356 Race Car

[earlybay]

Yep good luck in your first race Steve ...

[steve wright]

Well. What a weekend. To say it was a baptism of fire would be a bit of an understatement! I always new getting a car prepared for circuit racing, through scrutineering, and going racing on a circuit neither of us knew, in a car we had never raced before, in a competitive and full-on race series such as the HSCC Guards Trophy series was going to be a tall order, but I couldn’t have envisaged how much of a steep learning curve it would be! I had set myself three objectives: to get the car through scrutineering, to finish the race, and not to bend it or anyone else’s car in the process.

I’ll admit that testing on Friday was completely overwhelming to begin with. It was an open test day, which meant that all and everything was out on the circuit, from new Porsche GT3’s driven by young hot shots with a point to prove, to LMP2 Le Mans cars and everything in between. Trying to get a 54 year old car on pace with any of them was a complete waste of time, so we made sure we did nothing stupid and tried to learn the circuit. Bear in mind that with the BBAA gearing the car was flat out in top at about 105mph, and the GT3’s were going past us at the end of Hanger and the new Wellington straights I reckon at close to 180mph... It’s also worth highlighting at this point that when I left the pit lane I thought to myself, “Well this is interesting, I wonder which way the first corner goes!” I kid you not – I had no idea of the course, and it’s flat too, which meant some corners I’d arrive at and think, “Okay, when do I brake, is it left or right and I wonder what gear I should be in?” Which gives you some sense of how out our depth we were! We spent the day finishing preparation of the car, and trying to learn the circuit.

Scrutineering turned out to be a non-event, with just two minor items attended to literally in the scrutineering bay, so that was a huge confidence booster. I must at this point thank the mates who turned up to help as we literally couldn’t have done it without them, in particular Mav and Russell who have both raced and pit-crewed before. Their calm preparation of the car on Friday and race day, before it was needed and guidance throughout was simply invaluable – thanks guys. I must also thank Philip B for holding our hands and guiding us through the race admin and allowing us to stay at his place as this made things a whole lot easier – thanks Philip! Race admin proved to be the biggest challenge of all: from knowing where and how to sign-on, to getting the car scrutineered, attending new driver briefings (which we missed and earned a telling off from the Clerk of the Course as a result) to finding the assembly area prior to practice and race times, just added to the full-on nature of the two days.

So how was the actual racing you ask? Well, it’s at this point that I should point out that not only where we virgin racers in a new car and on a circuit we didn’t know, but I also discovered we were also in the oldest car by some three years, with one of the smallest engines (only the feather-weight Lotus Elan’s with 1558cc screamers had less capacity) and the only car I think with drum brakes all round. Gulp! So an objective of just finishing seemed very realistic!

Saturday started grey and wet, with a very damp track and light drizzle, which made driving on the circuit really tricky. Think wet glass covered in baby oil and you’ve some idea of how little grip the Dunlop racing tyres offer in the wet! But what it did mean was that none of the powerful stuff like the E-Type’s, Mustangs, AC Cobra’s and TVR Griffith’s could put the power down, so it created something of a level playing field. 38 cars qualified and we qualified third from last, but not last, ahead of a Lotus 36 and Porsche 911, so I was over the moon. Our best lap time at this point was 3 minutes 33 seconds although in testing the previous day on a dry track Ian had done a 3.14 and I’d done a 3.17, so it was difficult to sense how much improvement we had made on Friday’s testing day.

A rolling start meant chaos in the first lap, with three abreast separated by inches through the corners, and I exaggerate not in saying this. Down the Hanger straight on the first lap I could’ve literally knocked on the window of the guys either side of me! What became very obvious very quickly though, was that it was a hell of a lot easier to race with cars of a similar vintage rather than contend with the modern stuff of testing day, so I just tucked in behind the car in front and followed him around for the first couple of laps to gain confidence. Then one of the TVR Griffith’s stuffed itself into the gravel and I also realised that we weren’t getting left behind the main group of cars. I also realised that the Carrera GT drum brakes were actually alright and I had the measure of the 911 in front of me, so at the end of the Hanger straight on the second lap I snuck up the inside under brakes and held it round the next corner – I had actually passed someone, and a 1965 911 no less! As the laps went by I got more and more confident, and managed to lap pretty consistently at 3.03, a whole 14 seconds faster than testing, without doing anything stupid or embarrassing. Then another 911 glided silently into the pit lane with problems and I realised we weren’t going to finish last either. I managed to start putting corners together occasionally and things began to gain some familiarity, so at least I was now able to get the car prepared for a corner rather than arrive at it and wonder where I was going next, and the 356 just seemed to relish in being raced hard. The engine didn’t budge from 180 degrees despite being consistently revved to 7,000 rpm, and although the brake pedal got slightly longer it didn’t fade. I have to tell you that there is nothing quite like being in a full-blooded four wheel drift in an early Porsche! In the end we finished 30th, ahead of 8 other cars, including the two 911’s, a couple of Lotus’, an Austin Healey 3000 and the TVR that crashed. To say we were delighted would be an understatement! Ian had lapped pretty much bang on the same times as me, he’d not spun on the oil two others in front had, and we hadn’t spent the race trailing the main pack or embarrassed ourselves with rubbish driving, so we left the day over the moon.

We’ve a long list of things to improve before Snetterton, including new and better front drum material, and a host of other things to make it corner better, but overall Ian and I are thrilled with how the car performed. Did we enjoy it? You betcha! If you’ve any inclination to race, do it! I now have some insight into why Steve McQueen said something along the lines of “racing is life, everything else is just waiting”!

Either Steve Murphy or I will post photos of the event over the next few days. Cheers, Steve

[one-two]

You did great!

[Gary71]

Sounds like a great weekend

[KS]

Fantastic Steve (and Ian, of course!). Well done both of you!!!

[Mitch]

Terrific report and congrats on achieving everything you set out to do, and more... thrilling stuff, well done!

[Winston Teague]

Very well done indeed. W

[decapman]

Great write up and very well done Steve
Look forward to reading more

[neilbardsley]

Top Bombing!

[PhilipB]

Steve and Ian should also be congratulated for the style in which they arrived at Silverstone. They were the only competitors with an Appendix K tow vehicle!

[Jeremy 356 (Jez 356)]

Brilliant news and well written update Steve

Glad to hear you are keeping the 356 end up!

Well done - bet you cant wait for Snetterton now!

Regards Jeremy

[roy mawbey]

Well done Steve, really interesting report on the race. Back in the 70's I remember seeing Nick Faure racing a 356A at Thruxton they look really nice on the track and at speed. Your preparation that I have been following on this thread must have really paid off.

You are though a braver man than me, it must have been really exciting to do that and get on so well.




Roy

[MdR]

Did we enjoy it? You betcha!

Congratulations on your acheivements and I'm really pleased to hear you enjoyed it so much

[steve wright]

"Steve and Ian should also be congratulated for the style in which they arrived at Silverstone. They were the only competitors with an Appendix K tow vehicle!" Brilliant line Philip, love it. Yes we might not arrive quickly anywhere but we try to do it in style. I've told a bunch of female workmates who are coming to Brands to watch us that they've all got to arrive in period Sixties short skirts! We're hoping to use it as a ploy to distract other drivers Thanks again Philip for looking after us and also for letting us stay. I'm just sorry you had to hold our hand so much - rather embarrassingly we couldn't even get the paperwork for the HSCC afternoon tea sorted!

[PhilipB]

Here's looking forward to Brands Hatch!