Birthday rear view mirror

Well I turn 20 today, so while I still may be a year away from legally being able to drink a beer here in the States, I have to pause and reflect on everything that occurred within last June 23rd and now. And what would a day in my life be without some kind of writing, anyway?

My sophomore year of college could not have been more unbelievable, from the projects I worked on, to the new friends I have made, and the work I accomplished to further my career. The combination of working to elect a new president, seeing that through at the inauguration, then joining the Tribune and learning more about local issues in Milwaukee, and just last week jetting off to cover the 24 Hours of Le Mans for motorsport.com were all thoroughly incredible experiences.

I can't thank everyone enough who has been there with me at some point of the ride, because these last 12 months have changed me in more ways that I will ever know and never forget. I can only hope the next 12 are as good, if not better. Out for now, cheers.

Paris, then the travel day from hell

It is now Wednesday - my internal clock is still a bit off after what can only be described as a diabolical route back to the U.S. Suffice to say if I ever return to Le Mans, it will be on the TGV to and from Charles De Gaulle airport.

Here is a review of the last two days in pain-staking, excruciating detail. One was great in Paris, the other a disaster trying to get back from Paris.

On Monday, I took the TGV from Le Mans to Paris Montparnasse to meet my aunt, my gracious travel partner (even if I was only flying out with her and then meeting up for a day in Paris). We took a couple of metros to get to our hotel, not situated far at all from the Eiffel Tower (the obligatory photo is to the right, but at night it is truly amazing).

It was raining -so much like the first couple days of the week and most spring or fall days in Milwaukee - you have to make a plan to make the best of it. My aunt and I decided to take a bus tour of Paris rather than walk around, and still wound up seeing most of the historic city's major landmarks.

Notre Dame, the Champs Y'Elysses, the Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel were all four of our stops, plus we stopped to have a drink on the Champs (Panache beer, which was typical French sissie beer - it was sweet and not dry, but grew on us). Notre Dame is absolutely stunning. Words and photos don't do it proper justice. The Arc, quite honestly, is better when you're driving towards it than when you're actually in it. But we still went inside the circle.

That night we had easily the best food of either of our respective trips (my aunt was in Switzerland and Paris for a few more days while I was in Le Mans). At Le Bosquet in Paris, we had an incredible dinner. Mine was a scallops and shrimps main course with couscos, her's a veal liver with salad. Then came dessert, the highlight of the meal. She had a creme brulee, me a peach crumble.

A friend of mine recommended I try the French peaches at some point and I owe him a major bit of gratitude for that. This was a delectable, every bite melting in your mouth perfect bit of consistent balance between a crusty crumble and fresh peaches. I haven't had anything like it before, and I probably won't again. Simply phenomenal.

To top off the day we went straight from there to the Eiffel to see it light up at night. It was great.

***

That was a good day, despite the weather. Tuesday, our day of travel back to the U.S., was not.

We took two metros to the proper station to catch another train to CDG airport, but this is when the fun started. Or agony.

My aunt had not gotten tickets for this particular train as yet so were running around in an unknown area while all the ticket windows were closed. So on an automated machine we attempted to charge for the tickets. Neither credit card worked. We went upstairs and found a second level of windows, these with agents present. We got tickets and made it to the right level for the final train. Key word there, right level.

We got on what appeared to be the right train headed to CDG but this one didn't have a map until we were on. Most on board got off at the first stop and that's when my aunt realized we were on the wrong train. We head back to the station, and got on the proper train right then.

So we arrived at CDG after circulating through the old, round and confusing terminal 1. We attempt to check in at hall 2, at 10:10, for an 11:15 flight to Chicago at the United desk.

The flight is closed. An hour in advance.

Several lines later after the language barriers and going through customer service (which there wasn't any of, thanks to being sent to the wrong line). We get re-routed to Washington, D.C.'s Dulles airport, then to Chicago. Plus my aunt has to fly back to Phoenix from Chicago. It's a major SNAFU, only that's being modest.

We then proceed through the "security rules guy" line, the "get seats" line, then through customs, then we are in the gate area. I'm freaking out as we are attempting to get to our gate and pushing to go faster because I don't want to go 0-for-2. And once in the proper gate section, there is yet another line - the actual security checkpoint.

So now it's the whole Russian Roulette routine as we're taking everything off and putting it through security. My aunt wanted to check her bag while I insisted on carry-on, and it was at this juncture we found out why. She had a number of liquids and even a little scissors in her bag - all confiscated. This is another 7-10 minute delay.

We made it onto our plane to DC - just. The only movies showing were insanely stupid - I watched both Paul Blart: Mall Cop and the second Steve Martin Pink Panther movie and honestly wonder how these things are put in production. Or how Blart was the first U.S. movie to make over $100 million at the box office this year. Baffling, really.

Oddly our layover in DC was the only part of the trip that went swimmingly. We had Potbelly's sandwiches and then headed for Chicago. A quick flight later and in Chicago we each hit our next series of pitfalls as we went our separate ways.

Her flight back to Arizona was delayed and I have no idea whether she made it back or not as have not spoken since. My bus to Milwaukee was delayed by an hour as it rained, heavily.

All told, an excruciatingly awful and extended 24-hour period ended with 12 very much needed hours of sleep. The rest of my life, post-Le Mans, begins now. Cheers.

Crazy race so far

1:16 PM Cars have been dropping like flies. While trying to get a word in with the race's ironman, Charles Zwolsman of Kolles Audi, we were held up by some Dutch reporters who spent like 20 minutes gathering material for Zwolsman's life story. I can see now why Michael Caine's character in Austin Powers, Nigel Powers, referred to them as simply, "The bloody Dutchmen!" There's less than two hours remaining as the typing continues.

7:44 AM We're back to sunrise. The big story overnight was a savage accident for the customer Pescarolo Peugeot, Benoit Treluyer the driver at the time. Ben was unharmed, quite miraculously, after his shunt.

10:09 PM Darkness is beginning here at Le Mans after seven-plus hours. The #2 Audi just wrecked and is done, the #72 Corvette doing likewise. Many cars have been affected and things just keep changing. Narain Karthikeyan has been approved fit by Audi doctor but not approved by the ACO doctor. The Radical is being rebuilt after its earlier incident. The #3 Audi has just returned to the track.

Check motorsport.com's front page and Le Mans page for more information.

When the quest to answer nature's call leads to injury...

5:30 PM The recap of a ridiculous first hour is below: http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=332165

Even despite the Peugeot pit dustup and subsequent debris scattering, or the Premat Audi going off at the get-go, or the incredible battle in GT2 with four cars separated by less than four seconds for the lead, or the inevitable early retirement of the JLOC Lambo, these were not the oddest or most bizarre moments of the first hour.

Kolles Audi driver Narain Karthikeyan (pictured, left with Barazi-Epsilon's Phil Bennett, another late entrant to the field), who I must say is not exactly very fan or media-friendly, had a freak incident before the race even started. He didn't bother to stop to sign autographs for the thousands of fans lining the streets of downtown Le Mans during yesterday's driving parade, and when I saw him during this afternoon's grid walk he didn't feel like smiling or talking.

Alas, I figure it's excusable because he is focused on the race. Or in this case, going to use the facilities.

And that's when one of the more freak incidents I can ever remember occurred.

We got word just before the start that Charles Zwolsman would wind up starting as opposed to Narain, when the Dutch driver wasn't expecting it. Why, you ask? It turns out Karthikeyan disclocated his shoulder while climbing a pit wall en route to the bathroom.

"I was trying to go and take a leak," Karthikeyan told AUTOSPORT. "I jumped up on to the pit wall but slipped and ended up hanging by one hand. I can't believe it."

Karthikeyan is one of the Kolles' teams six (yes, six!) rookie drivers in an LM P1 prototype and for that matter, an Audi R10 TDI. While all have adequate if unspectacular credentials, there is really no reason other than their wallets for being able to have the privilege of wheeling the same car, albeit modified, that has won the last three 24H of LM.

Zwolsman and Andre Lotterer - the German only called into the car this week for scrutineering - may wind up doing the entire 24H themselves, as Karthikeyan's status for the remainder of the race is questionable.

Race morning

10:08 AM The race warmup just concluded, the start is in about 5 hours. Yesterday morning we met with Aston Martin's drivers (and their models, see left). David Richards, the Prodrive boss who runs AMR, was happier before discovering the news that his team had once again been denied entry into F1 for 2010. It's all provisional at the moment but he and Lola are the two main manufacturers that have been left out.

After that was the driver's parade, an incredible event that I wound up making better for myself by not bringing my vest that would have got me into the action. Instead, I wound up standing in next to some Brits on the other side, talking F1, Aston Martin, and everything else. It was fantastic.

One funny thing there was seeing all the drivers I'd interviewed and talked to over the course of the week. I think they appreciated seeing a friendly face after being mobbed for blocks by thousands of people for autographs; many of them even asked how I was doing and how I was enjoying it which was really thoughtful on their parts.

There's no need for them to have done that. and from my perspective it was awesome to see them from the fan perspective. Though perhaps Aston's Darren Turner, who I had talked to in the morning, described it best for me when he asked, "What are you doing here (on that side of the fence)?" A question I might ask myself, quite honestly, because it's still crazy I'm really here.

Stories from the last few days:

GT qualifying report:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=331944
On Corvette team futures:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=331978
On Risi Competizione:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=332019

Out for now, cheers.

Thursday qualifying update

Qualifying to start in under ten minutes, again going until midnight local time. A recap of the day is below:

2:00 PM Just returned from about 3.5 hours out, first to the LM 24H Museum to see all the old cars and have the ACO Press Conference, where they determined the rules and regulations for 2010-11 going forward. The main points: GT1 is questionable (as everyone here knows) because of a lack of A. manufacturer support and B. reliable entries. The GT1 class here has only six entrants and one of them, a Japanese Lamborghini Murcielago has not been on track yet.

Also, the race will continue despite Peugeot’s feeble protest. The P1 class may be undecided until after the race but on the surface it appears more a marketing ploy or French whine than anything else. The Audis passed scrutineering and homologation so shouldn’t be affected by the FIA.

Still, the fact we were in the museum was nothing short of awesome. You’re walking amidst legendary vehicles throughout the entirety of history, all with amazing style cues and bodywork. We walked back from the museum amidst the fans, on the other side of the paddock and media center. It’s such an incredible assembly of international flair. Notable among all the Europeans are the French, of course, the Brits, and the Dutch. The Brits are loud and the Dutch, vibrant as ever in their orange attire, are drunk – already – at 2:45 p.m. I’m loving every bit of it as they're walking around the paddock with open beer cans.

I went into the pit lane and examined each of the 55 cars – or at least the ones that were open. Most cars had all bodywork removed as the crews prepped for tonight’s qualifying session. Still, walking down pit lane is amazing. I can’t think of more superlatives at the moment.

Just off to see Team Oreca in P1 right now, their main driver is Bruno Senna, Ayrton’s nephew. Also notable among them are ex-F1 pilots Olivier Panis and Tiago Monteiro. Oh, and it hasn’t rained today… yet. I’m hoping it will hold off for a bit longer.

4:15 PM Back from Oreca. Bruno Senna was mobbed, and was the opposite of everyone else on the team. He was the only one to speak English (four of the other five drivers are French, Tiago Monteiro is Portuguese but they all spoke French), wear the team’s sweater over the t-shirt (odd because it was hot), wear a sponsor hat over the team hat (Embratel 21) and wear his sunglasses. Dude already is like his uncle, a complete badass and anti-establishment type figure.

Afterwards, I talked a bit to Monteiro, then later Pat Long with two SPEEDTV guys in the paddock, and then Joao Barbosa and Darren Law. They’ve driven Brumos Porsche DPs for a while; Barbosa began in Atlantic in the late ‘90s and Law has driven sportscars for a long time, but this is his first time at Le Mans.

Surprisingly Monteiro remembered me after only encountering him in Champ Car in 2003 twice (Long Beach and Road America) and the ill-fated 2005 USGP. This was a good race for him – a third-place for Jordan was the only podium finish of his career – bad for everyone else because it was a six-car race. I'm not planning to leave the media center for a while, perhaps the rest of the night.

6:15 PM I just talked to the PR person for Oreca – she jokes Bruno Senna “is superhuman, because he’s driving all 24 hours in both cars” to indicate their other 5 drivers don’t exist.

They’re not slouches – Panis won the legendary rain-soaked Monaco Grand Prix of 1996, Monteiro scored his podium at the infamous 2005 US Grand Prix, and Ortelli, Ayari, and Lapierre can hack it when they need to. But apparently they don’t exist.

I have photographic evidence to provide that they do. Out for now, cheers.

ACO 2010-11 regulations article:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=331891

Patrick Dempsey at Le Mans article:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=331869

Wednesday night practice

8:09 PM We're into the third hour of six in Wednesday night's practice session. A couple offs, it's still raining hard, and much time still left at the circuit/media center.

The story today more than anything is Peugeot lodging a protest against Audi for the German marque's front wing and aero. The Audi passed homologation months ago and made it through two rounds of scrutineering unharmed.

So we wait with baited breath for a ruling from the sanctioning body, the ACO. Unfortunately that ruling won't come until after the event. It will be like F1 and possibly racing under protest! Audi has said the bodywork is fine so it could just be case of classic French cheese and whine. Or it could be legit; at present, we don't know.

I did two interviews today with Risi and Corvette, with stories to come later in the week. Porsche story from Tuesday is below. Also, the star of Le Mans this year is Patrick Dempsey, best known as Dr. McDreamy from "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC. He is racing a Ferrari F430 GT in the GT2 class for Team Advanced Engineering, a joint effort between AF Corse of Italy and Team Seattle of well, Seattle.

Out for now, cheers.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=331630

Scrutineering synopsis

11:04 AM Today is really the first whole day at the track; the last two have been spent largely at scrutineering. To the veterans, it had to have been one of the worst ever.

It rained on-and-off all day yesterday, and when I say rain, I mean titanic, jaws of life, Noah’s Ark-type Armageddon style downpour. Some of the most horrendous rain I have seen in my life.

Nonetheless, in the interim from about 2-4:30, I went on a wonderful walk of old city in Le Mans with a friend from America. We stopped at a couple shops; I picked up a book she recommended, a cartoon of Le Mans 24 Hours in English called “Michel Vaillant: 24 Hours Under the Influence” that is hilarious.

I just mentioned to Eric that the new driver for Kolles, Andre Lotterer, a former CART driver and tester for Jaguar F1, took over after Tomas Scheckter was arrested for solicitation of a prostitute, to which Eric replied, “What’s wrong with that?”

I had two crepes today, one for dinner and the other dessert. The first included goat cheese, landers (better than ham/bacon) and crème, the second was pure chocolate. They were awesome. Porsche story was posted and have a Dempsey story to do tomorrow.

I didn’t spend as much time at scrutineering as I was figuring, which I guess was good. All in all, a good day, and out for now. Cheers.

Finally have internet, an update so far

11:26 am - Just got Internet in the MC. An update so far:

I wrote the following at 6:39 PM Le Mans time yesterday (11:39 AM Wisconsin time):

The anticipated blog from O’Hare didn’t happen, as attempts to get on the wireless failed. I know, I wasn’t trying hard enough; alas, here is a brief summary of the travels up to this point. The bus ride down to Chicago was fine, and quite empty, maybe 10-12 people on board a big Coach USA bus. Security at O’Hare didn’t take long and there was no need for a scene reminiscent of Home Alone when the McAllister family decided to chase like hell to run through the concourse to make their flight to Paris. This was not quite the case getting through security over three hours in advance of our flight.

As life sometimes imitates art – my inaugural visit to one of America’s largest airports was also for a trip to Paris. My aunt and I boarded our United flight, after some time waiting and then seat-swapping once on board. There was some turbulence and a selection of B-movies, all chick flicks, with either a chicken or pasta dinner (though the chicken was glorified curry rice with one or two pieces of chicken mixed in). It wasn’t the most glamorous flight ever but boom – after 8 hours, we landed in Paris.

The funny thing was we beat our other writer and tech guru to Paris, as he was getting in later from Toronto. We had time to spare before meeting at Café Ritazza in the Terminals 2A and 2B connector. Getting there was easier said than done. Unbeknownst to us we made several wrong turns, then after arriving on a tram it decided to take an abrupt stop on the tracks. Mechanical gremlins sent everyone forward and one woman with a hiker’s backpack to the ground. We were thrilled.

Eventually we arrived at the connector, after much chasing and basically getting off a replacement tram on the other side. Our friend was already there, and had been for 25-30 minutes. But no matter, we still had to wait for the main photographer who was arriving by train.

That took over an hour, but mercifully we were all set. Getting the rental car in order was another ordeal. It was a Renault Espace minivan, which my aunt and I described appropriately as a “big ass van” (this after we also concluded our Boeing 777 was in fact, a “big ass plane”). Several hours on the road, and a number of intermittent rain showers later ensured we arrived in Le Mans, saw the circuit and dropped my aunt off at her hotel.

We got to our bed and breakfast, found our way in, and settled in. Waiting on food, which will be a sampling of the local culture. More pics and info to come, knowing that internet occasionally works and the power adapters to European outlets works.

Written at 12:22 AM LM time:

A post scriptum to the previous entry. We just got back from dinner which in France takes FOREVER (like Squints said in Sandlot). It was about four hours – I missed the cue to order the three main course meal and ordered a three-cheese pizza of blue, gorgonzola and mozzarella (odd, not great). We ate with Rainer and his father, two people who write/shoot for endurance-info.com, and also Olivier Pla who co-drives the No. 40 Quifel-ASM car in P2.

My room is tiny but at least I have my own room. For now, its seven hours of sleep (after really, maybe 3-5 hours combined from plane to Paris and then car ride from Paris to Le Mans) and then the real fun of Le Mans 2009 begins, with scrutineering and Drayson Racing interview tomorrow. Out for now, cheers.

June 8, 2009

Written this morning at 10:56 AM in LM (3:56 WI) No internet in what is an incredibly expansive media center. We took a lap of La Sarthe – it was awesome. Like holy crap, I just did a lap of the track. Eric had a couple infamous quotes. First – “Tony can I use your hand?” - it was just to carry a bag, I promise. And second – “I want my farm house!” – by Tertre Rouge, sand pit now covers the area right in front of where the farm house is overlooking the track. We have some scrutineering later today and then the Drayson interview at 4.

More pics are below:

IndyCar's newest dilemma

I attended my first IndyCar race since Chicagoland last year this past weekend at Milwaukee. There was more passing at this race than either of the previous two aero drag-outs at Kansas and Indy, but mostly just lapping traffic and not much in the way for position.

The pass for the win, Scott Dixon over Ryan Briscoe, was not shown on ABC though Marty Reid inexplicably said it was because he thought they were on "side-by-side" coverage when they were not, but instead in local ads.

MyNameIsIRL noted there were 65 laps missed by commercials and only one stretch of more than 12 laps before darting to ads. It was another poor rating, down from last year to .6, only barely beating Long Beach which was shown on VERSUS. A ho-hum race weekend with Ganassi and Penske once again sweeping the podium while Rahal, Danica and Matos finished top six.

But the mood around the paddock was one of uncertainty. Mid-week Robin Miller reported on SPEEDTV.com that Tony George had been removed as CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, insinuating his family wanted the IRL to sink or swim as a separate entity not entirely driven by the Speedway's reserves.

A non-denial denial statement from the Speedway said TG was likely to take on more of an active role within the IRL. The team owners issued a collective statement they were supporting TG during the weekend.

It all has undertones of Champ Car's undoing, all over again. The IRL has been a financial loser each year of its existence but has basically survived off of Speedway profits. The Indy 500 has been reduced to a shadow of itself and everyone agrees it will take innovation and diversity (no, not an old wooden ship) to bring back new interest.

Miller has then asked the necessary question - does IndyCar need the Indy 500 more than the 500 needs IndyCar? The obvious answer is yes - there's been championship open-wheel racing in this country under various iterations since 1909 but no doubt a century later, IndyCar is in roughly the worst shape of any top-flight open-wheel division.

There are serious problems with the product this year. There's no diversity in the cars, a lack of passing thanks to the current aero package on 1.5-mile or larger ovals, the ratings are crap on a non-existent network (again, the VERSUS dilemma. It's better coverage but it matters not if nobody's watching), and the same teams win every week.

I think people dismissed the flaws last season while still on the post-unification high, but really IRL is no different from what it was two years ago, pre-unification. It just maybe has two or three more cars on a regular basis but the same issues.

In other words, it's the same old IRL, only surviving because it made fewer catastrophic business and personnel decisions than Champ Car did. That's not saying much.

Reports from this weekend:
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=330362 (IndyCar race)
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=330346&FS=INDYLIGHTS (Indy Lights race)
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=330289&FS=INDYCAR (Saturday notebook)

I have also decided to make this blog the focus of my time in Le Mans, France, covering this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. Time permitting, I plan a daily update with photos, track news and notes, links to articles, and perhaps a daily wrap-up video. I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity to cover what promises to be an epic race.

Out for now, cheers.