They say the first time is always special and my first 24-hr race was no exception

Over the last four years I have found myself in the grandstand at the Dubai Autodrome on a particular weekend in early January looking out longingly onto the track while the Dubai 24HR race unfolded before my eyes. Each year I would promise myself that the next time round I would be out there competing instead of sitting on the sidelines and observing.

Well, this year it finally happened and trust me it was worth the wait. They say that the first time is always special (or at least I think that’s how the saying goes), and my first 24-hour race was no exception. Read on as I share with you my experience of a weekend that will remain burnt into my memory for eternity.

Wednesday, January 7
Today is about meeting the team and signing on for the event.  I walk into pit garage 5C at 11 am and am immediately greeted by the gorgeous white Aston GT4 that will be our trusty steed for the weekend ahead.  Parked at the front of the garage, it quickly reminds me of why I think Aston Martin makes the prettiest cars on sale today. The simple yet elegant lines flowing cleanly from the long nose and ending in the squat tail are classic GT.

I wander over to Jon Simmonds, who is team principal of DXB Racing and one of my co-pilots for the weekend. Jon greets me with his usual big smile and accompanying sarcasm, and then introduces me to the third member of our driver team, Phil Quaife, who has both British Carrera Cup and Radical championships under his belt, and most recently drove for Jaguar in the FIA GT3 championship. Rounding off the driver line up is Julian Griffin, who has extensive touring car racing experience in Europe and more recently in Dubai.

Soon after arriving I am instructed to grab all my race gear and head over to the technical bay for scrutineering and signing on, a procedure that takes around half-an-hour to finish. As I wander through the paddock I can’t help but entertain a little skip in my step as the festival atmosphere consumes me. The garages are a hive of activity with race cars, tyres and containers full of parts everywhere I looked. There are some big names in motorsport milling around the place, including ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert and Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey to name but a few. I head back to the garage for an official team meeting, where I am introduced to the rest of the DXB team, including the mechanics and pit crew.

It is reassuring to see how many people are involved in making the weekend ahead go as smoothly as possible. The team certainly isn’t understaffed. After discussing our strategy for the weekend extensively, we call it a night and head home.

Thursday, January 8
The day starts early with a drivers briefing that I arrive late for, after a change in schedule that I’m not aware of. Not a great way to start the event, and I don’t think my team mates are too impressed with my tardiness.  There is a long wait till first practice, which is not till after lunch and I begin to feel lazy and lethargic. Perhaps I am lulled into a sense of security due to the fact that this is my home circuit and I am familiar with the Aston GT4, having driven it quite recently (evo-me 024). I am quickly zapped back to reality as I venture out onto the track for the first time in free practice and am immediately swarmed by a group of scrapping Porsches. I pull over and let them through, looking for a bit of clear track to allow me to settle into the task at hand. Fat chance.

Half a lap later and I have overtaken several slower cars and look in my mirror to find a fast-approaching Porsche Cup car; I pull right to ease him through and nearly collide with a Renault Megane Silhouette that has gone the other side of me. It would have been pretty embarrassing if I had a coming-together on my first lap of practice. I start to slowly settle in and gradually up my pace. The Aston behaves much as I remember, understeering everywhere and squirming under brakes, but easy enough to drive especially as this car is equipped with a paddle shift automatic gearbox that allows me to focus on braking points and optimum lines. After a while I get used to the constant traffic that is a result of 78 cars fighting for the same bit of race track, and come back in to hand the car over to Jon.

"You don't know how many cars are behind you. The best word for it is SCARY."

Next up is qualifying, and the rules state that all drivers have to put in at least two flying laps to be eligible for the race. Phil goes out first and sets a lap time of 2:14.66 and then hands over to Julian, who manages a best time of 2:15.95.  My 5 lap stint in qualifying proves very frustrating as I spend the entire session stuck in a group of cars and can’t get anywhere near the car’s limits as a result. To make things even worse, there is a Code 60 (this is the equivalent of full-course yellow flags, except that all cars must run at an average speed of 60 kph over the lap to enable the marshals to clear up an accident) out on track causing the cars to bunch up even more. At one point evo colleague Blair Cole, who is racing a Mazda RX7, pulls up alongside me to wave hello, and then cheekily sneaks past me when the flags go back to green. Another traffic-filled lap and I head back to the pits with a very slow fastest lap of 2:17.2, and hand over to Jon who finishes off the session, but is also unable to go any quicker than Phil. As the chequered flag drops on qualifying we are P42 out of 78 runners and ninth out of 10 teams in the highly competitive SP2 class. It is a bit unfortunate we are in this open class as it includes all cars that are above 4.0 litres in engine size, meaning we are fighting against some crazy race cars including a Marcos, a Ferrari GT2, several fire-breathing Porsche GT2s, a GT3-spec Mustang and even a monstrous Holden Aussie V8 super car. All in all, it is a pretty solid effort and to be honest, is about where the pace of the stock Aston should be relative to the highly tuned racecars that fill the grid.

As the sun disappears, there is a compulsory night practice that gives everyone a chance to acclimatise to driving in the dark. This is the part I had been fretting about most and after about 20 minutes on track, I come back into the pits completely overwhelmed by what I have just experienced. This is a whole different ball game as the majority of the track is pitch black, making it hugely difficult to judge your braking and turning points. I don’t think I hit a single apex the whole session. Throw in nearly 80 other psychopaths on track, all trying to go as quickly as possible, and what you have is pure chaos. High-beam lights reflect off the rear-view mirror blinding me in the process. You know that there is someone behind you, but you have no idea how many cars are there and how close in proximity they are to you. The best word to describe it is SCARY. I climb out of the car, over 10 seconds a lap slower than my teammates and for a while I am hesitant on whether I will be able to handle it during the race tomorrow. As I am the only 24-hr race virgin, the team decides that for tomorrow’s race they will give me the third stint, which should run from dusk into darkness, allowing my eyes to gradually adjust to their shadowy surroundings. I am ordered to go home and get a good night’s sleep. Something tells me that’s not going to be easy.

Friday, January 9
After tossing and turning all night, I finally manage a couple of hours of restless sleep. Even in my state of slumber I contemplate my first experience of nocturnal driving and wake up in a cold sweat with visions of Porsche RSRs cutting violently either side of me, belching flames from their exhausts with brake discs glowing like lava. Back at the track, the carnival atmosphere continues in preparation for the 2pm race start. The cars are lined up on the grid; I wander over to wish Phil, who will be starting the race, good luck and then head up towards the grandstand for a better view of the start.  There is an explosion of noise as 78 racing cars put pedal to metal when rally legend Mohammed ben Sulayem drops the flag at the start. Up front the battle for the lead is intense, and strangely some of the drivers are treating it like a sprint race with overly aggressive overtaking manoeuvres. I find myself anxiously waiting for our Aston to come by every lap, hoping that Phil has survived the early melee, and while he has dropped a few positions to some quicker cars that are recovering from bad qualifying sessions, he maintains a strong early pace.

The team have set a target lap time of 2:18 that should allow us to drive conservatively without putting unnecessary strain on the car while simultaneously saving fuel, and Phil follows the script to perfection. A few laps in and fellow local team Khaleeji Motorsports Porsche Cup car, which had qualified fourth overall, crawls into the pits with heavy damage. A crawling Megane Silhouette follows it. The two had collided into turn one on the fourth lap of the race, effectively ending any chance of a good result from either team, barely 10 minutes in. The incident emphasised to me the importance of being conservative out there and keeping in mind the long race ahead.

" Butterflies are creating such a storm in my stomach they could be elephants."

By the time Phil pits for fuel and tyres 1hr 45 mins later, we are back up to 42nd place. We are all eager for feedback on how the car is behaving, and Phil reports that all is well despite there being some appalling driver etiquette on track. Julian takes over driving duties and carries on where Phil left off, driving an impressively consistent stint always close to our target lap time. Half-way through his stint there is a huge crash as a Clio Cup loses control and smashes through a metal gate in the pit lane wall. There is a mad dash for the pits by most teams to take advantage of the Code 60 scenario but Julian continues to circulate for another hour under the caution conditions. The feedback we are getting is that the repairs to the wall are going to take time to fix and there is a team of welders trying to repair the damage. This is not good for our strategy as it has given the faster but thirstier cars ahead of us the chance to get a free pit stop in.

I am next up and wait anxiously in the pit lane for my turn behind the wheel. At this stage there is a swarm of butterflies creating such a storm in my stomach that they might as well have been elephants. I am not embarrassed to say that I am terrified and excited all at the same time. Despite the cool weather I start to sweat profusely in my nomex as adrenalin swirls viciously through my body. I get the nod from our team manager Mike Scott that the car is coming in this lap.

As the Aston thuds up on its air jacks, the door pops open and I help pull Julian out of the car through the tight roll cage. As the pit crew get to work changing the tyres I slide in, adjust my seat and lift my arms up to allow Julian to fasten my belts and plug in my radio lead. I pop the removable steering wheel back into place as the car thuds back down to earth. I pull the right paddle to engage first gear and slowly make my way towards the refuelling bay careful not to exceed the 40km/hr pit lane speed limit. The time it takes to brim the tank with fuel gives me a few moments to catch my breath and relax before I rejoin back on the track, where the Code 60 is still being enforced. Two laps later and I get the call from Mike over the radio that we are back to racing and just like that I am thrown in at the deep end.

I overtake a snoozing BMW ahead of me while simultaneously being passed by a Jaguar X-type Silhouette and a Porsche RSR on either side. At the very next corner I find a Seat and Clio fighting tooth and nail and squeeze past them into the final corner before the main straight. This mayhem continues for several laps, barely a corner passes by without me having to attack a car ahead or get out of the way of something much quicker coming up behind. Initially I err very much on the side of caution. Perhaps a bit too much as is reflected in my lap times which are in the 2:20s, but as the traffic ahead and behind thins out, I settle into a rhythm and maintain a pace pretty close to the 2:18s that are expected of me.

As per our strategy, I am shifting at the 6,000 rpm mark well shy of the rev limit, as we have found that fuel consumption increases dramatically when we use the last 1,500 rpm without improving lap times significantly. The car continues to understeer and I adapt my driving style to suit. Slower into the corners while trail-braking as much as possible to get the front tyres to bite and then hard on the throttle, often before the apex, to maximise exit speed. The tail continues to shimmy under braking, but whereas I previously found that disconcerting, I am now beginning to enjoy it, and it actually helps me to rotate the rear of the car while turning in to slow- and medium-speed corners.

As my stint stretches towards the two-hour mark, I begin appreciating the paddle shift transmission as it removes a lot of the physical exertion that usually goes with driving quickly and reduces the chance of making a mistake.  What is also amazing is that as my stint wears on and the sun sets into darkness, I hardly notice any difference. The plan has worked. What I found so difficult the night before now feels like second nature. By the time I return to the pit, 1hr 55min later, I have completed more than a whole sprint racing season’s worth of manoeuvres in one stint. Happily the only incident I had was hitting a Styrofoam marker board while avoiding a stricken BMW 125d, and other than losing a few seconds, there was no harm done.

After braking hard at the pit lane entry, I trundle along towards our pit bay and kill the ignition while undoing the buckle on my harness in anticipation of jumping out as quickly as possible. I clamber out tripping over one of our wheel men, jump back up and frantically help Jon get strapped in. The car pops down off its jacks and heads towards refuelling. I wander around for a while buzzing from the incredible experience I have just had. My ears are ringing and my emotions are swirling as I slowly start to come down from my high. Incredibly we are running in P22 before my stop, and despite dropping back to P28, we climb into the top twenty at the 6-hour mark of the race.  Jon drives a strong stint and by the time he hands the car back to Phil for his second assignment, we are still in the top twenty, but more importantly have climbed to fifth in class. It seems like our plan is beginning to come together.

The Aston GT4 continues to chug along all through the night without missing a beat. Each of our second stints goes smoothly and we continue our consistent pace, although we are now all running comfortably in the 2:16s with minimal stress on the car. At around 4 in the morning, Jon has a hairy moment, when at top speed on the back straight, the bumper from a Porsche that was involved in an incident in front hits the nose of our Aston. The bumper lodges under the front wheels just as Jon enters the braking zone for the tight hairpin ahead. He momentarily loses control but miraculously is able to catch the tank slapper when the rogue bumper breaks away from underneath him. He comes in to the pits to check the car. There is some minor damage to the front end, and as he is pretty close to the pit stop window we perform a driver change as well as tyres and brake pads. Disaster averted and Phil takes over for his third stint. Amazingly we are now up to P14 and are a fantastic 2nd in class. If we stay where we are, it will mean a chance to step up onto the podium.

The next set of driver stints goes pretty much the same way as the last one, with each of us sticking closely to the script that has seen us climbing slowly but surely up the order. The fact that we have been able to get lots of laps on each tank of fuel compared to far quicker cars has seen us claw back the advantage by continuing to pound round the circuit while our opponents were coming in to the pits. The other reason for our success so far has been that all four drivers have performed at a very similar level and lapped at a fast but controlled pace, while many of the other teams have one or two quick drivers, with the rest far off the cars’ potential pace. This explains why we have been regularly overtaking cars that should in theory be much quicker than us. Of course it goes without saying that the Aston’s so-far perfect reliability has been crucial. We all have our fingers crossed that will continue to the end.

At 9am I clamber out of the car for the last time, exhausted after my final stint, and hand over to Jon. While that was by far my best and most consistent effort I am completely destroyed, both physically and mentally due to sleep deprivation and the extreme concentration that this gruelling event requires. With about an hour left to the finish of the race, the decision is taken that instead of Julian, whose turn it is in the driver rotation, Jon would be given the task of bringing the car home. This is in consideration of the months of effort he has put into getting DXB racing so thoroughly prepared for the race.

As the Aston leaves the pits for the very last time we all pray that nothing goes wrong in the home stretch. We are sitting comfortably in P13 overall and 2nd in our class. I can’t take the tension anymore and decide to wander over to the side of the track at turn 14 to watch the action from there, and a few minutes after I reach it, I can’t believe what I am seeing: the-class leading E92 BMW M3 of Team Black Falcon has ground to a halt on the back straight an agonising half-an-hour from the end of the race. I rush back to the garage to breathlessly tell the team what has happened but they can already see it on the timing screens.

Lap by lap, we are quickly catching the stationary car and just 15 mins from the end we move into the lead of our class. The next few minutes are agonising for us and we can’t bear to look, for fear of suffering the same fate as our rivals. As Jon guides the Aston onto the main straight for the last time, in true racing tradition, we all climb the fence ecstatically to cheer him past and celebrate our incredible result. The humble DXB Aston has finished P12 overall and we have won the most daunting class of all. When the car parks up on the main straight, we mob Jon and wild celebrations ensue. It is a surreal feeling as we step up onto the top step of the podium.

I have tasted many successes in my racing career, but this has been by far the sweetest, most satisfying and rewarding experience I have had. The nature of the 24-hr race turns what is an inherently selfish sport into a true team effort and the gruelling nature of endurance racing makes you give yourself completely to the challenge. That night I fell asleep with a big smile on my face that continues to come back even today every time I think of that magical weekend. Thanks to the whole DXB team. I can’t wait till next year.

"I have tasted many successed in my racing career but this has been the sweetest"