Dave Murry's Le Mans Journal
Submission #10
"Race Day: Report 3"

It's 9:25 pm...twilight time...and my next shift is about to start.

After a few hours rest, I'm itching to get back behind the wheel. Not only because I want to race, but because I know that there's more to come in terms of cutting my lap times.

The pit lane warning horn squeals, and number 8 comes down the pit road. Same drill as last time, but the mystery is gone. We've now done this in the heat of battle, and I'm not anticipating any problems with this exercise. I jump in the car and, as I'm buckling in, teammate Pierre Henri Raphanel yells that the headlights have once again gone intermittent as he climbs out of the cockpit.

The team replaces the steering wheel, which contains many of the controls and electronics. It seems to solve most of the problem. I then head out for what turns out to be a fairly eventful 11 laps.

As the session goes on, the handling of the car starts to deteriorate. We begin developing the same high-speed oversteer that our sister car number 7 experienced.

Oh yeah, the number 7 car. Well, I'm sorry to report that number 7 retired about halfway through my stint with a terminal electrical problem. Michelle Alboreto was driving at the time. It was a shame really. The number 7 and our number 8 had been swapping the lead in the Le Mans Prototype class back and forth for the last few hours. Yeah, we let the number 13 Courage C51 play, too. It was getting kind of serious. And now there are two: Just number 8 and the Courage.

I'm turning in times that turn out to be compatible with my teammates, so we're able to stay with and occasionally pass the Courage. This is what they call racing, right? Yeah... I'm having a great time!

I pull in for my re-fuelling stop and for new tires. Everything goes without a hitch and I'm on my way. About halfway around my first lap, that all changes.

I hear a huge whomp in the front left and the car pulls hard in that direction. I lose it a little and put a couple of wheels off onto the grass. Now my radio isn't working real well, so I yell into the mike hoping that they hear me: "Left front! Left front!"

I dive for the pits.

The car skids to a halt and the Joest crew is instantly in motion. These guys are GOOD, let me tell you! They pull off the nose, check for damage, and find none. They change both front Goodyears, clean out the debris from my brief agricultural expedition, put another nose on the car, all in less time than it takes for the average fill-up. A lot less.

I go back out and the car is fine. Better than fine, really. The new nose with its slightly different venting eliminates the high speed oversteer by giving up a little more downforce. The car now feels better than ever.

After the second 11 laps, I pull in and hand the car back to James Weaver for his next shift. After each shift each driver has a de-brief. We discuss what might have happened. A loose wheel? Cold tires? Turns out it was a big wad of rubber "marbles". It rolled up in the front wheel arch and caused the noise and the resultant understeer off the track. Later, I have a conversation with Pierre, who confirmed that the exact same thing happened to him. That is weird!

After saying goodnight to Trudi and sending her back to the hotel, I go to the hospitality tent for something to drink and a bite to eat before hitting the hay for a couple of hours. I sit down with Sam Moses, who is covering the race for AutoWeek, and we start to get philosophical. Sam asks me if it has hit me yet. Not really, I said. I don't have time to dwell on this too much, being at Le Mans, driving for the Porsche factory that is. Yes, it is one of the greatest honors I have ever had professionally, but I have a job to do. And I can't loose that focus.

I guess I still feel like it's not really happening, I tell Sam. I feel almost like I'm watching myself from a distance. Like I'm one of the spectators. It's odd.

Well goodnight for now... I'll talk to you again in about 3 hours.

Sincerely, David Murry

Photos courtesy of www.cyberspeedmedia.com