Interviews

Planetlemans talks to Bill Binnie

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

Many successful businessmen own or sponsor a racing team, some of them even race themselves. But how many manage to win at Le Mans, not once but twice? Bill Binnie seems to have the magic touch for it. From his early single-seater experiences as a 20-year old to a racing comeback that would see him on top of the podium twice at La Sarthe (the last one as team owner and driver) it’s been a long way.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

PLM- Bill, when did you start racing?

BB- I’ve been racing my whole life. I started in Formula Fords and Atlantics in the US in my twenties. After that I stopped and for quite some time my only focus were my job and my family, I have four kids and there was not much time for racing back then as you can imagine. But about 10 years ago I came back to this world, I became a works driver for Lotus in the Lotus Gold Cup in Europe as I was able to take a bit more time from my regular job.

PLM- When did you take the step to move into Endurance?

BB- I raced for Intersport during 2003 and 2004, we won Le Mans in the LMP2 class on the second year. Intersport was a bit of a frustrating experience for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Fields (Jon and Clint) a lot but I wanted more control on how things were run at the team. So after leaving the team I went and bought the Lola 05/40 with which we had a disastrous 2005.

PLM- What was the reason for that?

BB- Well, mostly the engine deal. We looked around quite a bit and in the end we chose the Nicholson-McLaren power plant which turned out to be a bad decision. We did not even get invited for Le Mans in 2005, they knew I had been in the 2004 winning team as were most of my guys but that was not enough to get there so I ran on the WR that year, a complete disaster.

PLM- But your path changed substantially in 2006

BB- Indeed, we bought the Zytek engine and I’ve never looked back since then. We got second in class at Le Mans in 2006 and we won this year while we’ve been on the podium at about half of our LMS races during the whole period.

PLM- You won Le Mans as a driver but also as a team owner, what’s the difference?

BB- The best 4 minutes of my life were the last lap of Le Mans in 2004, when I realized I was going to win. This year it’s a different kind of satisfaction, not so sugar sweet but more the feeling that you have composed something and it worked. Winning LMP2 is the ultimate reward as a privateer, you cannot get any further unless you are in a factory team. It also has to do with my skills, I am a pilot, a racing driver, a businessman and I have two Harvard degrees. I have always perceived Le Mans as a thinking man’s race so I think we have the right package to win it. That’s the reason why I have my own team. I have been able to coach and work with rookie drivers and be successful at it, this is also something we do good.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

PLM- So how does that drive your approach to the "Big one"?

BB- I face Le Mans as a team owner but also as a driver. You have 27 corners at Le Mans and you can drive very differently through those depending on your style and pace. In fact during 24 hours with 27 corners you have about 6000 chances of, say, hitting a curb hard and getting a suspension problem or breaking something in the car. This year we set up our car to be 20km/h faster through the Porsche curves but we were 10 km/h slower on the Mulsanne straight. It’s not sexy but you go longer, further and safer, look at what happened to RML for example. That’s my approach. I wanted to win with a thinking man’s methodology but I looked around and thought: who wants to do it the way I want to do it? Nobody. So that’s also why I started my own team.

PLM- So how does the future look like? A 2-car team? LMP1?

BB- I have no interest either on a 2 car team or moving to LMP1. LMP2 was designed by the ACO for privateers and that’s the right place for us. Look at Porsche and Acura in the ALMS, they need to get out of LMP2, that’s not where they should be. If an excellent competitive team like Intersport needs to go to LMP1 to get some reward then there’s something wrong, it is very demotivating. Racing is about money: you cannot compete with a budget which is 10 percent of the one your opponent has. For example, when we were Michelin customers Penske got different products, different sizes, components, better tires. You cannot compete in those conditions.

PLM- So what can we expect from Binnie Motorsports in 2008?

BB- I have a question on which chassis will we use next year. On the engine side we are not the quickest on the 1000 km races, we do not have a turbo engine but we’re the best at Le Mans. We might want a car that is more balanced on both aspects but it also depends on sponsorship.

PLM- I won’t ask you why you race on Classic Endurance, that’s pretty self explanatory. But how do you enjoy that?

BB- I race all winter in historicals, I will be at Sebring historicals soon. I own more than 25 historical cars, actually my garage is unique in the world: you see a 1925 Bugatti next to a 2007 Le Mans winner (laughs). Actually I love the people in motor racing and I get to meet them more at historical racing. Over there people are actually more partners in passion than competitors. It can get sometimes scary since there are often too many amateur drivers without schooling, however both the racing and the venues (Pebble Beach, Monte Carlo, Pau) are just fantastic.
PLM- You do love cars…

BB- I’ll tell you how much. I have driven long distance twice on a 1928 Bentley. Once from Beijing to Paris, another one from Maine to Pebble Beach. Just fantastic.

Bill Binnie: A real passionate and a real professional. Determined, involved and always keeping the "thinking man" on the foreground. That’s his method to win, and it shows.

gabriel@planetlemans.com