Le Mans no race - Ron Dennis!

"You" and "your" meaning Ferrari-enthusiasts? And that makes you? Should I be fooled by your avatar?

By the way, industrial espionage is a serious matter. I don´t why you want to call the fine ridiculous but feel free to examine the facts.

and again: stating the Le Mans is not racing is an idiotic statement regardless of who is stating it. It would be just as idiotic as Luca di Montezemolo would have said it, but somehow I think he knows better. But then again, mr Dennis is someone who felt it necessary to make fun of the size of Kubica´s nose. Classy stuff.

 

It's pretty much standard practice for F1 to belittle Endurance racing. The Eurosport commentators mentioned their were representative from number of other manufacturers in the paddock at Le Mans this weekend, notably Toyota, Honda (Gil de Ferran) and hinted at BMW. As the rules at Le Mans give far greater scope for running alternative technologies (diesel, Hybrids) they may see this as a better way of promoting their products than spending Millions on F1 to run in midfield and see all the TV coverage being about an overrated Mclaren driver.

Perhaps Ron is concerned Mercedes are thinking of building another flying car!

 

Don't be mislead by my use of pronouns - I too am a Ferrari enthusiast or I would not be here. My enthusiasm for McLaren is focused on the F1/LM/GTR road and race cars they built in the 1990s. I don't translate that directly or indirectly into a love for their Formula One team.

>8^)
ER

 

Team Principal for the Le Mans win in 1995 was David Price - David Price Racing - a McLaren F1 with a BMW engine.

Carol

 

I get the feeling that some here won't be satisfied until Ron Dennis is hung...



Relax...it's just racing, for chrissake.

 

David Price was the team principal but the team was as close as possible to being a works Mclaren team. I heard a rumour that the team disobeyed an order from Ron not to win the race for fear of upsetting the customer teams

 

Sorry Carol - that is not correct. While David Price Racing had a pair of F1 GTRs entered in the 1995 LeMans race, neither car won. The two GTRs they campaigned in 1995 were the West Tobacco sponsored GTR #03R with drivers Thomas Bscher, Jochen Mass and John Nielsen (failed to finish); and the Harrods sponsored GTR #06R with drivers Derek Bell, Justin Bell and Andy Wallace (finsihed 3rd overall).

The winning McLaren F1 GTR was campaigned by Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing and Lanzante Motorsport, with Paul Lanzante as Team Principal.

This is quite correct. This team was thrown together late in the game to satisfy the desires of a Japanese sponsor, Ueno Clinic. McLaren, having no other available GTRs to match them up with, supplied their original GTR prototype, GTR #01R, to Lanzante Motorsport and worked to put together two members of the driver lineup - JJ Lehto and Yannick Dalmas who were joined by Masanori Sekiya that the Japanese sponsor brought along.

McLaren tried to make it appear that the team was not a works team so as not to upset the other customer teams - that plan wasn't entirely successful, but the win was more important. GTR #06R would have likely won and had the lead until the final hours of the race when a gearbox problem slowed their pace and they were passed by the winning F1 GTR and a Courage Porsche running in the Prototype class.

>8^)
ER