Driving for Diabetes – 2-9 August 2008
The idea for this challenge, to drive to Spa drive the F1 circuit for 2 days then drive to Germany to drive the world famous Nurburgring, came about in mid 2007 when I was struggling to get my newly diagnosed Diabetes under control. (see more about this at the end of this piece). When I was at my worst I decided that when I recovered I would realise my lifetime ambition of driving at the Spa-Francorchamps F1 circuit and the world famous Nurburgring as featured by Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear.
Perhaps I should explain. I bought my Marlin 5EXi in 2006 for the purpose of doing as many track days as possible. I liked the look of the car and the 2 seat mid-engine layout appealed for performance and handling. At the time a second-hand Lotus Elise was a minimum of £12,000 and my Marlin was purchased for much less and had the added advantage of being a car that would also cost a lot less to run and keep on the road. I am a mechanical moron so it would be vitally important for me to undertake a trip like this only if I could go with someone who could provide mechanical support. I put the idea to my good friend Dave Bence who had recently built his second kit car, an Onyx Firefox, or “Ugly Bug” as he calls it. Dave was all for it and it was agreed that we would book Spa through BookaTrack, with a pit garage, as soon as it became available on their website.
After many hours on the internet we booked the ferry, accommodation and decided to do a shake down track day at Colerne through Motorsport Events the Saturday before, which coincided with the annual Marlin Sports Cars Track Day. (see Colerne report). This highlighted that the brakes on Dave’s Firefox were not up to the job and that 2 of my front ball joints needed replacing. My brakes are superb, running EBC yellowstuff pads along with EBC race fluid so we decided that Dave would run the same specification which proved to be a good decision.
2nd August (the day of departure) came and greeted us with pouring rain. So it was on with the roof as I had to drive my Marlin all the way whereas Dave had the “luxury” of driving his company Astravan his Firefox being trailered behind. We set off at 8am packed to the gunnels with spare wheels/tyres for both cars along with jacks, tools, spares and of course our clothing and my all important medication. We made the Dover to Calais ferry with about half an hour to go and immediately had numerous other ferry passengers asking all about our cars. Once we got to the other side we quickly picked up the E42 motorway which took us from Calais all the way the Malmedy in Belgium where we were staying for the first 2 nights. Sunday dawned, the rain had cleared up and we decided to go and see the Spa 24 Hours which had been running since 4pm on the Saturday and could be heard for at least 10 miles from the circuit. The event is a round of the FIA GT Championship. This gave us our first view of the famous Eau Rouge corner that so many F1 drivers have raved about over the years. No picture on TV can give you the sense of speed that the cars take this at or the degree of incline to be negotiated.
We woke to a very wet morning but the storm had done its worst and it was beginning to brighten up. After the drivers briefing we made our way to out allocated pit garage no. 27. The track was still wet so treaded TOYO tyres were the order of the day for both of us as we took our first tentative laps behind the safety car. The first lap immediately lets you know that this circuit is very special indeed. The sequence of challenging corners and long straights means that power as well as handling is important to keep on the pace which did not bode well for our standard Rover 1.8 VVC engines. Normally when Dave and I drive local airfield or circuit track days we are amongst the quickest but here we were amongst the slowest. The important thing was to remember all our previous circuit driving training to take our time, learn the circuit and stay off the kerbs especially in the wet. We managed to do this and I was especially mindful of the fact that I needed my Marlin to last for the Nurburgring and the drive home. Others were not so cautious with a very nice Ultima and Mitsubishi EVO V1 being rendered undriveable both having visited the barriers in the morning session.
By late morning the weather was improving and the circuit was drying up nicely and a switch to my TOYO 888’s was possible. I stiffened up the dampers warmed the tyres gently dropping the pressures every few laps and before long was really starting to push harder and enjoy myself. Now it was time to learn the circuit. Dave and I sat in the passenger seat with each other and discussed where we could go faster and soon I was sliding my car around on the corners as I do on a track day at home. We then followed each other round taking time to observe each others lines and speed through the corners.
The next day opened slightly overcast but most importantly was dry which got better as the day went on with bright sunshine all afternoon. By chance we met up with Pete Goodman, a sprinter of note who we both knew from the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club and he offered to give us some driving tuition from his sprinting knowledge. He pointed out that the double left hander could be taken in a large arc using all the kerb and that more speed could be carried through the corner in a higher gear. Overall he complemented the set up of my Marlin, my speed and trial braking through the slow and medium corners but felt that I could carry more speed and use more of the kerbs in the faster corners. The afternoon brought more improvements with no braking for Eau Rouge, just lifting a little on the turn in to balance the car before powering up the hill.It seemed that towards the end of the second day some drivers’ common sense went out of the window. In the last hour a Lotus 2-11 went backwards into the wall, the other one broke all the rules diving under me on the brakes rather than waiting to pass on the straight and a race BMW ripped off the front corner then went into the wall backwards taking the title for the biggest crash of the 2 days. Overall it was a brilliant, brilliant circuit that all petrol heads should drive at least once in their lifetime but treat it with respect because it bites if you get it wrong.
We departed for Germany via Spa and it was great to have the roof off following Dave on the way to the Nurburgring. We bought 4 runs each and set off very cautiously. It was incredible that they allow cars and bikes out together and the bikes all seem to be ridden by nutters with the self preservation chip removed. What strikes you the first time you go on the circuit is how many blind crests and changes of camber there are. I had one moment about 7km in, where I came over a blind crest only for the circuit to turn sharp left in front of me. I had to rely on my EBC brakes and ABS to get me out of trouble so as not to end up in the barrier. On the second run we came across vigorously waved yellow flags where a BMW that had blown up and lost all its fluids on the circuit. A bike had hit this at high speed and although I did not see the rider the bike was a complete mess and I can only assume that the rider would be in a similar condition. It made me grateful that I had 4 wheels instead of 2 and a comprehensive cage for protection as standard on my Marlin.
We drove into the village of Nurburg and found a superb pizza restaurant where a good pizza could be bought for 6 Euros and, even better, we sat outside to eat them as numerous people stopped to take pictures of our cars. The next morning we decided to have a look at the Nurburgring F1 circuit as the ring was closed to us until the evening and the F1 circuit was setting up for the “Old Timer” Grand Prix over the following 3 days. To our great surprise when we approached the gates to the F1 circuit the guards on duty took one look at my car with all the sponsors stickers on it and waved us straight in to the F1 paddock. It seemed rude to explain otherwise so we had a superb next few hours looking at all the race teams setting up, taking pics of the cars in the COYS auction, wandering along the pit lane and admiring the cars having fun on track.
Back to the ring we got there early to buy our tickets for 4 runs each on the last evening but so it seemed did everyone else. Because it had been closed early the previous day and was not open at all the following day it seemed that a huge crowd had come out of the woodwork to drive. We had to queue to get on the circuit when the track was closed again due to a Porsche 911 GT3RS ripping off a front corner and converting itself into a Reliant Robin. It was now questionable whether we would get our runs in. We agreed that there would be no time to analyse and talk between runs and just decided to do our runs one after the other. I did my first run and was surprised at how much of the circuit I could remember. I went straight through for my second run and decided to time myself on my stopwatch to see if I could beet the infamous 10 minute time of Clarkson in the Jag. I pushed as hard as I dared and ended up with a time of 9mins 50 seconds – Brilliant!! I knew I could go faster and decided to stiffen up the dampers and lower the tyre pressures now that they had warmed up.
Whilst queuing up for my 3rd run something very strange happened. I was approached by an Australian who asked if he could jump in with me if he paid for the run. I agreed and he jumped in just wearing t-shirt, shorts and sandals carrying a large rucksack. I asked him “Are you a mad Aussie?” To which he replied “No, I’m THE mad Aussie”. It turned out that he had bought a Subaru Impreza Turbo and had done the BMW driving course but in doing so had cooked the brakes. He was now keen to finish the rides he had paid for in whatever he liked the look of. What was useful for me was that as he had been there the last 3 days he had a good knowledge of the circuit and knew what was coming up next and was advising me accordingly as we went round. It was a committed lap and my damper and tyre pressure settings were spot on. What was amusing was the “THE mad Aussie” despite being strapped into my car in a Sparco race seat with 3 inch FIA approved harnesses was holding onto the dashboard for dear life as we went round. He later admitted that the cornering speed was far higher in my Marlin than his Subaru or the BMW M3 training car and was amazed that I managed to get round some of the corners without coming off. Best of all my lap time was down to 9min 34 secs.
The next day we departed back to the B&B we stayed at for the first 2 nights in Belgium and spent most of the day in a very wet Malmedy. The next morning we set off at the crack of dawn for the drive to Calais which we made with ½ an hour to spare. Needless to say it was dry all the way to Calais and rained all the way from Dover to Bristol. We finally got home at 8pm, totally exhausted. I set my trip meter before leaving and covered a total of 1548 miles in the week. I also raised almost £2000 for Diabetes UK and hopefully helped to raise awareness through the media coverage which if only one person takes a test and gets diagnosed early will be worth it.
I would like to thank all my sponsors for their financial donations and Dave Bence for his support and putting up with me. I would especially like to thank my employer Domino UK Ltd for their support whilst I was off sick and for being the major sponsor on this trip. Finally, a special mention for my very understanding and supportive wife, Jessica.
If anyone reading this is thinking about doing something similar my advice would be to do it while you can as you never know what’s around the corner. Would I do it again? You bet I would.
Ken Robson
At the end of September 2006 I was diagnosed with Diabetes having had the usual symptoms of continual thirst, needing the loo more often and losing weight for no apparent reason. It was assumed that I had standard Type 2 Diabetes but it is now believed that I have a rare form of Monogenic Diabetes which took almost a year to bring under control. I now take 13 tablets a day, inject insulin at night and have regular hospital check ups. Although that may sound bad I consider myself very lucky to be enjoying life again and know that it is only through the help of Diabetes UK and 21st century medicine that I am back in this position.
I decided that this would be a good opportunity to combine the trip of a lifetime with the opportunity to raise awareness of Diabetes and sponsorship for Diabetes UK. I offered people the chance to put their name on the car and companies to put their logo on the car which would feature in all the publicity pictures. I ended up in the local papers, was interviewed live on air with 2 radio stations and received publicity in Banzai and Complete Kit Car Magazine with Graphitext supplying applying the graphics at cost.
http://www.diabetes.org.uk
http://www.completekitcar.co.uk