First in the GTS7 class, A great achievement for the Team in the E-Type considering the weekend before at Goodwood the clutch seized….
Michael writes…..
“After Goodwood the engine was taken out and a new clutch fitted. When practicing at Spa on Thursday the clutch was fine but the engine was overheating badly. The mechanics tried various things and in qualifying we did enough to qualify, but retired early for fear of damaging the engine.
Friday night the decision was made to install the spare engine that had been rebuilt earlier in the year. By 4am job done !
So I did the 1st 2 hours on a fresh engine and the car was going great from a long way back on the grid. I had made up about 25 places when a rear tyre blew coming into Pouhon. There are rules about not being allowed outside assistance, so in theory the mechanics can not come and help. David and John Bennett (drivers 2 and 3 – 2 hours each) thought it was all over but I persuaded a truck driver to take the car back to the pits on the low loader, which he did at high speed! After a very quick wheel change we were back out and in the race again.
We then got black flagged because our transponder was not working and back to the pits. Meanwhile the Ferrari winning our class pulled into the pits on lap 54 and did not come out again. That left us in 2nd place against the E Type in the garage next door. They are lighter and quicker but had exhaust pipe problems and the car briefly caught fire. They came in for a pit stop to put the spare exhaust on but they still had problems and we moved into 1st in class and managed to hold them off because Nick their driver was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning!
Without the issues we should have been placed in the 30’s but that is motor racing. There are nearly always issues especially when racing a 55 year old car!”