Team NASAMAX
Friday Report 13.06.03

A blisteringly hot and humid day was the setting for Team NASAMAX’s Friday. No track action would suggest a rest day, but this was far from the case for team and drivers. The crew got the tougher deal, with the Reynard being completely stripped down for its race-ready rebuild. Karl Griffith, the #1 mechanic for the team, managed his first break and cigarette after about six hours of hard graft. As Karl sweated, the drivers were out in the pitlane furiously signing posters and postcards for the large crowds during the open-to-all pitwalk - a traditional feature of race week.

The green-fuel car was not only popular with the general public; the media were keenly interested too. Robbie Stirling was interviewed for the official Le Mans video, while earlier in the day Werner Lupberger had been interviewed live on BBC Radio Northampton’s breakfast show - the South African having resided in Silverstone village for the last nine years. Romain was meanwhile being interviewed by one of the major French general interest magazines, and one of the top French TV stations filmed the team too.

In the back of the garage, cameras were being set up for the filming of a documentary about the project, to be shown on the Discovery Channel later in the year.

Robbie was expecting some new arrivals later in the day; “My wife Jackie and two of my (four) children are coming across - Dean (16) and Kyle (10).”

It turns out that Dean has aspirations to follow in his father’s footsteps; “Dean has been karting for seven or eight years, and he’ll soon be graduating to Formula Renault with Junior Team NASAMAX, possibly running this year’s winter series. Last year he was with me while I was testing at the A1-Ring, and a Formula Vauxhall Lotus team was present. I managed to arrange a test for him and by the end of the second day he was within a second of the team’s regular driver. Not bad considering he hadn’t driven a race car before.” Dean’s focus at the moment is his exams, and he is only able to attend owing to there being no clashing commitments. So what does Robbie like to do away from racing? “Holidays and jet skiing,” he grinned. “We’re off to Australia for a month after the season ends - I’ve not been there yet , and am looking forward to it greatly.”

Werner Lupberger was also waiting for his wife, Theresa, to arrive, but in this case she has been here all week. Werner was suffering from a stiff shoulder that needed a massage; “When I started to race sportscars and go endurance racing, Theresa decided to study sports therapy to help me.” It turns out that Theresa is quite a remarkable lady. In late 2001 she was involved in a horrendous waterskiing accident. “Theresa’s pelvis was broken in two places, and she was in hospital for six weeks and then laid up for six weeks at home. She literally had to teach herself to walk again, and during that process she learnt a lot about muscle structure and development. That’s the one good thing to come out of it,” explained Werner. “This week Theresa has been filming everything I do, because you never know if you’ll be coming back here to race - you have to have something to show the kids,” he grinned.

Werner’s father is unable to make the trip from South Africa for the race owing to business commitments, but he and his engineering company have been important backers of his son’s career to date. The driver returns to his native land in the winter where, in addition to spending time with family and friends, he enjoys waterskiing, camping by the lakes and scaring passengers in the family jetboat.

Romain Dumas spent the day very much in demand from the French-language media and was not short of company at any point of the day. He also did his stint on the autograph tables.

It wasn’t just the drivers who were in demand - John McNeil was keeping a large audience enthralled during the Radio Le Mans Debate as he spoke about the car, team and particularly the bio-ethanol fuel. As he trotted out the facts about the project (example - it takes an acre and a half of corn to run the car this week; an amount that would run a road car for 20,000 miles), gasps of genuine surprise were heard from the audience. John was the undoubted star of the debate, and one senses that a few people’s interest had been sparked by the end.

John was later asked by the dailysportscar editor for his reaction to the newly announced (Friday morning) Le Mans Tournament race at the Bugatti Circuit, to be held on November 2nd; “Oh, it’s here in November? That’ll suit us - we tested so well here in February.”

Later in the day, the drivers were to take part in the Grand Parade Des Pilotes in the centre of Le Mans. Robbie Stirling clearly hadn’t been for a while; “I’ll be doing the parade at six, and then collecting the family from the railway station at 6.45.” It was suggested that he might want to get someone else to collect them!

Thus it was that Robbie found himself sitting alongside Romain and Werner in the back of a vintage motor as it made its way along the parade route, lined with an estimated 130,000 spectators. The drivers were cheered all the way round and thoroughly enjoyed the occasion. Strangely, the Hawaiian Tropic Girls were also loudly cheered, despite not actually driving in the race.

A fun day for the drivers drew to a close with an early night. Tomorrow, the serious stuff starts.

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