Apparently here at No Fenders, I seem to
enjoy doing stories in triplicate, which is somewhat scary since after all the
number three was made famous by thee ‘Man in Black, NO! NOT Johnny Cash or the
wishful Senor Gentilozzi, but instead by ‘Ol Ironhead, (Senior) aka Dale Earnhardt,
thy original Intimidator! Although the number was also successfully flown by
The Thrill from the West Hill, nee the effervescent ‘PT, better known as Paul
Tracy or Mr. Chrome Horn victoriously to his 2003 CART/Champ Car championship.
Whilst another NOT so famous or liked
character, fondly referred to as GOOFY here at No Fenders also prominently
drove the No. 3 in his later Dazes, as I think he even won a further Trans Am
title during the Jaguar SJR days? As Paul ‘GOOFY Gentilozzi will forever be known as part scourge for dumping ‘TAG
from his cockamamie R-Sports affair, not to mention being one of the four
ChumpCarz Mouseketeerz! Ah but I digress - as where did all of this angst
suddenly arise from, eh?
While today I'm
very happy with the latest Gran Primo Piloto to have chosen thy number three,
as in a one Daniel "Ricky" Ricciardo...
Hence back to the subject at hand, as I'd
just finished watching seven tiny vignettes of six hours ‘O Memorex, (When I
could still utilize my 'Ol School VCR, which I've subsequently Goobered Up the
recording channel; URGH!) having taped one-quarter of last year’s 24 Heurs du
Mans coverage upon thy then soon to be DEAD SPEED channel; as Marshall Pruett (now
at Racer) apparently was spot-on with his article titled: Why Toyota won’t win
at Le Mans
And interestingly, SPEED’s ‘B-Team trio of
announcers led by Brian till with Scott Pruett and Darren Law saw a very short
haircut Pruett tossing out the statistic that out of the 20 ex-F1 drivers in
the field, 41% were contesting the GTE-Pro ranks with its five manufacturer
teams jousting for top honours.
This along with the reminder that Ryan
Briscoe was taking part before hearing a past IndyCar driver’s name, a la
Bertrand Mmm-Mmm Sandwiches Baguette made me ponder just how many IndyCar Boyz
were in the field? A la reverse of Gran Primo Piloto’s.
INDYCAR DRIVERS
(#12) LMP1: Neil Jani. (Champ
Car)
(#26) LMP2: Mike Conway.
(#33) LMP2: Ryan Briscoe.
(#35) LMP2: Bertrand Baguette.
(#35) LMP2: Martin “Plowie” Plowman. (Indy Lights;
IndyCar)
(#36) LMP2: Tristan Gommendy. (Champ
Car)
(#49) LMP2: Nicolas Minassian. (CART)
(#53) LMGTE-Pro: Ryan ‘Razzle-Dazzle
Dalziel. (Champ Car)
(#73) LMGTE-Pro: Jan MAGS’ Magnessen. (CART)
2013: 81st running of Le Mans Postscript
As perhaps it was just Mwah, but I found it somewhat ‘Cornfuzing at first as I’d
originally penciled-in that it was the
90th running of Le Mans, yet changed this correctly, as I finally
heard Bob Varsha proclaim it was the 90th Anniversary, yet only 81st
running due to two ‘lil World Wars getting in the way...
Ironically, SPEED’s opening segment narrated
by Sam Posey must have been somewhat haunting as Posey mentioned how safe
today’s cars are prior to the 30min Pre-race preamble... As we all know the
unfortunate fate of Allan
Simonsen; as one of SPEED’s lead announcers, either
Calvin Fish or more likely Dorsey Schroeder? Commented on how tricky the Tetra Rouge
corner is in the wet, where the pavement’s white line becomes ‘Uber slick -
mentioning “Rocky’s, aka Mike Rockenfeler’s ‘Gynormous shunt there aboard his
Audi a few years ago also in the rain.
Also mentioned whas how unusual it was to see
the roof panel structure twisted which indicates how much the chassis’s frame
had buckled in the horrendous crash, as surely the No. 95 was the leading candidate
for victory in its respective GT class for the factory backed Aston Martin
concern who were celebrating their 100th Anniversary...
Afterwards, I had a horrendous time staying
focused and being able to sit still for the remainder of my six hours 'O
Memorex, while trying to watch my cobbled together taped coverage of said race,
although I did enjoy the in-car camera footage of the “SLOW” Corvette C6R’s
along with an LMP2 4.0-liter Nissan V-8 as the audible note was quite a
contrast from the throaty 5.0-liter 90-degree Good ‘Ol American ‘Chebbie V-8
vs. the sewing machine like Japanese ‘lump...
Word of the day went
to Dr. Wolfgang Ulrich who told Greg Kramer for ‘Gawds Sake lad, its an E-electronic
Generator; now ‘Bugger Off!
Dorsey Schroeder revealed something unknown
to Mwah over the ensuing lengthy repair job Audi performed upon its stricken
No. 1 two-time defending 24hrs winner by claiming that many vehicles, for
instance the Corvettes typically run one alternator off of the engine and a
second back-up unit separately off of the car’s driveline; want to say he
mentioned the driveshaft but not sure if that’s correct? As I also thought he’d
mentioned something about the rear wheels.
And in a case of somewhat self imposed symmetry,
Dr. McDreamy was once again back at le Circuit de la Sarthe, making his second
entry in the race, this time aboard a LMGTE-AM Porsche 911RSR which just so
happened to be the only all American driver line-up in the event. With longtime
racing partner Joe Foster and Porsche Factory ‘Hotschue Patrick Long as
co-drivers, as Patrick Dempsey got lots of ‘Face-time with SPEED’s Jamie Howe,
along with several looks at him getting the chrome horn treatment from an
offending LMP2 racecar!
As Dempsey's on my proverbial radar for flying the
flag for Team Seattle along with raising funds for Seattle's Childrens
Hospital...
Otay, back to the tape... NOT! As I actually
gave up some 4.5hrs into I-T since I was running up against my own internal No
Fenders clock of watching thy Telie' too much; Hya! As the race simply would be
overshadowed by the unfortunate death of Simonsen...
Thus, with the two-time defending champions
No. 1 Audi now quite off the pace, who would the eventual victory fall to? Uhm,
if you're still reading, then Yuhs know I somewhat gave the results away with
the title of this post, as not surprisingly, once again it was Audi upon the
podium's Top-step.
This time being the No. 2 R18 E-Tron Quattro piloted by thee "Scottish Terrier," (Allan McNish) "Mr. Le Mans" (Tom Kristensen) and new co- driver Loïc Duval, who indeed replaced Dindo Capello en route to enjoying his maiden Le Mans victory - whilst Kristensen stretched his amazing record for victories at le Circuit de la Sarthe to an astounding nine!
Yet unlike the year prior, the Toyota's were
far more reliable with both entries not only finishing, but taking second and
fourth in Sports Cars most important race, while the remaining two Audi's finished third and
fifth, which should set-up a most enjoyable battle royale for the fast
approaching 82nd running of le 24 Heurs du Mans this weekend. (June 14-15)