Initial Le Mans Reports

Le Mans Preview and post Monza Thoughts - Peter Radcliff June 05, 2004, 02:44:06 am

The build up begins.

Quite literally the build up to the 2004 Le Mans 24 hour race has started, the temporary stands are all up and the tented hospitality areas are nearing completion. The temporary “hotels” in the paddock are in some cases finished and the rest are well on the way to completion. By the time the first spectators arrive this weekend most of the teams will have at least a partial presence even if last minute preparation is still going on at base. This is a long week as scrutineering starts on Monday lunchtime in the city centre in the Quinconces des Jacobins and continues on Tuesday until about 17:00 hours. For those who have not been to the race but are fans of the annual Le Mans book it is here that the team photographs are taken. It is well worth a visit as public are allowed very good access to all that is happening and its free of charge. This is also the time that the drivers register and after registration most are interviewed usually in both English and French. A great opportunity for those driver and car pictures and autographs and a chance to enjoy the city itself.

Since the test weekend there have been some changes to the entry and there may yet be some last minute news to come. The first major withdrawl was the Pagini Zonda from the GTS class, the race car was severely damaged before the test weekend and the team felt that the new car used in April was just too untried to race in the 24hrs. This maybe the last we see of this project as Pagani have not homoglated the car for the FIA championship. Another not totally unexpected withdrawl was the Spinaker Dallara, they had a wretched test and even worse Monza 1000 km, shortage of spares and dissatisfaction amongst the drivers saw the last two reserves from Seikel and WR into the race.

However the shock withdrawls are one of the works and one of the Epsilon LMP2 Courages. These two teams entries appeared at the test with JPX engines and major problems with the engines and a major split between the teams and JPX have left the teams without motive power. Courage has turned to AER and they have managed to supply two turbo four cylinder engines as are run by Dyson in his Lolas and the Paul Belmondo Courage. Graham Dale Jones of IES and Bryan Wilman have come to the rescue of Epsilon with two of the 3.4V6 engines used in the Bucknum Pilbeam in the ALMS series. Thus both teams have single car entries with a single spare engine. The worry does not stop here as the cars are not as presented at the test and dispensation is being sought for the engine change. Assuming this is granted we will be down to 48 starters unless rumours that the ACO have issued last minute invites to one or two teams are correct, one rumour suggests the Creation DBA which is apparently ready to go.

Results of the Monza race suggest that the Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx R8s are still very much the Team to beat. Champion pushed them close on debut but the Goh car at Monza never looked like getting close. In fact the greatest threat was the Zytek which will be driven by Wallace, Brabham and Shimoda who drove the DBA with Wallace last year in Europe. Zytek believe they have made significant improvements particularly in speed since the test. Rollcentre have continued the learning curve with the Dallara, a solid race at Monza hampered by slow refuelling and several highly successful tests since the last being at Snetterton this week. Lister have also been busy testing and gave Monza a miss to test the prototype which is now a stunning red and white livery. We can expect most of the LMP1 cars to have made progress since the test but perhaps the Audi has reached the end of its development and the gaps are closing hopefully to produce the most open race for years.

In GTS Prodrive are not taking the shock of the Corvettes performance at the test lying down. They think that changes will give them the advantage come race week but we will have to see as it is a big gap to close and I suspect the GM crew have not been idle since April. If recent FIA GT races are anything to go by the factory supported Barron Connor 575’s will be much closer to the Prodrive 550 and Corvettes than in April as in the last two FIA races a 575 has been on the podium.

Porsche start favourites in GT but variety will come from TVR, Morgan and the 360 Ferrari. However it would be a surprise if Porsche do not dominate, the GT3-RSR is a proven car and there are some exceptionally strong and experienced entrants from both sides of the Atlantic.