A thirst for motor racing never quite goes away – and a season on the European circuit is a good refresher, writes BOB MONTGOMERY
February 18, 2009HAVE YOU ever had one of those “what on earth am I doing here” moments? My latest came last May, when I found myself in the middle of a grid of 64 cars on the fearsome Spa-Francorchamps motor racing circuit in Belgium. There was a time when I used to do this sort of thing regularly – even winning several championships in Irish Saloon Car Racing – but that was 19 years ago.
So, how did I get here? Well, there are lots of people in motorsport who will cheerfully tell you that motorsport is a disease for which there is no cure.
Having raced through the 1980s, it was replaced in the 1990s by mortgages and the like. And so it was that I stayed away for a decade, but then one of my sons, Robert, caught the karting bug and suddenly I found myself back in the world of motor racing.
Unfortunately, Robert grew too quickly to remain competitive in the different weight-sensitive junior karting classes. But about four years ago, he and I started to do track days in my road-going Lotus Elise. Suddenly, the desire to race again swelled up like unfinished business, waiting to be resolved.
Having seen others return to the track after shorter spells away, it was uppermost in my mind that I didn’t want to come back unless I felt I could be competitive. Then the opportunity presented itself to race a Lotus 2Eleven in the Lotus Europe Cup – a race series administered by the Automobile Club von Deutschland (AvD) and raced over some of the classic European racing circuits – Nürburgring, Spa, Hockenheim, Oschersleben, Dijon and Monza.
We soon devised the most cost-effective way to compete in this championship, joining forces with other Lotus drivers who based their cars with a Lotus dealer in Belgium and sharing the costs of transporting the cars to and from events. With some serious budgetting and sacrificing any creature comforts to the gods of recession we managed to keep the entire costs at under €1,000 per race, split between the two of us.
Our air tickets were bought as far in advance as possible and, keeping hotel and hire costs to a minimum, we usually flew into the nearest airport on Saturday morning and returned home late on Sunday night. Between events, the cars were serviced by the Lotus dealer and this arrangement probably proved cheaper than a season spent on the UK circuits.
And that was how I found myself on the grid at Spa where there was the small problem of the start. As the car had only been delivered the day before and was barely run in, any track time – just 20 minutes – had been used in trying to learn the circuit. There had been no time to practise starts and so I had asked the Lotus Technical representative present at the race how best to get the thing off the line.
“Just take it up to 8,000rpm and let the clutch out as quickly as you can,” was the cheerful reply. That seemed a bit harsh but, in the absence of any better options, there seemed little choice. . .
Formed up on the F1 grid just 100 yards before the famous La Source hairpin, I did exactly as I was told and promptly made what was probably the best start of my racing career, jumping six rows before the corner. Sadly, it was to no avail – a car careered, out of control, across the front of mine and promptly dropped me back to more or less to where I started. Nevertheless, a third in class at Spa was sufficient to reignite all my long-dormant racing instincts and banish any more “what am I doing here” feelings.
The Lotus Europe Cup was to be contested over six 100-mile races, each long enough to allow a driver change, and for the series I was to be accompanied by my old journalistic friend and former F2 racer, Brian Cullen.
Brian had also returned to motor racing after an equally long gap and had proven his competitiveness by winning the three-hour race at Magny Cours in France a few seasons before. With Brian’s undoubted speed, I felt that we could be reasonably competitive in the championship.
And so we journeyed to the ultra-fast Hockenheim circuit in Germany. In a race held in searing heat, Brian initially lost ground in the unfamiliar rolling-start but then recovered strongly before handing over late in the pit-stop window, leaving me to take another third place, behind the battling duo of Belgian Thierry Verhiest and Frenchman Christophe Lisandre and setting a pattern that was to continue for us for most of the rest of the season.
Our first sight of the tight and twisty Oschersleben track in the old East Germany confirmed our feeling that this was a track on which we could be more competitive.
New to everyone in the series, it bears many similarities to the Mondello race track in Co Kildare with which we were both familiar. And so it proved in practice, with Brian being narrowly beaten to pole position behind the similar car of Thierry Verhiest. By now we had settled into a routine for each event.
Always slow to learn a new track (and they were all new to me this year), I took the free practice session, doing my best to learn the track while Brian handled qualifying, usually having some distant knowledge of some of the tracks, while I again took over for the rolling start of the race.
At Oschersleben I have to say the racing started several corners before the end of the “rolling lap”, with the result that I was left with a lot of ground to make up. An early pit stop was needed to hand over to Brian, owing to a never-before experienced nausea in the car. Result: another third place.
After the mid-season break it was off to the French circuit of Dijon-Prenois. A wonderful, flowing circuit with fast, sweeping corners, free practice was done in the wet – the first and, as it turned out, the only – time rain appeared all season.
In a chaotic race, it looked like we were on our way to a safe second place.
However, a mix-up over positions led to my allowing Patrick Goblet to pass, in the belief that he was only unlapping himself. Such was not the case, however, and it was a bitter disappointment to discover at the end of the race that he had re-taken second position and we had finished third. Lesson – always keep a lap-chart!
Monza was next, and what is there to say about Monza, except that I loved it? History at every turn and an atmosphere like no other motor racing circuit on earth.
The circuit itself is very challenging and the sustained high speeds took some getting used to. Once again taking the start, I had a very enjoyable dice with a Swiss 2Eleven which was firmly resolved in our favour by the time I handed over to Brian.
This was our chance to consolidate third place in the championship and things were looking good as Brian took the 2Eleven out but, within a lap, he was back into the pits with a serious misfire.
Despite the best efforts of our mechanic, Matthieu, who changed the coils and plugs as well as re-programming the ECU, further laps just confirmed the misfire which was too bad to allow us to continue. Back in the workshop, the mis-fire was later found to be caused by a crankshaft pulley which had come loose.
And so, far too soon, it was off to the last event of the season at Hockenheim. In the race, I again took the start and saw off the challenge from Patrick Goblet, handing the car over to Brian in second place.
Brian was left with the delicate task of bringing the car home in that position, despite a lack of grip from our tyres, which had deteriorated badly following the high-speed Monza outing. As ever, Brian was a fast and safe pair of hands and took the flag in second place to secure third place for us in the Lotus Cup Europe. Up front, despite his non-start due to a major accident in practice in this final race, Thierry Verheist clinched the championship by a mere half point to beat Frenchman Christophe Lisandre.
Highlights? Spa and Monza without a doubt – but also the friendliness of all concerned, from the AvD officials, the Lotus personnel who provided technical assistance at all the rounds to the competitors.
But most of all, a really rewarding season shared with Brian spent fulfilling long-held ambitions to race on these famous tracks.
I don’t yet know what the coming season will bring; suffice it to say, I’m not cured yet!
Factfile: Lotus 2Eleven
OUR CAR for the season was the Lotus 2Eleven – the first racing car to be manufactured by Lotus in many years.
Originally, an “unofficial after-hours” project of some of the engineering staff, it is based on the running gear of the hightly successful Lotus Exige.
With an open body-work and a supercharged Toyota 1.8-litre engine with a quoted performance of 255bhp and a weight of around 760kg, the 2Eleven is capable of 0-60 times of 3.8 seconds.
But it is its production-proven reliability and relativly straightforward simplicity to maintain and set up which makes it so appealing to both track day and racing drivers.
Originally planned with a production run of around 100, to date over 250 have been built, making it a very successful “unofficial” project.