Tag Archives: Audi

Coffee, Croissant & Cars 05/15 – Avenue Drivers Club

The second Sunday of the month at Queen Square in Bristol is maintaining it’s standing as one of the more extraordinary word of mouth gatherings for petrol heads in the country.

Land Rover, Ford, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol,

At this month’s gathering I tried to pay a bit more attention to some of the low riders present including the 1960 Land Rover 80 fitted with a 4 litre / 244 cui version of the Buick derived Rover V8, which is dwarfed by the 2008 Ford RBP Super Duty that was imported into the UK in December last year.

Volkswagen Lupo, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol,

Among the smallest of the low riders present was this 2004 Volkswagen Lupo.

BMW 635i, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol,

Low riding BMW’s are not that unusual but this is the first 1980’s E24 635 CSi I have seen so dramatically stanced.

Avenue Drivers Club, Jaguar X Type S, Queen Square, Bristol,

Leaping forward back to 2008 is this stanced diesel powered Jaguar X Type S the like of which I have also never seen before in the flesh.

Audi RS5 Quattro, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol,

Amazingly this Audi RS7 Quattro is a 2014 model first registered, given that car was fitted with 19″ wheels as standard one would have to conclude the wheels on this one are well over 20″.

Datsun Sunny, Avenue Drivers Club, Queen Square, Bristol,

Back in the day when I used to deliver Datsuns new for a dealer in London I realised that they did exactly what they said on the tin and unless one was deliberately trying to break one they would run until the body rotted off, above is a stanced 1982 Datsun Sunny Estate with a well above average preserved body.

Thanks for joining me on this “Coffee, Croissant & Cars 05/15” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another Pony. Don’t forget to come back now !

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That’s Entertainment – 6 Hours Of Siverstone

Last Sunday saw the runners and riders of the World Endurance Championship gather for the 6 Hours Of Silverstone with a smattering of new rules, new cars, cars and new faces.

Of the new rules the most significant was abandoning the safety car in all but the most extreme cases for full course yellow’s and this led to the race being disturbed for only 8 minuets over six hours and no unnecessary bunching of the field.

6 Hours Of Silverstone

Qualifying in the top LMP1 category was locked out by the two Porsche 919 Hybrids, reckoned to be more powerful than the 900hp Peugeot 908 turbo diesels, driven Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber with Brendon Hartley and Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb which can be seen leading the pack of Audi’s and Toyota’s on the opening lap.

Thanks to an electrics problem that knocked out his telemetry and gave him a misfire Benoit Tréluyer is seen on the extreme left of the photo above as he fell all the way back to tenth place in the opening laps before the problem sorted it’s self out.

Ferrari F458 Italia, Shaytar / Bertolini / Basov, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Despite qualifying only 5th fastest in the GTE/Am category Russians Victor Shaytar, Aleksey Basov with Italian Andrea Bertolini came through to finish third in class and 18th overall, with their #72 SMP Racing Ferrari F458 Italia seen above on the Hangar Straight.

Ferrari F458 Italia, Perrodo / Collard / Aguas, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Seen turning into the fast sweeping Abbey above is the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Frenchman François Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard who with Portugals Rui Aguas qualified 4th in LMGTE/Am and finsihed 2nd in class and 17th overall.

Dalla Lana / Lamy / Lauda, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Only 30 seconds covered the top three LMGTE Am class finishers after six hours of racing, Canada’s Paul Dalla Lama with Portugal’s Pedro Lamy and Austian Mathias Lauda converted their LMGTE/Am pole into a first place in class finish, 16th overall, driving the #98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 seen at Becketts above.

Ferrari F458 Italia, Rigon / Calado, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Slowest of the 7 LMGTE Pro qualifiers were Italy’s Davide Rigon and Britain’s James Calado but they dug deep and finished the race third in class, 11th overall, less than 30 seconds behind the class winners.

Porsche 911 RSR, Chevrolet Corvette C7, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

German Richard Leitz and Denmarks Michael Christensen qualified their #91 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR in 4th place behind three Aston Martin’s, by the end of the race the Aston’s had all fallen one lap down on the three class leading LMGTE Pro cars.

The 2nd in class, 10th place overall, finishing #91 Porsche is seen lapping the returning Labre Competition teams new LMGTE Am #50 Corvette C7 driven by Italians Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti and Denmarks Kristan Poulsen at Vale above.

Ferrari F458 Italia, Bruni / Vilander, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Winners of the LMGTE Pro class and 9th overall were Italy’s Gianmaria Bruni and Finlands Tony Vilander who qualified their #51 AF Course Ferrari 5th in class, the Ferrari is seen being chased by a LMP1 Toyota at the Arena.

HPD ARX 03B - HPD, Sharp / Dalziel / Heinemeier Hanson, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

While awaiting the delivery of a new pair of LMP2 Ligier’s the Extreme Motorsports team made their debut in the WEC with a pair of HPD (Honda Performance Developmant) ARX O3B’s.

The #30 HPD, seen above exiting Maggots, driven by American Scott Sharp, Britain Ryan Dalziel and Denmarks David Heinemeier Hanson qualified 4th in class and crossed the line third in class.

Regrettably the car was excluded because it was found in post race scrutineering to have been running with a thinner ALMS spec plank under the car than the mandated thicker WEC spec plank, this was a tough break for the popular US team.

Dome S103 Nissan, Leventis / Watts / Kane_6 Hours Of Silverstone

With the exclusion of the #30 the Nissan powered #42 Strakka Racing Dome S103 driven by Britain Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jony Kane was awarded third in class.

Watts ended up going into the kitty litter on the first corner of the first lap but with help from the marshalls the team recovered from last place to finish a respectable 8th overall.

Ligier JS P2 Nissan, Yacaman / Derani / Gonzalez, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Columbian Gustavo Yacaman, Brazilian Luis Felipe Derani and Mexican Ricardo Gonzalez qualified their Nissan powered #28 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2, seen at entering Becketts on class pole, but finished the race 2nd in class, 7th overall and 1 lap behind their team mates …

Ligier JS P2 Nissan, Rusinov / Canal / Bird, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

Russian Roman Rusinov Frances Julien Canal and Sam Bird, who’s class winning #26 Ligier is seen above at Club.

Toyota TS040 Hybrid, Davidson / Buemi / Nakajima, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

At the head of the field representatives from all three leading manufacturers took turns at the lead after qualifying fourth reigning World Endurance Champions Brit Anthony Davidson and Swiss Sébastien Buemi, who were joined by the Japanese Kazuki Nakajima came through to a third place finish just 15 seconds behind the the winning car.

6 Hours Of Silverstone

After easily leading the opening 90 mins of the race from pole position Mark Webber had to retire the lead #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid with transmission issues before team mates Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley had a chance to drive it, leaving the sister #18 front row starter driven by Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Neel Jani with a small lead over the fast recovering #7 Audi driven by Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fässler and Andre Lotterer.

A fantastic battle between the two leading cars ensued from the half way stage of the race, which included this linked scrap with 50 mins to go, at the end of the day the inferior tyre wear on the faster Porsche swung victory away from them despite trying a two tyres only final stop.

Above Neel Jani slices past the LMGTE Am #96 Aston Martin driven by Francesco Castalocci, Roland Goethe and Stuart Hall while the #1 Toyota awaits to slice past the LMGTE Am Dempsey Proton Racing #77 Porsche driven by Patrick Dempsey, Patrick Long and Marco Seefried and LMGTE Pro #99 Aston Martin driven by Alex Macdowall, Fernando Rees, and Richie Stanamay.

Audi R18 e-tron quattro, Fässler / Lotterer / Tréluyer, 6 Hours Of Silverstone

With 15 minutes to go the #7 Audi driven by Marcel Fässler had lead of over a minute when it was called in for a splash and dash stop. At the same time the #7 was also awarded a stop go penalty for an overtaking maneuver beyond the track limits at club.

The #7’s lead was just 37 seconds after the splash and dash and less than 10 seconds after the penalty stop, but there were not enough laps left for Neel to chase the #7 down and with a winning margin of less than five seconds it was the Audi Sport Team Joest drivers who’s names were added to the base of the 110 year old Tourist Trophy at Silverstone.

Despite starting with an electical failure the #7, seen passing the 3rd placed #1 Toyota in the Arena above, came through to win by covering a record 201 laps.

Thanks for joining me on this “That’s Entertainment” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Chrysler 300D. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The Great Western Sprint – Castle Combe

A couple of weeks ago I popped along to help out the Bristol Motor Club marshall there annual freeze fest better known as The Great Western Sprint at Castle Combe, mercifully it was a dry sunny day but as ever the persistent freezing wind out at Bobbies where I was stationed meant that humour had a very tough fight on it’s hands.

Ford Fiesta, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

My responsibilities precluded taking any photo’s of the action so here are a selection of arbitrary shots taken in the paddock shown in running order, first up from Abergavenny Martyn Davies’s Ford Fiesta with which he won the A1 Roadgoing class for cars with motors up to 1400 cc / 85.4 cui.

Suzuki Swift, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

Phil Tuckers 1989 Suzuki Swift, which finished second in class behind Martyn, caught my attention because the model was also sold as a Subaru Justy like the one Robert Solarski drove on the recent Tavern Motor Club Washingpool Farm Targa Rally.

Ford Escort Mexico, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

On my way over to Castle Combe I observed Rowland Turner was wearing ear protectors at the wheel of his 1975 Mk 1 Ford Escort as he made steady progress on the motorway, Rowland finished 8th in the up to 1800 cc / 109.8 cui class.

Audi S4, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

One of the more powerful cars in the paddock was Roger Banks’s Audi S4 powered by a twin turbo 4.2 litre / 256 cui 40 valve V8 said to produce over 700 hp. Roger recorded fastest time in his all wheel drive beast with a NASCAR sized rear spoiler in the C3 modified class on the practice run but broke down on his first timed run, leaving Keith Murray in his old school Audi 80 to take class spoils as he had done on this event in 2013.

Leastone F5, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

6th in the up to Racing Cars up to 1100cc / 67 cui E1 category was Nick Mizen in his Irish built Leastone F5 fitted with a 900cc / 54.9 cui Suzuki Motorcycle engine.

Jedi Mk 1, Great Western Sprint, Castle Combe

Martin Pickles qualified for the top 12 run offs and finished with 7th best time of the day with his 1 litre / 61 cui Jedi Mk1.

The larger engined Reynard DB Mk 1 shared by Mark Smith and Craig Sampson recorded first and second fastest times of the day respectively.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Great Western Sprint” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1931 Chrysler. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Breakfast – Redhill Village Hall

Last Sunday I joined my friend Nick in his Mustang GT for a drive over to Redhill Village Hall, where a select gathering of petrolheads gathered for an excellent breakfast.

Vauxhall 30 90, Redhill Village Hall

When I first came across this 1922 Vauxhall 30/90 at an Avenue Drivers Club meeting a couple of years ago it had just had the wooden frame for it’s body panels rebuilt. The panels have been refitted but there is still some way to go with the upholstery before the restoration is complete.

Audi 200 Quattro, Redhill Village Hall

Fifteen years after becoming the first foreigner to win the Safari Rally, Hannu Mikkola repeated the feat in 1987 in one of his last appearances for Audi driving a 200 Turbo Quattro in what would be his final World Championship Rally win. The 220 hp 20 valve 5 cylinder motor above powers a car that is a stripped and stickered up to replicate the car that Hannu drove.

Jaguar XK150, Redhill Village Hall

Two days after celebrating its 56th Anniversary since it’s registration for use on British roads was this 1958 Jaguar XK150.

Ford Consul, Redhill Village Hall

Bristling with extra’s including sun visor, rear view mirrors and a hand operated spot light was this 1959 Ford Consul.

Austin Allegro, Redhill Village Hall

One of the design criteria for the Austin Allegro was that the styling should eschew mainstream trends and so British Leyland reinvented the steering wheel, it’s quartic wheel afforded the driver extra leg room. While many laughed at this feature at the time perversely it foresaw, by several decades, the arrival of the modern open wheel competition steering wheel.

Ford V8 Deluxe Fordor Sedan, Redhill Village Hall

Finally this Ford embossed tailpipe appeared on a 1938 Ford V8 Deluxe Fordor Sedan.

Thanks for joining me on this “Breakfast” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again for Maserati Monday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Rainy Day Grooves – Oulton Park Gold Cup

On Bank Holiday Monday two friends and I braved some atrocious weather as we headed 150 odd miles North to Oulton Park for the last day of the Gold Cup meeting.

Lola T292, Sinclair, Martini Trophy, Oulton Park

By the time the racing got started the track had dried out a bit though the track conditions were still treacherous as Tony Sinclair drove his #12 Lola T292 to a comfortable 13 second victory over Sam Carrington Yates driving a Chevron B16 in the second of the weekend’s Martini Trophy contests.

Chevron B17, Derossi, Classic Racing Cars, Oulton Park

Local pride in the Chevron marque from nearby Bolton was restored by Francois Derassi driving his #66 Chevron B17 who won the Rodney Bloor Trophy for Classic Racing Cars by 32 seconds over Palliser WDB2 driver Andy Jarvis.

Derek Bell Trophy, Oulton Park

The first of the days Derek Bell Trophy races looked set to go to Micheal Lyons in his blue grooved wet shod Formula 5000/A #74 Eagle FA74 but Richard Evans driving a slick shod Formula 2 #77 March 742 with only 2/5ths the cubic inches and half the number of cylinders of the Chevy Stock block V8 powered Eagle managed to claw back Micheal’s opening lap six second lead to take the win as the track dried out.

Super Touring Trophy, Oulton Park

The first time I came to Oulton Park in 1985 John Cleland was driving an Opel Monza in the Uniroyal Production Car race. On Bank Holiday Monday he was driving his 1998 #98 Vauxhall Vectra and after all sorts of problems for the Championship contending Honda Accord’s of Stewart Whyte and James Dodd, John won the Super Touring Championship race from the #44 Audi A4 quattro of Paul Smith. James claimed the championship with an impressive 4th place finish from the back of the grid.

Historic Touring Cars, Oulton Park

The rain became a little heavier during the first Historic Touring car race and the #67 Austin Mini of Peter Morgan consequently got the best start while the #1 Ford Lotus Cortina of Tim Davies got bogged down. 3 wheeling Tim recovered to take a close victory over Peter by just 0.3 seconds.

HSCC Classic Clubmans, Oulton Park

By the time the Classic Clubmans came out my friends and I opted to take cover and watch the race from the car. Mark Charteris won the race in the #1 Mallock Mk 20/21 by just over a second from Spencer McCarthy’s Mallock Mk 20b.

Historic Formula Ford 2000, Oulton Park

The inclement weather continued during the Historic Formula Ford 2000 race which was won after a good battle by Benjamin Tusting in the yellow #64 Reynard SF79 by just under 4 seconds from Benn Simms in the #2 Royale RP30.

Historic Formula Ford 1600, Oulton Park

The biggest field of the day started the Historic Formula Ford 1600 race. Micheal Mallock who had spent much of the race in fourth place driving his family #9 Mallock Mk9 came through the myriad back markers on the last lap to claim a victory, possibly the first for this car since the late 1960’s, over John Murphy in the green #3 Merlyn Mk20A.

Derek Bell Trophy, Oulton Park

Tim Barry driving his recently restored Ford GAA V6 powered March 76A suffered broken legs and a broken wrist in a nasty accident which stopped the second Derek Bell Trophy race.

The latest news from the hospital is that Tim has already asked doctors when he can drive again ! I am sure you will join me in wishing Tim and his March a speedy recovery.

After the restart Micheal Lyons did not put a foot wrong in his Eagle to claim victory over his nemesis from race one Richard Evans. 1974 Gold Cup winner Ian Ashley marked his return to the F5000 category after an absence of 35 years by driving his Lola T300 to a fine third, having finished 4th in the earlier race.

Historic Touring Cars, Oulton Park

The rain only got heavier during the 2nd Historic Touring car race and the tarmac from Knickerbrook up Clay Hill got a lovely pearlescent finish courtesy of Ian Brown’s Volkswagen Beetle which dumped all of it’s oil on the racing line on lap 2.

The consequent scrabble for steerage and traction proved highly entertaining and it was the red and blue Mini’s of Peter Morgan and Tim Harber who made the best of it with the #37 Ford Lotus Cortina of Mike Gardiner coming home third to round out an entertaining day at the races.

Thanks for joining me on this Rainy Day Grooves edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be going for a little test drive in a 35th Anniversary Ford Mustang. Don’t forget to come back now !

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New Rules Same Result – Audi R18 TDI #106

New regulations, mandating a smaller motor and smaller fuel cell presented Audi with a new challenge for it’s 2011 Le Mans Challenge.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Ulrich Baretzky was responsible for designing R18 TDI to meet the new challenge and elected for a Coupé body,

Audi R8C, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

a body type not seen on an Audi Le Mans challenger since the Peter Elleray designed Audi R8C, seen above, built in 1999.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The single piece carbon-fiber composite aluminum honeycomb monocoque was manufactured by Dallara in Italy.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

To improve the handling the R18 TDI is fitted with taller and wider front tyres, by effectively moving the mass of the car forwards the balance of the the car is better optimised for to create better front tyre temperatures which improve mechanical grip.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The L shaped tube in front of the cockpit is a Pitot tube for measuring airflow, this could be useful information for determining the aerodynamic balance of the car or more likely to help the engineers determine the engine settings for the motor which is fed air by the duct above the cockpit.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Unlike the previous R15 TDI Le Mans challengers fitted with a pneumatic gear selection system the R18 TDI six speed gearbox was fitted with an electronic gear change system, the main benefit of which was to save weight.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The fuel tank situated behind the cockpit was restricted to 65 litres / 14 imperial gallons comparable to that found in a large, European, daily driver.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The motor was restricted in size to just 3.7 litres / 225 cui for turbocharged diesel powered motors and so a single turbocharged V6 replaced the twin turbocharged 5.5 litre / 335 cui V10 used to power the Audi R15 TDI.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

With only 532 hp, adown from 590 hp on the previous years V10 the R18 TDI chassis #106 seen here at Goodwood, driven by Benoit Tréluyer, Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer was three seconds a lap slower than the 2010 R15 TDI Plus, but still qualified on pole for the 2011 Le Mans 24 hour race.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The 2011 Le Mans 24 hours proved to be a game of cat and mouse between the Audi and Peugeot teams. Audi had the advantage of outright speed, good tyre durability – capable of going 44 laps on a set of slicks, but poor fuel economy – only going 11 laps on a tank of diesel.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Peugeot meanwhile could run 12 laps on a tank of diesel, but only 36 laps on a set of tyres.

Audi R18 TDI, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Audi’s cause was not helped when Allan McNish crashed the #3 entry out of the race in the first hour after tangling with a back marker in an incident from which everyone miraculously managed to walk away.

Seven hours later the #1 Audi driven by Mike Rockenfeller was involved in a similar incident from which he also walked away.
After the a 2 hour safety car period during which the track safety barriers were repaired the #1 Audi was left to fend off a three car onslaught from the diesel V8 powered Peugeot’s which did not suffer their first serious set back until the #7 Peugeot driven by Alexander Wurz hit the barriers and lost 3 laps.

The #1 Audi driven by Benoit, Marcel and Andre manged to pit for the final time without losing the lead and held on to cross the line, just 13 seconds ahead of the fastest Peugeot after 24 hours of racing.

#106 seen here a couple of weeks after the victory appears to have been retired from active competition thereafter. Apart from the Le Mans test weekend in April 2011 where Marco Bonanomi joined the cars regular squad of three drivers to set 4th fastest time the cars only other appearance was in the Spa 1000kms where Benoit, Marcel and Andre finished 5th from 2nd on the grid.

Thanks for joining me on this “New Rules Same Result” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a British Group C Le Mans Challenger. Don’t forget to come back now !

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3,362 Miles – Audi R15 TDI Plus #204

After the disappointment of losing their first Le Mans in six years to Peugeot in 2009 Audi returned in 2010 with R15 TDI Plus cars developed by a team led by Ulrich Baretzky.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

The immediately obvious difference between the new challenger and the 2009 R15 TDI were the new head light configuration and the loss of some bodywork panels to reveal the front crash structure.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

Less obvious differences included lower front wings and a ‘simplified’ approach the previous years aerodynamics.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

Despite restrictions mandated to reduce the 2010 Le Mans Cars power by reducing the size of the restrictor plate and reducing the boost pressure of the turbochargers the R15 TDI Plus Audi engineers claimed the output of the 2010 5.5 litre 335 cui Turbo Diesel V10 was around 590 hp as it had been in 2009.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

Today’s featured chassis seen at Cholmondley Pageant of Power last year is believed to be #204 which was completed in time for Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller to qualify 2nd for the 2010 Spa 1000kms race in which they finished 5th.

Audi R15 TDI Plus, Cholmondley Pageant of Power

For the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours a month later the same trio qualified 5th, fastest of the Audi’s, but over two seconds slower than the pole winning Peugeot.

To their advantage the Audi team had better economy and ultimately better reliability so that when the final Peugeot retired Audi were left to sweep the podium with today’s featured car #204 finishing ahead of team mates, André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer in the #8 TDI Plus with Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello finishing third in the #7.

Astonishingly given that the Le Mans track has been slowed down with the addition of chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight and numerous new corners between the pits and Tetre Rouge all three Audi’s covered a greater distance than the Porsche 917 driven by Gils van Lennep and Dr Helmut Marko in 1971, with the winning car raising the record from 3,107.7 miles to 3,362.061 miles, both records requiring 397 laps of the differently configured track to be completed.

#204 made one final appearance during the 2010 season at Petit Le Mans where Allan, Tom and Rinaldo qualified 4th and finished 3rd behind two Peugeot’s.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘3362 Miles’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Le Mans competitor from Triumph. Don’t forget to come back now !

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