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So to give you all a little background, I’ve been going to race tracks ever since I can remember. I have spent my weekends at Killarney International raceway for the majority of my 23 years and the other weekends were spent in the bush racing quads. So naturally it comes to pass that I have a big passion for motorsport! Having been to two Formula 1 Grand Prix’s in my life I have been fortunate enough to witness the V10  Formula One cars in 1998 and 2005. However I had never seen an LMP1 car in my life. After playing the 24 hour races on Gran Turismo (Nurburgring and Circuit de la Sarthe) it was my dream to drive on the Nurburgring Nordschleife and witness the Le Mans 24 hour.

So imagine my surprise at being told I would be able to do both things in one week thanks to Porsche Club Central and courtesy of my dad! I checked the dates to see if I would graduate before the trip and to my luck I was in the green! For once University would not deprive me of a motorsport experience!

The date was set: 15 June 2016, my father and I would depart for Le Mans.

The Preparation:

Now you would think as men there would be very little preparation required. Oh how wrong a thought that is! After much deliberation over rear wheel drive or front wheel drive a Suzuki Swift cup car was hired for the Nordschleife (I think my father was being nice seeing as he drives the RWD Porsche and I drive the FWD Polo race car, giving me the slight advantage, what a nice guy hey?). All that was left was to get some practice so a simulation night was set up where we fired up the PlayStation, put in Gran Turismo 6 and built ourselves a Suzuki Swift Cup car akin to what we would be driving. Three hours of driving on the PlayStation and we were satisfied we would get under 10 minute lap times in  the 100kw car!

And so as I finished my last exam I would ever (hopefully) write I entered the longest week of my life: waiting for the 15th of June.

The Departure:

The day had arrived and we were absolutely revving to go. Funnily enough there were only three Porsche Club members from the Cape Town chapter and everyone else was meeting up in Johannesburg. A few hours passed and then the Whatsapp group started going off; “The bar is open and the whisky is on tap!  It was to be our first encounter with the Durbanites and what an encounter it was! The first of MANY drinks were had as introductions were made and our special Porsche Club South Africa jackets and back packs were handed out. A quick 10 hour flight and then the entire crew came together in an empty Charles De Gaulle’s airport.

We were a group of around 42 and we had met up with our tour guide Johan van Veelen of F1 Grand Prix Tours, proudly waving the South African flag. After a few minutes of a little chit chat and organization we marched out to our impressive tour bus and set off into…peak hour traffic in Paris.

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Day one:

So the day started as all days after long haul flights do: with a nap on the bus.  The bar had been opened at the back of the bus and the whisky had started flowing…and this became the trend. You want a drink? Back of the bus you go! Unfortunately France doesn’t believe in an Engen 1 Stop every 50 Kms so the bladders were put to the test and our steady speed of 2 Km/h was not helping the issue.

Luckily we had the knowledgeable Brian White on hand to regale us with stories of his days managing a team at the Le Mans 24 Hours back in the group C days. To hear about the technicalities and the immense preparation that goes into a 24 hour race and indeed running a 935 is nothing short of amazing. It was also great to talk about intricate car setup with a Tarlton Raceway legend! Any young racing driver can learn a thing or two about setup and I was quite happy to affirm that some of my thoughts were indeed correct!

It was a four hour drive and eventually we arrived at our Hotel in the Town of Le Mans. Now we all knew this hotel was not the Burj al Arab. But it was still comedically small. Two single beds took up all the space in the room and the bath room was big enough for one person in its entirety.

1.1: Small French rooms means no space for baggage.

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We received our passes and then proceeded to take the half hour long trip to the track via tram.

Figure 2 Entry to Le Mans

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 Upon arrival we walked...and walked…and really we just learnt that 17 km of walking a day would be our lives for the next four days. So after walking past countless shops full of racing memorabilia and model cars and restaurants we finally arrived at our trackside hospitality suite right next to the Porsche

Experience Centre at the entry to the main straight at the end of the Porsche Curves.

Figure 3 Porsche Centre

We were very impressed. The organisers had really outdone themselves.  The deal included:

Drinks in the suite

Three course meals over the entire day

A full LMP2 race simulator

Shuttle service to the various corners of the circuit

And of course a view of the pit entry, two chicanes and the main straight.. On arrival we were allowed to bare witness to the LMP3 and GT3 support race practice session. These cars are not the full blown Le Mans cars but a slower class and interestingly enough the 911 GT3R was one of the favorites to win outright the following day! We were surprised to find out that the LMP3 cars are slower than the tin top GT3 entries! And believe me the Mentos Sponsored GT3 was showing those 458 GT3s and SLS AMG GT3s a thing or two!

Figure 4:  Porsche 911 GT3R – not an RSR but more of a sprint car.

Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 5: Specs of the 911 GT3R

Figure 6: That ass...

Then came the main event: Qualifying. Now we all knew that it was going to rain because the weather forecast had been closely monitored. So when night fell and the rain poured down we hightailed it to the main straight and watched LMP1 cars in action. There really is nothing like a 900 HP Porsche sliding in the rain onto a main straight – in the wet.

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Alas the qualifying session was red flagged and we had to trundle our way home through mud and got to snicker at the people camping at the track -  which is a sight in itself because  it is rare to see a Telsa and Jaguar in grass with a full blown camping tent pitched alongside. I kid you not Europeans like to use supercars to drive up grass hills and pitch tents at weird angles! Not an SUV in sight!

Then at 1 in the morning we climbed into bed and prepared for the second day of our adventure.

Day 2:

Today was a rest day. The Durbanites decided to head to Paris while the rest of us did the pit walk and looked around at some of the hot property at the track (cars gents, cars!!). It was quite interesting to note that all the cars on the grid were being stripped and worked on. An LMP1 and LMP2 car are surprisingly small cars!

Figure 7: The Toyota LMP1 being worked on.

Now the one thing we all noticed was how busy every single team was frantically working on their cars. All except one team…

Figure 8: The least busy team on the grid, the winning car.

That team is of course Porsche. With the cockpit just standing in the Pit garage sans suspension, engine, gearbox, body panels or anything worth substance and only one man on a laptop Porsche really was showing their confidence. Remember this car was supposed to race in less than 24 hours…for 24 hours. And this car went on to win the race. Nothing short of impressive!

Of course we couldn’t help but marvel at the other brands and especially the Gulf Porsche!

Figure 9: Really I loved this RSR

Figure 10: Factory Porsche GT3 RSR stripped to the bare bones. Now you know what the floor plan of your 911 looks like!

Then it was time for a walk on the track up to the iconic Dunlop Bridge. The little straight is a lot steeper than it looks however the 458 GT3 support cars were on hand to provide that little extra motivation to get up the hill! They look like a road going 458 and sound like a road going 458 but just a little more extreme. The 458 being one of the few naturally aspirated cars on the track (the others being the GT3, Corvette and Aston Martin) it was one of the highlight cars to watch and listen to, as I’m not such a fan of this turbo revolution!

The trophy is massive and the bridge is very reminiscent of the Goodyear Bridge at Killarney. You do feel as if you have reached motorsport mecca standing at that bridge!

Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 11: This trophy really makes the Webb Ellis trophy look a bit tiny

Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 12: Dad and I really did enjoy the view

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After the track it was time for a few Museums and seeing a lot of old American muscle. It really is impressive to see the cars that America sent over the pond. That is until one looks at the history and note that most of the cars only lasted a maximum of four hours into the race. Seems they fixed that problem with the 2015 ‘Vette and 2016 GT.

After the prerequisite 17 Kms of walking was completed we hit the road to meet up with the Durbanites in the lovely town of Le Mans for the Drivers Parade and then a long night of food and drink to cap the day off. We had to prepare for our next 24 hours of flat out racing with lots of rest and an early night…2  o’clock in the morning is early enough right?

Day 3 and 4, Race Day

The day started off at 06:30. Four and a half hours of sleep was surely enough for most of us to last the full 24 Hours. The tram ride to the track was a struggle for some but for most the excitement of seeing a legendary race was hangover cure enough. The day started off with a sunny all 458 GT3 race which we decided to view from the  outside corner before the Dunlop Bridge. I can really recommend this corner as a viewing point as it was one of the best all weekend. After that race was completed the GT3 and LMP3 race kicked off and surprise surprise the Mentos 911 GT3R was leading the 458 and SLS GT3s! The Porsche Club was going nuts!

Until ofcourse the Porsche got given a drive through penalty for overtaking a back marker under yellow. It was dissapointing but nonetheless he fought back and was awarded third! Good show Mentos Porsche!

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We were then treated to a grid walk to meet some of the drivers and teams just a half hour before the race. It was very interesting to meet some of the guys…and girls ofcourse.

Figure 13: Ines Tattinger is quite the LMP2 driver

 

Figure 14: I'm quite the fan of the Weathertec team!

By this time the dark rain clouds had started rolling in and their menacing presence was known. We prayed for a dry start but as you know it was not meant to be as a start behind the safety car occurred for the first time in many years at the 24 Heures du Mans.

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However the rain subsided quickly and we were treated to an epic race. The best I have ever seen. Now to be fair the LMP1 cars are hugely impressive. They make GTE Pro cars look like a naturally aspirated diesel  1.2L Peugeot and make LPM2 cars look like your average race car. Considering we saw the LMP1 cars overtake the GTE Pro Cars on the outside of Tetre Rouge at Night you can imagine the speed difference.

Figure 15: View from the Dunlop bridge

Funnily enough though, despite the immense speed of the LMP1 cars, they were quite boring compared to the GTE Pro and GTE Am cars. They are completely silent. The Audi makes zero noise whereas the Porsche makes some noise. The hybrid turbo cars have very little sound and this does take away from the spectacle.

The GT cars on the other hand are much more relatable and exciting to watch. The GTE Pro Class had 911s, Ford GTs, Ferrari 488s, Corvettes and Aston Martins.  Three of those cars are naturally aspirated. And three of those cars sound good. And the best are the Porsche, Vette and Ford. The Ferrari makes no sound. The Aston is a very dull sound for a V8. The Vette sounds like a Wesbank modified, the 911 is typical orgasm noises and the Ford has the most exquisite downshift noise this side of turbo charging.

Of course GTE Am had the 458 and GT3 duking it out for 24 Hours so you can imagine the gees in the hospitality tent while watching that event unfold!

Even better was the fact that the Pro 911 car was in the lead for the initial 4 hours of the race. Would Porsche show the world that a naturally aspirated 4 litre flat six can still show a turbocharged 4 litre V8 what for? It looked that way…until our hopes were dashed against the rocks and Porsche lost the lead. The gees left a bit then and our attention was turned back to the LMP1 dice between Toyota and Porsche. 

So we decided to go visit a few corners of the track using the shuttle service provided. We went to see the first chicane on the 6 Km long Mulsanne Straight, Tetre Rouge, Indianapolis and Arnage. Unfortunately we were only able to stay at each corner for 15 minutes at a time but it was a well worth it 15 minutes! Tetre Rouge must’ve been special because we stayed there for a full hour!

Figure 16: Myself with the 919

Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 17: Le Mans at night

Figure 18: Ian Harries and Jean Lopez at the Main Straight

 To cut a 24 Hour long story short, we stayed up for the majority of the race, watching 19 hours of the 24 and visiting museums in the very few lulls of the race. By the last hour everyone was pretty much resigned to the fact that Porsche would come second and Toyota would win. And then it happened.

“Impossible! IMPOSSIBLE!” We heard the commentator go nuts. What was impossible? What had happened? The Toyota had stopped? Why? What happened? Oh the entire Porsche Experience centre is alive with white flags! The grand stand is just Porsche! Porsche will win Le Mans! It was bitter sweet of course. We all wanted Porsche to win….but not like that. I don’t think even Porsche wanted to win like that. And the actions of the drivers showed that. It’s very good to see respect between professional drivers as a young person and even better to see the professional attitude of all those involved. It really does show what good racing is all about.

And with that our Le Mans journey came to an end. It was time for Germany.

Nurburgring Nordschleife and beyond

Now to be absolutely honest Germany was an exciting prospect for many of us. We would see the Porsche Factory, Museum, we would see the Concord and Tupolev supersonic passenger jets and we would see a number of fast racing cars in the Mercedes and Sinsheim museums.

However for me Germany was only really about the Nurburgring. So forgive me as I leave a few pictures about the rest of the trip and focus on this 20.8 Km track with 40 Right hand corners and 33 Left hand corners. And of course the hotel, and Museum.  Basically I want to go again and will fly to Germany specifically for this track.

So coming from France to Germany we were then sat on a bus and driven to Nurburgring from Dusseldorf. It is a beautiful drive and Germany must be one the greenest countries ever. So on arrival to our Hotel we noticed several things.

Our hotel was MUCH bigger than our hotel in France. The rooms are basically apartments.

Figure 19: Rooms at the Nurburgring hotel

This hotel is a motorsport landmark in my mind. The room has the F1 track drawn into the carpet. Heck the breakfast room is on the main straight of the F1 circuit!

Figure 20: Breakfast room of the Nurburgring hotel on the Main Straight of the F1 circuit.

And every single floor of the Hotel had a race car on it, while the bar had a MotoGp bike hanging from the roof.

 

Figure 21: A hanging MotoGP bike and Race car inside the hotel

Now the problem was we had booked the track for the day we arrived. My dad and I were zoning ourselves in for the mammoth task ahead of us. A couple of the Durbanites and our good friend Ian Harries from Cape Town would be joining us in our pursuit for sub 10 minute lap times. And then the rain started. Mind you the rain wasn’t too bad. Just a light drizzle. And I had raced once or twice in the wet so I wasn’t too nervous…or I wouldn’t be if this wasn’t the Green Hell. And there was a 5000 euro penalty if I binned the car. So no pressure! But we came to Germany and we wanted to drive racing cars on the biggest track in the world. Rain be damned!

We kitted up (we put on borrowed helmets and our own track shoes) and headed out. We got to choose from an extensive list of Cup cars…I got black and gold, dad got pink and black.

We hired an instructor for two laps each. Somehow mine decided he would disappear so my first two laps on the Nordschleife would be alone and in the wet with only Gran Turismo as a reference. Pops got the racing driver instructor and so his first two laps were a little less nerve wrecking than mine.

But it must be said the PlayStation wasn’t too far off. The elevation changes cannot be seen properly in the game and the curbs are absolutely gigantic in real life (do NOT use them as apexes) but other than that the game did prepare me somewhat.

With traction control engaged and only using it on corner exit to minimize wheel spin the car handled perfectly! The track is amazing and the speeds this little 100 KW car can carry through a corner is astounding. The rear wheel drive cars were struggling on the track and so a Carrera 4S and a GT3 RS 997 fell to the hands of the little Suzuki! And then the little Suzuki was absolutely left standing still by the M3 ring taxi. I enter a corner relatively quickly…only to see this M3 with 3 passengers come around my outside sideways, rear wheels over the white line sliding in the wet and disappearing into the distance. Makes you see the huge difference between a ring veteran and novice!

However then on the second lap I was treated to a surprise. I knew from the PlayStation there is a particular third gear corner which is very difficult to predict as the previous 5th gear corner looks almost identical and it is very easy to go into the wall. Luckily I remembered this. The man in the Renault Megane RS in front of me did not. And so I was treated to the sight of the crumpled bumper of a French car and a red flag at the end of my lap.

The track was then closed for an hour for repair of Armco barriers and car retrieval. The opportunity was taken to exchange notes with the rest of the Porsche Club guys. All said it was the best experience of their lives and no other track will live up to it. They will all be back. However we all still had 2 laps left.

And the rain then really poured. But the money had been paid and the instructor was keen so with windscreen wipers on full blast we set off. Immediately the instructor made me faster. I cannot stress enough how useful this man was. And he really tells you to brake late, none of this brake early for safety nonsense, he means brake LATE. In the end we got just over 10 minutes, but in the wet I’d say it’s a pretty good effort. The dry is for next time eh?

And then we got to see the museum. Oh there were lots of highlights including the Sauber C9, Audi Quattro V8 DTM, Opel Calibra Touring Car and all manner of F1 cars.

But I must say meeting Michael Schumacher was definitely one of the best things I’ve done!

Figure 22: Michael Schumacher is a great guy hey.

The Verdict?

Well the verdict of this trip is that it is something every petrol head must do if possible. From watching the greatest race on earth (it MUST be done live the TV doesn’t portray it well at all) to driving on the greatest track on earth I must say this 23 year old had a blast. And was definitely shown that the party really starts when you are 40 - at the back of the bus!

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 23 The Hospitality tent

 

Figure 24 The food really was that great