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LE MANS: Pruett’s Thursday Trackside Blog
Written by: Marshall Pruett   
06/12/2008
Le Mans, France
 
The #6 Courage-Oreca: where black cats go to die. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos


Olivier Panis: Cat Assassin.

F1 race winner Olivier Panis returned his Courage Oreca LMP1 car back to the pits during Wednesday’s qualifying with a rather unpleasant object stuck in the wheel well: the remains of a black cat that (unsuccessfully) attempted to run across the track in front of him on the Mulsanne Straight. Racecar Engineering’s Sam Collins interviewed Panis’ engineer when the full details of Olivier’s cat trampling came to light.

Panis called over the radio and said “I have hit a cat.”

The technical director came back instantly with “was it a black cat?”

Panis replied: “actually, yes it was.”

How do they know it was a cat? “We know it was a black cat because we found a black tail in the car…”

Protests from PETA have yet to take place, and despite the unfortunate costs to the team with the mild bodywork damage that was suffered, the most unfortunate result of this messy accident fell to the poor crew member tasked with extracting the remains of ex-feline from under the prototype.

I don’t know his name, but somebody owes him a beer.

Peugeot Aren’t Counting Their Chickens Quite Yet.

Speaking with Peugeot’s Technical Director Bruno Famin today, the 908 team aren’t nearly as confident about their fortunes in the race. “We did a few endurance tests,” Famin said, “ but they….they didn’t go as we planned.” Famin had been looking me in the eye up to the point where I asked about the endurance tests. That wasn’t the case after I’d raised what was apparently a touchy subject.
Many consider the pole-sitting Peugeot 908's to be fast but fragile. Count their technical director amongst those that aren't quite convinced about their ability to endure 24 straight hours of competition. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

Pressed further, Famin admitted “We did not finish those tests. For sure we do not have the good feeling we want coming into the race.”

Bruno is a genuine guy—no pretense, and no filler. Some people like to play down their chances to the media to intentional influence the public’s perception, but Famin’s concerns for Peugeot’s reliability were both honest and weighing on him visibly.

Equal
Spec for Audi in 2008

The #3 car of Lucas Luhr, Alexandre Premat, and Mike Rockenfeller will be on identical specification with its sisters cars this year—a major difference from 2007.
Mike Rockenfeller and his two teammates will have an equal shot at success in 2008, a notable difference from their 2007 chances. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

The reason for the difference are still unexplained, but the Audi R10 ‘young drivers’ entry last year was rumored to be nearly 75 horsepower down on its R20 brethren. Looking at their relative lack of pace to the more established drivers and cars in the P1 category, it now makes sense why skilled chargers like the ‘youngsters’ were off the pace.

I can’t wait to see what they’ll be able to do this year will all an equal share of ponies to draw from.

And the Unintentional Comedy Award Goes to…

The commentators at Eurosport while describing Hideki Noda’s massive crash in the Lola-Mazda last night.

In the immediate aftermath of his impact, a nameless broadcaster proclaimed: “And that looks like an unconscious driver, they won’t touch him…thankfully Hideki was in the car…”

Noda might not have distinguished himself in F1, but there’s no reason to be that mean, Eurosport…

Let the Hijinks Begin.

You’d think they were Le Mans rookies, rather than men who own a combined eight 24 hour victories between them. Teammates Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish walked out to their car at the end of the day on Tuesday to find their transportation on the far end of odiferous.

A certain Mr. Premat, driver of the #3 Audi, snatched their keys and lobbed an over-ripe banana in their car in the morning. After a full day of it stewing in the heat and humidity, TK an Nishy were bowled over by the smell after they opened the door.

Not to be outdone, the Audi veterans returned the inconvenience by covering Premat’s windshield with whipped cream. Premat, not to be deterred, upped the ante this morning.

It seems the vets had a hard time making their way to the track. Apparently, one’s car needs all four wheels bolted to the hub, rather than sitting beneath the car…
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