So long gone are the days when you trundled the UK leg of a European drive and then opened the taps from Calais onwards that I’ve almost forgotten the way the world used to be. Dare I say it – the Blighty bit is the faster section these days. The fear of a cavity search and a confiscated car seems to slow me down.
All smiles on the tunnel ... was it to last?
The M5 appeared to enjoy its trundle from the West Country to the Tunnel – cruising effortlessly but retaining the kind of high speed engine braking reserved for machines with the aerodynamics of the Natural History Museum. It’s a strange feeling and can leave you slightly out of sync in a fast moving convoy because the E28 shape loses speed much more swiftly on a trailing throttle than a modern car.
But what a way to travel – motorsport six blaring away, my Belkin radio iPod thingy communicating surprisingly successfully with the Blaupunkt Bremen (which is three years too young to be in the E28, a fact which I find very irritating). That bolstered seat pinching the right parts of your body and the once-weird driving position now feeling completely natural. The pedals seem way too close at first, and the wheel too far away – but within a few miles all is somehow correct. Weird. It’s a small car too – you can steer it onto the Tunnel train with one hand, unlike a modern M5. When there’s a train ready to depart, of which there seemed to be a lack yesterday.
French side, things continued well. The ultra-smooth surface uncovered some slight vibrations – I’m inclined to agree with the clever types in the forum posts, it feels like front suspension play. It’s a little wobbly at 80mph, much smoother at 95mph. Er … why is it I always start a journey in France at 80mph and finish it a little bit quicker?
Now, I was due to sign-on for the Carrera Cup race by 3:30pm, but due to a cancelled train, that was looking a bit tight, and all hopes of being on-time were dashed south of Rouen when the A28 was completely shut. This reminded me of the freedom I used to so enjoy pre sat-nav on foreign drives. I would just follow sign posts and hope for the best. For a brief time I relived that freedom, grinning at the silly pace this car has for something so ordinary looking. Then I realised I was completely lost and piled into the data roaming bill. This bought me back into a large queue of other divertees – and that’s when I noticed the water temperature gauge. It was well beyond the vertical.
It rose and then fell back as the car sat idling. And then the power steering belt made a screech and my thoughts turned to the Ferrari FF that was sitting back in the UK – the one with the steady water temperature and silent power steering. We made it to Le Mans with a shrieking belt and the temperature gauge heading near the red zone. I was a bit sad – this car is normally a rock. But sitting stationary for eight months is not the ideal preparation for a decent road trip.
Porsche home for Harris in coming days
Once I’d signed-on, gawped at the amazing small town Porsche has erected for this race, resisted mounting my own racing car for the week (you have to see the rear wing, it’s perfect) I went for a fiddle under the M5’s bonnet. The power steering belt was slack – as expected - but all else seemed fine. Befuddled, I called Barney at Classic Heroes. He knows a thing or two about these old sheds.
He talked me through the bits and bobs. A seized water pump was discounted and then he mentioned the viscous coupling for the fan. “You can see the nut on the front of that top pulley?” Only I couldn’t. He thought I was bonkers, I could see a fan on the front of the engine, but not where he said it should be. How do you lose a fan? I sent him a photo. “You don’t have a cooling fan on your engine Chris, that other fan is for the air-con.”
I had a new radiator fitted in 2007. The car has run without a cooling fan since then. How is that possible? It never uses any water, and this time it didn’t actually get that hot. What a legendary motor the M88 is. Imagine a modern car engine doing that in 28 degrees and standing still?
The next Porsche Harris drives here will be faster
Barney said he had the viscous bit and a spare fan, and the bloody bolt that should have been there in the first place. They should arrive Friday, just in time to use the car all weekend, when I’m not riding the Brompton.
We don’t practice until 8:30pm (I’m writing this at 9:30pm and there’s just enough light) so there’s time to go and beg a friend to help me fit new belts as well. Neil Yates of Rally Prep, who built the M3 rally car, might find his fun weekend at Le Mans with the boys slightly curtailed.
I’ve left the M5 at the circuit and borrowed a Cayenne – pleasant but somewhat lacking in cool factor after the Bimmer. On the way back to the hotel the Mulsanne was open to traffic – it’s pretty alarming to think I was doing 175mph down it in a 1959 Lister this time last year. I stopped and had a wander. The Cup cars are running an extra Gurney strip to slow them down on the straights at this event; it’s cheaper than lengthening the gearing.
There’s something very exciting about seeing a section of public highway that will tomorrow be closed to the public to allow racing cars to travel at over 200mph. Nowhere has quite the aura of Le Mans, not Spa, not even the ‘ring. The melding of public road and racing course is compelling and breathtaking.
First lap into that first chicane will be life-affirming and terrifying in equal measure.
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