I spoke to Scott immediately after the red flag and he knew something bad was about to happen the way some of the guys were running side by side lap after lap, both he and Dario was running by themselves on the bottom just trying to stay out of trouble.
On top of that, the worst decision may have been to start ten more cars than you’d normally have. On a track like that if something were to go wrong, as it did, the chain reaction is just mad. There are so many factors in this and to be perfectly frank maybe a third of the drivers on the grid have no business being in a single-seater at those speeds. They either don’t have the experience or in some cases the skills to qualify them to be there. Had there been anybody inside the organization who would have stood up and said that the idea of racing there that way should be reconsidered I think they could have done something about it.
Unfortunately, this happens in motor sport, and it is also typical that nothing get’s done until there is a fatal accident and everybody gets a wake up call to the reality of the situation. Safety is always the most important and we should keep improving safety measures at every opportunity but this sport will always have risk. Let us not forget that Indycar has done a tremendous amount of work on safety already and it is far more safe now to race on the ovals than it were only 10 years ago, with the introduction of the SAFER barriers for example, this has undoubtedly saved a number of lives already. The biggest problem for all is the fencing above the barrier, we have seen so many horrendous accidents when a car gets airborne and ends up in the fencing, needless to say, this will be undoubtedly be the next area to address.
JT - How was your experience in the United Autosports Oak Pescarolo Judd LMP2 prototype at the recent (14th running) Petit Le Mans?
SJ - It was great. I had a really good time. I enjoyed the race and it was a good to be in a prototype again. There’s nothing like driving a purpose-built race car. Both Zak [Brown] and Mark [Patterson] were ecstatic. DAMS (the Le Mans based racing team) did a fantastic job for us. The organization of the team was great and the car-prep was perfect.
In the end, the result was good too so it was a good experience. I was in the car for almost six hours in total. The way it played out with the yellow flags I was in the car for three hours in the first stint. Then in my second stint I was in for about two hours and 40 minutes, so I got a good work out!
JT - In the first stint you had contact with another car as a caution period was just beginning. What transpired?
SJ – Let’s say another car had contact with me! I think the contact came from one of the LMPC cars. We were following the pace car and everyone was bunching up as we came into the chicane. It was a problem throughout the race actually. Whoever was driving the pace car wasn’t doing a very good job. On many occasions we actually had to come to a stop with the clutch down behind the pace car because it was going so slowly it backed everyone up. They’re going so slowly, one guy brakes to slow down behind them and then it’s like a chain reaction and the cars behind come to a standstill.
That wasn’t actually the case in this particular instance. We were all moving along in first or second gear and slowing down for the chicane (turns 10A and 10B) and the next thing I know, BAM! It was a hard hit on the back of the car. The bodywork was damaged and the wing mounts were broken. Maybe the LMPC driver was looking at his instruments or something and just didn’t see the cars ahead slowing in time and drilled me.
JT - That was a shame because the car ran competitively throughout the race but the incident dropped you back eight laps from the LMP2 leader.
SJ - Yeah and that’s where we were at the end of the race - in second position, eight laps behind. If not for that we would have been on the lead lap. That would have changed the scenario dramatically because in the beginning of the race when I was chasing the car that eventually won I managed to stress them into a spin.
Our car was very slow down the straights, incredibly slow. We were losing 100 to 150 yards to the HPD (Level 5 Racing Honda ARX-01g) and Oreca (Nissan Signatech 03) cars but we made a ton of that up in Turn One and going down the Esses we could get right underneath their gearbox. It was enough for the HPD car to try and dive under a GT car and he spun. That put us into second place in the early stages of the race.
JT - What did you think of the performance of your OAK Pescarolo Judd versus that of the newer Signatech Nissan and HPD ARX-01g P2 cars?
SJ - It’s a good car but it’s lacking a little bit everywhere, there’s no question. The HPD and the Oreca are probably about equal. The Nissan engine is very strong. The combination we had with Dunlop tires, the Pescarolo chassis and the Judd engine was definitely not in our favor to be honest in qualifying. But the race is a different story. You first and foremost try to keep your nose clean. I think both Zak and Mark did a phenomenal job in the race. Their lap times were very good and they didn’t put a foot wrong. I was very impressed with both of them.
JT - How did you find the traffic? With 53 cars starting, congestion was predicted to play a significant role in the race.
SJ - We had difficulty getting by everybody. If we didn’t get off the exit of a corner right underneath the gearbox of the LMPC cars for instance, we didn’t have the grunt to get by them really. You had to leave your braking for the next corner to the absolute last inch to get by. The whole sports car formula is quite tricky right now. They’re pegging back the diesel prototypes (Audi R18, Peugeot Sport 908) even more but the speed they had was unreal. I mean, they are choked down with the restrictors now.
Look, we ran 1:09s four years ago with a P2 car (Highcroft Racing’s Acura ARX-01a). That’s what they were doing in the P1s during the race this year. The P1s, apart from the diesels, are where the P2s were two or three years ago. (Nicolas Prost qualified fastest of the LMP1 petrol-powered cars for the 2011 PLM at 1:10.123 in the Rebellion Racing Lola B10/60 Toyota Coupe)
These days, prototypes have no power relatively speaking. The ratio between grip and power is so skewed now that you have to drive a P-car like an F3 car. If you even think about lifting, you lose three-tenths going into a corner.
JT - There were many incidents during the race, some involving the main protagonists. Both Audi and Peugeot seemed to make a number of mistakes. Do you think the drivers are having difficulty seeing out of the cockpits in the R18 and 908 and do you think the driving style which the diesel coupes require makes a difference?
SJ - I think visibility is an issue to a degree. The cockpits are small no doubt but I say that without ever having driven either car. At the same time, the risks those guys have to take to maintain the pace they need are high. They have to pass six to eight cars a lap depending on where they’re racing to keep up with each other through traffic.
At Road Atlanta there are areas of the track that are really tricky in those cars. I think Tom [Kristensen] hit one of the GT cars going down the Esses. If you get stuck behind a GT car in P1 car there you lose three seconds. You basically lose contact with the car in front of you. The problem is there’s no way to get by all of the traffic cleanly. That’s what’s so bad about the whole formula right now.
I honestly can’t say I have the answer or a suggestion of how to do it any better but it’s a mess the way it is at the moment. There’s no other way around it for the P1 guys. They have to take a risk and dive on the inside of traffic, they’re going so much faster on lap-times that before you know it they’re there! Really, I think the only way to improve things is for each category of drivers to show each other more respect. I never had an issue with anyone under green because I spent more time looking in the mirrors than looking ahead to make sure I saw the P1s coming.
If you just rolled out of the throttle 20 yards early going into the braking zones, that was enough for the P1s to get a run on you to the inside. I’d lose two-tenths and they’d lose two tenths and everyone’s on their way. That’s better than having a situation full of drama. And if you do get caught up you both lose a second because you both have to slow down much more than normally.
One of the larger problems is this; there’s an animosity between the classes that’s been brewing for some time. For example, some of the GT guys won’t cut you any slack if you’re trying to overtake them in a prototype. They stay right in the middle of the road so there’s no way to get around them. You come out of a corner and get a run on them for the next corner and they just have so much of the road it’s difficult to get by cleanly in the next braking area. There’s definitely frustration for the GT drivers but the problem is that it’s always the faster car that gets the blame for an incident. I’ve been on both sides now driving prototypes and GTs and I can see that it’s very tricky to be in a slower car as well. What happens over the course of a race just as it does over the course of a season when you’re racing against the same people consistently is a measuring of the guys you drive with.
If you show respect you get respect. But if you don’t, no one will show you respect and that’s exactly what goes on. There are a number of drivers that are complete ______’s out there. There are a few in the P1s but they’re mostly in the GT cars I have to say. There are some that have been there since I raced in ALMS full time, and they are still pulling the same crap.
JT - There does seem to be a palpable tension between the classes. It looks as if the performance differences between some of the classes are small enough in certain areas that it makes overtaking more difficult than it should be perhaps.
SJ - Well, the cornering difference between a P2 car and a GT car is huge with the downforce but you do have to carry momentum. If you lose momentum and get hung up behind a GT in the middle of a corner and you have to brake down to their speed it’s so difficult to accelerate hard enough out of that corner to the next corner to get by them. If you’re not literally tucked up underneath their gearbox, hard on the throttle coming out of the initial corner you won’t make it past until you run to the next corner.
JT - What is your opinion of the latest restrictions the ACO has placed on the diesel prototypes?
SJ - I think it will slow them a little bit but like I’ve said before, it’s not going to make a difference ultimately because you’re dealing with two manufacturers who have the resources to recover the speed. They’ll do whatever it takes and they’re out to beat each other. Unfortunately, the way it is right now the rest of the P1s just makes up the show. They can’t expect to beat manufacturers who are on their game with current cars when you’re running a five-year-old design nor should they. Really, you just need to look at the other cars to see that they’re not going to be within two seconds of the manufacturer cars.
And you have to remember that it’s not just the car or the engine, it’s the whole package. It’s the teams. Audi and Peugeot have the best drivers out there. I don’t think anyone can say that Aston Martin or Rebellion or Dyson have the same quality drivers. And it’s all the details that they see to that make the difference. It’s not one thing, it’s 100 things. Look at Penske and Ganassi in IndyCar, it’s all about preparation.
At some point the other P1 competitors have to step up. Aston Martin tried and failed but you can’t just keep pegging performance back. Even after these recent restrictions on the diesels I guarantee you that by Le Mans next year the gap will be about the same as it was this year.
JT - What are your thoughts on Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing wrapping up the drivers championship at the Japanese GP and the constructors championship a week later at the Korean GP?
SJ - I think [Jenson] Button (Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes) did a phenomenal job again at Suzuka. It’s interesting to see the dynamic developing there. In racing in general it’s the little nuances that make all the difference. You can tell that Button is just brimming with confidence right now. He’s gotten on top of Lewis [Hamilton] and he can’t put a foot wrong for the moment. It’s the same with Vettel. You’re either the windshield or the bug. When things are going your way you can’t do anything wrong. Every decision you take is the right one. You dive under someone in a corner, boom! It’s perfect. It’s when you start having a little doubt like Lewis did up until Korea, that fraction of hesitation or lack of complete confidence that you can’t really execute the way you need to. That’s when it all starts to go wrong. Then you start taking chances with the set-up of the car in the HOPE of gaining more speed, and nine times out of ten it doesn’t work.
The whole dynamic is so intricate. You could see it this year in the case of [Mark] Webber and Vettel and Lewis and Jenson. Without knowing what’s really going on just observing the situation as a fan does I’ve got a feeling that whomever does Lewis’ personal management doesn’t have enough feel or understanding of racing to be there in the right way for him. There doesn’t need to be a lecture maybe just a dinner conversation where you can exchange ideas and he can vent a little bit and there’s someone at the other end of the table that fully understand what he’s really talking about. You can maybe suggest a thing or two or a different approach but you’ve got to know what you’re talking about to do that. That’s the difference.
Like any top level sport, 90 percent of it is in your head because when you get to that level everybody is very equal in raw talent. It’s all in your mind. When you start really having to think about what you’re doing it’s game over. Everything should happen instinctively.
JT - What’s your prediction for the final three F1 races this year?
SJ - I think Vettel and Red Bull will be even more aggressive if anything. He’ll be so relaxed, so confident and in tune with everything that I think you’ll find that he’ll be mega. And unbeknownst to us as the spectators what you might see is that some of the teams will be trying out things they may want to implement on the cars for next year, things they wouldn’t be willing to risk running if they were fighting for the championship.
JT - You’ve been running contests recently in which a person who correctly selects the top three for the podium at an upcoming F1 Grand Prix can win an SJ watch. How is that progressing?
SJ - It’s going well. We’ve given one away already. Every week we have a few more entrants for the contest so the word is spreading.
