Le Mans Series

Friday first session with Team Jota.

Things started well for team on Thursday when the car passed through scrutineering without problems but things soon went downhill when the first session started at 0900hrs

0840 The car is in the garage on stands; Haruki Kurosawa will go out first and is behind the garage having a quiet cup of coffee collecting his thoughts. He has raced here before and knows the track well. In the garage the shock absorbers are being set and a laptop is doing final checks of dash displays and engine telemetry.

0841 The weather is cold with a slight suspicion of damp in the air; rear brake ducts are partially blanked off with two wide strips of gaffer tape and front with two half-width strips of tape. Just a mark of the attention to detail and pride in the car the tape for the rear is blue and the front black. Everything about the car shows incredible attention to detail and everything is spotless and appears like new. Yesterday I spoke with an old friend David Haggas who runs” Carbon Craft” doing carbon fibre repairs. Of all the teams he works for he feels Team Jota demand the highest standards and in his opinion is the best team he has worked for. He worked with the team at Le Mans and said that they all worked well together, each knowing their role and no egos and arguments.

0842 Rear bodywork goes on

0843 Haruki’s seat goes in

0845 Systems checks completed and the laptop is disconnected.

0847 Haruki steps into the cockpit and John Stack checks and adjusts his belts and the mirrors are adjusted.

0850 The car comes off stands onto trolley wheels and it is swung out in front of the pit

0853 The Dallara Judd and the Audi are the first two cars to move off to await the track going green.

0855 The Dallara Nissan and the RML Lola pass as Dunlop tyres come out and go on the car, the engine fires and it leaves on cue as the track goes green at 0900.

0903 Haruki brings the car in after one lap, the rear deck comes off and rear suspension is checked and the crew have a good look for any leaks. A laptop downloads engine data from the first lap.

0908 Haruki leaves, the plan is to do perhaps three laps before a further check. In the back of the garage there are three lap tops working two on engine data and a third downloading telemetry from the car

0912 Haruki is back in the pits after one lap complaining of a vibration. The rear deck comes off and the suspension is checked again, all four tyres are changed in case they are the cause.

0917 Haruki is back in after a further lap, the car is jacked up and put on trolleys and wheeled into the garage, Haruki stays in until Frank Coppuck motions him out.

0921 The engine is fired up and a gear engaged it is apparent that the drive shafts are not running true but they are not sure why. They have been crack tested since Monza but nothing else.

0928 Both rear hubs and drive shaft assemblies are off and a straight rule shows that the right shaft is about 1mm out of true; both are changed as a precaution.

0932 the session is red flagged, a TVR apparently has been on fire, new shafts are going back on the car.

0945 the track goes green and the mechanic fitting the right shaft calls Haruki to get ready to go back in, he arrives and is strapped back in.

0952 Shaft change completed the car is pushed back out on its trolley wheels; tyres come out and go on.

0955 Haruki goes back out but two minutes later he is back, it’s still vibrating. It goes back into the garage and the rear drive shafts are checked again while running on stands. They appear to be OK

1009 the session has been extended Sam goes out with new tyres and comes back in after one lap and requests a ride height adjustment, gets one last lap as the session ends.

They decide the problem is not engine related and it’s not the drive shafts. Its speed related and Sam thinks it might be dampers as the Aero seems to be setting it off, Frank and the mechanics work back, what has been changed since Monza, the only thing they can think of is that the car has a new front splitter replacing the one that was damaged at Le Mans. They had put this on as the old one has been repaired and is not quite true. Before the next session they will put the old splitter back on and further check all the suspension.

Free practice one ends without a time being set, last with no timed laps and a bit of a mystery to solve before the next session but perhaps more importantly they are an hour behind the ball game.