| A Tale of Two Dinners…………… It was the best of times, it was, Oh my glass is empty………… Bibulous Biblotheque There was a very English atmosphere in the French ‘holy of holies’ on December 3, the Le Mans Endurance Series prizegiving at the Automobile Club de France. Johnny Herbert and Jamie Davies went up to collect their trophies for winning the Le Mans Prototype category in their Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx Audi R8, Sam Li and David Ingram accepted the honours due to the team, and David also received the trophies due to Allan McNish and Pierre Kaffer, runners-up in the LMES. Sam Hancock, golden locks trimmed to shoulder level for the occasion, was an LMP2 winner in Yves Courage’s team, and I doubt if there was anyone at the ‘do’ more proud than Hugh Hayden, whose Sebah Automotive Porsche GT3R won the LM-GT class, with son Bart on the driver squad. This four-year-old car, one of the original batch of GT3 customer cars, has been upgraded a couple of times but not to the latest specification, and although not the fastest Porsche on the circuits it was a “thereabouts” machine, picking up points steadily while the Freisinger Motorsport Porsche, so dominant in the FIA GT Championship, fell over itself a couple of times and dropped points. Reasons to be Cheerful With the first season safely completed, I would say that the LMES has been a huge success. Three Audis topped the entry lists, challenged by the Creation Autosportif and Team Jota Zyteks, and by the Nasamax which is astonishingly fast in a straight line, built to low drag, LMP1 ‘hybrid’ regulations. Henri Pescarolo is working hard on a hybrid version of his Judd powered Courage C65, so modified by Andre de Cortanze that he now calls it a ‘Pescarolo’, and the good Henri honestly believes that he can beat the Audis at Le Mans next June, entering cars with less drag and more beneficial inlet air restrictors. The Audis certainly add glamour to the grids, and they are going to be in short supply in 2005. Sam Li has quit the sport after three meteoric seasons, Kazumichi Goh has retired to Japan with the Le Mans 24-Hour trophy in his cabinet, and Audi UK’s R8 has gone to Audi France, who will establish an all- French team with Hugues de Chaunac’s Team Oreca. We may expect to see this car at the opening round, at Spa on April 17, and at Le Mans, but possibly not again. Future Perfect The LMES grids will look a little different next year. One Audi at Spa, with Creation Autosportif and Team Jota in hot pursuit, Nasamax and Pescarolo Sport, and Jan Lammers with his Racing for Holland Dome team, if only the feisty Dutchman can overcome his financial hurdles. Yves Courage will concentrate on the LMP1 class, too, leaving customers to defend LMP2 from challengers RML with their new Lola Judd V8, Bob Berridge with his Lola AER, and Pierre Bruneau with the new Pilbeam, the first all-carbon car from Mike Pilbeam’s workshop in Bourne. Prediction: more variety and closer competition in the prototype grids. Interest in the GT1 (GTS) category is building, with a couple more Care Racing leased Ferraris due to compete, while the GT2 (LM-GT) class will always take care of itself while Porsche is still churning out GT3s at a steady rate, year on year. Missing in Action Maserati will not appear in the 2005 LMES, nor at Le Mans it is now believed. Although Claudio Berro stated a couple of months ago that Maserati would try to have a single car at the Sebring 12-Hours, in order to be eligible for Le Mans, this is now thought to be unlikely. The MC12 would have to be made shorter, and narrower, and be presented with a flat floor, in order to conform to the regulations, just too much work for the Italians to complete by March 18. I need reminding - why would anyone front up one million Euro for an MC12, plus a bond, plus spares, for a car that is eligible for FIA GT in 2005, for one year only and under a waiver, only to need a total rebuild for 2006? There must be something that the people in Modena know about, that the customers haven’t sussed. Our friends at Maserati have sent us the following and we are pleased to issue this correction and apologize for the original error. We inform you that our MC12 got a FIA homologation that expires in 2012 (seven years after the end of the production, so from 2005 when we will produce the second series of 25 cars). The car doesn't need to be total rebuild, but in case can be modified with a kit provided by Maserati. Bull Run IMSA’s Scott Atherton was bullish at the LMES gathering. Asked if he had figured out why Audi would go ahead with the new prototype for 2006, the R10 we suppose, with no sign of competition from other motor manufacturers, he replied “if you knew what I know, you would be excited about the prospects for 2006 and beyond.” The ACO’s Fabrice Bourrigaud, in close attendance, nodded his vigorous agreement, as did Lola Cars boss Martin Birrane, so there is something going on that we mere mortals can only guess. Could it be Porsche? Or Renault, or Peugeot, preparing to pull out of the World Rally Championship at the end of 2005. They all have a rich history in endurance racing, and might fancy a return in the not too distant future. Mistra Know It All FIA GT Championship organiser Stephane Ratel was much in evidence at the Automobile Club de France, bubbling with his latest conquest. A visit to Japan has yielded an agreement, which will allow the FIA GT cars to run in competition with the Japanese GT contenders Nissan, Toyota and Honda. The 2006 championship will include two events in Japan, probably at Suzuka and Fuji, the Japanese will be able to compete in Europe, and most importantly, all will race in Dubai and Bahrain, maybe in Australia too. The Japanese cars are built to more liberal regulations and are clearly faster, but Ratel deals with this with a wave of his hand: the performances will be balanced by weight and restrictor sizes, no problem, when East meets West “It will fulfil my dream of having a truly global GT championship. We will race in Europe, in the Middle East, in Japan and in Australia. Just think, a championship with Ferrari, Maserati, Aston Martin, Porsche, Nissan, Toyota and Honda. It will be fantastic!” Yes it will, and full marks to M. Ratel. I came away from the Place de la Concorde feeling more optimistic about the future than when I arrived. It must have been something in that very fine wine which Brooksie and Janice Minton persuaded the sommelier to leave on the table, much to his disgust. Ugh, those rosbifs! Munich Legends There was much less formality in Zell-am-Zee the following night when BMW Motorsport threw their annual party. It started in rather worrying fashion with a taxi driver who spoke no English. As Brooksie and Lister discovered on an ill-fated trip to Oschersleben in September, I spoke enough German to get myself into trouble, and not nearly enough to get myself out of it again. We attempted to discuss the unseasonably warm weather and, as he described a normal December with half a metre of snow, I suspect I was describing my abilities as a lawnmower. Still, I got to the press conference, which didn’t actually take place, to find Jorg Muller and Mario Theissen working at one wok, Dirk and Hans Stuck driving the other. Jorg sported a lovely clean apron. “That is the cleanest you have been all season,” I said. “Yeah, but the wok has some dents in it.” Andy Priaulx arrived a little late and confused. We tried Dirk’s wok first, mistakenly, it turned out. He was cooking dessert. Andy then asked if this white ball on the salad was an egg. It was cheese. The Brits abroad, eh? One of Andy’s promotional activities was to climb into a hot air balloon basket, where he was joined by Jorg, Dirk and Stuck. Instead of taking off, they attempted to roll the basket and on several occasions looked set to pop the balloon on some nearby trees. What’s up Doc? The evening affair threw up interesting people to speak to, not least Dr Theissen. Without his apron and with more sensible things than egg-coloured stuff frying in a wok on his mind, we discussed the possibility that BMW would develop the M6 for endurance racing. It turns out that Ratel’s agreement with the Japanese was of far more interest than we had expected. “The most important thing is to develop a car that can be run in many series world wide,” said Theissen. “If FIA, ACO and Japanese GT regulations converge, that makes it much more attractive. If the FIA said they will ensure a car like a 6- series can race, if they get that right and the regulations are unified, then we would look at doing a car.” Theissen confirmed that BMW is seeking rule breaks to develop the 6-series for the new GT1 category, but that there are several problems yet to overcome. “The car is not only heavy, but it is a 2+2 coupe, and very different packaging to a Ferrari, so we would need some freedom.” BMW, we know, are actively seeking rules breaks to allow the M6 to run competitively against the likes of the Ferrari 550 Maranello and Aston Martin DBR9. The M6 will not race until at least 2007. Next year, BMW’s racing department will develop the E90 version of the 3-series for the World Touring Car Championship in 2006, and will use that year to develop the M6 for endurance. As Theissen explained, however, there is no need for BMW to do such a programme as they already have plenty of racing activity on their plate. Skid Marks Dirk and Jorg were given the opportunity to demonstrate their competitive elements as they took it in turns driving the M3 GTR, which raced at Spa and won at the Nurburgring, among the guests in the airport hanger. “I reckon I left more rubber on the floor than him,” said Jorg. Priaulx received the welcome news that he is now to be a factory BMW driver, taking over the mantle from Steve Soper, though Priaulx has his own knack of dealing with journos. Soper’s “What happened Steve? I crashed” attitude has been replaced with a slicker operation, spiky hair and much bigger shirt collars. His evening was slightly ruined by the news that he was to get an F1 test at the end of January. “Oh bollocks” was the rough response. “I’ll have to get to the gym straight away and work on those neck muscles. And I can’t drink that, it has got a billion calories in it…” Merry Christmas, LMES, and BMW. |
Michael and Andrew Cotton |
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