Introduction► The Event ► The Car ► The Drivers ► Supporting Companies ► Preparation Blog ► Live from Dubai

During the final 2010 F1 qualifying session from Abu Dhabi the BBC once again featured footage of LoTRDC organiser Paul Golding’s Elise from their 2009 feature.

Watching at home Paul rang fellow organiser Jez Braker and the two agreed the five month winter break before racing commenced again was too long and they needed to do something in-between. They quickly came up with the mad idea of trying to get a car that had just completed the LoTRDC organised Brands Hatch 1000KM and had a very long season with numerous different drivers in it prepared and entered for Dubai in just 2 weeks. An hour of research later and an email went out to a handful of hardcore Elise Trophy drivers offering seats.. within minutes 4 came back and an urgent call was made to Wayne at Essex Autosport to see if there was anyway the car could be prepared and delivered in Rotterdam in 2 weeks.

From that moment on Elise Trophy garages, parts suppliers, drivers and supporters rallied round to get what is arguably the Worlds most famous Lotus Elise on the Grid of the Dubai 24hr race.

The Event↑Top

The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a Sports Car and Touring Car Automobile Endurance Race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome. It was inaugurated in 2006 and serves as a one of the ultimate tests for both the endurance of the Driver and Machine.

The Endurance race is open to both Professional and Semi-Professional Teams. There are local competitors from the UAE and surrounding nations in the Gulf as well as a host of international teams particularly from European but they also come from as far afield as Australia and Hong Kong.

90 teams; a record for the Dubai 24hr, from close on 20 different countries and with drivers representing many more countries will line up for the start. Every major motorsport marque will be represented Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and Aston Martin will no doubt be fighting it out for overall honours. However, alongside there will entries from BMW, Renault, Corvette, VW and just about every other major manufacturer. With just 4 entries remaining there is just one little Lotus on the grid, that featured on this page!

The Car↑Top

BBC F1 Presenter Jake Humphrey – 10/2009

Elise Trophy Car Number 2: Lotus Elise Sport 160 – 1800cc – Year: 2000 Color: Bloodhound Dark Navy Blue with Orange stripe

The car is arguably the most famous Lotus Elise ever after a succession of guest drivers and promotions/features involving the car.

No. 2 lined up on the grid of the very first Lotus on Track Elise Trophy race on the 24th March 2007. It was piloted to 5th in class by it’s owner and series co-ordinator Paul Golding in what was a historic race; the first ever to field a maximum 32 starters at Brands Hatch on it’s for an inaugural event. Later in the season Paul found it too difficult to both organise the race series and race in it so he asked long term friend ex-Lotus Formula 1 driver Martin Donnelly if he would come back and race a Lotus for the first time since his F1 days. Martin said yes and proceeded to a class win and an overall win in his very first race. Martin then went on to record further wins in the car most notably at Spa Francorchamps.

With the car completing all 20 of the races it entered in the first year Paul decided to let others drive it in the following years and hasn’t actually driven it since his last race in the summer of 2007.

The car has had many memorable moments and been driven by many other Elise Trophy drivers when they have needed to borrow a car over the last 4 years. Drivers have not been asked to contribute towards the car, it’s lent to them free of charge and has been by far the most reliable car on the grid having competed in over 70 races todate and not finishing just 4 of them. Most recently it completed the Brands Hatch 1000KM when it was the 3rd highest finisher of 1 car Elise Trophy teams and again included the newly named Lotus F1 Ambassador Donnelly amongst it’s team of 3 drivers.

Drivers who have raced No. 2 over the first 4 seasons of the Elise Trophy (2007-2010):

Wing Commander Andy Green OBE BA RAF – World Land Speed record holder at 763.035mph – going for 1000mph soon!
Jake Humphrey – BBC1 Formula 1 anchor man (Jakes experience was featured as part of the BBC’s F1 coverage in 2009 & 2010)

Major James Cameron 2nd Royal Tank Regiment – 9/2010

(Andy & Jake both learnt to race in No.2, going on to race for the first and only time in the car)
Martin Donnelly – ex-Lotus Formula 1 Driver & Current Lotus F1 Ambassador
Major James Cameron – 2nd Royal Tank Regiment
Ed Foster – Motorsport Magazine
Gavan Kershaw – Group Lotus test driver
Elise Trophy drivers: David Skeggs, Gavin Kirby, Hans Baumhardt, Brian Watts, Glenn Sherwood, Nigel Ayres & Andrew Kell
Elise Trophy Co-Ordinator & No.2 owner: Paul Golding
Motorsport Vision staff: Ian Berry & David Willey
Lotus on Track instructors: Jamie Stanley & Malcolm Edeson
Charity donation(£4500) for Little Havens Childrens Hospice – Gareth Richardson
Sun newspaper “become a racing driver” competition winner – Matt Johnson
Elise Trophy drivers due to race at the Dubai 24hrs:
Ken Savage, James Knight, Simon Phillips & Pete Storey

The Drivers↑Top

Ken Savage

James Knight

Simon Phillips

Pete Storey

The four drivers were the first of 11 to approach Paul within the first 24hrs after he went public with the idea.

James was on the first ever Elise Trophy grid alongside Paul & Jez whilst Ken, Simon and Pete all started racing in 2008 taking to the grid for the first time ever in the Elise Trophy. All four drivers have well in excess of 50 race starts with LoTRDC and James, Simon and Ken have all won races.

Companies supporting Team Elise Trophy↑Top

Full car prep + Race support	Gas fire system	Spare engine & Gearbox	Shock re-furb, Spare units
G2 Heatshielding, Heat resistant gloves	Spare parts package + Toe links, Ball joints, Wheel bearings, etc.	Fuel tank, Alloy radiator, Cooling fans	FIA Seat, Wishbones, Cables, Hoses + Technical advice
E.C.U supply + Race Mapping	Clutch, Engine bolts, Gaskets, etc.	Oil lines, Coolers, etc.	Full gearbox refurbishment
Hard Cash	On-board video camera equipment	Steering Rack Assembly	Technical advice & Spare parts
Logistics	Oils + Lubricants	Vinyl	Car setup in Dubai
			Transport in Dubai

Royal Navy – HMS Cumberland

The Elise Trophy team will have some welcome support in Dubai. Following on from Wing Commander Andy Green’s drive in 2009 and the recent visit to Brands Hatch by the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment this time it’s the Royal Navy who we will be linking up with.

Some of the crew of the Royal Navy Type 22 Frigate: HMS Cumberland will be visiting the team in the paddock at Dubai Autodrome over a couple of days. The Frigate will be in Port Rashid while on a break from anti-pirating duties in the week leading up to the race and a couple of groups of crew members will head down to Dubai Autodrome to look round the paddock, hopefully have a few laps around the circuit and generally get a break away from the rigours of being at Sea for many months.

HMS Cumberland information: http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/operations-and-support/surface-fleet/type-22-frigates/hms-cumberland/index.htm

Preparation Blog – Wayne’s World↑Top

Car Preparation and Build blog by Wayne Sweeting at Essex Autosport

Monday 15^th November

Call from Paul, he’s got the drivers and paid the entry fee so the cars going to Dubai! Crikey, we’ve got a lot to arrange / produce in just two weeks!

Motorsport staff briefed to carry out a full report into the car – wear and tear, cosmetic damage, upgrades for the unique pressures and problems a 24hr race in Dubai will throw up.

Brief back and huge list of parts and work required for the car made. Then there’s the list of back up parts and logistics of it all. We need at least a whole spare car to go in just two 2m high pallets that can be shipped with the car.

Liaison with Jez who has spoken to Steve Williams and Paul who’s spoken with Lotus to take on-board even more advice.. at this point in time the more input the better to ensure nothing gets missed.

Car body stripped off and works starts on what amounts to a total rebuild of every mechanical part in the car in addition to lots of new parts that will need to be fitted to cope with 24hrs in all sorts of possible conditions that Dubai could throw up.

Made a list of proposed companies who may be willing to help with the project – and started the groveling Big problem here as it’s the Professional MotorSport Expo in Germany, so many decision makers are there this week.. ahhhh….

Spare Parts List:

Tuesday 16^th November

More phone calls to parts suppliers such as Pro-alloy (radiators, fans, fuel tanks), Lifeline (fire systems), Ptp (engine parts), Emerald (E.C.U.), Titan Motorsport ( steering rack assembly), Lotus Motorsport (lots of odds and ends). Jez to chase spare engine and gear box.

Vehicle interior removed; Carried out inspection of all cables, throttle linkage etc: all showing signs of wear and tear so more A list parts required in addition to spares.

Inspection of engine and gearbox show they both need rebuilding, I suppose we knew that after a few long hard seasons for the car and the recent 1000KM at Brands . Decision made to remove the assembly and carry out refreshing of all components. Offer was made from transmission solutions to supply a re-conditioned box, clutch also requires replacement.

Engine ancillaries removed from engine, ready for strip down. Calls to PTP who kindly offered clutch, engine bolts, gaskets, crank shells, valves etc – superb what a start!

Visual inspection of suspension was carried out; units removed and sent to Nitron for full overhaul, upgrading to improve droop length, also valving and spring rate change again all being done out of good faith by the Nitron team.

Fuel tank removed, awaiting confirmation from Paul with ref to tank use which depends on the race organizers, Lotus and a number of suppliers. Stripped out the radiator and fan hose assembly – awaiting replacements from Pro Alloy who have also now offered help. Scraped off old rear bulkhead covering, removing all glue residue. Wash down of the vehicles chassis removing grime/oil etc. and removing stones from the sills ” thanks to Martin Donnelly’s beach visit in the 1000km”

Vehicle electrical cut system and fire system removed from the car.

More calls to people and more parts being added to the list.

Wednesday 17^th November

Replacement triple pass radiator and fan assembly arrived, replacement fuel tank arrived, fan and ducting arrived (for driver set up), Nimbus heatshielding arrived.

Removed heater box assembly, ducting hose etc., blank -off interior venting grilles. Made up connecting plates and connected fresh air feed from front grille area, plumbing in an in-line fan assembly for the driver. Fit “Essex” front brake duct plates; these allow piping to be connected directly from the front air ducts to the centre hub/disc assembly to help reduce heat. Run the front brake duct pipe work from the front deck intake.

Re-assembled radiator/fan/frame assembly, wired up as required. Installed radiator unit, sealing off radiator surround from deflected air flow.

Cut to size the Nimbus heatshielding material and applied to the rear bulkhead assembly.

Assembled the fuel pump and tank assembly and re-fitted into the vehicle. Re-work fuel breather, fitting FIA roll over valve.

Rear heat shielding around exhaust also requires replacement due to damage/age (more Nimbus shielding required!)

Thursday 18^th November

Chasing brake caliper recon’s for release date, confirming new steering rack will be delivered on time!!!

Chasing Janspeed for any product available.

Fire system and electrical cut off system arrived – and now installed! Some frustration, due to part supply/delivery times. We have just over a week left.

Friday 19^th November

Parts arrived: PTP engine parts; Box had a hole in it! We’ve lost 5 big end bolts from the total of 8!! Chased around for replacements, got them! We need all engine parts as we start building the assembly over the weekend.

Cracked front windscreen cut out and removed, ordered 2 replacements as Paul wants a spare in Dubai.

Engine assembly dismantled and assessed, block at machine shop for correcting liner/block height. Head dismantled and pressure tested, new valves and springs being installed.

New silicone hoses fitted, rear o/s-n/s chassis pipes. Modified rear exhaust hangers, changing the location away from the rear clam. Now fixed to rear chassis arms.

Rear clam modified, cutting away the engine bulkhead area, and removing body work from number plate area. Cut to size and fitted grille panel. This cars not going shopping again!

Removed side ducts from rear deck and fitted small side scoops to improve air flow.

Monday 22^nd November

Nitron shocks came back from rebuild and bearings and ball joints arrived from elise-shop.com.

Director from Think Automotive has returned from the German autosport show, so now able to do more crawling. The call made, and oil lines and coolers were offered! From the suppliers list still need to chase product from Janspeed and Titan.

Called distributors for the brake calipers; Told we will see them by Thursday, hope so!

Janspeed haven’t got any product on the shelve, can’t produce any by weekend – balls, Jez will love this, Paul will go mad.

All suspension arms removed from the vehicle, bushes and ball joints pressed out, surface corrosion rubbed down and suspension arms repainted. All four uprights require new bearings so old units removed and replaced.

New ball joints fitted, awaiting bushes before arms can be re-fitted.

Secondary throttle cable is run “just in case we have a failure, making connecting up very easy in race conditions”. Throttle linkage checked with some new parts fitted.

Refurbed shocks mounted on car, well done Nitron!

Old oil cooler and oil lines are removed; the rubber oil lines are showing surface cracking and have gone hard due to age.

Wheels are having the tyres removed, and the wheels checked for any distortion before new slicks are fitted. We need 3 sets of wheels as will need a set of wets on one lot and the other two for the slicks.

Modifying connection union to fuel tank breather.

Removing all brake flexi lines and replacing with new.

Engine is being assembled, completed by tomorrow.

All companies approached (except one who just couldn’t build in time) came back with offers of product, and wishing the best to the team. In this current climate we are very grateful to them!

Tuesday 23^rd November

What a day of frustration, we’re playing the waiting game

Parts that are holding us up are: suspension bushes complete, front, rear brake calipers, rear tie rod assemblies, and the oil cooler lines. So we’re finding other less important things to finish off. Combining spare stock, for the race support parts that Jez is going to pack up. Cleaning down parts like drive shafts, checking boots and joints. Scrubbing down the vehicle tub, removing various additional items that have been added over the years in the cockpit, cut front deck indicator area to accept H.I.D driving lamps to improve night vision, bonding those in, messy job. Carried out exhaust box hanger mod to accept different position of hangers and welded up as required.

Cut pattern and fitted Nimbus heatshielding to rear subframe floor area. Started wiring up H.I.D. headlamp kits. Carried out wiring repairs to rear loom because the old wiring was brittle due to age/heat.

Jez drops in to catch up on things and go through the parts list that he’s put together with Steve Williams this morning and will then pack up at Paul Harding’s shipping company – we have 2 x 2 meter high pallets and the car to fill.. we could do with twice this! Jez seems very impressed but between everyone in the time available just hope we’ve covered everything.

Phil from Lotus Motorsport is traveling down after work to meet me and hand over bushes, gear cables, and an FIA seat & assembly, nice to meet up with him again and have a beer!

Well done Phil, that delivery was appreciated.

Parts arriving tomorrow !! :

Oil lines enabling cooler/ lines fitting, calipers combined with new brake lines, suspension bushes enabling suspension arms to be refitted and shocks correctly mounted, radiator hoses, and gear cables.

Looks like Paul has the fancy illuminated door cards in France, hope he can get them here so we can sticker up before the car leaves.

Aston Martin team called, our little Elise is sharing a container with a nice GT4 Aston: Chalk and Cheese… We now have a delivery date for the car to be in Rotterdam ready for transport to Dubai.. Next Thursday 2nd December, so we have to leave on Wednesday, looks like I’ll get lumbered with that job;)

Wednesday 24^th November

Parts arrived: suspension bushes, gearbox cables, ECU, brake calipers, oil lines, FIA hans seat.

Car starting to look like a car again. Bushes pressed in first, enabling arms to be refitted, new braided lines fitted, calipers fitted with new pads.

While the corner is being rebuilt, the engine / box assembly is built up and installed.

New engine loom, clutch, coil, plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor, temp sensors, hoses etc. all fitted today. Just don’t tell Paul he now has forged pistons;)

Replacement FIA, hans compatible seat was installed, the drivers will like this. Oil lines run to the front of the car and the new oil cooler mounted.

Staff worked really late to get the engine running and the car back on four wheels today, did a really good job.

Thursday 25^th November

Jez packs up the two pallets containing a full supply of spare parts. Thanks to fellow Elise Trophy racer Paul Harding whose shipping company Hawk Freight Logistics are shipping them to Rotterdam for us where they will meet the car.

60 litres of Motul engine oil and case of gear box oil being donated by Motul in addition to the Motul already received – thx Jason. Paul gets u2u offering help from Geary at elise-parts, maybe just too late but Jez checking.

With the new rear toe link kits arrived, we can now finish the rear suspension fitting, all we need now to finish off the four corners is the new rack assembly, unfortunately not due in until Friday

We’ve still loads of work to do, so today we finish other things on the list! Windscreen arrived to replace the vehicle’s cracked unit. With that bonded in place we can refit the front clam assembly, as usual attending to the front lower fixings spinning in the sill’s. Touched in the front paint work,and removed the front lower damaged splitter, replacing it with another new one ” thanks Martin.” Refitted the door assemblies, and started the lovely job of removing the vehicle stickers, “Disaster”, the sill paint just pealed away in bloody big chunks from both sides, so now we have to factor in another days work to refinish the sills ” we don’t need this”.

In the already tight schedule with complications of parts supply. However well we plan the schedule seems to change. So far we have managed to just move on to something else, but as the list shortens any issue cropping up has greater impact.

Bled brakes and clutch and clamp/ hold brake pressure for a few hours checking for leaks and trapped air in the system, another job finished!

Final fitting of drivers seat with the adjustable runner and fitted water bottle to passenger area, for the drivers to take on fluids. I’m sure they will need it! With the front clam now in place we can check the clearance of the H.I.D.’s to be bonded in the front indicator holes, clearance from radiator/hoses very tight so we’ll need to adjust as required.

It’s late afternoon and now the car is being loaded onto the dyno for running in, we’ll run the old girl for about 3 hrs, starting around 2,000-2,500 revs for the first hr – “she sounds sweet” with no hydraulic lifters making the usual tapping noise.

Tomorrow will be another hard one for the boy’s as the final parts arrive. The plan is to complete the body work, fit the steering rack, set ride heights, Geo the car and work late to prep and paint the bloody sills.

Friday 26^th November

Walshy confirms he’ll come and help set the car up.. drink Dubai dry..

Steering rack arrived! Dunlop slick tyres arrived! With the old AO48′s removed and the wheels scrubbed down and repainted it’s time for the slicks to be fitted. We’re fortunate to have a rather special tyre balancing machine, which enables us to check the balance harmonic between tyre and wheel, directing the fitter to rotate the tyre on the rim to minimise balance weights required. A pressure roller is then applied to the tyre surface to replicate vehicle loads, wheel assembly spun, while the monitoring screen shows the results.

Rear clam assembly re-fitted, reconnecting alternator, and induction ducting, rear plastic screen and arch liners. The rear loom is reconnected.

Now the steering rack is here and fitted, we can schedule the vehicle geometry, ride height and corner weighting. Tony didn’t get the car till after lunch, so he’ll need some time on Saturday morning to complete the set up. We’ll deal with the sill repainting over the weekend. My thanks to our Kevin who is willing to work over the weekend to complete that.

It’s now 7pm and I’m off to Costco to buy an alloy jack, spanner and screwdriver sets to put in with the car as backup.

Skeggsy is scheduled to be here first thing Monday with the camera, and car radio kits. Let’s hope we don’t get the snow!

Saturday 27^th November

With just a few days to go it’s going to require work on the car all weekend. This morning we finished the vehicle suspension geometry etc, then it was straight over to the paint shop. Cars prepared and wheels off etc so that the paint guys can get on with the job in hand. Vehicle sills repaired and primed ready for top coat tomorrow.

Sunday 28^th November

Kevin, our painter gives up his Sunday to re-paint the sills and a few other bits, thanks!

Monday 29^th November

Vehicle paint work finished, that’s another job not scheduled on the list and out of the way. The paint shop guys had got the car off the stands and ready for Monday’s work to proceed, that was appreciated as means we can get straight on.

Vehicle back in the Mechanical bay and on today’s list we have: video / camera installation, vehicle to pit radio installation and engine mapping.

Meeting up first thing with Steve Docherty from Track-Club, and David Skegg’s from LoT with regards to supply and brief on the radio and video equipment settings, top marks to Track club on the supply of the video kit, going to get some great footage, yet more thanks! With the power supply cables run, control units bolted down and the camera’s mounted that just leaves the Aerial and GPS receiver to mount onto the body work, so far so good!

Balls, the weather soon kicked us where it hurts! One member of the team calls in “stuck in the snow, vehicles are being left by the road side”. “Bollocks” the one guy we need today to deal with the vehicle mapping. Ok what’s plan B, haven’t got one!, oh yes we have! David Walker at Emerald wanted to offer this service when they kindly offered their new K6 ECU. A quick phone call and Dave booked us in for tomorrow morning, a quick update from Emerald on the snow and it’s ok but some due tomorrow. Now I’ve got an hours drive home to pick up the trailer, return to work, load up, and then a two hour drive to Emerald in Norfolk . The lads made a final list of things to finish, and off we went!

Arrived in Watton about 7pm putting car and trailer in Emeralds workshop ready for the dyno in the morning.

Tuesday 30^th November

David Walker, Emerald’s guru and one of the most respected mapping specialists in the UK went through the car’s mapping thoroughly and made compensations for the temp we’ll see over there. The full map and checks took until about 2.30pm by which time the weather was closing in and I really needed to make a move back to Essex. Thanks to Dave, I know Paul will be happy as he had a soft spot for team at Emerald from organising rolling road days many years ago.

Arrived at base approximately 5pm, snow on the way home starting to cause an issue with snow building up on the trailer! “good fun”.

Cars back on the ramp, oil changed, car cleaned, as it has been covered in salt spray and snow New sill stickers, driver name and some sponsor stickers fitted, Paul should be here tomorrow with the electronic door cards and other vinyls. However, snow now falling heavy in Essex, starting to worry about tomorrow’s pick up by Paul who’s coming over from France. I’m awaiting the call

8 PM – Call comes in: Paul “err’ I’ve got a problem getting to you tomorrow!, the roads in Kent are shit and it’s getting worse. I’ve a post on SELOC and people recommending to not risk it as things not moving south of the river.”

Plan B! We need someone to get the car to Harwich taking the ferry over night to arrive at Hook of Holland early Thursday morning!, ok I’ll speak with Gill to arrange things our end. While Paul arranges the Ferry crossing and confirms the booking, we take stock of the logistics this end. Simple things like, my passport is at home “can I get there? and then get back to work?” luckily I did manage the journey behind a snow plough/gritter . Then it’s back to work in Romford at 5am as I was not sure of the road conditions or how long my journey could take.

What’s in store for Wednesday. One thing’s for sure, Paul only has an easy drive to Rotterdam to meet us while we have to finish the car and get it to Harwich picking Gill and the dog up on the way. Really not looking forward to the overnight ferry crossing to Hook of Holland!!!

Wednesday 1^st December

Arriving at work really early allowed me to catch up with the shipping paper work, as we’re stuffing the car full of parts etc. An itemised list is required for customs and insurance, however, finishing the list isn’t easy as we’re always adding to the list!

With the staff arriving at about 7.30am, the last of the jobs were finished; draining the fuel tank, spanner checking various items, and then jamming the car full of parts and tools. We have things like an alloy jack, axle stands, drive shafts, hoses, wiring, connectors, yet another set of Nitron shocks (from Walshy), brake calipers, engine oil, gearbox oil, steering rack and fire extinguisher back up – amazing what you can get in an Elise when you need to!

“Bloody hell” that car is heavy to push, it must weigh about 1200kg!

Car loaded onto the trailer after lunch, and arrangements made to pick up Gill ( my wife) on my way up the A12 approx 6pm tonight, ferry time is 11.30pm. The clouds look like we’re in for another load of snow and with the temperature dropping, timing to the ferry could be an issue, leaving work about 4-4.30pm should see us with plenty of time to spare should we have any issue on the roads. The snow around Chelmsford / Colchester in places was a good 1ft deep, making the journey to home impossible, with Gill unable to use her car to meet up we asked a friend to pick her up in his 4×4 (thanks Steve). Rendezvous was arranged at a service station on the A12, so I can keep the van-trailer to the main roads which were fine.

Arriving at the ferry port we had spare time to get some dinner before boarding, no sooner had we started to line up for the ferry when the snow started hard! Sitting in the van going through things a thought entered my head ” I wonder if Paul has remembered the tie down straps for the car and pallets?”. Sent Paul a text, the reply ” oh balls, I’ll call Yvo in the morning and get something arranged. Now boarded and into our lovely cabin (thanks Paul), with the pressure of the past two weeks easing off I slept like a log, I didn’t even keep awake for the ship leaving port!!

Thursday 2^nd December

Arriving at the docks in Holland at 7.45am we were greeted with more snow, I think it followed the boat! Roads were icy and had a good snow covering. The journey from the docks at “Hook of Holland” to the Rotterdam shipping depot was approx 18miles, but due to the road conditions and of course the morning rush hour it took age’s. We kept in contact with Paul who had arrived at the depot before it opened at 8am. Our short journey even took us on a ferry across the main river in Rotterdam “where are we going, I hope the sat nav is correct”. No problem, met up with Paul around 10am.

Meeting the team from Stratton with whom we are sharing the container, enabled us to get both our gear and the cars off the trailers and out of the snow into the warehouse ready for loading. The temperature in the warehouse was the same as outside so the snow on the cars didn’t melt; Gill got the job of cleaning down the car (thanks). It was then a long wait. Our time for loading was 11.00am, by 1pm our container was just arriving, even the lorries moving the containers had trouble getting the container parked up to the loading bays.

With our pallets loaded within minutes, first in was the gorgeous Aston, after reloading the stuff into the drivers side of the Elise, the Lotus was loaded in with plenty of room to spare. We know now if the container is shared between a few Elise’s the amount of gear we can take can be at least doubled. We were told only two pallets of a specific size was allowed, made sense with the larger cars as we saw race cars fitted with roof racks with wooden frames attached carrying wheels, bumpers and body work etc. We would have taken the stuff required for the pits like, compressor, air tools, tool chest, tables, chairs etc, making their job easier and more comfortable for the 24hr shift!

Well, with the car loaded that was it!, the two weeks of hard work from my team, the frantic calls and the running around all combined with the companies involved achieved the task set! What can I say! We got the car to the container depot on time, it’s not fully tested which isn’t ideal but everybody has given their best in such a short space of time. I hope the Drivers and crew enjoy every minute of the race. Good Luck.

The story will continue when the crew leave the UK for the Racing!

Hope you found my blog not too boring! it’s my first and difficult to write in such a short time frame:)

Live from Dubai↑Top

Timetable

Garage Allocation

Entry List

Paddock Layout

Official website live from Monday 10th January – live.24hseries.com

This website will provide latest news items, ‘one liners’ (up-to-the-minute flash reports covering the action on the track and in the pits), live streaming from four HD webcams (start/finish line, 2 pit lane webcams and one track webcam), live commentary (audio streaming), regular video highlights, live timing with lap times, positions, current driver in the car etc, full practice and qualifying results and hour-by-hour race results, press releases and photos.

We will also be putting live video, pictures and updates about the Elise Trophy team up on this webpage from Tuesday 11th Jan.

• Live video now available
• Photo Gallery – lotrdc.com/gallery/?album=10&gallery=78
• Photo Gallery – Same gallery as above but to view without pagination (Broadband Users Only) – http://www.lotrdc.com/galleries/dubai-2011-gallery-no-pagination/

Team Elise Trophy complete Dubai 24 Hour

Team Elise Trophy have completed the Dubai 24 hour finishing 46th overall out of 84 starters, in Paul Golding’s famous Lotus Elise S1 run by a team made up entirely of volunteers and companies donating time and parts in particular Essex Autosport who built, prepared and ran the car.

Everyone arrived at the circuit on Tuesday to unload the container and get the garage set up. Our pit garage was shared with Sun Red’s WTCC supporting SEAT Leon and for the first time ever three Mercedes SLS from Black Falcon and Heico Motorsport. With the car unpacked, tires collected from the 9,000 brought out by Dunlop the event stickers where applied and late afternoon it went off to be FIA scrutineered. In a bay full of exotica from Lamborghini to Porsche, Ferrari to Aston Martin the little Elise was swamped but it passed with no issues at all -testament to the prep work Essex Autosport had done.

Wednesday was an early start with drivers and team members getting the opportunity to take their rental cars around the circuit. Whilst the 4 drivers spent time learning the circuit Steve, Walshy and Phil gave fast rides to crew members of the Royal Navy’s HMS Cumberland which was docked in Dubai. When the afternoon came it was a chance to test the race car and get the set up right, running slicks on a std car and in these conditions was going to be a major test. Andy Walsh was our designated driver coach and the set up expert so with the car set up the drivers got their first chance to sit in the car and to drive it. Almost immediately there was a problem with the new gear box that had been fitted just before traveling, changing down from 3rd to 2nd was causing it to jump out of gear, luckily 2nd wasn’t required but if rain had come it would have been invaluable. So when the optional free practice was complete the spare box was fitted ready for Thursday and plans were made to bring out a 3rd box as back up, even though the one coming out would still be okay to use.

On Thursday we were at the track at 9 AM for the Drivers briefing and signing on, with free practice coming up soon the team prepped the car for the hot weather conditions, James Knight and Ken Savage had their go in free practice 1 with the new gearbox performing well. In free practice 2 Simon Phillips and Pete Storey went out, with no issues in both sessions the drivers were having lots of fun. A few minutes later we were out for qualifying session 1, this meant all cars out and a packed circuit. Yet again the car ran perfectly and everyone kept out of trouble with all four drivers easily competing the minimum number of laps to take one worry away. Next up was qually 2 which was restricted to fewer cars, this was always our target session for a good lap and James did some great times. Of course where we qualified was never going to affect the final result but it was important we got through it in full and set competitive time in class. As if that wasn’t enough track time for one day we then had to complete the 2 hour night practice which again went to plan with all 4 drivers doing excellent stints and the car not missing a beat.

Race day was upon us with the team arriving early and doing final checks, there was a surprisingly relaxed atmosphere in the garage in contrast to others something that set us apart from the others all weekend and helped a lot with 4 drivers who were new to all this.

The target was to get to the end, ideally with the drivers getting at least one long 2hr stint each; because of our weight we were set a maximum fuel tank size and 2hrs on track at a time so 1hr 55mins was our aim. If we took the chequered having spent half the night in the pits no problem, after all the UK version of this race tends to be stopped or safety car comes out due to fog for hours.. we wanted the cheqered flag and ideally not to finish last in class and lower than 80th.

Paul had decided the driver order and Simon was strapped in for the start. The awesome sight of one of the largest grids assembled in recent motorsport history sent shivers down the spine. Off we went and immediately a Porsche hit the wall with the 211 getting hit by the loose wheel so code 60 in place – 60kph max speed no safety car – off we go again and the best 2hrs of Elise racing we’ve had, it went to plan and Simon did a 1 hour 53 min stint with no issues. Ken now in the car and refuelled and noticing battery light but car running okay, he was on the apex of the corner when a Lamborghini attempted to go for the same apex hitting the rear wheel arch and sending him sideways, at the end of his stint it was decided to investigate the warning light which turned out to be a broken connector resulting in a loose wire to the alternator – which was re-attached adding 25 mins to the stop. Pete’s session in the car resulted in some great lap times which James watched while on standby as the next driver… panicking about Pete’s speed being to quick – but Walshy and Steve confirmed all was okay and he was keeping off the kerbs and very smooth. James in next and it was nearly 2hrs of singing over the radio from the pink punter. Superb, four sessions complete all drivers happy, objective 1 achieved. The night went extremely well and included a fantastic firework display at midnight which Ken enjoyed from the car. In the early hours a Porsche tried to pass coming out of the corner and caught near side mirror and had to pit to get it changed.

At 8am Paul decided we were going to race flat out even if we didn’t get to end as the team were so delighted with the car and drivers, this was not something we had planned for but the next few hours were spent fixated to the timing screens hunting down and passing cars whilst setting numerous new fastest laps. At one point we even went past an SLS on track but were picking off a huge number of Porsches in particular. With 2 hours left alternator warning light again came on, a quick decision was made to continue running for fifteen more minuets with no charge going into the battery to take us past 12noon (and important milestone as it gave us just one remaining session). To prevent additional battery drain it was decided to stop all pit to car comss – we had previously experienced the issues with battery drain during Ken’s earlier session where the alternator wire had broken loose. Simon pulled the car into the pits put on attempting to push it into the garage the rear nearside wheel locked up. Quick Investigation showed the rear side wheel bearing failed causing massive heat resulting in the rear driveshaft CV boot ballooning. The alternator issue was resolved as the now missing belt was replaced and a press located in the Mercedes garage to press a new bearing into the hub (our spare having be utilised earlier in the race). This lost us considerable time in the pits but with such a good buffer over cars behind us and other cars in our class developing trouble at a similar time meant the impact on position was not too bad.

Ken Savage commented on the result “We are happy with where we came in the race, our main objective was to finish and that is what we achieved”

Simon Phillips after the race said “This was a great experience for all of us and I thoroughly enjoyed it”

We finished the race in 46th which was a great result and we are very pleased with it. Car loaded back into the container to be shipped back to the UK!

Ryan Savage (age 13)     Photographs courtesy of Yvo Tuk

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