Learning the Ropes

While most of the drivers have been familiar with the circuit redevelopments at Silverstone for a year or so, since the newly configured track was first opened, this weekend will be the first experience for many of the new "Silverstone Wing".

The new pit complex certainly looks the business, with its radical design, upswept "wing", and rollercoaster roofline. At a cost of some £27 million it certainly should be good, but is it?

First impressions suggest that many aspects of the facility are indeed excellent: the garages are vast and high, with excellent access and services. The pitlane too, while it has faults, is visually impressive, with a broad expanse of neat paths and grassed lawns fronting a well-sited "perch", where team managers and technical support engineers can set up their trackside monitors. The fault appears to be that the section where the cars drive through is simply too narrow - too much grass, not enough tamac.

The top floor hospitality deck isn't quite finished yet, but will undoubtedly serve the corporate world perfectly, with vast plate glass windows and panoramic views of the south end of the Grand Prix circuit.

Where The Wing does fall short is in some of the detail. The facility is virtually inaccessible on foot, so anyone with a realistic hope of getting there has to reach it by road, but there's no car park. This is a truly monumental oversight. Team members, drivers and the media have to endure a twenty minute bus ride from the Old Paddock just to get to the New, and adding in waiting time can stretch this to forty minutes - and most have equipment to carry. Because there is no new bridge or tunnel, those buses sometimes have to circle almost the entire track to reach the crossing on Hangar Straight. Along the way the perimeter road is, in places, too narrow to allow two buses to pass. Thankfully, a slightly shorter route that cuts across the old Club Straight near Maggotts is available, and marginally reduces the inconvenience. The grumbling on Thursday was like distant thunder, and that was only the first day for most people.

Once inside the building, there are problems with the electrics and wiring (although, to be fair, some of this is because the installation is not yet complete). For those working in the Media Centre, there are no windows, and the building is very effectively soundproofed.That may serve the F1 journalists perfectly, with their short races all perfectly televised, but is totally unsuited to almost every other race meeting. It is virtually impossible to know what's going on, with only timing screens and the static circuit TV monitors to keep track of the action.

How many race meetings have a live TV feed? Not many - and not even the Le Mans Series, when we get to Estoril, apparently - see below. It's a sad fact that people pick up on faults far more readily as they discuss a new experience, and these are what they remember as they make their journey home. It's early days yet, and hopefully some of these issues can be addressed, but one does have to wonder where all the money went, because it certainly wasn't in the planning.

News filtered through to the teams on Thursday that (as things currently stand) there will be no live TV coverage of the year's final round in Portugal, and the highlights programme will be edited from a small number of hand-held trackside feeds. Negotiations are on-going, and it can only be hoped that this is sorted out in the next couple of weeks, but the prospects do not look good.

First Practice

Preparation for the penultimate round of the 2011 Le Mans Series began with an hour of Free Practice, starting at 13:15. Tommy Erdos was among the early starters, heading out to complete three timed laps before returning to the garage for some setting changes. "The car lacked rear-end grip when I first went out, so we made some adjustments, and it was instantly better," said the Brazilian, who then resumed the session with the intention of running another three or four flying laps.

He only managed two laps. "The car suffered a significant loss of power," he explained. "It turned out that the actuator that controls the wastegate mechanism wasn't working correctly, so at least it wasn't a turbo failure."

The car was in the garage for about fifteen minutes, and while it was there Mike Newton took over cockpit duties. He returned to the circuit for the final ten minutes. "I never really got into it though," Mike conceded later. "It was just like an out-lap that just kept on going."

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First Session - LMP2 Times

Second Practice

The day's second session kicked off at five o'clock. Tommy was out on track almost immediately, but promptly back into the pitlane again with the telemetry reading unusually high oil pressure. He was stationary for only ten minutes, and then returned to the track.

By then the RML AD Group HPD was sitting last on the timing screens: the only car of 49 not to set a time. That was set to rights with twenty two minutes gone, when the Brazilian completed his first flying lap. At 1:56.104 it was fairly quick, and took the #36 through to fourth fastest in LMP2. His next, a 1:54.846 eased him up to third, narrowly quicker than Danny Watts in the Strakka HPD, but a second-and-a-half shy of the class quickest, at that stage, of 1:53.292 from Lombard in the Greaves Zytek.

It was Tommy's final lap of the afternoon, and next time around he took the sliplane off right on the approach to Vale and returned to the garage for a driver change to Mike Newton. The CEO of AD Group settled down to four timed laps, his best hovering just outside the two minute mark.

The track conditions were steadily improving, and with them, the times. Meichtry was the first to show a significant improvement, taking the #40 Race Performance Oreca through to quickest in P2, 10th overall, with a new best of 1:52.720. Watts also upped his pace in the #42, claiming third with 1:53.561. Thor Christian Ebbesvik, a new recruit for Boutsen Energy racing (having started the year with Greaves), was also up to pace, clocking 1:53.851 in the #45 Oreca 03.

With just under twenty minutes remaining, Mike brought the HPD back down the pitlane for a driver swap with Ben Collins. With no issues to attend to, the team completed the exchange on the pit apron, and Ben was swiftly out and on his way again, hoping to make the most of the final few minutes. That almost came to nothing when the technicians detected that the stuck actuator problem had returned in the left-hand turbo, but given that it was still working, albeit below power, Ben was allowed to press on and get in some valuable track time.

With ten minutes to go Nick Leventis was out in the Strakka HPD, but not before Watts had set a new best for the #42 of 1:53.256 to lie second to the #40 Oreca. Tom Kimber-Smith rounded off the session for Greaves Motorsport, and a 1:53.292 saw the white Zytek third.

Ben was struggling with his low boost pressure, so his times were certainly not representative of what The Stig should, and could have been capable of setting, but at least he was gaining familiarity with the circuit. The best he could wring from the asthmatic HPD was a 2:01.679, but with an engine well below power, that was satisfying enough.

Driver Comments

"The loss of power was a double-whammy," explained Ben. "Traffic is always a challenge, and overtaking the GT cars is never easy, but when the whole world is faster than you on the straights, it's impossible." The below-par engine aside, Ben was impressed with the feel of the car. "The car feels good. The loss of power affected the speed, of course, and that reduced the downforce, but it still feels very stable, very compliant, and good for the race already. It's perfectly balanced, and if we get the rain for the race, as forecast, we should be well suited. We've made good progress since Imola, and it would be good to make use of that."

Tommy, who has spent more time in the car working on the set up, can be largely credited for the car's excellent handling. "The grip levels are really good now," he admitted. It feels very stable, especially through the high-speed corners, and I like the security of the car. It inspires confidence, and if we can just tweak it slightly so that we can get even better traction out of the slow-speed corners, we'll be well-set for the race - especially if it turns out wet."

Second Session - LMP2 Times

Radio & On-line: There was full coverage of all the day's track action, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews and previews, on Radio Le Mans. Click the button below for access to podcasts and archives.