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Alex Kapadia

Bondi to Bathurst

February 13, 2016 by Alex Kapadia

Last weekend was supposed to be my first weekend at home for a while after going away to the Dubai 24hrs in early January and then on to visit family in Australia. I was due to fly home last Tuesday but instead found myself heading to Bathurst to compete on the famous Mount Panorama.

Since Le Mans I have been quite busy. 2015 saw me racing for four different co-drivers and team in the Radical European Masters series and I am proud to say we led races and scored podiums with each one. There was no let up at the end of the “normal” racing season.  I did a round of the AsLMS for AAI Motorsport helping them make progress with their Adess LMP3, and I drove a Ferrari 458 for Dragon Racing at the Gulf 12hr and Dubai 24hr working with long time co-driver and friend John Hartshorne. While most of my experience is in prototype machinery I have been trying to get more GT miles as there are far more opportunities for pro drives available in GT than prototypes. Driving a GT is a very different style to learn but I am glad to say that I feel I finally cracked it around Bathurst this weekend. Here is what happened…

After the Dubai 24hr my wife Jenna and I flew to Sydney to visit her sister who has just had a new baby. I had my kit with me and was conscious that Bathurst was the week I went home, this seemed too good an opportunity to let pass and so my first few days in Sydney were spent making contact with teams on the entry list to see if any of them still needed a driver. The feedback was there were no spaces and almost all had their driver line ups sorted. I contacted the series organisers and got myself on their driver/ride board just in case anything changed.

I heard nothing and gave up hope of being at Bathurst this year so on Tuesday morning I got up and packed my bag ready to head home. We had a couple of hours to kill before the flight left so headed down to Bondi beach for one last hour of sun before heading to the airport. As we arrived at the beach I received a message from Mirco Schultis asking if I was still in Australia as he would be keen to chat if so. I replied that I was, and the message came back, “Well you are European so I guess you are at Bondi, come and meet me for a coffee”. From where I was I could almost see the café where he was sitting, and within a few minutes we were chatting. Mirco had flown his Mercedes SLS over for the race and was being partnered by Renger Van Der Zande and Patrick Simon. I had met Mirco at an ELMS race in 2011 and had been copying him on my press releases ever since so he was up to date on my progress. He had decided that he wanted a fourth driver in the car and had seen my name on the driver/ride board. Within the hour were in a car on the way to Bathurst.

Mirco's Bondi Office

Mirco, Patrick and myself at Mirco’s new Bondi Office – Gusto Espresso Bar

We arrived at the circuit late on Tuesday night and the first thing we did was do a few of laps of the circuit. The word awesome is overused but not when describing this place. Parts of it make the Nordschleife look tame. Imagine the faster sections of the Nordschleife with more extreme elevation and waist high concrete walls lining the track, many of which have a steep drop on the other side. All this with the stunning backdrop from Mount Panorama makes what is now my favourite and the most challenging track I have ever driven.

By the third lap in the hire car we had figured out which way it went and had a little speed on turning into Turn 2 just as a five foot high kangaroo jumped over the fence, bounced off the apex kerb and shot in front of us. We missed it but were all in hysterics about how crazy the place was. As if it needed to be made harder we now had Skippy and his mates playing chicken.

The car was entered under Mirco’s Mishumotors banner but was being run by the excellent Erebus Motorsport. The Erebus owned cars had all been prepared weeks ago and had also been to a shakedown test to iron out any bugs. When we got to the circuit on Wednesday to meet the team, the car had not arrived yet, a delay meaning that it did not arrive until late on Wednesday  afternoon. When it did turn up it looked stunning in the Martini livery and certainly drew a lot of attention in the paddock as the team set about seeing what they had to work with. The guys found a few issues with the car and worked late into the night to try to get the car ready before scrutineering on Thursday.

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The car looked great in the Martini livery

For the drivers most of Wednesday was spent with Bathurst local driver Mike Reedy. Mike now spends his time as a driver coach in Europe but his home town is Bathurst. He was at home over the European winter and had offered to show us around the circuit and give us a few tips. This was really helpful as all four of us were new to the circuit and I really want to thank Mike for giving up his time to help us.

By now I was getting to know Mirco and Patrick and was really enjoying their company. Co-driver Renger van der Zande arrived later on Thursday afternoon after a delayed flight from Daytona via Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi and I was pleased to find that he is one of the nicest guys in racing. He knew the Mercedes well and is down to drive for them at the Nurburgring and Macau this year so it was nice to know we had a good benchmark in the car. Erebus were also employing no less than four AMG works drivers for the race namely Bernd Schneider, Maro Engel, Thomas Jaeger and Nico Bastian so we were not going to be short of a reference lap or two.

There was an Erebus team barbeque on the Wednesday evening put on by team owner Betty Klimenko. She does a great job of making everyone feel welcome and looking after us all. I met all the other drivers in the team and had to pinch myself at one point when I realised that instead of being at Heathrow collecting my luggage I was at Bathurst having a joke with and being taught German swear words by Bernd Schneider.

Thursday was another day of preparation with another trackwalk, getting radios checked and working, seat fits for all four drivers, and again it ended up being another late night as the team found more things on the car that were not to their liking.

After what seemed like endless waiting, Friday practice finally came round and the first two sessions were used by Mirco, Patrick and Renger to get some laps. I got my first six laps of the circuit in FP3 after lunch. The track was every bit as challenging as it looked but the car felt very nervous at the rear which was not what we wanted with the walls so close. We kept working on the set up and the guys felt that they had improved it by the end of the day. I did not get another run that afternoon but knew we would benefit more if we could give Mirco more seat time and it worked as his times came down as he got more confident and was much more relaxed as we left the circuit on Friday evening. As a silver driver you generally get the least running as the gold driver usually sets the car up and does qualifying and the bronze driver needs the lion’s share of the laps to get more confident. As we had four drivers in the car we each were going to get less time. As most of my drives come at the last minute I have got used to learning circuits and cars quickly and this helped a lot this weekend. I normally make sure I have done a simulator session before heading to a new track but this time I did not get chance for obvious reasons.

Saturday morning saw me get another short run and the car actually felt worse. We had copied the set up from the other team cars overnight but something did not feel right. We had tons of oversteer and so again we kept changing the car to give a more solid rear end. Myself and Patrick did another three laps each at the start of qualifying and we both felt we had improved it but were not quite there yet. Our times all dropped by a few seconds but when Renger qualified near the back of the field we knew something was still not right.

Driver’s briefing had a few interesting extras that you do not get in Europe, namely instructions on the “Kangaroo Flag” and a warning that if you park the car and climb over the wall out on track, then “Things that look like sticks may not be sticks” referring to the deadly brown snakes found in the region…as if it was not dangerous enough already!

 

As we headed back to the house the Erebus guys again worked late on the car on Saturday night and when we arrived on Sunday we were told they had found a cracked suspension pick up point. We are not sure if this definitely was the issue, but it felt like a different car on Sunday, it even had a bit of understeer, probably from all the changes we had made trying to cure the oversteer issue. I want to thank Betty and all the guys and girls from Erebus Motorsport who worked so hard not only to make our car fast and reliable but also to make us feel welcome.

The other unusual thing about the Bathurst 12 Hours is that the race starts at 5.45am on the Sunday morning. In Australia the TV schedules are planned around the six o’clock news and apparently this never changes. The race has to finish at 5.45pm in order to allow time for the podium to be broadcast before the news. So this means a very early morning start and driving the mountain in the dark for the first half hour or so. There are no mandatory night practice sessions here at Bathurst, that stuff is for those soft Europeans trying to make it easy on themselves again!

Renger was down to start our car with me second then Mirco and Patrick. We left the house at 4.45am and it was a strange feeling being stood on the grid before the sun came up.

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Renger and I on the grid before the start at 5.45am

At the start Renger did extremely well to dodge a spinning Mika Salo at Turn 2 and as the sun came up he worked his way up from 20th to 13th. He was obviously happier with the car as he beat his qualifying time despite starting on his qualifying tyres and having more fuel on board.  We pitted at 1hr 15mins and I jumped in. We opted not to change tyres as we expected that we could double stint them. Our stop only cost us one position and I headed back out in 14th. It was great to get a decent long run in the car and immediately felt that the car was way better than in practice. I got into a rhythm and got down into the low 2m05s fairly quickly. About forty minutes into my stint the safety car came out so I pitted again for fuel only. By now I was really feeling confident. Bathurst is a place whether confidence means laptime and I managed to get down to a 2m04.095 on my last lap before pitting despite the tyres now being three stints and a qualifying session old. We pitted in 8th overall and 2nd in class. I was really happy with that as now it was looking like a good result was possible and I also knew there was more pace to come later on new rubber if we needed it. The highlight of my weekend was walking up to the timing screens to see where we were and Bernd Schneider and Jochen Bitzer  (Head of Customer Sport from Mercedes AMG) saying “Well done, good job”. That felt good and meant a lot coming from them.

Mirco and Patrick continued the race for us and were showing well, running inside the top ten overall after five hours, when a small mistake during Patrick’s stint put the car in the wall at the top of the mountain. The car could not be driven back and the damage was too much to repair, we were out.

It was such a shame as we felt we could have won our class had we had a clean run. However anything can happen on a circuit like this and we were all aware of this when we started. If it was easy it would be no fun. Despite the disappointment we had come and shown well on the mountain despite being a team of four Bathurst rookies. Most importantly Mirco had enjoyed the experience.

Personally I was really happy with my performance and my time on old rubber put me 3rd quickest of all the rookie drivers over the weekend behind Maxime Soulet and Rob Bell. I know that I would have been able to find more with another stint but it will have to wait for another visit to the mountain. Considering that at the start of the week I was not even expecting to be there at all I cannot be unhappy. Another great experience chalked up and I am far better prepared if the opportunity arises to return.

Filed Under: Latest News

Strong run for Kapadia and Dragon Racing in Dubai 24

January 19, 2016 by Alex Kapadia

Alex Kapadia and Dragon Racing recorded a strong run in the Dubai 24 hours last weekend. The team had looked set for a top five finish before bad luck in the last four hours of the race caused them to drop down the order.

Kapadia was driving a Ferrari 458 GT3 alongside Ferrari factory driver Matt Griffin as well as John Hartshorne and Khaled Al Mudhaf. “The plan was to win the Pro-Am category but the new driving time regulations meant that as Bronze rated drivers John and Khaled would have to do 12 hours of the race between them. We were not sure if they would be able to complete this so the only option we had was to go up to the Pro class allowing Matt and myself to drive longer. We also chose to bring Rob Barff into the squad to allow Matt and I to get some rest through the night.”

“The strategy was drive for fifteen hours staying out of trouble, then race for the last nine. It was working and we were up to 6th place overall by 6am. Then as daylight came Rob was hit by a Porsche while lapping it and this damaged the rear of the car. We lost around half an hour recovering and fixing the car.”

“Despite the disappointment we still finished 10th in class and 19th on the road from 100 starters. John and Khaled had a great time and put in some impressive performances. I really hope we are back here again next year.”Dragon Team Photo Dubai 24

Filed Under: Latest News

Podium in Sepang for Kapadia and Team AAI

January 19, 2016 by Alex Kapadia

Alex Kapadia and Team AAI finished 2nd in the LMP3 class in the second round of the Asian Le Mans Series at Sepang.

Partnered by Masataka Yanagida and Ollie Hancock the trio recorded the first race finish for the new Adess chassis. “Team AAI employed us to get a result for the car and we have done that. I am happy that we have made big progress with the car over the last few days. There is still a lot of improvement to come.” said Alex after the race.

AsLMS Adess - Copy

Filed Under: Latest News

Alex Kapadia to drive LMP3 for Team AAI in Sepang

January 19, 2016 by Alex Kapadia

Alex Kapadia has been called up to race the Team AAI Adess LMP3 at the second round of the Asian Le Mans series in Sepang.

He will be partnered by three times Super GT Champion Masataka Yanagida and fellow British driver Ollie Hancock.

Kapadia previously drove for Team AAI in the Le Mans 24hrs this year. “I am extremely proud to be asked to rejoin the team to help them develop the Adess. The team had a tough time at the last round at Fuji and we have been brought in to help get a strong result.”AsLMS Adess - Copy

Filed Under: Latest News

Kapadia and Riccardo Dona take win in Barcelona

January 19, 2016 by Alex Kapadia

Alex Kapadia and Riccardo Dona took a win in the final round of the Radical European Masters series at Barcelona.

The duo who were driving for Nielsen Racing, put in strong stints to pull away from the pack and recover from being taken out by a spinning car in the first race of the day.

The win helped Riccardo Dona secure 3rd place in the 2015 Radical SR3 European Masters Riccardo SR3Championship.

Filed Under: Latest News

Kapadia partners Jeremy Ferguson in last minute drive at Monza

January 19, 2016 by Alex Kapadia

Alex Kapadia and Jeremy Ferguson took a hat trick of podium finishes when they paired up in a 360 Racing Radical SR8 at Monza.

Ferguson was due to share the car with 360 regular James Swift but when business commitments meant Swift could not make it, he called Kapadia to fill the seat.

Kapadia started well by taking pole during a wet qualifying session. Onboard video can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/467226320113589/videos/513303968839157/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video&theater

In the races both Kapadia and Ferguson showed stunning pace to go from the back of the grid to the front twice after issues at the start of the races. Ultimately a win eluded them this weekend but they took satisfaction from being the quickest car on the circuit all weekend.Swifty Radical

Filed Under: Latest News

wiKapadia.com Le Mans 2015 Part 3, Baptism of fire….literally!

June 17, 2015 by Alex Kapadia

Where do I start? My debut week at Le Mans has been such a rollercoaster of huge highs and near crushing lows.

It all started with a dash straight from my Radical European Masters race at Silverstone directly to Le Mans. We were first on at scrutineering on Monday morning so I needed to get there on Sunday night. I arrived at the house just before 2am and managed to get a few hours sleep before meeting the team in the paddock in time to all head into town.

We got into the Place de la Republique to be greeted by hundred if not thousands of race fans who were already there. Both the Team AAI cars looked great in there liveries and we walked through into the signing on area and kit check area. This is when I realised how hardcore some of the Le Mans fans are. One asked me to sign a photo of me driving a German Formula Renault car from a one off race years ago. I had no idea where he got the picture from as I am not sure I even have any myself. He then asked me to sign a number of photos that he had of me in different cars. He said he researches everyone who drives at Le Mans, while his friend told me that he had a signed picture of every driver who has taken part in Le Mans for over thirty years! Unbelievable dedication.

Le Mans Scrutineering

There were lots of photos and interviews on the stage and then we had the obligatory Le Mans team photo. I felt very proud to finally have made it into one of those. The rest of the day was taken up with driver change practice, and going through some videos and data from the test day with my co-driver San. He had stayed for the whole week between the test weekend and race week and seemed a lot more comfortable in his surroundings. I then headed out to dinner at Legends in the town centre with my other co-driver Xavier Maassen, his partner Nalan and Xavier’s dad and it was a great time to get to know them all better. Legends is race themed restaurant just of the main square in the town centre and well worth a visit if you get chance.

Tuesday was taken up with driver’s briefing and a very busy autograph session followed by an early night as I tried to catch up on some sleep. I also managed to cycle a few laps of the circuit with my old Murphy Prototypes teammate Karun Chandhok. It’s the best way to see the circuit as it is too long to walk and you miss things when you drive it. I have to thank one of my Radical customers, Brian Caudwell for the loan of the bike for Le Mans. It was a Pinarello, super lightweight and fast and worth almost more than my car!

Wednesday was what we had all been waiting for, the first practice sessions. The car had been very twitchy on the test weekend and we had a programme to work through to try to find some, speed. The 997 Porsche does not have the latest aero package that the 991 has so we were running the absolute minimum wing setting on the car to try to keep up on the straights. We wanted to find rear end grip mechanically rather than go up on the wing. Xavier did a series of runs as our engineer Massimo worked through the changes and by the time I got in at the end of the session the car felt a step better and we decided to keep going in that direction on set up. Due to the red flag in the session I only ran six laps but felt comfortable that I knew where I could find time. The evening session required us all to do our mandatory five night laps. Again Xavier ran first then me and then it was to be San. As I got in the car the red flag came out again. We opted to switch to put San in the car to be sure he would get his laps on Wednesday as Thursday had rain forecast. I managed to get out for two laps at the end of the session. So only eight laps on my first day but it is a team game and I knew my time would come.

NightQual at LM24

By now it had become apparent that we were going to be spending more time looking the mirrors than all the Kardashians put together. I have driven in the night in Dubai but I was shocked by just how blinding the LMP1 lights are at Le Mans and we needed to do all we could to prevent this. Our rear facing camera was next to useless at night as the contrast just meant it flooded with light whether the car behind was 200m or 20m behind you. Also the circuit lights were mounted almost horizontally and the same white colour as the LMP lights so often you would think you had a car coming up behind you when it was actually just a corner light. Eventually you would realise it was not getting brighter and you knew it was not a car. Still far too much focus was being spent making sense of what was happening behind than we would have liked. We also had a fairly large blindspot to the sides making it hard to see if anyone was alongside. The head restraint sides to the seat mean you cannot just turn your head as you would in a road car. When you get divebombed by an LMP1 car into a corner you need to be sure that there is not another following him through before turning in. If we were unsure we had to just leave space as it was never worth risking the car for. The AF Corse cars had a radar system which apparently worked well to tell you what class of car was coming up, how close they were and their position relative to you. This would have been amazing….next time perhaps.

On Thursday morning we tinted the rear screen more to and adjusted the rear camera to try to help the blinding from the LMP1 headlights. I also spent a long time with San going though each corner explaining where he could find time. For qualifying two in the early evening I was out first to try to make up for the missed laps the day before. I did an eight lap run and started to feel a lot more comfortable with the car and set up. My best sectors were good albeit on different laps while avoiding traffic. I realised that whereas I am used to thinking that I will have a good lap when there is a clear track ahead, in GTE AM you know you will have a good lap when you see a clear track behind you! San jumped in and within his seven laps he had found eight seconds on his previous time. He still had some way to go but it was positive. Then the reds came out again and the session was stopped early.

For night qualifying I still needed to get three laps in. I headed out first and got these out of the way. The plan was then for both Xavier and I to get a proper qualy run on new rubber. Xavier headed out first and got down to a 4m01.270. Not quick by the front running cars standards but it was absolutely driving the doors off our car. It was a good step forward and we felt confident as each time we left the pits we were making changes and finding time. I then headed out and onto my new tyre run. Within a lap the oil pressure warning came on. Normally racing drivers are taught that if the oil pressure light comes on then you stop the engine immediately to prevent engine damage. In the Porsche there is a reserve oil tank and you press a button to top up the oil. I was told over the radio to do this and continue with the run. On the next lap the light came on again and this time we pitted to check it over. After being given the all clear I headed back out onto the circuit. This time as I headed down from Dunlop towards Tertre Rouge the oil pressure light came on again. Again I radioed back to the pits for instructions. As I exited Tertre Rouge I had a call from Massimo “Stop the car! Stop the car!” I assumed that they had seen a bigger drop in oil pressure this time and dipped the clutch and switched off immediately so as to try to prevent engine damage. As I came to a stop halfway towards the first chicane I asked if they needed me to do anything in the car or whether I was parking it. The reply was delayed as Massimo was still being informed himself what the issue was. By this time and with the car stopped I could smell smoke that had not caught up with me while the car had been moving. Oil had been leaking onto the exhaust since Dunlop but due to the heavy tinting on the rear screen I had not seen the smoke. Also the engine compartment is completely sealed from the cockpit and at that speed smoke does not travel forwards and reach the driver. Had I known I had been on fire before I stopped then I would have driven to a marshal’s post where there were extinguishers. I did not wait for the reply on the radio and jumped out of the car and pulled the extinguisher. It was not enough to put it out and within twenty seconds the whole rear of the car had six foot high flames coming out of it. I could see my Le Mans dreams disappearing before my eyes and there was nothing I could do about it. Within a minute or so the marshals arrived and put the fire out but the damage was done. The whole rear of the car looked destroyed.

IMG_4106

When I got back to the garage the team I had a couple of quick calls to make to my mum and my wife who had seen the fire on TV but did not know that I was fine. With them reassured I spoke to the team who were very apologetic but already intensely focused on assessing the damage and working out if we had a chance to make the race. We had just that day fitted the race engine and the practice engine was already up to its life on hours so we could not just swap that over. They worked into the night to strip the car and by 3am they had decided that they shell was salvageable but that everything else would need to be replaced. Porsche in Germany were already on the phone and the new engine left their factory at 9am on Friday morning. In the meantime the guys prepped the shell and resprayed it and the new wiring was installed in readiness for the parts we were waiting for.

With the events of Thursday night I had not got to bed until about 3.30am and was up again at 9am. Not ideal prep for a 24hr race but I hoped to get to bed early on Friday night. At this point all I wanted to do was help the guys in some way but I had other duties that I was committed to. I had a job for Stuart at Project100 giving some of his guests a circuit tour on Friday morning, followed by two interviews, a quick hello and lunch with my wife Jenna who had now arrived, and then straight to the drivers parade in the town centre.

Driver parade

The drivers parade was far, far crazier than I expected. Thousands and thousands of people line the streets of the town as the drivers ride through on vintage cars with brass bands playing and a real carnival atmosphere. No doubt most were there to see Patrick Dempsey and the ex-F1 drivers but I even had a few people shouting wiKapadia at me! So someone reads this then! We had fun throwing pictures to the crowds, having selfies taken and signing autographs on all sorts of bodyparts. It was definitely one of the highlights of the week. It went on until about 9pm and I wish I could have stayed for a beer in the town centre but we had to get back to the circuit.

When we got back it was 10pm and the new engine had just arrived. Despite the guys only having had 3 hours sleep the night before and now having worked 14 hours already today, the guys then worked all through the night to install the engine, gearbox and suspension and test all the systems.

New engine

I got to bed at around 11:30pm and was under instruction to sleep in as I would be doing a lot of night driving the next day. Xavier and San drove the car in warm up and it seemed to run perfectly! A huge testament to the guys hard work and attention to detail under pressure.

We then had a quick team briefing and some final driver change practice, while the team made final checks to the car, before the car headed out onto the grid for the start of the race. To see it on the grid after all their efforts was already a victory. Now we just had to hope it would last the race. While standing on the grid for the starting ceremony I felt a mixture of elation that I had finally made it to the grid of the Le Mans 24hrs and also exhaustion from the lack of sleep and running around. If that was how I felt I have no idea what it was like for the guys who had only had three hours sleep since Thursday morning and were now about to do another 24hrs!

Grid

Our strategy was to finish. We knew we were not going to do much on pace in the 997 and so our only hope for a real result was to make sure that we were there at the end when perhaps others were not. With this in mind all our driving focused on this goal. It did not matter if we lost a few extra seconds in traffic, we just needed to stay clean and stay out of the garage. Even in a car that is four seconds off the pace, if you rivals spend ten minutes in the garage fixing some damage, then that would take 150 laps at four seconds per lap to regain it. We just had to keep going.

Xavier started and did a double stint before handing over to San for a single. San was to do the minimum driving time of four hours and he wanted to do it in daylight conditions. This meant Xavier and I would do around ten hours each. After San’s first stint I headed out for my first stint and why not make it a triple one. I actually felt very relaxed as I got in and just took it easy and stayed out of trouble. Physically I was fine as I train hard and the Porsche at Le Mans is a lot less physical than say a Radical SR8 at Silverstone. The only worry came from a numb right foot.

As we went through the night Xavier and I alternated triple stints and by 4am we were thirteen hours into the race and I had done 6hrs of it. My back had started to ache and my foot was now totally numb. (Even as I write this on Wednesday after the race three of my toes have still not come back to life yet!) I managed to get just over an hour of sleep during the night. But we always had to be ready for the next stint so time was limited.

The track was starting to grip up now and Xavier got down to a 4m00.9 during the night. I got to a 4m02.8 in the morning but after studying the data all my time was being lost on the straights. This was either due to air temperature or engine losing me 4-5kph top speed everywhere, but I was happy to see that I had been quicker in a few places whilst driving perhaps overcautiously and well within myself. At this point it became pointless to try to push for times as we were not likely to catch the car in front and when Massimo told me I could choose my own pace in the last two hours I opted to save the car wherever possible. Not taking too much kerb, not abusing the driveshafts and reducing the revs a little. The team had given me the honour of finishing the car and they did not need me trying to be a hero with just two hours to go after what they had been through.

With two minutes to go I was overtaken by the lead Porsche who then slowed at Mulsanne to form the train that would cross the line. As I crossed the line and saw the whole team hanging off the pitwall it was a very special moment. We had come here gain experience, and to finish, and despite everything that had happened we had achieved that! It was mission accomplished!

Finish line

The slow down lap was very special and quite emotional. I drove slowly past all the spectators enclosures where I had once stood and now I had raced it and finished it. Once the car was parked up in parc ferme one of the first people I saw was Jenna who got a huge hug before we were mobbed by the team who were ecstatic.

 

When I signed up to this drive I knew that the older car would not be quick and that San was also going to have a very steep learning curve. The reason I did it was because I had been very close to three different top LMP2 drives but each team had said that they “wanted a driver with Le Mans experience”. I have that now and I also appreciate the value of that experience more too. If I came back again my approach would now be different. With the hand we were dealt it was about playing it cautious and not making any mistakes while trying to find that “rhythm” that you need to be quick and not make mistakes. I have found that rhythm now and feel confident around the circuit and could go out and push from the off next time and also not be thinking about mandatory ten laps on the test day and night laps etc. This really eats into you programme and hugely affects your approach.

It just remains for me to thank AAI Motorsport and San for the opportunity and for all of their superhuman efforts, and to everyone else who had supported me. Keep up to date with my progress on twitter @alexkapadia and I hope you have enjoyed this column.

Filed Under: Latest News, Uncategorized

wiKapadia.com Le Mans 2015 Part 2 – Test Weekend

June 9, 2015 by Alex Kapadia

Having already given you my Campsite to Cockpit backstory I have now completed the Le Mans test weekend. For our team, last weekend was not just another test, it was also the first time that most of us had met each other, let alone driven the car.

Many teams come to Le Mans halfway through an ELMS or WEC campaign and they already know the car and each other very well. None of us had ever driven the car before and we had never worked together before. In addition both myself and San needed to complete our mandatory ten laps, and familiarise ourselves with the car and all its systems and controls. As a reserve driver for Murphy Prototypes last year I had already driven the circuit before but San had never been here before so needed to learn the track too.

With all this in mind I arrived on Friday afternoon to prepare for the Sunday test. To an outsider you cannot believe that you would need to arrive two days early for a test day but the reality is that there was not a spare moment over the three days.

On arrival the first job was to head straight to the garage and meet the team. These are the guys that will be working relentlessly over the next two weeks to give us the best chance possible in the race. They are also the guys who you put your trust in to keep the car reliable and safe. This commands respect and I always make a point of introducing myself to every team member and remembering everyone’s names. It is difficult when you meet about twenty five people all at once to take in and remember everyone so I make a note on my phone of every name and then if I forget any I have it there. This system works and is crucial to building the respect and a relationship with the guys.

AAI Motorsport have a technical partnership with the highly experienced Prospeed squad so the majority of the team are Belgian but we also have drivers from four different countries, an Italian engineer and a Japanese team manager. It is a truly international affair. It became clear that language and clear communication are going to be important factors.

I also met San for the first time on Friday and was relieved to find out what a dude he is. He is a really nice guy, huge enthusiast of the sport, and a proper character. I could tell we were going to have some fun over the next few weeks.

Track walk

Then there was some serious prep to get done. I was allowed to utilise some spare space on the car to give a few of my personal sponsors a bit of extra branding. Vapouriz and Club100 were very happy to get a few good spots on the rear of the car. This is likely to be seen a lot on the onboard cameras as the LMP1 cars lap us. The team wanted to install a new radio kit and drink system to my helmet, I needed to check I was comfy in the car and more than anything I needed to understand all the controls and systems for the car. A few days before the test I had been sent a thirty six page document by the team explaining everything, now I needed to see how much I could remember! Much of it was standard stuff like the locations of switches and controls but you also need to understand and remember the different engine maps positions, TC options, and also important, how to put the car in reverse. You think you would hardly ever need to use reverse but it is important in case anything happens in the race and the ACO officials also do random tests during the test day to check you can put the car in reverse without outside assistance. Once that was all memorised we headed back to our accommodation from Project100 in a lovely house in the woods between Mulsanne and Indianapolis.

Sponsors

The next day involved signing on, taking all our kit to scrutineering, a team briefing with the engineers where a run plan was decided on, drivers briefing and a track walk. At nearly 14km long you do not walk the whole track. We headed out by car to see the public road section which is everything from Tetre Rouge round to the entry to the Porsche curves and then did the rest on foot. I always pay particular attention to the condition of the sections linking the Bugatti circuit to the public road as these are only used twice a year and build up a film of dust and dirt. Interestingly the new tarmac on the outside of the Porsche curves was pristine but the construction traffic that had been present to lay the tarmac had spread mud all over the circuit itself. I noticed it was a brown colour in comparison to the dark black of the new run off. This meant it was likely to be really slippery and take a while to clean up.

Sunday came round quickly and I was first out in the car to get my ten laps. They went by very quickly and I was relieved to have got it out of the way and off my mind. My first impressions of the car we that it had more oversteer than I was expecting and we started to work to dial that out as the day went on. We also had a few minor issues with the traction control but got this sorted quickly too. Until this point conditions had been dry but as San headed out for his ten laps the clouds came over and it started to spit with rain. A few laps into his stint San had lost tyre temperature and had a small off into the gravel at turn 1. No damage done and he was back on the way within a few minutes. He got his ten laps done and Xavier managed to jump in for a few laps before lunch on wets.

DDLP2738

So my first session was over and I had had my first experience of a GT car at Le Mans. I felt that compared to my ten laps in the Murphy LMP2 the GT was a far harder car to drive, as we were not flattered by anything like as much downforce and also you are constantly being dive-bombed by LMP1 and LMP2 cars travelling up to 45 seconds per lap faster. I am used to multi-class racing in Radicals but I am usually the one doing the passing. I now had a much greater appreciation for how hard the GT drivers work to not only get the cars round the circuit but also how you needed to have one eye on your mirrors all the time and how the skill is to lose the least amount of time being passed. When an LMP1 is behind you the headlights just fill the mirrors even when they are still 100 metres back and you cannot see how far behind they are. If that is what it is like in daylight it is only going to be worse at night.

DDLP1406

After lunch Xavier and I did some more runs, focusing on a good safe set up to make San feel as comfortable as possible. He still needs more time in the car and we know that our race result will depend on how confident he is with the car. I was happy to see that in the wet I was only a couple of seconds off the fastest GTs at the time, while feeling that there was a lot more still to come. Being an older car the 997 is likely to struggle for ultimate pace in the dry but I think a wet race could help us.

I have had a busy week since the test and with two days of driver coaching in the Radicals, trying to cram a few days in at my business and also the Radical European Masters at Silverstone this weekend. As I write this I have just this afternoon taken pole for the first race so we are hoping for two good results on Sunday before jumping in the car on Sunday afternoon and driving straight from Silverstone to Le Mans ready for our scrutineering first thing on Monday morning.

Radical Jerez

One last thing; a bit of personal advice to anyone who is driving to Le Mans… DO NOT SPEED. You WILL get caught. A few years ago I was banned from driving on the way down to Le Mans and just a few weeks ago I got caught on the way back from a race in Dijon. The Gendarme will line the roads between Calais and Le Mans literally camouflaging themselves in the long grass around the bridges, looking out for crazy Brits who think they are immune from penalties in France. Trust me after a very big fine, a number of hours in the police station, the threat of confiscating my car and a court hearing (in France) I will not make the same mistake again. The Thursday and Friday of Le Mans week are peak hunting season for them. Take it easy.

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