Before I begin, I would like to wish the United States Army a Happpy Birthday. Alright, people. I'm going to share with you my virtual notebook with you all on this race.
John's Notebook: Le Mans (so far)
--- Closed-Top Prototypes ---
I just couldn't help but fall in love with the Epsilon Euskadi-Judd! That car is so freaking sweet! * Equally amazing was the Aston Martin-powered Lola by Prodrive. This is the first Aston Martin prototype since the Aston Martin AMR-1 back in 1989 or 1990. Prodrive is a quality name. You don't mess with Prodrive because they can put out some sick race cars. You have to give Prodrive credit for having two incidents early in the race and still have a chance to come back. * The Dome closed-top is nice, but don't like it as much as the Epsilon or the Aston Martin-powered Lola.
--- 55 Cars? ----
I remember when Le mans used to have about 40 to 45 cars to Le Mans. Now there's 50+! More cars means more calamity. And it isn't as if Le Mans has had problems fielding cars much like how the Indy 500 has been the past few years.
--- The Chinese Are Coming! ---
Whoever would have thought that China would field a driver? Cong Fu Chenz is the young bloke's name. Made in China and trying to make a name for himself and his country on this world stage. I'm sure he'll get plenty of love coming back home from Le Mans. I don't know his name, but I'm even hearing that a Chinese sportscar racing team could be fielded. There will be some backing by MG for all of this.
--- Two Hours of Attrition ---
The first few hours of Le Mans have been packed with attrition. I've seen a lot of wrecked cars and some spins. No manufactured NASCAR drama. Just 55 cars vs. the tag team of Le Mans and the weather. Have at it.
--- Halfway Report ---
When Speed Channel finally decided there Le Mans is more important to show on TV than NASCAR Performance, some Ricky Carmichael half-hour show, stock car racing, and On the Edge (even though I am a fan); Le Mans came back on the air.
* #7 Peugeot leads at halfway.
* Porsche RS Spyder 1-2 in P2. Defending champions, RML, are out.
* Aston Martin taking care of the 'Vettes. Remember that Aston Martin is no longer owned by Ford, so this isn't a Chevy vs. Ford battle.
* Risi Competizione leads at halfway. Great Texas pride.
--- Halfway Report: Random Notes ---
* Cong Fu Chen - first Chinese driver
* First non-Panoz race since 1996
Retirements at Halfway:
P1: #6, #12, #19
P2: RML, Trading Performance
GT1: #53
GT2: #76, #78, #83, #85, #94
--- Observations Since Halfway... ---
* #9 Peugeot beached.
* Light sprinkles on the race track at about 3:16 AM (03:16) time in France.
* Johnny O' Connell moderately whacked a parked Speedy Lola. Lola needed repairs.
* At 10:32:45 left, Top four are Ferrari. An amazing presence
* 223 laps completed at the 3:33 AM mark in France.
* #007 Gulf Aston Martin in pits, O. Gavin has a chance to climb back into 3rd in GT1.
* Team Modena Aston Martin (one of my FACT OR FICTIONs) in the pits with gear issues.
* Dome S102 off track, heads to pits during 15th Hour. Taken to pits.
* Rain gets heavier in the 4:00 AM hour.
* The #2 Audi takes the lead at 4:24 AM French time. Tom Kristensen laid down about a 4:01 lap around Circuit de la Sarthe.
* #16 Pescarolo in the pits and taken to garage. Was the highest-ranked petrol/gasoline car. 5:21 AM French Time.
* #40 Lola was 4th in LMP2, but headed into the garage at about the 5:29 AM Sunday French Time.
* #45 LMP2 entry has a big off and loses left-front bodywork.
* Multiple cars spin on the wet roads. 5:55 AM Sunday French time.
* #4 Pescarolo spins.
[B}Style![/B]
Let me talk about some of the "best dressed" and "worst dressed" cars.
Stylish:
* I love the blue JMB Ferrari and its lovely paintscheme.
* The Epsilon Euskadi and that Aston Martin-Lola are both amazing to me. I just get curious about the narrow cockpit of recent GTP-type cars. I would probably design one of those to be like the McLaren F1, where you just sit in the center. Only thing I'd fear is that getting into the car may be much harder. Thanks to the Speed Channel crew, I learned that the Epsilons were Spanish-made. I only know of Hispana-Suiza and SEAT as far as Spanish makes go. The headlights kind of remind me of the Lamborghini Murciélago while the rest of the car looks just sweet. As for the Aston Martin-Lola, it's just beautiful. My only gripe would the headlight look. I would probably go with a set of headlights that flows beautifully with the car. I know it's Lola design, but that would be my ONLY gripe. Make the car blue or red with gold accents... and I'll take two! Maybe three!
* There were only two cars with purple that I best remember in recent times: the Team Velqux(?) Audi R8s and those TVR GT2 race cars from a few years back. Those Porsche RS Spyders with the silver and purple are just stunning.
* Just about all Courage prototypes are lovely to me. I've been a fan of Courage cars since about maybe 2004 or so with the beautiful Courages raced by teams like Pescarolo and the old Miracle Motorsports team.
* I like the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP race cars in general. I just wish the cars would be re-engineered for better access inside as well as not requiring so much to maintain. The pit stops seemed longish, especially last year. If Peugeot doesn't end up winning this race, they'll need to engineer it better to make pit stops a bit less longer as well as being more efficient.
* Because blue is beautiful... the Jean Richard-sponsored all-American Creation team is beautifully blue.
* I don't like the blue on the Gulf Aston Martin, but I'm giving a special shout out to the Gulf livery cars in over 40 years at Le Mans. If Ford ever returns to Le Mans with a full factory machine, do you think Ford (of America) would go with the sky blue and orange in whatever prototype or GT car they unveil for Le Mans if they were to make an all-out return to Le Mans. I'd recommend the classic blue and orange Gulf colors in almost the same colors as the Ford GT40s for nostalgia's sake. Either that or the Porsche 917's Gulf colors.
Not (or Not So) Stylish...
* I'm sorry. Those multi-colored Oreca cars[/U] aren't very lovely. Many think the best Oreca paintscheme of all time were those Vipers colored in the French flag colors on those Vipers in the late 1990s.
In-Between:
* The Dome S102 looks very nice. Glad they didn't go with that checkered paint scheme like in the early 2000s or even that soccer ball paint scheme during the most recent World Cup (or was that car a Dome that year?). Any of you note those green lights? I think the green lights shone once during a practice or qualifying session. It's the first car I've seen with green lights since the old silver and black Ford Falcon Craig Lowndes raced with in the Australian V8 Supercar Series back in the early 2000s.
* Blue and gold is my favorite color combination, but the Spykers have almost too much of blue and gold. I'd probably paint most of the car blue and leave the gold in accents. Someone said that my love of blue and gold is a bit like the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels. That's a little something close to blue and gold for me.
* The Flying Lizard Porsche had about the lovliest paint scheme last year with that multi-colored race car. I kind of wanted to see that multicolored design for this car this year. Think any other car would have a paint style similar to that Flying Lizard Porsche?
And Then Some...
* Mike West (acting crew chief of the #64 Corvette) put on an impressive rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. I personally like Jimi Hendrix's version better (not to say it wasn't that good).
* It has to be fun to drive around Le Mans in a street Aston Martin DB9.
* One viewer E-Mail noted that "Poo-joe" is not the way to pronounce "Peugeot." I've always pronounced it like that, so I've thought it was right. David Hobbs said it more like "Poe-joe." What's the right way?
* One other E-Mail asked if Calvin Fish is really as short as he looks. The Speed TV crew were great fun and having great fun. Nice to know someone makes the race fun even if not a lot of people like Le Mans as much as they like a NASCAR race.
* The ALMS link with the ACO seems to work pretty well in shaping the Le Mans endurance. Most notable is the side-lights noting the top competitors in each class.
-end "John's Notebook - Le Mans"
I have always loved sportscar racing. This is the race out of the entire year I most want to see. You wait an entire year for a big race like this. And when it comes, you're jacked. A lot will change as I conclude this report. I'll surely enjoy this race. I may take a chance in the overnight and drink another small bottle of Pepsi to stay awake.
Loving the race!