I’m still recovering from my first American Le Mans Race, and a strange race it was. Luckily I was there for a few days, so enjoyed the practice and qualifying before the ‘Trèz-Petit’!

One of the most impressive things about the weekend was seeing how the Patron Highcroft race team built up a new race car after Scott Sharp destroyed the original during practice (above, with Radio Le Mans commentary). It was one of the biggest accidents I’ve ever seen and it’s a testament to today’s safety standards that he walked away.

The car was completely destroyed and ended up back at the pits on two trucks! Only 10% of the parts were salvageable. A new tub was sent from California overnight and the mechanics built up the car during the course of Friday, amazingly ready for warm-up on Sunday morning. The mechanics looked shattered by the end of it.

This is a great time lapse video of the rebuild.

More from Petit during the week.

 

-Andy Blackmore

As you will be aware, 24 Heures du Mans, to give its correct title is one of the biggest events on the motorsport calendar. To help you follow this weekends event, here is a quick guide to Le Mans coverage. First off, I have produced another Spotter Guide for Le Mans, in conjunction with Radio Le Mans.com, Ten-Tenths.com and some other partners. The guide is available as a 2 Page PDF and 2 JPEG images. The latest version was released earlier this morning. You can download the guides at spotterguides...

If, like me, you are unable to attend the 12 hours of Sebring this weekend, then Speedhunters, Radio Le Mans.com, and other media can keep you all informed. Online John Brooks is currently on his way to Sebring. Expect the usual collection of fantastic images and stories from John at the track. We will also be publishing a Preview before the race and providing updates here and on our Twitter channel. Radio Le Mans.com will be broadcasting online from Sebring during the event. John Hindhaugh, below...