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LAW: The Long Month Of June
Written by: Darren Law
DarrenLaw.com   http://www.darrenlaw.com
06/24/2009
Phoenix, AZ
 
I am finally back home after being away racing for the past three weeks. My month started off with the Brumos team in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series six hours of Watkins Glen. This race is always tough and we have been struggling with our current program, so we weren’t sure what to expect. Last year, we finished second and my co-driver David Donohue and I love this track. I would say Watkins Glen is one of my favorite tracks. The fans are great, the track is fun to drive and it always produces good racing.
Darren had a standout performance in his first Le Mans, but a patch of oil ended the team's day prematurely. (LAT) » More Photos

Unfortunately, the race didn’t end the way we would have liked. We were running fairly well – in the top five – but late in the race, David got together with the 99 car. We were already having a clutch problem and after that, it really showed up. We ended up having to get towed back to the trailer and spent several laps repairing the clutch. It is pretty amazing to watch our guys when they are forced to repair something in a hurry. They had to pull the entire transmission off the motor and replace the clutch, but they did it so fast and had us back in the race for the last hour, so we still came away with some points.

My family went to Watkins Glen with me to see the race and to join me for the trip to Le Mans. The morning after the race, we drove from Watkins Glen to Newark to catch a flight to France. This isn’t a bad drive and my kids are old enough now that they don’t complain too much.

I decided to try an experiment that my team owner Seth Neiman, from the Flying Lizard team, had suggested. He heard if you eat only breakfast and don’t eat again until you get to your destination overseas, the next day you will reset your body to the proper time zone. I love to eat so this was going to be a challenge, but, other than a little snack in the afternoon, I pretty much stuck to the plan. I was starved when we landed! But I think it worked because other than being tired, I had a huge breakfast and was on the right schedule from the day I got there.

This was my first trip to Le Mans. So many people told me what to expect, but it was beyond anything I imagined. The sheer number of fans and the devotion they have to racing is unmatched anywhere I have raced. The track is huge and fast with more elevation than I expected. My first laps ever on track were in the wet and the second time out was in the dark, so really my first dry laps in daylight were after the race started, a tough initiation.

We had a great car – my teammate Jörg Bergmeister put it on pole and we were having a great run. Unfortunately, after running all night, I got in at sun-up during a yellow flag condition and was flat out down the Mulsanne straight trying to catch the field when I got into oil at the first chicane in the brake zone. Once I hit that it was over; I couldn’t stop and went straight into the tires. Obviously this isn’t how I wanted to finish my first run at Le Mans, but it was still an unbelievable experience and I can’t wait to go back and try it again.

Monday after the race, our entire race team stayed in Paris and all went to
dinner together. It’s nice to relax with everyone without the stress of the race. We had a few drinks and got the chance to let loose for a while. I also got to spend the next four days being a tourist in Paris with my family and seeing all of the sights. We had a great time and it was nice to relax and enjoy the city. It’s not very often that I get a chance to do that – I usually arrive at an airport, go straight to the track and then go home.

The last portion of my trip was straight to Mid Ohio for the next Rolex Series race with Brumos. I was tired when I got there, a little sore from the incident in Le Mans, but otherwise felt good. That all changed on race day. I think I brought home some kind of French flu. Whatever it was, I lost my voice and was starting to feel bad. In our pre-race meeting, we discussed how we were going to communicate about the car condition, when to pit and adjustments to the car during the race since I lost my voice.
A flu picked up in France left Darren and his Brumos team using hand and data signals at Mid-Ohio to make up for his lack of a voice! (LAT) » More Photos

We worked out signals to acknowledge back to the pit box with our alarm reset button since the team could see this on the telemetry. One click for yes and two clicks for no. It actually worked out pretty well and it kept the chatter down on the radio. I led the race for awhile during my stint and David was also running in the top five until the last 45 minutes. He got moved a little wide and we lost a few spots, but we are feeling more and more confident with the changes to the car and we are getting a handle on the setup.

Our next race is the Brumos 250 at Daytona. We are returning to Daytona where we won the 24-hour at the start of the season and we always run well there, so I am looking forward to a good start to the second half of the season.

~Darren

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

Rolex 24 At Daytona winner Darren Law has been racing in multiple sports-car series since 1997. He continues to be the man for all series, entering more than 20 races in three countries this year, driving Daytona Prototype and GT Porsche race cars. On several weekends, he'll commute between tracks, alternating stints in the No. 58 Brumos Racing Porsche-powered Riley in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and in the No. 44 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in the American Le Mans Series.

Darren has started more Rolex Series races than any other driver (112 through 2008). His credits include the 2001 GT championship, runner-up in the Sports Racer Prototype II class in 2002 and this year's Rolex 24 win. He is always a top contender in the prestigious Porsche Cup, with a close second in 2007.

Learn more about Darren at DarrenLaw.com, his safety and performance equipment sponsor CDOC at CDOC.com, and his safety enhancement gear partners at ShockDoctor.com.
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