I got to be pit crew for a 964 for a day

[Steve Brookes]

Yesterday, I got to be pit crew for the day for Marcus Carniel who was racing in the end of season Future Classics race at Donington Park. These are 40 minute races which include a compulsory pit stop for driver change or for the driver to get out and back in.

Marcus drives a Porsche 964C2 which is fresh from winning Class 1 of the PCGB championship this year. We knew the car would be competitive and this optimism was confirmed by him taking Pole with a time that was over half a second faster than the next car (1'20.7 for those interested). The following 2 hours prior to the race were spent on checking the brakes, the wheel nut torques, cleaning it to make it presentable, etc. Most importantly, to practice the pit stop which meant; me opening the door, letting him jump out, closing the door, opening it again, letting him jump back in, strapping him back in to the harness and finally closing the door so he could go. Any deviation from this routine could result in disqualification.

At 12.35 they set off behind the pace car for a rolling start. As the pace car peeled off and the lights went out Marcus nailed it down to Redgate closely followed by a Sierra Cosworth. By the end of the first lap he was already 3 seconds clear of the persuing pack. After a few laps he was 5 seconds clear of P2 which was a Porsche 944 turbo (Mark Koeberle) folowed by a Lotus Esprit. From then on all went well and Marcus held a steady lead knowing that he had to look after the tyres.

On lap 14 he dived into the pits for the compulsory stop, to be greeted by a me frantically waving my arms so he could see where to stop. The procedure that we had rehearsed went like clockwork and he was soon back on track. Unfortunately, the outlap saw him get mixed up with a load of back markers and he got demoted to P3. The Lotus was now in P1 who's outlap was 15 seconds quicker! The 944 turbo's in lap was a few seconds quicker (he pitted a lap later) so he also leapfrogged Marcus. To see all this unfolding from the pitwall was quite exhilarating. Especially as I watched the 944 turbo just manage to make it back on to the track just in front of our car!

No problem I thought to myself as I watched Marcus start to reel them back in for the next two laps. But then disaster! What is Marcus coming back into the pits for? Oh bugger, what's all that smoke pouring out at the back!! I jumped off the pit wall and ran to the car and pulled the door open:

Marcus: "there's a noise at the back....something's catching...have a look"
Me after lifting the engine cover: "there's lots of oil trying to get out!"
Marcus: "what's the clacking noise though?"
Me: "Nothing obvious I can see.....but it doesn't sound good!"
Marcus: "Oh feck! that's it then."
Me: "Yep. Turn if off mate."

Myself, Marcus and a number of others supporting other cars scratched our heads for a while but the race was clearly over for us. And so ended our day and my next job was to help him push the 964 back on the to the trailer for it's trip home and subsequent diagnosis.

All in all a great day full of emotions; joy, anticipation, worry and disappointment. Also a day of great camaraderie in the pit lane and garages. My payment for the day....a free ticket and bacon and egg buttie. As they say....that's racing! []

Nb. Mark Koeberle drove a great race and went on to take 2nd behind the Lotus.....and if it hadn't been for back marker traffic on his outlap, would surely have won the race.

 

[mcgc0]

An excellent read Steve, nice one to share. Sounds like a great experience had with much to learn. Very much envious and can only aspire to be involved or take part.

You know what Marcus's terminal problem was in the end - pipes, seals letting go?

Marcus C

 

[Steve Brookes]

No idea of the engine problem at the moment. We all had our ideas but we'll know for sure later this week. It'll be fixed up whatever the cost.

It's quite easy to get involved in these things because the paddock is open access at these types of race meetings. All the drivers are friendly and approachable and appreciate any help they can get. []

 

[RSGulp]

Polishing and door-opening? Needs any tips Steve? []

 

[Steve Brookes]

Yes please Rich [] ....they might help to banish all these ideas that are now buzzing round in my head of what a shared drive would cost me! [:-]

 

[mcgc0]

Blimey, the wife will love that..! Might actually look into it.

J cloth in one hand and fly swat / traffic grime spray in the other (me, not the wife).

 

[Neil Haughey]

Good write up Steve. Something I have found is a must have is a tyre pressure gauge with a bleed button. I guess one could start with the pressure extra low but the pitstop is plenty of time for someone to check and set the pressures so one would always do it I guess.

I might also invest in the Schroth harnesses with the quick adjusters. My wife finds it pretty difficult to tighten the belts and this bit of the pitstop is critical as with a full face helmet you can't really see what your doing and don't really have the time to faff about. Its one area where the guy or gal strapping you in is trusted 100% so you had a very big responsibility doing that job Steve, well done.

...Oh and you guys have an advantage over us front engined racers in the shape of potentially a more open door aperture. I have ended up with bruises all over the place trying to get in and out of the car quickly. However you have to do it as in Future Classics its easy to find 10 seconds in the pitstop phase, and the mix up on the track makes it possible to jump a lot of places.

 

[Steve Brookes]

Neil, you make so many brilliant points there! And many that affected us on the day. While we had the gauge you describe (and they are a fabulous device I agree) there was no way I could have also done the pressures during the stop. We'd agreed before hand that I would only check and adjust them if Marcus said so when he pulled in. They'd been set at 30/32 hot at the end of quali. More than 2 hours later when they went to assembly, they were all reading about 23 after cooling down. Having another person to do the pressures at the pit stop would have been ideal.

And I'm sure you are right about the door sizes too. Saying that, I was very impressed by Mark's gazelle like moves in and out of the 944 during his stop. Well done that man []

...and if I'm not at a race helping Marcus (I'm not sure of his plans next year) I'm more than happy to help out other P-car racers in next year's future classic or other series. And I think we have another volunteer (a different Marcus above) who would like to get involved []

 

[MarkK]

Sounds as if you enjoyed it Steve!Nice to meet you at last!Really enjoyed the race must admit to being a bit gutted with the slow out lap I tried really hard but to no avail,never been described in the same sentence as anything similar to Gazelle maybe bear like or bigfoot but never Gazelle[]!
Will try and make a 964 meet in the spring[]

 

[Melv]

How bout the RS track day March 4 at Oulton Mark??? Assume you've still got the old banger???[]

 

[NormalNorm]

Steve, that was such a great writeup, and exciting to read too!

You did great, and Marcus too, shame things came to an end, but still to me you've won! Good job!

Next race, move on[]

 

[Neil Haughey]

ORIGINAL: Melv

How bout the RS track day March 4 at Oulton Mark??? Assume you've still got the old banger???[]

I would love to do that, seems an ideal format for me to start learning Oulton. Are places available, this always seem to be booked up by the time I hear about it.

 

[Steve Brookes]

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey

ORIGINAL: Melv

How bout the RS track day March 4 at Oulton Mark??? Assume you've still got the old banger???[]

I would love to do that, seems an ideal format for me to start learning Oulton. Are places available, this always seem to be booked up by the time I hear about it.

Bookings opened today....see top of 964RS forum for the booking link. If you get it booked by tomorrow you might just get in []

 

[jason]

Cool story Steve. Sounds like you had a good day mate

 

[h_____]

There shouldnt be anything to be gained from the pitstop, as they are set to a minimum of 60 secs, that means if you can swap drivers in less than 60secs than you are fine.

We can do the caterham in 50 secs on average, which leaves 10 secs for some notes swapping before going out. The worst bit is traffic in the pit lane if you do your swap at 1/2 way. If you are a single driver like Marcus, best to pit a just as the pit lane opens to avoid the rush.

Definately not going to be able to do tyre pressures in a pitstop, unless you have many helpers. Note Winners get a time penalty applied too, to keep the very open series competitive.

There is talk of CSCC losing the 2 driver single race format next year, hope that's not the case, as there are actually very few UK club series that do driver changes. Oh get Marcus to come to Spa with CSCC next year, should be another great event!

 

[Andy97]

ORIGINAL: h_____

There shouldnt be anything to be gained from the pitstop, as they are set to a minimum of 60 secs, that means if you can swap drivers in less than 60secs than you are fine.

We can do the caterham in 50 secs on average, which leaves 10 secs for some notes swapping before going out.    The worst bit is traffic in the pit lane if you do your swap at 1/2 way.  If you are a single driver like Marcus, best to pit a just as the pit lane opens to avoid the rush. 

Definately not going to be able to do tyre pressures in a pitstop, unless you have many helpers.  Note Winners get a time penalty applied too, to keep the very open series competitive.

There is talk of CSCC losing the 2 driver single race format next year, hope that's not the case, as there are actually very few UK club series that do driver changes.  Oh get Marcus to come to Spa with CSCC next year, should be another great event!

h______ , the pit stops are only set at 60 ses in the Mag 7s, for the rest of us you can do them as quick as you like. (Mag 7s has a mandatory 60 sec stop fo safety reasons, apparently) .

Not heard about CSCC losing the two driver format for next year & I'm on the Committee! Again, may well be a Mag 7s thing. In fact, that does ring a bell now but I haven't got the minutes of the last Committee meeting yet. Mag 7s does seem to want some different rules to the rest of the CSCC in some respects but I am fairly sure that Tin Tops, Future Classics & Swinging Sixties etc will stay as 40 minute races with a pit stop - it's our USP.

 

[h_____]

Apologies Andy, my assumption. I hope that the 2 driver 40min race stays, but I heard talk in the paddock at Snett, and at the Birkett to the same effect. I completely agree about USP being the longer format. Anyway, must try to stick to Porsche.... err..... must start planning to do the Pom in 2011, after a dismal failure in 2010!

 

[Andy97]

ORIGINAL: h_____

Apologies Andy, my assumption. I hope that the 2 driver 40min race stays, but I heard talk in the paddock at Snett, and at the Birkett to the same effect. I completely agree about USP being the longer format. Anyway, must try to stick to Porsche.... err..... must start planning to do the Pom in 2011, after a dismal failure in 2010!

h_____ , if the Mag 7 format changes at all I think it may be to 2 x 30 min races but I'm not 100% sure. Future Classics, Tin Tops etc will stay at 40 minutes with a pit stop. Sorry for going off topic!

 

[h_____]

ummm, will be a shame, I dont think I'll do it if thats the case, would rather go back to sprint racing with identical cars.

 

[Steve Brookes]

No probs going OT guys....I'm pleased you've all found the subject interesting []. And to to go OT again, is it normal on a rolling start for all us pit crew guys [] to be be cleared off the pit wall for the start of the race like we were at Donington?