1998 the dawn of a new era |
| 1998 was in Sportscar terms the dawn of a new era of top line factory competition........or so it seemed at the time. The beautiful, foolish episode of 3.5 litre Group C and the period of austerity that followed in the 90's was transformed by the arrival of the factories and the return of supercars. These machines would excite the faithful in a manner not seen since the great days of Jaguar, Sauber and Porsche some ten years before and Ford, Ferrari and Porsche twenty years prior to that. The 1998 Le Mans rollcall of manufacturers, BMW, Chrysler, Mercedes Benz, Nissan, Porsche and Toyota backed up by the supporting cast of Courage, Ferrari and McLaren was indeed a high octane mix giving rise to the hopes that once again endurance racing could compete for attention with Formula One on the world stage. Audi was on the way to join the battle, the American Le Mans Series would re-ignite the scene in North America, where would it all end? As we now know a combination circumstances ranging from dot-com bubbles bursting to flying GTP cars ended all but the efforts of Audi and their faux competitive brand of Bentley (even the crew spoke German as a first language). Dream over. To quote the good Doctor................. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas, look West and with the right kind of eyes you can see the high water mark, that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back............. Here is a glimpse of the time before the Fall. |
John Brooks |