A special shout out to the team at Aston Martin Racing
Sunday, June 25, 2017
This tweet from Jonny Adam today nicely reinforces the point of just how much teamwork is required in order to be successful in any motor-sport these days.
Of course, it was just over a week ago today that Adam and fellow drivers within the #97 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE - Darren Turner and Daniel Serra ascended to the top step of the podium having secured the dramatic but thoroughly deserved race win in the Le Mans 24Hour GTE Pro class, a result that will live on in the corridors of both Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing for eternity.
In order to achieve such a monumental event Aston Martin Racing arrived at the Circuit de La Sarthe with over 50 engineering staff serving the three factory entered cars as well as others for both the Beechdean and TF Sport entries. Supporting them would be another army of personnel from the teams technical partners at Dunlop and Total as well as a large number dealing with the dietary and refreshment needs of such an army.
On Thursday afternoon we enjoyed a great conversation with AMR Team Principal Paul Howarth as the team crew work feverishly in the background to change all the time limited parts (engine, gearbox, suspension, brakes, etc) prior to the start of the evenings Qualifying sessions on track in the hope of saving themselves some time the next day.
They would complete their works with just minutes remaining before the next session on track.
For those who were at the circuit from Wednesday, you would know just how hot it was around the track and then if you add a three layer race suit, helmet and gloves you would begin to understand the challenging conditions that each mechanic and team crew were working under. Tyre ovens burning away in an area with restricted air flow is not a pleasant working environment we can tell you!
Then the #99 Beechdean AMR crew had their own work cut out as the persevered to fit the third engine of the meeting to their car having had it experience performance issues with its first race engine in qualifying but at least they 'enjoyed' the fact of others from the neighbouring AMR garages came through from their own work load to help out.
And all of this was even before the race itself …………..!!
During the twenty four hours of the race the garage crew and technicians continued to work tirelessly against the hot ambient conditions and fatigue to service and repairs the cars as and when required. That was all to evident when the #98 Pedro Lamy car came in with front quarter damage having nerfed the barrier from the GTE Am Class lead requiring extensive repairs in its garage - it was simply all hands to the pumps at that moment.
Only by each undertaking their responsibilities to perfection did it give Messers Adam, Turner and Serra the car they needed to have any chance of taking the race to their competitors.
Well done to you all at #TeamAMR
Photo credit for trophy/car shot - AMR