The Big Year (so far): 6 Hours of Silverstone

The Big Year (so far)

My plan failed miserably.  Go to a bunch of races, write witty reports and post them here with some photos shortly after, documenting my adventures in almost real time.  Simple enough.  But it turns out that my (totally non-motorsport related) employer actually expects me to provide services – work, if you will – for the money they pay me, which I in turn use to buy tickets, sunscreen and barbeque briquettes for said races.  It’s a vicious cycle that’s hard to break, and something had to suffer.  So here I am in some cases six months later finally tapping away on a series I’m calling The Big Year (so far).

TBY(sf): 6 Hours of Silverstone

Fourteen years ago Porsche withdrew from the top tier of sports car racing.  In the intervening years there have been a few false starts for the sport’s most iconic marque, so I was determined to be there to witness its renaissance first hand.  That meant making the trek to the 6 Hours of Silverstone.

I decided to drive from Stuttgart as opposed to fly, and since I would be by myself I took my A1 TFSI S-Line instead of the S4, primarily due to the latter’s affinity for petrol stations.  When I ordered it back in 2012 quattro GmbH had hosed down any hopes of an S1 (liars!), and since I wasn’t flush with enough Euros to stump for the fire breathing A1 quattro limited edition this was the next best thing.  With 180 bhp it has plenty of poke, the only downside being that lazily driven M5s are often loath to move out of the fast lane of the autobahn when they see what’s essentially a specced-up Polo filling their mirrors.

After first crossing the border into France, then Luxembourg, then through Belgium and then, ahem, back into France, I arrived at the docks in Dunkirk.  I hadn’t ever taken a ferry across the English Channel, so it was something I was actually quite looking forward to, albeit somewhat sheepishly.  It was made all the more exciting by being parked next to an obviously well-loved Mini Cooper with rally lights up front and a noisy exhaust out back, all rolling on a set of Minilites.  Throw in its pretty female driver returning from a sommelier’s course in the Côte Rôtie, and it would be incorrect to blame my light headedness on seasickness.

The quick dash from Dover to London gave me a taste of what it must be like to drive a right hand drive car on the continent – let’s just say that navigating the Elephant & Castle roundabout from the passenger seat isn’t for the faint hearted.  Continuing on up to Towcester I managed to get to Silverstone in good time, and with driving on the wrong side of the road only once, too.

The last time I visited Silverstone was back in 2011 for the British round of the MotoGP championship, so I spent the Friday morning getting reacquainted with the track.  I do like Silverstone.  Usually tracks either have basic facilities and a free-for-all on what you can bring in, or good facilities but shake the punters by their ankles at the refreshment stands.  I find Silverstone balances the commercial considerations with the fan experience better than most – good facilities while not being unreasonable regarding what you can bring in with you.  You can’t bring in a barbecue and fire it up at Stowe, but someone somewhere in the organization realizes that nothing ruins a race weekend more than having a mate constantly moaning ‘I still can’t believe that arsehole security guard took my pork pie’.  Can you tell I’m speaking from experience?

Race day rolled around and 14 years of hope and trepidation came to a head.  The number 14 Porsche had qualified 3rd behind the 7 Toyota and 1 Audi.

Wrong Audi.

The Toyotas set the pace early, setting fast and consistent lap times while staying relatively out of trouble.  The same couldn't be said for the 14 Porsche, nor for the two Audis, especially the number 2.  Three hours in with Frenchman Benoit Treluyer behind the wheel, its rear left tyre kissed the outside rumble strip heading into Copse, resulting in massive oversteer, destroying the car's front end as it careened into the inside barrier.

That was after this photo was taken.

Treluyer tried in vain to get the car going again, ripping damaged components off the chassis and ignoring instructions from the marshalls to vacate the vehicle, only to eventually dig deeper and deeper into the gravel trap.  It was a disappointingly poetic end to Audi's day.

Not long after it started to rain heavily, the remaining cars slowing their pace considerably.  With only 6 full time LMP1-H entrants, making it to the end meant points that could prove themselves valuable late in the year.  With F1 convert Mark Webber behind the wheel, the 20 Porsche used this opportunity to close the gap.

With the 8 Toyota leading the 7, team direction understandably instructed their drivers to stay out of each others way, and to bring the cars home in one piece respectively.

As the rain continued to intensify, at the 5:30 mark race direction red flagged the race, not to be restarted.  It meant a Toyota 1-2 with Porsche on the podium of their first race in almost a decade and a half.  A tough day for Audi, but there's plenty more racing this year...