18 October 2008 | Qualifying | Laguna Seca
icons, part 2
“Some get the awful, awful diseases,
Some get the knife, some get the gun,
Some get to die in their sleep, at the age of 101."
---Life’ll Kill Ya, Warren Zevon.
October 18th, 2008 Phil Hill died on August 28th, 2008. He was a quiet, intensely competitive and tough driver who was the first American to win a Formula 1 Championship, capturing the title in 1961 for Ferrari.
Although Phil Hill is best known for his Formula 1 Championship, he was a devastatingly effective sports car driver, who was instrumental in pushing Ferrari to the top of the endurance racing world. Hill won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times; he raced in an era in which only two drivers shared the car (not three, like today) and before there was a chicane in the Mulsanne straight to slow down the big Ferraris. Hill also won the 12 Hours of Sebring three times, a major achievement on a track as tough and difficult and upsetting as Sebring. He was a rare talent, a man with enough range to cover three decades in the cockpit of a race car. A perfectionist (in all the right ways, not the silly, fussy ones), Hill won the first race he entered in 1949 in an MG-TC and the last race he ran in 1967 in a Chapparal. After retiring from racing, he managed a very successful automobile restoration business and was deeply involved in the legendary Pebble Beach Concours, where he was 40 times a judge (a record). For a quick overview of Phil Hill’s life, click hereFor a more formal and deeper review of the man and his amazing career, go to his website, here >
It is totally appropriate to be writing about Phil Hill while at Laguna Seca because I am in his world, on a track he knew well, in an area he loved. I started following Phil Hill when he began driving Ferrari sports cars and my interest in him continued when he made the successful switch to Formula 1. In 1961, Hill was locked into a battle with fellow Ferrari factory driver Wolfgang “Taffy� Von Trips for the F1 title; as is the custom today, Ferrari did not designate drivers as No. 1 and No. 2. It was up to the drivers to prove the pecking order, a situation that has always resulted in extreme competition between Ferrari drivers as well as their competition. At the Italian GP at Monza, Von Trips, an elegant, German aristocrat of the type no longer seen in the sport, crashed heavily in the shark nosed Ferrari 156 F1 car after touching wheels with Jim Clark, killing himself and 15 onlookers (some accounts say that 14 spectators were killed. . Hill, aware of the crash but unaware of the severity, drove on for the win, which brought him the World Driver’s Championship.
When he parked his race car and got out, he was told of the death of Von Trips and his capture of the F1 Driver’s title. The news stunned Hill, who took no joy in winning the title despite his immense accomplishments on the F1 circuit. Although he raced another season for Ferrari, his last F1 win was at Monza, the year he took the Championship.
Hill, a quietly intelligent man, knew well the dangers of racing and when he no longer felt the odds were in his favor, he retired. Phil Hill was a “car guy� of the type that only California seems to produce, and when he ceased competition, he became heavily involved in classic car restoration, journalism (he was a regular contributor to Road & Track magazine), and television. The quiet but highly effective way he went about his business, on the track and off, hark to an era of less self-promotion and more subdued self-confidence.
There is little doubt that Phil Hill was a unique talent in endurance racing and he applied that talent to immense effect. He died on a visit to the Monterey Historic Races, held at Laguna Seca, during the Pebble Beach concours week.
18 October 2008 | Qualifying | Laguna Seca
icons, part 1
“Pack up all my cares and woes.
Feeling Low, here I go.
Bye, Bye, Blackbird.�
---Bye Bye Blackbird, Joe Cocker
October 18th, 2008 Andreas Pininfarina, the General Manager of Pininfarina, the design firm whose heritage and work is so directly linked to Ferrari, died on August 7th, 2008, in a scooter accident in Turin, Italy. Pininfarina was doing approximately 50 plus miles an hour when a car turned in from him; the resulting crash took one of the world’s great design talents from us and threatened the line of succession of the famous Italian firm, founded by Battista “Pinin� Farina, developed into one of the world’s most honored and influential car design houses by son Sergio Pininfarina, and managed over the last decade by Andreas Pininfarina.
Pininfarina (the firm) design work is so closely associated with Ferrari that just the individual icons of their style bring to mind the entire car: the simple, round taillights, looking just as appropriate on a 2008 612 as on a late 1950s 250; the egg crate grill, the amazingly seductive, almost erotic curves of cars like the 275GTB/4 or the California Long Wheelbase Convertible. An excellent review of Andreas Pininfarina’s life can be found here >
What the review does not tell you about Pininfarina, the man and Pininfarina, the firm, is the drive to constantly improve their work and the courage to take chances that no one else would take with an automobile. When, for example, the Ferrari Enzo first appeared in public, it was such a radical departure from the previous string of Ferrari super cars—the 250GTO, the F40, and the F50—that most long time observers of Ferrari were stunned.
The Enzo is a beautiful car, but it is not beautiful in the way that a 599GTB is beautiful; it’s beautiful in the lethal manner of an F16. It only takes 10 second glance at the Enzo to know it’s power, purpose, and on-road arrogance. It’s obviously a Ferrari even though it doesn’t look a bit like the cars that preceded it. It’s a challenging design and that’s one of the things that Pininfarina, the firm, has always done extremely well: challenge the client and the observer.
One of the reasons Ferrari automobiles seems to “age� so well is that the designs are always a bit—and sometimes a lot more than a bit—ahead of the times. What may not appear totally correct at the time the car is introduced looks natural, correct, and perfect over time. It was that way with the 612Scaglietti (named after the designer/body manufacturer for many classic Ferrari race cars). When the 612 first appeared, the overall look was polarizing, the iconic references a bit obscure (like the one-off design originally produced for actress Ingrid Bergman, which influenced the front fender design of the 612). The 612 is a big car, the largest road car Ferrari has ever built. It has a 12 Cylinder Enzo-derived engine, paddle shift, an aluminum chassis made at the ALCOA foundry located on the grounds of the Ferrrari factory. The design is mid-front engine, with the engine positioned behind the axis of the front axles; this design delivers the cornering advantages of a “rear� mid-engine car, but without the compromises in cabin space and luggage room that are typical of rear mid-engine cars. The 612 is a two- door/four -seat design but don’t let the four passenger slots fool you: it is an extraordinarily quick car, the equivalent of a 260 pound linebacker who can dance like a ballerina and power his way to sub 10 second times in the 100 meter dash. The 612 has gathered a solid following in the U.S. because it’s cabin configuration and performance are perfect for today’s top level executive or entrepreneur: toss the computer bag, workout bag, and briefcase in the back seats, strap in and fly. Nothing is lost and a new level of utility is gained. Most of the 612s that we have sold at Ferrari of Houston are used as everyday drivers; it’s that great a car.
Pushing your limits is something that the Pininfarina firm has always done very well and as the man in charge of which risks to take and which to avoid, Andreas Pininfarina shouldered a lot of responsibility at the world’s premier automobile design firm. An irreplaceable light has gone out in the world of design, but the glow of genius that is Pininfarina will live into eternity, in the designs of Ferraris all over the world.
16 October 2008 | Pre-race | Laguna Seca
eight miles high
“Eight miles high and when you touch down
You’ll find that it’s stranger than known
Signs in the street that say where you’re going
Are somewhere just being their own…�
�Eight Miles High�, The Byrds
(In the air, somewhere). October 16th, 2008 It was either a very early morning or a very late night that stung me when I rolled out of bed at Casa Euphoria this morning to make the run to the airport for the flight to San Jose and the final race of the 2008 American Le Mans Series. The driver picked up me at 6:45AM, but I had been up since 4:30 and as we worked our way at appropriately high speeds out to Intercontinental Airport and Continental’s flight 1407, Houston to San Jose (departing at 9:10 and arriving at 11:00AM and change in San Jose) I was already calculating how much sleep I could grab back on the flight.
The bags had been packed the night before, so all I had to do before jumping in the back seat was verify that the iPods had been charged (never travel with less than one if you rely on them, as I do, for instant mood alteration and isolation) and that both the in-ear and over-the-ear headphones were in the green bag that keeps all this gear sorted and organized and ready to go.
Approximately two hours into the four hour flight, seat 12F has become excruciatingly uncomfortable. It is as if one must now pay extra for some padding on the seats or a real cushion; I am not in the best of moods, as the check-in counter ops team had nicked me for $15.00 for checking a bag. “Puh-leeeeeze� to quote Steve Martin. Uncomfortable in flight, the only relief is writing.
Heading west, the background for this year’s ALMS finale and our last GT2 race of the season, is less and at the same time more glorious than last year’s record. The soundtrack is heavy on songs about flying—the lead number being “Eight Miles High� by the Byrds.
“Eight Miles High�, with McGuinn’s trademark twelve-string guitar (and Chris Hillman’s driving bass) is quintessential 60’s rock, an iconic song written by Byrd’s member Gene Clark. LINK: watch 1966 video on YouTube > Clark wrote the song in 1965, about a Byrds tour of England. Despite it’s lyrical self-confidence, Clark was terrified of flying and soon after the song became a hit, he quit the Byrds, because he was…..terrified of flying. Clark, who was the Band’s lead songwriter, left a void that could not be filled: the Byrds never again had a top 20 hit although the band did reshape the rock landscape with the landmark album “Sweetheart of the Rodeo�, which merged country and rock music styles to create the genre now known as country rock.
The mood in the song—a certain mystical ambivalence—fits the mood I feel every time I go to California.
In 2007, Risi Competizione came into Laguna Seca with seven ALMS wins behind us, including the now-legendary two-tenths of a second victory at Sebring. We do not have that flashy winning record in ALMS this year but do have something more important in historical terms: a win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a win at the 10 hour Petit Le Mans (held at Road Atlanta), just a few weeks ago.
With those wins, Risi Competitizione has won every major endurance race with the Ferrari F430GT: Sebring, Le Mans, Petit Le Mans. A very nice achievement for a private factory team. The Le Mans win was our second (we won the first one in 1998, with a Ferrari 333SP), the Sebring win in 2007 our first (after a third place finish in 2006) and the Petit Le Mans our second (after a first place, overall win, in a Ferrari 333SP in 1998). Looking a little deeper into our performance in the “majors�, the record shows that at Sebring, our three year run (2006-2007-2008) produced two thirds and a first. In 2008, Krohn Racing, who race a few of the really big ones with Risi Competizione, notched a third. At Le Mans, in 2007, Krohn was on the podium again, this time in 2nd place, after running a very solid, no-mistakes, perfectly paced race; and then Risi Competizione took care of 2007’s unfinished business of 2007 in 2008 with their lead car, when Mika Salo, Jaime Melo, and Gimmi Bruni won the famous French endurance race, crossing the line seven laps ahead of the second place car.
From our performance in the really big races, it’s pretty obvious that we like the majors, love the longer distance races where preparation and pace and strategy and sheer speed can be used to optimum advantage.
Coming into Laguna Seca, we had picked up our first two wins on ALMS shores in 2008, Mosport (which we also won in 2006 and 2007) and Petit, where yet another virtuoso display of driving by Salo and Melo took the Rosso Corsa 430GT from two laps down to first and the win. Salo and Melo have been a dynamic duo over the last three years, combining for 12 wins, including wins in all the majors.
Laguna Seca, like Mosport, has been a great track for Risi Competizione. We have won championships the right way at Laguna—the right way being a win and not just picking up enough points to win a title by finishing third or fourth or eighth to back into a championship—by winning there in 2006 and 2007. Both races were classics and in both, it was Salo, the consummate closer who brought the Ferrari home to the checkered flag.
We expect a lot of serious competition at Laguna Seca. The Flying Lizard Team, already the GT2 ALMS Champions, will put on a good fight to show everyone that it wasn’t just consistency that got them the title but speed on the track. And Tafel Racing, who leaped from racing Porsches to racing Ferrari 430GTs this year (and had rather good success at it), will want to take it to Risi Competizione to prove they are every bit as fast and tough and professional. Good luck to them, and to all the other cars in the class, Porsches and Panoz and the lone GT2 Corvette and the Ford FT40 and the Euro-team Ferraris and even that Viper that came out for a few races. Enjoy the setting, which is easily one of the most beautiful in the world, and the weather, which is always superb, and, the challenging nature of the track with its’ trademark blind-entry corkscrew turn. Have a great race, good luck, but not so quick.
Risi Competizione has won Laguna Seca the last two times we’ve raced there; the team and the drivers are intimately familiar with the track and the distance is perfect for us, because we love the longer races of 4 and 10 and 12 and 24 hours.
As if the chance to pick up a third win in the ALMS series this year wasn’t enough, there is going to be an extra edge to the team’s prep and activities this weekend.
There’s something to prove and one last race to prove it. Perfect.