Racing isn't normally that complicated. Fastest wins, be that against the clock, a fixed distance, a field of other cars or accrued laps over a given time. But I've re-read the outline for the
Birkett Six Hour Relay
I'll be taking part in tomorrow several times and am still not entirely sure I get how it'll work. Not helped by chatting with folk who've done it before, who've generally summed it up as 'mayhem' or along those lines. Before grinning broadly. Good mayhem then.
Dan to race MX-5 shocker!
Described by organisers the 750 Motor Club as "a bit of end of season fun" it seemingly opens up a six-hour endurance race around Silverstone to up to 70 teams of as many as six drivers - and cars - each. As far as I understand that means you can be racing against a chap in, say, a Caterham before he disappears into the pits and his teammate reappears in a Radical. Or an old MG. Or a touring car. See the 750 Motor Club's
galleryfrom last year
for a sense of how eclectic the grid is...
Working all this out into an equitable result takes a handicap system that currently has me completely baffled. I'm about to head off to Silverstone to go and test the Mazda UK MX-5 I'll be racing in and also hoping the Jota team running the car will be able to explain it to me. It'll be nice to see them again, having raced the car at Rockingham and Snetterton previously.
About that history though. According to the 750 Motor Club the race first ran in 1951 as the brainchild of club founder member 'Holly' Birkett. This is the 63rd running of the event, although it's actually been staged 64 times. How so? The 50th anniversary one was a 12-hour race, obviously. According to an article in Octane luminaries who've previously taken part include Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Gerry Marshall, Vic Elford, Richard Attwood and even Steve McQueen. Some pedigree then.
My plan? Get in the car, drive as fast as I can until someone tells me to stop and then let someone else work out the maths of where that places us. It could be somewhat chaotic out on track. So long as the Mazda board aren't there in the Jinba Ittai car I'm hoping I can keep my nose clean!
Hello from Silverstone and the lull between Birkett Six Hour Relay qualifying and the main event. And, no, I'm still no clearer about how it works, the handicap system or anything to do with the actual racing beyond the fact it promises to be huge fun.
I had a practice session yesterday that was preceded by a huge rain shower that then really picked up pace as I was out, meaning a misted up windscreen and a window of visibility similar to that when setting off on a winter's morning before demist has kicked in. Not ideal. On wets the MX-5 was actually a lot more capable than I was and though scary under brakes hooked up around the corners rather well, with the occasional scary slide through the puddles. And, OK, one spin at Abbey. Turns out a lift isn't adequate for that one in the wet...
Today is dry(ish) though qualifying underlined quite how bonkers the race is going to be. Packs of roaming Caterfields burn up the straights, all power and no grip in the corners, while downforced Radicals (and variations on the theme) are the other way round. Mix in Jaguar XJSes, M3s of various types, the odd Porsche, 60s Camaros, TVRs, Smart ForTwos (really, and seemingly very keen to spin) and you get an idea of how abstract that handicapping system must be. Given the chaos on track it's actually much like a morning commute on the M25, cars chopping in this way and that and a need to spend as much time on the mirrors as you do looking forward.
Still, the car's going well, the Jota team are consummate professionals and there's a general air of enthusiastic companionship in the paddock. This is, after all, a chance for a host of disparate grassroots championships to share a track for no other reason than it seems rather an amusing wheeze.
Right, race has just started and in the time it's taken me to write this the lead car has already caught the back of the field within the first lap, such is the speed differential. Time to go and cheer the team on!
1 / 2