After Sebring, Advice for Le Mans...

[Tim Northcutt]

To Lister, Nasamax, and Pilbeam:
Test, Test and Test some more...you are so far behind the curve from starting late that you need to use every opportunity possible to prepare for June...

To the Entire 675 Class:
Figure out a balance between speed and reliability....In every race beyond the 3 hr. timed events, virtually everyone in the class goes up in flames and finished behind the GT winners....you can't win if you don't finish..

To DBA Zytek:
Spend time on getting reliability from the engine between now and June....the rest of the package is fast!

To JML Panoz:
Congratulate yourselves for the Papis/Beretta/Jeanette team's run yesterday, and give the other team enough testing or seat time to get a good feel for the cars...I don't think you can beat the Audis or bentleys (unless they face trouble), but you can race for "best of the rest"..you certainly were yesterday!!!!

To Matthews Racing:
Figure out how to clone Marc Goosens (twice, since magnussen will drive for Team Goh in June), and
Become a Team Owner instead of an Owner/Driver...I'm sure that you can drive the car faster than I ever could dream to drive it, but you're really more of a GT or GTS class driver...laps consistently over 2 min. made your team drop like a rock in the standings...to win at this form of racing, three top notch drivers are needed...not 2 and one-half.

To Champion Audi:
Great strategy was tossed out the window when Pirro got back in the car out of sequence late in the race...the advantage you gained via your fuel strategy was lost when an extra driver change had to occur to comply with the rules...you have another 2nd place when you dominated and should have won at Sebring...learn from it...

To MG-Lola:

Take a total look at every component you put onto that otherwise fast chassis...mechanical and electical problems have plagued your cars for over two years now...if you build them, figure out how to solve the problems...if you buy them, look for other suppliers....

To Bentley:
With everything you have put into your efforts, please be sure your cars comply in every way with the tech regulations! You gave us a thrill in that first hour slicing through the field, but it was too much ground to make up....You can win Le mans if you take care of all things, big and little....

To American Spirit:
Dump the Lincoln Engine....it just doesn't have the horses to get you where you need to be....

Those are my thoughts....anyone else have observations to share with the competitors and teams????

[carbsmith]

hmmmm.... 4th at LM in 2001, and 5th in 2002 is crappy and behind the GT cars is it? The MGs do however, and need stronger suspension for Sebring.

[Tim Northcutt]

To CarbSmith;

no one in the 675 Class "finished" 4th in 2001 and 5 in 2002 at Le mans that I can recall...

[Chevyguy]

Tim, I know your intentions are good, but you've not said anything that everyone doesn't already know. I'm sure we'll see improvement all over the place, but Lister, Nasamax and Pilbeam would probably do better just to give up in the face of their competitors. I certainly hope that's not what they do, though.

[veeten]

Either the Elan, Judd V10, or even the original '99 6L Vette GTS V8 would be better than that "Lincoln Log" they're using.

[Lee Janotta]

The Elan's the only real hope for the R&S MkIIIcs. There's no good excuse for the Yates or "Lincoln" engines.

That car really needs a good DOHC V12. The BMW engine would be perfect, but it needs much more development to get it back up on pace with the improvements the Audi has made since 2000.

_Maybe_ the Judd would help... But I've never had a high opinion of that engine. The whole concept of running below the displacement limit is flawed.

[Fab]

Tim, any advices for spectators too ?

My advice : come to Le Mans, there's two Sebring (24 hours) races in one spot ...

Imagine how could situation return at 4 am on sunday morning ? It's only half of the race !

[Smokey 6 litre]

Does Bentley have the speed to beat Audi at Le Mans, i know that in the past Sebring has often set the tone for Le Mans but with Bentley being at the back can they beat Audi with the form they showed

[Tim Northcutt]

I just wanted to put some thoughts out there to get a reaction and to seek other insights that I may not have thought of from watching "flag-to-flag" coverage on Saturday....

[KC]

I think part of the problem for the MG is the engine is stressed to much for sucha long endurance race. Obviously in sprints the car is a bullet. But, you must finish with the least amount of problems.

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by Smokey 6 litre
Does Bentley have the speed to beat Audi at Le Mans, i know that in the past Sebring has often set the tone for Le Mans but with Bentley being at the back can they beat Audi with the form they showed

I believe so. With luck (and attention to the regs) Bentley will be nearer the sharper end at 4 pm on Saturday afternoon, but, even then, over 24 hours it might not matter that much. Audi have had it easy at Le Mans for too long. The "privateer" cars have never looked anything like as effective as the Joest works entries. If Bentley can find mechanical reliability and the drivers can keep them on the black stuff - sure they can win.

[Fab]

The real problem of Bentley (GTP) is not speed but tyres and breaking efficient : tyres are narrower than LMP, and this cause problems at the major breaking places, in les Hunaudières, or Indianapolis (well, that's what I saw on the video)...

[pirenzo]

Bentley are bound to win in June. They can't not do it. If they finished 3rd at Sebring, starting from the back, then they can go all the way at Le Mans. The private teams probably don't have the resources to go the distance at a good pace, they just aren't the drilled squad that Audi had last year. But the Audis do make a good showing then it'll be the Joest car that challenges for the spoils. I have a feeling that the Bentley will be much better suited to Le Mans, and it will have an advantage on Les Hunaudieres ( for you Fab)[Mulsannes]

[Aysedasi]

Good man - let's have some well-placed optimism!

[Tim Northcutt]

I agree with Fab...

Being able to watch the battle for position between a Bentley and Audi UK in the middle of the afternoon Saturday, you could see how the Bentley had better straight line speed, but their attacks in the corners were vastly different, due laregely to the differnece in the Bentley's tire width....regardless, it will be an incredible race in June between the Bentleys and Audis....a classic for all times...

[Tim Northcutt]

To LeeJanotta:

I obviosuly agree with your Lincoln assessment, and feel that the BMW engine would certainly be a plus...

But I don't necessarily agree with dumping the Yates...

I think the Matthews R&S needs two other good drivers who have plenty of seat time in the car, like Goosens does, to complement his obvious skills and speed...Magnussen (with time would be even faster in that car than he was...)

Goosens was 2-3 seconds faster this year with the Yates power than with the Elan (but Tires & aero changes are factors as well)...you could argue that Panoz qualified 3 thousandths faster on Thursday, but when you watched the tiems, that was one clean lap for Panoz...the R&S was running 1:51s and 1:52s consistently...as though they were dialing in a race set-up...and Goosens ran 1:51s to 1:54s throughout his stints in the car...depending on traffic.

With Goosens driving, they quickly jumped to 4th and at least Goosens ran consistently faster than the Panoz and the Dallara-Judd...they lost all of their time and places with Goosens out of the car...especially with Matthews in the seat...

Also, other R&S cars with the Judd (Robinson Racing comes to mind) weren't as fast as the Elan or Yates engine...

I'd stick with the Yates for now....it has room to grow and improve as they tweak it out...and they can always drop an Elan from last year back into the car (you know they have engines & parts in their shop)if the Yates doesn't develop as quickly as they would like...

[kdr]

i'm looking forward to good battles all the way down the field. the first two cars were on the same lap, the bentleys not far behind despite starting from back of the grid. i think the 1-2 vettes were running close together till one of them retired, and gt 1-2 finished a lap apart.

[Tim Northcutt]

To KC:

I agree with your MG assessment...long runs are a load for the engine packages available to that entire class of cars, and I think the entire 675 class needs to figure out the balance between speed and reliability...

[Fab]

I'm not sure that, on a twelve hours race, the fact of starting from the bottom of the grid is such a handicap... well, maybe at Sebring, where the track is much shorter than at Le Mans. The Bentleys were fast, faster than ever, faster than the Audis... but were they as confortable to drive ? It's a great part of the thing. That's how, with a slow car, Pescarolo was best of the rest in 2000 : the car was 'easy', even if not fast enough to match the best cars...

I'm still not convinced of a sure victory for Bentley in june... they should, but not sure...

[Lee Janotta]

Nah, the engine's not the problem in the MG, it's everything else! The MG engine's never been the problem! It's been fuel leaks, power steering failures, electrical failures, spontaneous combustion, and other random mechanical gremlins.

That Yates engine just isn't built for road racing, doesn't have enough torque, and uses too much fuel. Elan developed their version of the Ford V8 specifically for endurance racing, it's simply the best version out there for the application.

Yeah, Matthews needs to give up driving, or at least make it a 4-man rotation so he's in less. He had Robby Gordon, Guy Smith and Scott Sharp sharing the car with him at Daytona last year, and they had a fantastic run. If he could get around the politics and get Gordon and Sharp back into the car, the team would be in much better shape.

It still frustrates me that CART, NASCAR, IRL, F1, or any other drivers don't get into this more. As far as I'm concerned, half the fun of endurance racing is seeing drivers from other series showing up for the weekend with their regular driving suits, helmets, and personalities.

[Aysedasi]

Can you imagine any of the modern-day F1 primadonnas racing a sportscar at Le Mans or elsewhere? I know TGF and DC have (are there any others of the current crop?), but I doubt if their contracts would permit it these days.

[mcc]

Tim
You've obvioulsy missed your proper role in life - full time adviser to sportscar entrants. You make it sound so easy. However...I think those with new cars realise they haven't done enough testing, but they can't get around the fact that Sebring is in mid March.
Try telling Laurence Pearce to do more testing first, and see what reaction you get.
The Zytek engine didn't fail, so I suggst you don't advise them on that one. Dyson don't want a balance between speed and reliability, they want to win overall.
And they are testing components today, now, to try and avoid the situation where something breaks. Unfortunately, Sebring is a car breaker.

[BobN]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
Can you imagine any of the modern-day F1 primadonnas racing a sportscar at Le Mans or elsewhere? I know TGF and DC have (are there any others of the current crop?), but I doubt if their contracts would permit it these days.

Salo is only a few months removed from F1. I didn't see any attitude problems from him. Schumacher was fine, albeit young in Group C Saubers. Herbert is enjoying himself. I think the primadonna act disappears as soon as the F1 ride does. If any current F1 driver went sportscar racing next year, I bet they would enjoy it and not pull the current F1 attitude.

[Tim Northcutt]

To LeeJanotta:

Although the engines have gone south at Le Mans for the MG (especially their X-Power/HotWheels team from the UK), I would totally agree that the components have been a big problem, and noted that in starting this thread...I'd look art every aspect of the car from the ground up...

To MCC:
I started this thread simply to get responses and ideas...good or bad...agree or disagree...that is what these forums are for...some of these items may be "well..duh" notes....Zytek dropped a shaft, didn't they??? but the blew an engine at Petit if I remember....

Dyson will always be fast...but I doubt they will last with that mentality...

Finally....


Id love to see Robby Gordon & Scott Sharp run with Matthews R&S at Le Mans...but both will be honoring their contracts with the teams that pay them to drive now in NASCAR & IRL...I don't know where NASCAR is that weekend, but they run practically every weekend, and I know that the IRL is at Pike's Peak on June 15th...

Personally, I'd pick up Alex Barron...and look for another good versatile driver ofhis caliber who has good road racing skills....

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by BobN
I think the primadonna act disappears as soon as the F1 ride does. If any current F1 driver went sportscar racing next year, I bet they would enjoy it and not pull the current F1 attitude.

I agree Bob. Look at the drivers who've found their way into sportscars almost immediately that their F1 "careers" are over. Some, like Herbert, already knew what to look forward to. What will be interesting in a few years will be to see if TGF races anything else after he retires from F1.