18.06.2009
Richard Meaden recently took part in the maddest race in the world – the Nürburgring 24hrs, in one of the most exciting new cars on sale in 2009. See how he gets on in our two part video.
Watch the videos on DR TV.
Click the images below:
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20 Comments
DriversRepublic (The DR Team)
June 18, 2009Posted on DR: DR TV: Aston Martin V12 Vantage at the N24 http://bit.ly/f4ad2
DriversRepublic (The DR Team)
June 18, 2009Posted on DR: DR TV: Aston Martin V12 Vantage at the N24 http://bit.ly/f4ad2
daytonafan
June 18, 2009Excellent video’s good work.
One question the car has the standard road car instuments plus what looks like a stack system where the sat Nav would be? Do you look at either while on track?
daytonafan
June 18, 2009Excellent video’s good work.
One question the car has the standard road car instuments plus what looks like a stack system where the sat Nav would be? Do you look at either while on track?
Richard - DR
June 19, 2009Although it pays not to look at the speedo anywhere around the ‘Ring, especially when racing(!), you can’t help a sneaky peak every now and again. We kept the small LCD display within the standard instrument pack showing speed, as the pitlane speed limit is 60km/h and we didn’t have a speed limiter fitted so needed the info to gauge our speed. That made it hard not to see your speed everywhere else around the lap. It’s amazing how much of the time it stays at or comfortably above 200km/h. There are countless times where you’re tackling corners at anywhere between 200 and 250km/h. On the Döttinger Höhe it peaked at 305km/h into the compression.
The blue centre display has a rev display (which you don’t really look at), along with temperature/pressure displays and alarms. The most critical bit of information is the fuel reading. We zero it at every pit stop and then the driver calls in to the pits at the same point every lap – usually somewhere between Galgenkopf and the gantry – with the fuel reading (in litres).
Our sweet spot was between 10 and 11 litres per lap. The tank holds 117-litres, so 10-litre laps would allow us to stretch to 11 laps per stint with some safety margin. That means we were effectively driving to the fuel meter, so using the torque rather than top-end revs. Obviously the big V12 worked very well driven in such a manner, consistently pulling 4th gear out of Ex-Muhle, which is ridiculous.
That style doesn’t make for balls-out in-car footage, but what you don’t see is how little we’re trying to brake and how much momentum we’re trying to carry into the corners. It’s a totally different approach to how you’d drive in a sprint race, but brilliantly satisfying once it clicks. By the end of the race we’d all matched or beaten our personal qualifying times (when we were using full revs), but were using at least 1000rpm less through the gears and consumed 2-litres less fuel per lap. That was the key to our win really.
Richard - DR
June 19, 2009Although it pays not to look at the speedo anywhere around the ‘Ring, especially when racing(!), you can’t help a sneaky peak every now and again. We kept the small LCD display within the standard instrument pack showing speed, as the pitlane speed limit is 60km/h and we didn’t have a speed limiter fitted so needed the info to gauge our speed. That made it hard not to see your speed everywhere else around the lap. It’s amazing how much of the time it stays at or comfortably above 200km/h. There are countless times where you’re tackling corners at anywhere between 200 and 250km/h. On the Döttinger Höhe it peaked at 305km/h into the compression.
The blue centre display has a rev display (which you don’t really look at), along with temperature/pressure displays and alarms. The most critical bit of information is the fuel reading. We zero it at every pit stop and then the driver calls in to the pits at the same point every lap – usually somewhere between Galgenkopf and the gantry – with the fuel reading (in litres).
Our sweet spot was between 10 and 11 litres per lap. The tank holds 117-litres, so 10-litre laps would allow us to stretch to 11 laps per stint with some safety margin. That means we were effectively driving to the fuel meter, so using the torque rather than top-end revs. Obviously the big V12 worked very well driven in such a manner, consistently pulling 4th gear out of Ex-Muhle, which is ridiculous.
That style doesn’t make for balls-out in-car footage, but what you don’t see is how little we’re trying to brake and how much momentum we’re trying to carry into the corners. It’s a totally different approach to how you’d drive in a sprint race, but brilliantly satisfying once it clicks. By the end of the race we’d all matched or beaten our personal qualifying times (when we were using full revs), but were using at least 1000rpm less through the gears and consumed 2-litres less fuel per lap. That was the key to our win really.
JethroBovingdon
June 19, 2009Not wishing to give Art Ed Carey a big head… but I love these videos. They perfectly convey the relentlessness of the race and the unique atmosphere around the track – which uniquely you get to see and feel even when you’re driving thanks to the, erm, limited run off areas. You can even smell the BBQs in the car!
Made me desperately want to race there again.
JethroBovingdon
June 19, 2009Not wishing to give Art Ed Carey a big head… but I love these videos. They perfectly convey the relentlessness of the race and the unique atmosphere around the track – which uniquely you get to see and feel even when you’re driving thanks to the, erm, limited run off areas. You can even smell the BBQs in the car!
Made me desperately want to race there again.
Richard - DR
June 19, 2009If we’re bigging-up Neilo, we should also mention David Shepherd’s camera work. Unfortunately we had to censor some of the more, er, atmospheric footage he shot in the wild campsites, but when he could tear himself away from naked German race fans he didn’t do too bad a job of shooting the racing!
We’re also considering putting full in-car laps from night and sunrise, with a voiceover explaining gears, speeds, overtaking slower traffic, being overtaken by quicker cars etc. Let us know if that’s of interest and we’ll start working on it.
Richard - DR
June 19, 2009If we’re bigging-up Neilo, we should also mention David Shepherd’s camera work. Unfortunately we had to censor some of the more, er, atmospheric footage he shot in the wild campsites, but when he could tear himself away from naked German race fans he didn’t do too bad a job of shooting the racing!
We’re also considering putting full in-car laps from night and sunrise, with a voiceover explaining gears, speeds, overtaking slower traffic, being overtaken by quicker cars etc. Let us know if that’s of interest and we’ll start working on it.
Neville Contractor
June 19, 2009@Richard:
I’d be very interested to see full laps.
What an amazing race. The atmosphere, the harshness of the track, the varied breadth of race machines – I thought I saw a 993 GT3 in the fray, imagine how scary that would be!
The video footage was great, especially shots of the Karussell. I was surprised how aggressively some of the drivers were jumping their cars on the exit of that corner. Must have to take more care in the wet… The shots around sunrise were very good as well, although tough for the drivers with the dazzling light. Overall one of the best videos I’ve seen on DR.
I imagine the filming was almost as tiring as the driving!
Neville Contractor
June 19, 2009@Richard:
I’d be very interested to see full laps.
What an amazing race. The atmosphere, the harshness of the track, the varied breadth of race machines – I thought I saw a 993 GT3 in the fray, imagine how scary that would be!
The video footage was great, especially shots of the Karussell. I was surprised how aggressively some of the drivers were jumping their cars on the exit of that corner. Must have to take more care in the wet… The shots around sunrise were very good as well, although tough for the drivers with the dazzling light. Overall one of the best videos I’ve seen on DR.
I imagine the filming was almost as tiring as the driving!
daytonafan
June 19, 2009I agree full laps would be great.
daytonafan
June 19, 2009I agree full laps would be great.
Scotty
June 21, 2009Agreed on full lap videos. Also that was a brilliant video and the thing that made it stand out for me so much, and what made me want to be there was the noise. The RSR’s, the R8′s and especially the LF-A!!!!
Must be mental! Awesome work Dickie, I assume there will be an accompanying feature? Also I wondered how absolutely terrifying it must be to be driving your heart out and have something like the Manthey car tear up behind you at an enormous pace not wishing to lose a second.
Scotty
June 21, 2009Agreed on full lap videos. Also that was a brilliant video and the thing that made it stand out for me so much, and what made me want to be there was the noise. The RSR’s, the R8′s and especially the LF-A!!!!
Must be mental! Awesome work Dickie, I assume there will be an accompanying feature? Also I wondered how absolutely terrifying it must be to be driving your heart out and have something like the Manthey car tear up behind you at an enormous pace not wishing to lose a second.
Richard - DR
June 23, 2009Not getting the way of the really quick stuff is a recurring problem in the N24. The 20 quickest qualifiers get a blue strobe light for their windscreens, and this is surprisingly effective, especially at night.
In all honesty, though you try and anticipate where they will pass and blend out of the throttle accordingly where possible, the guys in the quickest cars are so on it they just nail you whenever they see a gap. It’s awesome to witness: the best place to see just how fast car R8s and Manthey 911s are is the driving seat of a car that would otherwise be regarded as quick. They just leave you for dead. Well, everywhere other than the Döttinger straight if you’re in a V12 Aston…
Richard - DR
June 23, 2009Not getting the way of the really quick stuff is a recurring problem in the N24. The 20 quickest qualifiers get a blue strobe light for their windscreens, and this is surprisingly effective, especially at night.
In all honesty, though you try and anticipate where they will pass and blend out of the throttle accordingly where possible, the guys in the quickest cars are so on it they just nail you whenever they see a gap. It’s awesome to witness: the best place to see just how fast car R8s and Manthey 911s are is the driving seat of a car that would otherwise be regarded as quick. They just leave you for dead. Well, everywhere other than the Döttinger straight if you’re in a V12 Aston…
jwolfcale
June 23, 2009@ Richard. I was actually wondering about the Aston’s pace on Dottinger. With well over 500 hp and no aero adendum you must have been able to pass just about anything in the race there. RSRs and R8s included.
I’m also throwing in my support for lap videos with narration and a feature. A feature would be great
jwolfcale
June 23, 2009@ Richard. I was actually wondering about the Aston’s pace on Dottinger. With well over 500 hp and no aero adendum you must have been able to pass just about anything in the race there. RSRs and R8s included.
I’m also throwing in my support for lap videos with narration and a feature. A feature would be great