Race Day ...who can challenge Audi?

We could almost be back in good old Blighty, it is reassuringly wet and chilly! Morning ‘warm up’ , maybe not the best description, took place in nasty wet rainy conditions and the track was very moist and mighty perilous. Plenty of cars explored the extremities of the track (and way beyond) but no serious damage was done. There was a brief ‘Red Flag’ period while they sorted out #29 and #25. The incidents were not related but #29 proved hard to move with what looked like transmission problems. #25 dug itself out of the kitty litter and headed home. Lost count of the number of cars that went straight on at Arnage. Next up is the Group C race ... this old f*rt simply loves these ‘proper’ cars.. aaahh what memories! Porsche 962, and 956, Lancia LC2, Jaguar XJR16, Mercedes C11, Veskanda ( eh?! WTF is that .. Google and Wiki here I come?) and so on... permission to dribble.. Righty.. back to Veskanda.. There was this Aussie commercial photographer called Bernie von Elsen (good Aussie name) who caught the bug and set about building the one and only Veskanda. It was powered by a Chevvy lump and was Australia’s fastest ever sportscar. We are not entirely sure if anything else was in the same league. It never raced at Le Mans but it does look the part. The track claimed its first Group C victims when it looked like #111 Mike Donovan’s Spice SE88 and #181 Alain Schlesinger in his Tiga GC285 touched. This launched Donovan into a spin that results in several impacts along the Armco wrecking both ends of the car. He emerged unharmed. Schlesinger eventually stopped in the middle of the track facing the wrong way. He also emerged and walked over to the medical car with a painful looking limp. It was a long safety car session while they rebuilt the Armco. Finally the green flag came out and after about five laps of actual racing the chequered flag came out ... bit of an anti climax. Derek Bell was not entirely happy with his ‘long tail’ Porsche 962... not much grip and plenty of vibration! This could be the last time we see him out racing .. but he has said that before ... several times..! The outcome? #31 Bob Berridge Mercedes C11 #5 Roger Wills Lancia LC2 #62 Gareth Evans Sauber Mercedes C9 C2 #116 Pierre-Francoise Rousselot Spice SE89 #170 Tommy Dreelan Spice SE89 #164 Adrian Watt Argo JM19C It was a very wet rather short race but for reference Pole Position went to Gareth Evans in the Sauber Mercedes with a 3:44.333 which was a respectable time for a modern LMP2… the fastest lap is a bit academic because of the weather but Roger Willis clocked a 4:32.826 in the deep end of the pool! If you are reading this around race time we are now going off air to earn some money (Ha!) and you can follow the race on http://www.lemans.org/ or http://live.lemans-tv.com/en/ and we believe Eurosport GB … Radio Le Mans online etc .. but you all know that !! Have a good race ..