Dan Collins’ view of the HFO round at Spa complete with on-board video.
We are trying something new on the HFO website. In addition to the official race report, we will try and threaten one of the drivers to give us their story of each event to provide some insight into elements of an event that the spectators do not get to see or know about. Think of it as a one-sided blog!
For the first Racers View, Dan Collins has agreed to co-operate but it comes with a warning, there is a long lead up to the actual Spa event!
Although this is Round 2 of the 2010 Championship, this was to be my first race in my Type 91 since October 2009. Following a broken shoulder suffered during the annual Classic Team Lotus skiing trip in January, I had been unable to even test the car prior to Spa.
I had been advised against driving until the three pieces of titanium in my left shoulder had been removed. This was supposed to happen before the Monaco Historique, which I was due to compete in, driving my Lotus 21. However, a certain volcano stranded me in the US when the surgery was supposed to be taking place in the UK!
So without telling the doctors, I competed at Monaco only to have a driver recovering from a spin t-bone me as I was about to enter the tunnel. This resulted in a head-on impact with the barrier and a very sore shoulder when the seat belts prevented me from catapulting into the harbour!
I was somewhat concerned that I would not be up to driving the 91, especially as my shoulders are jammed against the cockpit sides in that car, unlike the 21 which has room for a family of four.
Mike Whatley, HFO CEO, also reminded me that titanium parts were not allowed on historic F1 cars but I decide to break the rules and ignore the doctors!
I arrived on Thursday night but didn’t get to the circuit until Friday morning. It was great to see my fellow competitors again but it also means that I got the usual verbal bashing from Dave Abbott. We are great rivals and now he is driving an Arrows, he seems to think he will start beating me.
Friday free practice does not seem to go well. We have a clutch problem (it’s slipping badly) and I am several seconds off my usual pace at Spa which, by the way, is my second favourite circuit after Monza and I usually do quite well here.
It seems the clutch has too much travel and has gone over centre. This can damage the clutch but we decide to adjust the travel and see how we get on in first qualifying on Saturday.
I am quicker than Dave Abbott who has not seen the Nigel Mansell name sticker we had put on his car (since he whines at least as much as Nigel) and we agree to a £50 bet that I will out-qualify him. I am not usually a betting man and as you will see, it should stay that way!
The first qualifying session gets underway and the first few laps are OK but I know I am braking way to early for most of the corners and I am lifting for too long at Eau Rouge and lifting at Blanchimont when I know I can take it flat. I put it down to being rusty and tell myself to chip away until I am back where I should be.
Then the clutch problem returns after only 3 laps! Even worse, Dave Abbott is quicker!
Classic Team Lotus Manager Chris Dinnage, mucks in with mechanics Lewis and Tim to change the clutch between sessions. Although the clutch is new, we assume it got damaged by the earlier excess travel and decide to change it.
It is much hotter in the afternoon and the track is slower but off I go to try and find the 3 seconds a lap I have lost from last year however…..on my first flying lap, the clutch protests again. This time, it is even worse and I can only limp back to the pits thinking my session is over.
I sit in the garage while Chris and Lewis discuss the problem and they think they know the cause. There is no time complete a proper fix it but they have an idea which will get me back in the session. The only problem is I have to drive without using the clutch.
After some mechanical wizardry is completed behind me, they start the car and get me moving down the pit lane and I crunch the car into second gear. The last instruction was “keep your foot off the clutch pedal”.
I complete the session without using the clutch and on my last lap, I get a reasonable time under the circumstances but it is 3 tenths too slow to beat Dave Abbott’s best time from Q1.
I am £50 worse off and distraught at having to pay Dave Abbott any money plus the engine was hitting the rev limiter on the run up to Les Combes. We cannot be sure if that is due to the clutch slipping or me being quicker through Eau Rouge and therefore faster up the hill. Can the weekend get any worse?
Actually it can get worse. While at Spa, I had decided to race in the Lurani Formula Junior race ( I know, the doctors would have a fit!). I won’t go into the details of that race but I just have to mention that while the Type 91 was being worked on in the garage, the Junior car which had been parked behind the garage (a Lotus Type 18) decided to roll across the paddock and into the motorhome of fellow HFO competitor Terry Sayles.
I didn’t witness the event but apparently Terry’s wife May who was in the motohome at the time had quite a surprise! Damage to the motorhome was light but Terry reported that the Picasso hanging on the wall inside and the rare crystal vase on a shelf were both damaged as a result of the impact.
A sign later appeared above the point of impact which stated “Reserved parking for Classic Team Lotus”.
We had planned to miss the warm up since it was followed immediately by the Formula Junior race which I was also involved in. However, we had changed the top gear ratio due to hitting the rev limiter and the clutch problem had been identified but needed to be checked.
The clutch problem was due to a faulty master cylinder which was causing pressure to build up in the hydraulic lines every time I pressed the clutch pedal and eventually preventing the clutch from engaging properly.
With a new master cylinder and higher top gear, I prepared to go out. Then I noticed a new sticker on the car proclaiming that the car was 50 Lbs underweight. The “Lbs” had been crossed out and a “£” sign inserted. Very funny Mr Abbott!
We did 5 laps, knocked a second off my qualifying time and beat Dave Abbotts qualifying time without really trying so I was happy. I hit the rev limiter again on the run to Les Combes which was a little mystifying but we decided not to change ratios again.
Dave Abbott suggested we have another bet on the race result but with the luck I had so far during the weekend, I declined. Another betting mistake!
Most of my comments about the race can be found after the on-board video below. However, I have to make the point that Dave Abbott failed to finish and I should have made that bet. Damn!
On board video shot from Dan Collins car during the FIA Historic Formula One Championship race at Spa Francorchamps on Sunday 23rd May 2010.
I am a little reluctant to put these videos on display as they usually result in a barbed email from historic racer and perparation specialist Martin Stretton about my driving ability! However, in the interest of giving a drivers view of the race, I’ll swallow my pride and await Martin’s missive.
It will be pretty obvious to most people that I messed up the start with way too much wheelspin which immediately lost me two places and made the car snap to the left when the tyres finally regained traction. Despite the mistake, I almost passed Katsu Kubota in his Williams who tried to make it easier for the rest of us by starting in third gear!
I was anticipating the usual La Source incident on the run to the first corner and when it didn’t happen, I thought we would all be in the clear and racing. Obviously higher powers decided to vary the script this year and the “incident” occured just after La Source when Patrick d’Aubreby and Nico Bindels touched.
From my viewpoint, it was obvious that Patrick, in the Tyrell, got the power down sooner coming out of the corner but as he started to pass Nico in the other Lotus, who was drifting to the outside as you usually do at that point, contact was made twice.
Nico eased up immediately with damaged front suspension. Patrick continued and although it is not clearly visible on the video, he was shedding fluids and small parts for most of the time I was behind him!
I then had quite a task trying to pass Peter Wuensch in the Wolf. This was made somewhat more difficult by the fact that I was again hitting the rev limiter but now it was somewhere around half distance between Raidillon and Les Combes. This problem had become worse! I also had the close attention of Christophe D’Ansembourg in his Williams behind me.
When I finally managed to get past Peter, I had to make sure I had a reasonable lead over him every time I went through Eau Rouge to make sure he didn’t catch me before Les Combes when I was on the limiter. I managed to use some of the backmarkers to good effect, passing them when Peter and Christophe got held up and I cruised to the finish in 7th place.
I know I was still braking too early for most corners and lifting when I should have been on the power but I now feel comfortable back in the 91 and can’t wait for Monza. The only concern is that I will finally be having surgery to remove my titanium bits the week before Monza!
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