SBB blog

RMA golden oldies

2012-01-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

Not that I need any reminders of how old I am, having just last week had a milestone birthday pass. But this week RMA put up some golden oldie photos many of which I actually took.

There are some photos of the many dinners we hosted, and some of the greats we met such as Brian Redman who came to Spa with us and gave us an after dinner speech, a very young Martin Brundle, the late David Leslie, and some good friends who were the RMA regulars back in the day. The photo to the left was taken as I was preparing myself for a run in a Formula 3 car round Donington. I don't think I had ever driven on track before, so you can imagine what was going through my mind. There are even some photos of the Renault test drive road shows we hauled around the country to launch Laguna Phase 2. What fun we had!

Prada Cadillac Shoes!

2012-01-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

Lovin these Prada shoes from their 2012 Spring collection, but its not just shoes there is an entire line of bags, scarfs, sunglasses, and dresses all 1950's hot rod style.

But it’s those stilettos and platforms that impress the most, celebrating the tail fin and chromes excesses of the 50's they feature little wings, flames and even chrome trim pieces, topped off by unique taillights!

A Birthday pressie to myself perhaps?

Carrera race video

2012-01-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

OK here it is, a short video made up of some pretty rough hand held video we took in car and some photos all taken whilst on the Carrera race, it features some of the friends we made along the way.

Hit the full screen button, turn up the sound, sit back and enjoy seven minutes of three people having the time of their lives!

Racing in the BB genes!

2011-12-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

I was recently lucky enough to hitch a lift from Duxford Airfield back to White Whaltham onboard a friends 1950's style Nanchan CJ-6A, we flew in tandem with an identical plane, just after the pair had passed their aerobatic display licence. It was an exhilarating experience, to say the least - the 285hp engine is super fast and I had a blast sitting in the back, looking out over the shires, as the boys dive bombed High Wycombe and practised a few barrel rolls. "Smoke on- Smoke off" I could hear the radio comms between the pilots as they burn baby oil for smoke effect. The bodywork panels allowed smoke to come pouring into the back of the plane and whilst diving towards the earth the effect of being hit and going down was all rather too realistic! This thrilling trip prompted me to do some family history digging into the flying antics of my grandfather and it would appear the adrenaline addiction is clearly in the bloodline.

Enlisting into the Royal Flying Corps in 1915, James Leonard Neville Bennett-Baggs survived the first world war becoming a Squadron leader, Capt Bennett-Baggs and later becoming chief test pilot and instructor for Armstrong-Whitworth builders of the Siskin.
It turns out Grandfather Bennett-Baggs entered The King's Cup air race an 800 mile twice round Britain air-race which he competed in 1925 and again in 1930. I uncovered his entire flight race notes from the 1925 race, and all the newspaper cuttings which despite being held in 3 July was in thick fog!

After taking off from Croydon, 7 of the 15 starters retired before the first stop at Harrogate due to the fog. JLNBB stopped twice en route to Harrogate at Luton Hall, and Oakham to check he was on the right bearing, and arrived at Harrogate in 2nd position overall.

Capt Courtney Crash - Daily Graphic

He unfortunately crashed on landing at Newcastle but I am pleased to say the newspaper cuttings blame 'the mismanagement of Newcastle Control'. A Capt Courtney landed where instructed then neatly dropped into an invisible ditch on the airfield. My Grandfather arriving minutes later deciding to park alongside thinking Capt Courtney knows what he's doing, and drops into the same ditch.

A Great article in The North Mail states 'Capt Baggs descent was identical to Courtney running up to the dangerous ditch he saw his peril and swung the machine round to the left. He almost made the turn in safely but an off side landing wheel slipped over the edge and in a moment the tail shot up Mechanics rushed up and Baggs from his precarious hold aloft quietly observed "Good morning, I have arrived!"' This comment made me laugh, it is a very BB trait to be so calm and unflustered!

Baggs Crash - Daily Graphic 1925

'Excerpt from: G-EBLN Capt Bennett-Baggs 3-7-25'

9.40 Left Croydon for Harrow on 343' bearing visibility 1000 yrds

10.00 Arrived Harrow circled church, altered course to 6' bearing

10.15 Visibility 50 yrds, thick mist and drizzle. Landed in Hayfield one mile south of Luton Hall.

10.23 Took off proceeded on same course 5' bearing over Luton

10.27 Bristol Bloodhound passed descending from starboard from low cloud, missed my machine G-EBLN by 2-3 feet.

....
12.25 Visibility less than 50 yards, rain and thick fog, hemmed in by high ground and clouds. Landed (in 6 acre field (hay) at Chilton (S. of Durham) Telephoned Harrogate and informed them I was proceeding. Again warned by Harrogate to Land on White crosses only at Newcastle.
1.42 Landed Newcastle tipped up in ditch when turning to avoid it, at speed of less than 2 mph. Crashed propeller and strained undercarriage.

The winner of the race a Captain Barnard had won the race before, in the same plane as my Grandfather arriving exhausted he described the race as a "Terrible experience and looking back it seemed impossible one could have flown through it, I was twenty five minutes going up and down the Tyne dodging the derricks (cranes) underneath the bridges and not knowing how to get out!"

Reading all newspaper stories has been a delight and made me extremely proud of my Grandfather, and I hope he would be equally proud of my racing exploits. He unfortunately died of a heart attack at just 58 before I was born but the insight into my Grandfather has helped me understand where my pre-race and even post crash coolheaded nature came from, it must be in the genes! It has also made me ponder about taking my PPL. Maybe one-day!

Feeling the need for Speed?

2011-12-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

If you are feeling the need for Speed right now, and looking for your next Sportscar, you may be forgiven for feeling slightly dazed and confused at the dazzling array of stunning cars available to purchase right now; especially if you were wandering around Bramley's showroom where you can see the best that Ferrari, Aston Martin, Maserati, Lamborghini and Porsche have to offer all under one roof.

Well, I may be able to help you, as Bramley's regular feature writer, a car enthusiast and racer, for me the choice was as simple as BASALT BLACK or CARRERA WHITE.

My choice would be from the two stunning Porsche 911 (997) Turbo S models currently resting in the Bramley showroom awaiting their new lucky owners. I say 'lucky' because both of these models were over £130k to purchase new and neither of them are even run-in yet; now both are under £100k and with no more than 8,000 miles on the clock.

Both 997 Turbo S models have the Chrono Sport Package which means you have an extra 60Nm of torque for 10 seconds whenever you need it! Fun yes, essential? no, not when you already have 530bhp at your finger tips via the PDK Transmission. PDK is the clever dual clutch system that those German boffins have invented to allow you to change gears at the touch of a button, in less time than you or I can blink an eye, whilst at the same time saving you fuel and lowering emissions. Don't ask how they do it, but anyone who has driven a high powered 911 will know that it is usually when drive is disengaged that those scary moments can occur.

Not much chance of this with the new 997. Apart from the supersonic gear shifter you also have PSM (Porsche Stability Management), PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) and PTM (Porsche Traction Management); that means that the boffins have been extra hard at work ensuring that whatever road surface you care to grace and however much power you put down, the Porsche Turbo will do its best to try and keep you on the black stuff. I say 'try' as there will always be a margin for error, but never has packing 530bhp under the bonnet ever been so easy to drive.

If there are still any shades of grey in your decision making then I would maybe consider the METEOR GREY TURBO CABRIOLET instead?

Derek Bell on PH

2011-11-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

Great article today on Pistonheads an interview with Derek Bell, 5 times Le Mans winner in the days when the Mulsanne straight allowed speeds of up to 235mph! Awesome, when men were men and all that.

I remember getting a chance to have a few laps sitting alongside Derek in my days running track days at RMA a few years back now. He was driving a 996 911 round the Grand Prix track at Silverstone and I was amazed at how smooth and precise each lap was, if the car had been drawing a lap, each lap would have overwritten the next, each brake, turn in point, and exit was exactly the same place as the next. It was fast but also incredibly smooth. Pure expert.

Anyway, this interview definitely worth a read Click here

Egbert gets his 5 mins of fame!

2011-11-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

A call from the editor of Pistonheads last week, was followed by a late night blog written about Egbert (my cherished 911). In the run up to the launch and review of the latest Porsche 911(991).

Pistonheads ran an owners carpool review, working their way through all the 911 derivatives. Egbert got his turn on Wednesday, kicking off a healthy debate about why he has a whale tail spoiler....

Read the full story on Pistonheads here.

Ginetta G40 Test Drive Video

2011-11-14T14:09:00.000-08:00

Just before the trip to Mexico I managed to steal a day with the brand new Ginetta G40 road car, courtesy of Ginetta who kindly brought it to Rockingham for me to have a test. I have already reviewed this car for the Michelin Motorsport website having driven it at the Press Launch. But this time we dragged along a film crew to video the test drive and here is the result. No sniggering at the back pls! SBB Test Drive Video Link

Hi's and Low's of LCP

2011-10-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Highs of La Carrera Panamericana

1. The Mountains, they were pretty high.

2. The scenery was spectacular - we were lucky enough to see snakes and coyote (mostly as road kill)

3. Margaritas, Champagne and a few Tequila shots and no dinner - yup that'll do it!

4. Morelia - what I remember of it!

5. The people, making new friends, having fun, all nationaiities - and taking the miccy out of them of course!

6. Jochen Mass - who winked at me at breakfast every morning and who looks like Tom Jones.

7. Making the finish line in Zacatecas - after I got us lost and Johnny killed the clutch.

8. The sense of team achievement having fixed the 914 after it dumped all its oil.

9. The first beer in each town everyday!

10. Our police escort into Puebla - picking my hero policemen up after he fell off his Harley and him saying 'Hey I'm OK, lets go!'

Top 10 Lows of La Carrera Panamericana

1. The Porsche 914 was pretty low - too low for the 'Great Wall of China' style speed bumps we encountered!

2. Restaurants with no indoor plumbing or refrigeration - can keel you!

3. Taking Imodium for a week can also seriously damage your health. :-s

4. Mr Tipler's sense of humour, we had many a tumbleweed moment, especially passing the sliproad for somewhere called 'Colon' after Johnny quipped 'Shall we go up there' the biggest tumbleweed bush rolled out in the road in front of us, so big we had to swerve to avoid it. I told him I have friends in high places!

5. Starting the race with no clutch and wondering how on earth we were going to last the week!

6. Hearing the wheels trying to fall off on stage 2 of the first day and thinking - 'Hmmm that's not good!'

7. Getting lost and missing the start one morning. (SBB not a happy bunny!)

8. Trying to get up that steep hill in Guanajuato in 2nd gear - everyone passing us. Hilda was lugging so badly thought we were never going to make it!

9. Sliding towards the edge of a cliff going through Mil Cumbres 'a bottom clenching moment' Thank goodness for the Michelins!

10. Being forced to try the local 'pix and mix' salted crickets ! Give me a twiglet anyday!

A True Test of Woman, Man and Machine! - La Carrera Panamericana 2011

2011-10-30T15:16:00.001-07:00

2900 km's, 7 solid days of racing with 50 speed stages covering 622km through 8 beautiful cities.

The La Carrera Panamericana has been a monumental adventure, before the race started we drove 3,000 miles from San Francisco to Southern Mexico, to start a 3000km race from the tropics of Huatulco north to Zacatecas.

This race is not for the faint hearted, the days are long, the driving stages are technical, they require skill and concentration. Errors by either the co-driver or driver could be fatal, trust and a good partnership are paramount to success. Leaving the road in many of the speed stage section could result in rolling off a cliff and throughout the week there has been lots of car casualties.

In the towns the roads can be punishing, cobbled streets, huge potholes and monster tope (speed bumps) can literally shake the car to pieces. Whilst searing temperatures and the constant change in altitude (mostly 2000m up) effect the driver’s performance, power output and tyre grip.

Mexico is a fabulous country, the scenery is jaw-droppingly breathtaking, but there is little time to stop and take it in, the locals are friendly welcoming and will go out of their way to help, sometimes even when you don't want it. The Police will wave you by.

LCP has a motif of a ghost 'The Spirit of the Carrera' and the race really does have spirit, it moves through the country at a rapid pace, the stunning towns blur into one as the days whizz by, sleep is minimal.

Despite how highly coveted the title is to win, this race also has a sprit of adventure and fun. Competitors come from all over the globe; Belgium, Dutch, German's, American's, Canadians, Swedes united to share in their passion for driving adventure and competitive spirit. We have made friends for life and had some great fun with them along the way.

We made it! We completed our first La Carrera Panamericana, many of the competitors return year after year to compete and I can see why. The opportunity to drive flat out, uninhibited on empty roads with banked; sweeping curves is a refreshing challenge in our cotton wool society.

Long may LCP live, its more than just another endurance race, it is a true annual festival of speed, culture and Tequila. A test of man, partnership, machinery and teamwork.

To win it you will need to drive fast enough to push it to the edge, but not beyond. The LCP challenge deserves respect and should come with a public health warning that you may become an addict!

I would like to thank Team Pan Am Bill Hemmer and Johnny Tipler for making it all happen. Jared Sindt for being so patient all week and keeping the Porsche running and all our sponsors for helping make the trip happen: Adrian Flux Insurance Services, Michelin Tyres, QuickSilver Exhausts, Highgate House, Porscheshop, Motul, ATL, Duel & Paul Stephens.

Day 7 – Arrival in Zacatecas, we made it!

2011-10-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

The mood in the Paddock on Friday morning was a mixture of relief, exhaustion, excitement and a bit of chaos. The stages for the day were less punishing just 290 km but included two of the most dangerous stages of the week ‘La Buffa’ a high fast mountain section with no run-off and no barriers.

The Porsche 917 is feeling low on power and we are leaving a trail of blue smoke signals behind us. At the service stop we find an oil leak and some of the manifold bolts have come loose so power is oozing out in all directions.

The scenery of the 'La Buffa' stages is incredible, a sign at the top of the mountain says” This road is not suitable for high speed’ but ironically we are all queuing up to drive the stage in reverse as fast as we can!

After the mountain stages are over, it’s an easy run into Zacatecas for the big finish, but Johnny and I manage to get lost on this transit and I resort to Garmin technology to find the finish Plaza. Predictably Garmin takes us up some wobbly steep back streets and then a dead end. Smoke billowing from the clutch, we grind to a halt. Finally, after flagging down the local transport police – we receive an escorted lunatic dash into the finale square on a route not involving hills!

The big finale finish is epic, huge celebrations, lots of people have come out to cheer the 100 cars into the city, all finishers pose under the finish arch for photos and sign autographs. Zacatecas is famed for its LCP celebrations and the party unfolds.

The LCP drivers walk through the streets following the ‘burro’ (Spanish for mule), lead by a brass band, all the drivers have a small cup to fill with mescal carried by the donkey. The party ends with dancing in the streets and into a converted old bullring, for a huge celebratory dinner and awards party. The atmosphere is electric, smiles and cheers all round helped along by tons of Tequila! What happened after that? No idea...

Day 6 - Guanajuato - Aquascalientes

2011-10-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

Day six in the Porsche 914 was 13 stages, 447 km to navigate taking in one oval circuit. The Porsche 914 is not well, we are now nursing it home. It's way down on power, making all sorts of noises which are not sounding good and we still have no first gear.

Constant adjustment of the clutch has got us through the week but the poor car was lugging its way in 2nd gear up a very steep hill climb this morning. We almost had to get out and push!

This morning's stages were deep in Mexican cattle country, once again the roads twist and turn round the mountains, sheer drops one side with gravel, which suited the Michelin Exalto's - giving us our highest result of the week 27th overall for one of the early stages of the day!

Road kill out here is mainly dogs and Coyote and the odd donkey. We saw lots of Coyote today just wondering about the plains.

We had 8 stages before lunch today, well over 250km's and it was hot! Needless to say the service stop was a well earned break for both car and drivers!

This afternoon we visited the local oval track as part of a speed stage, to do 8 quick time laps during which the fan belt decided to pop it-self off again - so we had to fix this before transit to Aguascalientes.

Tomorrow is the last day, the Porsche 914 is still running, we look set to complete the week, but its been a punishing schedule of early starts, long days and late nights. Johnny and I are determined to make it to the finish tomorrow night come what may, but we have the notoriously fast stage of La Bufa standing in our path!

Day 5 - Morelia - Guanajuato

2011-10-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

A few too many Margarita's last night with the Jag Brit Boys, so feeling a little bit jaded this morning.

First three speed sections were all back up to the Mil Cumbres which sobered me up quite quickly. Team owner Bill Hemmer was driving today and with no intercom hand signals and shouting was required. The stages went well.

On our descent from the mountain we noticed a fair amount of oil smoke coming out the Porsche, pulled over for an inspection, only to find the fan belt had popped off. Knowing it would take only be a matter of time before the battery died, we stopped to fix it.

Pushing the car into a tiny village garage, there was a horse tied up outside the shop! We borrowed a few tools, the locals came out to see what was going on and offer some friendly support. The Mexican's are lovely people, they are fun, friendly, honest and want to help - fixing the car was fun.

With the fan belt fixed, we filled her back up with oil, cleaned up the oil spill, jumped back in and set off for the service stop some 230 km away. We got about 30 kms before we noticed oil raining down on the back window, then the engine note changed so we switched off and coasted to a halt.

A passing service crew of another team stopped and picked us up, dropping us back to our service crew in San Miguel. Here we fixed the oil leak before driving truck and car on to Guanajuato to rejoin the rest of the competitors and officially re-enter the race.

Guanajuato is a town built of a series of ancient stone tunnels which are a work of art with their vaulted ceilings. Dispite not making the finishing arch, it was a shame to miss the tunnel run which would have been an awesome sound. But there is still a feeling of success in the Team Pan Am camp tonight, meeting challenges head-on, sorting problems on the go and getting back in the race is what the spirit of La Carrera is all about.

Day 4: Queretaro - Morelia -Mil Cumbres

2011-10-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

We left Morelia at the more civilised time of 10am yesterday, as we blasted out of town placed 70th out of about 100 cars still running.

The first stage of the day was enroute to the famous Mil Cumbres meaning 'a road with a thousand corners', there has been lots of talk about this stage and how dangerous it is all week.

Just to shake everyone up, disaster struck on the first stage, a Mustang had a head-on collision with one of the locals, whilst driving flat out on a speed stage on what should have been a closed road.

Apparently no one was badly hurt but both cars were very badly damaged and the 2 stages were cancelled as we all trickled past the accident it was a sobering thought that it could have happened to anyone of us.

You could feel the tension at the lunchtime service stop before the afternoon Mil Cumbres stage, nerves were running high. We had a briefing from Team Pan Am boss about the stage, and its dangers and told to drive it with respect.

The stage is high, the Garmin has not dropped much below 2000m up for days now but today we're climbing more. There was silence in the car on the roads up to the mountain, there are no barriers for most of this stage, the only thing stopping your fall off the mountain are pine trees! Everyone advised if you leave the road aim for a tree it will save your life.

I called the corners thick and fast, they come at you non-stop, it really is a roller-coaster, dipping, twisting, banked carousel type corners, sheer drop one side pine trees the other, wood chippings and pine needles on the road. We even saw some cows just casually grazing right next to the road.

Hard work for the driver and serious concentration for the navigator, the Michelin Exalto's giving the odd squeal as we reached the limits of their grip, but we made it, it was epic. The cars go off at 30 sec intervals, the stage was 19km, so there is a fair bit of overtaking we had a 3 car pack racing to the finish.

We ended the day in another beautiful historic city, this time Morelia where we received a warm welcome from the locals before hitting the town!

Day 3: Puebla - Queretaro - The Mountain stages have begun!

2011-10-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday, Day 3 of La Carrera Panamericana, today we have experienced some of the more adrenaline pumping stages, where the slightest mistake from the driver could plunge you off a cliff edge some 2700 ft up!

It is bizarre, ploughing along a three lane sub-urban motorway fully kitted up with race helmets and 6 point race harness amongst a gaggle of American muscle cars has now become the norm. And we are loving it!

La Carrera Panamerican definitely brings out the naughty child in you! Johnny is driving, we are weaving through the traffic like hooligans the locals are honking but not because they are mad, because they love it too, encouraging us, moving over to let us go by, cheering as we do.

We blatted through a Sunday street market today, and through tiny narrow cobbled streets, a twisty forest road. The italian job movie keeps springing to my mind during the day, it is surreal.

This afternoon we visited the real man from boy sorter today, the Sierrra Gorda, a series of incredible mountain roads with very few barriers, just a sheer drop on the outer road edge. Needless to say there were a few stern words read out in the pace notes through these corners. Along the lines of 'XXXX me, that's seriously down!' There's no question your a gonna if you mis-judge it, but the rules remain the same the fastest person on the stage wins.

Tonight we're in Queretaro, another beautiful historic town. The Porsche 914 is being worked on, the brakes were fading today, we checked all the tyres - everyone is impressed how well the Michelin Exaltos are holding up, they have had so much abuse, lock ups avoiding last minute tope, gravel roads you name it, yet they still look good as new.

Tomorrow we're off to Morelia and along the way another mountain stage the Mil Cumbres or translated 'a road with a thousand corners'. Should be fun!

Day 2: Oaxaca - Puebla

2011-10-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

In trying to avoid the manic 8am chaos in Oaxaca, we thought we would be clever, save the clutch and cruise into town at 8.30 and go straight off the start ramp. Wrong! We missed the start, everyone had gone. Struggling to find our way out of a massive city we skipped the first stages and headed straight for the mountains!

We caught up with the race soon after and rejoined the madness. We stopped at Tehuacan where a street fiesta was taking place. Again thousands came out to greet us, and all along the way - hundreds of people line the streets to cheer us all by.

It seems the LCP is a good excuse for even locals to drive like mad, but they always beep, or cheer us on.

On arrival in Puebla we head straight for the hotel, only to get pulled up by a police motorcyclist who insists we're going the wrong way and we must follow him to the Zocola square! - Finally we have 4 police bikes all giving us an escort, sirens going, stopping traffic as we went - during this mental chase, one of the police caught the peg of his harley on a street cobble and came off! Starsky and Hutch style we leapt out the car to pick him up, and he say 'Hey, Im OK - Lets GO!' With that he got back on, did a skid turn and shot off! So we continued on our mad chase! Hats off to the Motorcycle police of Puebla!!

Today we're tired. The clutch is holding out but we have another 5 days to go!

Day 1: Huatulco - Oaxaca - La Carrera Panamericana

2011-10-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

Friday was Day 1 of the 7-day 3,000km race across Mexico - La Carrera Panamericana. We left Huatulco in 95th position out of 120 cars at 8.30am off the start ramp straight into the first road stage.

The first few sections were fast, twisty, technical roads. We saw lots of crashes, Porsches backed into cliffs, a car up side down in the ditch, several bad accidents on the first few stages. (This apparently is normal.) Despite no first gear the Porsche 914 is coping well, we develop a knocking noise really early on, which both Johnny and I thought was drive shafts, I tighten all the wheel nuts just to make sure it wasn't a wheel falling off - and we carry on!

We made it to the service stop, the boys changed a wheel hub spacer which had stripped all its thread and on we went.

The mountain stages are amazing, we saw donkey's, cows, pot holes, and 'tope' damn those 'Tope'! invisible to the naked eye. In the Porsche 914 they are like mountains! We have missed a couple and paid the price in take-off and landing!

The roads are amazing, they are sweeping, banked, twisting, the Porsche 914 dances through the curves with ease, with the fantastic air-cooled engine gurgle on full cam at all times. The Michelin Exalto's are gripping well for us despite working hard in high temperatures and at a range of altitude. I have full faith in Johnny's driving, I didn't even call most of the cliff edge dangers

Arriving in Oaxaca was another experience, streets lined with people, wanting photos, autographs making us feel like superstars. The locals are so friendly, we have a celebratory beer, in the square with all the other drivers, then its back to the hotel for a quick wash-up and change before attending the drivers dinner back in town. This is a fast moving programme!

First Drive of the Porsche 914

2011-10-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) I had a quick lesson on how to change the air-mixture to the two Webber Carburetas which may need changing at high altitude.

We then packed the boot with the necessary tools and kit which we have to carry such as: flags, neck braces, first aid kit, spare tyre, tools, etc. Before setting out for our first test drive.

Johnny and I both took turns running the car around the local Huatulco roads.

The Porsche 914 feels pretty light on its feet, its nimble and pointy which will be ideal for the twisty mountain roads. There is plenty of torque as the cams spring into life at about 3,000 revs. Both Johnny and I struggled to make gear selections easily and we both agreed that even 40 year old brakes should be a little bit more responsive!

After our test drive we both agreed the car needed some more getting used to, and since the Pre-Classification session today (Thursday) was not mandatory we decided to spend the time getting used to the car or making adjustments for the start of the first leg on Friday back up to Oaxaca.

We both attended the co-drivers meeting last night which was given in both Spanish then English. Two hours of the route master highlighting corrections to the road book and pointing out where the most dangerous spots are: cliffs edges, sheer drops, water across the road, blind brows - needless to say we both came out of the meeting looking a little pale!

The presentation was closed by reminding everyone that 50 % of all Carrera Panamericana accidents happen in the first day and usually the first 3 speed sections when there are over 50 to do over the 7 day event. It seems if you make it through the first day - your' almost half way there!

After the meeting we attended the most spectacular cocktail party in a nearby golf course, where we quickly forgot all our fears!

Getting through Registration and Tech

2011-10-19T12:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday (Tuesday) we spent most of the day sorting out seats, fitting harness belts and making final preparations to the car, before we drove down to the La Carrera registration park to embark on the four step process of registering all drivers. We had to get a medical, buy a Mexican Race Licence, and getting the car through 'tech' or scruntineering as we call it in the UK.

We got most of the paperwork sorted but darkness fell before we got scrutineered, so we packed in and went downtown Huatulco to sample some local cuisine instead.

This morning we made an early start to get through 'tech' and now both car and drivers are fully signed up and passed for race fit.

The atmosphere at the park is fun and friendly, with lots of the competitors coming over to say hello, Johnny and I got our helmets painted in true LCP tradition and we had the car sign-written in Spanish.

This afternoon we have a couple of final jobs to do on the car before going out for some practice.

Through the mountains and arrival in Huatulco

2011-10-18T07:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was our final leg into Huatulco only about 300 miles but all of it on twisty mountain roads. We saw some more competitors driving their steeds down to the start and some of them testing to get the carbs set-up for high altitude.

We also experienced some of the roads we are going to be racing on and I am starting to get a feel for what the La Carrera Panamericana is all about.

The roads are twisty and very technical, they are riddled with obstacles, through the mountains we saw small groups of donkeys either just standing in the road or trotting along the side, there were cows wondering about, dogs, huge pot holes, local protests, enormous speed humps in each village (tope) - lots of the mountain passes have no barrier protection on the apex to the drop below and in some areas rain has washed half the road away just leaving a crevasse.

For the 'speed sections' of this race there is no regularity rally - the rules say simply the fastest wins, hence its down to 'he who dares' but we have 7 days of racing ahead of us and 3000 kms to get through - this race is going to be no mean feat!

On arrival in Huatulco we popped down to the beach to grab some monster Margarita's and some fresh Red Snapper. Now we must prepare for the race start on Thursday.

We have travelled 3500 miles from Salina's nr Monterey towing the Porsche 914 today we'll make final preparations to the car before going through the Registration and Tech process and having a little play.

The Drive to Oaxaca and Daisy Duke!

2011-10-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

The alarm went off at a painful 6.30am this morning and since we were up till 1.30am last night trying to download Mexican maps for the Garmin, everyone is a tad tired today!

I am now starting to get used to living like a gypsy, up showered, packed and out. We rolled out of the car-park this morning with all the rest of the Coyote Convoy at 7am.

I wanted to name the Ford F-230, as I feel somewhat attached to it now after so many miles, its red, large, loud and American so for me it had to be Hank or Walter or similar but all the boys said it can be temperamental and given the intermittent problems, we all agreed its a 'she' so its now called 'Daisy Duke'.

This morning 'Daisy' didn't want to start, water in the diesel was suspected, but given a little octane booster and once she had everyone's attention, it finally kicked into life!

Today's drive has been awesome scenery, we have been up to 8000 ft round volcanoes, through mountain ranges - the views have been magnificent.

Arrival in Oaxaca was interesting, we took a direct route across town to the hotel, not the best roads we have ever driven on, great for pot holing not ideal fo driving or towing on!

Arrived at the Hotel about 6 ish in time to dash across to the shops to pick up a few last bits, Stop watch, Socks for Mr Tipler, Stationery bits for co-driving duties. etc.

Early to bed tonight last run into Huatulco tomorrow - where we have two days to make final preparations for the start of the race.

A day's rest in San Miguel

2011-10-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today we had a chance to take a breather, get the Porsche out of the trailer and do some fettling. Sort out a few loose ends, get the seat placings sorted and sticker up the car in readiness for the big race.

We still have two full days of travelling to do to get down to Huatulco, tomorrow night we stop in Oaxaca, from there we travel to Huatulco where we go straight into registration and tech (or Scrutineering as we call it!)

The car is looking great with its new livery, we won't get the Carrera stickers until we officially sign-on. Today was fun, the team is gelling well together and we enjoyed another fab meal out in San Miguel including a visit to a super chocolatier for spicy hot chocolate!

Mexican Border fun and arrival in San Miguel!

2011-10-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

Cannot believe its Saturday today - where did that week go? Yesterday we left the Marriot Hotel in Laredo at 7am with about 40 trucks and trailers to convoy into Mexico.

We spent Thursday night walking across the bridge into Mexico to purchase tourist visa's and vehicle import papers needed to cross the border and when walking back into the US, I had a bit of trouble re-entering the country, 20 questions and a long wait, they finally let me back in, but it was touch and go!

With all the paperwork in order crossing the border should have been straight forward. But it wasn't. Apart from getting the trailer stuck in between the barriers, causing a bit of a kerfuffle whilst we un-wedged ourselves. ( I wasn't driving I'd like to add!) We then got pulled over and all papers were checked, then again at the next check point, then again at one of the tolls.

Needless to say we lost the convoy and ended up travelling the 540 miles to San Miguel alone, stopping a few times to try and find the mysterious knocking noise coming from underneath the truck. We finally arrived at the Hotel around 9pm all a bit jaded.

We hit the town for a few tequilas and some enchiladas in a beautiful roof terrace bar overlooking the Cathedral and an open air concert. San Miguel is a colourful, thriving, traditional town lots of cobbled streets and multi coloured buildings just beautiful.

We are staying here two nights, today we will unload the car and do a few jobs, and make sure we have got everything we need for the race. All the other convoy competitors are staying here, lots of very friendly interesting people and the excitement is also hotting up! Most strange to walk around a Mexican town square and someone tap you on the shoulder and say 'Hey Sarah, how ya'll doing?' It already feels home from home!

Arrival at Laredo and the Mexican stand off begins!

2011-10-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

Its been two long days on the road, but with spectacular scenery, sunsets and sunrises over Texas and the Arizona desert. Tuesday we left Salinas, ran down the coast brushing Pismo beach (note to self must return - looked amazing) and Santa Barbara, then we skirted round Los Angeles and settled at Bills parents amazing pad in Palm Springs. Despite arriving about 10pm we were greeted with warm a welcome and hospitality.

An early start Wednesday as we took off from Palm Springs about 7am got on the Interstate 10, heading straight for Phoenix, across the Arizona Desert, into Texas, past El Paso and we finally overnighted at Fort Stockton some 993 miles later at 4am. (Crossing 2 time zones enroute)

Somewhere along the route we stopped for tyres in a town (middle of nowhere) which just reminded me of 'Radiator Springs' from the 'Cars' movie. Surreal!

Today (Thursday) another early start we set off from Fort Stockton into San Antonio, quick stop off to see the Alamo (Davy Crockett) and pick up Jared who helping the team for the next few weeks.

We have now arrived at Laredo on the US / Mexican border where we meet up with the rest of the US Competitors travelling down to the start of the race into Mexico. The Coyote Convoy as its known is run to reduce the risks of travelling through Mexico which can be dangerous.

Tomorrow we set off in Convoy into Mexico, (border controls can be tricky) ready for the 1000 mile journey down to Hautulco for the Start of the race.

Day 1: San Fran, Monterey and Luna Seca

2011-10-11T09:22:00.001-07:00

After an overnight at San Francisco, Johnny and I were not disappointed to leave behind a rainy San Fran. Delighted however to meet Pan Am Team Owner Bill Hemmer and the rest of the team behind the Porsche 914 build.

A call-in to the workshop to see the car, was interrupted by a last minute disaster unfolding, as the mechanic doing a road-test of the car with the bonnet pins not fastened had resulted in the fibre glass bonnet popping open and cracking. Repairs were underway when we arrived. The Porsche 914 was looking good though.

After the workshop visit, we called in to see The Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, which in real life looks awesome, we went and had a closer inspection of the Corkscrew to see what all the fuss about, and its like Eau Rouge only in reverse and steeper, with adverse camber at the bottom. Definitely one to be respected!

Today Tuesday, we are heading off with the Porsche 914 loaded up down to Palm Springs, then on Wednesday we go from Palm Springs down to Phoenix, then Thursday we'll hit the Mexican border.

Getting Ready for the Ultimate Mexican Hat Dance!

2011-10-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

The longer it goes on, the quicker it gets. That’s the traditional Mexican Hat Dance; and the same is true of La Carrera Panamericana, the great Mexican road-race, as it winds up the mountainous spine of central Mexico before plunging onto the endless straights of the northern cactus prairies.

In 2006 and ’07 motoring author Johnny Tipler covered La Carrera Panamericana for several magazines and wrote a book on the 2,000-mile enduro, published by Veloce Publishing in 2008. Now he’s entered to drive the seven-day marathon this October, piloting a 2.0-litre Porsche 914, co-driven by glamorous Britcar BMW front-runner Sarah Bennett-Baggs (star of the recent Mille Miglia documentary) for California-based Team Pan-Am.

There’s virtually a class for any classic car you care to run in La Carrera, and their specially-built 914 is down for Historica A+ where their main rivals are likely to be BMW 2000s, Datsuns and Alfa Romeo Giulia Supers. Powered by a 2.0-litre flat-4 VW motor, the Team Pan-Am 914 has the chassis set-up and flared wheelarches of the 914/6 that flowered briefly on the race- and rally circuit in 1971.

As wild and arduous as ever, La Carrera Panamericana relives the spirit of the great Mexican road-race that featured on the World Sportscar Championship calendar in the early-1950s, when emerging European makes including Ferrari and old hands Mercedes-Benz vied for supremacy with American stock cars the length of the country on the new Panamerican highway. After its class win in 1953 Porsche borrowed the Carrera epithet for its top-line models.

The modern revival recreates much of the mood of those pioneering days, with classic NASCAR-spec’d ’50s Studebakers, Fords and Hudsons howling across the prairies, hitting 170mph on special stages as the retinue winds from Tuxtla-Gutierrez in the south up to the Texas border. Johnny and Sarah’s 914 won’t go that fast, but they hope to make up time with the agile mid-engined Targa-top roadster through the dangerous mountain passes of Mil Cumbres and La Bufa. Safe in the knowledge of having some quality boots on the 914 in the guise of a set of Michelin Pilot Exalto's. Whatever, there’s respite at each day’s end in the heady fiesta atmosphere of the stopover city, and total carnival mode at race-ending Zacatecas where mariachi bands rule. Bring on the Mexican Hat Dance!

The 2011 Carrera Panamericana runs from 20th to 28th October. Sarah is partnered by Adrian Flux Insurance Services, QuickSilver Exhausts, Highgate House, and will be running on Michelin Pilot Exalto's courtesy of Michelin UK.

Look out for regular updates on Sarah and Johnny’s progress.

When the going gets tough - Preparations for La Carrera Panamericana

2011-10-10T12:16:00.000-07:00

Gearing up for La Carrera Panamericana demands serious training. Earlier this year we took pain at Porsche’s Human Performance Centre in preparation of the big race!

Following on from debut Road Rally with James Martin in the Mille Miglia a few years back, this year the invite came from Porsche Motorsport journalist Johnny Tipler to co-drive in the great Mexican road race - La Carrera Panamericana 2011 - or Pan-Am, as it’s known, for short. Well, what would you say? I bit his hand off of course!

We'll be in a Porsche 914 in this October’s event which starts in just a few weeks time, and Johnny and I put in some groundwork - a session at the Silverstone-based Porsche Human Performance Centre earlier this year.

The Panamericana is the most arduous road race on the calendar, 2,000 miles over seven days up the spine of Mexico, twice the length of the Mille Miglia.

Most of the event is high altitude (Mexico City is 7,350ft or 2,240m) - and Porsche GB subjected us to their rigorous race fitness evaluation programme. OMG! It was torture! ..and I thought I was relatively fit!

We were under the supervision of their Human Performance Centre director Eliot Challifour, Gareth Evans who is Strength and Conditioning Coach, and Centre Assistant Samantha (Sam) Street as we perform a battery of physical and technical tests. It wasn't pretty – Johnny looking like a lemon in an orange factory in sports gear. Me, a rabbit in the headlights – looking for an escape!

Firstly we had to log weight and body mass on a variety of machines learning rather more about your innards than is comfortable – like that internal fat in the thoracic cavity. Charming!

Next, the lovely Samantha scrutinises our eyesight, then Johnny and I moved on to the physical co-ordination and endurance tests.

Try this at home: crouch on all fours and project an arm and leg forward and back simultaneously without falling over. Not easy! Press-ups I can do, 29 to Johnny's 24 (target is a hard-core 50). Next up, the ‘plankhold’, where you impersonate a piece of wood for as long as you can to test torso strength - and apart from the high jump, this turns out to be the only trial where Johnny wins; 1m 59s to my 1m 55s, against a target of 3 minutes.

Where I go running and do weights for fitness, Johnny plays drums in a Samba band! Which is obviously good for the forearms! In the ‘inverted rowing’ that assesses back strength; we pull 11 and 10 respectively - ‘good,’ allows Gareth; ‘we are looking for 15 and you are close to that.’

We do a strength test for grip and then the reaction tester: BATAK Accumulator, where with each hand you have to bat 33 lights that flash randomly in a coloured grid to test your peripheral vision, I get 329 hits (average is 350) over 5 minutes, while Johnny gets 312. So we're both a bit slow!

Then we get to the exhaustion test, Gareth puts me on the treadmill increasing in speed, while Samantha extracts bloods from my fingers every three minutes – not a pleasant experience, running to exhausting, bleeding, knowing at some point you are going to fall-off! I felt like a laboratory rat, and it took all my will power not to thump Samantha knowing exactly when the needle was coming! Tipler, on the other hand, gets away with an exercise bike, and no bleeding- too lightly there me thinks!

Needless to say whilst I got a fairly OK bill of fitness, neither of us passed with flying colours and we both came away with a 'to do' fitness list.

The Porsche Human Performance Centre did us proud, what an impressive set-up. The training staff are encouraging and informative, and their summing up provides us with specific advice for the Pan Am: ‘take Lucozade or energy bars each day of the race,’ says Gareth. ‘Work out how many calories you normally need and build that into your race strategy.’

A few days later I get a PDF from the Porsche Human Performance Centre detailing my physical state in a thoroughgoing report. I have been paying attention to their advice and the benefits have definitely paid off, last weekends Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone was a walk in park, normally a 2 day recovery, this year I was back at my desk 9am on Monday morning. As we build up towards the big race; the Pan Am, I suspect it won't just be our stamina which is tested!

Epic Finish in Britcar 24hr

2011-10-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, its not about the placing, its about taking part and in the case of a 24hr race its about finishing! Last weekend (30 Sept-1 Oct) Jensen and I were joined by Adam Sharpe and Steve Maher as we headed for the Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone in what became an incredible story of perseverance by the team to get the Adrian Flux BMW to the finish.

On the Monday before the race, Jensen and I were informed by Strata21 that our regular BMW E46 had been sold and that we were to run in a completely new car recently purchased. My response was "well as long as its sound, and I can reach the pedals then - lets do it!"

On the test day, Thursday before the race, the new BMW E46 arrived fresh from Ireland, despite looking stunning with its GTR bodykit and brushed steel livery, wasn't performing well. Overheating problems and a misfire was diagnosed and a new engine was required. (Oh, and I couldn't get anywhere near the pedals but a minor problem this stage!)

A few phone calls later, Jensen and one of the mechanics set-off to collect a new engine and by Friday's midday qualifying session, it was fitted. Scrutineering would then not let the car run due to it being 109 decibels as apposed to 102. So day qualifying was missed. The team spent the rest of the afternoon fitting different exhaust systems to reduce the noise and team manager Andy Curtis pleaded with the officials to let us qualify at night.

Finally Friday at 8pm the car rolled out into the pit-lane for all drivers to do 3 laps in night qualifying. The new engine still not entirely happy, but it was more fuel pick-up than anything serious, and new pumps, were fitted. The results of night-qualifying showed we were 33 fastest out of 57 starters, and in the warm-up on Saturday morning 18th fastest overall. However since the grid was set from Friday's day qualifying (which was missed) we were starting the 24hr race at the back of the grid!

Jensen took the start of the race, and in the first hour rocketed us from last (57 starters) to 18th place, in fact before his stint ended Jensen had got the car up into 13th place overall. But as regular driver and fuels stops were made (every 1hr 15mins) or so we settled into the top 20's as day went into night.

Adam Sharpe was driver no 2 and it was at the end of his stint that problems started to occur. He came down the pit lane around 7.30pm with a very broken engine, oil plastered all over the car, inside and out. (Just my luck!) The boys pounced onto the car to quickly unbolt and remove the hot, sick engine. (closer inspection showed scored piston bores) Into the car went the engine which was taken out Thursday night, remapped, and with uprated fuel pumps this was our only hope. A few test laps by Jensen at 9.30, confirmed all was well. Next was my turn, my first stint and first proper drive of the new car, having had a good couple of hours in the pits the car had dropped to 51st place!

Through the clear warm night we all worked hard putting in good clean drives with no incidents, the car performing well. By day break we were back up into 38th position. When Steve Maher jumped in for his daylight stint, and it wasn't until mid-morning where problems started again.

A serious vibration started to occur diagnosed as a broken front ball-joint which had to be changed. With temperatures rising as midday arrived, engine temperatures were going through the roof and had to be monitored closely leaving everyone short shifting to ensure it lasted till the end.

The Adrian Flux E46 BMW finally crossed the line at 4.30pm piloted by Jensen after a total 411 laps to an emotional but elated team.

I have never seen such a amazing sense of camaraderie as I have this weekend, we have had some seriously talented people on this car, everyone has worked relentlessly to keep getting this car out despite all the problems. No-one wanted to give up and park it. A finish is as good as a win for us, I think we are all surprised from Thursday's start how it ended it has indeed been epic!

Jensen commented "In the face of defeat the team and all the drivers refused to accept what seemed inevitable, following 2 engine changes, fuel pump failures, warped discs, broken wishbones, mapping faults, (the list goes on) no one gave up or had any sleep!…For me taking the flag at the 24hr point was amazing, a feeling which will stay with me for a long time, it was very emotional for all involved, an epic effort from the team, including Butler Motorsport and all my team drivers who never had one single wheel off track. A fantastic race indeed."

A wet weekend away with the NMR Aston Martin at Silverstone Britcar 2010

2011-01-11T03:37:00.000-08:00

Silverstone Britcar 24 Hour Race - 1st-3rd October 2010 from Sorted Media Productions on Vimeo.

This was my 3rd attempt at a 24hr race, hence starting to pack about a week before. Now, the process of packing for a 24hr race is no mean feat, the list starts fairly straight forward: racesuit 1, racesuit 2, racesuit 3, helmet, hans device, radio ear pieces, race licence, lucky pants, towel, shower kit, hair brush, hair dryer, change of clothes, sleeping bag, more spare knickers, hydration kit, snacks, fluids, couple of extra pairs of knickers, another change of clothes, thick coat (essential), camera and filming equip. You start gathering this small pile of stuff a few days before the race then, as the race gets nearer the pile slowly becomes the size of small shed.

Ipod, ipod speakers, pillow, blankets, champagne (just in case), spare socks... There is always testing so you are usually gone for a few days and as the final day loomed I piled all the gear in the car then found myself walking round the house looking at things thinking "hmmm Microwave, could be useful?" Folding chairs go in, more wine, more food, more water, waterproofs, magazines, ear plugs, spare knickers just incase, in actual fact I think the entire underwear drawer went in!

Of course if you're lucky enough to have the luxury of a Motorhome to stay in, then much of this clobber is totally unnecessary. But if you're like me where you are never quite sure where you'll be sleeping! (Last time in the back of a Peugeot 306, before that a Transit Van - classy bird!) Just as I was pulling out the driveway with dobbin (the VW Golf) packed to the gunnel's I was thinking "tickets, have I got the tickets?"

I have to say racing with Nicholas Mee is akin to travelling first class rather than economy, team manager Neal Garrard and the car co-owner Karsten Le Blanc couldn't do more to ensure all team members are made to feel welcome and looked after all weekend. Whilst it is of course a serious business hurtling around Silverstone for 24hrs in an Aston Martin, the relaxed atmosphere of a well prepared team inspires confidence in the drivers, which in turn allows the drivers to focus on their driving and enjoy it. The crew were well rehearsed, having had a good result in the Dubai 24hrs earlier in the year.

Going back to the comfort factor I was fortunate enough to have been offered the sofa end of the team motorhome which for me was a first and given the weather we had, I was very thankful.
Other highlights of the weekend other than having a comfy bed to sleep in (even though I don't think I actually slept at all), the great camaraderie enjoyed by the team, playing grape football in the garage during the night, and french Boule with plastic cups and a jack stop.

When everything's going tickity boo everyone's chilled and the atmosphere is pure excitement. On Sunday morning after getting out of the car after my 3 hour early morning stint I found myself enjoying a cooked breakfast reading the Sunday papers in a warm comfy suite overlooking Woodcote, we were in 9th position overall and looking toward a really strong finishing position. I was thinking now this is what racing is all about!

Low points of the weekend were the non stop drissel and rain, not getting any dry running in the Aston which is such a joy to drive. By Sunday afternoon the track was not only wet but it was like driving on chip fat with the oil and mud that had been relentlessly dragged onto the circuit. Being woken up by the film crew who were out in the field getting drenched somewhere when they realised our car had stopped circulating at 11.30am on Sunday morning! (One of the boys tipped it into the wall) Plus the entire team discussing my requirement to need a pee just after I was thrown in the car at 5am on Sunday for a three hour stint. (Just to clarify I held it - apparently its good for the pelvic floor!)

Race Report from the Britcar 24hr Silverstone 2010

Sarah Bennett-Baggs lined up with 2009 Aston Martin GT4 Challenge winner Karsten Le Blanc, experienced GT racer Ben de Zille Butler and his cousin Formula Ford rising star Dan de Zille for the Britcar 24hr race in the Nicholas Mee prepared Aston Martin GT4.

The team qualified 27th out of 60 starters, 15th in class and over the first few hours the team quickly rose into the teens at 4hrs they were 18th overall. With the race start at 4.30pm on the Saturday and darkness falling at 7.30pm the conditions soon got tricky as day fell to night and dry turned to drizzle. The drizzle soon turned to rain and by late evening the rain was torrential, but still the team continued to climb the leader board and by midnight they were up into 14th position. The night driving bought lots of safety car periods due to accidents and thick fog brought visibility down to virtually zero. Despite being hit by a passing Mosler and a long fog bound safety car stint, by dawn the team were up into 11th position.

Sunday morning everything was looking good, whilst the team were having breakfast they were looking at P10 overall, 6th in class but a broken seat bolt cost the team 5 laps when it was replaced dropping them to 12th, then an excursion into the wall at 11.30am followed by a lengthy recovery and requirement to mend the damaged wing and a radiator change dropped the team down to 20th position.

The car was back out in record time looking slightly worse for wear, the next 3 hours were greasy, wet conditions difficult for everyone. The team finally crossed the finish line 22nd overall 13th in class having completed exactly 500 laps.

Class Win for Adrian Flux M3 in the GT Cup

2010-09-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

Consecutive weekends of racing are a rarity, but there's nothing quite like it. You arrive fresh, ready to get out and get on it. Having been at Oulton Park last weekend, I was pretty excited about this weekend and was raring to go. This was round 5 of the GT Cup Championship (The Donington replacement round) held at Brands Hatch GP circuit - long, flowing, fast, absolutely mega definitely up there as one of my favourites.

It was looking good on Saturday, we got straight out there and set the fastest time in class in the first free practice. The car felt good we just needed to squeeze a bit more time and in qualifying I squeezed in another 0.5 second to qualify on a 1.37.5. However, it wasn't enough as my class competitors Tom Andrew in the X-Bow pulled out all the stops to qualify on a 135.9 and Dan Norris-Jones in his Lotus Elise on a 1.36.9 leaving me 3rd in class, but it was going to be a close race all the same.

In Race 1, after getting a good start I was hot on the tail of the Lotus of Dan Norris-Jones but after just a few laps started to feel the Power Steering going then it failed completely. The team spotted fluid dropping from the car and called the car in to the pits to investigate. With the Power steering now completely gone and the coolant fluid pouring out onto the tyres and brakes it was decided to retire the M3 from the race. A disappointing start to the day but Butler Motorsport set to work to fix a new cooling radiator, and get the car sorted for Race 2.

Race 2 followed the Spanish GT Open races leaving the track littered with marbles and various oil slicks. This only became apparent on the first lap of the GT Cup race when various front runners span off, leaving the rest of the field picking their way through the spinning cars whilst trying to avoid whatever it was they all span off on! I seized this opportunity to make up some places as did fellow class competitor David Botterill who shot into class lead in the Porsche 944 Turbo. After a brief safety car period which closed up the pack I got to work on passing David whilst fending off attacks from the Class 2 X-Box of Peter Belshaw and others snapping at my exhaust tail pipes. David was driving a very wide turbo and looking back on the video he did try to close the door on me on various attempts to get by but eventually I just went for it. I knew if I could get ahead I could get away. I finally got past going into Westfield and once clear concentrated on pulling away. With 5 minutes to go I put my head down and concentrated on putting in some qualifying speed laps to ensure the chasing X-Bow of Tom Andrew (now insight) stayed behind me. - A hard battle and goodness knows how I arrived unscathed at the end but very pleased with my first class win finishing 14th overall from 26 starters.

Massive thanks to Butler Motorsport for supporting me for the weekend and giving a great car. Can't wait to get back out in it at Silverstone on 16th & 17th October.

First Podium of 2010 - at last!

2010-09-15T03:37:00.000-07:00

Finally, my first podium of the season in the BMW M3 in the GT Cup Championship!

Oulton Park was the venue for round 6 of the GT Cup Championship. With a brand new engine and the Championship officials finally happy with the specification of my Adrian Flux sponsored M3 BMW I was officially confirmed as the correct power to weight for a move to Group 3.

Saturday's qualifying at 9am presented a glistening wet track in glorious sunshine. With half the grid choosing slicks and half wets it was going to be interesting to say the least! A fine line between staying on and pushing it enough to get some heat in the tyres and set a good time. Needless to say I opted for slicks and inevitably within 3 laps someone had fallen off and the safety car was out which enabled the wet shod cars to pit and swap, while I used the time to build more heat in the tyres. We just got time for two fliers at the end but with the back of car still hanging out at Druids the times were never going to be amazing. However I was surprised to see we still qualified 2nd in class and 20th on the grid out of 26 runners.

In Race 1, I got a good start narrowly avoiding the spinning car of Craig Wilkins just after Old Hall. I took to the grass avoiding the scattering cars without losing position and on the first long lap the field started to spread out and I was concentrating on keeping up with the lead pack. But on lap 2, cresting the blind rise before Cascades I just spotted two Porsches spinning off into the gravel at the bottom of the hill. It was too late to react, the river of gear oil in the braking zone left me just a passenger as the BMW M3 swapped ends leaving the circuit backwards finally coming to a halt after bouncing across the gravel alongside the two Porsches ending my race. The safety car was then deployed to dress the oil but all a bit late as five cars were now already sidelined at this corner to just watch the race.

For Race 2 Butler Motorsport worked hard to clear the gravel from the car and get it back in one piece to the grid in time. I started in the same position and got another good start finding a gap to get over to the outside for the first few corners. It was an incident free start (amazing!) and I got my head down to concentrate on chasing down the class leading X-Bow of Tom Andrew who had qualified some 6 cars ahead of me on the grid for Race 2. By mid race I had narrowed the gap to just 3.5 sec and with the class 2 996 Porsche of Chis Bentley between me and the X-Bow but an overtake opportunity never came close. I finished 2nd in class my 1st podium on the season, 17th out of 25 starters and a little bit tired and emotional by the end of the day.

Next round is just next weekend Brands Hatch, so not long to wait.

Challenging weekend in the GT Cup at Brands Hatch

2010-08-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

It was never going to be a podium weekend, that much I knew. Since the race at Snetterton a few weeks ago we had been haggling with the GT Cup wanting to conform to Class 3 spec since we have no chance up against Ferrari 360's and the like in Class 2, but never the less we lost the battle and ended up having to run in Class 2.

We didn't test as there was really no point. Saturday's 1st practice was wet and it was only in the 2nd practice when I found out the power steering wasn't working. Thankfully Butler Motorsport were carrying a spare motor and we able to fix the problem. Going into qualifying looking to gain at least 10 secs was a bit of an ask, but I did find 8 of them, but it was a long way from what we needed qualifying 32nd out of 35 runners 12th in class out of 14.

Race 1 was marred by the usual start line incidents and then a 4 or 5 car pile -up going into Surtees bringing out the safety car for at least 10 minutes. I picked my way through the wreckage and managed to make up a number of places but then lost 3 places later in the race, to finish 26th out of 34 starters.

Race 2 was better, I started 30th out of 35 runners due to a better 2nd qualifying lap. I made up 3 spaces on the start and kept the pace going - previous races and a huge accident in the Superleague had left the track pretty slippy in places and a number of cars fell foul of oil on the track. I had a good battle with the 996 of Chris Bentley for a number of laps going into Hawthorn door handle to door handle but the 996 had the edge over the BMW on the straight in the end. A problem with the gear shift downchanger caused a big problem near the end of the race, the slowing Marcos Mantis of Winston Graham got in the way going into Surtees and when the down shifter failed to react three cars hot on my tail popped through while I was frantically trying to gather up the pace again. I finished 24th out of 32 starters which was 10th in class.

A difficult weekend, and disappointing result all round really, we need to sort the gremlins on the car and get back into class 3, we were racing with class 3 runners all weekend and would have got 2x class 3 podiums had we been in the class. We will continue to talk to the Cup organisers about our 'production' spec otherwise the rest of the year will just be an up hill struggle.

We are back out in Oulton Park on the 11th September.

Racing is stressful enough!

2010-06-28T03:20:00.000-07:00

What a week! For the last month I have been tapping my sources trying to find a new racecar to hire since hearing that my lovely BMW Z4M Coupe was to be sidelined for endurance racing.

Having missed Thruxton (probably a blessing). I finally agreed on hiring a 'Brand New' BMW M3 E46 built, once again by BMW Specialists Butler Motorsport.

Having sat in the plain white car for the first time on Wednesday, I did a few laps of the RMA Silverstone day not really able to see over the steering wheel and was thinking yes, this is do-able but there was still lots of work to be done!

Thursday - Ambient Graphics (my favourite SAS storm trooper style Graphic's company headed up by Mark Harrington) came and did their stuff with sticky back plastic and a Stanley knife to make it look gorgeous. Friday, I towed it up to Snetterton to get Butler Motorsport to do the race prep.

Needless to say the weekend continued on this frantic note. The car hasn't run before let alone raced, so getting it through Scrutineering was a Eureka moment. We haven't had a chance to power test it, or even write up the technical spec required by the Championship police for that matter, as the car was still being finished off. There was a fair bit of negotiating about weight issues and power, plus the usual 'new car' build issues like the Geartronics not performing 100% and and over heating, fumes etc.

This BMW M3 E46 had been a 12 month build project from a standard BMW M3 Coupe road car to incorporate a newly built engine, Drenth Sequential gearbox, Drexla Diff, Motec engine management and Geartronics paddle shit.

Anyway, after Saturday's practice (1st time we've run the car on Pirelli's) we were told to put an extra 50 kilo's of lead in and we did as instructed. We went out to qualify 2nd in Class 3, 23rd out of 31 runners, after which we were weighed again and told no further weight was required.

One hr before Race 1 on the Sunday, we were told to put a further 60 kilos in the car, or run as invitation. Putting lead in a brand new car isn't a five minute job, it has to be drilled, bolted down to be secure and the car needs corner weighting, not to mention how the car would handle differently, which you would only find out in the heat of battle! So given the lack of notice, we had to run as Invitation Class, meaning we weren't scoring any points.

Having qualified 23rd out of 31 runners, we still had a good battle with the other class 3 runners to finish 16th overall in Race 1 (would have been 1st in Class 3 or 9th in Class 2) and 13th overall in Race 2 (would have been 1st in Class 3, or 6th in Class 2)

As I loaded up the car last night and towed it home - how do I feel? Well, a bit deflated really. Against all the odds we found a car, got it out there, got it looking pretty, I drove my socks off in searing heat, kept out of trouble, finished both races putting in some decent times (1.14's is the fastest I've ever been round Snet) delivered the car home in one piece but all for what? Well, not a lot. What could have been 2 class wins, instead was nothing.

Despite the stressful run up to this race, I think we all did rather well. Even though we have nothing to show for it, Butler Motorsport build a great BMW which you can race pretty much 'out the box'... but then 'That's Life' sometimes.

Huge thanks to Paul White for running around for me over the last few days.
Butler Motorsport for building a fab car and to Adrian Flux Insurance Services who sponsor me. Thanks also for the picture from Tim Piper at Juice Photography. http://juicephotography.co.uk

Hi's and lows of the first race weekend.

2010-04-20T03:23:00.000-07:00

Not the weekend I was hoping for in reality. But to take away some positives the car is fabulous and has been very reliable. Butler Motorsport have done an amazing job getting it all sorted in time and their race support is excellent. I must also say a massive thanks to Ambient Graphics in Ely for their last minute car wrap, which transformed the look of the car on Thursday before the race, thanks guys.

Silverstone's newly laid tarmac was all a bit slippery when we first got there on Friday and covered in stones and dirt. It was quickly very apparent that normal grip levels were not going to apply!

We had a cracking start in practice on Saturday morning where we finished running quickest in class by a clear 2 seconds a lap at 2.06. Needless to say, by the time the equalisation police had been out we had another 60 kilos of lead strapped in for qualifying. I was determined to get back into the 2.06's even with the extra weight and I did manage to string three 2.06's together in the final qualifying session but it wasn't enough as David Hathaway had pulled out all the stops to do a 2.04 and David Botterill a 2.05 to put me down in 3rd position. Since we were on the GP circuit it does favour the cars with more power as there are two long straights so I had to be happy with 3rd. There were 42 cars on the starting grid, with 9 cars in Class 3.

Both races were on Sunday afternoon and in race 1, I got a good start, chasing down David Botterill and David Hathaway. However, the opportunity to overtake David Botterill vanished when I was passed by two Class 2 996 Cup cars which subsequently held me up through the complex, increasing the gap. I had a heart stopping moment when the Marcos of Graham Winston narrowly missed me, spinning across my bonnet in the braking zone for Copse. For a split second I thought that was it, big crash, but it span out of my path as quickly as it came into it. I carried on chasing the pack to finish 4th in Class behind the BMW M3 E36 of Adrian Watt.

In race 2 starting grid positions are determined by the 2nd fastest qualifying lap. Since I got a few good laps in qualifying I started 2nd in class next to David Botterill ahead of Race 1 class winner David Hathaway. I got another great start chasing the lead pack, I moved ahead of David Botterill and led Class 3 for the first half of the race, until a lockup into Abbey resulted in a 360 degree spin, completely my own fault I was just pushing too hard. It dropped me to 6th in class. Although rejoining and making up a number of places, I then spun a 2nd time at Luffield on some oil leaving me properly at the back of the grid. Determined not to finish last I put in a few flyers but only managed to pick off one back marker to finish 8th in class and not quite last!

I finished the weekend, feeling very grateful the car was in one piece, I seemed to have spent a lot of time narrowly avoiding trouble, thankfully in my spins everyone around me managed to avoid hitting me, but even on the drive home I was waiting for someone to spin in front of me! I shall try cutting the incar footage together to give you some of the good bits.

First glimpse of the 2010 livery.

2010-04-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneaky peak of the new Adrian Flux livery for this year's little BMW bullet. Livery design courtesy of my pals at RACECAR.com.

I can't wait for the weekend, it feels like its been a long winter this year. Butler Motorsport will be running the car, fielding a three car team with James McAllister in a BMW E46 and Don Grice in a BMW M3 V8. The GT Cup Championship Races are on Sunday, April 18th at Silverstone GP at 14.30pm and 17.35pm. I shall try and do some live updates on Twitter over the weekend.

First Drive of the BMW Z4M Coupe, its awesome!

2010-04-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I got the call to pop up to Cheshire to ‘try on’ my new race car, well I was there in a flash, and eager to see the results of the extensive winter rebuild I had been hearing all about for this years drive; the BMW Z4 M Coupe.

And, I wasn’t to be disappointed. Sitting in the drivers seat, the Butler Motorsport team have done me proud, bringing me box after box of goodies yet to be fitted, like kids in a candy store; Cosworth Pistons, fully digital Motec dashboard, Drexla diff, and a proper F1 style flappy paddle shift steering wheel with more buttons on it than the Starship Enterprise.

We got all the important issues sorted, like seeing over the steering wheel, and being able to reach the pedals and I came away leaving them to continue bolting it all together with my fingers crossed that it would all work for our pending shake down on the following Tuesday.

Tuesday arrived, assured the car would be ready I set-off to Silverstone itching to get out there and try it, whilst feeling slightly nervous at being the guinea pig for such a massive rebuild on a truly ghastly wet day.

True to form Butler Motorsport were there, and whilst they put the finishing touches to the electrics, I got a chance to drive the new revised GP circuit in a fellow competitors BMW E46. The changes to the circuit are not extensive but do require a change of line into several of the corners after Stow.

Finally the time arrived to put the first laps onto the Z4 M Coupe, and it didn’t disappoint. The newly rebuilt 3.2 litre engine has been returned to the original design of ‘fly by wire’ throttle bodies and dual variable cam timing (VANOS in BMW-speak) fitted with a racing clutch, Drexla diff and a Drenth Sequential gearbox with fully programmable Geartronics.

In a word, it’s awesome. Much more responsive and totally driveable, using the paddle shift to control the Sequential gearbox takes away some of the physical exertion needed to womanhandle the car at speed, helped also by a large rear wing pushing down the back end.

The end result is a very stable driving experience even in the very wet conditions. Flat shifting up the box is mega and with the motronics controlling the throttle blip on the way down the box, all you have to do is brake, turn and hang-on. Can’t wait to drive it again and thankfully I don’t have to wait long. Next outing at Outlon park next Wednesday. Fingers crossed its dry this time!

Thank heavens for 'The very nice man'

2010-03-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

Now, as the owner of more than one vehicle with over 100,000 miles on the clock, I am no stranger to the occasional liason with the 'very nice man'.
I had an encouter very recently and when all efforts are in vain, a little yellow van is always there to pick up the pieces and get you home.

Dobbin 'the (not so)reliable runabout' recently decided to spring a water leak just as I was about to embark on a Saturday morning drive home. So, having seen many a 24hr race mechanic do amazing things with gaffa tape and tie-wraps I decided to limp round to Halfords and see what I could find to fix it.

Picture the scene, Halfords car park, its tipping with rain, all I could find in Halfords was Gaffa tape, Radweld and some extra large latex gloves. (Definately not made for girls). With no offer of help from anyone, no coat, I am slowly becoming a grease covered, drowning blonde rat fumbling around under the bonnet.

Having pinpointed the leak to a water hose going to the oil cooler, and with the leak slowed to a drip, I decided to see if I can purchase the part and replace it.

Well, I don't suppose many drowned blonde rats come into VW of a Saturday morning asking for an exploded diagram of a diesel engine. Nor as it happens do large VW 'Service' Centres stock common rubber hoses anymore apparently. Despite my running around I couldn't locate the part any quicker than if I ordered it online. That's progess for you!

So, empty handed I made a run for it, after yet another water top-up. And as you have probably guessed I didn't make it. I stopped halfway for more water but by this time as fast as it was going in, it was now pouring out faster!

So the AA man had to be called. And what a relief it was to see him, not just because it was an hour and 40 min wait! But being stranded miles from anywhere, or anyone I know, my other half somewhere between Paris and New York making vapour trails. Mr AA Man's arrival was a very welcome site, a friendly warm nature and a cosy dry cabin even for a grumpy grease covered drowned rat. Thank God for the AA. Membership worth every penny.

The end is nigh for motoring freedom

2010-01-21T06:08:00.000-08:00

How depressed am I, not only has this week seen the dreaded Birthday and yet another click on the ageing body clock, but apparently the EU are starting to test their latest 'control freak' invention which is the introduction of 'Safe Road Trains' according to Steve Sutcliffe's article in Autocar last week. The Road Trains will link up to eight cars digitally nose to tail, allowing the lead driver to take care of the steering, braking, acceleration and gear change duties for the whole convoy - thus reducing drag and increasing fuel efficiency blah blah blah. The lead convoy drivers apparently are going to be... ahem 'professional drivers'.

So, hang a minute, how do they know where everyone is going? And what if your in the middle of the train and you want to stop for a wee? Never mind the fact that what happens when the convoy driver falls asleep? Or a cow walks out into the road? Or dare I say it, he gets lost and takes a wrong turn? I mean, who ever heard of a man who went the wrong way? The whole convoy will be going round in circles for days because he won't stop to ask directions.

I have a National A racing licence does this mean I qualify as a pro driver? I'd like to take a train of government officials round the bends at mach one with their hair on fire! Hold on to your hats gentlemen!

Joking apart this is exactly the kind of cotton wool wrapping legislation which will make people take action. Doing loony antics like dangling themselves from an M25 motorway sign like Batman did for The Fathers for Justice, or have a parkathon. (Don't know what that is, just made it up) Bringing the country's traffic to a halt to make the government realise we are over 21, and don't need a bloody chaperon!

The day I can't take my 3.6 litre (extra loud exhaust) Porsche 964 out and drive it how I want and where I want, I shall pack my small but perfectly formed bonnet and find a country where I can.

Lap 76 – Beauty and the Beast!

2010-01-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

In September I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to race with Nicholas Mee Racing in yet another of Prodrive's 2009 production Aston Martin 4.7V8 Vantages.
Here's a snapshot of what it was like, written for Influx Magazine the in-house magazine of my sponsors Adrian Flux.

It’s lap 76 of the Britcar 500 - 6 hour race, exactly 3 hours in, I’ve been in the car an hour already, it’s 7pm, the clouds are looming, the light fading, the headlights are on, but its not dark enough for them to assist. A crease in my balaclava is pressing into my forehead and my head is pounding. My arms ache from physically manhandling this 1300 kg beast around the 3.7 mile Silverstone GP circuit. I can feel sweat dripping off my nose, I dropped my drinks bottle tube shortly after getting in the car and have been groping around trying to find it but without success. My shoulders hurt from the belts pulling down so tight, and the cornering G-forces are starting to take their toll on my neck. I am constantly monitoring the rear view mirror to make sure I know what’s coming. There is as much danger of being taken out by passing faster cars as there is of passing slower ones and all this is happening whilst lapping at a constant pace of around 2.09 seconds.

Raindrops start hitting the windscreen – I forget about my thirst, my headache - I’ve got other things to worry about. I radio in to ask for an update on the rain. Hitting rain drops at 120mph makes them appear like a monsoon, the team radio back to say its light and looks like it may pass over so stick with it.

The car is lively through the corners in the dry and now its spitting with rain the fabulous grip I have been enjoying is gradually fading, if I can keep the speed up I can keep the heat in the tyres and keep the grip, but it‘s a fine line between pushing hard enough to maintain the heat, controlling the sliding back end and losing it completely.

For two or three laps, I have the green roaring beast eating out of the palm of my hand, gracefully sliding, carefully controlled, every lap conditions are changing, the track getting wetter, the grip less and less, the slicks cooler and cooler. I am passing car after car, everyone is struggling for grip, the windscreen starts to mist up, each corner the slide gets more and more and then suddenly it’s gone.

I have been concentrating so much I suddenly realise its now completely dark, the wet track has now taken all the heat out of the slick tyres and now I am just skating round Silverstone. For a split second the V8 monster is silent, the headlights light up the black wet grass and the barriers, the view eerily stationery, heart racing, deep breath - I reach for the glowing start button in the centre of the dash and bring the V8 back into life. I am on the grass, and select first gear, stab the throttle the back end responds instantly on the wet grass flying round to point the right way again, two or three cars go past, I radio in to say I need wets, and bring my braking points forward. I can feel the ABS working over time to stop the 420bhp V8 locking up in now zero grip levels.

The rain has picked up and I feel like Carlos Sainz in a Rally, the wipers going full tilt, the heater roaring on the windscreen, everyone around me is driving on tip toes. I can see headlights up ahead, facing me, reflecting off the wet track; someone else has spun and it doesn’t feel like racing anymore – more like strictly come skating. I am tired from concentrating so hard, I come in for fuel and wet tyres, and ask for someone to find my drinks tube. I have to get out the car for safety, I’m hauled out, the rain in still pouring, the team spring into action fuelling the car, I stagger slightly, my head spins, then the shout comes to get back in.

Two team members leap forward to strap me back in and seconds later I find myself driving out of the pits with brand new stickered wets and fuel, but no drinks bottle tube. I nearly lose the back end just crossing the slippery white lines, the brand new wets are not scrubbed in. I snap back into the grove watching the same black wet scenery blur by. I radio in to ask how long before we change drivers and get the reply ‘still an hour to go’. I gulp and go back to groping around for my drinks bottle tube.

Wakey Wakey dealerships, isn't it about time you sent your staff to customer service bootcamp?

2010-01-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

Since 'Dobbin' our 'small economical runabout' has not been behaving very well lately; coupled with the recent snow and icy conditions and the fact that William De WarenneII decided to build Reigate town at the bottom of a very steep hill; the other half decided we should go and test drive some alternatives last week and I decided to go along for the ride.

First stop was Guy Salmon's Land Rover dealership in Crawley where despite phoning ahead to request a test-drive in a Discovery 3, upon arrival we still waited an hour and a half before we could talk to someone.

My eagle eyed partner whilst we were waiting spotted that half of the vehicle display info was inaccurate and when we finally went on the test drive, apart from not being able to drive an HSE (which was the model we wanted) we had to drive a lessor model with half the equipment missing and surprise surprise half the equipment that was in the car didn't work. Not a great impression was left, I can tell you.

We left here and went to the VW dealership in Crawley to test drive a VW Touareg and didn't have to wait as long, we got looked after by a very nice chap, but still the test drive vehicle had to be jump started due to someone leaving the lights on overnight and the test drive route had to take in a petrol station. Again not ideal.

Now I am sure staff cutbacks have been made in this sector, but both dealerships we visited still seem to have staff driving desks on the shop floor. And this, from a customer point of view is bloody irritating when your standing there being ignored. Surely whatever vital paper shuffling job they are doing can be temporarily stopped to look after all important customers, because lets face it guys - that is your business - to sell cars.

Have you noticed how the high street retailers have now been SAS trained to serve customers better? You can hardly walk two strides into a clothing shop these days before being leapt on by the staff. Well, Wakey wakey dealership land, isn't it about time you sent your staff off to customer relationship boot camp and lets have a bit of the old red carpet treatment for your much needed customers and you never know you might just sell a few more cars!