lemans002

Le Mans 15th/16th June 2002

I always look forward to returning to La Sarthe. This year I would again be racing with the PK team in their Porsche 911GT3 RS but would have new tyres (Pirelli) and some new team mates in the shapes of Piers Masarati and Robin Liddell. With the team's success at Sebring and our creditable performance last year we had every reason to be optimistic for the coming race particularly as the bulk of the team was the same!

Our scrutineering was on the Tuesday so we all met up late on Monday night to play "hunt your chateau." This is always a fun game for drivers and teams alike as the scatter into the French countryside in search of their temporary abode. This year we were down towards La Fleche in a lovely chateau called "La Boviniere"

Tuesday required us to be at La Place Des Jacobins for the pre-requisite statutory checks for the drivers and the cars. It is also the first opportunity to view the opposition and to begin to soak up the atmosphere.......and the first time you need to jump on the scales!!! The rest of the day was taken up ensuring we were comfortable in the car with belts, bottles and the like whilst the guys readied the car for qualifying on the Wednesday.

Qualifying at Le Mans does not start until 7.00pm in the evening and runs for two daylight hours, breaks for one hour, and then runs for a further two hours until midnight. All drivers are required to set a minimum time and are required to complete three laps in the dark........the latter is quite an experience if you have not done it before! Robin was our quickest driver but Piers showed he was not to be intimidated by the speed of the circuit. Between the 3 of us we posted one of the best aggregate times in the dark. Things were still looking good.....

Friday is traditionally the Parade of Drivers through the town and can be a little dangerous....(I fell off the back of one of the vintage parade cars in 1998!) Drivers who have never experienced this are amazed at the number of people who attend and it adds further to the build up. We took 250 posters which had all disappeared BEFORE the start of the parade..........

Saturday and 4.00pm approached - we were then underway with the 70th running of the biggest race on earth. Robin started and our plan was to double stint him before letting me loose. He had moved us from 4th to 3rd and briefly to 2nd owing to a superior pit stop. Although the lead Porsches were running quicker we were still confident of taking the race to them.

I took over just before the 3rd hour and ran for 80 mins. Although I was slower than Robin I held my own and made no mistakes. In fact I hardly saw any one in my class!! I handed over to Piers and he was on his way putting in a great stint before Robin was due out again.

Unfortunately this was when things started to go wrong. The temperatures started to rise inexplicably and Robin came into the pits. The guys flushed the system hoping the problem was an airlock but I had an uneasy feeling. Robin went out again and despite some great lap times was shortly in the pits again. An inspection of the engine revealed the worst.......a crack in cylinder no.3 meant the race was over.

We were all gutted but that's racing. Hopefully I will be back next year ........