SILVERSTONE CLASSIC Powered by the AA. 20 to 22 July 2012

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Chigley

Wow what a meeting that was, brilliant racing all the way through the field in all the races.

Highs: the whole meeting
Lows: None

The owner of a yellow and green canary needs to give his steed some Redbull if a "mere" road going saloon can catch him after a 15 second penalty and having to do a standing start.

Ian C Safety car observer. (A mere BMW M5 560bhp).

Mike B Canary driver. (A mere Escort Mk1 250bhp)

I'm too tired to explain........

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by mark77

Mike, are you a member of the BRDC by any chance?

Mark

absolutely not and never likely to be! You obviously dont know me very well, Mark. I'd have to buy a tie to start with... I know the BRDC stands are guarded with a passion and are often empty. It seems just as daft to me.....

Interesting reading various opinions on security at the event, which of course is not run by the BRDC. If you look back at previous years on this forum I was as critical as anyone. My support van with pass was towed in 2009. Mind you it was more like valet parking as it wasn't going anywhere that day. Maybe with this being the 4th year of competing I have learned how to work the system, but from pulling up at the welcome centre on Wednesday to leaving yesterday eve we were treated well. I can only report our own experiences. It probably helps when you are able to provide paddock supervisors and night security guys with the odd cup of tea and have time to talk cars with them! Yes, it took me half hour to get from old paddock to exit when leaving, but I can remember how long it used to take to get out of Snetterton in the 60s...... (and how long it still takes to get IN to Spa for the 6hr meeting!)

[dank]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Yes there were 3 at the 24hrs. The Classic press release specifically described the cars as 'Martini Lancia LC2s' so maybe at Le Mans they were not all in same livery....

Are you thinking of a complaint under Trade Descriptions Act?

Realised the error of my ways shortly after posing the question!

But sticking with the Group C theme; what was the reason for the Peugeot 905 being withdrawn prior to Saturday's race? Was never really explained during the course of the weekend.

[Moosehead]

Well we had a great day on Saturday but only through having suitable wristbands.

I still can't get my head round the powers that be not putting either a tunnel or bridge across the track to get to the new wing. I also can't understand why a walkway wasn't put in between the two paddocks. Relying on buses is silly. We saw people queuing for well over half an hour waiting for a bus! And who's idea was it to make the buses do a five point turn across the main link road
I think that having the two paddocks takes away some of the atmosphere which is a shame.

On the plus side there was some great cars there and despite 'modern' tin tops not really being my thing I did enjoy looking around them in the garages. Mention of Craig Davies in a post above - we were hanging around his car just prior to the race, on starting up to go to assembly the lads found the alternator had died, so whilst all the other cars took their places Craig's RS was being torn apart. The lads did a cracking job to replace it and get the car out in the nick of time.

Good to see Mike B and his rig in the old paddock, Mike busy cleaning so we didn't stop too long (expect cuppa T next time )

Missed Max in the trade area, saw the stand but alas not the man himself.

Oh and regarding the security, we had a mate call us around 10am to say he'd been stuck in the queue on/from the A43 for ages. Turns out the security guys had been instructed to stop every vehicle on the access road to make sure they were in the right lane for their pass - result = all four lanes stationary back to the A43!!

Can't really complain anymore as we had a free beer in the bar thanks to the inept bar staff

[brands]

The illusive Peugeot 905 in Group C qually on Friday evening.

[The SpeCTator]

Originally Posted by dank

Realised the error of my ways shortly after posing the question!

But sticking with the Group C theme; what was the reason for the Peugeot 905 being withdrawn prior to Saturday's race? Was never really explained during the course of the weekend.

The slave cylinder failed. Such a shame it was great to see and hear it on Friday.

[White flag man]

Originally Posted by Steven Humphrey

Another great Classic! I Marshalled Fri & Sat and was a speccy Sunday. Adding to the G4S debate - I was posted at Aintree Friday & Becketts Centre Saturday, so both days was around the link road section, between the 2 paddocks. G4S were either OTT or too lenient, with no middle ground. On Saturday, at 7.45, I walked from Becketts to get a coffee in the Village Green area and when I returned, they tried to stop me walking back to post!! 'No pedestrians down here!' I was shouted at.Fair enough, they don't want people walking along the road where race cars, buses and other vehicles are travelling but they saw me walk from post 5 minutes earlier. Then on the other hand, they pretty much turned a blind eye to people travelling far too quickly down the road, whether on mopeds, quads or race cars, when there were marshals/JCBs/fire tenders/rescue units all in close proximity.

On the other hand, as a speccy on Sunday, I had no issues whatsoever. All staff were polite & helpful.

Oh, the Pug 905 was on track on Friday and was spectacular! Don't know what happened after that.

I was told that the Peugeot's gear box was in pieces in the paddock on Friday night. Shame because it made such a great sound.
Had a fantastic time, after Friday. Thanks to all the competitors for putting on such a great show. Rick, the Nissan was much better than Frank's old Vauxhall and you didn't have to use "alledged" dodgy tactics at the start!
Mike, sorry I missed you, but glad you had such a great weekend.
Didn't, personally, have any problems with security or getting out of the circuit. Didn't camp either, so it was all good for me, except for being stood on a wooden pallate surrounded by water for most of Friday!

[dank]

Originally Posted by The SpeCTator

The slave cylinder failed. Such a shame it was great to see and hear it on Friday.

Thanks for that. I missed it on Friday, having decided to depart earlier than planned due to the massive downpour.

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by brands

The illusive Peugeot 905 in Group C qually on Friday evening.

I missed it on Friday but saw it on thursday testing, it was surreal dodging in and out of the T70s and little Chevrons!

Sorry to have missed so many people, anyone would think I spent the whole Classic wandering round stallholders making new friends and idly gossiping while others did the real work Guilty as charged!

[RickP:Clio51]

What dodgy tactics were those?????

Frank jumped the start massively on Saturday, we were told to maintain constant pace and formation until the lights changed. He accelerated very early: long before the majority of the grid were thru the last corner and went way before the lights. Myself and the rest of the grid held station until lights changed. He obviously mistook rolling start for pace car restart which is of course very different. Clerk of the Course had specifically noted no overtaking before the start/finish line. (I know... daft idea)

Sunday, I brought the field thru, constant pace, nicely bunched, perfect rolling start, left Frank room on the inside at 1st corner and used my extra pace from pole to easily claim inside into turn 3?

Please justify your comment. In particular please clarify who is suggesting my tactics were dodgy, as I hadn't heard one word of it from any of the other drivers or teams on the weekend. Most were impressed that I got my head down and chased down Franks 5 second head-start and beat him on the road rather than waiting for him to be penalised.

As for the Primera being considerably better than the Cavalier, don't forget the Cav was on sticky Michelins, had been set-up by a top class team and was being well driven... well enough to beat all the other Primeras... but of course, those 4 years of development are pretty significant, in particular the front aero package which lets us brake a whole lot later and right into the apex but yes, the other Primera's and the Mondeo should have been our oppo rather than the Cav.

Having not raced the car for 5 years, apart from trying to put on a show on 3 cylinders in 2009 at the Classic and having had no lapping in the dry before the race (after our test day was plagued with a misfire) it was fantastic to be out in the old girl again and running hard but it did take me a few laps to get up to speed and I still think we were leaving quite a lot on the table. The good news is, the Supertourers are already signed back up for the Classic in 2013 so we can have a crack at finding the extra couple of seconds then!

Yes, clutch went in the Pug 905... Nicholas was pretty gutted when I spoke to him, but they bought the car with absolutely no spares (not even a spare set of rims!!) so to be expected I guess.

Cheers
Rick

[Chigley]

Frank jumped the start massively on Saturday

When did Frank get on the gas? you were packing nicely, if maybe a bit late, when we pulled into the pit lane. I was watching until you went out of sight just before the pit straight and it looked good till then.
Sunday was fine as I believe we set a good pace but again the midfield appeared slowish to form up.
I did report a couple of competitors for being out of position or not keeping an even pace.

[jminsh]

Could have done with a bit more pace from the pace car on Sunday eve for the pre 66 gp cars .Hardly managed any heat into anything on the "warm up lap"

[dank]

Thirty minute onboard Jan Bot's BMW M3 during Saturday's Touring Car Trophy race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBgHUmEOvAk

[Chigley]

Originally Posted by jminsh

Could have done with a bit more pace from the pace car on Sunday eve for the pre 66 gp cars .Hardly managed any heat into anything on the "warm up lap"

Sorry about that. The main bottle neck is getting everyone out of assembly and the pit-lane smartish and together.We are "controlled"(ish) by RC regarding pace but with such big grids if everyone does their own thing the field will get so stretched that trying to form a bunched pack for a fair start won't happen. If everyone stays tight we have longer "at pace" before bunching the pack up. Several times when looking in the rear view mirror the back of the field hadn't exited Chapel when we were entering Stowe so we have to try to strike a balance.

[jminsh]

Thats fine for the rollers and i understand that but we had a standing start !