Rollcentre at Le Mans - Day One

Scrutiny On The Shorty

Or Rather Scrutiny On Shorty’s Car…

As a first timer at Le Mans myself I have never really understood what went on at the “Verifications Administratives et Techniques” down in the leafy Quinconces de Jacobins. Tuesday morning gave me a chance to find out as dsc followed the immaculate Dallara through the process - from the moment it arrived to the moment the drivers left the square.

The reality of the ‘show’ is that it is part technical and part theatrical and not quite the parade expected. There are only ever ten cars or so in the square at any one time with four or five parked up and another four or five going round the system.

The first examination may appear rather meaningless, as it is purely the scrutiny by the adoring public, but then this could well be the defining moment where a neutral race-goer gets closest to the cars and picks the one they will support in its 24 hour quest. Presentation is still everything. A skilled artist was certainly enjoying recording the neat lines of the paint job wrapping around the Dallara’s contours. Photographers jostled for position behind him.

The mechanics played security guards for a while to stop people straying too close, but once the Dallara had been pushed through the gates at the start of the corridor of railings, it was in the hands of the ACO and their weird and wonderful measuring devices (below).

“I’m not nervous because I expect it to go through no problems,” said Short - but as a first-time Le Mans entrant the process must cause a few butterflies from time to time. “Various parts are measured in relation to various other parts, lengths, widths, the way things fit together and hold together, electrics, safety devices, extinguishers - they have a good look at everything,” explained Rob Barff.

Rollcentre refreshingly sent their three drivers round the scrutineering corridor with the car, Martin, Joao and Rob all signing autographs from the fans lining the route and of course Shorty inevitably involving himself in some conversations/hand gestures to at times bemused looking Frenchmen.

Finally the car came out of the corridor and was rolled into the wider team photograph area, where those famous pictures are all taken with fresh faced drivers and mechanics and an immaculate car. Never mind, everything will look very different in five days time.

The final task is the drivers’ interview, played out in the square on a PA system. Bearing in mind the scrutineering process had already taken not far off an hour it was rather galling to see the previous interview running rather late. Standing around in race suits in Tuesday’s temperatures can’t have been pleasant - at least they were white (“and very good” according to Barff).

The whole team looked buoyed to know the car would definitely be in the race, and now they can now get on with what it is all about - driving it fast. “Of course we are going for a fast qualifying time, we want to be the best non-Audi. That goes for the race as well,” summed up Short.

Joao was also confident: “I think we can do very, very well if the car remains as reliable as it has been. The first two races in the Dallara this year have been preparation - this is most definitely the big one. Of course experiences here will help us too in the remaining LMES races. The car is running well as it is and will be better than the test day after Martin’s good test at Snetterton.”

Then it was signatures galore for all: this team is creating quite a stir already and there are some good signs they will continue to do so right through until 4pm on Sunday. As Shorty battled his way through the last of the autograph-hunters, he confessed “I’m very flattered actually, but it was a bit of a fight in there. It’s not quite like the British GTs…”
Paul Slinger