentle dab on the brakes, the nose lightens and we push wide. The kerbs are looming and we slither onto it and then onto the green rumble beyond. The grass edge is now beckoning and if we touch that it's good night nurse. Thankfully the corner eases and we've made it, also making the overtaking manoeuvre stick. We scream down the Craner Curves again, this time chasing a white TVR Grantura.
The leading AC Cobra Daytona dashes between me and a Lotus Elite and I take advantage to pass the Lotus, quietly cheering as he's leading our GT1 class. The Grantura hesitates and we sneak past him, then it's into the pits to swap with Ian on an enforced two-pitstop strategy for the race.
Ian does a 38 minute stint, keeping out of trouble, continuing to overtake cars and progressively pushing further and further up the order as cars expire either through off's or mechanical issues (the Gregor Fisken E-Type catches fire and the Lister Costin Coupe spends a long time in the pits with electrical issues, effectively putting both out of contention). It's fascinating watching the in-car footage to see how different our racing styles are: I'm smoother but Ian allows the car to move about far more beneath him. He's better at clipping the apex of a corner whereas I get on the brakes later. Surprisingly there's usually less than a second a lap between us, so I'm sure if we learnt from each other we would both be faster. It's a credit to Ian that he can race someone else's car (I know he's not alone in doing this, plenty of others are invited to drive a car they don't own) - I know he's conscious of crashing someone else's car and I think I've been pretty relaxed about sharing the car, but it's still deeply impressive that he's prepared to race a car flat out that he doesn't own.
We've also now done enough pitstops and watched others to know we can make up time here too. A quick swap and I'm back in the car for the last 25 minute session. The Aston Project car passes me and I notice a large chuck carved from the right rear corner of the beautiful ally rear - that's never good to see a historic race car bent, but he's still driving it like he stole it. I've no idea where we are in the order but the Elite is still on the circuit so we've got to press on to keep the distance between him and us should anything go wrong for us in the closing stages like a spin. The weather has brightened though and our advantage is beginning to be quickly eroded as the more powerful cars are able to make it count on the straights. Our soft settings for the wet are also beginning to count against us as the car is moving about far more than it would otherwise do, limiting our lap times.
And then the chequered flag is out and we've done it! We finish 24th overall out of 36 starters (up from 21 out of 24 at last years Historic Festival in the same race) and 1st overall in the GT1 class (under 1,600cc) and fastest lap of the day in the GT1 class, bettering our qualifying time with a wet set up at 1:36.7. And yes, we beat the Ferrari Breadvan, which was very satisfying! Roll on Snetterton for the Autosport 3 Hour, which is the big one. And pray for rain…!
There is a postscript to this race. The fuel gauge had sat firmly on empty for the final 5 laps which I thought was odd. We had decided to be more professional and meter the fuel we needed as the last thing you need with an underpowered car is to be carrying more fuel (weight) than you need. Prior to the race I checked the tank which was three quarters full so I just topped it to the brim and then siphoned 35 litres out the GT tank, leaving what I thought was 45 litres in the '80 litre tank'. Back in the pits after the race we took the lid off to see what was left in the tank, only to find the bottom of the tank and the outlet dry. Seems we finished the race with just the fuel in the lines and float bowls of the carbs… and the 80 litre GT tank is actually 70 litres! The lesson here is never assume specifications or capacities and always, always check. Talk about lucky….
Photos courtesy of the amazingly talented Tom Fawdry.
