Larbre FATurbo GT2 in the pits - 1997
Konrad Porsche GT2 at Arnage - 1998 pre-qualifying
In 1997 I had the opportunity to drive a Porsche GT2 Biturbo 911 for Larbre Competition, a French team most famous for its association with FATurbo Express. Driving with Frenchman Patrick Bordais and Brazilian Andre Lara Resende, we managed to get through 19 hours when the car expired with a broken axle. In 1998, now that pre-qualifying is successfully over, I will drive a similar car for Konrad Motorsport. In 1998 I will share driving duties with Toni Seiler of Switzerland and Angelo Zadra of Italy.
Driving LeMans in the GT2 contains the entire panoply of emotions and situations from the 2nd gear turn at Arnage to the flat out 6th gear sections on Mulsanne; from the comfortably high speed sections between Mulsanne and Indianapolis to the "hold your breath" fine edge of the Porsche Curves. But it is LE MANS and it is one of the great races of the world.
The entire circuit took about 4 minutes and 10 seconds in a very well driven Porsche GT2 during the 1997 race, although the cars reached a speed a few seconds faster in qualifying. [In 1998 the pace is understandably quicker with better heads and more horsepower in the Porsche GT2. Qualifying times approached 4 minutes for the best GT2 cars (Chrysler Vipers) and the Larbre Porsche GT2, driven by Patrice Gouselard managed a 2:03. Qualifying times were only achieved with super sticky tires that were good for only one or two laps before they "went away" completely. The Porsche GT2 cars made about 550 horsepower during 1997 while the Vipers and the Mustangs were well over 600. Michelin tires were the preferred set-up for the teams that could get them. And many couldn't. 1998 will be even more difficult with a "back-room" deal between Chrysler (Viper) and Michelin, which will guarantee that the tires will be on the Vipers, but will stay out of the hands of most of the other competitors.
The Pits at Le Mans are, by themselves, awesome. Transporters back up to the garages which are adjacent to the pits to unload the cars and equipment. The garages are spacious and clean. And the door out the "frontside" of the garage is straight into the hot pits. Toilet and shower facilities are always close. The Pits are noisy and busy without many of the restrictions expected by American teams. Media and photographers are always in abundance. Close your eyes, listen to the music on the loud speakers. I am sure it is the same music they were playing in the movie "Le Mans". And by the way, isn't that Steve McQueen down a few garages dressed in his shiny Nomex drivers suit…without any sponsors patches. Not very likely anymore.
Come for a ride
In the 6-speed Porsche GT2, the start finish line is crossed with a shift from third to fourth gear. Down the front straight by the pits, the shift point from fourth to 5th always seemed to come just as I was trying to see the pit board. Unlike racing in North America, the Europeans still like to use pit boards instead of radios. With only a short distance between the shift to fifth and the turn in point for turn one, the car is flat out through the gentle uphill right hander, with the apex shortly after the ACO members pavilion. A shift down from 5th to 3rd while executing the finish of turn one sets the car up for the chicane ("shicken" says John Pierre Jarier) just before the famed Dunlop Bridge. This Chicane didn't exist before the changes in 1986, but it slows the car down a lot for the sweep over the top of the hill and under the Dunlop Bridge. While not too formidable, the chicane can be difficult on the first lap out of the pits after a tire change, and it is a bit easy to get in too fast. More than one car (including yours truly) found themselves in a gravel trap the size of a small lake when cold tires didn't have the grip one hoped while trying to slow down for the first left turn of the chicane. It was also very easy to get into the first part of the chicane too fast, oh damn…drive over the bumpers in the second turn and delay the acceleration off toward the Esses if you didn't start it just right.
Both the left and the right of the chicane are 3rd gear turns. Full on the gas only after the apex of the right hand turn exit, the car would crest the hill under the Dunlop bridge just after a shift to 4th. The turbos scream and the car rushes down the hill toward the Esses and a quick shift to 5th at about 220 km per hour. A hard stab on the brakes at the bottom of the hill and a down shift to 4th precedes the Esses. They start with a fast 4th gear left turn which is followed quickly by a right turn after a short rise. This right turn has a close wall on the left and not much room to make a mistake, as Mario Andretti found out when he went wide in the turn during the 1997 race. A mistake that would take him and Michael, driving a Courage for what Mario said was most likely their last race together, out of the race.
A short chute, slightly downhill, remaining in 4th, leads into the fast right turn at Tertre Rouge, the entrance onto the famed Mulsanne straight. When the tires are good and when there is no traffic this turn is a good high speed 4th gear, probably 200+ km or so in the Larbre GT2, but if there is any interruption in the rhythm, a shift to 3d may be necessary to carry the required speed onto Mulsanne. Until Tertre Rouge we had been driving on a closed circuit section of the race track, but with that sweeping slightly downhill right turn we enter onto a public road, with paved shoulders and a triple high steel barrier guard rail along both sides for its entire length. With many side entrance roads and private driveways, that leads to a lot of barrier installation the day and the night before the start of the race.
The Mulsanne is one of the most awesome and beautiful straights in the world of racing. Lined with tall, stately Poplar trees, which add a shimmer in the morning and a cool dark green in the afternoon, they define the length of the straight. The scenery also in includes a couple of restaurants which stay open all during the night during the race.
The glow of their neon signs in the distance provides an erie look hanging just above the guard rail. It can be intimidating. Fourth, 5th and 6th gear, up to 305 km/h (190+ mph) past the Les Hunaudieres Restaurant with people drinking just behind the barrier before the hard braking at the 250 marker for the first chicane, called L'Arche, 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3d for the right turn going in. The middle of L'Arche (called Chicane Nissan in 1998) is a round sweeping left where the acceleration starts just before the apex. The car has to be settled for the next right which leads back onto Mulsanne. A shift from 3rd to 4th at the apex of the right and hard acceleration as the car tests its limits going back onto and across to the left side of the road. On to the left shoulder (which was smoother than I expected) as the car continues to accelerate. In practice, there was caution that there might be a seam in the roadway, or that the shoulder might be dirty but the surface was consistent and reasonably smooth, and by race time, there was no concern. 5th gear, and then into 6th once again as the car, once again traveling at close to 200 mph, slowly crosses the track from left to right to set up for the next chicane, a left, right, left, called La Florandiere (Chicane Carte "S" in 1998).
It seems as if everyone wants to know what it is like to drive Mulsanne, how intimidating or exhilarating it is to go 200 mph. In reality, Mulsanne is the easiest part of the Le Mans race track. The gearing to get to 200 has sizeable spacing. The time in 5th after the 4 - 5 shift and accelerating up after the shift to 6th are truly the relaxation times during the lap. Check your mirrors, look at gauges, don't rush the shifts, don't over-rev the motor. Notice the things around you. You are at LeMans and the Mulsanne defines Le Mans.
Much like L'Arche which went the opposite direction (right, left, right) La Florandiere is a brake at the 250 meter mark, a down shift from 6th to 5th to 4th to 3rd and a left turn which carries across the first apex and almost straight to the second apex. Acceleration is slightly later here, and the left turn exit is slightly slower than the exit from L'Arche. The car carries out to the right and onto the shoulder close to the guard rail ("stay off that rough red asphalt on the shoulder") once again and the shift from 3rd to 4th seems to come at the busiest point of the turn. Back out onto Mulsanne, the car speeds toward the famed Mulsanne corner. From 4th to 5th and to 6th, the car crests the camelback hump ("Bosse De Mulsanne"). Traveling at just under 300km/h (about 185 mph), the car is much more stable over this hump than the cars were prior to the installation of the chicanes when speeds could be as much as 50 miles per hour faster at this point. Even the GT1 cars are 25-30 mph slower today than were the cars of the cars of the mid 80s.
Once over the camelback, there is a tendency to brake early for the next turn. However, after a few laps I figured it out and we find the true value of ABS, braking around a fast right in 5th gear.
The Mulsanne corner has also changed. Instead of the hard braking slow right turn of yester-year, the track has been changed to accommodate the installation of a round-about at the intersection of the two country roads. The turn, designed to avoid the surface of the round-about, is actually a two part turn. Brake hard and shift from 6th to 5th to 4th for the first part of the right turn. A short chute follows with a very momentary opportunity to step on the gas before the down-shift. The alternative, if the car has ABS, is to wait longer and brake while turning the first part of the corner. The final part of the turn was a always a close call on gear in our car. Executed perfectly, it could be done in third, but it generally seemed the acceleration toward Indianapolis and Arnage often started better with the car in 2nd gear. After much team discussion, it seemed we settled on 2nd as the best answer.
Off toward Indianapolis and Arnage. Still on public roads, this section is truly exhilarating. As the car gets up to speed the next right turn is gentle and flat out with the apex hidden just over the top of a slight rise. The shift to 6th happens just before the rise. On we go down the road as the speed continues to climb very close to 200mph. Another gentle right turn is taken flat out as the car whines on toward Indianapolis. An interesting note about the Porsche GT2…the twin turbochargers make the car sound more of a high pitched whine than the roar you hear inside a normally aspirated car. The situation never seemed particularly noisy unless and until the Panoz with their Roush Ford V8 Motors roared past, literally shaking the ground, my car and everything else within 100 meters.
Indianapolis is a hard left had turn that is preceded by a fast right. After braking hard and shifting from 6th to 5th (some people went to 4th here), the fast right is followed by a short chute that leads into Indianapolis. The car is not permitted to go out to more than the middle of the road after the apex of the right turn to set up on the right side of the track for Indianapolis. After the car is turned in for the fast right, we are back on the gas momentarily before a hard brake and a down shift to third for Indianapolis, a touch of the US middle west in the middle of France. Nothing about this turn is however consistent with its name sake. No high banks, no wide ovals, no large lusty beer drinking crowds. Just a tight third gear turn with an FIA curb at the exit, the three high steel barrier and lots of trees behind. Indianapolis is a straight forward left turn in third gear. A typical out, in, out turn; the FIA curb on the right at track can upset the balance if you are not careful. And, the guard rail is close at that point. Accelerate out of the turn, shift to 4th for only a couple of seconds and then back to 3rd and 2nd for the famed turn at Arnage.
The slowest turn on the circuit, Arnage requires some real care since the low gearing can permit wheel spin. Here too, the circuit reminds the driver of the GT2 Porsche that one of the most important things about the car is managing the power. With rules that require that the section of the entire rear wheel and tire assembly not exceed 12" (30.5 cm) the car does not have enough rear tire (tread width is slightly over 11" - about 28.5 cm) to accommodate its rear weight bias and the significant horsepower. Power oversteer on corner exit is to be reckoned with. Precision with the accelerator is rewarded.
After the right turn at Arnage, the car reaches the 6400 rpm shift point quickly and the ensuing quick shift to 3rd settles the car down headed for the Porsche Curves. Up to 6th gear, the car reaches more than 270 km including a very fast left kink that presents no problem. It was this section of the track that a prototype had the body of the car come loose during pre-qualifying in 1997. The car became airborne once the ground effects were interrupted. Landing atop the guard rail on the right side of the track, the car caught fire and the driver, a young Frenchman named Sebastian Enjolras, did not survive. The fire left a large charred area on the guard rail and the trees behind it that provided a constant reminder of the dangers both during the balance of pre-qualifying and during the race.
The Porsche Corners are arguably the most demanding section of the current circuit. A section that separates the real pros from the gentlemen drivers, (I qualify as the latter by the way), it is a series of sweeping turns some of which are off camber and some of which have barriers which seem much too close.
The track leaves the public roads and becomes part of the permanent circuit at the first turn into the Porsche Corners, a very fast right turn taken in 4th gear followed by a fast left. Constant careful poser management is key since it was possible, at least in our car to take the entire sequence in 4th gear. Delay the turn in to the first right as long as possible and arriving at the apex, stay to the right side of the road, don't cross the track or you will be out of shape for the immediate left hand turn. Just after the left, the track crosses a public road on a bridge, but you don't even really notice the bridge. Out to the edge of the track on the right with and immediate turn back for the next left, a very round turn. That left is followed immediately by a carousel type right turn that goes slightly down hill to the right. Applying just enough power to keep the car close to the right edge of the surface, I stay right to get ready for a slightly off camber left, a turn that our team owner/manager Jack Leconte of Larbre Competition called the most dangerous turn on the circuit. Not particularly dangerous from a personal safety standpoint, it is dangerous because it has a tendency to "bite". It is hard to see the off camber nature of the turn and although adhesion is generally good, if you get wide, the dirt on the track combined with its off camber construction and the very close concrete wall, make for a quick way to take a car out of the race.
In fact, during the race, our car, the number 75 Larbre FATurbo Express Porsche, left the track at this point (no, I was not driving) and hit the wall. Although it only side swiped the wall, and did virtually no body damage, the right rear suspension was bent and took an hour and a half in the garage to repair. The impact on the axle was also probably the cause of the failure of that axle in the 19th hour that took us out of the race. This was also the turn that claimed the factory GT1 Porsche in one of the very rare mistakes made by Bob Wollek.
The off-camber left is followed by a shift to 5th and a quick right-left combination at Maison Blanche that is almost straight. Acceleration continues - flat out- through the sequence. The turn can be quite easily done in fifth, but it must be executed well to keep the car out of trouble. Turn in, cross slightly over the curbing and let the car unwind to the right side of the track. Accelerate until the Pit Entrance.
The Pit Entrance is, by the way, a long way from the pits themselves and a convoluted way into the pits.
After passing the pit entrance there are still two sets of left-right turn combinations called the Ford Chicane to lead onto the pit straight. These were strange corners, shift down to 3d for the first left, run well over the curbing in both the left and the right and then accelerate for just a second or two, remaining in third for the next sequence. Although the second set of turns is slow it is important because it leads on to the front straight. It (like the Mulsanne Corner) seemed a toss up as to whether we should take the combination in 2nd or 3rd. Distance racing tactics suggested that 3rd was better because it would save one shift down and save one up shift on each lap. Good distance racing tactics would also suggest that you not run over any curbing because it would, in the long run, be easier on the car, but I was continuously surprised to see the factory Porsche GT1s, the McLaren BMWs, Ferraris, and the Panoz running hard over the curbing.
So, exit the last turn in 2nd or third, cross the start finish line in 4th, shift to 5th and look for the pit board. 8.5 miles, 13.605 kilometers in 4 minutes and 10 seconds, an average speed of just under 200 kph (124 mph). Look for the turn-in point for turn one and start all over again. 14 laps per hour, 15 laps per stint.
Interestingly enough, the sequence doesn't change much at night. The turn at Tettre Rouge might change from a 4th gear turn to 3rd, but that was the only place that a slightly more conservative pace would change the way the car was driven. The visibility was excellent and the fresh reflector paint on the edges made seeing the road and the corners easy. In some respects it was easier to drive at night in the GT2. It was possible to occasionally get surprised by a GT1 car or a prototype in the daylight, but the long straights always provided enough notice of a fast over-taking car well in advance at night. One interesting side-note about driving at night. A long time friend of mine from Minneapolis, was working a station just before the Mulsanne Corner. When driving the night shift I frequently, if not in traffic, would flash my lights as I approached his station to say, "Bob…Peter here, we are still in the race".
So that is it, 47 shifts per lap, 705 shifts per stint. An average speed of 120 mph per lap. That's Le Mans. Its Tertre Rouge, Mulsanne, Indianapolis, Arnage, The Porsche Curves and big grandstands on the front straight. It's the most important sports car road race in the world and one of the four biggest racing events on the planet. My choice for the other three by the way are the Monaco F-1 race, The Indy 500 (for Indy cars, at least before the recent schism between CART and Tony George) and the Daytona 500 for NASCAR.
In 1997 when I went to Le Mans I went, as I did at the Daytona 24 hour race that year, just to do it, not expecting to win. When interviewed by French TV I told them a white lie when I said I expected to win when they were fishing for an answer that I just wanted to finish.
However, in 1998 I went to Daytona thinking we had a real chance to win, and we did! Actually we won the GT2 class and finished 4th overall with the Konrad Motorsport team from Germany. I will also drive for Konrad at Le Mans in 1998 and it appears we will have much the same team we had at Daytona. We are obviously hoping for the same result we had at Daytona. Although, the competition will be fierce.
1998 may be the most competitive Le Mans race ever. Both the GT1 and Prototype classes have a very formidable list of entrants, and some Porsche GT1 cars may go home after pre-qualifying without a spot on the entrants list. GT-2 will be much the same. With 26 entrants, 3 of whom are pre-qualified, the remaining 12 or 13 positions will be difficult to capture. Again, some very good teams will not make the show.
Cest Le Vie!
However, I always keep reminding myself… You win some …you lose some…but you always suit up for the game.
OTHER THOUGHTS ON THE RACE;
How nice to go to a race and not have to hear about the future plans of Don Panoz or Andy Evans.
To have more cars than positions.
To not have tube frame cars.
The have fans, fans and more fans. 10s of thousands of people showed up on Friday before the race for the "Parade of the Pilots", a parade of the drivers in very old (mostly pre 20s race cars) through the center of LeMans.
Sorry, but it is just not the same to have to go through Orlando on you way to a race track as it is to go through Paris…and spend a few days.
The wine was delivered to the Larbre hospitality tent, not by the case, but on pallets.
The Porsche factory was there with parts, parts and more parts. They had what you needed and more. No need to carry a large inventory. And, it didn't seem to make any difference if you had bought the car from them or from someone else, or built it up from a street car. Everyone got help.
The rules were released early and were clear! And then didn't get changed on the spot.
The author at Indianapolis corner - pre-qualifying 1998
Having just returned from pre-qualifying, where we managed to make it through with both of the Konrad GT-2 Porsches, this year will be the race of the decade and maybe one of the best ever. 2 Porsche GT-1s, 4 Nissans, 3 Toyotas, 2 AMG Mercedes, 2 McLaren BMWs and 2 Panoz. All within a few seconds of each other. It will be like a sprint race, but for 24 hours. 15 GT-1 cars only a few seconds apart in qualifying. It should be great.
Peter Kitchak