Le Mans-Sun Greeting

Subj:  LE MANS - SUN GREETING		Section: F-1/Internat'l News
  To:  All				Saturday, June 15, 1996 11:35:04 PM
From:  RIS/UK-Martin Buck, 100113,3322	#819863

 Le Mans, France - RIS - It's 8 am here, seventeen hours into the 24 that make up the Le Mans 
endurance classic. This is the time when it becomes obvious just how appropriate the term 
'endurance' really is. The teams that are still running have made it through the night, yet they're 
still faced with over a thousand kilometres of racing.

And they really are still racing. At around 5:30am, just as the sky started to lighten, the fastest 
lap time dropped... and dropped... and dropped! First, it was the No 25 Porsche GT1, challenging 
for the lead, that was shaving the odd tenth off the time, dropping it to the low 3:48s. The Joest 
Porsche cars responded, but nobody even came close to the Scandia/Racing for Belgium Ferrari 
333SP. With Eric Van de Poele in the driving seat, the times just plummetted, until it reached 
3:46.958, over a second quicker than any other car.

Unfortunately, it proved to be the last hurrah for the team, and indeed Ferrari. Shortly after, Van de 
Poele came out, and Eric Bachelart went in - and then lost it, on cresting the brow under the 
Dunlop Bridge. The car was destroyed, but the driver unharmed - and the last Ferrari left in the 
race was out.

At the front, nothing has changed. The No 7 Joest Porsche of Reuter, Jones and Wurz still leads, 
being chased hard by the No 25 Porsche GT1 of Stuck, Boutsen and Wollek. These two cars 
have been simply unrelenting in their pace, turning sub-four minute laps consistently through the 
night. The battle swings back and forth - at times, the Porsche seems to be reeling in the Joest, 
then the gap widens. After some 3,400 kilometres of racing, only a couple of minutes separates 
the two - barring mechanical problems, it looks like this one will go right down to the wire.

Last year's winning make, McLaren, seems unable to match the pace of the GT1s and the Joest 
cars. The top McLaren, the No 33 Bellm/Weaver/Lehto car, is fourth overall, six laps down on the 
leaders. They have a three or four lap advantage over the second GT1 Porsche, but that might not 
be enough.

At 2:30am, the RIS night shift went walkabout, to shake off the 'stir craziness' that was 
threatening to set in. We wandered along the terraces that are opposite the pits - even at this 
time, there were significant numbers of people watching the cars drone by. There were also 
numerous people who had been partaking of some refreshment, and then just fallen asleep on the 
concrete. They were still there come daybreak...

Walking up the hill to the Dunlop Bridge, then down the other side, we meandered down to the 
fairground. At 3:00am, the place was still jammed - hardly surprising, since it appeared that every 
vice known to man was being pandered to, plus a few extra ones invented especially. Strippers? 
No problem. Wall of death? Yup. Brains rattled loose on a rollercoaster? Two to choose from. And 
- a French speciality, this - shooting galleries using real, live shotguns, about eight pounds for six 
shots. Add in the essential extras of bars, food stalls and stands selling t-shirts, and that's the 
fairground.

All of this hapens within fifty yards of the track - the fair is on the outside, on the run down from 
the Dunlop bridge to the S de la Foret, the last curves before Tetre Rouge and the Mulsanne. 
Competing with the fairground's varied attractions is the sight of the cars swooping down the hill, 
then standing hard on the brakes into the left-right flick. The carbon brakes on most cars glow 
cherry-red under this abuse, straining to convert far too much kinetic energy into heat.

Daylight shows the cars in their faded glory. Those with carbon brakes have lost most of their 
colour, becoming increasingly grimy with the carbon dust. Even those with conventional brakes 
are getting dirty, from exhaust smoke or dirt from the track. One exception to this was the 
Laffite/Soper/Duez Bigazzi McLaren, which got a thorough clean during an extended spell in the 
garage.

And so the clock ticks on. The three-quarter point will soon be here, and the temperatures will 
start to rise again - it's cloudless blue skies out there. Barring mechanical problems, it will be one 
of the top two cars to take this - but, with so far still to go, pretty much anything can happen. It 
looks like being a fascinating finish to an enthralling race, a race worthy of this classic event.

Regards,
 Martin Buck/Jacquie Groom/Jon Baker