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PremiumMichael Waltrip, teammates learn the lessons of Le Mans
By the time you're reading this, I'll be racing in my first 24 Hours of Le Mans. The last three days before the debut were spent familiarizing myself with the track and the car that I'd be piloting around it. The Circuit de la Sarthe is 8.5 miles long, and there's a lot to remember about where the corners are and what gears to choose. There's a chicane on the back straightaway. We are running 180 mph, and I had trouble finding it in the daylight. My markers were a grocery store on the left and a billboard of a cow on the right. When I saw those, I turned. I've got to tell you: Running 180 mph in the dark and having to turn almost blindly, that's not the most fun thing ever. But I enjoyed practicing the Ferrari 458 Italia at night. You pick the landmarks during the day to help learn where the turns are at night.
The practice sessions were frustrating, particularly the first one. The car didn't handle like we hoped. When I tested here in April, I didn't have the same issues. I just had to learn the track, and I felt really good about coming back. We returned with a new car, and I expected it to be spot-on, and it wasn't. It didn't grip well in the rear. The car has 10 steps of traction control, and none of them seemed to work. It was just new-car blues.
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DIARY 2: Whirlwind and wonderful start
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DIARY 1: Racing at Le Mans is right turn for Waltrip
During a 4-minute lap, being 15 seconds off the pace will tick you off, but there's a lot of places on the track that if you err on the conservative side, you live to tell about it. You go over that edge, they'll be picking you out of the tires. We've seen a lot of cars crash, and I know that's not what we're here for; it takes patience to do this. You want to run more during a practice, but it takes so long to make a lap, and I had only 20 minutes. That's four laps. At Bristol, a fuel run is 130-140 laps. Here it's 12 laps.
There are a lot more buttons and switches on the Ferrari 458 than my Sprint Cup Toyota. There are a lot of things the driver can adjust and work on while driving and that the crew can monitor in real time. We have telemetry all over this car. I can change the traction control. I can have it be more effective or less depending on how the car's handling. I can change the mixture of fuel from rich to lean. Rich is faster but burns more fuel. When the track gets wet, there are several changes in the cockpit to make to keep performance up through traction control. There's a wiper and a defroster and all the parts of the puzzle to ensure you can see. One of the most difficult parts of racing in the rain is having good visibility.
We're running in the GTE division, and it can be very hard to stay out of the way of the prototype cars in the premier class. They tell you, "Hold your line, and they'll go around you," but one mistake can end your race. They're so much faster than the GTE cars. I know they're not supposed to run over me, but I need to do whatever I can to make sure I don't get run over. That means giving them the room to go. It's like a Formula One car catching you. The tricky part is you can't see well out of the car. You see lights behind you, and if it's a prototype, they consume you in seconds. Two-time Le Mans champion Allan McNish said the prototype drivers will commit a couple hundred yards before reaching a GT car. They lap 40 seconds quicker than us, so you deal with one every lap.
Mainly, it's been about just figuring out the track, though. I can close my eyes and drive around Watkins Glen and Sonoma, knowing every turn and where to be in the groove. But this circuit has 38 turns — which makes perfect sense with me being lost most of the time. It's more intense to learn. We practiced for four hours on the final session and wanted a couple more laps because you learn something every circuit. We're the only team in the field with three rookies, so we're experiencing everything together for the first time. With my co-drivers Robert Kauffman and Rui Aguas, we qualified 44th overall of 15th in class.
The food's been great here. The team has two Italian chefs and a hospitality area with catering. It's fun to talk to the chefs. They want to know what you want and need; it's very service oriented. You can eat here from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. They work all day. When a practice ends at midnight, you debrief and get back to the hotel at 2 a.m.
It's fun. I like the atmosphere and love my teammates. I've had teammates in NASCAR before like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Park, and I own cars where the drivers are my teammates. But until you share a car with a couple of guys you like and experience getting out of a car and giving it to one of your buddies, it takes the teammate concept to a new level. I don't want to break something or run into something because they're waiting for their turn to go run.
They had the driver parade the day before the race, and it's an experience I'll remember forever, as will the team. The race was 24 hours away, but the atmosphere was electric and festive, like a carnival with so many fans walking around. The atmosphere sounded like a soccer match with horns blowing and people screaming. A lot of times I don't get all the excitement around soccer with a ball just getting kicked around, and people are blowing all these horns. I understand that passion better here.
I grew up liking race cars, and the folks here are as passionate about cars as I am. It's one of the coolest things ever. There's so much love for the automobile here. I get it now after seeing the prototypes from today and the ones dating to the 1940s. Some are hauling the mail without making any noise. Some are slow and loud. You can 't judge a book by its cover. But you can tell that the 79th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is something that's real special, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
2011 24 Hours of Le Mans mid-race update
Okay, it's not quite the halfway point at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans (there's a little over 12 hours to go at this time), but we have a new batch of photos from Drew Phillips ready for your perusal. Taken as the sun began its descent, the gallery below features a nice mix of cars from all the classes.
As you've probably seen by now, Audi has lost two of its three cars. Allan McNish's #3 Audi R18 TDI crashed out in spectacular fashion during the the first hour of the race. Though his car was totally destroyed, he walked away from the shunt unscathed. Then, #1 Audi R18 driver Mike Rockenfeller followed suit with an equally terrible nighttime crash of his own after making contact with the #71 Ferrari on the Mulsanne straight. Rockenfeller also climbed out of his car afterward. Other than a cut sustained on one arm, he's okay, but is being kept in the hospital overnight for observation. That's good news all around for the Audi drivers involved in a couple of scary crashes.
As of 8:20 PM Eastern, despite its bad luck so far, Audi currently leads Le Mans, with the #2 R18 TDI ahead of the #9 and #7 Peugeot 908s in LMP1. The highest-running gasoline-powered LMP1 car is the #16 Pescarolo Judd of Pescarolo Team. The leader in GTE Pro is the #74 Corvette Racing C6.R. In LMP2, the #41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Nissan is up front. Finally, the GTE Amateur class is currently led by the #81 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 RSR.
That's it for now. You can follow live timing at LeMans.org, and for a great single-page collection of audio & video feeds, plus timing, a spotter's guide, and live chatting, check out Global Sports.
Audi holding Peugeot pack at bay in Le Mans race
LE MANS, France — Audi may have suffered two spectacular crashes but the German marque still enjoyed the upper hand over arch rivals Peugeot as the Le Mans 24 Hours raced towards its climax here Sunday.
At 0900GMT, four hours from the finish of the iconic endurance race, the Audi R18 shared by Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer, continued to hold a trio of Peugeot's at bay on the Circuit de la Sarthe.
As the rain began to fall, Audi's number two car was leading by over half a minute from the Peugeot 908 driven by former Formula One pilot Stephane Bourdais, Simon Pagenaud and Pedro Lamy.
Alex Wurz, who had been lying second in his 908, put a severe dent in his prospects of claiming this 79th edition of Le Mans when sliding off the track at Indianapolis shortly before 0800.
He hit the tyre wall, shedding bodywork but made it back to the pits before rejoining the action.
"I ran out of talent!" Wurz told official website lemans.org.
"I was pushing hard at the time and made a stupid driving mistake and veered off the ideal line by about half a meter; my first accident since 2008".
The Austrian is lagging one lap behind the pacesetting Audi in fourth, with Peugeot's other car sitting third.
The Audi team was left reeling on Saturday after two huge smashes.
Scotland's two-time winner Allan McNish walked away unhurt after a spectacular crash in the opening hour, and then his teammate, German Mike Rockenfeller also escaped unharmed when his car caught fire after crashing.
Rockenfeller was aiming to follow up his win for Audi last year.
Audi have won six of the past seven races, with Peugeot claiming success in 2009.
With a number of other accidents the safety car has been deployed for five of the 18 hours since the flag was raised on the start of this year's race on Saturday at 1300GMT.
