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{"id":20780,"date":"2019-01-14T14:46:59","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T14:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/?p=20780"},"modified":"2019-01-14T14:47:02","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T14:47:02","slug":"party-like-its-1999","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/?p=20780","title":{"rendered":"Party Like it’s 1999"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Malcolm\u00a0Cracknell\u00a0was\u00a0one\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0pioneers\u00a0of\u00a0sports-car\u00a0racing media\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0internet\u00a0as\u00a0the\u00a0World-Wide-Web\u00a0was\u00a0known\u00a0in\u00a0those\u00a0innocent\u00a0times.\u00a0SportsCarWorld,TotalMotorSport\u00a0and\u00a0finally\u00a0 DailySportsCar\u00a0\u00a0were\u00a0the\u00a0introduction\u00a0for\u00a0most\u00a0of\u00a0us\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0concept\u00a0of\u00a0paperless\u00a0information\u00a0in\u00a0real\u00a0 time\u00a0rather\u00a0than\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0weekly\u00a0cycle.\u00a0I\u00a0joined\u00a0Crackers\u00a0on\u00a0this\u00a0journey\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0start\u00a0and\u00a0now\u00a0as\u00a0we\u00a0head\u00a0 for\u00a0the\u00a0winding down laps we\u00a0spend\u00a0time\u00a0looking\u00a0back\u00a0as\u00a0well\u00a0as\u00a0forward.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1999\u00a0is\u00a0the\u00a0target\u00a0this\u00a0time\u00a0round for the Tardis……….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Brooks and I are quite proficient at nattering away on\nthe telephone.  We call it \u201cliving in the\npast\u201d, because we always return to discussing racing in a previous era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For various reasons, I\u2019ve been thinking about 1999\nrecently.  Conveniently that\u2019s two\ndecades ago, but with the state of my brain, I\u2019ve inevitably forgotten things\nthat I wish I could remember \u2013 so I\u2019ve had to consult the reference books (and\nvideo highlights).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What I do remember is that in late \u201998, I was planning a\ntrip to the season-opening Rolex 24. \nPresumably, finances dictated that it was either the Rolex or the\nSebring 12 Hours (in early \u201999). I have no idea why I chose the first of the\ntwo endurance classics): perhaps it was simply a desperate desire to escape the\nBritish winter for a few days?  I\u2019m\nguessing that I hadn\u2019t absorbed how the maiden Petit Le Mans in \u201898 was going\nto set the tone for US\nendurance racing in years to come.  Had I\nhad any clue, I would have undoubtedly chosen Sebring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But I certainly didn\u2019t regret going to Florida in January.  The first person I met after stumbling into\nthe Speedway\nwas Andy Wallace.  Oddly, I\u2019d not yet met\nAndy: our paths simply hadn\u2019t crossed. \nBut I was encouraged to find that he knew who I was and that he\u2019d seen\nthe last news item I\u2019d posted, before dashing to Gatwick.  That was an image of the new BMW prototype,\nwhich would make its debut at\u2026 Sebring. \nAndy and I were both a little perplexed by the BMW\u2019s single, pointed\nroll hoop: the governing body was trying to mandate full width roll hoops, but\nBMW (and others, subsequently) had presumably found a way round the wording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved Daytona!  It\nwas relatively straightforward to cover the race, live and single-handed, on\nthe internet \u2013 by dashing to the nearby pit-lane every hour or two to grab a\npitstop photograph and, hopefully, a comment from a competitor, then rushing\nback to the media center, to pick up the threads of the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was delighted when Dyson Racing took the overall win (AWOL,\nButch Leitzinger and, appropriately, the way the season would evolve, EF-R) \u2013\nand also with Brit David Warnock being part of the winning GTS crew in Roock\u2019s\nPorsche.  This was the event that saw the\ndebut of the Corvettes, and thanks to a fortuitous bit of timing, I managed to\ngrab 15 minutes with Doug Fehan, before the track opened.  He talked me through the technical aspects of\nthe car \u2013 and immediately planted a soft spot for the Corvettes in my\nbrain.  They weren\u2019t race winners yet,\nand anyway, I always liked to see privateers beat the factory cars, which is\njust what the Roock Porsche managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Years later, James Weaver told me what he thought of the\npower output of the (restricted) Ford V8s in the Dyson R&Ss.  \u2018You can come past the pits (at Daytona) flat\nout, take your seat belts off, stand up, turn through 360 degrees, sit down, do\nyour  belts up \u2013 and still have time to\nbrake for Turn 1\u2019, was the essence of his complaint!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

170mph+ was nowhere near fast enough for James.  He wanted to reach at least 190.  My only conversation with James during that Rolex\nmeeting was a snatched \u201cStu Hayner has binned it (the #16) at the chicane,\u201d at\nsome point during the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Right, I\u2019m getting near to the point of this piece now: the\n1999 ALMS season, and the influence of one (great) man.  I\u2019m not about to review the whole \u201999 season:\nI\u2019m just going to refer to Sebring, the Road Atlanta sprint race and the finale\nat Las Vegas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think I\u2019ve already told you that I finally \u2018discovered\u2019\nyoutube last year: I moved house, had to buy a new TV decoder thing, and really\nby accident, found that I could watch youtube on the TV (I can\u2019t look at a\nlaptop for any length of time, because of my illness).  And there on youtube are highlights of all\nthe ALMS races!  Brilliant!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sebring in \u201999 was clearly an epic event, and I should have\nbeen there.  A huge crowd, a fantastic\nentry (58 cars) \u2013 including van de Poele \/ Enge \/ Saelens in that gorgeous\nRafanelli R&S Judd, a car that Eric vdP described somewhere (at the time)\nas, paraphrasing here, \u2018the best car I ever drove\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The admirable Belgian leapt into the lead at the start, and\nkept the BMWs at bay for 11 laps, before pitting with a misfire (it eventually\nretired after 185 laps).   BMW tried to\n\u2018shoot themselves in the foot\u2019, which enabled the EF-R \/ Leitzinger Dyson\nR&S to stay in touch with the surviving factory entry of Lehto \/ Kristensen\n\/ Muller \u2013 which set up a great finale, with Weaver plonked in the R&S to\ntry and chase down TK.  He came up short\nby about 17 seconds at the flag.  Great\nrace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Audi finished third and fifth with their original R8s \u2013 and\na year later, the ultimate R8 would transform prototype racing.  Porsches took the GTS and GT classes \u2013 as\nCorvette Racing continued to develop the C-5Rs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve no recollection of how (as it was then)\nsportscarworld.co.uk covered that Sebring race, but for the Road Atlanta event\nin April, the site had the benefit of Philip XXXX\u2019s reporting skills.  Alas, I can\u2019t remember Philip\u2019s surname, even\nthough we have since been in touch on Facebook. \nHow frustrating!  Sorry\nPhilip.  But what a classic race you saw\nthat day! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Andy Wallace led from the start for Dyson (the BMWs were\nabsent as they prepared to win Le Mans),\nbut was called in during the first caution period, which turned out to be the\nwrong move. vdP and David Brabham (this was the debut of the mighty Panoz\nroadster) started well back, after some kind of \u2018qualifying times withdrawn\u2019\nnonsense \u2013 and while the Panoz was a handful during its first run ever on full\ntanks, the Rafanelli entry was going like a dream.  vdP picked his way through virtually the\nwhole field and took the lead, which set up a conclusion in which partner Mimmo\nSchiattarella saw off Didier Theys in the Doran Lista Ferrari, to win by 25\nseconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The V12 Ferraris seemed handicapped by their restrictors in\n\u201999, in ways that the V10 Judd-powered R&S wasn\u2019t.  The commentators (rather unfairly) suggested\nthat the V10 might fail in that last stint \u2013 but it was as simple as an\nover-filled oil tank blowing out the excess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder if Dyson Racing ever considered converting their\ncars to Judd power?  Kevin Doran eventually\ndid just that with his 333 Ferrari, creating the famous \u2018Fudd\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EF-R \/ Leitzinger finished third, as their points tally grew\nsteadily, while Don\u2019s LMP Roadster S finished a fine fifth on its debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Schumacher and Snow Porsches had a great race in GTS\n(the former just winning), while PTG won GT \u2013 with none other than Johannes van\nOverbeek partnering Brian Cunningham.  Is\nJohannes the longest serving driver in the series?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019s series.  That\nwas a sad day, back in September last year, when we learned that Don had passed\naway.  The greatest benefactor that any\nseries has ever had?  Did he ever get\nannoyed if his cars didn\u2019t win?  To my\nknowledge, he never did.  He genuinely\nseemed to simply love a great event, his event, attended by huge numbers of\nfans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know how much he loved it when the orange, Lawrence\nTomlinson, Panoz Esperante won its class at Le Mans: when his bellowing (prototype) monsters\nbeat the Audis, he was clearly thrilled \u2013 but he didn\u2019t seem to demand race\nwins, the way others might.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Don Panoz story came a few years later, in the spring of 2004.\u00a0 For the full story, you\u2019ll have to wait until my book is launched (I think enough years have elapsed for the tale to be told), but in essence, Don was grateful for a story that I didn\u2019t<\/em> write.\u00a0 Don and Scott Atherton approached me in the Monza press room (it was the ELMS race), and Don expressed his personal thanks to me.\u00a0 I was touched!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, I\u2019m hoping the book will be launched at Brands Hatch on May 25.\u00a0 Anyone who reads this is invited to attend \u2013 and I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll announce it on DDC nearer the time, once it\u2019s confirmed.\u00a0 Thanks in advance for that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right, back to 1999. \nDon\u2019s cars took a 1-2 at Mosport (Tom Kjos had taken over reporting\nduties \u2013 and what a great job he did over the years), won again at Portland,\nlucked into the win at the second Petit Le Mans (that man Wallace joined\nregulars Brabham and Bernard), lost out at Laguna Seca \u2013 and all the while,\nEF-R had been racking up the points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The proposed San Diego race\ndidn\u2019t happen, replaced by a fanless Las\n Vegas \u2013 and I was determined to be there.  With the help of Brooksie, Kerry Morse and\nCort Wagner, the trip was on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TV highlights of that race don\u2019t match my memories in\none, significant respect\u2026 Having qualified eighth and ninth, the Dyson entries\nexperienced very different fortunes. \nAWOL and Butch in #20 were out after just 22 laps with gearbox trouble,\nbut James was EF-R\u2019s \u2018wingman\u2019 in #16. \nIn the opening exchanges, my memory is James really going for it \u2013 but\nthe highlights on youtube don\u2019t really show that.  I can still picture the Riley & Scott on\na charge, its driver all \u2018elbows out\u2019 as he battled to give Elliott a chance of\nthe title later on.  Jean-Marc Gounon was\nalmost as boisterous in the DAMS Lola: it was fantastic entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But #16 then suffered with a fuel pressure problem, and it\nlooked as though the Panoz drivers (B & B) would be title winners \u2013 until\ntheir engine failed with 17 laps left. BMW finished 1-2, but EF-R limped home\nsixth and he was the drivers\u2019 champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I surprised James Weaver by appearing in the pit-lane\nwearing his old, \u201996, BPR\n Gulf overalls (lent to me\nby Kerry Morse \u2013 I\u2019ve no idea how he got hold of them).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re wearing my overalls!\u201d said an otherwise speechless\nJames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, the Rafanelli R&S was first retirement,\nunfortunately, with overheating.  Was it\nthe right move to park that car and race a Lola in 2000?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cort Wagner was the champ in GT, while Olivier Beretta took\nthe honours in GTS, in an ORECA Viper, a car that I haven\u2019t mentioned in this\ntale (Le Mans\nwas the initial priority).  Wagner and\nMuller won their class at Las Vegas,\nwith the red and white Vipers 1-2 in GTS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My last thought here is connected to youtube, again.  Something I\u2019ve been getting interested in is\nthe whole 9\/11 thing.  I\u2019m not going to\nram my thoughts down your throat \u2013 but I would like to suggest that you look up\nRebekah Roth, Christopher Bollyn, Barbara Honegger and \/ or Richard Gage, and\nlisten to some of their views on what really happened in September 2001.  The more you find out, the more extraordinary\nthat tale becomes.  If you find that lot\ninteresting, you might also consider looking up \u2018Operation Mockingbird\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I\u2019ve got to go and look up my favourite ALMS race on\nyoutube: Laguna Seca in 2005.  I think\nthat was the one when John Hindhaugh \u2018did his nut\u2019 when the overall leaders\ncame up to lap the scrapping Corvettes and Aston Martins.  Great memories (or just plain \u201cliving in the\npast\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crackers out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malcolm\u00a0Cracknell\u00a0was\u00a0one\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0pioneers\u00a0of\u00a0sports-car\u00a0racing media\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0internet\u00a0as\u00a0the\u00a0World-Wide-Web\u00a0was\u00a0known\u00a0in\u00a0those\u00a0innocent\u00a0times.\u00a0SportsCarWorld,TotalMotorSport\u00a0and\u00a0finally\u00a0 DailySportsCar\u00a0\u00a0were\u00a0the\u00a0introduction\u00a0for\u00a0most\u00a0of\u00a0us\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0concept\u00a0of\u00a0paperless\u00a0information\u00a0in\u00a0real\u00a0 time\u00a0rather\u00a0than\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0weekly\u00a0cycle.\u00a0I\u00a0joined\u00a0Crackers\u00a0on\u00a0this\u00a0journey\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0start\u00a0and\u00a0now\u00a0as\u00a0we\u00a0head\u00a0 for\u00a0the\u00a0winding down laps we\u00a0spend\u00a0time\u00a0looking\u00a0back\u00a0as\u00a0well\u00a0as\u00a0forward.\u00a0 1999\u00a0is\u00a0the\u00a0target\u00a0this\u00a0time\u00a0round for the Tardis………. John Brooks and I are quite proficient at nattering away on the telephone.  We call it \u201cliving in the past\u201d, because we always return to discussing racing in a previous era. For various reasons, I\u2019ve been thinking about 1999 recently.  Conveniently that\u2019s two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1453,13],"tags":[176,355,283,232,231,448,510,845,337,435,181,734,1454,95],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20780"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20780"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20803,"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20780\/revisions\/20803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.doubledeclutch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}