There are only a few days left before eight teams are set to square off in a digital endurance race for the ages, the CAR Liqui Moly Virtual Le Mans. As the French Tricolour is flown above the real circuit de la Sarthe in France, the online racing will get underway at the Canal Walk Shopping Centre in Cape Town.
This year’s entrants were given the choice of historic Le Mans greats to race with, the Ford Mk IV, Ferrari 330 P4 and Jaguar XJ13 – a car that never saw actual competition. Just like the drivers five decades ago had to contend with a lack of driver aids and full manual transmissions, so too the VLM competitors will be expected to race without ABS and traction control, as well as make full use of the H-pattern gearshift on their Logitech G27 racing systems.
This year, the grand prize is three tickets to the 2014 Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix – proudly sponsored by F1GrandPrixTours.co.za. Those finishing in second and third overall will also be the recipients of cool prizes.
In a surprising turn of events, none of the 13 entrants opted for the Ford, a proven race winner with back-to-back Le Mans victories from 1966 to 1969. Instead, most of the teams opted for the faster and edgier Ferrari, while the remainder chose the more stable and easier-to-drive Jaguar.
Since last week’s qualifying session, the final eight teams have turned up the ante on their race preparation after word of lap times and fuel/tyre strategies have come out in the open.
Back to defend their crown are three-time winners M-Technique (Iftikar Dalvie, Nasief Dalvie and Ashraf Enus), with veterans Ernest Page, Brenton Gregory and Nezaam Cariem (Team Flatbox) back to try and claim the podium top spot. M-Technique Academy (Suhail Dalvie, Mubeen Enus and Ebrahim Salie) will no doubt use their experience in last year’s event to try and finish on the podium this year, while debutants A Team (Zainul Patience, Yusuf Achmat and Abdullah Patience) will look to make their mark after failing to qualify last year.
Newcomers EKZ (Robert Prytz, Dean-Paul Pratt and Roberto Da Silva), who were fastest in qualifying, will no doubt be gunning for the podium, with Team Back Kick Special Move (Luke McDowell, Leelind Billet and Jonathan Mogotsi) not far off in terms of pace. Gran Turismo All-Stars South pulled out of the event late last week, but Nazeem Edwards has signed Andrew James and Michael Bredenhand to Team Venom to try and salvage an attempt at the CAR Liqui Moly Virtual Le Mans floating trophy and grand prize. A mystery team who will also do battle on the virtual track alongside the aforementioned teams will be revealed at Canal Walk on the day.
Be sure to visit the teams competing at the Canal Walk Shopping Centre on 22 and 23 June if you’re in the area to watch them go head-to-head for 24 hours.
