[LM24] Mansell & Le Mans (2010 & 2011)

[Andy Harrison]

Nigel Mansell is racing in the Le Mans 24 hr!

http://www.grid1.tv/videos/featured/the-mansells

Nigel you are a legend!

[Mekola]

Yesterday did his prototypes debut in the 8 Hours of Le Castellet in the Ginetta-Zytek shared with his sons Greg and Leo. They raced sometimes 6th, but finished 14th.

[nobster]

Met him last year at Le mans and he was very friendly and willing to sign photos.
But then he was only a spectator watching his son. This year it's the real deal for him, I hope they will do well, always liked the guy when he was driving for Williams in F1.

[GT6]

There was a feature about him and his sons on Mobil 1 the grid yesterday.

[tony griffiths]

finally a car wide enough for his head or his butt ?

[GT6]

The beechdean motorsport team has now folded, after only one season.

I might not have been nigel's biggest fan but it is a shame another team has gone.

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by GT6

The beechdean motorsport team has now folded, after only one season.

I might not have been nigel's biggest fan but it is a shame another team has gone.

The team may be gone, but it would be no surprise to see the Mansell family back in Le Mans regs racing again next year. Question is, what with?

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by GT6

The beechdean motorsport team has now folded, after only one season.

I'm not really sure, there's a lot of contradictory reports about the whole deal; I have seen the announcement in Autosport, but also a press release from the team published on Endurance-Info, and they contradict each other in a lot of aspects (with the sole exception of selling the car). Let's see how the whole thing pans out over the next few months.


And I agree with Bentley03, it's quite likely that the Mansells will be back at Le Mans next year with an as-of-yet undisclosed/unknown/undetermined package.

[Aysedasi]

Hopefully something competitive this time..........

[GT6]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Hopefully something competitive this time..........

The car was more competative at other races, it was not the cars fault at Le mans.

[Mal]

I don't suppose it is beyond possibility that this is part of the contractual mess of Ginetta - Zytek and the Mansells will appear in one camp or the other once the dust has settled.

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by Mal

I don't suppose it is beyond possibility that this is part of the contractual mess of Ginetta - Zytek and the Mansells will appear in one camp or the other once the dust has settled.

No.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by GT6

The car was more competative at other races, it was not the cars fault at Le mans.

In what way? It didn't exactly set the track alight at any stage, did it?

[GT6]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

In what way? It didn't exactly set the track alight at any stage, did it?

well without dad it did not crash out on lap 3

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by GT6

well without dad it did not crash out on lap 3

I'm happy to give 'Dad' the benefit of the doubt on that one. But, in my opinion, Zytek have never built a car with the right credentials to be successful at Le Mans (although there have been some respectable performances from Zytek powered cars in recent times).

[The Badger]

Im kinda thinking , he may possibily tie up with AMR ..... and for the long term too .

Other than that , I dont know . If he intends to stick with Zytek , why sell the car . Or maye a shift to P2 ..... it may well be more in their league , considering the strength of some P1 teams .

I think something broke on the car , not Nige's fault at all . Shame , as I was looking forward to seeing how well the trio could do .

[Aysedasi]

Do we actually have the full story yet of what caused the Le Mans shunt?

[Victor_RO]

Not sure, but everything I've heard about it says that the whole thing was because of a slow puncture that gave way at high speed. Certainly the left-rear tire looked shredded when the car came to a rest.

[davyboy]

I believe that Zytek have gone into administration because Lawrence Tomlinson's offer to acquire the remaining shareholding [not currently owned] by him was rejected. Clearly the company would have had going concern issues to have forced a situation like this. Now that its in administration, it will likely enable Lawrence Tomlinson to acquire what he wants in terms of assets etc... from the administrator at a lower cost.

I would imagine the Beachdean cessation is probably a consequence of what's gone on with Zytek.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Do we actually have the full story yet of what caused the Le Mans shunt?

All Ive ever heard was that something broke , exactly what , aint got a clue .

[Le Vieux]

Has anyone heard any news in connection with this year's race and
1 Zytek (in whatever guise)
2 Lawrence Tomlinson
3 Mr Mansell
?

[Aysedasi]

I've changed the thread title to bring it up to date a bit....

[Simmi]

Am I right in thinking that Greg and Leo are racing an Lotus Evora at Dubai 24HR? So I suppose that could open up the possibility of them taking one of those to Le Mans maybe? That would probably be a bit more up Nigel's street.

[The Badger]

Well , the story is that our nige went through a gravel trap , that led to a slow puncture .

Shame ..... I hope they come back with something P .

[Aysedasi]

I think it was either on DSC or in Autosport that it was mentioned that the puncture wasn't picked up on telemetry as it didn't work that far away - which surprised me somewhat.....