After Sebring, Advice for Le Mans...

[pirenzo]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
Can you imagine any of the modern-day F1 primadonnas racing a sportscar at Le Mans or elsewhere? I know TGF and DC have (are there any others of the current crop?), but I doubt if their contracts would permit it these days.

Well obviously Irvine did, and he's near enough "the current crop"

Did Damon Hill do it?

Mark Webber of course and probably one of the lesser drivers as well

[C_g]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
To Champion Audi:
Great strategy was tossed out the window when Pirro got back in the car out of sequence late in the race...the advantage you gained via your fuel strategy was lost when an extra driver change had to occur to comply with the rules...you have another 2nd place when you dominated and should have won at Sebring...learn from it...

You're spot-on about Champion I think. I agree. Though apparently they were planning on triple-stinting JJ, but had to pull him out 75 minutes into his double stint due to the caution. I have a feeling that putting Johansson in right away (instead of Pirro) would have been the better option.

Also, Pirro having to come in early due to cramps seems to be over-blown. He only came in 5 or so minutes early. The oddest thing is that Johansson's first stint at the end was only a half hour. Very odd.

[Tim Northcutt]

having to make the extra driver change cost them the race...

They had about a 30 second lead that turned into about a 20-30 second deficit following the driver change stop...a fuel only or a fuel and tires only stop with Johansson already in the car would have made the difference...

With those three drivers, you can't go wrong anyway....

[Liz]

To American Spirit:
Dump the Lincoln Engine....it just doesn't have the horses to get you where you need to be....

Finishing 12TH OVERALL with three rookie drivers in a brandnew car is nothing to be ashamed of. An American car needs an American engine.

=========

Advice for Race Reporters:

10. If someone tells you that "a monkey can put up that tent" ask them "will it take more monkeys at night?"

9. Remember to eat.

8. There is a limit to how many interviews you can do in one day.

7. Cheer for the guys you interviewed. Tell them that you did.

6. Get someone to proofread your stuff before you post it. Otherwise you will pull up your handiwork on line and see a glaring error in the heading that you totally missed last night.

5. Take a photographer.

4. Don't put your stuff on someone else's computer. Don't swipe their freebies either.

3. Don't hog the transmission lines. And conversely, don't whine for a transmission line and then use it to sign onto a chat board.

2. Get up and walk around now and then.

AND THE NUMBER ONE THING FOR MEDIA PEOPLE TO REMEMBER:

1. Watch some racing!

[carbsmith]

The ROC Reynard, which is now owned by Noel Del Bello, unless the lack of sleep permanently damged my mind so that I always read the results with a Reynard 2KQ Lehmann in those positions.

[veeten]

Hmmmm... had lots 'o fun at the races, eh Liz?...

[Liz]

More fun than I would have believed, considering I have a backache, blistered hands and a sunburn!

May I add to the "Not an F1 Prima-Donna" crowd, Anthony Davidson? He is a very confident young man indeed, and wholly committed to F1, but I think he's one of those drivers from the old school: give him the keys and point him to the Start/Finish line and stand back. He's also much more modest and mature than Jensen Button. I could not imagine him blowing all his money on a yacht after 1 year in racing, and kicking his girl friend down the road to disport himself with Hawaiian Tropic Girls.

He's a hell of a driver as far as I have seen.

The friend who drove me back to Orlando commented that he found the side by side battles between Audi and Bently into the corners to be nerve wracking but outstanding. The example of consummate professionalism behind the wheel.

[RacingManiac]

Salo sure provided the coolest action the whole race IMO....when he was dicing with Kristensen......that was some diehard racing.....

BTW, didn't Heidfeld also did Mercedes' sportscar for a bit?

[Fab]

Originally posted by Liz
The friend who drove me back to Orlando commented that he found the side by side battles between Audi and Bently into the corners to be nerve wracking but outstanding. The example of consummate professionalism behind the wheel.

Liz, you saw it live : do you think that the Bentleys could be good enough in (hard) breaking (as in the Hunaidières chicanes or at Arnage) to match the Audis at Le Mans ? This could be one of the key of their winning (the others will be reliability, time in pits, no error on track, etc... lots !)

[Liz]

I think it will depend a lot on who is behind the wheel. They did look just as good as the Audis to me with some people driving!

If Brabham can take his prozac before the race and not try for his optimistic passes, for example, I would say the battle between the Bentleys and Audis will be close enough to make a race of it. (Let's pretend they're not the same car in a different dress.)

[Mal]

Liz, can you expand on that comment ' with some people driving'. Who did you feel was up to tg=he job and who wasnt?

[Tim Northcutt]

To Liz:

Your point is well-taken, but an Elan engine also is American-made, and has a lot more push and power to it....

As I read my "advice" (I called it that only because I couldn't think of a better word to use...as if I'm even remotely qualified to advise any of the teams or owners), my comment was a little bit blunt...that team did run fairly well (even with two blow-outs that cost them plenty of time), but I didn't remember them ever running in the top ten in any of the sessions, and most of their times were about 9-10 seconds off the front pace and about 5 seconds behind the 2nd tier of LMP 900 and LMP 675 prototypes that ran last week...

Personally, I hope that they have a good season, and for a new team, they could have had it much worse (see Nasamax and Lister)

[BSchneiderFan]

Someone mentioned that the new R&S would benefit from the BMW V12 - does anyone know what happened to those engines? I dream occasionally that Charly Lamm buys a couple of R&S Mk. IIICs, gets a supply of V12s from Munich and that Schnitzer run JJ Lehto, Peter Kox, Pierluigi Martini and Jorg Muller...

[Gizmo]

Can anybody help? I have just read that Kevin McGarrity had to drag himself out of a burning car without the aid of nearby marshals. What happened?

[halfwitt]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt

To MCC:
I started this thread simply to get responses and ideas...good or bad...agree or disagree...that is what these forums are for...some of these items may be "well..duh" notes....Zytek dropped a shaft, didn't they??? but the blew an engine at Petit if I remember....

Dyson will always be fast...but I doubt they will last with that mentality...

What sort of shaft did Zytek drop then? Crankshaft? Camshaft? Propeller Shaft? PTO Shaft? Don't think so somehow....I heard it was a g/box failure. Last time I saw a picture of that engine, it didn't contain a gearbox, and I didn't think an engine blew at petit either, just some minor component failures.

Dyson know they have reliability problems, but their mentality is not their problem. They're effing fast and if the car holds together they are a threat. 'Nuff said.

[Tim Northcutt]

I understood it was a c-v joint connecting the gearbox to the drive line to power the wheels....unless of course the engine turns the wheels by osmosis or divine intervention...of course, without a gearbox...or gears for that matter...

[halfwitt]

The point was that it isn't a Zytek gearbox, any more than the gearbox in a MacLaren is an Ilmor part. Anyway, it was a casing that cracked / split in half according to reports.