Silverstone - 9th September 2006
Voor de liefhebbers:
17.07 Jubilation and congratulations to all in the team. Fantastic effort well done. 25th overall, 6th in class - tremendous.
16.01 Final pit for driver change, tyres fuel enough for home - fingers crossed. - Under the hour to go.
15.08 A quick pit for fuel - still running nicely - 26th position overall 6th in class.
14.00 A nice empty pits still.
13.53 pm Still going well - 27th place - just done a 2.10 lap and the car sounds perfect. Nicola Thorne has fed most of Silverstone with yummy food all weekend......behind every team is a...............
1.20 pm Up to 29th - all looking good. 6th in class with 3 hours 38 minutes to go.
12.23 Car just pitted for driver change, pads, tyres, fuel etc. Running well. Oil was a combination of over filling and the loss of a scavenge pipe in the overnight pit stop due to damage. All well now
11.03 Car running to plan, but starting to use a little oil which is a concern to the team - watch this space.
10.30 Car in for a quick driver change - sounding and going well. Last lap 2.12 - running 32nd overall and 7th in class.
09.25 Following a brief stop for a sticky throttle and a flat spot on the tyre, the Morgan is back out - 31st position 8th in class. The team were running 19th overnight, but the oil pipe pit stop put them back. Car has just put in 2.09 time - the aim is to finish.
Dave Bradley (car manager checking the data log)
An empty pit again
08.25 Safety car is now in - the race continues.
08.10 Out again for 10 laps before a refuel and visual check. Car is sounding really sweet. Safety car is still out. The fog is worse on some parts of the circuit than others.
07.50 Car currently in the pits - came in for a new set of pads and an oil leak was noticed from an oil hose - the most difficult to reach of course, but a chance for an oil change too. We believe that the car visited the gravel in the night, but the drivers are staying tight lipped. This is all made less of a problem because the safety car has been out for 3 hours!! Fog has made visibility very poor on hangar straight. 9 hours to go, and the Morgan should be back out in the next 15 minutes or so.
03.47 am Still running to plan - rather more incidental pit stops than planned but nothing serious. Running 2.12s to plan and in 22nd place now 7th in class. Melvyn Rutter, Tim Whitworth (Morgan Financial Director and Fuelling team) and Richard Thorne, the man behind the whole entry pose for a photo.
12.20 am After a short stop to change an oil filter and adjust the pressure release valve things are as they should be. Running in 26th. James and Dan looking like they've been going for 24 hours already!! - probably have!!
9.17 pm All still "on track", all the cars have done many laps behind the safety car or so it seems. The Morgan is running 6th in class, and 16 cars have already bitten the dust!
7.37 pm Car running like clockwork - 2 pit stops and consistant 2.11s on instructions - currently running 28th. Empty pits a good sign.
5.41 pm After 41 minutes - running a steady 22nd overall (6th in class) at 2 mins 12 per lap - best lap 2.09 but told to SLOW DOWN - we want to finish.
Ready for the off
The grid is just lining up now with 20 minutes to go.
And now back together - plenty of time to spare.
