Team Nasamax
Saturday At The Le Mans Test Weekend - 03.05.03

In something less than a year, Team Nasamax has gone from being a good idea in Technical Consultant John McNeil’s mind to being a fully-fledged racing outfit. Talking to the team, one gets the impression that something significant is about to happen. Gone are any feelings of frustration from Sebring, having been replaced by a desire to get stuck in and show the watching world what they can do. The drivers are raring to go, the engine-starting problems have been solved, and the wheels are adorned with new Michelin rubber.

All three of the drivers have driven the Vingt Quatre Heures before, but each has very different experiences of the race. Robbie Stirling’s memories go back to 1989, his first Le Mans, in a Spice Cosworth C2. “That was the last year with the old Mulsanne (chicane-less) straight, and it was an awesome experience! My first thoughts on tackling the kink were that it couldn’t be done, bearing in mind we were doing 210-220mph in qualifying there. On my first ever lap I actually changed down! The second, I was half flat in 6th. And then on my third I took it flat! After that it wasn’t a problem.” Was the 1990 race a disappointment after that? “No, not at all! I was given the honour of going for pole, and got it by five seconds on new rubber.” This will be his first Le Mans since 1991, although he did some testing with the Ascari team here in 2000.

Bryan Herta’s first race was in 2002, and his experience in the Panoz was certainly character building. “Everything that could go wrong did go wrong!” he said with a smile. “The racecar nearly burned to the ground in qualifying, the parade car for the drivers’ presentation broke down, and we were out fairly early into the race!” How disappointing is that for a driver? “It’s not so bad – you have to take the rough with the smooth when you’re a professional.” So, did you enjoy the experience? “It was fantastic! I wanted to come back this year because I only got a small amount of seat time in the race – we were in cruise mode, trying to get the car to last as long as possible, but the temperature-gauge just kept going up and up.”

Romain Dumas’ two previous races have been very successful, yielding two podiums. These were both in a GT Porsche, so how is he expecting to fare in a prototype? “Well, the Porsche is a turn-key car – you get in and off you go. A prototype is crazy – ten people have worked 12 hours a day for four months to get the car to where it is today! I just want to get the car to the finish with as good a result as I can for these guys.”

Do you need a different driving style for the prototype? “Not really. I drove F3000 last year and tested the F1 Renault in December, so I’m used to the amount of downforce the Nasamax car can produce. It’s more than an F3000, but not as much as an F1”

So here we are in 2003, with the three drivers running with Nasamax. Robbie was first on board as a result of his long association with John McNeil.

“I’ve raced for John for a number of years in things like the Interseries (Robbie is a 2-time champion), and last year was driving an unrestricted Champ Car for him in the Euro Boss series – 200 mph on the Bugatti circuit! The Nasamax thing started from there.” Romain followed in December 2002, when his F3000 Chief Engineer, Brian Ireland, invited him to join the team. Finally, Bryan joined the party in early 2003, through his Cosworth connections.

The engine manufacturer is coming to Le Mans in a factory-supported capacity for the first time in many, many moons. “We are used to running our engines for two-hours, so to come up with an engine suitable for a 24-hour race is quite a challenge,” said Cosworth’s Commercial Manager, Simon Danton. “We came to the project after John McNeil approached us last year. It was the uniqueness of the project that attracted us, and we knew that the timescales were feasible, so this is very interesting for us.” How was Cosworth’s Sebring experience? “It was a difficult start for us – the engine was down on power in the heat and humidity, and the starting problems (now completely sorted) were a disappointment. Since then, however, the dyno-tests have been encouraging, and we are very confident that the 24-hour dyno-test with the race-spec engine will confirm it as having extensive durability.” What support will Cosworth be providing for the race? “There will be myself and three others, as well as much telephone support from around the world. We will also have electronic specialists on hand – the same guys that sorted the ECU problems.”

In fact, Cosworth have already yielded results from the Nasamax project. The solution to the starting problems (essentially a software problem with the crank-sensing – “A simple problem to fix, but incredibly hard to find the root cause”, explained John McNeil) will be transferred to the Champ Car Series.

Towards the end of the day, the drivers finally got something to do (“Every day is like my own private Le Mans 24-hours” – was Bryan Herta’s jokey comment on his three very quiet days so far) when they had a lengthy spell of driver-change practice in front of a large crowd of onlookers.

Tomorrow, the engines are fired up in anger for the test-day running on the 24-Hour circuit. Robbie Stirling will do the first five laps. “The track will be dirty, so I’ll be going out slowly to make sure that the systems and aerodynamics are sorted. Then Bryan and Romain can get some laps in.” Added Bryan, “We’ve got eight hours, so there’s no point rushing things.”

The team has an undisclosed target time and speed. The all-new combination of bio-ethanol and Michelin rubber should mean they’ll have an interesting day: we'll follow it very closely here.

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