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Written by Rowan Horncastle
It"s during the night where you see people"s true colours at Le Mans. As soon as the sun goes down, the circuit has a new heartbeat to accompany the incessant and never-ending wailing of race car engines: wobbing Euro dance music. Um-tah, um-tah, um-tah" pulsates from motorhomes, boomboxes and basically anything with a 3mm jack as the iconic Ferris wheel spins and hardcore fans (the types that have the Circuit de la Sarthe tattooed on both their own fleshy rear bumper, as well as their cars) intravenously feed their veins with caffeinated fluids in an attempt to keep their eyes open. Others tap out. A moment"s sleep is snatched at every opportunity, regardless of the bed"s integrity. Snoring six-foot maggots sleep next to the track cocooned in sleeping bags as any shut-eye is sort and earfuls of engine racket fill their heads. Same goes in the pits. Any sleep is rustled up as and when it can be, and it"s far from glamorous as team members seek anything with some sort of support to lean up against and catch some Zzzs. The night has also been challenging for the drivers too. Although it"s been dry, the track temperature has really tested the Michelin tyre compounds so even the softest compounds have had to be worked hard to putty up and offer grip. But there"s bad news if you"ve wanted to wake up to some smashy-smashy YouTube virals like years of old. Overall, the racing has been clean with no massive mistakes. Yes, there have been a few trips to the gravel, some cars have given up and gone pop, but the now staple LMP1 electrical gremlins have been rearing their head once again. The #1 Porsche that owned so much of the start of the race has been plagued with issues. It ran so competitively under sunlight, but as soon as the big guy in the sky switched the lights off, it"s had many excruciating hours in the garage. It finally rejoined the race with Brendon Hartley behind the wheel after a two-and-a-half hour long repair to change a water pump and was cast back into the race in 53rd, and down 39 laps. Meanwhile, its sister #2 car has been fighting all night with the pesky Toyotas. The #6 Toyota and Kamui Kobayashi ran out front for most of the night, but a longer-than-planned pit stop for the Toyota due to some damage allowed Romain Dumas to leapfrog them. But all could change again as both marques are still within spitting distance of each other. Over the course of the last few hours, there have also been some truly heroic feats of human endurance. People like Nicki Thiim, Aston Martin"s amazingly haired driver who quadruple stinted his the #95 Aston Martin to help bring them in line with the Fords and Ferraris. And a big Top Gear shout out goes to the #84 Morgan, this year"s Garage 56 entry. The car is interesting because it"s running on Bio-Methane, but behind the wheel is quadruple amputee Frederic Sausset who has already done three stints and is currently running in 49th. Now, if you"re wondering how the fittingly fighty Ferrari/Ford tribute is going, we can confirm it"s still electric racing to watch. The Ferrari"s have been more dominant throughout the night, but Ford has eaten massively into Risi Competizione"s GTE lead when the Ferrari team replaced its brakes in the 15th hour.Giancarlo Fisichella ended the previous hour with a ninety-second lead but that was reduced to just over half a minute when his 488 pitted. Bespectacled Bourdais made the most of it and briefly moved into the lead when Fisichella stopped. While the #69 Ford holds third place but Scott Dixon is two minutes behind and slightly out of sync on its stops.Where will it go from here? Nobody knows. But we can"t wait to find out. Stay tuned for more updates shortly.
Date written: 19 Jun 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3905
It"s during the night where you see people"s true colours at Le Mans. As soon as the sun goes down, the circuit has a new heartbeat to accompany the incessant and never-ending wailing of race car engines: wobbing Euro dance music. Um-tah, um-tah, um-tah" pulsates from motorhomes, boomboxes and basically anything with a 3mm jack as the iconic Ferris wheel spins and hardcore fans (the types that have the Circuit de la Sarthe tattooed on both their own fleshy rear bumper, as well as their cars) intravenously feed their veins with caffeinated fluids in an attempt to keep their eyes open. Others tap out. A moment"s sleep is snatched at every opportunity, regardless of the bed"s integrity. Snoring six-foot maggots sleep next to the track cocooned in sleeping bags as any shut-eye is sort and earfuls of engine racket fill their heads. Same goes in the pits. Any sleep is rustled up as and when it can be, and it"s far from glamorous as team members seek anything with some sort of support to lean up against and catch some Zzzs. The night has also been challenging for the drivers too. Although it"s been dry, the track temperature has really tested the Michelin tyre compounds so even the softest compounds have had to be worked hard to putty up and offer grip. But there"s bad news if you"ve wanted to wake up to some smashy-smashy YouTube virals like years of old. Overall, the racing has been clean with no massive mistakes. Yes, there have been a few trips to the gravel, some cars have given up and gone pop, but the now staple LMP1 electrical gremlins have been rearing their head once again. The #1 Porsche that owned so much of the start of the race has been plagued with issues. It ran so competitively under sunlight, but as soon as the big guy in the sky switched the lights off, it"s had many excruciating hours in the garage. It finally rejoined the race with Brendon Hartley behind the wheel after a two-and-a-half hour long repair to change a water pump and was cast back into the race in 53rd, and down 39 laps. Meanwhile, its sister #2 car has been fighting all night with the pesky Toyotas. The #6 Toyota and Kamui Kobayashi ran out front for most of the night, but a longer-than-planned pit stop for the Toyota due to some damage allowed Romain Dumas to leapfrog them. But all could change again as both marques are still within spitting distance of each other. Over the course of the last few hours, there have also been some truly heroic feats of human endurance. People like Nicki Thiim, Aston Martin"s amazingly haired driver who quadruple stinted his the #95 Aston Martin to help bring them in line with the Fords and Ferraris. And a big Top Gear shout out goes to the #84 Morgan, this year"s Garage 56 entry. The car is interesting because it"s running on Bio-Methane, but behind the wheel is quadruple amputee Frederic Sausset who has already done three stints and is currently running in 49th. Now, if you"re wondering how the fittingly fighty Ferrari/Ford tribute is going, we can confirm it"s still electric racing to watch. The Ferrari"s have been more dominant throughout the night, but Ford has eaten massively into Risi Competizione"s GTE lead when the Ferrari team replaced its brakes in the 15th hour.Giancarlo Fisichella ended the previous hour with a ninety-second lead but that was reduced to just over half a minute when his 488 pitted. Bespectacled Bourdais made the most of it and briefly moved into the lead when Fisichella stopped. While the #69 Ford holds third place but Scott Dixon is two minutes behind and slightly out of sync on its stops.Where will it go from here? Nobody knows. But we can"t wait to find out. Stay tuned for more updates shortly.
Date written: 19 Jun 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3905
