Fiat 500s, Dan Gilbert's basement, skateboards, bikes, the side of a barge in Northern...
The star attraction on Monday at Le Mans was the Nissan DeltaWing. It arrived at the Place de la Republique on the back of flat-top truck and was immediately surrounded by the media and received the approval of several hundred fans who lined the barriers as the car entered scrutineering.
The crew engineered a set of coasters that supports the thin front tires and makes the car a breeze to maneuver in and out of the pit garage at the circuit and provide the necessary width to roll onto the lift at tech inspection.
Drivers Michael Krumm and Satoshi Motoyama arrived in Le Mans, France, just before noon, having flown throughout the night after racing for Nissan in the Japanese Super GT Series in Sepang, Malaysia.
Other folks faced similar challenges getting to Le Mans. Gunnar Jeannette drove the first stint at the Continental Tire race in Mid-Ohio, jumped into his rental car, raced to the Cincinnati airport and flew to Paris. And several members of the Speed TV broadcast team left Mid-Ohio, spent three hours at home repacking bags and arrived in Le Mans on Monday.
Despite the jet lag, everyone was in good spirits. Drivers are pretty relaxed early in the week and are very accommodating to journalists, photographers and fans. Moods will start to tighten up on Wednesday when the cars hit the track.
There is a lot of early-week speculation about which car will capture pole position, and the general feeling is that it most likely will be Toyota. Several of the writers were looking at the timing sheets from the Le Mans test days and said they felt that Toyota was sandbagging during the last segment of each lap. Perhaps. More pressure is certainly on the Audi camp, given the amount of dollars spent on development of the new R18 E-tron quattro and the massive marketing campaign it wants to unleash if Audi were to claim victory and become the first manufacturer to win Le Mans with a hybrid power.
It is a bit ironic that the DeltaWing is grabbing the lion's share of the media coverage. The experimental car that is half the weight, half the power and half the fuel cell and probably 1/10th of Audi's Le Mans budget is stealing much of the limelight. The media coverage is all over the European and Japanese newspapers and enthusiast magazines. Nissan has just released a great video of the DeltaWing in which designer Ben Bowlby explains why this car is so revolutionary and how it works.
Mr. Vickers, welcome to France
NASCAR veteran Brian Vickers had his first real experience with Le Mans fans on Monday during tech. The Le Mans locals politely called out his name and requested a photo or an autograph, which he happily obliged. Unfortunately, one young local woman ran up to Vickers and was determined to kiss him. She was more aggressive than any NASCAR fan I have ever seen, and Vickers politely refused. She walked away, after about 10 steps turned around, muttered something in French and flipped him the bird. Obviously not a local--or a fan.
Remembering Shelby, Salvadori
One final note from Monday: The No. 99 Aston Martin will be racing with a sticker on the rear which celebrates the lives of Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori, a class move from a class operation.
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