Item last -- the 23 Hours of Le Mans

In terms of sport anticlimax, the final hour of the 75th endurance race at Le Mans was like canceling the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl or the bottom half of the seventh game in the World Series. The rain moved in over the track this afternoon and at 2:12 p.m. the marshals deployed the safety car. According to race organizers, this was done at the request of several team managers -- right, the ones who were being stalked by their opponents!

Because of the safety car, Corvette's Ron Fellows' heroic drive in the rain to catch the Aston Martin was nixed. Fellows was gaining 20 seconds a lap on the ultimately victorious 009 Works Aston Martin. Aston Martin, which had six cars in the race under various banners, did finish six cars, so that's a testament to their durability. But the Works team did everything it could to muff this best chance to win. Johnny Herbert, are you listening?

The safety car thing was a bogus way to end the race. More than 250,000 fans came to see 24 hours of racing, not 23 hours, and it wasn't raining that hard. Besides, that's what rain tires are for. Indeed, this was less like European sports car racing, which is generally pretty indifferent to weather, and more like NASCAR, which will red-flag a race for precipitation in the leader's hometown. On balance, though, it was a good race, a daylong duel and test of nerves for the LMP cars.

The victorious No. 1 Audi stayed cool and kept on pace, even when its sister cars expired. The No. 8 Peugeot team led by Sebastien Bourdais kept the pressure on through the night and day, leaving no doubt that if the Audi slipped even a little, the Peugeot would capitalize. The interval between the two cars was steady at about seven laps for most of the race. I figured the surviving Audi was going to fail, according to the rule of threes (bad things happen in threes). But it was the No. 8 Peugeot team that had the biggest scare when its engine started to stumble in the last hour during the safety car laps. Imagine the festival of recrimination had the engine failed because of overheating. What would the ACO say? Desole? Whoops? Mon dieu?

I feel awful for Pescarolo Sport, though. This is the third year it has finished third, disappointing a crowd hungry for a home team win. The gas-powered car had neither the pace nor the mileage to be truly competitive. I wonder if this means next year the rules will further handicap the oil-burners or advantage the gas-powered cars?

As for me, staying up all night and blogging the race was painful, fun and completely exhausting. Everyone should do a 24-hour race. That said, no one should feel obliged to do two. Thanks for staying up with me.

Comments

[Tom A.]

Great work Dan. Hope you're now getting that well-deserved rest. Also hope that this blog attracts more people to sports car racing, and that the 1-2 finish by diesel-powered cars makes all the haters realize how woefully outdated their stereotypes of diesel power (i.e. slow, loud, stinky, dirty, etc.) are.

[tonyE]

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Mon Dieu indeed! That was a diesel ahead.. hmprhh.. No wonder no one wanted to get right behind them. You'd get black lung in two hours.

Driving in the beautiful french countryside, wafting by the aroma of crepes and Grand Marnier, some nice wine, bread, sausages and cheeses just waiting for lunch, and... qu'est que est? Une voiture diesel des boches? Merde beaucoup!

Cough!

Phillipe! Slow down the Puegeot.
Nigel! Give them some wide berth with your Aston.

If you follow too closely, your wasted, oily taste buds won't enjoy the '99 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame in the ice bucket in the pits.

The funny thing is that Peugeot has been making good diesels for a looong time. I remember those 404s and 504s in the 60s clattering their way down the streets of Barcelona.

But in a race, regardless of the brute torque of these German machines, a diesel motor makes as much poetic sense as a Tiger Panzer. Gimme a high winding, high redline engine any day, any time.

Sorry, only the germans would chuck automotive poetry out the window and build a diesel race car.

[JB]

Thanks, Dan, as usual.

Your writing continues to be sooooo wonderful! Reading your masterful metaphors is like having a daily diet of desserts without the caloric concerns.

Cheers from Surf City!

JB