Team NASAMAX
First Six Hours Report 14.06.03

They started at 09.15, they finished at 13.45 - four and a half hours to replace the Cosworth XDE - after problems in the warm up. “That’s incredible! It took nine hours at Sebring,” said Simon Danton; a glowing testimony to the teams’ tremendous work from the Cosworth Commercial Manager.

It turned out to be an ignition-related engine problem, and it caused considerable heat damage. The team had to change the exhaust, header and data looms. There was also heat damage to the monocoque. Unfortunately, the repairs 'exhausted' a large proportion of the team’s stock of right-side spares, so any race-contact on that side would be undesirable. The replacement engine is the spare race unit and has been well run-in on the dyno.

After the driver presentation on the pitlane was over, the three NASAMAX pilotes took the opportunity to go through all the potential problems that they would be able to fix at trackside.

As soon as the pitlane opened at 15.22, Romain Dumas took the Reynard to the track. He returned to the pitlane at the end of the lap and it was decided that a throttle adjustment would be needed. This was carried out on the grid after another circulation as the pitlane was about to close, and the car moved off with the rest at 3.52 for the formation lap.

A huge cheer from the crowd indicated the approach of the field for the rolling start and the NASAMAX Reynard floored the throttle with the others to join in the cacophony as the lights went green.

The first two laps went by without incident, but on the third lap the car slowed on the rundown to Indianapolis. Romain reported that he was unable to change up from fourth gear, but could change down. He was convinced that this was a selector problem and not a gearbox problem. This proved to be an accurate diagnosis as the team traced the problem to the selector cable. The repair would be relatively simple, but would take up to 15 minutes.

Once removed from the car, the faulty cable was discovered to have suffered heat damage in the earlier engine failure.

Thirty minutes had been lost, but the Frenchman returned at 16:41 for his fourth lap and in last place. He then settled down to consistent 4:02 laps for the rest of the first hour.

At 17.02 he bought the Reynard back in to the pits after a recurrence of the previous problem, Romain being unable to change up. The issue was again a faulty selector cable, but this particular component had not been in the car during the earlier engine failure.

The cause was identified as heat rising up through a gap between the header tank and the exhaust system. Both of these were replacements for the heat-damaged originals. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a perfect fit. “We lost the best header this morning and had to use one of the modified ones. They’re okay, but this thing is so hot that any heat leak is bad news,” was how crew chief Vince Moutrille explained it. So has that sorted it? “We’ve done what we can!”

Dumas stayed in the car and rejoined at 17.44, having lost another forty minutes.

Worse was to come. Just three laps later the car stopped at post #55 on the Mulsanne Straight as Romain reported he was unable to select any gear. Immediately, Vince, Karl, John and Brian huddled to discuss how the problem could be overcome. John McNeil made the decision to send Vince out to look for the car. However, just before he set off, the driver found third gear and made his way slowly back to the pits, arriving at 18.16 minus engine cover.

For the third time in less than three hours, the team found themselves having to replace a gear selector cable. Astonishingly, this time it was completely unrelated to previous two failures - it was purely a faulty cable. As yet another one was fitted, the faulty cable was taken away to be repaired. This was because the team was running out.

So how did Romain find the gear needed to get the car back? “With my foot! I pressed down on the cable with my heel until it selected a gear.”

At 18.50 the car headed out once more - this time in the hands of Robbie Stirling. Fortunately, no problems were reported but the car was back in 20 minutes later for fuel. It transpired that with all the recent interruptions, the team had not been able to accurately ascertain the car’s fuel consumption and after the Audi UK’s disaster earlier in the race (“One down, 14 to go!” was press officer Janice Minton’s rather optimistic comment), no chances were being taken. Once the stop had occurred, the team would be able to gauge how long future stints would last. No tyres would be needed as the Michelins were good for at least three stints.

At long last the Reynard was running trouble-free in the 31 degree heat. The only incident in the fourth hour was a ten minute safety-car period caused by dropped oil just after Mulsanne Corner. Robbie took the opportunity to pit again, and resumed in 44th spot. Throughout his stint, Robbie was able to lap consistently around the 4:02 mark; “Great stint. I was very conscious of looking after the car - one gear up at every corner saving six shifts per lap. I wasn’t using the engine at all for slowing down, just the brakes. Doing 4:02s under those circumstances is pretty good. As long as the other guys are doing the same, we’ll be okay.”

Werner Lupberger took over at 20.20 and the car took on tyres and fuel, the Reynard covering eight laps on a full tank.

With the car running reliably for the first time today, the crew members were able to grab some rest. Team fabricator Dave Lee; “We’re starting to feel it a bit now. When we were getting stuck-in earlier it was fine, but now that we’re relaxing a bit it’s starting to catch up with us.” Hardly surprising, given that the guys hadn’t stopped for more than twelve hours by this time - and there were still nineteen hours of the race to go.

At 20.50 Werner took on fuel. His pace began to rise gradually from 4:01 at the start of his stint, to 3:57 shortly before and then after his next (fuel-only) stop at 21.30.

With almost a quarter of the race gone, what were John McNeil’s thoughts? “The car’s handling very nicely and the drivers are looking after the car. We just had a lot of stupid problems earlier.”

At exactly 22:00, Werner Lupberger handed over to Romain Dumas. Outside, darkness was fast arriving.

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