CHARLES LACARRE
Charles La carre
Race Report: Lamera Cup at Magny-Cours - Race 1
The Silence of the drivers, panic under braking, the jaws of the track, the tow truck chainsaw massacre, the back straightway has eyes, A nightmare on Lamera Street … The 1st race week-end of the Lamera Cup 2018 season could have easily become a horror movie on many occasions. On the 1st of April, the joke would have been of bad taste.
Thankfully, we’re not much of horror movies fans at Team Scorpus Racing, and we happy endings are our thing!
15 hours of racing were scheduled at Magny-Cours located in Nevers, France. From start to finish, our motto would be: Never say Nevers!
To start out on the right foot, we’re warming up on Friday… On the highway… Where it is already raining… Nothing to see here, events unfold as usual apparently…
Friday, 03:00pm, we arrive at the track. Paddocks already have hat sweet perfume of fuel, rubber and racing. All the cars are calmly aligned in their respective garage… Every single car you say??
Fool! The car belonging to a small group of die-hard firefighters is a flat-pack… 24 hours before the start of the race!
After the mandatory repairs following our issues during pre-season tests, a rearview mirror is here, the bumper is there… Oh, and the right front tire is not even here! Neither is the engine… Why don’t we try to organize our box first?!
Good idea… I am yet to know what part of our box I will like the most… Nap area, food area, strategies talk area… Nevermind… I think I have a little idea!
Saturday, 08:00am, briefing and last picture before heading to the start. The pressure is in the tires, but I think I must have looked like the Michelin Man as I was under pressure too… Just a tiny bit! First race of the season and first race for me in a bit more than 6 months… No reason at all to chicken out and deflate apprehension is here, but I have no choice, here we are!
Before even taking the start of the race at 5:30pm on Saturday, Team Scorpus beat a record! The record of inexperience.
Our car was ready a couple of hours before the green flag only and it is in a big rush that my 5 teammates managed to log a lap in to discover the car and the track, during the practice and qualifying sessions. Tough pick up until the very end as we will have to become familiar with the car directly released in the deep darkness of the pack.
Matt will be in the car for the start, I will drive the 2nd relay. Third to last after qualifying, this means that we will only be able to improve our position… At least!
Pressure is kicking in again, good pressure this time as I am motivated to climb up the ladder of the scoreboard… A burning desire!
It is time to forget everything, tighten up the harness. Helmet on, gloves on, express refueling in the pits, Nico shuts down the door of the car. I turn up the engine. The dashboard turns up with an 8-Bit sound blowing my ears off in the radio. I am deaf, but I am ready to go, alone in the car with the track as only horizon…
My heart is beating. Used to protective nets in NASCAR race cars, I feel crowded in the sealed cockpit. Time has come to release the beast… Taking a deep breath, engage 1st gear… Slight amount of throttle, release the clutch…
And stall it!
Of course…
Now my heart is racing. The process to restart the car after stalling is worthy of a 737 Boeing…
Nothing better to tickle a tense Charles… Once the pit limiter disengaged, I’ve got fireworks in my head.
Starving with the lack of racing to get my teeth into, my brain is completely disconnected and I am driving without even thinking about anything else other than: winning, fast! Ready to eat my opponents and gain every small tenth of a second under braking, it’s my own version of Hulk’s “smash”.
Besides, my sight is glued to the dashboard. I must have forgotten a step when I restarted the car. The engaged gear is not displayed and crucial details on the car status are lacking… No time for such distraction, see you later speed counter…
After a few laps, a long-time friend and expected guest makes its appearance in the sky. Menacing clouds were… menacing since the day started, but they decided to move into action after I jumped into the car. This made for a perfect opportunity to discover the Lamera car under rainy conditions. It is definitely not great. Have you ever tried walking on ice with Crocs shoes? It can be really funny, but it will be painful no to tumble… And I personally do not want to know what the racing equivalent of tumbling in Crocs while walking on ice is.
The car behaves unpredictably. It is lunatic! I could realize how the standard rain tires used in the Lamera Cup, which are efficient for an everyday use had no place on a racetrack where the main concern is speed.
After a long unexpected and demanding stint with no grip and several code brown moments, a kind voice in the radio told me it was time to pit and hand the car over to my teammate.
First goal: checked. I gained positions.
First personal goal: half-checked. I made many small mistakes and this adds up in the course of a run. I keep smiling though. I managed to keep the pace of the leaders and lap times are encouraging with tough weather conditions that I learned to hate during my karting days.
Sun is setting, headlight are on. After numerous slow pit stop that felt as long as Route 66, Team Scorpus Racing 18 joined the Top 15. We are in position to score a Top 5 in the Gentleman drivers category.
I am back behind the wheel, 10:30pm… The night is dark and full of terrors. I did not stall it this time. The clutch got me once, but he will not get me twice!
First time racing at night for me, that is a great experience in interesting conditions. Vision is less important. Automatisms and reflexes take over. Visual marks are lost, speed notion fades. We quickly forget that we are racing more than up to the double of legal highway speeds.
The track is dry, I can fully exploit the car... Pushed to its limits, the Lamera isn’t lame at all. Hotheaded in rapid sectors full of high speed curves, it understeers a lot.
The chassis characteristics are not there to help as the engine is positioned at the rear of the car. Whenever it is time to hit the gas, all the weight is loaded on the back of the car… Like a dragster, front tires have no load to remain glued to the track and steering becomes precarious. That is weight transfer introduced to you!
In practice, an understeering car forces the driver to reaccelerate late exiting the turns. I can notice all the time lost in the faster turns when I am side-by-side with another car… I try my hardest to limit the time lost and employ myself to gain time where I can…
Under braking! Once my biggest flow, this is now a strength. Left foot braking was a tough skill to master at first, useful on ovals, in became handy on road course too. After a year, I am satisfied with this improvement! I still have a small margin for error, but the goal is also to stay on the track. I am consistently beating my opponents to the braking point… The latest brakes in the West! I knew being late was always negative… I’ll take that!
Lap times and position improved again after my second stint. Job done.
Climbing out of the car, I am heading to the camping-car after my run… It is time to forget it all and rest for a couple of hours before my next relay.
04:00am. It’s cold. It feels good to get back in a car which serves as a true heater. It can’t get much better than an early Sunday drive to forget the temperatures and heat up!
To remain focused and to not have my eyes dazzled by the shiny dashboard seems like a simple task, but it is not so evident. Between opponents headlights reflecting in the rear-view camera, in the mirrors, the violent luminosity of the screens in the car and the other cars to overtake or let by at regular intervals, there is always something going on in the cockpit and my concentration is severely tested… It is not like I am used to be comfortably sleeping at home around this time of day.
Having a car in front of you to give pace is hugely underrated. It is practical and allows for some rest. The advantage of seeing the rear headlights lighting up and where they are going gives away precious information on where the next turn is, and when it is coming… I could almost put on autopilot cruise control in the straight ways.
Team Scorpus keeps getting closer to the Top 10 and the Gentleman category podium… Time to hold steady and not lose course… Dawn approaches.
Sun rises and I am preparing for my last stint still early in the morning. Night owl did not become early bird as of yet. I stay loyal to the calm call of the night, but I don’t have much choice!
A bittersweet ending for me as my run did not go as planned… It is still a mystery for me as to why I exited the pits 2nd, only for Matt to get back on the track after me 3rd, 26 seconds behind the Top 2… I ran the fastest lap… An enigma that even Einstein’s time relativity theory could not explain. Unless I blinked for too long? Unless we got beat in pit lane as a result of a clever pit strategy? Probably… Anyways, lot of garbage and small mistakes subsit in my driving. Speed has a cost, the one of consistency.
Wanting to do too good and help the team, I forgot the very basics. Searched for the very limit and I found it in the course of a couple late apexes and late braking points.
I will not deny this American part of me. Giving it all, ever turn of every lap, that’s the crazy philosophy of NASCAR drivers who would rather finish in the wall than 2nd… It is well-known that 2nd place is the first loser. Taming that limit, making it my ally more than dreading it, that will be my goal for next race at Nogaro, in June. I will try to keep going further. Lap times speak for themselves my margin of improvement is as interesting as the car’s progression. I am looking forward to be able to work on the setup with Nico our crew-chief and his crew. Nothing is acquired and that is only the beginning!
Good karma and faith earned us a 2nd place in the very last lap of the race, a justified reward for a hard-working group of people and Alain. We went through highs, lows during these last years and months. I am happy I was given the opportunity to live that moment with them with him. Kind words and an uncommon smile, valuable and worth a lot!
I will never forget where I come from. I will never forget where I want to go neither.