There are a bunch of Photos at Isadora Poggis' site which far better explain the concept of the Birkett than any prose I can write here. It is a unique event in uk motoracing and if you ever get a chance to compete or watch it I heartily recommend that you go along. Just remember when you are looking at the pictures that all those teams were on the track at the same time and that we were all racing each other.
I'll certainly race in it again whenever I get a chance it was so much fun!
I'm 47D and a couple of specific pictures of me are at these links.
http://www.isadorapoggi.co.uk/2006/750/birkett/061028_184.htm
http://www.isadorapoggi.co.uk/2006/750/birkett/061028_234.htm
In short I had a the most fun exhilerating, entertaining and educational days racing I have ever completed. It was an absolute hoot!
I Learnt more about race craft and overtaking in one afternoon than I had accumulated in three entire seasons racing.
We turned up the day before with the express intention of getting the car scrutineered when there wasn't much of a crowd. Good job we did too, a faulty memory cell on my part meant I forgot to put the extinguisher control box in the car and a faulty earth connection meant I had no brake lights. so for the first time ever I failed scrutineering. All told it only took 15 mins to sort out but I wouldn't have wanted to do it on the morning of the race when 200 other cars were trying to get through scrutineering as well. On Friday afternoon it was quiet and we got our ticket to ride nice and quckly at the second visit.
The only other thing of note on Friday was the fact that the race van got us to the circuit with no problems whatsoever. The recent investements in new starter motor, alternator and switched to control the fridge are finally paying dividends.
Saturday
In the qualifying session I went out early and did 10 laps or so. It has been a couple of months since I raced and I wanted to get used to the relativly high speed differentials between the cars and evaluate the recent addition of the Gurney Strip to the back of the car. I'm happy to report it has made a big difference, the back end is now much less lively, in fact it is pretty planted to the track and when she does start to spin it is not an unrecoverable Snap SPin, more a gentle slide out of the backend which is nicely controllable on the throttle. All of this new stability was now reflected in very much improved grip. Previously I had been lifting slightly through the Woodcote kink in the main straight as the imbalance between front and rear end grip at this point made the car unstable and it felt like it was going to let go. With the new gurney flap it's just so planted and I can now hammer down the straight flat out all the way along. And of course improved stability and confidence meant faster times and I could do 1:11s without really trying very hard.
Remember I was also trying to learn how to overtake a Porche Carrera who was braking some 100m before I needed too, while trying to avoid a 2CV at the corner's apex which was plainly doing what seemed to be 35mph. Eventually I got brave enough to show the slower cars in fro ont my nose on the inside lines as we approached the corner so that they would know I was there. Then stuff it up the inside under braking and use the new found stability and grip to get round the bend.
The other guys in the Team, Tim Pell, Doug Carter and Steve Robinson all had pretty sucessful qualifying sessions, however Steve came in trailing oil from a failed union which caused us some concern.
The Race
Timp went out first and we started from a position of 10th on the Grid. Once underway it became pretty obvious that the pace had picked up substantially from practice. Tim moved up to 4th place and was plainly driving the wheels off his car fighting with the big block cobra in front and lapping in the 1:03s which was pretty something considering the mixed traffic they encountereed as they started to lap the rest of the field at about lap 4 or 5. Tim went on to set the fastest time of the day at 1:02:xx a top effort.
Tim came in and Doug went out and continued in much the same vein. Then it was Steve's turn, and as I was due out after Steve it was my job to be in the car, ready, helmeted and strapped in. Rady to go at a moment's notice in case he had a problem. A position some call "the hare" but I prefer the term "ready 5".
Unfortunately we lost Steve Robinson's car early in his session due to a thrown rod and blown engine, so I went out immediately and started mixing it with the different cars on the track. In this session I did 1:11s and 12s and came in some 25 laps later comepletely exhilerated I had been a bit trepidatious at the increased speed and the difficulty of negiotiating traffic. But I had such fun! Hammering along the back straight trying to find a way past three or four tin tops, all fighting amongst themselves for position and swapping lines across the track was really something. Of course it was easier now my car is a bit more planted and amongst the fastest out there but even so it was a hoot. I got overtaken by a few of the faster cars but generally I felt I had performed to my handicap marker lap.
The driving standards were exceptional, civilised & gentlemanly infact. By the end of the day I took to showing the cars in front my nose in their mirrors so that they knew I was chasing up the inside on the run in to Brooklands I had no one turn in on me all day,Ok some only gave a cars width plus an inch but that was all I now needed.
I went around Luffield up the inside of a Stock hatch and I felt I could have reached out and adjusted his wing mirror if he had needed me too. I touched Nobody all day. Top top fun.
With one car out and only three running the rest of the day was very busy with less than 30 mins between getting out of the car after your session and getting back in to be ready 5 for the next guy
I calculate I did 87 laps, 75+ of which were under race conditions, and I was mixing it with such different machinery everything from Toyata MR2s to classic Jag e types. And I got progressively much faster and more agressive during the day, and as a result I got overtaken less and less.
The Highlights were
- Outbraking a Westie and a tin top on the inside line at high speed into Copse , Holding it on the tighter line and then making it stick on the run up to MAggots.
- Outbraking loads of cars all day in the run in to Brooklands\Luffied.
- Stuffing it up the inside of a tin top a Luffied.
- Driving around the outside of Judy at Becketts.
- A couple of four or five lap battles with big engined Morgans and an Original Whale tail Jag.
The car was glued to the track all day, the Gurney flap has really helped it's stability and I was driving the wheels of it by the end... not wanting my sessions to end.
Now I can just play around with it at the limit... a bit more throttle here for controllable back end slide or to turn the nose in, bit less throttle there to get it to tuck in. I'd heard guys talk about playing about on the limit before but I've never been able to do. I guess parallel development of b oth car and driver is the key.:-)
It was such fun and my confidence grew hugely throughout the day.
This was refelcted in my laptimes... 1:11s in fist sessions, 1:9s in the second.
Best in my 3rd sessions was 1:06.87 ONE OH SIXES! Whooo Hooo! That is 3 seconds better than my previous best.
That would put me 10th ot 11th on the last RGB grid at Sillystone a move forward of 15 places from my last position. Bejezzus and that was on old rubber too!
Today I feel I really came of age as a driver, helped in no short part by a solid stable predictable platform to drive. Hopefully higher speeds and mixed traffic will no longer phase me.
We finished 8th of 51 teams on the road which is a fine effort, but the handicap system hurt us as did the loss of one of our faster drivers so we finished 5th in class. but it was none the less a top top day.
I've been wearing a very big grin for two days as a result
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