American Le Mans - Right Hand Drive

The pace car appeared, and a puff of blue from the righthand, open side pipe confirmed the '60 had started, and I watched with immense relief as Bernie accelerated along the uphill start-finish straight and away toward the Dunlop Bridge. Now the long wait until the cars completed the 8.5-mile pace lap through the French countryside. Due to a combination of bad luck, time constraints, and our own inexperience, this was the first lap our car had ever completed under full power, and even at this hour, a vast crowd was watching us. Long minutes later, the field reappeared, the lights went green, and the race was on. Our number 60 '60 JRG Special thundered past, passing some smaller and slower cars, possibly the noisiest car in the field. after another lap, I was euphoric, kissed my wife Polly, and told her I was completely happy, my goal was achieved, no matter what else might happen.

And I was still not bothered when after a long delay during lap 3, the gold '60 limped into the pits just below us with some front-end damage and steaming coolant pouring from the front. The car was jacked up, and Bernie was out and under looking at the shift linkage, while the Le Mans TV cameraman hung his camera low to transmit the drama live to tens of millions around the globe, ending on the Corvette Fever logo on the rear fender.

Back in the pits, we watched the playback of our own video from our rollcage-mounted camera, and saw how a Ferrari 275 GTB lost control in front of our car, leaving us no way to avoid hitting the rear of its beautiful Pininfarina body work. The damage to our car was superficial, to the Ferrari more serious, but in the incident our T-10 somehow jammed in second gear, leading to the overheating and our retirement. This was not how I had hoped it would end, but all was forgotten over a magnificent hospitality lunch of French beef and a bottle of vintage Burgundy.

Next month, Tom's inside view of the wet 24-hour race and the controversial victory of Aston Martin over the Corvette in GT1.