[DeTomaso] Success at Le Mans!

[Charles McCall]

Mike is apparently catching up on his sleep, since he didn't do it at Le
Mans... I didn't get to say goodbye to him - he was last seen at 4am heading
back to the track like a junkie looking for another fix...

More when I get a second, but it is one of the best events I've attended
ever. More cool cars in the campground than any year I've been, and the
noises were wonderful. No diesels here!

Pat had three races of one hour each, as did all the cars that finished. The
other Panteras dropped like flies. But one of them had chunks of clutch
falling out during qualifying - Mike predicted a short run and I think they
got two laps in total :-(



Charles McCall
1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
"Raising Pantera Awareness across Europe"
http://members.aol.com/PanteraGT5S1985/

-----Mensaje original-----
De: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] En
nombre de Mad Dog Antenucci
Enviado el: lunes, 14 de julio de 2008 17:32
Para: MikeLDrew at aol.com; detomaso at realbig.com
Asunto: Re: [DeTomaso] Success at Le Mans!

Outstanding news. 
   
  Congrat's to Pat and all the drivers and crews.  Great news as well that
Pat's cooling mods worked this time out.
   
  Mikey, 
  Can you share a summary of the details of the Pantera's that made it to
grid and how many Panteras total made it to the finish??  
   
  How many in Pat's group finished and how long did pat run the Candy
Pantera on the course??
   
  CONGRATULATIONS PAT!
   
  dawg
   
  

MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote:
  Hi guys,

I'm in Paris, heading for the airport, and Patrick Hals is on the road, on 
the way home after a great weekend at Le Mans Classic.

The De Tomaso marque was well-represented, with no less than FIVE 
Gr4-prepared Panteras entered in Plateau 6 (1972-1979) and one Gr3-prepared
car in 
Plateau 5.

Le Mans is a tough place, and it's an especially tough place to bring a car 
if it's not ready to go. Of the Panteras entered, several of them rolled off

the trailer with mechanical issues, and they didn't get far. In fact, only 
two of the six Panteras made it through the weekend. But Patrick has been 
working like crazy to sort out the Candy Gr4 Pantera in the past few weeks,
and 
his efforts were rewarded with smooth, consistant, and FAST runs to the
finish!

As for me, I had media access and thus could go behind the fences, and 
literally stand touching the guardrails and leaning out over the track while

shooting photos. Thus I shot over 2000 photos (!) this weekend, and must
have 
walked 20 miles or more.

Imagine standing on one of the Le Mans straights, as a Porsche 917 goes 
whistling past you going the better part of 200 mph, just ten feet away.
It's an 
experience I shall not soon forget!

Oh, and forget about sleeping--there are 362 other days in the year with 
plenty of time for silly things like that. :>)

Here's a sneak preview, a photo of Patrick being hounded by a 911 as he
comes 
past the pits:

http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/CandyFrontStraight.jpg

I'm off to the airport; I'm sure Patrick will weigh in with a full report 
soon! And Charlie presumably drove the 12+ hours straight home, then jumped
on 
an airplane this morning for work as well; he'll have a moment to describe
his 
journey (and the success that was the Loire Valley tour) in a day or two as 
well.

Cheers!

Mike


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Mad Dawg Antenucci 
Team Pantera Racing 
  The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road racing 
www.teampanteraracing.com
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