Jox Jottings… Car spotted on track shock horror!
Let’s begin by saying that normal service will be resumed as soon as your regular scribe can be bothered. Yes, you’re being treated to a guest columnist, Martin Buck. I understand that I got a mention in the last edition; I did threaten to sue Club Arnage for all it’s worth, until it was pointed out that a) it would be a lot of hassle for a slightly battered Volvo, even one that has a s***-hot parking pass for Le Mans, and b) apparently it’s not libellous if something is actually true. Damn lawyers…
Anyway, as indicated by the title, after the ‘hurry up and wait’ of Friday’s scrutineering, the cars have finally done what they’re built for, and got out on the circuit. Some of the drivers seemed to struggle with the task of staying on the black stuff, most notably Stéphane Daoudi, who stuffed the JMB Racing Ferrari 575 GTC into the tyres at the Michelin Chicane, with enough vigour to bring their day to a distinctly premature end; at least as far as the drivers were concerned. When I was walking through the paddock this afternoon the entire front bodywork had been removed and the mechanics were just preparing to jack up the car, with a notable lack of enthusiasm; it was obvious that the damage was going to require a little more than T-Cut and tank tape....
A little earlier I had been near the Museum, on the approach to the Dunlop chicane. There was a curious acoustic effect; each car was followed a second or so later by an echo, but one that had been shifted an octave or so lower. At first it seemed that each car was being followed closely by another, phantom one which mysteriously failed to appear.
The only car which was immune to this effect was the Corvette C6-R; for some reason its earth-shaking basso profundo didn’t resonate in the same way as the shriek of the higher-revving motors.
Whilst I’m musing on the subject of engine notes, I do think it’s high time the ACO introduced a new rule; one which specifically outlaws any kind of pit-lane restrictor which makes the hobbled car sound like it’s farting its way into oblivion. These are racing cars, dammit, they’re not meant to sound like an asthmatic tractor!
During my lunchtime stroll I went via the area which, on race weekend, will be host to numerous merchandising stalls and heaving with punters – often literally once a diet of lager and sunburn takes hold. For the practice weekend it was curiously empty, with a feel of almost suspended animation; a sleeping giant which will be awakened by the presence of large numbers of wallets.
Being a truly international race, it has attracted a truly international field of drivers. Some of these, rather inconveniently, use weirdly accented characters in their names. I consider it a significant contribution to the quality of Club Arnage to have been instrumental in showing your regular columnist the easy way of achieving this. Of course, spell-checkers aren’t exactly designed to handle names; Danish legend Thorkild Thyrring becomes Thornily Whirring, whilst Vanina Ickx comes out as Banana Icky, despite some members of the crew suggesting rather less polite alternatives.
Without any competitive element involved, there is a lack of any real excitement about proceedings. Dennis Leech, team manager of Racesport Peninsula, who are running a TVR Tuscan 400 R, said it best. “There’s no reason to rush anything today,” he said, when asked why the car didn’t turn a wheel for over an hour this morning. “We were checking a small oil leak on the diff, to make sure it didn’t need changing, and took the opportunity to do a full ‘spanner check’ on the car – just to keep ahead of the bastard!”
The mechanics also tend not to take things too seriously. This morning, we spotted the crew of the Alex Job Porsche 911 GT3 RSR applying copious amounts of tank-tape around the front splitter. When I asked about it, a mechanic said, with a grin: “We thought it made it look better!” When I asked whether someone had done some gardening, he replied, “Yeah, they do that sometimes…”
When the session ends, a little over two hours from now, it will be the start of an entire week of ‘hurry up and wait’. The teams can use the Bugatti circuit on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, although the twisty nature of the closed track doesn’t bear much relation to the high-speed run down the Mulsanne and on to Indianapolis. That apart, everything will be subject to scrutineering again on Monday and Tuesday of race week; they won’t be out on the full circuit again until 7pm on Wednesday 15th.
