Historic Grand Prix Watkins Glen 2006

Zippo Historic Grand Prix with Indy Racing League	Watkins Glen, NY June 2 - 4, 2006 (click to enlarge)




Rain, rain, rain and then...... more rain! Okay, test day was fine, but from then on, it was dreadful and getting worse by the day.
Our drivers were ready, willing and eager enough on Thursday test day – Hamish Somerville in the Williams FW07, Pete Gulick in his Williams FW08, and Paul Flowers entering the fray with the debut of his new Tyrrell 011 F1 car. Apart from a mere glimpse of the car last summer at Monterey, this would be Paul's first opportunity to get a real look at his latest acquisition -- the ex-Michele Alboreto Tyrrell 011, winner of the 1983 Detroit Grand Prix (US GP East) and the last win for a Ford Cosworth DFV. After that it was all turbos.

On test day, Paul took his new F1 car out for the very first time, feeling his way around the track without being overawed by the Tyrrell or by his competitors. "A bit like trying the Toleman, but with another 200 BHP…" was his initial comment. He was very impressive his first time out – safe, courteous and as focused as ever.




Paul Flowers in his newly-acquired ex-Michele Alboreto Tyrrell 011

Pete was the quickest of the boys from the word go, while Hamish was being frustrated by a mysterious straight-line speed deficit. His FW07 was the equal of anything in the corners, but come the two important straightaways and it was like being tied to a post. Both Paul and Pete just blew by Hamish, leaving him gasping for breath in a hopeless effort to keep up with them.





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	Sweet!


After our fair-weather test day, we awoke to a dank, dark and misty Friday morning. Nothing improved on our way to the track; it only got worse. Sure enough, it rained and rained all day.


	Pete and Hamish elected to go out, even in the dismal conditions; but Paul, although ready to go, recalled the famous Phil Hill statement about racing & practicing in the rain and decided to stay dry in the HGP tent.


Pete was spectacular in the wet from the word go. He and Mike Fitzgerald set the pace and procured pole and outside pole for Pete, (who missed pole position by only a fraction of a second.)

Hamish was still struggling. The handling of the car was fine, it felt great, no excessive understeer or oversteer -- in fact, the car was nigh on perfect.	There was just no go on the straights, nor, for that matter, acceleration off the corners. But we could find nothing wrong!

Saturday, we were none too pleased to find the miserable weather had become more miserable. Paul parked the Tyrrell – a wise decision, this being his first time out with the car. Better to save it for a fine weather outing rather than risk losing the car to Watkins Glen's pale-blue Armco in the wet. Pete continued to impress. Pole and grid position had been set – Fitzi first, Pete second, and Hamish way back in 6th – still having the same problem.


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Ah, but Saturday night was to be a night of R E V E L A T I O N Hamish suddenly awoke in the wee hours of the morning having had an EPIPHANY:
~The gas pedal is being prevented from traveling its full extent!~	Hamish immediately picked up the phone and called Lee to enlighten him – but of course failed to rouse our leader from his stuporous, snoring slumber.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
	No worries – in an early morning encounter in the lobby, Hamish's vision was disclosed to Lee in all its glory.
It was with a certain amount of skepticism that Lee went to the track (it was still raining) to check out Hamish's theory; but, Lo & Behold, on arriving at the track and peeling off the FW07's bodywork, it was discovered that indeed Hamish had only ¾ travel of the throttle. The adjustable sway-bar links mounted on the steering rack had moved in their mounts and, in effect, made themselves into a dandy little throttle stop that very efficiently prevented an over-rev (at least that was one way of looking at it...). As soon as this was addressed, Hamish had another 3000 RPMs to play with.



The weather was even worse than Saturday. Warmup laps were in the rain and the F1 race ten minutes later was in a torrential downpour. Off they went on the pace lap anyway.



Pete's FW08 had been cutting out in the warmup laps. We'd hoped it was just water on the electrics, so we'd doused everything with WD40. Alas, when the green flag dropped, Pete wasn't there. The car had died on the pace lap, this time refusing to catch and keep running. *Curses!*
Parked!	Robbed!

The rest of the pack went into the first corner with Fitzi in the lead. It was impossible to see who was next as the spray was so bad. At the end of lap one, Fitzi was still in the lead; but who was that in second? None other than our hero Hamish, with Duncan Dayton trailing. Hamish had blazed through from 6th to second on the first lap.


Lap two found Hamish still in the same position, but he was right in Fitzi's spray, not able to see a thing, and Duncan was even further behind now. At the end of the 3rd lap, we thought it was the same... but no, Hamish was in *first, already taking the checkered flag in a much shortened race. (Apparently we had encroached on IRL's TV slot! Thanks a bunch!* – all this effort and we're allotted time for only three lousy race laps!)
So, it was another win for Hamish. Fitzi had spun in the adverse conditions and Hamish had blasted through. How any of them saw a damned thing is a wonder. Very well done to everyone who took part and showed what our HGP drivers are made of!






Well done Hamish! Way to go!!



And well done Paul – the dry session showed us that both Pete and Hamish had better be on their toes next time – you'll be right there with them! Desperately bad luck Pete! We'll get the FW08 fixed for next time, no worries. Now it's on to Mont Tremblant, Canada!

Photos by Wayne LeBlanc & (click on HGP logo for complete photo coverage)

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