Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
American LeMans
ALMS: McNish Wednesday Petit Le Mans Blog
Thank goodness we got practice underway today! A few fans commented that they saw me get a bit loose in Turn 1, and because of all the rain, the circuit is very green.
Allan McNish  | allanmcnish.com  |  Posted September 23, 2009   Braselton, GA
McNish put on a driving display in Turn 1 on Wednesday, pushing his Audi R15 TDI to fast time of the day. (Marshall Pruett)
Thank goodness we got practice underway today! A few fans commented that they saw me get a bit loose in Turn 1, and because of all the rain, the circuit is very green. You don’t feel it too much in the high speed stuff, but you do in Turn 5 and Turn 7 especially. Even a slight bit of movement at the back like we had in Turn 1 can look a lot worse than it really is.

We worked on our setup, of course; with the first running for the Audi R15 TDI in dry conditions – remember that Sunday was wet – the car was bit too reactive in Turn 1, and the compression there made the car a bit ‘snappy.’ The grip just wasn’t there, so we had to make the car more calm. Before we made those changes, it was quite interesting...

You can’t throw a prototype into a corner and catch it like you might some other types of racing cars. It’s all very minute inputs. If you have to move your hands too fast on the steering wheel, you’ll be headed backwards over the Turn 2 hill in a hurry. It's about letting the car do what it wants to do, and really trusting and knowing how it will react.

It’s trying to go through a corner faster than it ultimately wants to. A racing car isn’t always perfectly glued to the track surface, so dealing with the back end dancing a bit is part of the job sometimes. You have to be confident, but also a bit bull-headed.

Ultimately, the car balance wasn’t too bad; I wanted to get rid of some push in certain places, but it’s certainly in the ballpark if you look at our lap times.

Back to the topic of the green racing surface. That’s another aspect of how you’ll approach a day like today. You don’t tune for the detail in the day; you’ve got to keep your eye on the race that’s coming up. By that I mean we won’t make a long list of setup changes to the car to make it feel perfect when we know the track is green after all the rubber was washed away.

As we run more and more, the track will get faster, so we’re looking for trend lines in our performance. We’ll pick out certain areas, be it damping, or aero to adjust but until the track is in its right state, we won’t make wholesale changes just to be perfect today and then suffer tomorrow. We also have limited time in the car, so re-familiarizing ourselves with the car and the track also comes into play. Come tomorrow, we’ll start to turn the screws a bit harder.

I was also able to get a look at some of the traffic scenarios, and who was looking in their mirrors and who was completely oblivious to the world behind them. That’s always a fun part of the day! I was also able to follow a few of our competitors – a Peugeot came out of the pits in front of me and I followed him until he pitted at the end of the lap.

Then I had a run with Scott Dixon for a couple of laps. The appear to have gone for a very, very aggressive aerodynamic setup. They’re bloody quick through the fiddly bits, but so, so slow down the straights. We saw that at Sebring earlier this year, and I’d say they haven’t changed that philosophy. There’s quite a discrepancy in where our cars are fast. I’d say we’re in the same place as Peugeot in terms of slipperiness, and both of us are on a Le Mans-style aero package. That doesn’t mean we have the same settings as at Le Mans, but the thinking is the same.

It will be interesting to see how that aero differences plays out on Saturday. I was going down into Turn 1 and saw a car quite far behind me in my mirrors, but by the time I got to Turn 5, I saw it was a bloody Acura and it was right on my bumper. I said, ‘how the hell did you do that?’ So we’ll see how it works out. This kind of thing is all part of the poker the different teams play in terms of setup, and invariably, someone gets it just right.

My poor teammate Lucas Luhr had a rough ride today. I saw the tracks he left, and trust me, I know what it feels like to go off in that section of the track…it’s not a nice place to leave the tarmac.
He also saw the tracks left by teammate Lucas Luhr and made sure to keep well clear of the soggy grass. (Marshall Pruett)

The thing about these cars is that once you start to lose it, there’s not a gentle buildup where the rear slowly drifts out for you to catch. It’s either with you or it’s not. It’s like being punched by Mike Tyson. The lights go out quickly!

After three months off, it was nice to get back out and mix it up with the big boys. It was also nice to see how the R15 TDI went – to confirm what we knew about the car being good and having the potential to go quickly against our rivals.

Going fastest in the first practice was refreshing. That’s not to say it will be like that in the rest of the sessions or the race, but this is how you want to start your weekend, and especially after such an extended period of not racing.

Petit Le Mans is usually a closely run thing, and I’ve no doubt the Peugeots and Acuras have come to win. We’re all trying our hardest on every lap – there’s no time to hold back or to play games. Stephane Sarrazin doesn’t do half measures, for example, and he certainly doesn’t like being beaten by our cars. You can expect them to be pushing very hard on Thursday, and any other time we’re on track.

I hope you’ll get to see us in action!

~Allan

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.



Allan has been racing since the age of 11 and progressed up the motorsport ladder until he reached the pinnacle, Formula 1. Having started in karting, he then progressed through the junior formula, Formula 3, Formula 3000 en route to Sportscar racing, Le Mans 24 Hours and F1.

A two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, McNish’s tenure as a factory Audi driver has netted the Scottish native three ALMS championships and multiple wins at Sebring and Petit Le Mans.

Allan lives in Monte Carlo, Monaco with his wife Kelly, son Finlay and daughter Charlotte.

Learn more about Allan at www.AllanMcNish.com, about the Audi Driving Experience at www.TruthinEngineering.com, and to enroll in the Jim Russell Racing School, visit www.JimRussellUSA.com.
allan_mcnish's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Allan McNish

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.