Le Mans 24H 2006

Test Days 2006-06-04

Times

Five Lola sportscars were in action during the official test day for the world famous Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend. A quartet of Lola B05/40 chassis and one of the all-new B06/10 LMP1 cars were fine- tuning for the greatest endurance sportscar race on earth, which takes place over the weekend of 17/18 June.

RML SET PACE IN LMP2
Reigning LMP2 winners RML Group topped the times in their category with Tommy Erdos setting a best lap of 3m41.873s, a lap which proved to be some three seconds faster than was set on the same day 12 months previously and also faster than the LMP2 pole set for the race itself.
Andy Wallace has joined the familiar partnership of Erdos and Newton for this years race, although the ultra experienced Wallace was not present at Le Mans, as he had Grand -Am commitments at Watkins Glen. His first taste of the AER engined MG-Lola will be on the first day of qualifying, on Wednesday week.
Tommy Erdos was very satisfied with the way the day went for the team and said: “We were just doing our own thing, working on set-ups. The car was running really well. Mike (Newton) did a lot of laps and is feeling very good about the car.”

B06/10 MAKES LA SARTHE DEBUT
Chamberlain Synergy’s LMP1 chassis set the ninth fastest time overall, with Bob Berridge setting the time. The team has re-built the B06/10 after Peter Owen’s accident at Spa three weeks ago. Despite a spin each for Berridge and Owen, the team were upbeat about their preparation for the race and reigning LMES LMP2 champion Gareth Evans said: “The car feels very good indeed. Very responsive to the few changes we made to it, especially with traction out of the slow speed corners. I just wanted a few easy laps and that is what we accomplished. But there wasn't a lap out there when I didn't see a car with a puncture, coming back slowly. A Belmondo had one right in front of me. Creation had one too.”
The team were also using the new C spec version of the AER twin turbo engine which has undergone work on the camshafts and cam timing, in order for optimisation for the 101.6 spec fuel.

IBERIAN LMP2 DRAMA
The teams LMP2 entry, shared with the Portuguese ASM team started the day well with both Miguel Angel De Castro and Miguel Amaral completing trouble free stints. However, at approximately 11.15, Angel Burgueno crashed at Tertre Rouge and brought out the red flag. The Spaniard was one of the stars of the recent Spa 1000kms when he and his team mates finished 4th overall and won the LMP2 class.
Sadly the car was not able to be repaired at the track but will be ready for race week. Burgueno, unfortunately, will be unable to take part, as he did not complete the required number of laps on his first visit to the track.

INTERSPORT FULL OF CONFIDENCE
Intersport Racing made the long trip across the Atlantic for their fourth consecutive assault on the great race. Clint Field, Liz Halliday and Duncan Dayton are all familiar Lola sportscar drivers and will be looking to continue an excellent start to the season. that has so far seen them take class wins at Sebring and Houston and lead the ALMS LMP2 points table.
"The car is really good. The 3:49 lap was on hard tyres, and I've only done seven laps,” said a happy Clint Field. “ It feels very comfortable. I haven't raced here for two years, and my best lap then was a 3:59 in the old (LMP1 / 675 B01/60) car. I'd forgotten how nice a track it is. I think we can do a 3:45 on softer tyres.”

BINNIE MAKE SOLID START
Binnie Motorsports undertake there first Le Mans 24 Hours with the Zytek engined B05/40 this month. Bill Binnie has opted for experience in his driving team with Allen Timpany being joined by Yojiro Terada who will be starting his 27th Le Mans 24 Hours this year.
The car set a best lap of 3m55.197s with Binnie at the wheel. The American/Scot is hoping that they can re-create the 2003 event when he partnered Rick Sutherland and Clint Field to take the first ever LMP2 class win in the Lola B2K/40.
All five Huntingdon built cars now look forward to ‘Le Mans week’, which begins with scrutineering in the famous Place De Jacobins in downtown Le Mans. Qualifying begins on Wednesday evening with sessions at 19.00-21.00 and 22.00-00.00 local time. The race itself begins at 17.00 local time on Saturday 17th June.

Qualification 2006

Times

Wednesday report

A year ago the team suffered a major set-back during the opening, wet qualifying session after Peter Owen hit the wall on the exit of the second Mulsanne chicane.
As the opening session started for this year’s event, at 19.00 on Wednesday, the heavens had just opened and a cautious and steady plan was taken by Hugh Chamberlain to keep the Lola in the garage, at least until the team could see what the weather was really going to do.
As it turned out, it stayed wet. Very, very wet by the middle of the session and with the night laps to get in, as well as what was hoped to be a dry session on Thursday, Hugh Chamberlain decided that, “We’ll do some light laps in the night session, get the guys their laps in and then go to the bar! I really don’t see any point in going out in these conditions.”

So, zero laps on the board for the Lola after the first two hour and only nine by the end of day one of track action at Le Mans 2006. But, the team was in better shape than 12 months prior and the drivers were all glad that Hugh had kept them on the leash, until getting out at the end of the night session for those three laps each.
“It was absolutely bloody dreadful,” said Peter Owen. “I mean, really, really bad. I wouldn’t want to go out in it again.”
“It was frightening in places,” exclaimed Gareth Evans. “Hugh made the right decisions keeping us out of that in the opening session. We weren’t going to achieve anything, so it was definitely the right call.”
So, a cautious and low-key start for the team. For some of the other teams, a ‘Chamberlain-type’ approach would have paid dividends: there was considerable damage to some of the other cars, including an LMP1 rivals, one of the Courages.

Thursday report

Gareth Evans was walking around the garage with a bandage on his right hand. How did he do that then? He managed to cut himself, twice, while practising driver changes on Wednesday.
“I hadn’t realised that I’d done it at first and by the time I had, I’d done it again!” he said. “It’s fine and won’t interfere with driving though.”
He also told us, with his tongue firmly in cheek, that he and Peter Owen had managed to upset Bob Berridge already this week.
“He looked at the signature cards we’ve had done and when he realised he wasn’t driving the car in the pictures, he decided he didn’t like them.
We quite liked that!” he joked. So here's Bob at the wheel.
Sunshine and a hot, dry track greeted the teams as the pit-lane opened at 7pm: Bob Berridge was third in line and immediately took the number 19 car up to a provisional P5 behind the Audis and Pescarolos.
P5 became P7 within a few minutes, as Jamie Campbell-Walter went faster in the Creation Hybrid and the (repaired) number 13 Courage vaulted ahead of the Lola.
With 25 minutes of the session gone it was Gareth Evans’ turn to take to the wheel and get acclimatized to the heat and dry track. Peter Owen was then installed in the car with an hour of the session remaining on the clock.
Both Owen and Evans complained that the engine was feeling flat, with Gareth even struggling to pass supposedly slower cars during his stint.
The fault was found and cured easily, the wrong engine map being switched on as they swapped drivers.
“The engine was flat when I went out,” said Gareth Evans. “In fourth gear I put my foot flat down and it just wouldn’t pull. The engine guys went the wrong way with the engine map. It’s sorted now and we should be quite a bit faster, but it was a struggle to begin with, I was finding it hard to pass the LMP2 cars initially.”

“They went the wrong direction on switching it over and turned it back the other way, but we should gain quite a bit of time now,” added Hugh Chamberlain.
“The tyres weren’t great when I got in the car and with the problem with the map I was struggling,” said Peter Owen. “Although, I shouldn’t complain too much as I was only a second off our aimed target, so it’s not all bad!”
The decision was made for all of the drivers to have a short stint in the final night-time session, for one last turn behind the wheel in the dark before getting into the race.
Bob Berridge was able to have one good crack at a better time in the cooler temperatures and turned in a 3m40.467s to break into the top ten that the team was hoping for back at scrutineering two days earlier.
“I got caught in traffic at the Porsche Curves and lost about three seconds on my fastest lap,” admitted Berridge. “But that’s how it goes. It’s part of being here. It’s where we want to be so that’s ok,” he added.
Unfortunately, by the end of the night they would have to settle for 11th on the grid, as the Zytek and Swiss Spirit Courage put in late laps to demote them just outside the desired starting slot.
However, Peter Owen was over the moon with his stint in the French darkness, ending up faster than he had during the daylight session.
“I gained about four seconds!” he smiled. “The other two went slower than they did before. So I’m understandably happy about that!”
So, Chamberlain-Synergy LMP1 won’t be starting from its hoped for top ten starting position on Saturday afternoon. But, so far the team has had the trouble free run it was looking for and with the experience of Hugh Chamberlain guiding them through, they’ve kept the mileage down too, working to a steady and methodical plan.
The free day on Friday – with just the drivers parade to do – will give the drivers time to relax before heading into what might be, if the plan keeps going, a great result by Sunday afternoon.

The 74th Le Mans 24 Hours event decided to show its other ‘face’ on Thursday: the weather switched back to hot and sunny, just as it had been on Monday and Tuesday. After those Wednesday evening ‘niggles’ with water getting into the electrics, there wasn’t a hint of moisture around on Thursday, and the Intersport Racing Lola B05/40 AER behaved almost perfectly.

“Rock solid” was how Duncan Dayton described it.

AER power had almost taken victory in LMP2 at the 2005 running of the 24 Hours, but Duncan needed a trouble-free four hours of track time to be persuaded that the team really would be going into the race with a very good chance of bringing the car home at 17.00 on Sunday. By midnight on Thursday evening, he was persuaded. Duncan Dayton was first out at 19.00 on Thursday, with the track temperature still high after baking under the sun all day.

“I’m leaving a ton under braking,” he commented, “there’s a lot more time in the car if we need it. It’s particularly good through the Esses and the Porsche Curves.”

He and Liz Halliday then began a discussion regarding how the front end of the car ‘loads up’ through the fast corners, the huge levels of grip effectively cancelling out the benefits of the power steering. So Duncan was a very happy man. Liz Halliday was next out, but she returned a little annoyed / frustrated. “The car was good: we had a bit of a lazy gearshift, but I ended up with only a couple of timed laps, and I didn’t go quite as fast as I did at the test day. That’s annoying: I was hoping to go quicker, and get into the 3:45s. But as Duncan pointed out, Liz will have plenty of time to get the laps in during the race.

So that left the Lola free for Clint to drive – either side of the one-hour break (beginning at 21.00). Some drivers call this period ‘happy hour’. Sometimes the really fast laps come just before 21.00, sometimes just after 21.00. Clint went out with two ambitions: to get below 3:40, and to take pole position. But he didn’t quite manage either.
“Are other drivers talking about a lack of grip?” he asked.
Yes, they are. The track was definitely slower than it had been at the test day – and the weather was largely to blame. It was just too hot.
“We maybe had our tyre pressures set too high – two pounds at the front, a pound at the back,” explained Clint.
“The car felt reasonably good, but it’s just too warm still, I suppose. I know I could have got into the 3:40s or the 3:39s if the grip had been there.”

Along at rival team RML, Tommy Erdos was asking exactly the same questions about the lack of grip.
“But we’ll give it another go at 10 o’clock,” forecast Clint.

Central European Time means that it is still light at 22.00 in France – and the track had cooled down in the one-hour interval. Clint rushed off to grab a spot towards the front of the queue to leave the pits. He had a fresh set of soft race tyres fitted, and he was keen to try and take that pole position. That man Erdos wouldn’t go out again – so could Clint do it? Half an hour later, he had a resigned smile on his face.

“I met two cars having accidents on my first flying lap! The Swiss Spirit Courage went off at Indianapolis, and then I got round to the Porsche Curves and the LMP2 Chamberlain Lola was having its accident there. I aborted that lap and pitted – but when I went back out again, all I found was traffic everywhere. Oh well, we tried….”

Clint Field is highly experienced these days, and he knows that qualifying isn’t that important – but he also knows that he had a chance to grab pole. But it was snatched away by two other prototypes going off, on what should have been a clear lap. Meanwhile, Liz was being interviewed by Diana Binks, for Motors TV.

Second on the LMP2 grid it would be then, with Clint’s 3:43.869, just behind Erdos in one rival, just ahead of Barbosa in the Radical (another rival). The top six LMP2s set times in the 3:41 to 3:49 bracket – and Clint will start from the seventh row at 17.00 on Saturday.

That left Friday for the installation of the Intersport Lola’s race engine, while for the drivers, the 24-hour race at the weekend is preceded by the Friday evening parade through the city centre at Le Mans. There’s a breeze blowing at least as Liz, Duncan and Clint prepare to head into the city for almost their last duty before the race action gets underway. Saturday morning will see the quick warm-up session, and a chance to check the fresh engine before the 74th 24 hours of Le Mans. “Rock solid” for 24 hours, that’s ‘all‘ this American team wants.

RML’s Thomas Erdos added his first Le Mans pole to a long list of racing achievements when he set a best of 3:41.555 in the team’s MG Lola EX264 to secure the top grid position in LMP2 for this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
After Wednesday’s two evening sessions had been virtually washed out by torrential rain, it had become inevitable that the battle for the grid would be concentrated into the first two hours of Thursday qualifying. With conditions almost perfect for racing, any times set on the previous day were wiped from the screens within ten minutes of the pitlane opening. Offered the chance to go for pole in the MG, Erdos was instantly on the pace, and his first flying lap was good enough to stake an initial claim to the top spot in LMP2. It was a position he would never relinquish.

Having set the benchmark, the Brazilian then handed over the MG to his two co-drivers so that they could complete their requisite qualifying laps. Andy Wallace enjoyed his first run in anger in the RML machine, completing two very competitive flying laps, before handing on to Mike Newton, who also made two circuits of the track. With conditions nearing their best as the evening cooled, Erdos was strapped back into the car and given some softer race tyres and a free rein. He grasped the opportunity, and set a succession of blisteringly quick laps, each one faster than the last, to culminate in a best that would stand proud of the rest of the LMP2 field by more than two seconds.
That was how the timing screens stood at the end of the first session, but there were nervous moments when qualifying resumed at ten o’clock. Erdos, his job done, had already take off his race suit, but the first twenty minutes of the later session have sometimes proved the quickest. While Mike Newton and Andy Wallace pounded round the circuit, building up their familiarity with the car and track, Erdos watched the screens. Initially there were improvements from some of the top LMP1 competitors, but the track had evidently peaked, and as the session wore on he visibly relaxed. On the stroke of midnight the chequered flag fell, confirming Erdos as LPM2 polesetter, with the Audi R10 of Capello, Kristensen and McNish on outright pole.

“That’s mission accomplished,” declared Ray Mallock, team owner at RML. “Not only in terms of pole position, but also to get all the drivers successfully qualified, and at the same time establish a race set-up for the car that all three are comfortable with. Getting pole on top of that is a bonus, but one we’re all delighted to accept.” Phil Barker was especially pleased for Thomas Erdos. “That’s three poles out of three races so far this season, and I’m delighted for Tommy. He’s worked so hard for this, and to be top of the tree at a prestigious event like this is tremendous.”
The man himself was “just surprised that nobody else went quicker! I was convinced they would, but I’m so pleased for the team, and for the lads who worked so hard to build this car for us. To create the fastest car at an event like this is a reward they all deserve.” Andy Wallace, who won the Le Mans 24 Hours with Jaguar in 1988, thoroughly enjoyed his first experience of the RML MG Lola, and is looking forward to getting to grips with it in the race on Saturday. “I’m so impressed with the car,” he enthused. “It’s lovely to drive, and this is a team with a tremendous amount of experience. Everything’s under control, and that’s a nice feeling to take forward into a twenty-four hour race.”

The team will now spend Friday preparing the car for the race; a process that will include the fitting of a new race engine, and a multitude of other ready-prepared components. “It will be very satisfying if the rest of the weekend goes as smoothly as qualifying,” said Adam Wiseberg, Motorsport Director of AD Holdings, the team’s principal sponsor. We’ll have to wait until five pm on Sunday to discover if they do.

Warm-up 2006

Report

Liz Halliday: "I only did an out and an in lap. Clint and Duncan had four laps each, and the car was fine. The race engine felt great, although compared to Thursday, the track felt a little cold.

"The parade last night was ballistic. Because I'm the only woman in the race, they only had me to get autographs from. But I loved it, it was awesome. I'm getting a little nervous already though - because I'm starting the race. Jon told me that earlier this season. We'll be doing single stints to start with. I'm going to have some pretty quick guys around me..."

Race 2006

Race Summary

Race Report

More to come ....

Liz finally took the start - and ran straight into a misfire. At the end of lap 1 she had dropped five places, and pitted on the next lap: engine cover off.
"We had a mis(fire)," explained Clint Field. "We thought we could do it with the mapping, but we eventually had to change the wastegate."
Between the mapping and the wastegate, the team changed coils and plugs too.
Liz made four pit stops in total in the first hour, losing at least 18 minutes in total.

"We've got to hurry up now," said a frustrated Clint. Duncan Dayton was preparing to take over at approaching two hours into the race - the Lola six laps down, and in penultimate position in LMP2. The fightback has begun.

And that's the way it continued through the evening hours.
"I'd like those five laps back," commented Duncan Dayton, as Liz Halliday circulated out on the track, with night time settling over the region.
The rotation of Liz - Duncan - Clint had continued troublefree once that misfire had been fixed. Duncan completed a single stint, followed by Clint's double, then Liz on a double and then Duncan's first double. The Intersport Lola was actually moving quickly through the field. 45th after one hour (and two hours) suddenly became 35th after three hours - then 31st after four.

So a quarter of the way through this marathon race, the Intersport Lola lay fifth in class, with Bill Binnie's Lola almost in Liz Halliday's sights.
However, part-way through Duncan's double stint, shortly after midnight, there was a sudden shortage of gears. An end plate on the gearbox had cracked, and immediate repairs were needed. The crew threw themselves at the task, and 45 minutes later, the AER engine was fired up.
"I'm going to do a triple stint," forecast Clint. There's 16 hours to go."

"We'll climb up the order again," suggested Liz. The Lola had dropped to 30th place.
Clint actually completed a double stint, handing over to Liz for a double up to almost the half way point of the race.
"Yup, that was my third double stint. I'm feeling a bit groggy now, and my foot is very sore. I actually had a puncture on my in lap.
"There was a huge amount of gravel at Arnage, and the tyre went down at Dunlop, and I nearly lost it there. The tyre sheared all the way round, but I got the car home, and Duncan is out there now. It's going very well."
The Intersport Lola is 26th at 12 hours - despite making more pit stops than any other car in the race. In the LMP2 class, it lies sixth.

Clint took over after a 'Duncan double' - and by 07.00, 14 hours into this marathon, had moved back into the top 20, and lay fifth in LMP2. Fifth became fourth once the Radical ran into clutch bothers - although the Intersport car ran into another one of those annoying misfires. "They changed the plugs and coils and Clint carried on," explained Duncan. That was eight minutes lost.

Approaching 09.00 on a bright Sunday morning, there were still nine hours of this marathon left - with Liz tackling another double stint.
"During his previous double, Clint had enjoyed "a great dice with Andy Wallace, for about six laps. I set fast lap (fastest race lap in LMP2) right at the end, when the paddle shift was still working. I was chasing Andy and we came across the yellow Lola - and he must have braked when he saw us. Andy nearly hit him and I nearly hit Andy."
Sudden activity in the Intersport pit at 09.50, nearly 17 hours into this event, signalled that the safety cars were out - which was Liz's cue to pit for attention to the gearshift. "The gear cut wasn't quite right and it was missing gears," explained Clint. "We're going to go back to the paddle shift and try and save the wear on the gearbox."

Liz stayed in the car for most of the morning, "and when I got out of the car it was fine - although we were having to manage with the manual shift.

"But the same thing happened as much earlier in the race: the wastegate needed changing." Duncan had only completed three or four laps before the crew was called into action again - at 12.20. It was heading towards a half hour stop, and the Chamberlain-Synergy LMP1 Lola was homing in to take twentieth place. But the whole Intersport team had worked together and the #33 Lola still sat in fourth position - and who knew what was in store for the remaining four hours of the race?

More mechanical issues, more work for the fabulous Intersport crew. Liz: "It was the wastegate again - plus some other things." It turned out to be more than that: the turbo had to be changed. Race engineer Brian Alder provided this (not necessarily inclusive) list: a gearbox problem, mapping, plugs, coils, wastegates, turbo - I think that's it." Every time the machinery protested, Brian's crew leapt into action, came up with a programme of work, and got the job done, with the absolute minimum loss of time. "The car is the best it's been all race," said Liz - as Clint attempted to bring her home, to fourth in class.

But in almost the cruellest manner possible, Clint nearly didn't make it round that last lap. Something went horribly wrong between the two chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight, and Clint was seen on TV screens around the planet, clambering out disconsolately.
But then he clambered back in and drove it home! The rules specify that everyone has to complete their last lap within a specified time: we're going to assume that Clint Field achieved that goal.

WELL DONE INTERSPORT! It's been a pleasure (apart from the above) relating Intersport's stories this week. The Sebring winners may not have won this one, but boy did they play their part.
Last word to Clint: "It was just a puncture - on the last lap. I couldn't believe it. I pulled over because I thought the smoke was gearbox oil - and I didn't want to lose it all, or cover the track in oil. So I took the engine cover off and checked everything - then drove it home. We finished! Fourth in class - and 42 pit stops.

More to come ....