Fressingfield Oily Rag Club

Newsletter

2017

Le Mans Special Edition 2017 Le Mans Special Edition

The View From The Editorial Desk

Monday June 19th: Just come off the computer having emailed congratulations on their success in the to our December 2016 guest speaker Oli Jarvis and February 2013 guest David Richards.

Why? Well just in case you missed it this must have been the closest, most exciting Le Mans ever. You might refer to the wins by The Blue Oval in 1966 and '67 but they were stage managed finishes by teams way ahead of the rest.

You only have to look at the results to see how close a finish it was. Two of the three Toyota LMP1's which had been fastest in practice retired leaving one of the two works Porsche 919's in the lead while the No.2 Porsche faced a lengthy delay for repairs.

The leading No.1Porsche 919 then retired with mechanical problems out on the circuit. This allowed the leading LMP2 Oreca Gibson of the Team, co-driven by Oli Jarvis, Ho-Pin Tung, and , to take the lead which they held on to for several hours until the repaired No. 2 Porsche of Brendan Hartley, Earl Bamber and finally caught them with less than two hours to go. At the finish the Porsche had completed 367 laps to the Oreca's 366!

So, Oli and his team mates led the race and finally finished second overall and won the LMP2 class!

But the excitement didn't end there as witnessed by the race long battle for the LMGTE PRO class between the Chevrolet Corvette of Jan Magnusson, Antonio Garcia, and Jordan Taylor and the () Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE crewed by , Jonny Adam, and .

This race for the class win had everyone screaming for the Aston as they went nose to tail for virtually the whole 24 hours! On the final lap Jordan Taylor made an error under pressure from the Aston at the last Mulsanne chicane and collected a puncture which let Jonny Adam though to take the win!

Paste the following link into your browser and have a look at the last few laps of their race! https://www.facebook.com/prodriveofficial/videos/1772776549418977/

All from me for now. Look forward to seeing you at the PWR on Sunday 9th July and the Peter Andrews Sprint on Sunday 16th July.

Fun and safe Oily Ragging

Steve

Scenes from Le Mans: In response to our email we received the following pictures of the Oreca Gibson from expressly for publication in the FORC Newsletter.

Picture courtesy Oliver Jarvis/Jackie Chan DC Racing Picture courtesy Oliver Jarvis/Jackie Chan DC Racing

David Richards 'patron' of the Prodrive/Aston Martin Team sent pictures for publication in the FORC Newsletter and writes:

Needless to say it was one of the most exciting Le Mans I can ever remember and Jonny’s last lap will go down in ’s history as one of the most memorable laps of all time. But the race wasn’t won on the last lap it was the meticulous preparation of a totally dedicated team of engineers and technicians at Prodrive over many months that ensured we didn’t have a single technical fault on any of our cars over the weekend. Darren Turner, who has now been with the team for fourteen years put the car on pole, Daniel Serra who joined us this year set the lap record and Jonny Adam drove it over the line. As always it was an incredible team effort!

Many thanks for your good wishes.

David Picture reproduced by kind permission of Davis Richards/Prodrive.

Picture reproduced by kind permission of Davis Richards/Prodrive. Picture reproduced by kind permission of Davis Richards/Prodrive.

Radio Le Mans

We can't leave the story of the 2017 24 Hours without mentioning Radio Le Mans. When you can't find a TV station broadcasting the race or live streamimg on the Internet, all is saved by going – next year now – to: http://radiolemans.0157.org/nplayer.php

You will of course, among others, hear the dulcet tones of our very good friend John Hindhaugh who entertained us so well at our March 2016 meeting Why not watch the race on TV with the sound turned down while you listen to John and his colleagues, the perfect combination. Just to remind you here is John in action at FORC:

Photograph courtesy of Stephen Lee.

LOOK! Your 2017 holiday planning guide: Next events:- Sunday 9th July - The FORC PWR – you can still enter now!

Sunday 16th July 16 - The Peter Andrews Sprint, Woodbridge – still three or four places due to withdrawals! Contact Steve now!_

Your 2017 Holiday Planner! Please make sure you have the rest of these FORC dates in your diaries! Guest Speaker evenings: all at Stradbroke Community Centre:-

Wednesday 27thSeptember - Dickie Stanford

Wednesday 25th October – Niall Mackenzie

Wednesday 29th November – Steve Nichols

Wednesday 13th December – Stuart Rolt

Please remember: If unforeseen circumstances affect our plans we place an announcement on the home web-page. If time allows we will email all members a News Flash backed up with local broadcasters. This could simply mean a change of guest speaker.

Outdoor Events:-

Sunday 13th August – FORC Hog Roast at Halreston Magpies Hockey Club

Saturday 16th/Sunday 17th September - VSCC Snetterton

Wednesday 20th September * New event!* Snetterton Track Evening

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See our Friends Events web-page: for news of upcoming events which FORC members are invited to support

Don't forget to look in our Members Services web-page for businesses which offer services to FORC members.

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Footnote to Le Mans

While sending over the Oreca shot's – Quote from Chelsea Jarvis 'I was there cheering him on and was overjoyed. They may have come 2nd but they were LMP2 winners!'

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