Stutz Racing 2004

Nurburgring – Saturday/Sunday 26/27th June 2004

A very modern circuit with quite magnificent facilities, indeed the Formula 1 Grand Prix has only recently been held here and our arrival just simply confirmed that was indeed a superb racing facility.

Whilst drivers of sports and racing cars can never quite agree on the way around a circuit so those of us who left the U.K. via Dover to Calais never agree on which is the best route to follow, however, our transport manager now correctly termed "Directors of Logistics" showed us a route which took us through some of the most beautiful rural parts of Germany and indeed when we left the circuit we followed a rural route unfortunately using a road on the German border straight and potholed dubbed by some wag with a large notice "The Road to Hell".

As to the race itself, well sadly George but very wisely as it turned out decided not to race his Stutz prior to the major event the Le Mans 24 hours Classic but George was with us, it was most enjoyable to have him at the circuit particularly when our front brakes needed slight adjustment, yes you guessed it George was first in line with the spanners and the brakes of course worked to perfection.

Apart from a checkover we haven’t touched the supercharged car since George sent it back from America last year, a compression test proved that everything was in good working order so we handed the car over to our very dedicated drivers, member John Guyatt and his and now our very good friend Colin Warrington, they practiced hard and yes you guessed one lone Stutz and one lone supercharged Bentley, in fact I believe the 1930 team car.

There were two races, one on each day, and the first race we started one position ahead of the Bentley, a remarkable achievement by both drivers since we started 6th and the Bentley 7th, a most incredible race developed but I am delighted to tell you that the Stutz achieved it’s objective, it beat the Bentley, the Stutz fastest lap was _second faster than the Bentley and just to give you some idea how close they were, the fastest lap of the Bentley was 99.991 kph whilst that of the Stutz was 100.185 kph a difference as you can see of just one fifth of a second.

Sadly the Bentley had to withdraw from round 2 because of engine damage, there is I understand a well known Bentley saying "3,200 rpm – total contentment, 3,400rpm – raised eyebrows and some concern, 3600rpm – reach for the cheque book".

In round 2 John was about to pass the 6c Alfa Romeo when due to a very serious accident the race was stopped. This racing series at Nurburgring was the first of three rounds of the Motor Racing Legends pre-war sports car series, the second round is at Assen which is in Holland scheduled for 13th –15th August.

24 Hour Le Mans Classic - Saturday/Sunday 24th/25th July 2004

Whilst the Le Mans circuit is nearer to the coast, of course it is in France, we still have a 6 hour sea journey from Portsmouth to Le Havre but this was no hardship since the modern P&O ferries resemble cruise liners and the first class lounge enables you to travel in absolute luxury in a very stable environment, the first and inaugural Le Mans Class was held in September 2002 and we competed with the supercharged Le Mans Stutz but broke our clutch in the second round and of course we were hoping for better things and indeed our confidence was rewarded.

It was very encouraging to have George Holman and his family with his DV32 and we were hoping to have a third Stutz car, in fact it was entered, it is the ex-Mike Holt car but unfortunately this was withdrawn before the event because it had broken it’s gearbox, however, the two cars made a big impact both with their performance on the track and the with the public at large.

The organisers had been very considerate towards the Stutz Cars, the official programme had a whole page on the Bentley versus Stutz together with some of our delightful original pictures in addition there is a double page of the pits in 1929 with the Stutz team sign with one of the mechanics hanging out the sign for "come in and change your spark plugs".

The older cars are all grouped together from 1923 to 1939, there were some 60 entries and a wonderful assortment of cars they were. The oldest car was a 1923 Delage, the youngest cars 1938 Lagondas, Morgans and Talbots.

The event officially commences with a magnificent reception and dinner at the Abbey Epau, this is some 5 miles from Le Mans, a reception and dinner for some 1000 people is something that our French colleagues do extremely well.

After that we got down to the serious business, for our grid night qualifying was between 9.00pm and 10.00pm on the night of Friday 23rd July, our daytime practice was between 8.00am and 9.00am on Saturday morning 24th July. The older cars always start the event in the time honoured fashion of the drivers all being lined up on one side of the pit straight at exactly 4 o’clock running across the road jumping into their cars and away they go.

Our next period of racing was between 1.00am and 2.00am on Sunday morning 25th July and our final racing period was between 8.00am and 9.00am on Sunday morning 25th July the race coming to the finish with the group 6 cars at 4.00pm on the Sunday. We were of course all feeling a little tired and discovered that we have had about three hours sleep in the past 42 hours, but as to the race itself we all had our problems, it was particularly frustrating for George because his car was going so well, when he lost his oil pressure relief valve but George succeeded in making up a temporary relief valve which worked extremely well and he was able like us to continue through the various rounds and in fact I am delighted to say that both Stutz’s were running at the end when on the final lap George lost his clutch and broke his gearbox and coasted over the line to finish and in trying to catch two Aston Martins and improve our position we probably slightly over revved the engine which caused an enormous backfire which blew out the supercharger relief valve but to John’s credit he coaxed the car over the line to finish an incredible 11th on the index of performance with George coming in 20th and in outright classification John and Colin came in 21st and George an incredible 23rd. I am delighted to tell you that no Bentleys finished in front of us, and pleased to say that both cars will be ready for Assen next month in August. I have already put my name forward to repeat the Le Mans classic in 2006, the weather was wonderful, the food was superb and the facilities beyond criticism. The crowds were enormous and yes the cars were the stars.