Any Le Mans Drivers/Owners on F-Chat? | Page 4 | FerrariChat

Any Le Mans Drivers/Owners on F-Chat?

Discussion in 'Other Racing' started by wax, Dec 20, 2005.

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  1. LightGuy

    LightGuy Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 4, 2004
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    David
    Kram; Thank you so much for takeing the time and effort to put into words your experiences.
     
  2. Dino 208gt4

    Dino 208gt4 F1 World Champ

    Jun 24, 2003
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    Roel
    Waauw........guys...........just found this tread.
    It is amazing!!
    Keep the stories comming Mark.
    Thanks for sharing a piece of racing history.
     
  3. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
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    Sep 30, 2003
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    Savannah
    #78 thecarreaper, Dec 23, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    i dont posses the proper vocabulary to decribe how rare and special this thread is growing to be. history bieng told and preserved.


    so nice to learn so much of Mr Linder. i feel privalaged to know that he drove my Jalpa, and has given the car high marks !

    pic of him with the car.

    its so cool to be a gearhead and share in these experiences !
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  4. Kram

    Kram Formula Junior

    Jul 3, 2004
    867
    Park bench, Canada
    Full Name:
    Mark
    Le Mans
    June 1987

    A year later it was time to have another go. Mazda had built up a couple of new chassis and booked time on the Silverstone G.P. circuit so that we could shake them down. It was an unpleasant day, gray and damp, and the wind was gusting from the West. First up, I left the pits and warmed the tires, only to see smoke swirling out from the engine cover when I was at Stowe corner. I switched off and rolled back to the pits, to find that the exhaust pipe had been oiled to stop it from rusting. As I was ready to fire up the car again Terada hit a damp spot and piled up his car against the armco at Woodcote, which put the frighteners on Ohashi, the team manager. All testing was ended, for the last thing he wanted to do was go to Le Mans with nothing in the transporter but a pile of dented bits in place of racing cars.

    David, Pierre and I were fortunate that the damage done by Terrada’s crash was limited to bodywork and a corner. Had the chassis been tweaked then our new car would have been handed over to our team mates and we would have been issued the spare, which was one of last year’s chassis with a lot of race and test miles on it. It would probably not have lasted twenty four hours, though you never know.

    As an aside, I haven’t mentioned how lucky I was to have David and Pierre as team mates. We were all the exact same size, we all had a good sense of humor, no one had a huge ego, and we all liked the car set up exactly the same way. David and Pierre were vastly more experienced I was, hell, Pierre had a degree in automotive engineering as well as years of racing experience. I was so happy driving with them, and couldn’t believe that they wanted to share a car with me.

    The weekend before the race we were flown down again by old George Webb. I was surprised we made it, for it climbing into the plane he had dropped a fiver. The wind had taken both it and him on a merry dance across the airfield, and when he had returned he looked ready to pop a spring, panting and sweating under his solid blue blazer. George was made of stern stuff however, and the East Wind did no better than the Luftwaffe had some forty five years earlier.

    The A.C.O had altered the track at Le Mans, putting a new set of curves in just past the pits. Ohashi nearly wrote off a Mazda 626 showing some journalists the line; he ended up needing a tow truck to drag the thing out of a gravel trap. David, who had been in the back seat, said that it was the worst automotive experience of his life, Pierre and I had declined the invitation to join the ride, happily giving our place to Mazda fans. OOPS!
    By now I could see the rhythm of the event, and the chaos of scruttenering, which was held in the town square of Le Mans, became more of a get-together with friends than a problem. To my surprise I found that I knew about a third of the grid, indeed I had even given a set of my track notes to a couple of other drivers, one of whom was now working for Walkinshaw at Jaguar. The swarming scene was good fun, what with the hot French sun dripping down your back like butter, the team (and not you) doing the heavy lifting and all sorts of interesting women wandering about. To get through the formalities each driver had to produce his paperwork as well as a helmet and suit for inspection and then it was then up to the team manager to get the cars through. While this was being done some minion whisked our kit away and left them in the back of an unlocked station wagon, so before you could sneeze our suits were stolen. In true Japanese fashion I was told about it and then asked: “When will you have a new suit and helmet please?” Good question, but standing in the middle of the town square I didn’t have a handy answer other than “Soon.”

    In truth it was a question of convenience, not money, for the suit had been paid for by Mazda, and the helmet was an ill-fitting freebee that I kept specifically for scruttenering. Fortunately I had split up my kit in case something got nicked, Pierre and David had not. David, ever one to see opportunity from chaos, soon after set up a racing clothing business that thrived.

    Not to worry, with all those drivers around there were a few salesmen looking to make a killing, so by the time the cars were lined up in the pits we were all kitted up with two sets of race clothing, and Mazdaspeed had a new tailor’s bill.

    The cars were slower than the year before. They had grown additional ducts and vents, and yet the engines were the same. I was disappointed because the motor was crying out for either a supercharger or a fourth rotor, nonetheless I could see the reason for the lack of development, after all the cars had failed to finish the year before. Mazdaspeed and Mazda obviously wanted reliability and not speed, well, for this year anyway.

    In spite of the altered circuit, the unchanged horsepower and less aerodynamic car we were expected to have a faster lap time than the previous year, to go slower would be politically unacceptable. David did the heavy lifting to get us on the grid while Pierre and I did the minimum qualifying distance. I didn’t have a clear lap, thus I was somewhat worried that the pace would be too fast to maintain. The race would tell.
    David always liked to start the race, and that was fine with Pierre and me for we had both done it at other races. The film Le Mans captures the start very well, in that you are sitting in the car, hot and tied down, deafened with earplugs and a helmet, waiting for the minute hand to sweep around and for the time to come to fire up the car. It is claustrophobic at best, sweltering and claustrophobic at worst, and you have nothing good to think about while you wait. The signal to fire up is such a relief, and once you get rolling you can stop thinking and start doing, which is what you are there for anyway.

    An hour later I was next up. I warmed up the tires and then, on the second lap, drove the car hard to see what it would do. I didn't over rev it or bang curbs, but took corners in a higher gear and drifted through the curves a bit faster. On the third lap I knocked it back a notch and there was the pace. It was years later when my brother sent me a book on endurance racing that I learned that I had set the IMSA lap record, a mark that stayed until they changed the configuration of the circuit, heck; it wasn’t even that great a lap.

    As usual the Japanese car driven by Terada, Katayma and Yurino was out soon enough, which left us against the Porsche factory entry and father time. (We were not allowed to pass out the Japanese driven car - fair enough.) For some reason the Japanese drivers stuck with a strict two hour driving shift, an imposition that always seemed to tire them and cause someone to break the car. We were flexible, driving one hour stints when the traffic or weather was bad and up to three hour stints when the rhythm was good.

    The Mazda 757 was very solid, with not enough power but nimble and consistent. One of my best moments in racing at Le Mans came that Saturday night, just as darkness fell. I had closed up on a badly driven Porsche 962 which was fighting with a well driven C2 Spice. The Spice was ahead and not letting the Porsche pass between the end of the Mulsanne hairpin and the Indianapolis corners. I got a tow off the two of them down to Indianapolis, and watched as they barreled into the first corner side-by-side. Coming out they drifted to opposite sides of the road, and then went round the second half of the complex again side by side. I got a nearly perfect run through both corners behind them and by the time they came out of the second one I was carrying a good fifteen m.p.h. more than they were. At the very instant they were thrown apart by their different cornering forces I was between them and gone. A glance in the mirrors showed headlights all over the road, for in their fight they had assumed they were going flat out and thus got a fright and a half when someone blew between them like they were parked.
    The night went on, some of it quickly, some of it seemed interminable. My wrists were bandaged like a boxers fists to give them some extra strength, for a couple of tons of car without power steering and with extra sticky tires, was more than they were meant to handle. Normally I enjoyed night shifts, but driving a bit of a cult car made by a culture famous for their cameras changed that: At every corner there was a nova of flashes as people took pictures that would never come out, at one spot in particular it was almost blinding.

    There were also enough adventures that night to last a lifetime, or to finish one. At about midnight I was woken and told that David was coming in a lap or two early, and could I please be in the pits now? I threw on my suit and sprinted down, arriving as the car did. There had been a smash on the Hunaudieres straight and the pace car had come out. David had rightly figured it was better to swap drivers then, for we would loose less distance to the leaders during the change. All well and good, but in my hurry I had forgot to put in my ear plugs, and when I had started up the motor I nearly died from the noise. I hoped I could brave it out, but a half a lap cruising ‘quietly’ behind the pace car told me I would have a serious problem if I tried to race without earplugs. There was only one thing to do: Drive back to the pits, take off the lid, fit in the plugs, and get going again. And be shot by the team for losing so much time from being stupid.
    Motoring along in the dark it seemed possible that I could loosen the belts and have my helmet and balaclava off while still driving. The ear plugs were in a case round my neck, and with my gloves off, I could probably fit them while still going reasonably slowly behind the pace car. The next time we hit the Hunaudieres I got going. The instant my helmet came off my head the car died. The lights went out, the motor cut, even the fuel computer gave up the ghost. Perfect! Still there was only one thing it could be: the master switch. I must have brushed against it with my helmet. I gave it a twist and Vroom! We were back in business again.
    At the crash point the marshals, who had slowed us to a crawl, were waving around torches just in case someone decided that driving over the wreck would be a great idea. One of them shone his light into the Mazda and, caught without a helmet, I did a Spock and lifted one eyebrow as my car crept past. The ear plugs were in and the lid back on by the time we came back to the same spot, which was just as well, for now there was a cloud of officials with their flashlights waiting for me to come round again. One had a radio out, and as I pulled up the car was bleached with candle power. I held up a hand as though their lights were unexpected and then looked to the mirror as I passed. All had their torches on one marshal, and I knew they were tearing strips off him for telling fanciful tails when hard work was needed.
    The other big moment came a couple of driver changes later. Again David had brought it in early. This time it was because the rain had thinned to a mist and the wet tires he had on were wearing out. It was not a happy moment, being told that I was going out on slicks at night while the track was wet, but it was the right thing to do.
    I spent the out lap learning where the puddles and damp spots were, and then once past the pits I let her rip, confidant that I had seen enough dry tarmac on the line to keep me out of trouble. I got as far as the new right/left complex, some 50 past the pit lane, when it happened.

    The normal lap called for a light break and a change down from fifth to third, only this time when I turned in there was a snap as a rear left wishbone fractured, and then the car lurched into oversteer and headed for the barrier on the outside of the corner. The lurch had taken the car off the dry line and with three wheels doing the steering (slicks mind you, on the damp), the Mazda was meant to crash, only I was damned if it would. In the dark I couldn’t see the where the car was headed, but I could feel the rumble strip and knew that the gravel trap Ohashi earlier had christened with a road car was just beyond. I dabbed the brakes lightly to put a tad more weight on the front tires and give them grip, and as the back lightened sawed at the wheel to make the car pendulum. Once it swung the other way the weight left the broken corner and I caught the car and held the slide, running the right tires straight over the rumpled edges of the last curb to slow down. The good news was that I was still going, the bad news was that the car was broken and the pits were just behind, which meant over eight miles away on the road. Parking it and walking back was out of the question. I put on the flashers and got going.

    The trip home took forever, the thought that there were cars doing over two hundred miles an hour coming up behind me in the night was best ignored, though the phrase ‘suppository designed by Porsche’ did go through my mind. It wasn’t that the wobbling wheel slowed me so much, it was actually my own pig headiness, for I had seen other drivers flog broken cars in an effort to get them back to the pits and I had noticed that, in their hurry, they often did irreparable damage. I knew instinctively what was broken and I thought that if I pushed the car above 20 mph there was a good chance the remaining wishbone’s chassis pick up points, which was now taking all the stress, would be damaged, and as they were bonded into the carbon tub, they couldn’t be repaired. I also knew that the half shaft’s joints were working overtime as the wheel wandered in and out of true, and if they gave up the ghost the shaft would probably turn into a whirring club that would tear everything from the radiator to the diffuser to shrapnel. I had to go slowly.

    There was no radio - they had installed a unit but it conflicted with an unshielded system on the car, so I couldn’t even tell them what parts we needed to get going. I just flashed at the signaling crew at the Mulsanne hairpin so that at least the team would know their remaining car was in trouble.

    When I got back to the pits I screamed at Ohashi, the team manager, that the rear needed a new left corner, then I sprinted out of the way and let the mechanics have at it. (You could only have a certain number of people working on the car at any one time, and the driver was counted as a worker. Staying nearby was a great way to have the car disqualified.) A new wishbone was nailed on, the car set up, and 17 minutes later Pierre had a go at getting us up to speed. I stayed in the pits for a bit, just to wind down. I told Ohashi what had happened but I could see he was annoyed, he presumed that I had banged into something and broken up his car, but he held it in well and said nothing. As the car fired up and moved off the two bits of the wishbone were handed to him. A glance showed a rust mark under the weld, it was an eloquent witness that the damage had started the day the piece was made. He brought them over to me, held them out and said, “Thank you for bringing the car back. Will you please drive the next shift?”

    It was nice to hear.

    (The funny thing is that in the film Le Mans - which has some great driving scenes - that is the exact part that snaps. It’s a hoot that none of the drivers notice the breakage - just the all-knowing team manager! )

    On my way out of the pits I ran into Damon Hill who had come to the race to network. I lent him my driver’s pass so that he could work over the various team managers while they were weak from lack of sleep. I was still snoring when he dropped it back at the caravan.


    During this period of fun and games the works Rothmans Porsche 959 had passed out our car and taken the class lead. Pierre caught him and got by, so that by dawn we were once again ahead and leading the class. The 959 was still being pushed hard when I next drove, perhaps too hard, because just before the Porsche curves (ironically) I lapped him as he pulled over by the side of the road. A lap later he was still there, only now he was waving at the marshals as a wisp of smoke was rising out of the back of the car. 3 min and 40 something seconds later the I could see the car was a roaring blaze, and that was the end of the Rothmans IMSA effort.

    The only other problem was a broken windshield wiper that a scrutteneer made us change, but by then it was day again and there was no threat of rain. The car ran on well, but each time I climbed in it felt a bit looser, particularly the front end. Ohashi decided that the fault in the wishbone was brought into play by the tires being too sticky, so he had the car fitted with blocks of wood. It became much harder to drive after that, but the race had been reduced to a procession of the walking wounded, and the team wanted to finish. And so we did, David staying in to do the last stint. When the flag dropped at four o’clock the mechanics literally burst into tears with joy. It had been a good weekend, for it was the first time a Japanese car company had ended up on the podium, and for that they were very happy. We had clawed our way back up to 7th overall; but for the wishbone and the wiper we would have been 2nd, but for everyone else’s mishaps we wouldn’t have even been in the top ten, and that’s the way of racing.
    There was some confusion about who would go up on the podium. Some silver-haired Asian journalist / P.R. guy, who Pierre nicknamed ‘Dr. Death’ because he looked like a Bond villain, and who none of us had ever seen before, told us in fractured English that one driver would be chosen to accompany the team manager and a dignitary from Mazda. I had missed the podium in ‘85 and was not going to let it slip by again, so I gave him chapter and verse of the F.I.A. sporting code, French edition, making it up as I went along. In the end Ohashi accompanied Pierre and I up the steps, David having decided to stay with the car and the mechanics by parc ferme. Derrick Bell and Hans Stuck who looked as shagged as I felt, left and we entered stage right. Derek paused long enough to shake my hand and congratulate me as I in turn congratulated him. I was deeply impressed that he even knew my name! Once out on the balcony I looked over and saw the others waving right handed, so, to avoid the Hitler Movement look, I waggled my left at the two old men and the dog that were there to watch. I looked across at the stand to see if I could find myself of six years ago. I couldn’t believe that I was up here, a factory driver, and being paid to live my dream.
    The next day we climbed aboard the Beach twin with old George Webb at the controls and took off. The view of the circuit was the best and put all the corners in perspective, among other things. It was exactly there , at a field by the straight, that in August of '08 Wilbur Wright made the first controlled flight in Europe, lifting off and flying in a lazy circle as Bleriot and Garros watched agog from the edge of the road. Wilbur knew that he would be landing back on the field, one way or another. I knew that I never would, and that was the end of endurance racing for me.

    Two more things:

    A few weeks later Mazda wanted us to fly to Tokyo for a bit of PR, so we gladly did, particularly as they stuffed another envelope of cash into our ever-open palms. We were taken to the top floor of Mazda’s head office and, with much bowing, introduced to the president, Mr. Yamamoto, the man who had lead the engineering team to develop the rotary engine in the first place. He pulled me aside and, through a stunning interpreter, said “ Thank you for saving my car.”
    “It was an honor to drive it,” I replied, thinking that he had to go all the way to Ireland to find someone thick enough to do the job.....

    The rest of the year was a blast. An underemployed race team had restored my tired 250 Ferrari over the winter so I used it as transport for the season. With nothing to lose in terms of career advancement I only drove single seaters on interesting circuits, racing everywhere from Knutstorp in Sweden to Nurburing in Germany. I got my F3 win at Misano in Italy and was invited to drive in the Monza Lotera in the Italian championship. That was a blast. And then, after a final British F3 round in Thruxton it was over. I awoke the next day and realized that I couldn’t die in a racing car.

    And now you know the story.
     

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  5. JoTeC

    JoTeC Formula Junior

    Jan 9, 2004
    796
    Huntersville, NC
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    Joe Hullett
    Great reading Kram! You are much better on a keyboard than me! ;)
     
  6. mbarr

    mbarr Karting
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    Jan 11, 2004
    222
    Texas
    Yes, thank you very much.
     
  7. Nuvolari

    Nuvolari F1 Veteran
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    Sep 3, 2002
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    Rob C.
    What an outstanding and sobering read. Thank you very much for taking the time to be so honest about your experiences. Christmas came early for me this year.
     
  8. Kram

    Kram Formula Junior

    Jul 3, 2004
    867
    Park bench, Canada
    Full Name:
    Mark
    Thanks but no excuse! Let's hear your story! There's no such thing as a dull race......
     
  9. Kds

    Kds F1 World Champ

    Kram.........

    Do you know my friend Allen Berg ?

    He raced at LeMans in 1988 and placed 11th overall in a 962 sponsored by a Japanese firm.
     
  10. Although I have yet to race LeMans, I am a current team owner in Grand-am. I own a multi-car Grand-am Cup team competing in the ST (Sports Touring) class. Additional info on the series can be found at www.Grandamerican.com.
     
  11. Kram

    Kram Formula Junior

    Jul 3, 2004
    867
    Park bench, Canada
    Full Name:
    Mark
    I'm sure I raced against him in ‘84 at Thruxton, late in the season, when Richard Trott offered me a one race F3 seat in a RT3 Toyota, but by the time he was at Le Mans I was gone. I remember him, but I doubt he remembers me.
     
  12. JoTeC

    JoTeC Formula Junior

    Jan 9, 2004
    796
    Huntersville, NC
    Full Name:
    Joe Hullett
    OK Kram, I will try to figure out my best race story. I have so many stories of Le Mans from the town to the track. I will find some time and post something. Terada and Downing are good friends of mine. Did Rick Engman do the tuning on that engine? I have been involved with all the Mazda US teams including Mandeville and all his customers. Remember Billl Auberlin started in an Mandeville RX7...
     
  13. dretceterini

    dretceterini F1 Veteran

    Apr 28, 2004
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    Dr.Stuart Schaller
    This might fit in the "Close, but no cegar" category...

    My dad was a panel beater for the pre-war Mercedes GP team. He had to go to Switzerland as he was part Jewish.

    Count Lurani was a relative on my mother's side..
     
  14. Z0RR0

    Z0RR0 F1 Rookie

    Apr 11, 2004
    3,470
    Montreal, Canada
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    Julien
    Thread of the year. Without a doubt. Thanks Kram for these amazing posts.
    I'll be at LeMans this year as a spectator ... and after reading your posts I just can't wait!!!
     
  15. WARDHOG

    WARDHOG Formula Junior

    Feb 12, 2004
    491
    Bubbaland, USA
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    Disgruntled Dave
    Hey, I sat in car number 43 to load it up in the trailer at the 1999 BMW Z3 Homecoming Reunion at the Spartinburg plant.(Good times) I was floored that I was sitting in the real BMW LMR V12 that won the LeMans race in 1999. I even have the Roundel magazine sighting BMW's farewell ALMS that covers both cars. Does this count?!:D
     
  16. JoTeC

    JoTeC Formula Junior

    Jan 9, 2004
    796
    Huntersville, NC
    Full Name:
    Joe Hullett
    #91 JoTeC, Dec 24, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Here is the picture of Bill Auberlen's blow-over on the back straight at Road Atlanta in the #43 BMW LMR V12 at the 1999 Petite Le Mans. Bill told me that driving the car was so fast that the wind would really cause his helmet to move around. At the point he tucked in behind another car and lost his aero, he told me felt his helmet was getting sucked over the top of the steering wheel and as an eery quiet took over. He remembers saying to himself, WTF and at that split second realized the front end was 2 feet in the air. He tried to get on the binders hard but too late, he was over... One of the scariest rides he has ever taken... He lucked out and it landed back on it's wheels before turning right and brushed the wall before coming to a stop... The next year, the Porsche GT1 EVO blew over in exactly the same spot.
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  17. WARDHOG

    WARDHOG Formula Junior

    Feb 12, 2004
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    Disgruntled Dave
    I thought it was a MB GTR that was the flying car.
     
  18. JoTeC

    JoTeC Formula Junior

    Jan 9, 2004
    796
    Huntersville, NC
    Full Name:
    Joe Hullett
    #93 JoTeC, Dec 24, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  19. WARDHOG

    WARDHOG Formula Junior

    Feb 12, 2004
    491
    Bubbaland, USA
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    Disgruntled Dave
    Gotcha.
     
  20. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
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    Sep 30, 2003
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    Savannah

    wow. i have never seen that, thanks for posting those pics.... i cannot imagine what it would be like to have that happen at speed on a track !!
     
  21. LightGuy

    LightGuy Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 4, 2004
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    David
    What are the driver requirements to race at LeMans ?
    At one time I wanted to give it a shot but dont know if I'm over the hill now.
     
  22. JoTeC

    JoTeC Formula Junior

    Jan 9, 2004
    796
    Huntersville, NC
    Full Name:
    Joe Hullett
    The team that would want to compete must get an invitation to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. You can earn an invitation by previous competition in this race or you can win the Sebring 12 hour or the Petitie Le Mans 10 hour race. Daytona 24 used to count but they are now running under Grand-Am with their prototypes and GT class that are not ACO homologated. You can get in to the Le Mans test days which ends up being 1 day to make the grade with all your drivers. We got in with a Porsche GT3 R in 2000 like this. In short, the way to get into the race would be to bring bucket loads of money and talent to the IMSA racing series.
     
  23. LightGuy

    LightGuy Three Time F1 World Champ
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    David
    Crap ! Out on both counts. So much for my charming personality and rapier wit.
     
  24. JoTeC

    JoTeC Formula Junior

    Jan 9, 2004
    796
    Huntersville, NC
    Full Name:
    Joe Hullett
    Just get involved with a team that is going Dave or just come over and enjoy the race. I'll tell you what, I would gladly trade you sides of the pit fence about 4:30 in the morning... ;) It's a brutal race...
     
  25. greyboxer

    greyboxer F1 World Champ

    Dec 8, 2004
    12,282
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    Jimmie
    Christmas Greetings form England

    Mark - many people are going to wake up to car books this morning but I doubt any will have the immediacy of your wonderful stories - many many thanks - a real Christmas bonus
     

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