Grand Prix Report
Le Mans 2007 The End of An Era?
Was June 2007 the end of the Le Mans 24 Hour Grand Prix as we know it or just the beginning of something new?
The irony of it all is that on Sunday 17th. June when the 24 hour endurance came to a close, Lewis Hamilton was preparing to take part and win at Indianapolis in the American Grand Prix. What a contrast there is between the two events; this very young man has shown the world that he has the necessary confidence in his ability, skill and above all judgment to drive hard without placing himself at risk or putting others in jeopardy. One has to marvel at F1 drivers who are often asked and required to drive at phenomenal speeds on street circuits with nothing but concrete walls on the exit to many of the bends, often letting the tyres gently brush against them.
So back to Le Mans and the present time. Much money has been spent in recent times upgrading the visitor facilities and transforming the ‘village' but is it for the better? Perhaps that is for you to decide though you will have to agree that it has become more commercial, and for me too commercial, caters less for the true fan and much more for the corporate hospitality business, a veritable venue for corporate entertainment the recipients of which couldn't give a dam about what is going on around them.
The Le Mans 24-hour motor race is the ultimate challenge for man and machine: an event which tests the endurance of both to the limit. Well, that is what I would have liked to have written but in truth that is what it once was, but alas no more.
Our friends from Health and Safety have taken over and every inch of the track must have been Risked Assessed; Risk Assessed for what? Risk Assessed to protect the fans, protect the drivers, perhaps even to save the cars from being damaged? As for protecting the fans every circuit I have been to has signs clearly saying ‘Motor Sport Is Dangerous' implying that you are there at your own risk'. Is it for the benefit of the drivers, surely not? And as for the protecting the cars from damage, well that must be a function of the engineering design and the drivers ability!
The net result of all this H and S is that the bends have been eased and the ‘hard' run-off areas have been extended and the drivers are less worried about their precision on the bends as the tolerance for minor misdemeanours has been considerably increased and not severely punished by grounding in the gravel and an early bath! The circuit now is a couple of parallel lines painted on a stretch of tarmac and drivers keep within them, like some kind of giant karting track!
That brings us back to Lewis Hamilton; have the drivers at Le Mans lost that ‘daring do' and sporting spirit of yesteryear or are they under so much commercial pressure from their employers that their judgment is undermined? I can't imagine the likes of Villeneuve or Fittipaldi requiring any geeing up!
The 24 Hours of Le Mans was everything I thought it would be, spectacle, good racing, rabid fans, and then some. But with the race finishing in a steady downpour, the ending was less than satisfactory.
Audi's domination of the event continues, with the R10 diesel remaining unbeaten: two Le Mans starts, two victories. In fact, Audi has now won the race seven times, ranking the company third behind Porsche and Ferrari for most overall wins.
Peugeot's diesel gave the Audi a scare, and with two of the Audis dropping out due to crashes, it was not a given that Audi would win.
But the 75th running of this classic race was a wet one, with rain falling intermittently throughout the event. Rain can give teams fits trying to decide when to pit for rain tyres, and should they be intermediates or full rain tyres.
And with just more than hour to go Sunday, race officials decided to put the safety car on the track to slow the field as there was on standing water on parts of the course. I know it was done for safety reasons, but it took away from what could have been a tremendous finish in GT1, and sealed the LMP1 victory for Audi.
As the rain began falling, Ron Fellows, driving the remaining factory Corvette (the second car was eliminated earlier with a mechanical failure), was cutting huge chunks of time between him and the first-place Aston Martin. Fellows was lapping 15, to 25 seconds per lap quicker than the Aston, and doing some quick arithmetic you could see that there was enough time to make a bid for the lead. But the safety car put an end to that.
Only about half of the cars that started the race finished, so it was truly a race of attrition. And of the six Astons to start the race, all six finished, so the win over the Corvette was not a fluke.Return to Top of Page / Le Mans Trip