There’s no getting away from it - the race car team is collectively "gutted". After just 22 laps and 45 minutes of the twisting tarmac at Valencia’s compact Ricardo Tormo circuit, Embassy’s second 1000km Le Mans Series adventure whimpered to a freewheeling end out near turn 7.
Recovered to the pits on the back of a transporter, the problem was quickly diagnosed - a failure of the car’s alternator.
No excuses
Elaborate excuses are commonplace in motor racing and as we have made it part of our sporting philosophy to be as far from commonplace as possible, we will not be making excuses for what was a very disappointing race for Embassy. Admittedly, under similar circumstances, we might have attempted to play down what can only be described as a poor race performance by concentrating on the weekend’s success stories…
…we might have taken a paragraph or so to describe how we are setting new highs in presentation standards within the privateer paddock. We might discuss the fact that long after the queues have died down to secure an autograph from the world famous factory team drivers, Warren and Neil are still inundated with fans demanding they sign Embassy Racing posters. We might even mention the fact that the black and white Radical SR9 in garage number 41 was quite easily the best looking piece of machinery anywhere within the boundaries of the Valencia circuit. And last but not least we would use the ultimate distraction technique of bringing to your attention the presence of the beautiful Embassy racing promo girls - who caused more than a stir wherever they turned up.
There’s no getting away from it - the race car team looks like it should be winning LMP2 races. Unfortunately, how you look does not win races. With good drivers, a skilful team, and damned hard work, you might get a fast car - throw in a little bit of luck and that’s what wins races.
So where are we in those areas?
Drivers
Neil Cunningham and Warren Hughes are two of the most experienced drivers on the LMS grid. Between them they have driven most everything, including F1 cars. They are proven big stage race winners and are certainly considered to be at the very peak pf their performing talents. They are professional, determined, focused and hungry. We consider them, and many agree that they are the best driver pairing in LMP2. At Valencia on the weekend, the pair were matching each other’s times within tenths of seconds, consistently circulating at a very competitive race pace. Compared to other teams that may have one quick driver and one not so quick driver, we have the consistency of quality to stay on the pace, lap after lap, hour after hour.
Team
A full-time team of race engineers, mechanics, technicians, electricians and analysts - all highly qualified, experienced and successful in their own right. This is a hand-picked team of individuals who are recognised as being the very best at what they do. From chassis and set up to aerodynamics and electronics, we feel that we have the perfect balance of grey matter and digital dexterity to produce a race winning car.
Hard work
Changing from the Pilbeam to a Radical last minute created mountains of problems for those working on the car. Late nights, early mornings were the norm, all nighters were thrown in where required, hundreds if not thousands of man hours have been committed to the Embassy LMP2 project without a word of protest. From day one, the team has bonded, the spirit is high, the work ethic overriding. These are people thriving on hard work and pressure and they are certainly up to it.
Fast car
In many types of motorsport and for many complex and technical reasons, overtaking on track has become a very rare event. That’s why qualifying is considered to be so hugely important. To qualify at the front, a team needs to put a car on the track that is set-up specifically to do just one flying lap at tremendous speed. In endurance racing, qualifying is very important, but the same flying lap car must be capable of completing 1000km at a consistent race pace. If a car is designed to deliver its performance over one lap, then it is unlikely to make it through a six hour race. A fast car is a compromise - fast enough to qualify well and operating within sensible parameters to run the full race distance. We said at the outset that this was a no-excuse exercise and for the sake of our credibility we must admit that the Embassy Radical is not currently set-up as the best qualifying car. There are a good number of LMP2 cars on the grid that can produce single lap times significantly quicker than ours; however, by taking a different route with the compromise, we have one of the fastest and most competitive race pace cars out there. Indeed, during the forty or so minutes that we ran, there was only one LMP2 car that lapped quicker than us. Over the course of a six hour race, regardless of our qualifying position, we believe that our race pace would bring us well within striking distance of a podium if not a class win.
Luck
Luck is an interesting concept in motor racing. When things go wrong, it’s an arbitrary element that no-one has any control over. When you are winning you "make your own". Whichever side of the luck paradigm you are on; there is little doubt that to win races you need some. Having looked at the above, we leave you to make your own mind up as to whether luck is playing a part in the way the Embassy Racing LMS season is playing out so far.
There will be no let up in effort over the next few weeks and we look forward to a better showing at the Nurburgring on the 1st of July.
