24 horas de Le Mans

Segue para vocês o que alguns dos participantes da F-1 pensam sobre as 24 Horas de Le Mans, que neste exato momento está realizando a sua 76ª edição. Com exceção de Ross Brawn, os outros não dão importância. Ron Dennis e sua soberba usual, até despreza. Nem vou comentar. Le Mans é muito importante e quem nunca esteve lá, não deveria se meter a falar do que não sabe.
Neste momento em que posto para vocês Jacques Villeneuve está em segundo na corrida, pilotando o Peugeot nº 7, após estar liderando por um bom tempo. O primeiro colocado é o outro time da equipe francesa, com Franck Montagny.

MOTOR RACING | LE MANS
Differences abound, but Le Mans and Formula One share talent and respect
Auto Racing/ Le Mans special report
By Brad Spurgeon Published: June 13, 2008

One is the greatest auto-racing series in the world, the other is one of the world's three greatest races. While the Formula One championship and the Le Mans 24-Hour race have little in common in terms of the racing style or car technology, there has always been a large crossover of talent in every domain, from engineers to drivers to team owners - and a curious mixture of respect and disdain.

Le Mans, which is administered by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, the local French club in the Sarthe region where the race takes place, is part of a prized triple crown of races - also including the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 - which only Graham Hill has won, four decades ago.

In years past, drivers from Formula One would often race in Le Mans, but Formula One has become so specialized that that is no longer possible. Le Mans is, however, crowded with both former and future Formula One drivers. But where does the race stand in the eyes of today's Formula One team directors, drivers and engineers?

Ross Brawn, the technical director at the Honda Formula One team, said the race is "like a Grand Prix season in one night."

Brawn worked on the Jaguar car that won Le Mans in 1990. He then returned to Formula One, where he guided Michael Schumacher through his seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari. Brawn said that although he enjoyed Le Mans, it was not the racing that he was most passionate about.

Differences abound, but Le Mans and Formula One share talent and "It was not the sort of challenge that I like," he said. "It's a very structured race over 24 hours, you're pacing yourself. It's quite a different event."

Ron Dennis, the McLaren Mercedes team owner and director, concurred.

"No comparison," he said. "Le Mans is a different challenge all together. You have to have phenomenal reliability, but also the drivers play such a key role, primarily in not falling off."

"It's rarely a race that's raced from beginning to end," he added. "You don't race for 24 hours, you compete for 24 hours and it requires a different strategy."

McLaren developed a sports car, the McLaren F1 GTR, that won Le Mans in its first participation, in 1995.

"I always say that we went to Le Mans and made $3 million, and Henry Ford spent $300 million trying to do it," Dennis said.

The McLaren car and technicians were hired by another team for use in the race, whereas Ford invested in its own program, which resulted in four consecutive victories, from 1966 to 1969.

Despite the prestige and the challenge, there is something in the nature of the racing that either appeals to a racer or not.

Robert Kubica, a driver at the BMW Sauber team, who won the Canadian Grand Prix last Sunday, said that he had never even watched Le Mans on television. He said he did not like that so much depended on car consistency and reliability.

"Speed is secondary," he said. "I'm the kind of person who likes to push. At Le Mans, you have to push less. It's a kind of different sport."

Even so, the top category of car at Le Mans reaches speeds of up to 340 kilometers an hour, or 210 miles per hour, on the Hunaudières straight, which is faster than most Formula One cars ever go. Yet in Formula One, speed is not about going down a straight, but in how quickly the car makes it around an entire twisting track.

A Formula One car's superior aerodynamics, engine performance and mechanical grip make it unlike any other car, in its ability to go faster around such tracks.

A Formula One race usually lasts about an hour and a half, and regulations limit the races to two hours. Le Mans, of course, lasts 24. A Formula One car, built to last the length of a Grand Prix, would never survive the full day at Le Mans.

But car survival is also a key at Le Mans, which is why the end of the race is often a slow procession. Once a car has a big enough lead, it will slow to preserve both the lead and the car.

"There's no race," Dennis said. "They all suddenly realize that survival is the important thing. It is counter to the spirit of Formula One; you very rarely slow down in Formula One."

All Formula One teams that have raced in Le Mans note that it is costly, however, which is ironic coming from participants in the world's richest sport.

"You need lots of money to do it well," said Patrick Head, a part owner and director of the Williams F1 team.
Beijinhos, Ludy