Two South Africans were sitting in an Irish-themed pub in Paris listening to American Jazz – it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but stay with me here – patiently awaiting the restart of the Canadian Grand Prix. As we watched the Formula One officials mop the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve we couldn’t help but discuss what a bunch of wussies the “world’s best drivers” are. It was only hours earlier that fellow
As we watched the Formula One officials mop the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve we couldn’t help but discuss what a bunch of wussies the “world’s best drivers” are. It was only hours earlier that fellow CAR associate editor Ian McLaren and I had attended our very first 24 Hours of Le Mans, arguably the finest endurance race in the world and we were both blown away by the spectacle.
Flat out ALL the time
Forget the endurance race aspect and the need to nurse one’s car to the end of a non-stop 24 hour stint, the pace that those drivers maintained was nothing short of astounding. These guys were sprint racing, ON IT, full tilt for a metric day, and what a sight it was.
We found ourselves at the La Sarthe circuit by the good graces of our employers, and not as VIP guests of one of the major manufacturers competing in the event. This meant that we could go where we pleased when it suited us. That is how we came to find ourselves on the outer side of the track seated high on a dusty embankment looking right towards the famous Dunlop bridge and left towards the Esses and the run down to the right hander at Tetre Rouge.
That is how we came to find ourselves on the outer side of the track seated high on a dusty embankment looking right towards the famous Dunlop bridge and left towards the Esses and the run down to the right hander at Tetre Rouge.
A sight to behold
It is here that I have seen, what must undoubtedly be one of the most speactacular sequences in circuit racing. Cars are flat out as they crest the hill under the Dunlop bridge. They build speed quickly as they drop down the hill towards the Esses. No television footage or video game can accurately convey the incline. Through the long right-hander drivers experience 3G of lateral force. They arrive into the braking zone at 240 km/h (in an LMP1 car) and scrub off 75 km/h in roughly 1,5 seconds before flicking left. The second part of the corner is entered at 165 km/h. Severe camber – first in one direction, then the other – help slingshot the cars down towards Tetre Rouge. The quicker machines will get up to 235 km/h before stabbing the middle pedal and entering the right hander – that is essentially the entry to the Mulsanne straight – at 200 km/h.
They arrive into the braking zone at 240 km/h (in an LMP1 car) and scrub off 75 km/h in roughly 1,5 seconds before flicking left. The second part of the corner is entered at 165 km/h. Severe camber – first in one direction, then the other – help slingshot the cars down towards Tetre Rouge. The quicker machines will get up to 235 km/h before stabbing the middle pedal and entering the right hander – that is essentially the entry to the Mulsanne straight – at 200 km/h.
No television footage or video game can accurately convey the incline. Through the long right-hander drivers experience 3G of lateral force. They arrive into the braking zone at 240 km/h (in an LMP1 car) and scrub off 75 km/h in roughly 1,5 seconds before flicking left.
The second part of the corner is entered at 165 km/h. Severe camber – first in one direction, then the other – help slingshot the cars down towards Tetre Rouge. The quicker machines will get up to 235 km/h before stabbing the middle pedal and entering the right-hander – that is essentially the entry to the Mulsanne straight – at 200 km/h.
I watched this sequence over and over and over, and I was mesmerized every time. The LMP category cars make it look easy, passing backmakers with pure disdain – but the sheer pace has to be marveled at. The GT class cars look a little more on edge and ragged, which makes them even more spectacular. Drivers attack this sequence with inch perfect precision lap after lap, for hours at a time; Audi’s top driver spent nearly three hours at the wheel, Not only are they precise but race through here in the light, dark, rain, and misty conditions that were dished up.
Drivers attack this sequence with inch perfect precision lap after lap, for hours at a time; Audi’s top driver spent nearly three hours at the wheel, Not only are they precise but race through here in the light, dark, rain, and misty conditions that were dished up.
The GT class cars look a little more on edge and ragged, which makes them even more spectacular. Drivers attack this sequence with inch perfect precision lap after lap, for hours at a time; Audi’s top driver spent nearly three hours at the wheel, Not only are they precise but race through here in the light, dark, rain, and misty conditions that were dished up.
UNforgettable
I have seen some great motorsport sights in my relatively few years on this planet: a WRC car at full opposite lock in the snow in Sweden, a 500 cm3 GP bike powersliding out of the final hairpin at Phakisa, 24 screaming Formula One cars heading into Turn One at Nurburgring and a few other highlights, but the downhill sequence at Le Mans will live with me forever.