Le Mans 2010: Team LeMansZone was there with 22 people strong – some newbies and lots of old hands, a very good mixture. Basically I spend the 5 days commuting between the BN campsite, the KSM pit and various DfH/Brethren/CA/LeMansZone parties.
Arrival on Wednesday early morning after a 10 hour long ride in a VW Bus + Cooling Trailer, all went smoothly. Set up of the base camp lasted until around noon, after that I contacted KSM team owner Hardy Schiller to pick up my paddock pass. Got a warm welcome from the team and saw a lot of smiling faces – preparations for the practice sessions went obviously very well. The Wednesday practice sessions went actually extremely well, the team wasn’t on top of the scoreboard but quicker than ever. I talked for a while with KSM driver Jonathan Kennard, a really nice bloke. He told me that in 2005 he went to Le Mans not as a driver but as a fan and stayed on a campsite – just to get the fan experience – and he loved it. Wednesday he did his 10-lap rookie test – no problems. For him it wasn’t only the first time racing at Le Mans but also the first time racing at night – and he was obviously impressed with this.
I had a “first-one” too on Wednesday – after 24 years at Le Mans I finally managed it to stay sober enough to drive the LeMansZone team bus to the Mulsanne spectator area, I’ve never been there before. It’s a very good location, the cars slow down there and there is a high banking so you can take good pictures above the catch fence.
Picked up my Kangoroo TV Set, first time I rented one of those – let’s see if it is any good.
Thursday – woke up with the standard LM hangover after I had ended the night at the DfH tent – or was it the Bretheren – or both – doesn’t matter, quite a few nights ended there.
After a good breakfast which was immediately followed by some meaningless rounds of beer until lunch, I went to the pit again to stay with the KSM team for the second day of practice sessions – and collect some information for the press releases and the team website which I’m supposed to take care of. Prior to the 1st session the race engine was installed, causing some problems, so the team went out only for 2 laps to check if everything was OK. The second practice saw all KSM drivers on the track – no problems.
I learned that team co-owner Kai Kruse had left Le Mans – but that’s a different story and I will not write about this here.
Thursday night it was party time on BN again and I met a lot of fellow CAers –Amazing Randy from Turn 10, the Zarses, the DfH team, Rusty, Barry, Neil nopanic, Bob U and many others. Thanks to all for many good laughs and cold beers. I remember that some photographers were there and took loads of pics – hope nothing too embarrassing comes up on the web.
Friday Pitwalk: Was in the garage, saw Amazing Randy waving at me – but couldn’t welcome him because team owner Hardy Schiller kept me busy with some media related issues at that moment. The team was about to do what they call “a rebuild”: The race engine had already been installed the day before but everything else like suspension, steering, all gearbox internal parts, brake discs and many other parts were replaced – the motto seemed to be “If it moves or can move, change it!” It all took much longer than expected, the team went back to the hotel approx. 5 am Saturday morning and had to be back for the warm up about 2 hours later! So they had only 1-2 hours sleep and the race was still ahead.
Saturday: Saw none of the support races – what a shame, especially for me as someone who grew up with the group C cars – but I had to get rid of my standard hangover first.
Finally around noon I made it into the KSM garage - and saw KSM mechanic Alex packing a bag full of tools and strapping it together with a charged mobile phone into the cockpit of the Lola Judd – all for on-track emergency situations. Race engineer Gavin Wills explained the content of the tool-bag to the drivers and joked “… and in the boot you’ll find a spare wheel”.
Just as a joke I asked them whether they would trust me with pushing the car on the grid – and they said yes, of course! I was sober the next second! KSM had the last pit towards Dunlop Chicane so we had to push it all the way down the pit lane to the exit at the start finish and onto the track – I was really sober after that.
Watching the herringbone start procedure and being able to stay with the car until the very last moment when start driver Jean de Pourtales started the engine and got underway on the formation lap, seeing the packed grandstand, listening to the French spectators singing the Marseillaise, you can believe that this was a very emotional moment for me. Since 1985 I’m going as a fan to Le Mans but I was never even dreaming of getting so close to the action as I got this year – I felt like I was part of it - unforgettable moments!
While I was so deeply impressed with all this, the rest of the KSM crew on the grid was very busy with staring and commenting on the really enormous boobs of the OAK grid girls next to us. Well, for them being on a grid is daily business and has obviously other attractions…
The race got underway and it all looked good for us in the beginning – at some stage we were running in 5th position in class, 20th overall. Later we ended up last in class – but a finish is a finish, especially in Le Mans.
Saturday night: The midnight CA meeting at the Porsche Curves was a little bit disappointing, not many people – 20-30 at the most - made it there. May be we should switch back to the village for next year.
Leaving the CA meeting I stayed the rest of the night with the team, watched some pit stops and finally went back to the campsite around 4 am. Some of our Dutch friends had given us a position light for our 20 feet flag pole – this made my way back home and finding my tent a lot easier.
I slept for about 4 hours and was back in the garage about 9 am. Meanwhile Jean de Pourtales had smacked the car into the barrier at Arnage and was later on pushed off the track by the GT1 Aston Martin in the right hand sweeper behind Dunlop bridge. A rough estimation of the repair time meant that a good position was out of reach anyway so the team decided to play it safe, to take its time and checked everything which could jeopardize the finish. This turned out to be good thinking – a precautionary disassembling of the gearbox revealed that the 4th gear cog had already lost some of its teeth.
Sunday 2:30 pm: Big shock for all the KSM fans of Team LeMansZone who stood opposite the KSM pit when the engine cover was taken off at the last pit stop – but it was just some right side bodywork which needed to be fixed in its position. Japanese driver Hideki went out for the last stint – going for a better position was not possible any more so his job was to cruise, stay out of trouble and finish the race. We all knew from last year how difficult this can be, in 2009 the engine in the Lola exploded with just 90 minutes to go.
But he finally made it above the finish line – the first finish ever for KSM at Le Mans in their 3rd attempt. Everybody was cheering, big smiles, embracing each other, the German beer barrels were opened, – another very emotional moment for me! Hideki Noda brought the car to the Parc Ferme and walked over to us in the pitlane immediately – with the widest smile in his face you can imagine.
Overall this was a remarkable race - almost every prediction I made in the foreword of the Club Arnage guide about its outcome proofed to be completely wrong:
- LMP1 – Well, this prediction was partially right – the Audi-Peugeot duel was exciting to watch. But no-one would have bet a cent on an Audi win after the 3 second per lap gap in the qualifying sessions - and no one would have thought that all 4 Pugs fail.
- LMP2 – In a class well known for poor reliability – will more than 80% of all cars see the finish line? No way! But it happened!
- GT1 - This low-budget pay-driver technical-dinosaur Saleen entry beating the Ford GTs and the Alphand Corvettes? Yes, they did.
- GT2 – No Risi Ferrari on the podium, the Corvettes beaten, the BMW nowhere near the pace and a private - although works supported - Porsche winning? It happened!
And the almost 40 year old all-time distance record was broken too - although personally I think that this is a relatively meaningless achievement, the track layout was so much different then.
After the race I had just returned to the campsite at around 7 pm when my mobile phone rang; KSM team boss Hardy Schiller was on the line and told me that they were near Bleu Nord looking for us. Despite having worked for more than 60 hours in a row and being dead-tired, almost the complete KSM team came to visit us on the campsite, drank loads of beer with us until late night and we watched the Germany vs. Australia world cup game together - a night we will never forget.
Ah – and the Kangoroo TV: I have mixed impressions: I loved the “My favourite car” feature to watch the lap times of our #39 but other things were disappointing. Reception on the BN campsite was poor – and that’s actually where I needed it most, because trackside there are enough giant screens and RLM. But still good enough so I think I’ll do it again.
Le Mans 2010 - A year not to forget so quickly.
Roll on June 2011!
