Friday 24th June 2011

PHers Hot-Foot It To The Ring 24hrs

Castrol EDGE 'sponsored' PH reporters head to the races

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Tony aims to mix it up with the Germans

Thanks to the unbounded generosity of Castrol EDGE (they like it in capitals, it's not shouting...), a pair of enthusiastic PHers are today hot-footing it to this weekend's Nurburgring 24hrs, from whence they'll be preparing post-event reports for our mutual entertainment.

The lucky PHers are John Edwards and Tony Hetherington, who spotted the fab Castrol EDGE offer in the PH motorsport forum last week, and leapt to their keyboards to write 200 word 'applications' as to why they should feel the benefit of the oil giant's largesse.

We picked our first 'ace reporter' Tony Hetherington, because he cleverly suggested this was a fab opportunity for some first hand research into the Nurburgring 24 as a viable alternative to the Le Mans weekend. We all know that every year folk return from the French sojourn to gripe in the forums about lager-swilling froggies demanding burnouts from Brits on pain of a 1664 cockpit shower, so Tony's going to recce the Ring to see what the beer-fuelled German fans get up to. Who knows, if he likes it, we'll all go and pitch our tents there in 2012. (That'll ruin it! Ed.)

John wants to share the love

'Equally ace reporter' John Edwards got the nod because his enthusiastic entry summed up the spirit of PH to the core. He's done Le Mans, but never enjoyed any kind of access to a racing car team, and reckons it's his job to share the excitement and energy of the event with fello PH readers. He reckons he's a dab hand with a camera (as does Tony), so let's just say expectations in the PH office are running high. (We also picked John because he's a 1960s Mustang driver who likes a bit of drag-strip action and, well, it will be funny to see the look on his face as the cars keep coming round again...)

Congrats chaps, and thanks to Castrol EDGE for offering this grand weekend out to our chosen ones. Look out for their reports on PH next week.

[MattDell]

Congratulations to you both!

[don logan]

Please tell us that John Edwards will be driving his Mustang to the `Ring!

That would be so much more of a story than if they took something "sensible"

[soad]

Jammy gits

[White-Noise]

Lucky guys, I would have gone were I not racing!

[anniesdad]

Lucky guy that Tony Hetherington! Shares his name with a moderator on PH too!!

[rob.e]

Looking forward to the write up on this one!

[newdogg06]

Jammy gits indeed! Enjoy it. Thought that was Jonny Knoxville in the pic!

[xcat]

lucky lucky lucky.

This race is SO much better than Le Mans, the camping grounds are SO much better. I hope they pack their drinking heads and get to know their 'neighbours'
If you're reading this guys... to get into the garages... shhh, don't tell anyone... late night or through the night, grab a few cable ties and a spanner or two and look like you've got a job to do in the garage. You will get into them, even onto the pit lane. I watched the lead car's pitstop in the middle of the night from about 5 foot away! Try that at Le Mans.

Wish I was going boo hoo....

[JakesterUK]

Well done John, you'll have to tell us all about it at the next race meet.

[Garlick]

Hetherington. Ladies (and mens) favourite.

Poster sized image avaiable on request.

[Slinky]

anniesdad said:

Lucky guy that Tony Hetherington! Shares his name with a moderator on PH too!!

I think his middle name must be "Lucky"!

[BillyB]

How does the Ring 24hrs compare as an experience to Le Mans? I am thinking of going German rather than French next year but haven't really been able to find a good description of what to expect at The Ring.

[BSC]

If you have satellite TV you may watch the 24h Race live on Sport1 from Germany. On Thursday until 22:30 UK time and on Friday the second qualifying session from 10:35 to 11:55. And from Saturday to Sunday 15:00 when the race ends at least 12 hours of live coverage.

On the Internet you may check the official website with live ticker and all results.

Edited by BSC on Thursday 23 June 21:59

[wackojacko]

Pure JAM !

[BSC]

Sorry, double posting.

[Rich_W]

anniesdad said:

Lucky guy that Tony Hetherington! Shares his name with a moderator on PH too!!

Oh FFS! Seriously?

[BSC]

You should see Glickenhaus' Ferrari red glowing exhaust tailpipes in the night! Unbelieveable!

To give you an idea of the event: It's the race with the most competitors on the track, the organisers' staff is 2,000 people, normally 200,000 spectators. Le Mans on the other hand is more high performance and after some hours the some cars have already retired, so not too much wheel-to-wheel racing from then on.

Live ranking

Edited by BSC on Thursday 23 June 22:39

[Life Saab Itch]

BillyB said:

How does the Ring 24hrs compare as an experience to Le Mans? I am thinking of going German rather than French next year but haven't really been able to find a good description of what to expect at The Ring.

Better!

[KM666]

Cracking stuff! V8 all the way

[legalknievel]

What was the point of this article, then? Two persons who are not me get to go to the Nurburgring and mess about with the race teams...

To quote the great Derek Edward Trotter: 'Rodders, that's like the parable of the lucky git!'

Humbug!