6. 2001 Le Mans 24 Hours
This was my very first 24 Hour race as a bona fide, other side of the fence, journalist.
To supplement our rather restricted finances we were providing race reporting services for Team Ascari, the nominated writers for this endeavour were myself and one Sam Smith, Sam wrote on and off for DSC in later years and, of course, rejoined us as our ELMS man on the spot this year.
Also on parade was a man who was going to be a VERY significant part of the DSC story, David Lord made his Le Mans debut in 2001.
Beyond that the Le Mans experience adopted its pattern that has remained ever since very early.
We traveled out on the previous Saturday, we stayed in the same place with the same local family, and we worked our socks off all week. In the 14 years of doing it there have been very, very few inclinations to change.
The years since have seen the DSC team occupy the very same desks in the time warp pressroom every single year, the welcome getting warmer year by year.
On track the Audis looked very, very strong, but there were other major contenders.
Cadillac were back (with DAMS) and failed again, Chrysler upped the ante with the Dallara Chassis and the Mopar V8 but simply didn’t have the speed they needed.
Panoz fielded the extraordinary Andy Thorby designed LMP07 ‘Alien’ one of the cars led briefly but in truth they never seemed close to the pace required.
There were two high profile British efforts, MG arrived with the LMP675 MG Lola EX257, light weight, big power from the 2 litre turbocharged engine promised the potential for a junior prototype to potentially get in amongst the big boys – the cars were quick, but perhaps predictably fragile.
The bigger effort came from Bentley, a galaxy of stars involved and the cars looking stunning, far from the “R8 with a roof” that many claimed.
What the well tested Bentley weren’t prepared for was rain, and 2001 dealt out plenty of that, the cars’ cockpits were far from waterproof and the wipers were predictably useless in dealing with a river of water flowing down the INSIDE of the screens.
Guy Smith was on the radio on the Mulsanne at close to V-Max explaining loudly that he could see nothing whatsoever. The plucky Yorkshireman soldiered on until his car failed – the other car though made it to the podium, the first box of a three year programme ticked
Audi took the win with the increasingly incredible R8s again as the sums from Ingolstadt proved to be better founded than any of the opposition – It wouldn’t be the last time!
And the moment of the race? It came early on and not for the last time either it was a case of the weather getting the better of numerous cars very early on. 12 minutes in and we had cars off the circuit all over the place!
7. 2001 Spa 24 Hours
August saw my very first 24 Hour race away from Le Mans.
2001 saw the integration into the FIA GT Championship of the Belgian race and that saw the grid change from a touring car field to GTs.
Vipers dominated both numerically and in numerical terms, no fewer than nine GTS-Rs on the grid and the hugely effective, but somehow difficult to love, Larbre Competition outfit taking the win.
Vipers and Porsches were the standard fare but there were few more quirky entries including the locally built Gillet Vertigo
Spa back then still had a pretty crusty feel, years before the advent of the big but boring new F1 pit complex in the upper paddock.
The old press room sat atop the garages between La Source and the race control tower. It was basic, but by god it had character.
The defining moment of this race was that room, with a great view of the pitlane and old start finish straight, and absolutely zero noise insulation! The noise of the cars passing by was earsplitting, fabulous, but the raw appeal wore off long before 24 hours had passed!
We still miss the old place badly!
8. 2002 Daytona 24 Hours
2002 saw the start of dailysportscar.com – Four partners, Malcolm Cracknell, John Brooks, yours truly and Chris Ellis looking to break the mould and up the ante for internet coverage of sportscar and endurance racing. It would prove to be a wild ride!
Another year, another adventure and another expansion of my racing horizons, my first race in the USA, and my first visit to the World Centre of Racing.
First impressions of Daytona are always impressive, the scale of the place is amazing, a motorsport icon.
Beyond that there was the ‘user experience, Daytona back then had two media centres, the current facility was absolutely brand spanking new but was reserved for holders of NASCAR full season credentials! This lucky handful (and it was just a handful) had full timing, TV monitors, full facilities and were fully catered – Just across the paddock there was the old Benny Kahn Press Room where the rest of us were domiciled.
A single shaky timing screen, one tiny external window and precious little else meant that this was a tricky meeting to follow, particularly with the Daytona race’s then notoriously fluid entry list for what was, in practice, a 79 car field!
In fact it was almost two full days before I saw a single car on track, and that only when I happened to glance at the external window as a Porsche 911 GT1 blasted by!
There was wonderful camaraderie though, and stories galore to track down, Graham Nash’s first Saleen made its first appearance and Martin Short was there too, slated to drive a Mosler Shorty opted not to do so, instead rocking up in a Konrad Saleen (above) after the team owner hit trouble with US Immigration!
It was the last year at Daytona for the big LMPs (or SRPs in Daytona parlance) and there were plenty of them, a mixed bag of the familiar and the never before seen by these then inexperienced eyes – My first opportunity to see a Riley & Scott at speed, the Crawford (above), Jim Downing’s wailing Kudzu and the quirky, reliable but not quite quick enough Champion Racing Lola Porsche.
The Judd engined Doran Lista Dallara took the last win of the old era, as the plans for the following year’s Daytona Prototype ‘revolution’ were revealed – That was the moment of this race weekend – the race itself was interesting, and very, very different from what I’d experienced before, but the trip home was dominated by chat, and not a little concern, over whether we had seen the last internationally relevant Daytona 24 Hours!
It was also the last time I’d be at this particular 24 hour race for a decade.
9. 2002 Le Mans 24 Hours
Back to Le Mans
Bentley’s second stab at the great race and it didn’t go well. Off the podium, yet another dominant Audi win and time for the Bentley Boys to go back and think again.
The continued Audi domination likely spelt the end for Cadillac’s efforts, the ‘Audillac’ LMP02 looked the part but simply didn’t have what it took to take on and beat the R8s
One of the highlights of Le Mans in this period surrounded a DSC favourite, Jan Lammers, the little Dutchman fielding the Racing for Holland Dome and consistently turning heads, particularly in qualifying. The Dome was quick, but simply didn’t have the iron clad speed, consistency and reliability of the Audis – But god he was fun to watch trying!
The MG Lolas were back again too, this one of the final hoorahs of a dying automotive industry giant. The cars though didn’t make it through the night and my moment of the race came as Dave Lord and I dropped over to MG’s hospitality unit for breakfast to find all six of the factory drivers in what can only be described as a comprehensively refreshed state.
Of particular note were Mark Blundell’s breakfast time karaoke efforts on mike and on stage, this despite the fact that there was no music, and even if there had been Mark clearly didn’t know the words, or indeed the tune!
Julian Bailey meanwhile was at, or rather on, the bar, with one of the MG grid girls on the floor either side of him, it was an image of alcohol and exhaustion induced carnage that said a lot about the after effects of a failed Le Mans effort.
10. 2002 Spa 24 Hours
Larbre took the honours again at Spa with a storming drive from a chasing Lister keeping the crack Viper team honest.
The race featured the by now eclectic mix of GTs from the then new CARE Racing Ferrari 550s to the rather less pacey little Renault Spider!
It was another of the Vipers though that caused the moment of the race here – whilst tapping away on a computer in the wee small hours there was a screech of tyres, that awful ‘THUNK’ and a flash – in the second or so all of that took the leading car, in the hands of Anthony Kumpen, the Carsport Viper holding a substantial lead, had been collected by Ullrich Schumacher’s Autorlando Porsche as the cars accelerated down from La Source towards Eau Rouge.
It was a high speed accident and the Viper was utterly destroyed – Kumpen forced to exit the car through the now non-existent roof!
Mercifully, with the car a fireball, he was out and unharmed, in fact he was running down towards the wreck of the Porsche further down the road with something other than a humanitarian cause on his mind!
It would be a long time before Kumpen and co would get that win!
(With grateful thanks to John Brooks)
