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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">ELSEWHERE AROUND THE WORLD</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">30/05/2001</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Nurburgring Adventures</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">For Lockie And Wyatt</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/wldspth76a.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">The Zakspeed Viper driven by Pedro Lamy, Michael Bartels and Peter Zakowski won the Nurburgring 24 Hours - but it can't have been as interesting as the rides enjoyed by Privilege pair Calum Lockie and Jeff Wyatt.<BR> <BR> For Lockie and partner John Cowgill, it was an unusual fight just to get into the race in their BMW M3. They still finished fourth in class - after starting two hours behind the rest of the field.<BR> <BR> "It is the German Le Mans and it's the most dangerous race I've ever done," said Calum. Their catalogue of dramas went something like this:<BR> <BR> - their proposed third driver withdrew owing to business commitments<BR> <BR> - brake problems throughout qualifying, which limted laps to just five between them<BR> <BR> - the brakes still weren't right as the race approached<BR> <BR> - Calum started the race on just the handbrake, completing one lap then pitting to have the brakes worked on again<BR> <BR> - He returned to the pits with the front brakes binding and smoke pouring off them<BR> <BR> - The mechanics had to undo the bleed nipples on the brakes to release pressure before they could push the car back to their pit.<BR> <BR> - They finally started racing at 7pm, but by the second corner, Calum had no ABS and no rear brakes! However, the fault later cured itself. "Some laps later the ABS light went out and I suddenly had rear brakes," said a surprised Lockie.<BR> <BR> - "It was carnage out there. The smoke from all the camp fires and barbecues was limiting visibility and they were cars going off left, right and centre. There was car recovery and barrier repair going on mid-race and they just coned off the affected areas and you had to drive through in first gear! There were fireworks landing on the track in front of you and some of the crashes were incredible."<BR> <BR> - At around mid-night, Calum's partner Melindi was injured in a pit accident when a car reversed up the pit lane and inadvertently tried to run her over! With a broken bone in her knee, Melindi needed medical attention.<BR> <BR> - One of the team mechanics then collapsed with the effect of dehydration. <BR> <BR> - The final drama came at around 3.45pm on Sunday, ahead of the 5pm finish, when the throttle cable broke. At this point, Calum was about six miles away from the pits and coasted as far as he could. With some quick thinking, he popped the car into first gear and let it tick over in 'get you home' mode and limped round the grass to try and get to the pits. Calum contacted the pit crew by mobile phone and they managed to get out to meet him when the car was towed off the track by a recovery crew.<BR> <BR> But despite all this, they finished fourth in class, and Calum set the fastest (class) lap of the race. Perhaps it was as well he didn't have to leave early to race at Croft, in the Dave Welz Porsche.<BR> <BR> <BR> For Jeff Wayatt and partners, it was a great run to second in class in the AVP Motorsport M3, Jeff's fourth 24 Hour race seeing his fourth podium.<BR> <BR> It was eventful stuff though.<BR> <BR> - At 01.30 on Sunday morning, 8 1/2 hours into the race and leading the class, Jeff hit some oil in a fast 3rd gear corner, the resultant 50 - 60 mph impact with the crash barrier putting the car out of the race. <BR> <BR> - "Just bad luck at the end of the day; I was the first car to come across the oil so there were no oil flags, as soon as I hit the stuff I was history. The impact was head on with the crash barrier, I knew it was bad but the engine temperature was good, I could engage a gear and the car sort of was able to go forwards! But 40 minutes later in the pitt garage, I climbed out of the car only to hear one of the German mechanics say 'Kapput' . It is not a good feeling to know that you were the one to let everyone down, the team puts in many hundreds of hours of work to prepare for this race and my co drivers are faced with an early bath, devastating stuff, especially when Denis Cribbin travelled from Sydney to race with us! Sorry mate !"<BR> <BR> <BR> - Jeff switched to the team's second car - after it had had an engine change! The drivers stuck at it and came home in what looked like third place. An Opel had completed the most laps, but it was stationary as finish time approached. 15 minutes to go and it left the pit lane to complete one more lap...which it failed to do. So the BMW finished second.<BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>