ON
TRACK WITH RICK PEARSON No. 32
By Rick Pearson
Welcome to this week's addition of 'On Track' and another weeks rambling about the UK and European race scenes. I recently returned from an extremely damp annual pilgrimage to Le Mans, which tends to represent about 90% of the time I spend watching as opposed to competing in the average year so I thought I'd share my thoughts on this great event.
Since my long term ambition is to complete in the 24 Hours, this year was really designed to be a fact finding mission as much as an excuse to hurtle across Northern France in convoy with 100,000 like-minded Brits! But if you have never made the trip, let me assure you it is well worth it as long as you accept that there is no way on Earth you are going to manage to get a shower for the duration.
I have been making the trip for 9 years which means I never saw the Jaguar victories and the associated hysteria, so it was particularly nice this year to see the support for MG and of course, Bentley. As the editor of Autosport pointed out last week, Audi have a long way to go before they have the heritage of either of these two (almost) British marques.
Le Mans always feels steeped in history but this year with Blower Bentleys and MGA's/B's/C's all over the place it was very special. Although, the Bentleys dubious (German) origins were noticeable when the lead car was stopped by the torrential rain seeping into the systems. Clearly no 100% British car is ever going to halted by a little downpour, even one of Biblical proportions as seen this year.
Over the years I have seen some great moments, Toyota narrowly failing to catch and pass the lead BMW in the final hour and JJ Lehto in a McLaren F1 lapping light years quicker than the rest of the field in the middle of the night in another downpour. To stand on a muddy bank at 3AM and be mesmerized by the spectacle makes for a very special drive indeed and he remains a hero to me from that one night. Not least because legend tells that the reason he was forced to do a triple stint was that the Japanese driver who was bankrolling the attempt had announced at sundown that he was off to sleep since he was night blind, leaving JJ and team-mate on their own for 7 hours.
The noise of the different cars over the years including the rotary engined Debra and the ear splitting rumble of the original Panoz cars also springs to mind, but the sight of a pair of Bentleys running line astern was something very special with which I think the British public could become quite enamoured. This also suggests that the next few years could be glorious for Le Mans.
So what about from a future perspective? Well I am under no illusion that I am about to be offered a drive in a leading prototype, not least because of my aversion about having my head sticking out the top of anything I drive! So, it looks like my only chance of hurtling down the Mulsanne in the pitch black is by finding a sponsor that understands the coverage the race gets and is prepared to bankroll a drive.
With Channel 4 showing increased footage this year and with over 200,000 spectators of whom 100,000 are fiercely patriotic Brits, the appeal is growing. With the likelihood of an even larger crowd next year with both Bentley and MG returning, this doesn't seem like an impossible task.
The week ahead sees me testing at Donington as you read this with the new suspension kit for the V6 before we depart for Misano and the next round of the Clio Trophy early next week.
I leave you with my highlight of this years race: Going into the final 2 hours, the Corvettes were unchallenged in their class with the demise of the last competitive Saleen and as it started to rain (again), in true tradition of American racing, the Corvettes, which were circulating together, peeled off the track and headed for the garages. There they remained until the rain had ceased and it was safe for them to wander back out on the circuit! Not really in the spirit of things but you had to admire the sentiment as at the time, I think the majority of the crowd would have liked to take shelter in a nice warm garage.
Have a good week one and all!