Le Mans 2011 – Live and in person

This year we were extremely fortunate to have the chance to attend the 24 hours of Le Mans, which is a lifelong dream come true. For us, this year’s race was especially important to focus on, since Audi were running an all new race car, the all new R18TDI diesel. This new car emphasizes lightweight construction and a smaller diesel engine for efficiency and great speed on the race track. It is the first closed cockpit racing car for Audi since the original R8, and to our eyes, it is spectacularly beautiful.

Given Audi’s recent history at Le Mans (more or less outright domination give or take a few off years), interest in the Audi brand is huge here. Audi have an enormous presence at the Circuit de la Sarthe, with massive signage and hospitality suites, as well as sponsoring large areas of the infield including a majestic tower which is erected near the paddock. For Audi brand loyalists, it’s a very comfortable place to be for sure.

Our first taste of the spectacle that is Le Mans was the Audi team press conference, which naturally is held at the circuit, in one of Audi’s hospitality areas (the Audi Arena, which is located at the entrance to the Ford chicanes and also the pit entry). What was amazing to us was the general mass of humanity we encountered on the way in, and for the whole duration of our time at the track. It’s safe to say that the 24 Hours of Le Mans draws a HUGE crowd.

After the press conference, we headed into the historic city of Le Mans for the traditional driver’s parade. From the various viewing areas we visited, it looked like there were tens of thousands of people filling the area around the majestic Cathédrale St-Julien in the center of Le Mans. As the featured parade vehicles filled the parking lot at the cathedral, more and more excited people began to line the streets. Once the parade began, one would rightfully imagine that every single person in all of France was present to cheer for their favorite driver, and hope to catch some of the swag that was being tossed to the spectators. The brave racing drivers are hugely popular here, and the Audi team drivers are always crowd favorites.

The morning of the race, we arrived at the track early to get our bearings, and wander around to see the sights before we became distracted by the racing. The infield area is absolutely overflowing with souvenir vendors, racing team outlets, fan experience activities, food and drink, other kinds of entertainment, and naturally, people. It is a good idea to bring a large but mostly empty backpack here, as it’s possible to fill it with all of the goodies one can buy from the team shops.

A large part of what makes sports car racing so appealing to so many fans is the accessibility to the teams. With the correct level of ticket purchased, spectators are allowed to roam the paddock area, as well as take a pit walk prior to the start of the race. This is a phenomenal experience, as it affords the ability to get very close to the teams as they prepare the cars for the race. We found ourselves mesmerized by the going on in the Audi garage. The R18 is a very beautiful race car, and we were hard pressed to walk away from it.

But alas, we were here for the race, so we eventually departed the pits and began the short trek from the paddock area to the Audi Terrace at the Dunlop curves. After scoping out all of the various areas we had access to (because of the last minute nature of our trip, we did not have sufficient time to apply for media credentials, so our access was limited) we picked the Audi Terrace as our hang out location. Turns out, this was an excellent viewing point for the start of the race, as the cars rocket down the front straightaway and into the Dunlop chicane.

Before we knew it, national anthems had been played, military jets performed a flyover trailing red white and blue smoke, and the race began, with Audi leaping out to a solid lead within the first few laps.

We remember a time when 24 hour endurance races were run at much more deliberate pace in the early laps. This is not the case any more apparently. It seems that the cars -and the drivers- are so reliable that what we witnessed was in fact the beginning of a 24 hour sprint race. The need to get out in front and stay there is critical, even here at Le Mans. The pace was flat out, and the stakes very high.

This point was hammered home when near the end of the first hour, Audi hot shoe Allan McNish made a move to overtake the #2 Audi R18TDI through the Dunlop bridge at the entrance to the Esses. Unfortunately for the beloved McNish, directly in front of the #2 car was a slower Ferrari GT car, which having only seen one Audi in his mirrors, seemed to be making an effort to avoid the #2 car, and slid into the side of the #3 car driven by McNish. The resulting spin and horrific crash cast a hush over the colossal crowd as we waited for word on the driver. As soon as McNish was seen climbing from the steaming wreckage of his Audi R18TDI, a collective sigh of relief was breathed by everyone present. Earlier in the day, we were reminded of and paid homage to the victims and survivors of the tragedy that took place on June 11, 1955 here at Le Mans, where a Mercedes 300 SLR driven by Pierre Levegh was crashed and ended up breaking apart, while crossing the barrier into the spectator area. 86 people died in that incident, and everyone present on June 11 2011 was relieved that not one single person was injured in the McNish accident.

Lap times in the first few hours of the race were very fast. For reference, the pole lap this year was 3m 25.738 around the 8.5 mile Circuit de la Sarthe. At various points throughout the race, we were witnessing laps in the 3m32 range, with some in the 3m28 range, apparently depending on fuel load and tire health. It was clear that the Audi drivers wanted to stay far ahead of the rival Peugeots, and they were doing a good job of it.

The race went on as the sun began to dip below the horizon. Audi sure seemed to have things well in hand, leading the race for the most part, and occasionally swapping positions with Peugeot as pit stops took place. The 2 remaining Audis R18 TDIs were running strongly with their new ultra-high tech LED lights blazing a path through the French countryside, when disaster struck once again. Mike Rockenfeller was rocketing along the track from Mulsanne corner to Indianapolis corner when a Ferrari GT car moved off of its line, and clipped the R18 in its left rear.

Because of the darkness and the area where the crash happened, there were a few very tense moments in the Audi area where we were watching the race at that time. The video on the gigantic monitors across the track from where we were standing showed only lots of darkness, and lots of carnage. No driver was visible at that time, and the car was so badly damaged that it was not possible to even determine what car it was. But one thing we knew pretty much right off, only one Audi had gone by us when two cars should have, and that realization was not a good feeling to have.

Quickly word started to spread via Radio Le Mans and other sources that the crashed car was in fact the #1 Audi driven by Mike Rockenfeller, who we found out was mostly un-injured, which was a huge relief. When you are actually at the race instead of watching it on TV, the whole feeling around the facility during a large crash is very tense. As the ambulance carrying Rocky went past our vantage point, and off to the hospital (precautionary checks we were told) the track workers set about rebuilding the guardrails that were destroyed in the crash.

We heard that the crews had to replace 8 of the posts that hold the metal Armco barriers up. Naturally this takes a lot of time, which meant many laps behind the safety car. Nearly 2 hours actually. Once the racing resumed, things calmed down dramatically, and the one remaining Audi was left to battle with the Peugeots throughout the remainder of the night, while hopefully avoiding any more trouble.

As morning light dawned, Audi still seemed poised to capture another Le Mans victory, and another Le Mans where only one Audi remained at the end. This race was reminiscent of the 2007 24 Hours where Audi were struck with misfortune in a very similar way – Early on Rocky shunted his R10 at Tertre Rouge, and later in the race, the Capello/McNish/Kristensen car was sidelined by a wheel that literally fell off at the Indianapolis curve. We hoped that luck would continue to stay with Audi throughout the remainder of the race!

As is often the case at Le Mans, weather plays a very large role in auto racing. This 79th running of the 24 hours would be no different. It wasn’t long into the morning hours where the sky began to darken somewhat, and rain drops started falling. It never did rain hard enough to make a huge difference in the race, but the thought of a downpour weighed heavily in everyone’s minds.

Those thoughts began to wane as the hours went on, and eventually it was just a matter of the Audi fighting with the Peugeots, who seemed to be taking less than sporting tactics when the R18TDI came up behind, all to no avail. It was clear that the R18 had much more speed than the Peugeots, and the Audi drivers were beyond any kind of gamesmanship, instead just hanging back and making passes when they could instead of taking chances, and risking tossing the race away.