Silverstone Saturday 22nd October 2016

The 66th running of the 750MC's Birkett Relay saw The Spectator off to Silverstone on a slightly misty Autumnal morning. An incredible entry of 70 teams meant that with the unique relay format, there would always be 70 cars on track for the duration of the 6 hour race...all being well! 

I'd been to a few Birkett's in the past, even to the one-off 12 Hour relay at Snetterton in June 2000. Those were the days when enthusiasm knew no bounds!! My last Birkett was in 2004 on the National circuit at Silverstone that suffered from lots of accidents due to massive speed differential on the small National circuit layout. The 750MC then took the very wise decision to shift the event to the full GP circuit layout and the event continues to flourish with a capacity grid entering every year for the end of season gathering.

70 teams entered the 2016 version of the famous relay. With teams from the wide variety of championships run by the 750MC plus entries from other clubs, there was a wide variety of machinery on show. 

Six separate qualifying sessions took place on Saturday morning so each driver/car combination could set at time for a place on the massive 70 car starting grid. Some teams went for the risky option of only entering 3 cars but the vast majority of teams opted to have 5/6 cars on the team...just in case!

One of the highlights of the Birkett is the use of some (not all..) imaginative Team names. My favourite one ever is "Team Betty Swollocks" many years ago but winner of best name in 2016 I have to say, was the very clever "RGB'Argy" team containing entries from the RGB Championship.

After the early morning mist had cleared, the day developed into one of those pleasant Autumnal days that, while giving a hint that Winter is just around the corner, also hinted of a Summer not long passed. At 11.40 the rolling start saw a train of cars that had the pole sitting Radical at Stowe as the rear of the field were still coming over the startline at Woodcote!

The early laps saw action akin to a 10 lap sprint at times! A closely contested battle for the lead between the Radical team of "We Don't Like Second" and the Saker of "JPR Motorsport" saw the lead to and fro. There was contact at Club which saw the Alfa Romeo 156 of Paul Plant suffer front end damage too. Interesting to note the use of the faster Club corner which bypasses the slow left hander turning the corner into a fast left/right flick. Cars drifitng very wide onto the International Pits straight became a common sight.

Despite the Radical/Lotus team, "Tracktime Solutions" leading at the 1 & 2 Hour mark, it was the all Radical "We Don't Like Second" team that triumphed overall at the end of a breathless six hours. A mammoth 152 laps were ticked off by the victors who finished 4 laps ahead of "Tracktime Solutions" at the end. The fast but fragile Sakers of "JPR Motorsport" finishing 4th behind the "RGB'Argy" team in 3rd.

The Relay is a Handicap event too and this was won by the all Hyundai Coupe "Carbon 8 Coupe Cup B"  trio of cars which finished 46th overall. Working out a handicap for the 70 teams can't have been easy and don't ask me how they did it! 

Despite the huge amount of cars this was a mostly clean race with only 2 appearances for the Safety car. They were both for recovery of mechanical breakdowns so all drivers must be applauded for some entertaining driving throughout the field. The days most spectacular retirement was that of the Superb Ford Escort RSR of Wayne Crabtree which pulled off the circuit at Becketts well alight. Swift work from the fire marshals hopefully saved the car too much damage.

A quite fascinating event to watch is the Birkett relay. Although 6 Hours in length, the race simply flew by due to having always something to keep your eye on! Looking through the results it was interesting to note that Karl Jones in his BMW E36 completed the most laps during the race...69! Some drivers wouldn't do that mileage in an entire season of racing! 

Also fascinating to note that Fastest Lap was set by the Saker of Paul Rose (2:05.80)...slowest lap set by the Smart car of Alistair Woodhead (3:25.86)!!

My final stat attack...315 different drivers took part in one race...You don't see that everyday.

A really enjoyable day at Silverstone. I wouldn't watch a 6 Hour Relay every weekend but the sheer spectacle of the Birkett is definitely different! Admission on the gate was £10 (Silverstone still by far the cheapest ticket price in the UK) and a programme was purchased for £3. The trek to race control in the morning to buy it wasn't great though. Silverstone please put programmes back on the gate like you used to!!