- 4 months ago
see more Racing on :
https://speedworld.sports-classics.stream
https://speedworld.sports-classics.stream
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00:00it's extraordinary to think where this event started and how far it has come but one thing
00:00:11remains the same since 1923 french country roads become one of the world's best race tracks every
00:00:18year the traditional sprint to the car le mans style start may no longer be a part of the event
00:00:28but the same spirit passion and emotion to be the best on this eight and a half mile track for 24
00:00:34hours is still the driving force the view for the drivers remains the same exhilarating the clock
00:00:43still ticks for the same duration the faces names and cars may have changed but the motivation to
00:00:49be etched in le mans history is unparalleled to win the french classic is simply a driver's dream
00:00:58it truly is the driver's dream and there are 15 american drivers hoping to achieve that dream
00:01:11today and they are well represented throughout all four classes here at le mans the countdown
00:01:17continues just a little over five minutes until we go green
00:01:28this is the biggest sports car race in the world this is the most amazing place to be this is a
00:01:32great track i love coming back here i've always enjoyed myself every time i turn up there's such a
00:01:36unique service le mans has always been very special for me le mans is going to bite you if you talk
00:01:40too much so the best way is just to keep dedicated classic sports car racing what america and the
00:01:46rest of the world certainly wants to see is two great names two great rivals going at it head to
00:01:50head it's the greatest race track in the world it's what every sports car driver wants to win
00:01:58welcome back you're watching speed channels live and exclusive coverage of the michelin 24 hours of
00:02:03them all less than three minutes until the trickler is waved and the two pescarolo sport cars see that
00:02:10first and we will get underway now under can they talk us through the final points of circuit de la
00:02:15sar well it's a wonderful old track it's 13.65 kilometers which is 8.531 miles it's changed many
00:02:22times since 1923 it's still designed as an endurance racer fast drive in the country cars come past the pits
00:02:29they get up to about 150 miles an hour going into the dunlop uh chicane then they go down into terp
00:02:34rouge it's about 103 four miles an hour around there down on the mulsanne straight now the fastest they
00:02:40go these days is round about 305 kilometers 190 miles an hour because they've been cut back on the power
00:02:46through the two chicanes down to the mulsanne corner that's fairly slow and then they accelerate all the
00:02:51way down to indianapolis the slowest corner is at arnage 50 miles an hour and then they go through the
00:02:56infield porsche curves and come out past the pits and start another lap carfax track map just showing
00:03:03you what an awesome circuit this is as we take a look at the mobile one starting grid for the 24 hours
00:03:09of le mans and we congratulate pescarolo sport their trio doing an unbelievable job but particularly
00:03:16emmanuel collard he has been brutally fast all weekend in fact the fastest driver here throughout all of the
00:03:22session so a very impressive run as we roll through all 49 cars on the grid dorsey what are these guys
00:03:28going through now less than a couple of minutes until we go well your heart's right up in your
00:03:31throat no question about that you're starting to do you say your little prayer and get yourself ready
00:03:35to do the battle uh everybody's got a different game plan these guys the pescarolos are going to try
00:03:39to take off and really go fast the guys in the audi's behind them well they're on a separate program
00:03:44all together they're not quick enough to push all that much is try to push the uh pescarolo cars so they're just
00:03:49going to get the best they can get out of their car we take a look at the race analysis you're only
00:03:55allowed three drivers per team one driver cannot do any more than 14 hours and these are the estimated
00:04:01pit windows p1 has dropped to around about 13 laps p2 to 15 14 and 16 respectively for gt1 and gt2
00:04:10incidentally the qualifying driver is not necessarily the starting driver and there is the famous trickler
00:04:16it will be waived and we will start the 73rd 24 hours of le mans the car's in sight now
00:04:25this is a fabulous moment and this is my fifth 24 hour personally i have never seen a crowd like this
00:04:32alan dorsey you guys i'll tell you it's huge you can't see it from here because the circuit is eight
00:04:37miles around but there are people like this these scenes that we see are everywhere around the eight
00:04:41miles from just thousands upon thousands of people yeah a lot of folks last time i think it was like this
00:04:46probably uh ferrari ford battle i take six to seven will we see the same battle today jean christophe
00:04:53bouillon is the pole man for pescarolo sport he sees the trickler they prepare they're on to the front
00:05:00straight and the trickler is waived the 2005 michelin 24 hours of le mans is underway
00:05:06and manueli pirou looking mishigami on the inside and they are fighting like it's a sprint race already
00:05:14quite surprised about that i mean that these guys are so aggressive of course the first lap is where
00:05:18you can really improve your position quite a lot they'll need to settle it down though a long way for
00:05:23tomorrow boy rio mishigami was aggressive in the uh dome mugen attacking emmanuelle pirou and he got
00:05:30through he sits third at the moment pirou in for champion outing trying to fight back that's a good
00:05:36thing you know actually when you think about it because you could do with the dome to harass the
00:05:39two pescarolos that takes the pressure off the outings for a few minutes formula one test driver from
00:05:45the frank montani sits in behind emmanuelle pirou there's the first of the corvette c6r's
00:05:51and this fabulous field sorting itself out on the opening lap but it's the two pescarolo judds
00:05:58that lead the way jean-christophe bouillon and sophia layari they carry the weight of france with them
00:06:04right now
00:06:21well i'll tell you one big difference between these open cockpit cars in the front they're
00:06:24getting a nice whip of air in there it's about it's not 90 yet but it's going to be in the 90s
00:06:28the poor old boys in gt1 however those cars are closed cockpit and they get very very hot
00:06:33and all of those drivers very concerned as to whether uh their hydration's up or not
00:06:42on board with sahayla yari has been part of the pescarolo family for many years now
00:06:49and is a fast fast driver this complete french driver lineup in both cars
00:06:57and perfect conditions i mean the heat that's going to really uh pay big consequences in this
00:07:03race race no doubt about it in the moment opening laps everything's perfect
00:07:07let me introduce the drivers at the beginning of this there when those all french teams right there
00:07:11the two first and second the front row were introduced it was absolutely definitely all these
00:07:17people on their feet blowing their horns like they do in europe got me quite excited i'll be honest about
00:07:21you well it was a fabulous build up look at this dome mugen third running third and pulling away from the
00:07:26adt champion audi then it's the french audi for team orica
00:07:33as they settle into a rhythm we go on the 63 copuair corvette c6 with ron fellows
00:07:42watch here you're going to see that these prototype cars have been slowed up so much look at fellows now
00:07:47he's got the hammer down on the big c6 and he's going to get blast right down the straightaway of course
00:07:52when he gets to the far end here the brakes and the happiness of the corvette are going to hinder him
00:07:55a little bit and the prototype car can come right back around which makes it really awkward to race
00:07:59against these type of cars this is the heaviest braking right here in jingenapolis problems for the 36
00:08:06claude yves gosselin for paul valmondo racing the p2 car is still in pit lane meanwhile this young japanese
00:08:14driver who is very fast comes from the japanese gt series the super gt and the dome mugen has got a
00:08:24lot of people talking this weekend but cannot last the distance it's been fast but endurance reliability
00:08:29is a whole different game and listen to the french crowd now with the first lap complete and it's an all
00:08:37french lineup in the first two cars listen to the roar their boys are out in front
00:08:52and then welly pirro has caught some ground back on rio mishigami and there is the team orica
00:08:58playstation audi r8 and what a lineup in that car the four of frank montani
00:09:05john mark gunon and stefan or telly a superb lineup a car's got problems there someone was slowing
00:09:13dramatically within the top five and it could even be the dome the dome mugen it is well you talked
00:09:20about the uh the reliability of that new dome and that was very very quick but already some some
00:09:27difficulties the way it looks well you see it may have though it was the belmondo car coming out my
00:09:34apologies it was the belmondo car for claude yves gosselin coming back out still rio mishigami is
00:09:40there but he's fending off a very determined adt champion audi and emanueli pirro is putting the
00:09:44pressure on meanwhile bourgol is still your race leader watch right here is go through the s curves
00:09:50these curves they're unlike in the united states you could drive up on these curves and not really
00:09:55launch the car off of them they're not quite as abrupt as what we're used to back in the united states
00:09:58and less rumble too actually don't see which makes it even more comfortable you see what's happening
00:10:04here you see these pesquerellas are getting away now that mood you may be holding her up slightly i
00:10:08don't know but i wouldn't i wouldn't be surprised because pira hasn't got enough grunt to get by it
00:10:13that of course is the problem with the audi with their less restrictor that they put a smaller
00:10:17restrictor and the added weight they're really complaining about not so much that they can't run with
00:10:21the other lmp1 cars but they can't even run with the gt1 or the gt2 cars it's very difficult for these
00:10:26guys in the audis to make passes safely and he's got a pedal for field back again he's on an 80 litre
00:10:32field bag in there look at the margin that these two pescarolo jads have already over the third place rio
00:10:39mishigami mishigami doing a really good job with that car it's been quick all weekend long and really
00:10:47we haven't had much trouble with that there is piro there is great crank montani the renault f1 test
00:10:54driver will he have the patience he's done this event several times before but will he have the
00:10:59patience not to make a mistake it's not all about speed here it's about endurance and driving with
00:11:04your brain that's for sure cal what do you have for us well patience and strategy is going to be the
00:11:10key for these audi teams today and i just checked in with the champion boys on what they went with before
00:11:15the off they in fact made a tire compound change because of these extreme conditions we're seeing
00:11:20here today ambient temps up into the mid 90s they've gone with a hot weather michelin tire they expected
00:11:25to make the start on the medium they've gone with the heart effectively they have four tires they'll use
00:11:29today monsters afternoon go to the mediums in the early evening then they have two choices of soft
00:11:34tires for the very cool air in the night and the number they're looking for on the dash today is six
00:11:39liters of fuel per lap if the driver is using more than six liters of fuel per lap they will not be
00:11:45able to get 13 laps on a tank of fuel 80 liters only this year so that's what they've asked their guys to
00:11:50do they have a reader on the dash every time they come past the straight and if it's under six they're
00:11:55good to go 13 laps it's going to be a key to victory let's go down to brian well calvin i checked in on
00:12:00fuel mileage as well with pescarolo sport they think that they can only get 12 miles or 12 laps i should say
00:12:0613 laps they think is going to be near impossible and obviously fuel very important around this very
00:12:10long le mans circuit how important is it you work really hard all week long to prepare for this race
00:12:15and as embarrassing as it may be jan lamers just came in and is racing for holland dome they had
00:12:21forgotten to fuel the car he only got one lap out of it they had to come in on the first lap to fill up
00:12:25the fuel so the mileage for those guys not very good right now and certainly embarrassing for the guys
00:12:30for racing from holland can you believe that boy with all the week long the preparation everything
00:12:35has been going on they forget to put fuel in the car that is just inexcusable well you remember a
00:12:42couple of years ago with frank bieler when he was racing for the audi uk team and he literally ran out
00:12:49of fuel now the ray malik car the p2 car is already in the 25 machine pulling into pit lane surely
00:12:57problems it's far too early to come in for anything else as you take a look at the 59 aston martin saw the
00:13:03aston martin using the curbs like i told you before you can drive right up on them here they're
00:13:07just a little incline and alan you said the bump the bump scripts are really upset the car they're
00:13:11not near as harsh here no they're not as severe at all and i'll tell you something interesting those
00:13:16aston martins have aluminum bodies now that conducts heat a lot better than fiberglass which the corvettes
00:13:21have and i happen to know that the corvettes also have a little bit of an air conditioning system
00:13:26as cold air comes into that corvette and it gets uh it gets uh made colder and then it gets put
00:13:32around the seat and up into the driver's helmet uh calder what have you got for us well the number 25
00:13:37car has come in for an unscheduled stop as thomas stood us behind the wheel he radioed into the team
00:13:43extremely high engine temperatures they've topped him up with fuel then they've tried to replenish the
00:13:48water system here there's a little inlet on the side pod they'll send him back out but i think this
00:13:52is going to be the story of the day extremely high temperatures going to play their toll on the cars
00:13:58and the drivers and that's devastating for that team they did six seven thousand kilometers in testing
00:14:04at magni core and various other circuits and they were quite high on their chances here in lmp2
00:14:11as we said at the top of the show it's the class that no one wants to win but it's a
00:14:15tougher class it'll just be the car that clinches the gt1 one class we'll find out
00:14:27coming up after our first stint here from the michelin 24 hours of le mans it is formula one
00:14:32practice of course it's us formula one grom free time and practice is coming up next right here
00:14:39exclusive to speed all the action from the brickyard with formula one's best at the moment we have got
00:14:46jean-christophe bouillon leading the race from sohail ayari and rio michigami the first american team is
00:14:53of course the adt champion Audi team with emmanuelle piro at the wheel he sits fourth at the moment in the
00:14:59le mans prototype one class
00:15:04and they are setting a cracking pace they being the pescarolo sport judds beautiful looking cars
00:15:10alan aren't they and they are whistling away yeah they look great and i tell you they're built
00:15:15beautifully i should drive for this team and it's a lot of good french aerospace technology in there
00:15:20and their aerodynamicist is also second to none so if the judd engine can hang out and they can last
00:15:27then hey we could get a great french result who knows you may remember those magnificent toyota
00:15:32gt1s that raced here back in the late 90s with an incredible driver lineup andre uh dicotans who
00:15:40designed that car who also designed the uh toyota mule car that first housed the formula one engine when
00:15:46alan mcnish and mick asalo were the test drivers well andre dicotans is the man behind this car as
00:15:51well of course it started out as a garage chassis but he made the necessary adjustments and amendments
00:15:57and works very closely with henry pescarolo and this could be his best chance the le mans legend his
00:16:04best opportunity to win the race that's in his backyard one of the best points to watch on this circuit as
00:16:23they blast out of arnage and up towards the porsche curves
00:16:34at the moment in lmp2 it is the intersport team of sam hancock and liz halliday who lead the way
00:16:45and also gregor fisken and then the miracle miracle motorsports team of john macaluso
00:16:50andy lally ian james the reigning alms p2 champion doing very well in their class at the moment also
00:17:00brian you've got more about miracle
00:17:03well lee i just checked in with them and asked him how things were going and they said well you
00:17:06just saw the pole sitter in lmp2 come to pit road we have backed way way off our game plan is going to
00:17:13be what we think is a very smart one and that's run a pace we're not going to get caught up in the
00:17:17excitement of the moment we're going to run a pace a very conservative pace make it through the night
00:17:21see what we can do tomorrow but they're concerned about the high temperatures down here they want
00:17:25to make sure that they've got a car that'll get to the checkered flag and they think that by running
00:17:29that conservative pace they stand a much better chance to watch the other competitors fall by the
00:17:34wayside one of the things one of the keys to uh success at any endurance racing is knowing your car
00:17:41knowing its weaknesses knowing its strong points and adjusting your strategy to compensate for
00:17:46whatever that uh weakness or that strong point might be that's what these guys are talking about
00:17:50every team will have a different strategy and you need to know your machinery inside and out
00:17:55i can update you in gt2 the painos esperante with californian bill orbelin is leading that class
00:18:02ahead of the alex joe bracing bam the combination between the two american teams mike rockenfeller at the
00:18:08wheel he sits second so great for the lms teams particularly for team painos they lead the way
00:18:13with orbelin doing a wonderful job but there is nothing between those two cars at the moment
00:18:24you know these guys are really setting a pace up the front end of this here they're turning like
00:18:28338 339s i mean that is at least a couple of seconds quicker than i thought they would go
00:18:33and looking at the cockpit shots too you can see the drivers are actually working pretty hard when
00:18:37they go into those tight turns they're getting the opposite lock on there i mean they're not
00:18:40hanging around these guys they want to build up a nice big old lead i think that's their game plan
00:18:44and then maybe back off if they get it that'll be that'll be the interesting thing when we see
00:18:48world rally champion sebastian lowe behind the wheel if the morning warm-up was anything to go by
00:18:53he had that thing hanging out he had it sideways quite a bit which is obviously what he's used to
00:18:58in his citroen world rally car but that uh could have negative effects on the life of the tires
00:19:03in his prototype we'll see how he fares make no mistake about it but this can run into a fuel
00:19:09mileage situation uh the heart of these guys run out front one more of one less lap i should say
00:19:14of fuel if they can only do 11 laps i'll say 12 laps the audi can do maybe 12 or 13 laps it's going to
00:19:20play out over these 24 hours yeah that's exactly right door see we won't know that until the first hour
00:19:25of series up and then we can see how many laps the guys get per fuel stop and that's really where the
00:19:31strategies will get worked on i think you ride with ron fellows who currently sits fifth in class
00:19:41the second of the works corvettes and at about this stage last year ron made a very uncharacteristic
00:19:48error and ran wider darnage and slammed the car into the tire barrier so far so good ron's in a very
00:19:55positive mood this weekend this car had a hiccup in qualifying there were some suspension issues
00:20:01that caused johnny o'connell to run wide fortunately the car wasn't damaged too badly nor was johnny
00:20:06and they're feeling confident but they know that they have a big challenge on their hands not only
00:20:10with the sister 64 car of ollie gavin olivia barretta and jan magnuson but those two monstering aston martin
00:20:17db r9s ron fellows of course a long time teammate of mine one of my best racing friends i should say
00:20:23i have huge respect for the man last year the mistakes that he made were devastating to him i mean
00:20:29he he takes this racing so seriously i mean it just just broke his heart literally broke his heart the
00:20:34trouble he had and it's so uncharacteristic because uh ron the consummate professional you know uh he's done
00:20:41such a great job for chevrolet over the years he's run with these guys for so long and uh you know god
00:20:45bless him i'll be you know he has a life with this company after his racing day is over and up
00:20:51ahead is christoph boucher in the 550 marinello ferrari he gets by the belmondo p2 entry and there
00:20:58is fourth place in class up ahead that fellows is chasing down the man who won this event overall
00:21:03in 1993 here comes ron now closing the gap on christoph boucher does the corvette have enough to get by
00:21:09the ferrari in a straight line isn't that big seven liter bumper in there just really shakes the ground
00:21:15we were out on the corner there tonight alan you said you know we're just sitting there on the
00:21:18ground and the whole ground shakes from everything yeah it's a big old lump isn't it do you see the
00:21:22way that he got fellows got on the brakes there by the way to outbreak a p2 car they're on car for
00:21:28brakes and uh that was a pretty good effort i thought this is a great run from fellows he's reeling boucher in
00:21:35talking to the ron ron and the boys at corvette they see one of the strong points on the car
00:21:40is its massive carbon fiber brakes it really really does really a great job in the brake zone
00:21:46and if you're out breaking something lighter than you that's showing a lot
00:21:51vushu sits center of the road making life difficult for ron fellows but as you said doors the strength of
00:21:58this car the mighty c6r into the corner mid corner and the exit of the corner it thunders out
00:22:03but this 550 marinello up ahead is making life difficult for the canadian it's the two aston martins
00:22:11one and two darren turner leads cox third in class is ollie gavin then it's christophe boucher the blue
00:22:19ferrari you can see right there ahead of ron fellows i think what will happen here is lee that ron will
00:22:24wait until he gets up past the dunlop bridge and then he'll go right up the back of that uh ferrari going
00:22:30into turt rouge and then we'll have a good old drag match down the straight to the first chicane
00:22:34one of the nice things about this red long long racetrack is you can sit behind like ron is right
00:22:39now and analyze where your weakness is or where your your opponent's weaknesses and set up the next lap
00:22:44and like you say ellen just pounce where it's good it's easy to enjoy the victory the spoils of victory
00:22:51but ron fellows knows what it's like not to win this event and it hurts they want to rectify that this year
00:22:57as we take a look at our four respective classes they're your top three in p1 and p2 and american
00:23:05liz halliday sharing the car with sam hancock and gregor fisken they lead p2
00:23:10orblin still leads gt2 and it's the aston martin leading gt1
00:23:15we are in a fabulous region of france and on regular days or at least 364 anyway these are
00:23:31normal roads and then for each and every running of the michelin 24 hours of le mans guard rails
00:23:37erected and the roads are eventually closed because this place becomes a race track one of the finest
00:23:44in the world circuit de la salle has hosted the best drivers in the world and normally it just hosts
00:23:52the residents welcome back everyone you rejoin us live and exclusive coverage here on speed and this
00:24:02is in the front of the gt1 field and i can tell you that the corvette is reeling the aston martin and
00:24:07george howard chapel the principal of aston martin racing the man worked with his car with the pro
00:24:13drive group that built and developed it he's got some concerns he knows the corvette is closing in
00:24:21there's been questions all weekend long is the corvette showing all it has this new c6r
00:24:26it was of course out qualified and everybody's been saying are they playing the cat and mouse game or not
00:24:31that's yet to be seen but it is closing we saw one of the p2 cars come into pit lane earlier it was the
00:24:37right malik limited lola calvin has more on that pit stop earlier lee with an overheating problem here
00:24:44with one of the co-drivers englishman warren hughes warren what is the problem with the car now um in
00:24:49addition to having some overheating problems it looks like we've got a gearbox problem so um we've got a
00:24:56we've got an option of switching between the paddle shift and the manual shift and neither neither seem to
00:25:01be uh he's not able to select gears with either system regarded as one of the favorites coming
00:25:06in here in the past this lmp2 class has really been the last man standing are you surprised with
00:25:11the way the car's been running to see problems this early absolutely i mean we we felt as confident
00:25:18as we could be we felt extremely well prepared we haven't had a slightest uh mechanical issue with
00:25:24the car you know on the test or throughout the race weekend we tried the new engine the new gearbox
00:25:29on thursday and on there and in the morning warm-up without the slightest problem it's just bizarre
00:25:36well the team is a great team they're going to work hard on the back end there hopefully they can
00:25:39get this car out warren of course had experience with mg with the car back in 01.02 he's hoping to
00:25:44see some more work today lee yeah warren hughes won the star 1000 in class in gt2 actually in a tuscan tbr
00:25:52but uh it's unlikely he'll experience that willing winning feeling again but such a long way to go
00:25:58big news here for aston martin that's why we're seeing them on screen courtesy of the host
00:26:03broadcaster vcf because we hear darren turner will receive a stop go penalty at this point in time
00:26:11we're unsure as to why and that is for the class leading car that will be an interesting call a stop
00:26:16and go penalty after the race has run this long uh we'll have to see what that is of course it takes a
00:26:21lot of time to slow these cars down get to the 60 kilometer or 37 mile per hour speed limit which
00:26:27is what the pit lane speed limit is and then re-accelerate back to speed again he's going to go way down
00:26:32the grid well carl's just had a quick word off mike to george howard chapel the team principal and
00:26:37he said i know nothing of a stop go penalty i have no idea what it would be for if is in fact true
00:26:43turner is setting a blistering pace though he has left the sister car with peter cox behind
00:26:48and peter cox falling into the clutches of ollie gavin
00:26:58and he does not come into pit lane there is the answer for that time by we'll keep an eye on the
00:27:02flag stand will darren turner receive a penalty will he get a stop go he's got four laps to uh bring that
00:27:09car to the marshall after he receives a penalty we'll have to watch
00:27:20just trying to do some liberating there with the aston martin guys we're back on board with
00:27:24sahaya liyari overall the second place car but there's a handy 5.3 second margin between
00:27:31the sister cars within the pescarolo sport team you're watching the le mans 24 hours live here on speed
00:27:44but another big talking point is the return of a very famous mark to lasaf and that is the british
00:27:50manufacturer aston martin can they win or they won overall with the brit roy salvadori and american carol
00:27:57shelby back in 59 and hence the reason that brabham's car turner and sarazen run the 59 they were able to
00:28:08be victorious at the 12 hours of sebring on debut and boy have they been fast here at lasaf
00:28:15coming up a little later today right here on speed it is the nascar craftsman truck series from michigan
00:28:26we've got live coverage and that is from 3 p.m eastern it has been one heck of a season and it's
00:28:32not even halfway through three eastern this afternoon live trucks from michigan and a former truck race
00:28:40winner himself ron fellows we're on board live with the works corvette and we welcome you back lee
00:28:46diffie along with dorsey schrader alan de cadenet calvin fish and brian till and there is the stop and
00:28:52go we were speculating darren turner class leader in gt1 for aston martin racing serves that stop and go
00:29:01and now we'll have to play catch up that means the sister car the 58 dbr9 with peter cox at the helm
00:29:09inherits the class lead and notice that they didn't feel the car nor did they do a pit stop although
00:29:13we know one's eminent uh they just did their penalty and and goes through the pits and got to stop and
00:29:19go so not in the window they're looking for yet
00:29:27so catch-up time for darren turner that's got to be frustrating alan yeah it actually is the worst thing
00:29:36can happen at the beginning of a race fish you get really hot and bothered you get into the groove
00:29:39of it and then suddenly going you've got this stop and go penalty now we haven't been told what that's
00:29:44for have we no not yet not as yet and when calvin was talking to the team just before we went to the
00:29:49commercial break they had no idea as to why they would receive a stop and go cal you got an update on
00:29:55that we're down here with grabs and uh dave we understand there was a problem with a 59 car
00:30:00potentially darren had shortcut the course somewhere is there well i'm not sure whether it's a cone or he
00:30:08went across the the white lines but he's obviously got to stop and go darren says he didn't but you
00:30:14know unfortunately he's had to do it certainly a great battle shaping up here today between you and
00:30:19the corvette boys i mean as an australian it must be really special you've driven for jack here you've
00:30:23been for bentley and now with asinus an amazing car you're driving today um i can't tell you how
00:30:29it feels i tell you it's really really good to be here with this program and the other programs i've
00:30:35been involved in but coming here to this famous race it's uh it's a special experience and it's early
00:30:40early days i mean we're not getting too panicky about uh the result he is a big factor particularly
00:30:46in the gt1 car with a front engine that generates so much cockpit temperature for the drivers
00:30:50what is the strategy from the get-go are you guys going to be double standing or are you going to
00:30:54single spin initially what are you going to try and do today yeah for sure it's very hot in the
00:30:59car it's very hot out here i think it's record temperatures for some time but uh we're just going
00:31:04to see how we feel we'll either be doing single or double depending on how the driver feels at the time
00:31:10okay the same story down at corvette i checked in with johnny o'connell they said the same thing as
00:31:14the call by the driver how they're feeling ideally double because they should be double spinning the tires lee
00:31:20they should be able to do 12. they said no no problems just routine fuel and cleaning the wind
00:31:40screen the little lip in front of the driver's compartment doesn't have a real big wind screen on
00:31:44it but it does deflect the air over the top of it they said it's very routine i think you're right
00:31:48dorsey they do short field in the beginning trying to run light so they could get away brian i think
00:31:52i can tell you something i think those boys will lie to you i don't think they'll tell you the truth
00:31:57look at the speed difference there huge draft from the pescaro sport and it just blew by jj leto
00:32:05he didn't even have to really in your volume he didn't even really have to draft at all all he did
00:32:09was just put him in his gun sights and just pull the triggers oh yeah that's right i mean there's a lot
00:32:13more power there but we know that poor old audi's 100 horsepower down and of course it's got a 50
00:32:18kilograms uh that's what 125 pounds of extra weight it's got to carry that's like having a skinny
00:32:24passenger yeah absolutely and you know the audi guys aren't complaining about racing with the uh lmp1
00:32:29cars necessarily as much as they say it's extremely difficult to run around a gt1 car which is quicker
00:32:33in a straight line and even the gt2 porsches give them a fit and so they have to do these demonic uh
00:32:40demonic outbraking maneuvers and uh that puts you in jeopardy well it is they're guiding those
00:32:44audis like they're in a kind of you know grand prix basically and that's the only alternative they've
00:32:49got if they're to try and stay in contention but just as prabham said it's early days yet and i tell
00:32:55you this heat is going to play a really big part of this whole race seven o'clock last night i went
00:33:00out i sat outside it was too darn hot to sit outside at seven o'clock at night so we've still got another
00:33:05at least two and a half hours of hot weather before the cool night air comes in we'll see
00:33:10so much action in the pit lane over the next 23 and a half hours here are some of the rules that they
00:33:16must abide by 37 mile an hour pit lane speed limit and you can read the rest now that prohibited from
00:33:24changing chassis cylinder block and main gearbox that really negates what we've seen audi do in the past
00:33:30which is when they had a gear bag problem they pulled the whole back of the car off as one unit and
00:33:34replace it with another that rule was devised to put that in the in the rest they can no longer
00:33:40do that well if you do you remember that it was like three and a half minutes to take the whole
00:33:43back end off the car gearbox and all and change it that was a renal yo speciality it was they they
00:33:49nixed it because it really gave them an unfair advantage i suppose no more of that business boys
00:33:54as a result of jean-cristophe bouillon pitting in the 16 pescarolo rio michigami inherits the race lead
00:34:01in p2 it's britain sam hancock who is liz halliday's teammate leads the p2 class in gt1 it's peter cox
00:34:09and in gt2 it's america's bill orblin in the painos esperante who leads the way over german mike
00:34:15rockenfeller in the alex joe bam porsche now wouldn't that be something if that mugen dome
00:34:20could pull this one off i mean nobody really knows much about that car we don't know about
00:34:24its reliability is true we know it's quick calvin well doors of course we have three
00:34:30audi's in the field today and in fact two the two champion teams are in fact working with the number
00:34:35four car from orca right now we're going to see jj later making a pit stop here all three of those
00:34:40cars are pitted together here in pit lane so they're trying to work together the three cars in terms of
00:34:44staggering the pit stops so they're not falling over each other when they come down pit lane just checked in
00:34:50with brad keller the crew chief on the car said no problems whatsoever they're on the hot weather
00:34:54michelin tire said they're just coming in the car feels fantastic jj is very happy with the balance
00:34:59let's go down to brian down here the mugen is in calvin routine stop down here the driver sitting in the
00:35:05car making a motion that it's very warm now talking on the radio to his crew but a routine stop it'll be
00:35:11fuel only i don't even think they're going to do tires it'll be a double stint
00:35:14and jj is in his pit box right now he's taking some cool refreshment there they've got to keep
00:35:22these guys hydrated obviously with the open cockpit cars that's a lot easier than the gt1 and gt2 boys
00:35:28if i spoke to jj after the warm-up this morning he said it is hot you feel it certainly not to the
00:35:33same degree as the close cockpit but even in the audi he's going to be having his workout out
00:35:38michelin tire guys say okay on tires sends him on his way a good clean start for the champion boys let's
00:35:42go back to brian calvin a problem down here for the mugen for the dome it's a problem they're over
00:35:48in the right side pod working on some of the electrics over in the right hand side of the car
00:35:53the engine bonnet is off it's going to be a long stop down here that's what mishigami must have been
00:35:57motioning about the engine must be hot that must have been what he was motioning about to the crew
00:36:02but anyway you look at it changing the electronics it's going to be very painful for these guys a long
00:36:06stop now one of the rules is that you have to be able to restart the car under its own power when you
00:36:11come in you have to shut it off and it has to start under its own power now when these mechanics
00:36:15are working on it as they are right now they are not allowed to start the car only the driver can
00:36:20start the vehicle yeah that's absolutely right incidentally that jj leto audi that is chassis 605
00:36:27i found out it's the last r8 ever built it's a brand brand new car this is its first ever race and
00:36:34this is farewell to the magnificent audi r8 of course they will have a new program coming up but dr wolfgang
00:36:40ulrich was a little tight-lipped at the press conference yesterday he did admit they have a
00:36:44new program coming but wouldn't reveal exactly what it is we lead you through our top three in all four
00:36:50of our respective classes emmanuelle pirro has inherited the lead after the top three came in
00:36:56for their first round of stops and you can see in the background that the dome mugen is still in this
00:37:02is an extended stop this will cost them you're watching the 73rd running of the michelin 24 hours
00:37:12of le mans welcome back to circuit de la salle everyone first round of pit stops underway and these
00:37:19two cars have just performed theirs emmanuelle pirro frank montany and the team orica r8 so they've
00:37:28performed their first stop coming in a little earlier than expected as we now go down to the
00:37:33painos pit and a great start from bill orbelin in the 77 who led this class for the majority of the
00:37:39first in brian lee actually right now it's the 78 car brian seller started that machine he has gotten out
00:37:46marino franchitti will take over the wheel and the folks at home they may think it's early to do a
00:37:50driver change but remember this panos with that five liter elan engine up front a lot of heat for these
00:37:56guys the car very very warm so these guys are going to take the chance right now or take the
00:38:01opportunity i should say fuel tires and a new driver well for the folks at home that saw that helmet the
00:38:06guy putting the uh the other driver in the helmet had a big old red square on the back of it and what
00:38:11that was a small rubber they're using that as a way of spacing the driver's head off with a headrest
00:38:16brian sellers the shortest by far of those three they can get a seat insert put his body where it needs
00:38:21beat but then his head so far from the back that's a shock absorber for his help helmet yeah it all
00:38:26helps i mean uh this is a real wear of the body this race as you know too well i mean your poor old
00:38:32head they did that with a nasty headache if you got vibrations gt1 cars coming in as well the 59 of
00:38:40darren turner the 63 of ron fellows pressure on the teams they're busy aren't they guys i mean look
00:38:48it's like it's kind of uh shopping mall down there these cars coming in for fuel here's the deal alan
00:38:52we always figured the fuel winter 12 13 laps well these guys coming in 10 and you and i were talking
00:38:56about it break why they're doing it is because it's a safety measure this is the first time they've
00:39:01run today in the heat it's a much hotter day than it's been the last couple and you you brought the
00:39:05point up they don't get very good mileage when it's this hot like this and these guys are just
00:39:08checking that's right and the worst thing of all of us is if you get fuel vaporization in the heat
00:39:13and you get fuel injection systems you just don't want to work properly now calvin what do you
00:39:17go first
00:39:20i don't know if cows here oh he's not there okay guys and uh youke nishanak is the owner you talk
00:39:27about your return to le mans you've had so much success here with gts victories and part of the
00:39:31mazda win back in 91 what does it mean to you to return to lasar with the audi team yes you know
00:39:38that uh it's a story of love with the mo and i know i need and i want absolutely to be successful
00:39:45at the overhaul classification i think the best car in long distance car and at least the most reliable
00:39:52car in the audi and for me it's important to try to put three french drivers on the first the highest
00:40:00level of the of the race which means the victory it would be a very tough race because the weather
00:40:06conditions are terrible is so hot so i think we have to be really careful during the first half
00:40:14of the race just to be careful with the fuel just to be careful with the tires and after we have to
00:40:21be ready for the last 12 hours it could be a hand of weight like a grand prix race you come back in a
00:40:28year when the r8 has been severely handicapped you spoke before the race about there has to be zero
00:40:34mistakes no mistakes to win the race today yes i think it's very important that to be to try to
00:40:40be successful to that race that the driver are not doing any mistakes and in the pits we have to also
00:40:47to be perfect so it's important that never this car has to go in the pits never in the garage
00:40:53just fuel and tire just food and tires well this man knows what it takes lee he's won before here
00:40:59it's uh well future shawnak making the comment there that the drivers must not make any errors
00:41:05and you have to treat the pits like a formula one race take a look at this because there was pressure
00:41:09on the number four audi because look to the right of your screen jonathan cochet in the garage he goes
00:41:16by there it goes and look at this the audi adt member almost got ran over by frank montany and then
00:41:22we have another shot did montany cut the blend line look to the right of your screen here watch the pass
00:41:27sure he cut the blend line he got right around this car in front of him and you saw the dotted white
00:41:31lines you're not supposed to intersect the racing circuit until you're past dotted white lines yeah
00:41:36that that rule only applies to the non-french teams i think that could be right too incidentally that
00:41:41used to show that car that's the r8 number four that chassis 603 is the car that won sebring in 2004
00:41:49just so any historians watching might like to put that in that little book look at this pressure's on in the
00:41:54pits here 64 is in ollie gavin right on the bumper of peter cox and ollie has been hauling him reeling
00:42:01him in and this has been the battle at the front of the gt1 class calvin well ollie gavin brings the
00:42:07car in of course he's the defending champion along with olivier beretta and jan magnus and in the 64
00:42:12machine this team has been really working hard on their pit stop they've improved the fuel flow in this
00:42:17car it should be around 27 seconds for the 100 liters of fuel going into this gt1 car and when we see a
00:42:23tire change today boy have they really refined that they've cut about two to three seconds off
00:42:27their tire changes since the early events in the alms season so this should be fuel only for ollie
00:42:32gavin they should be sending him underway but the real battle will be on the pits today it's going
00:42:35to be a great battle here between aston martin and chevy watch this watch this who beats him out he gets
00:42:40him ollie gavin passes peter cox in pit lane good job boys i tell you what that was only by not even a
00:42:47second that he got it but the exchange for the lead done on pit road and that's going to go on like this
00:42:51if you have it right for the rest of the 24. well because the teams have been here for several
00:42:55weeks since the pre-test the corvette boys and the aston martin boys not only race each other
00:43:00on the track with their respective cars but they went and had a go-kart challenge down the road
00:43:05recently and guess what the big old boys from corvette beat them they worked quite hard at this
00:43:10they watched each other they critique each other the two teams critique and they have picked up
00:43:16some three seconds on an average pit stop you see it right there they've just taken the lead with
00:43:20it that's right that fear told me that he thought that his pit stops would really help them if they
00:43:25were a little slow on the straight but what's great you know really for the corvettes is that since the
00:43:29june the fifth test here they've definitely built up some more straight line speed so they've done all
00:43:34that work right here in the south they didn't have any big factory to go back to of course the revised
00:43:38order up front is jean-christophe bouillon your race leader from sahayla yari it's still the two pescarolo
00:43:45sports but to the adt champion audi is third the hands of emmanuelle pierrot we'll be back
00:43:57welcome back to the law 24 hour here at circuit de la salle we are into the groove now first round
00:44:03of pit stops are underway and a guy who's pleased to see his first pit stop is with our brian till
00:44:09a lot of attention down here for brian sellers not only because he was going fast in the car but
00:44:14obviously very hot brian when you got out you came in here you're getting some medical attention
00:44:18first of all you're okay yeah i'm fine it's extremely hot i mean it's unfortunate i had to
00:44:23short stand on the first one because like you said the pace was good we're running fourth and
00:44:28now we're a little off strategy but i guess the 24 hours it might not hurt us that bad
00:44:33the heat in the car obviously a front engine car it's blowing a lot of heat back into the cockpit you guys
00:44:38not running cool suits we don't have cool suits we have a helmet blower but uh it doesn't seem to be
00:44:44working that well at the moment like i tried turning it up turning it down turning it off and
00:44:49it really seemed to make no difference we also have a vent in the side but it's the it's as hot
00:44:53as it's been and uh it's blowing warm air from all the other cars and from our brakes so there's really
00:44:59not much cooling well this is going to be a long 24 hours for these guys in the painos cars
00:45:04especially if it stays this hot guys well alan you know you and i both carried the scars of a car
00:45:09that was not insulated properly as this one apparently is now we're talking about heat on
00:45:13his feet and so forth uh you've got uh you've got a couple toes that don't work right yeah that's right
00:45:181976 it was blisteringly hot here at least as hot as it is today and our brake pedal was just on fire
00:45:24and you you knew at the end of the straight you had to pounce on the brake pedal and i lost the nerve on
00:45:29my two inside toes my co-driver chris craft was in such agony they had to give him a morphine shot
00:45:35into his leg in those days they didn't realize that might make you feel a bit good he actually set
00:45:39the fastest lamp after he had that shot but these guys this is very early in the race but they're
00:45:44going to suffer and if they can get through the night of course when it gets cooler they've got all
00:45:49this to look forward to again tomorrow you're looking at the battle for third between emmanuelle
00:45:54pirou frank montany there is quite a substantial margin to the race leaders bullion has 12 seconds
00:46:00over the teammate ayari and then there is almost a full minute back to emmanuelle pirou brian now the
00:46:0777 painos is in for their stop brian bill auberlin who led the gt class early on has gotten out robin
00:46:13liddell will take over fuel and new pirelli tires down here for the painos guys but auberlin straight
00:46:18back to the back to the driver's lounge to get cooled off we'll have to check in with him and see how hot
00:46:23his stint was maybe the blower working a little bit better in the 77 car but we'll have to find
00:46:27out either way these painos cars are hot not only in their performance guys but obviously in the
00:46:32temperatures inside the cockpit and robin liddell the scotsman boys he got a good racing season
00:46:38going this year he's driving about everything there is these floorboards and these transmission
00:46:42tunnels that come back out of these big v8 cars get blistering high i'm talking really blistering
00:46:46because it just does your skin sides of your legs where you sit down your feet and that's what
00:46:51these guys are going to have to endure now for 24 hours we can hardly be surprised when you think
00:46:54about it dorsey you've got that monster lump up the front there it's a huge heat pump is what it is of
00:46:59course and every time you back off all that cold air goes over the exhaust and a lot of it can get
00:47:04inside the cockpit gt let's talk gt one class for a moment and brilliant work in the pits by factory
00:47:11team corvette has allowed oliver gavin to now lead that class his teammates with cal
00:47:16olivier beretta tries to cool off here in the pit box while his teammate does work out on the racetrack
00:47:22olivier it looks like a fascinating battle today between you and the aston martins and we saw in
00:47:27round one of the pit stop your boys have certainly done the homework a great stop there jump the car
00:47:32ahead yeah you're right i mean this covet racing is a unbelievable team i mean they fight everything
00:47:39every single second that we can gain they gain they are a great guy and they have a fantastic job
00:47:46last year too on the pit stop strategy so it looks the car very quick on the track i think we are all
00:47:53motivated to keep the trophy at home and thanks to chevy and all the corvette racing in us who watch the
00:47:59race for the work that they have done also there i know when you unloaded the car off the transporter at
00:48:04the test the car was not good it was a little bit of a handful and you haven't really had a lot of
00:48:09time to work on the setup the car are you happy with the balance now the race has started yes i mean
00:48:15the test the previous test two weeks ago was just to try different things on the car and we have one
00:48:21week off where all the engineer looks and sync and they came back with good solution and now we are p1
00:48:28and the car looks quick so wait and see your old boss hugo is running the r8 this weekend did he give
00:48:36you a call see if you could get out of your contract here and drive for him again well i'm very happy
00:48:41where i am i mean the covet racing give me the opportunity to join the family and i will stay there
00:48:49of course oreca is my whole family i have won a lot of race a lot of championships but they give me the
00:48:55opportunity and i'm very proud to be a covet racing man okay well he's had three class victories here
00:49:01before he's looking for his fourth this year lee the man from monaco isn't he a lovely guy
00:49:06and a terrific racer and his teammate ollie gavin leads the gt1 class so the astons may not be as
00:49:14dominant as we initially thought but it is very early days 15 laps gone already in the 73rd running
00:49:21of the michelin 24 hours of le mans we ride with sahayla yari who sits second bouillon leads the way
00:49:28and they have been the quickest car all weekend the english trio on the courage judd for cruise
00:49:36racing leads the p2 category and in p and gt2 it's the alex joe bam combination
00:49:55this event is all about time and there is plenty still to run welcome back everyone live to the
00:50:23michelin 24 hours of le mans first hour down and they got into a rhythm very quickly
00:50:33on the star the pescarolo twins got away rio michigami made a very dynamic move
00:50:38on the inside of emmanuelle pero but in the pescarolo pair just scrambled away concerns early
00:50:44concerns for george howard chapel and aston martin racing class leader darren turner allegedly cut the
00:50:50course somewhere and received a stop stop go penalty race leader jean-christophe bouillon in the 16th he
00:50:57pitted on lap nine on schedule and continues to lead this race to the tune of 13 seconds
00:51:05the pescarolo pair are doing it easily at the moment over adt champion audi's emmanuelle
00:51:11hero so it's pescarolo judd one and two audi r8 three and four it's a dollara judd in the hands of
00:51:19joao barbosa who sits fifth at the moment ahead of adt champion audi driver jj later but this is your
00:51:25race leader calming his way through the gt pack jean-christophe bouillon
00:51:30that's your p2 class leading car the cruise motorsport gang it is the british trio meanwhile
00:51:41here are the two-time defending gt2 class winning car and team peterson white lightning brian's there
00:51:51jörg bergermeister brings the 90 white lightning car in the peterson white lightning car patrick long
00:51:56will take over right behind them the flying lizard boys are making their gt2 stop as well the 90 car
00:52:03right now leading in the class first and second in gt class right here peterson white lightning first
00:52:09the boys at flying lizard running second in gt right now routine stop for both of these guys but it's
00:52:14going to be very important to get this pit stop done and out of here especially for the guys at
00:52:19peterson white lightning if they stay for too long then the boys at flying lizard are going to have
00:52:23a hard time getting their porsche out of the way but right now routine stop jörg bergermeister gives
00:52:29patrick long and pat says go get them buddy closes the door now it's just four michelin tires and this
00:52:34portion will be back underway when calvin was talking with young american patrick long earlier you saw that
00:52:40the drama that they had earlier this week the flying lizard boys are already serviced they're ready to
00:52:45go they're trying to push the car back and get him out ahead of patrick long that cost some valuable
00:52:51time in the pits right there you see patrick long still not going and that's kept them at least 10
00:52:56seconds longer than they needed brian guys what's going on is these cars do not have cockpit adjustable
00:53:02sway bars and what the boys at peterson white lightning were doing was opening the engine compartment
00:53:07that's where the adjustment for the rear sway bar is so they made a sway bar adjustment to the 90 car
00:53:12and got him back underway but right now flying lizard is going to take over the lead in gt2 you would
00:53:18almost think that these guys pitting next to each other would have had some form of communication
00:53:21about uh the one stop being longer than the other with that sway bar change you know instead of
00:53:26holding up the uh pseudo team car well you've got you've got to work on your car in front of your own
00:53:30pit and they're identical cars almost have identical fuel burn identical tar burn and hey you know why
00:53:37tell the guy behind you're gonna get sway bar because that you're pushing it back there costing what 10 15
00:53:42seconds and system isn't it in an unfortunate situation if you're the guy from behind i guess
00:53:46well that's right look at this the battle is on between aston and corvette and the 59 of darren turner
00:53:54has got by ollie gavin meanwhile emanuel epiro in the two champion audi flashing the lights letting them
00:54:01know that he's blasting his way through and that's been achieved but the battle rages here at the front of
00:54:05the gt1 group this is going to be a fascinating battle i just hope it goes all the way through the 24 hour
00:54:11this corvette and aston martin battle look at that on the racetrack after an hour there's one car
00:54:16length one and a half car lengths apart pit stops are going to be very important on these guys yeah
00:54:20good stuff but they'll both be looking forward to that sun going down and then they can put the
00:54:23hammer down at night time and let's remember too that both these cars will be faster at night all
00:54:28these cars will be faster still at night because it's a nice cold charge of air going into the engine
00:54:33you know we don't know for a fact that the uh that the aston martin we don't know what kind of
00:54:36cooling it has for their drivers we know that the corvette has worked quite hard to get their
00:54:41drivers some good air and it goes through an air box it's like an air conditioner if you will it
00:54:45gives those drivers a breath of fresh air we don't know on the aston martin we'll have to have our
00:54:50boys look into that it is it's very similar they've got they've got nothing i think the problem with
00:54:54aston martin is we said before it's got an aluminum body so it actually attracts it a lot but it's a lot
00:55:00worse than the fiberglass body of the corvette well cal when we were talking to david brabham the other
00:55:04day he said that they do have a mechanism that will keep them cool indeed the corvette boys use that
00:55:10air or the helmet cooler and uh the aston martin boys showed up here with just the body cool suits
00:55:16this is running the drivers had said that the cockpit temperatures were extreme and they've now gone to
00:55:21the air cooler also on the helmet so they have two cooling systems one to the body and one to the
00:55:26helmet they've had to change helmets as a belt helmet that they brought in the guys had to wait until
00:55:30friday in fact to get their new helmets they had to take them to screwed in there and to get the helmets
00:55:35retech so we'll be trying them for the first time here in race conditions but uh they're certainly
00:55:40doing everything possible to try and keep their drivers cool under the heat of the day for some of
00:55:45those drivers they don't even actually normally wear bell helmets they wear other brands like ari etc
00:55:51so they have to change in the name of staying cool that's the lengths they go to here at le mans to
00:55:58win this race oh anxious moment here for frank montani getting through the gt1 traffic but he's able
00:56:05to do it and successfully but meanwhile emmanuelle pirro has skipped away and so far so good for team
00:56:12corvette they are running strong we need to squeeze in another quick break stay with us you're watching
00:56:18the le mans 24 hour here on speed hope you're enjoying it
00:56:30while there are so many positives to talk about at le mans in 2005 it would be remiss of us
00:56:35not to mention a negative side or a less positive side some 50 years ago as of last saturday pierre
00:56:42of x mercedes flew into the crowd here at le mans killing approximately 80 spectators injuring many
00:56:49dozens more it was the most horrific catastrophic accident in motorsport to date it had a huge impact
00:56:59on the motor racing community and we remember those who lost their lives and as a mark of respect
00:57:05a commemorative plaque has been placed here at circuit de la salle the build up
00:57:16reminding you that nascar this morning is tomorrow morning it's all happening from michigan
00:57:21tomorrow live from 11 a.m eastern get an early start to your race day with nascar this morning
00:57:28bringing you up to date with all the action from what's going on in michigan meanwhile we're back
00:57:33here at circuit de la salle in france for the michelin 24 hours of the mall you ride with
00:57:40ron fellows in the works corvette
00:57:47so far so good for these guys they are doing a very strong job the sister car is battling for the
00:57:53lead with ollie gavin in that and when you look at corvette last year was certainly a spectacular year
00:57:58which saw its c5 model go undefeated not only in the u.s but here as well at le mans where it
00:58:04captured a one two finish in 2004 this year the team carries the tradition forward with a new car
00:58:09this car the c6 which has been under development for the past two years
00:58:18when design staff set out to do c6 they came to racing and they said you know is there anything we
00:58:25can do to help you in the next generation race car and i gave them a list of three or four things
00:58:30and they were able to come through with each and every one of those things the chassis itself is
00:58:35very very similar to the c5 the wheelbase is one inch longer the challenge comes in the overall length
00:58:41of the car which is five and a quarter inches shorter but but keep in mind we were working on
00:58:45this for two years so when we got the package done we had much better weight distribution we knew the c6 was
00:58:52going to have a better overall arrow shape to it uh less drag we were able to do a little bit more
00:58:59with the front under tray and the rear diffuser the front air opening just a single air opening rather
00:59:05than the two narrow slits that we had to operate from and c5 was a big improvement on front downforce
00:59:11so for all the challenges we had they were met when we got done we ended up with a package that was
00:59:15significantly better the first race for the c6 came at sebring in march where the corvette team's
00:59:21winning streak came to an end was also remembered for a spectacular crash by johnny o'connell who
00:59:26escaped serious injury after suffering brake failure in the front left of the car we had a little
00:59:32problem in sebring with some brake material it was it was a just an odd occurrence uh had nothing to do
00:59:38with with any of the preparation that we had done the material that we got did not perform as the
00:59:43material we had tested so those those that might think that we that we came away from that you know the
00:59:49car being somewhat deficient uh that would be the wrong impression the car was ready to go at sebring
00:59:54we could have taken it right to the mall however uh what we learn about the car that really is
01:00:01directly applicable to the mall is developing a package that's easy for the guys to drive steering
01:00:06braking cornering the aero package all those things giving them something that's you know taking the
01:00:12family on vacation style driving that's that's what we search for from a standpoint of durability
01:00:18reliability and performance we have that done
Be the first to comment