LIVING THE DREAM

Finally, the week had arrived. After years of trying, quite a few near misses and several failed projects, and even some rather worrying moments with this project… I. WAS. GOING. TO. LE. MANS.

Thursday and Friday had been spent at the Hethel factory making less progress with the revised oil cooling system than we ideally wanted. However, the cars had undergone numerous revisions since the Spa race and were definitely in a stronger and quicker state. We hadn’t had time to do a full 24‐hour test, but everyone had done more than seemed humanly possible so we’d just have to see in the race itself…

Scrutineering

We arrived at the circuit early on Sunday afternoon, from which point (I am reliably told) I had a grin permanently attached to my face for the next seven days! 

There is something about Le Mans that leaves you in no doubt that you are part of something special. The historic pit lane .. the enormous hospitality units (including ours!) .. the vast numbers of people, even a week before the race .. the underlying electric buzz of excitement. The team’s two cars looked beautiful in their new paint schemes, ready for their first test of the week. Everyone tends to get a little blasé about things that are familiar, but as we headed out to the town centre, I couldn’t help but be reminded that this really was pretty cool!

Scrutineering at Le Mans is a little different (quelle surprise) in that it is carried  out in the town centre in front of thousands of people. From the moment we arrived we were mobbed for autographs and interviews and the cars were so popular that it took the team quite some time to unload them from the trucks.

The return of Lotus to the race had certainly not gone unnoticed. The sign‐on procedure also had an added bonus, namely my acceptance into the ”Club des Pilotes du Mans”, a very exclusive club with only 2,850 members in its 79‐year life.

Pleasingly the team had had time to get a first set of donor stickers for the Macmillan fund raising on to the back of the car and these too attracted much attention. One older French scrutineer listened intently to my explanation for such an usual set of stickers and then commented that in all his years he’d never seen anything like it and, to this mind, this was the first time individual’s faces had appeared on a car like this!

The cars passed through Scrutineering without issue and were rolled into the square for the first souvenir of the week – the official team photo. Unfortunately the capricious weather had decided to make up its mind and throw it down at this point .. but as you can see, we’re all so excited and happy, no one seems to care!!

A quick interview on the main stage, a final photo call and the cars were packed up and it was back to the circuit for dinner and first reflections on a great start to the week.

Free practice and qualifying

Monday was a rest day – cue more wandering around soaking in the atmosphere and grinning. Tuesday was likewise focused on things other than driving with the official Drivers’ Briefing (and Martin and Oskar playing “spot‐the‐F1‐driver”), team meetings, track walking, an autograph session and plenty of last‐minute fettling with the cars.

By the time Wednesday’s four‐hour free practice session arrived, everyone was chomping at the bit to get going. Our aims for this session were focused on everything but outright pace – get each driver plenty of experience of the track, see how the new cooling system was working, collect fuel usage data and see how the new suspension set‐up felt.

 

 This was all important, of course, but every driver who says he isn’t concerned with, or even looking at, his times is lying. Nonetheless, I had been warned by more experienced drivers that my times would initially be miles off, but that this
was normal and to relax and let the times come with the mileage.

And so it was …
My first set of laps getting into the 4.24 region, versus the pro car at roughly 10 seconds quicker and the class leaders around 4 minutes exactly. Oskar and my new‐for‐Le‐Mans‐but‐has‐competed‐here‐before team mate John Hartshorne also both got plenty of time in the car as it ran without any issues. The car’sgeneral set‐up felt excellent, so it was a question of gently dialing it into the circuit rather than further big step‐changes, to the relief of all!

After a short break, we were straight into the first qualifying session, two hours starting at 10pm. It didn’t get properly dark until around 10.45 so I was strapped in with a fresh set of soft tyres to try and post a quick time before the light failed completely. I was rolled into the pit lane and the team started fuelling the car. Suddenly my engineer yelled at me to get out of the car (in that way that says don’t argue and don’t discuss). I jumped out to find fuel pouring out from under the car?! It transpired that during some tweaking to the cooling system a circlip hadn’t been fully tightened and the fuel could simply escape as it was poured in. Thankfully it didn’t ignite on the pre‐warmed engine (nothing short of a miracle) and a potentially very dangerous incident was avoided.

Nonetheless, the team had to mop up the puddles in the pit lane and thoroughly dry the engine and engine bay before we could try and get the car out again. All of this took a good hour, but at least there was no permanent harm done. Except it was now dark. Properly dark. Hey ho, I was going to have to learn at some point! Regular readers will know I have something of a bizarre penchant for night driving and perhaps unsurprisingly Le Mans is even more magical than other circuits for this!! The car’s headlights were surprisingly good and the circuit is, mostly, moderately well lit from the general surroundings and some well placed flood lighting. The notable exception to this is the very narrow treelined run from Mulsanne to Indianapolis, which is very dark indeed. Naturally, high‐speed LMP1 cars with their stadium‐esque lights just add to the overall fun and confusion. Pleasingly though, despite the added challenges, I was able to focus on the points I’d learnt from the data and improve my times into the low 4.17s. This had the additional benefits of being safely under the minimum qualification barrier time for the car as well as completing my mandatory night laps. Oskar then had time for a decent run, completing his night laps as well, but all too soon the first qualifying session was over.

Thursday held two more qualifying sessions 7‐9pm and 10‐12pm. The plan was to give Oskar and John most of the time in the car as the team were happy with my pace, but to give me one low‐fuel soft‐tyres run to try and improve our qualifying time. I started the session with a couple of laps on old tyres to get my eye in and as I made my way back to the pits was greeted by the worrying sight of our sister car limping back streaming white smoke – a spark plug failure that would curtail any further running. Meanwhile the new boots were bolted on and I headed out determined to pull us closer to the pack .. a first lap of 4.14, then 4.13 despite being baulked by an Audi in the Porsche curves and then a 4.12 having made a mistake entering Tertre Rouge and losing over a second as a result! Nonetheless, a decent time all things considered and both the team and I were happy. The resulting grid position? Well … 56th and last. But on‐the‐back of the‐grid last, rather than miles‐off last. And we would line up directly behind
the sister car, which had qualified just a few seconds quicker. Not too bad for a first effort.

The rest of that session and all of the night run were given to Oskar and John who were both able to make good steps forward with their pace. With our car running well, things were looking good for our planned steady run to the flag in the race.

The Drivers’ Parade

“Enjoy it” said pro racer Allan Simonsen, “For three hours you will feel like a rock star”.

Friday once again sees the drivers away from the track for the famous Drivers’ Parade .. a unique spectacle where all of the race crews are paraded through the town in the back of old open‐top cars for a couple of hours. Everyone had told me how amazing it was – and how right they were! 

Nothing though quite prepares you for the tens upon tens of thousands of people lining the streets, screaming and shouting for autographs and pictures as you slowly drive past. To start with, we all sat slightly bemused in the back of the car, unsure exactly what to do and throwing a few autograph cards out from time to time. By the end, we were all out of the car, making the crowds cheer even louder and signing more autograph books, photos, posters, hats, t‐shirts and body parts than was imaginable. It was utterly crazy and without doubt one of the most memorable
parts of the entire week.

Allan was quite right. And if I wasn’t hooked on Le Mans before, I was now.

Race time!

And so we arrived at Saturday morning and race day. A brief shake down of the car was the first order of the day, checking everything was OK after the cars had been completely rebuilt and bedding in some new pads and discs for the race.

The start procedure is an incredibly long process in itself. The cars are firstly rolled out onto the grid and lined up at an angle along the pit wall.

The official drivers’ photo is taken before numerous anthems are played and the winner’s trophy is presented back by last year’s victorious team.

There is then a reconstruction of the “traditional” Le Mans start where one driver from each team lines up on the opposite side of the track and, at the signal, runs over to the car and waiting team mates. The team had asked me to start in the car, so Oskar had the pleasure of performing this task.

Finally we were strapped in to the cars for a sighting lap, a quick trip to the pits for a fuel top‐up and starting tyres, and one more lap onto the formation grid – a more conventional side‐by‐side line‐up for a rolling start. The minutes really did feel like hours as we sat there, the tension building in front of the packed grandstands. Finally, Les Arrowes Blue shot over trailing red white and blue smoke and we began to move. This was it!!

It’s an impressive sight to see the entire grid rolling in front of you as we completed the formation lap; although, in truth, by the time the 28th row reaches the pit straight and gets moving, the leaders are already long gone!

I didn’t care though and, taking time to take in the view and remember the moment, set off in pursuit of our sister car and my first overtaking scalp of the Ferrari that sat between us. It was a glorious feeling to be charging around at the start of the race, although I was continually conscious of two things – don’t crash so my team mates at least get one stint and don’t be the one to get in the way of the leaders when they inevitably and very quickly come round to lap me for the first time. I am pleased to report that both of these objectives were met. Indeed, as I pitted just past the first hour to hand over to Oskar I was still (just) on the same lap as the class leaders.

My in‐lap coincided with Allan McNish’s rather nasty crash after the Dunlop bridge meaning the first hour of Oskar’s run was behind the safety car. Once this cleared he was able to run a trouble‐free stint before handing over to John for his first run. Once all three drivers had had a turn, the plan was to move onto double stints as we headed into the night. As John was ending his stint – the car pleasingly placed in the high 40s overall by now – he reported that he thought the exhaust had broken and hence the car was rolled into the garage for a checkover before I hopped in. Thankfully it proved to just be a fastening that had worked loose and thus a relatively short and easy fix.

My first 15‐lap stint passed quickly and without incident, our overall position continuing to improve slowly as others fell by the wayside. A quick refuel and I was out again for another 15 laps and the third stint for my tyres, which were holding up incredibly well.

Again the stint ran without incident, until the very end of my in lap. Approaching the final left turn out of the Porsche curves, the two leading Audis shot up behind me from nowhere and shoved their way through on the inside, forcing me wide onto the marbles and rather nasty camber. I was now heading quickly, sideways towards the very large concrete wall on the outside of the bend… I tried to slow enough to drive off the circuit and along the wall, but the rubbish on the track wouldn’t allow it and the back of the car was swinging further out of line. In a desperate last bid, I pitched the car into a spin and, once facing backwards, slammed on the brakes with the aim of sliding parallel along the wall to a halt. It nearly worked. Unfortunately I didn’t get it 100% right and caught the wall – the front left wheel taking the brunt of the impact. The car came to a halt safely off the track, giving me a moment to catch my breath. I had no idea whether it was game over or the car would still move… The engine
restarted – relief! I obviously needed to turn around and the marshals were waving to let me know when it was safe and when to wait – again that suggested a wheel wasn’t hanging off! I got the thumbs up, nailed the throttle and span the car – it went! Huge relief! However, it was clear that the suspension had taken a pounding and the steering wasn’t working correctly. With only a few hundred yards to the pit lane I was able to limp the car slowly and safely into the approach lane, vaguely negotiate the chicane and reach the pit box.

The team set to work and, amazingly, all that was broken were a few pieces of front suspension that could be replaced fairly quickly. Apart from a few scratches to the rather natty paint job, everything else was fine. So whilst this was undoubtedly an unwanted stop, it could have been far, far worse; at least we were still in the running.

Once the car was fixed, Oskar jumped in for his second stint. Unfortunately, as night fell, his safety car curse hit again (for another Audi having an even bigger shunt with another Ferrari) and this time he spent over two hours following it around! Despite a rather numb backside, he maintained his composure and brought the car safely back after an extremely long double stint. John then climbed in for his nighttime double stint and took us safely to the halfway point of the race.

At around 3.30am I sloped back into the garage, bleary‐eyed with a cup of coffee, waking myself up for my next stint. I was very excited – a double night run on fresh soft tyres, with the prospect of running into the dawn on the Mulsanne.

Awesome! And suddenly there were panicked voices on the radio, lots of running around and ten minutes of complete confusion. Followed by those dreaded words – “Sorry guys, we’re out”… What?? How??

It took a very long time to figure everything out, but it transpired that as John had lifted off the throttle approaching the second Mulsanne chicane his rear left wheel flew off pitching him into an enormous spin at around 150mph. He managed not to hit anything, but the spin ripped an  enormous hole in the front left tyre. Lacking either a front or rear left tyre would have enabled John to limp back to the pits, but with both missing he was stranded several miles from the garage and nothing could be done. So that was game over for us…

Reflections

So how to sum it all up? Incredible. Quite simply, one of the most amazing weeks of my life and everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. I’m so
fortunate to have had the opportunity to drive this historic track and be part of such a special event. The drivers’ parade was also an unforgettable experience.

Yes it was disappointing not to finish, but somehow less than would normally be the case and not in a way that detracts from the rest of the experience.

Pleasingly for the team, the #65 sister car managed to keep running without trouble to the flag and finish 22nd overall. Many thought that the team wouldn’t even get to the start line – not only did we achieve that, but got one car half way and one to the finish. A truly stupendous effort of which everyone should be immensely proud.

And I’m also very proud of the £20,000 raised for Macmillan Cancer Support in memory of my dad. Thank you to everyone who donated and contributed in so many different ways. I reckon dad enjoyed hanging on to the back of the car too.

I will quite simply never forget this week and wish to offer enormous thanks to the many people who have helped me over the years and enabled this to happen.
Thank you!!
So will I do it again? If I possibly can, oh yes….