Birkett Six Hour Relay Race @ Silverstone GP.
The Birket is a pretty unique event which has been running since 1951 and pretty much anything with ‘covered wheels’ that races at club level is allow to take part. As it’s a relay race each of the 70 team taking part could have up to six drivers/cars. This leads to a pretty busy track with some massive differences in speeds both along the straights and through corners. Leading to some really interesting on track battles.
Both the Green and White Academy group entered teams so regardless of what the other teams were doing it was all to play for between us. After the first three hours our team was leading the others by about six seconds. That lead was not to last since we had a couple of spins then some badly timed safety cars. Which dropped us behind whites by a lap. After covering 125 laps we finished 44th. The best we could have possible got was around 40th so given none of us had done any endurance events before I think everyone was really happy with the result and the fact all the cars survived.
My first thirty minute stint was pretty uneventful as within two laps I caught up with an orange BMW which was slower than me around all the corners but a lot faster down the straights. This lead to me lapping a few seconds slower than I could have been but without doing something really kamikaze down the inside there was no way past. Which would have been pointless because even if I did pull it off I only would have gotten overtaken down the next straight. Instead I decided to try and play it smarter and just sit behind him so we could both concentrate on lapping consistently instead of losing time fighting.
The second stint was a lot more fun. I tagged on to the back of a slightly faster Caterham which meant I could benefit from a tow. I also spent a fun couple of laps trying to get past a Ford Falcon which was monster fast in a straight line but couldn’t brake or go around corners.
The best thing about the event was getting to race with some mates instead of against them. Both teams did themselves proud can’t wait till next year.
2021 Caterham 310R Racer 
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