Birkett Six HOur Realay Race 2010

[john.r.davies]

All,

As some of you will remember, 2009 was the first for many years that a Triumph team was not entered for the Birkett. That was due to a combination of the economy, family and personal reasons, that meant that I could not recruit enough drivers for a team.

But are we downhearted? NO, we try again!

 

For anyone who has not been there, the Birkett is an extraordinary race, unique in the world. Teams of four to six cars drive continuously for the six hours at Silverstone. For the last two years the two and half mile International circuit has been used. For anyone into motor racing, the buzz and craic of six hours non-stop racing is unforgettable.

 

I'll be looking for a team of drivers, who should have a Race 'B' licence with at least six signatures, and non-drivers, for help in the pits, workshop and on the cicuit, spotting for breakdowns and other events with our cars.

 

I hope that we can enter an All-Triumph team, including small and large chassis cars. So if you plan to race again this year, know someone who wants to, or want to take part in the team, please email me. I'll look forward to meeting you during the summer and to our all being at Silverstone on the 3oth October!

 

John

[Alec Pringle]

Hi John,

 

good move !

 

It's a long time since the first TR Register team came 2nd on handicap on its maiden innings . . . . and only a few years later that Team Feedback won the handicap, including TR men.

 

Maybe Bert might be persuaded to unleash his monster, it's one race that might actually accept the old warhorse ? Would you like me to ask him ?

 

I'll lend you a hand in the pits if you wish, as will the V8 Lady.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[wriggley monkey]

I could be interested if the TR2 is still in one piece at that time of the season.

 

I have done the Birkett three times but never in a TR - even won on handicap in the wet one year.

 

I see it is at Silverstone - do you know what track configuration they are running ?

 

 

Brian.

[john.r.davies]

Thanks Brian! A Tr2 would be an excellent addition to the team!

Please pm me with your email address.

 

Robin Knight says that the National Circuit is booked, but that he "is negotiating for another layout if possible"

Recent pics and maps of the 'new' Silverstone layout, with the dog-leg into the infield from Club to Abbey may have interfered with the old International circuit that peole enjoyed so much. It would be a pity to revert to the national, which is a bit boring. There have been rumours of using the whole GP for the Birkett, bur AFAIK they are just rumours and wishful thinking. The cost would escalate.

[john.r.davies]

Stop Press!

 

The Birkett will be on the new "Bridge" circuit at Silverstone.

 

The new F1 circuit turns right into the infield at Abbey, up to where Ireland used to be through a sharp right hand bend, followed by an even sharper left onto the old Club straight back to Brooklands and Luffield. It therefore misses out Bridge corner.

 

But the Bridge circuit turns right at Becketts and follows the same new tarmac back to Abbey and thence to Bridge.

 

See the new circuit at: http://www.silverstone.co.uk/news/latest-news/New-Silverstone-circuit-gets-green-light-for-2010-British-Grand-Prix/

 

The Birkett may be able to enter even more teams for 2010!

 

JOhn

Edited May 26, 2010 by john.r.davies

[Eyetee]

I would like to join the team, but dont have a race preped tr at the moment, does this rule me out?

[john.r.davies]

Lots of non-driving jobs, Eyetee.

Time keeping, maintenance, observers,...........

 

Pm me, please?

[Alec Pringle]

Bridge Circuit

 

http://www.silverstone.co.uk/track/circuit-maps/grand-prix-circuit/

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[john.r.davies]

Thnaks, Alec!

I was just too modest - the new 'Bridge' Circuit = the old F1 circuit!

WooHoo!

 

John

[dykins]

John

 

I'd be pleased to help out if needed on the day - in a non-driving way I mean. (timekeeping, observing, making tea etc )

 

Regards

 

Peter

[john.r.davies]

Thank you, Peter!

Please send me an email message, so I can update you as and when?

 

John

[john.r.davies]

If anyone was planning to go to Silverstone this weekend, to see an All-Triumph team taking part in the Birkett, I'm sorry, there isn't going to be one. By the time I had enough firm committments to enter, the entry list was already filled. That only one of those was a TR is a sad end to Triumph participation in a great event.

 

The Silverback's not smiling tonight.

 

John

[jellison]

Might be the fact that it is a six hour race and when "you" are out for that hour you are having some fun racing but when in you have another 5 hours to do not much!

 

Just an idea.

 

Always seemed overly complicated to me as to how a "Team Won". Went to one of these once (Very Very Wet Snett) - turned off very early went home - mind I have a VERY lowe Boredom threshhold.

[john.r.davies]

Only you can know your boredom threshold, jellison, but the pic below doesn't show much boredom in the crew of the 2008 Squadron.

I think it's being involved in a team. It's not just sitting in the trackside watching the cars go by (which bores me, too) and it's not going out for your stints (usually broken into two) and like Achilles retiring to your tent for the rest. It's the craic, the tactics, the drama, as well as all the jobs that need to be done - timekeeping (a team needs to know in advance when to expect their driver to reappear on the next lap, in case they are stopped for some reason), liaison with race control, trackside spotters and drivers not out, maintenance ( I once managed a team that cannabilised two cars to keep the rest going!), etc. etc. All need doing and the good manager delegates and involves the team. I hope I'm a good manager.

 

If we do get a Triumph team going again, you're invited, NOT to watch, to help - I'll give you a job!

 

John

PS We were the first team to use, in the pit garage, the Silverstone video-feed of interim results and track side cameras. They all do it now. Anyone got weather radar? I need something else to score points off the opposition!

Edited October 27, 2010 by john.r.davies

[wriggley monkey]

I have done it twice before in a team of Frazer Nashes and was the TR racer who volunteered this year.

 

I think it is a great event to compete in although watching at a wet Snet for six hours may not be my idea of a great day. although it was a wt Snet day that a team of Frazer NAshes won it on Handicap.

 

Part of the attraction of the Birkett is seeing which of the modern cars you can keep up with. I managed to keep with a locaterfield 7 for over an hour with my pre-war frazer nash (in the dry at Silverstone) until I ran out of brakes - we swapped places over a dozen times.

 

Great fun.

 

I am up for it for 2011

[Alec Pringle]

At least a few Forum contributors are old enough to remember the glory days of Team TR Register, The TR Pirates, and Team Feedback. I can't recall a relay race in which anyone involved ever had any opportunity to get bored . . . .

 

The TRs were driven to the limit until they broke, and when the drivers weren't on the track they were busting a gut rebuilding one or another car to get it back out again. Often as not there'd be two cars dead, and parts from them both swopped over to keep a third car going, and rarely did we finish with a car still waiting in the pits. Five down and the last car running to take the flag was the norm.

 

Total commitment from all concerned, which achieved a good deal towards raising the TR profile back then. Health and Safety would probably nowadays disallow the removal of an axle from a spectator car and installation in a racer in 45 minutes flat, or a gearbox change in the same time, let alone an engine transplant in 2 hours - with no crane or hoist, just brute man power and determination.

 

Five hours to do not much ? Wrong team then Jon, we were out to win, and on occasion did just that, not there to pose.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[jellison]

If I had a problem during a race, it is just put it on the trailer and go home!

[Alec Pringle]

If you're only doing 10 or 20 lappers, not much option Jon, go home is all you can do.

 

If a team is contesting a relay race, or for that matter pukka endurance races, a more serious attitude prevails. That's what separates the men from the boys, and the real achievers from the mere braggarts.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

Edited October 29, 2010 by Alec Pringle

[jellison]

"A more serious attitude!" - You think Alec. If you are Serious about racing - you do it for yourself and Not as part of a Team.

 

I never understood team sports at school, just seemed utterly pointless.

 

I'll get my coat

Edited November 3, 2010 by jellison

[Alec Pringle]

Hi Jon,

 

the Gods have offered to only a very few lucky chaps the possession of the all round skills, the time and the wherewithal to function successfully as a one man band in motor sport,and those days have probably passed into history. Lesser mortals rely on the input of others.

 

1964, European Grand Prix, Brands Hatch - I was lucky enough to be asked to help out with a few menial tasks in the paddock. Graham, who had become a family friend, explained the importance of supplying the mechanics with tea and snacks, without which they would lack the necessary concentration; and the importance of keeping the floor swept clean, lest a dropped washer be overlooked, or time wasted looking for it, either of which could lose a race. As he patiently explained, the driver was nothing without his team, and every person in the team mattered absolutely, that was why he thanked each and every one individually after the race. The humility of a great World Champion.

 

"I never understood team sports at school, just seemed utterly pointless."

 

If you have to ask the question, you couldn't possibly understand the answer, is the response that springs to mind. Sorry. but that's the way life is.

 

Don't worry about it, one does not miss that which one has never known.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[john.r.davies]

Since announcing the failure of this year's project, I've had many messages from drivers and helpers who are keen to try again, which have lifted me, I must say. Thanks, guys! Thanks, team! Watch this space.

 

John

[roy53]

john whilst i admire your efforts i think you should take a look at the entries for the birkett,when you see the number of bike engined cars and their lap times,the amount of catterhams/radicals/suberooooos etc you should realise why some of us are very reluctant to put our selfs at risk. The Morgans are new V8s but get swamped so i think untill they start an historic type birkett the event has left us behind.

 

just my opinion though Roy

 

 

[john.r.davies]

Roy,

I saw that entry list and to be quite honest, I thought the same. The Birkett isn't what is used to be, and why should it?

But oh for the days when it included a team of Bentleys!

 

HOWEVER, you should remember that it is principaly a handicap race. In 2008, the Spitfire Squadron came TWENTIETH on handicap, better than the best Morgan team (Morgan Gentlemen) at 37th in 2010! Also, it is a most gentlemanly race. The right crowd and no crowding! I honestly think that no one has anything to fear from the fearsome and very fast Caterfields or other modern rot boxes.

 

Full results @ http://www.750mc.co.uk/images/uploaded/61st%20Birkett%206%20Hour%20Relay.pdf

Pictures, mainly of the few 'classics' @ http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125401&page=2

 

John

Edited November 3, 2010 by john.r.davies

[Alec Pringle]

There have always been tortoises and hares, in the 70s and 80s the vintagents looked pretty damn slow compared to contemporary heavy metal, but it wasn't a problem even for the Austin 7s being overtaken every 3rd lap by turbo Porkers. In this years entries there don't seem to be the big bangers that have featured in the distant past.

 

Weather can be a great leveller too. I recall torrential rain at Donington, probably 1979, when the Birkett transferred temporarily from Silverstone - Adrian Yates-Smith in a turbocharged Carrera fighting lap after lap with Lt Cmdr Clinkard in the 4.3 Alvis, 30 years senior to the Porker. Nothing else got near them.

 

Team management and pit work has always been crucial, that's why the various TR-based teams did so well in the 80s, the right crew of guys and gals backing-up the drivers. As you say John, the Handicap is the main point, so a Triumph team still has a fighting chance. But it does require balls and an uncompromising approach.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[john.r.davies]

All, esp. racers!

 

Roy, above, voiced a concern that may be shared by other racers, that the Birkett is just too modern these days. While speed differential has always been a feature of the Birkett, if it's a worry that keeps classic car racers, let alone historics, away let's look at what can be done.

 

On the Ten Tenths site, similar concerns are being discussed and a 'Classic' Birkett proposed. That would be great, but I'll not hold my breath.

 

A better solution may be the British Motor Heritage FOUR Hour Relay Race. Up and running for some time under the aegis of the MGCC, this event's regs mirror those of the Birkett, allow three to six cars in a team, and costs a lot less! Better in the above terms is that those regs impose a minimum lap time limit, specificly to exclude very fast moderns. At Snetterton, where this year's race took place, the limit was 1:15

I've spoken to Steve Carr, the MGCC Comps.Sec. and he would welcome Triumph teams. In fact, he says that he wants the BMH Relay to become THE Classic Car Relay Race.

Others' kind words about the All-Triumph Team project have re-invogorated me, so watch this space for 2011!

 

John

Edited November 8, 2010 by john.r.davies