From the Other Side Of The Fence
A Spectator's View Of The Silverstone 1000kms

It is a dull and gloomy Friday afternoon in September and (anyone from Unusual Industries of Bugbrooke ignore this) I have escaped from work an hour and a half early. Although the weather is less than inspiring, as I turn South onto the A5 suddenly I break into a silly grin. Because free practice starts in 15 minutes!

Silverstone has been changing all year – from a building site for the FIA GTs in May, to respectability for British GTs in August; and now, just four weeks later, it is finally looking pretty good. However, there is still a long walk across a grassy field to get to the inside of the new “loop”, but I make it just in time to see the Oreca Peugeot diving into the complex at what seems a totally unbelievable speed.

The tingle immediately goes up the spine as it is followed by a cornucopia of top class sports cars, from the screaming V12s of the Lola-Astons down to the rumbling V8 of their little sister in GT2 class. This is what makes Le Mans sports cars special. This is the real deal.

As a spectator, practice sessions are always something a bit different. There is no “real” racing going on, but, oddly enough, my favourite day of the whole year isn’t the le Mans 24 hours, it is the Thursday before when we tend to end up having a beer in Arnage village before watching evening and night practice from the Indianapolis / Arnage complex. Perhaps I am a geek but I find the whole process of long practice sessions where the teams gradually, gradually make the cars faster and better for a long race absolutely fascinating.

Silverstone doesn’t quite have the same atmosphere (yet) but all the same it is excellent just watching the cars circulating (especially when I should really be at work – sorry CJ). Some drivers are obviously getting quite confident with the set up of the cars, others adopting a far more circumspect approach and treating the loud pedal with a huge amount of respect in these slightly marginal conditions. Red flag! The number 1 Peugeot crawls past trailing gravel and shortly afterwards the 008 Aston drives past on the back of a flat bed – not everything is going to plan for everyone. But if it did where would the challenge lie?

I watch the final half hour from the end of the new Wellington Straight and the variety of lines into the Brooklands complex is also intriguing; but what sticks in the mind most of all is just how ridiculously late the LMP1 cars are braking into there. And this is just second practice on a cold damp evening!

The session ends, the engine noises die away, and the dulcet tones of John Hindhaugh can be heard signing off for the evening.

Fun over the day, I have to come back into the real world and head for home.

Saturday is spent away from Silverstone – our own [British Pedal Car] championship  still has one round left to run, meaning training in the morning and car preparation during the afternoon, followed by a shake down at stupid o’clock on Sunday (pedal cars have the advantage that you can stick them in the boot of a large estate, drive to the local reservoir and do laps on the internal roads before most people are out of bed). Then, just before ten, Phil turns up and we head down to the circuit.

First tip then: Do not expect race track coffee to be good. Having foolishly passed the BP garage’s “Wild Bean Café” by ten minutes beforehand, we then spend an otherwise pleasant half hour drinking warm brown milk in the sunshine waiting for the third member of our party – my brother Chris – to find us. Once he does this begins to really feel like a day out - three Le Mans veterans, each with our own takes on racing, ready to somehow enjoy each other’s company without being able to speak to each other for most of the day. For this to work you have to be very good friends. You can communicate through sign language, lip reading (Phil being the master of this), expression, body language and reactions to whatever John is shouting about on the radio at that particular moment. For example, at Le Mans this year, me slapping Chris repeatedly on the left shoulder he immediately understood to mean “The Davidson Peugeot has blown up.” It is something you either get or you don’t. If you don’t then you don’t go to sports car races together.

Pleasingly, the grandstands are open to all and we find some seats at about the transition between Formula Le Mans and GT2 as the grid forms.

Most of the cars are familiar from Le Mans and the usual suspects are pretty much in the usual places. Notable is an Aston and the two pink Pescarolos out of place at the back, together with a somewhat embarrassed looking pair of CRS Ferraris after their tyre warmer issues. Not their best weekend ever so far one would assume!

The Formula Le Mans cars are not new, but it is different to see them in this company. They look sort of right, but also somewhat out of place. It is hard to define just why, but a formula class in a sports car race doesn’t quite seem right.

Still, it is an absolutely top quality grid – with the exception of Corvette, pretty much anyone who is anyone in international sports car racing is here and as the formalities are done with and the grid clears you can feel the atmosphere building. Steve McQueen got it so right with the heart beats rising, didn’t he?

The field rolls off. A brief few minutes of eerie calm and then the headlights are approaching out of Luffield. The pace car pulls off, the lights go green and twenty thousand horsepower is unleashed upon this quiet part of Northamptonshire – Silverstone only sees a spectacle like this once a year and of that there is absolutely no doubt.

Second tip: Always, always, always take a radio with some decent ear buds. Radio Le Mans provide an absolutely first class service during these events and without them it would be totally impossible to follow what is going on. Don’t be fooled by the large speakers positioned every hundred yards round the circuit – once the race starts you won’t be able to hear squat out of them.

Having struggled in the past to find the right frequency (once again there are no notices anywhere round the circuit to tell you what they are broadcasting on) this time I have gone right to the top and Facebooked Eve Hewitt, with the result that we all have our radios preset to 87.7FM.

The first laps, as always, are where you tend to get carried away. It is easy to forget that these teams will be at it for over five hours and also easy to try and read too much into the early exchanges. The drivers, Anthony Davidson in particular, also seem to have forgotten this and we are treated to an enthralling battle up front, as one of the rising stars of sportscar racing battles wheel to wheel with one of the acknowledged all time greats in the shape of Alan McNish. To us, it seems advantage Audi after the first lap, but from then on it is obvious the Peugeot is faster – only question is will he drive round the R15, drive through the R15 or drive off the circuit. Thankfully the overtake, when it comes, is bold and brilliant but clean and safe because, unlike certain other forms of motor sport, sports car fans don’t generally part with their 25 just in the hope of seeing some juicy crashes.

Now the race settles down and Peugeot start to pull away as we have seen them do for the last three years at le Mans. Audi are settling down to their pace and…

…as one, all three of us are on our feet as the number seven car grinds to a halt. Must be a glitch, he’ll be going in a minute, the clever boys at Joest will sort it out and then there will be a come back drive and...

No! McNish is out! Totally unbelievable. Of all the scenarios we had been mulling over before the race, one where either Audi failed to make it to the chequered flag never even occurred!

As we get over our shock the race really does now start to settle down into a rhythm with the two Peugeots easing away by a small but significant margin and the number 8 Audi starting its day-long chase.

Third tip now: Pick one car in each of the “lower” classes and try and follow its progress. Why? When you are following a mixed-class event it is easy to have one class pass you by all together. It just happens. You will see the cars but somehow you won’t “see” them. Remember, as spectators, we don’t have timing and scoring, just our eyes and ears. Even with Radio Le Mans it is very easy to completely miss that LMP2 has gone down to the wire if you have had your attention stolen by a Corvette going head to head with a Ferrari in GT2 for example.

This time it is easy – in GT2 we have the Aston (and it is doing rather well as the race unfolds). In LMP2 there is no consensus, but I have always liked the RML Lola and the Oak Pescarolos – both of which have something to gain from this race other than a race win itself. Here is where Formula Le Mans falls down; basically because all the cars are the same, none of the liveries are particularly inspiring and they get lost amongst the slower LMP2 cars. I am sorry, but this time out we really couldn’t tell you who did what in this class. I am sure they all drove very well, the cars performed admirably and the teams did a great job. It’s just that we didn’t really notice them doing it.

Moving from the stands round to the exit of Woodcote to find somewhere to share lunch - this is a fantastic spot if you like to listen to sports cars as much as watch them, as everyone gets the power down out of the corner and the various cars wail, thunder, roar and (in the case of the Audi) hiss off down the short straight to Beckets.

A pattern is now emerging. At the front, the Audi can hold (and it seems close up a little) on the Peugeot at the start of each stint, only to fall away again at the end. In GT2 it seems the other way around as the Aston drops the Ferrari at the start only to lose a little time at the end of each set of tyres and fuel. Meanwhile, a white Porsche is, as always, hovering in the back ground and going just a little further on a tank full each time.

LMP2 is a little more predictable. Basically, if we are going to have a race for the win then it will be because Strakka will have hit trouble. RML are driving for the championship and Quifel ASM are just not quite on the pace in their Zytek.

There is entertainment a plenty also being provided by the ruthlessly efficient Aston Martin LMP1 team, the sheer infectious enthusiasm of Drayson and the ever luckless Rebellion squad backed up by the Mansell boys in their gorgeous looking Ginetta Zytek. The only time the eyes stray from the track during this second hour of the race is when (as is traditional) we all pretend to fall asleep when someone interviews Nigel Mansell on the radio. Did Lenny Henry know what he was starting all those years ago?

Time to move again, this time to one of my favourite spots; which is the apex of the first part of the Beckets complex. Except there is a great big sign of some sort cable-tied to the outside of the catch fencing here, totally obstructing the view of the track. Phil points out that this is probably to provide a decent back drop for a TV camera pointing down at us, but to be honest it is more than a little bit frustrating.

Still, a vantage point is found and once again you can’t fail to be blown away by the sheer speed some of these cars carry through this corner – particularly in traffic and particularly the Peugeots 908s, which just seem nailed to the road through there.

Half an hour peering through a gap in the fence later, and with half distance approaching, it is time to head off down to Stowe.

Fourth and final tip: Do not try taking photos of racing cars through a catch fence. Seriously, it just won’t work. You may think you have taken the best shot of your life but when you bring it up on a full screen you will see a maze of blurry lines all over it in the shape of chain link fencing. Silverstone is good for this though, because from the exit of Stowe, most of the way down the Vale and into Club you have a more than evens chance of getting the camera above this.

Seeing the cars through Stowe you can once again appreciate the speed differential. The poor Lambo seems to be getting mugged every lap, but is also being driven very sensibly to stay on its line and let the faster traffic avoid it. The big problems come when something like an Audi tries to lap something like a P1 Lola where there isn’t a speed differential to work with. Once again you realise just how good these guys are at avoiding each other whilst banging in the lap time. Nevertheless, during the hour we are there, we average at least one “Oooh shit!” moment every ten minutes, as someone cuts it just a little fine down the inside of an innocent back marker. Noticeable is just how unstable the Felbermayer Porsches are in Stowe Corner. Whatever they did with the tyres or set up for this race was definitely not the right thing.

The race is building nicely now. The Strakka HPD has been tagged by the Spyker at some point so they are on a run back up to the front of LMP2, which is great because we get to see just how quick that car is. Audi are clinging on grimly but it is gradually becoming apparent that they have no ammunition for Peugeot once they are in traffic.

Meanwhile, we are starting to get a horrible sinking feeling about GT2, because gradually, gradually the Aston Martin is veering towards needing an extra fuel stop compared with the other front runners, which will certainly drop it from the class lead and into the clutches of one of the Ferraris and that inconspicuous white Porsche that has been on the prowl all race.

For the final hour, we move round to Club and here there is a chance to get a view over the fence again, meaning Chris can get his video camera out and I can take some more stills with the skeletal form of the new pits in the back ground.

There is consternation amongst the Radio Le Mans team when the Oreca Peugeot temporarily disappears from the timing screens when the transponder fails; but it amuses Phil because it is his job to deal with exactly this sort of thing in race control at pedal car races. It is nice to know their top of the range system is as prone to failure as our home made one that cost about £1500 to put together!

With thirty laps or so to go there is still plenty to see. The vast majority of the cars are still running and most are running hard.

There is a fantastically lairy moment from the Oreca Peugeot which just seems to get too much gas on too quick coming out of Club – evidence if evidence were needed that they are still having to push to keep the 30 seconds or so gap back to the surviving Audi, which is circulating nose to tail with the 009 Aston Martin and putting in some blinding laps; but it is all to no avail because it is certain now that the R15+ will need another splash of diesel to get it to the end.

 
Also needing more fuel, as predicted, is the GT2 Aston, but they are also assessed a penalty which brings out a classic Darren Turner “It wasn’t me guv’” moment on the radio to keep us amused. Even so, it is a sad end to a fine run.

Strakka are back in the class lead and are once again making the rest of the field look, well, like they are in another class to be honest. Will the ACO rein in this machine? We hope not.

Ben Collins (apparently he used to be on TV…) is finishing the race in the RML Lola which is now looking good for the P2 championship.

Elsewhere the P1 mid field are still hard at it, with the Drayson and Mansell cars in particular giving great value for money after both had suffered delays during the race.

Last lap and Peugeot take a well deserved victory, but Audi have at least kept them honest and it has been no five-lap walk over. In fact, after a little over five hours, the top three in LMP1 are on the same lap; the top three in LMP2 are on the same lap and the top five in GT2 are (sort of) on the same lap. This has been 1000km of hard-fought racing, where very different cars have run at different paces and strategies to finish very closely bunched – it hasn’t been a result “manufactured” by the use of a pace car to bunch the field or a series of daft “performance balancing” measures that we see in certain other forms of sports car racing.

Like I said before, this is the real deal.

Suddenly it is quiet.

We turn John Hindhaugh off on our personal radios only to find he is still there on the circuit PA system! Once again, Radio Le Mans has made the event for us and it is unimaginable these days to picture a top class sports car race without them. Even so, the walk back to the cars seems incredibly quiet and we are left to reflect on what we have seen.

Peugeot were fast, efficient, reliable and everything we used to associate with Audi. Audi made exactly the same mistake they did at Le Mans 2009, in that they had put testing ahead of racing. One can only assume it was a financial decision not to race in Hungary, but it was 100% the wrong one and now they are on the back foot for the rest of the ILMC.

LMP2 has completely recovered from its “Last Man Standing” image of a few years back and these cars are now genuinely competitive over the whole of the race.

GT2 has been very entertaining and close throughout. BMW need to commit more resources if they are to climb the ladder though; a two car team must be the way to go if they are to catch up with the established front runners in this ultra – competitive class.

GT1… Well, it is a sad end isn’t it?

Formula le Mans, as I said earlier, somewhat passed us by.

But, whatever the result and however the forty or so finishers made it to the end of their particular race, we had seen forty five of the world's best sports cars together with over a hundred top drivers provide 170 laps worth of superb entertainment. For £25 I can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Jes Featherstone