The talking stopped and the engines finally ran today in preparation for Saturday’s 4th Annual 1,000 mile Petit Le Mans race.
The open test day was the first opportunity for all cars and drivers to take to the track and assess their pace against the opposition. Some have undertaken many thousands of miles in testing, some may not have even seen the track before today, while others are anxious to wrap up Championship titles or gain places in the points tables.
One point is certain. Everyone will be racing to win, whether it be their class or an overall victory.
Winners of this event in 1999, drivers and team members from Panoz will recall that victory is particularly sweet after such a long endurance race. The race begins at 12 noon but finishes in darkness after 1,000 miles or 10 hours, whichever comes first.
Knowing how hard this can be on man and machine, the team - using the tried and trusted Panoz LMP-1 Roadsters which were re-introduced so successfully mid season - have done more than 2,500 miles of testing within the last two weeks in preparation for this weekend. All four drivers were on duty and the main thrust of the work was centered on fuel mileage, race set up and tire testing. A new Elan Power Products development engine was also tested.
Chris Gorne, Senior Race and Development Engineer, said this week: "The testing here at Road Atlanta went really well and it has given us all a good feeling for the race. We are well prepared, we obviously know the track extremely well, and the cars ran faultlessly. David and Jan both achieved a best time of 1m 10.7 - in race set up - which compares very favorably with the qualifying times we set last year. For the race itself though it may well turn out to be a race of tactics and keeping out of trouble."
This year’s field of 46 entries represents a multi-national driver line-up, with many entrants choosing to increase the numbers of drivers in their team to 3 per car. Panoz have chosen not to do this for the last two years as, although physically hard on the drivers, they themselves prefer to rely solely on their regular driving partner throughout the season.
Jan Magnussen explains, "It really comes down to trust and rhythm. If you stick with the same guy you’ve shared the car with all year, you know really well what he can do in the car and you can trust him to be consistent, bring the car back in one piece and not lose you any places on the track. I can’t speak for everyone, but David and I also prefer to do longer stints in the car as " like at Le Mans " you get into a good driving rhythm and can be more consistent with your lap times. It’s easier to stick with it than hand over to a third driver who may or may not know the car or track as well as we do and risk losing us time or positions."
To help the drivers through this event, Panoz have on hand the services of a sports nutritionist and a masseuse. What they eat and drink before and during the race is vital to their physical wellbeing, strength and concentration while the masseuse will help ease sore and tired muscles in preparation for further time in the car.
In light of the amount of miles done recently, the two Panoz cars did not run throughout the whole of the 75 minutes session today. However, they take to the track again tomorrow (Thursday) for four hours of practice sessions including two hours at night. Keep posted to the website for regular updates over the next few days.
Created and Designed by John Favata
