Tuesday, July 28, 2009

CRS refuse to relax in 24 hour Spa

Both of our Ferraris struggled during the first part of the race with some unexplained tyre issues.

Neither Andrew Kirkaldy or Tim Mullen could get the cars to go flat out. We still don't know exactly why but once new tyres were bolted on they were both as fast as anyone. With a bit of time lost we had to get our heads down and go for it.

Chris Niarchos jumped into No.55 a couple of hours into the race, just as the rain returned.

As usual is was a torrential downpour that even resulted in ex-F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve being involved in a race-ending crash. Chris stayed cool though and came in for wets at the first opportunity.

After a brilliant run by Chris, he came in to hand over to the other Chris: Chris Goodwin.

During this pit-stop the starter motor failed. We all know how annoying it is when your car won't start. Well, just imagine it when it's a race car.

After an excruciating minute the team took the decision to pull the car into the garage and replace the starter motor as it would only happen in every subsequent pit-stop.

The mechanics changed it in 13 minutes, which is a record, and Ferrari No.55 rejoined the race.

We had a good night at Spa. When the other cars started to drop out, our Ferraris just kept on running like clockwork.

TEAM EFFORT ... CRS drivers applaud the mechanics

TEAM EFFORT ... CRS drivers applaud the mechanics

The conditions were hard for the drivers as there was just a single dry line on the track, which was hard to follow in the blackness of the night.

Just after midnight it started to get very foggy through Blanchimont, which is the fastest corner on the track, so that had us all holding our breaths for a while. Eventually the safety car went out to slow everyone down until the fog cleared.

The dawn revealed a blue sky, which was a welcome relief as the night had been very cold.

During the morning the No.56 Ferrari of Kirkaldy and Bell, along with Peter Kox and Antonio Garcia who joined them for this race, started to develop the same starter motor problems that befell the sister car.

After trying every trick in the book there was no other choice than to bring her in and change the starter motor.

This time the boys broke their own record and got the job done in just 11 minutes. You wouldn't get service like that at your local dealer!

All eight drivers did an awesome job at Spa but my driver of the day award has to go to Peter Kox in the No.56 Ferrari.

Towards the end of the race Antonio Garcia reported in that fourth gear was very noisy. This was the first sign that the gearbox had had enough. We were running in second place at this point so to call the car in for a gearbox change would have been a disaster.



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