[DeTomaso] LeMans Classic Track Experience

[LS]

Jim, great write-up.

For a quick and fun temp conversion, I always use C= 5/9 * (F-32)

You can isolate out F if you have the Centigrade temp in the equation.

LS




 


----- Original Message ----
From: J B Reardon <jbreardon at yahoo.com>
To: detomaso at realbig.com
Sent: Fri, August 13, 2010 2:42:46 PM
Subject: [DeTomaso] LeMans Classic Track Experience

Charles McCall gave a lengthy description of the 2010 Classic Tour. I wanted to 
add this fairly long description of my experience at the track and how the race 
is organized.
I posted some picture to my album. 
I was on LeMans Classic Tour and wanted to be a participant rather than just a 
spectator at the race. I decided to pursue to possibility of being a worker at 
the race. I had worked many races in the US as a licensed SCCA worker. In my 
racing travels I had met groups of workers who come to the US from England and 
France to work races. I decided to see if I could work at the LeMans in France.  
The local SCCA was very helpful in giving leads as to who to contact. Most 
people said they did not help but they did by giving me some more insight into 
the international racing process. I found out that the Automobile Club de 
l'Ouest  (ACO) puts on the race. This the Wikipedia definition:
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (Automobile Club of the West - referring to the 
western region of France), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest 
automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing 
enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organising entity behind the 
annual Le Mans 24 Hours race. The ACO also lobbies on behalf of French drivers 
on such issues as road building and maintenance, the availability of driving 
schools and road safety classes, and the incorporation of technical innovations 
into new vehicles. It also runs a roadside assistance service for its members.
 
The easy part was to fill out an application on the ACO web site. Several 
e-mails were sent back and forth trying to satisfy the ACO requirements. I sent 
them copies of my membership and worker license.  I followed up a letter from 
the SCCA saying that I was a member in good standing.  The ACO was very 
accommodating as worker registration had already been closed a month. I did not 
hear back from them and it was time to leave for France so I thought it was not 
going to happen.  I am now on the tour in France. I sent them an e-mail asking 
what was my status. They said that I was on the schedule as a pit marshal. That 
was good but I did not find out until later that they mailed credentials, 
parking and admission passes and worker information to my house. Once at the 
track I was looking for a registration desk and I did not see one. I went to 
several offices tying to get information, which if I spoke good French would 
have been very helpful. However,  I
think that even a French speaker who is unfamiliar with racing would also have a 
problem. I was on the list so they were very gratious to give me a do over and 
made another credential pack.. The next day I had to go across the street to the 
Expo Center, a big fairground complex, to get my credentials.
 
All the pit marshals had to attend a briefing a room under the grandstands. The 
French are very punctual, everything started and ended on time. First thing we 
did was check in then everybody shook hands with one another. Then a 25 minute 
speech by the chief, Alan Tannier, as to what and how the various assignments 
were to be performed. The chief introduced me to the group as the American who 
came all that way to work the race.  I stood up and they gave me a warm welcome 
and some jokes at my expense. I was originally scheduled to work Pit-out. The 
worker chief reorganized the schedule to accommodate me and workers who had 
cancelled.  I was paired with , Charles Queguiner, an IT professor at University 
of Rennes, who spoke pretty good English. We were assigned to the grid. I was 
happy with that I certainly did not want to be in a situation in the pit lane 
where safety would be compromised. Everyone worked a total of eight hours and 
had two day shifts and
one night shift.
After the meeting the Chief  took me on the grand tour of race control and 
pit/stands control. It was quite impressive with monitors watching every corner 
of the track. I was introduced to the race director Daneil Poissenot. People 
were showing what their jobs were, what kind of information they were recording 
on the computers and so forth. Everyone I came in contact with was very 
accomodating. 

 
Le Mans is a huge facility with two tracks, the permanent Bigatti course which 
is 4185m 2.51 miles. The other is a temporary course for the Classic and 24-hour 
course, which is 13629m 8.177 miles. Many large grandstands, suites, long pit 
and paddock areas. Charles took me on a tour pointing out safety issues and 
points of interest. He showed me the tunnels under the track for workers use, 
where safety equipment was located etc. There is an ACO worker café in the 
grandstands. I saw many interesting things such as the Porsche, fitted with a 
camera to film the Le Mans movie. 

The Classic is a huge event for car enthusiasts and drew people from all over 
Europe. There were 94 car club corrals and some where subdivided. Ford had 7 
model lines such GT40, Mustangs. Capri etc. DeTomaso had their own corral. 

 
While the dollar was at a very favorable exchange rate the prices were still 
high. There were many merchandise, food and drink vendors, and hospitality areas 
willing to take your money. The drink vendors were very busy as it was hot all 
weekend. Must have been in the upper 80s f /30-34c. I did not know for sure as I 
did not find anyone who knew the Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion. Even the 
British do centigrade.  I was reminded that the British were going metric, inch 
by inch.
 
Prior to the 4pm start of the race, people could buy two laps on the track. 
There were several time periods available and a large number of people took 
advantage of the opportunity to drive this famous track. I would consider the 
laps as hot laps rather than pace laps. I was able to hitch a ride with Roland 
Jaeckel in a DeTomaso Longchamps and on the straights we did a very respectable 
200km 120mph and we did 3 laps. His experience driving the autobahn was evident. 
It was chaotic as there were fast cars and slow cars. There did not seem to be 
anything to control the pace. It seemed the rule was to drive as fast as you 
wanted to, traffic permitting.  The drivers had to be very aware of traffic 
around them, the course flagers could only watch as the high speed traffic jam 
passed them.
 
The Le Mans Classic is a historic race with cars that actually raced in the 24 
hr race. The Classic is not an endurance race but runs 24 hour starting 4pm 
Saturday to 4pm Sunday. The format was that each of the six groups got three 90 
min sessions which totals 24 hrs. Each group got two day and one night session. 
Actual track sessions are 43 minutes as they did track maintenance between 
groups.  Grids and the years of the cars:
Grid 1 1923-1939
Grid 2 1949-1956
Grid 3 1957-1961
Grid 4 1962-1965
Grid 5 1966-1971
Grid 6 1972-1979
 
What my job on the grid was to record the number on the drivers wristband and 
the car, check for safety items, glove, helmet inspection sticker. There are 
strict rules about how long a driver can race and there has to have more than 
one driver during the race. The car then grids based on race times. This process 
repeated for each session. 

The Classic Race started at 4pm Saturday with grid 3. The race order were grids 
3,4,5,6,1and 2. The race ended at 4pm Sunday with grid 2 on the track. The 
weekend was a great experience.
 
Jim Reardon
_______________________________________________

Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA

Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/

DeTomaso mailing list
DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso