Event>> Spa 24 Hours: Racing Through To Dawn

By: Jonathan Moore

31st July 2011 6 Comments

We're over two-thirds of the way through the race now: it's after 9am here in Belgium, the sun is up – somewhere there behind all the cloud that still cloaks the circuit that is – and now it's the race to the flag. Just the seven hours to go… Up front it's still the #33 Audi Sport Team WRT R8 LMS of Mattias Ekstrom, Greg Franchi and Timo Scheider, as it has been on and off since the fourth hour. But just a lap behind is the #76 BMW Z4 of Team Need For Speed!

However, the race casualties have been seriously mounting up – including two of the three McLaren MP4-12Cs, both Reiter Lamborghinis and several of the Audi R8s, Mercedes SLS and Porsches. In all, 21 of the 62 starters have fallen by the wayside.

The moisture in the air has never gone away, and the odd sprinkle of rain has fallen throughout the race – rarely torrential except for one particularly heavy shower around 1am, but always enough to worry the teams on the pit-walls about their tyre choice. It's made conditions on the track treacherous, but has made the show-cars in the paddock look rather nice.

Around the track the fans kept watching all through the hours of darkness. Endurance races come alive at night: the entire experience is multiplied.

Belgian DJ hero Bob Sinclar had provided some distraction the previous evening, pulling a big crowd to the paddock outside the track. Bob himself had made quite the regal entrance at the beginning of the race as the cars were forming up on the grid, arriving in a helicopter and landing on Eau Rouge to the cheers of the crowd!

Jeroen has taken a good look round this area, with its bars and funfair – Rod and I had also headed out there, mainly to find waffles but also to browse the die-cast model opportunities.

The Temptation Carwash presents its own special charms during the day ('providing an impeccable service', apparently), but I was quite happy with the Camaro as it was…

Amongst the bars, cafés and entertainments were a couple of professional race shops as well – race boots, suits and helmets were all on sale, even into the evening. You never know when someone might need a fresh set of something.

Lamborghini were out in force again, as the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series was on the race-card for the 24 Hours – they'd raced earlier in the day before the main 24 Hours had started, and again brought their big marquees along. Plus that Aventador again. Every time I see that car I like it more. Stunning.

Up on the tight access road behind the pits was a long display of cars, Porsches, Bentleys, Aston Martins and Corvettes, plus a set of Ferraris which included the new 6.3L V12 Ferrari FF. We'd first caught site of that in the long queue to get into the track in the morning, before it was parked up next to a 458 GT3 race-car and 430 road-car.

Back to the race… Several of the race favourites had hit trouble early on. The two Prospeed Porsches had collided whilst fighting for the lead – the Marc VDS Z4 had been swamped, and instead the leading pack comprised the #50 AF Corse Ferrari, #9 AutOrlando Porsche and #24 Reiter Lamborghini.

The battle for the lead was immense for the first couple of hours – but as the initial leaders hit trouble the Phoenix Audi R8s edged to the front, chased by the #888 Manthey Porsche.

However, the #888 Porsche then hit repeatedly alternator troubles from the fourth hour onwards that dropped it right down the order – they'd be one of many cars trying to fight their way back to the front during the night.

The #98 Audi also developed problems: gear selection was their main malady. #99 led until around 1am, when the #33 WRT Audi took command – #99 crashed, and I came across its carbon bonnet dumped by the barrier as I walked around the track. Night-time at Spa is properly dark – there is no floodlighting at all around the track, so every braking point for every apex has to rely on a driver's confidence. Watching packs of these GT cars blasting round Spa is an awesome sight to behold.

Team Need For Speed have been having an epic race. After Claudia Hurtgen started 49th, she pulled the car up over 20 positions during her stint! By the fifth hour #76 was up to fifth – and by dawn in second and fighting for the lead.

After both Reiter Gallardos dropped out, the Lamborghini challenge fell to the #6 Rhino's Leipert entry as the highest-placed marque representative, though they were back around 20th position.

Vita4One's trio of Ferraris were another team looking to make up for poor qualifying positions: they lost their #1 car in the first hour, the remaining #2 Pro and #29 Pro-Am 458s were inexorably making their way forward. By the morning, they'd be 4th and 6th respectively.

The Graff Racing Mercedes SLS featuring ex-F1 driver Olivier Panis had risen as high as seventh before suffering front end damage and becoming another car in recovery mode. The #15 KRK SLS was third – but they were forced to retire around midnight.

The remaining five SLSs were still going strong though, with #35 up to sixth overall.

Out at the back of the track you're a way back from the track, but even there the constant flashing of headlights, glow of brakes and roaring of engines is massively disorientating. Walking along the perimeter tracks against the traffic, it's almost impossible to see where you're going.

So sometimes you literally fall over broken cars ditched in the pitch black by the side of the circuit. The #78 GPR AMR Aston Martin DBRS9 stopped down by the Pouhon corner with a suspected gearbox failure – they had only just completed the first hour of the race.

The #58 McLaren had suffered a catastrophic engine fire: the rear deck was completely burned off and the engine a mess. The race hadn't started well for McLaren, with the #59 MP4-12C crashing out early on, and #60 having to pit to have its undertray repaired.

Safety cars have been frequently deployed to allow the marshals time to clean up the various incidents – they would be working in shifts throughout the race. Once darkness fell, the warning flags were replaced with the lighting system at the track.

Back at the bottom of the endurance pit-lane the #25 Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo (engine blow up in the fourth hour) and the #18 De Lorenzi Porsche (gearbox failure) were sitting abandoned, waiting to be collected at the end of the race.

Eau Rouge becomes even more fearsome at night, and worse when the track is damp.

Rubber debris and dirt covers the road off the racing line, meaning lapping slower cars has to be done carefully and deliberately.

The Kemmel Straight is normally the safest place, as there's a nice and slow chicane to out-break slower cars into, but even here there are constant spins and offs as cars misjudge the braking point.

Each pit-stop puts more pressure on the Schubert mechanics – and it's even worse when the car is doing so well! It was interesting that the hydraulic hose for the wheelgun man was attached to a make-shift backup and then up to a swing-arm, to make moving around the car easier than having to manually drag the air-lines around.

As the team were preparing for the #76 to stop, they were having to avoid other cars blasting in and out of the pits around them. Team NFS had at least benefitted from the retirement of the two Pro McLarens, as they were the two garages down from #76.

On this occasion it was Edward Sandstrom coming in and Dirk Werner taking over. Smoke poured from the tortured brakes and brake-dust spewed everywhere as the mechanics rushed round changing the wheels. And this happens every 65 minutes – 22 high-pressure moments for the team.

The sole remaining McLaren has been having continuing woes: a minor crash was then followed by a puncture. Just finishing will be a victory for the team, I would think.

As the darkness began to fade, the remaining cars emerged from the gloom to a relatively dry track, The forecast is supposed to remain that way till the end of the race…