Feedback: your letters
This year we were safely isolated some 220 miles back behind the barriers for our initiation to the delights of ‘armchair enthusiasm’ for this year’s event
Grateful for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours
It was with some trepidation that we embarked on our 36th consecutive trip to Le Mans for the ‘World’s Greatest Motor race’ over the weekend. Caravan parked at our own Maison Blanche, sitting on camping chairs, camera poised, watching the cars go round the Circuit of the Sarthe. But this year we were safely isolated some 220 miles back behind the barriers for our initiation to the delights of ‘armchair enthusiasm’ for this year’s event.
We would like to thank all those people who this year risked their lives on the track, but also all the efforts off it for the benefit of us socially distanced spectators. Special thanks to Autosport for the annual guide, Eurosport for the superb 24-plus hours of coverage, the ACO for the courage of persevering with making this great event happen. Not to mention all the teams, marshals and officials who had worked so hard to bring this event to life at this difficult time.
We of course hope to be back there next time, with any luck a little closer to the action.
Nick and Brenda Worth
Horley, Surrey
Missing the big race already?
It was great to hear from Martin Short again in your Le Mans guide. A great character, his stories made me smile and reminded me of the superb film he made, Le Mans: In the Lap of the Gods, about his road to the 24 Hours. For anyone already feeling withdrawal symptoms now that this year’s race is over, I recommend you find a copy and watch it. You’ll love it.
David Hobbs
By email
It just so happens that Duke video has this DVD on offer at £9.99. Go to bit.ly/lapofthegods – ed
Forget reversed grids, what about qualifying ballast?
Hopefully there has been enough backlash against the F1 reversed-grid idea for Ross Brawn to not go ahead with it as a permanent format (one or two races could be fun though!).
My suggestion: success ballast or some form of performance equalisation between the cars for Q3 only. All other sessions, including the race, should be as is current.
The FIA can use the telemetry in Free Practice 1 and 2 to assess the differences between cars. Then in Q1 and Q2, the aggregate time should be taken of each car and points offered on a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 basis. This should prevent any sandbagging.
With all the data available I think a reasonable system can be produced to assess how much extra ballast should be placed on each car for Q3 to, in theory, make all cars as even as possible in lap time performance.
Team-mates should have the same ballast on their cars so Lewis Hamilton still has his advantage over Valtteri Bottas etc. The potential lap time from a Mercedes should be as equal as possible to Red Bull, Mclaren or Ferrari (if they qualify for Q3).
With all the clever people in F1, I’m sure an algorithm can be produced to come up with the calculations for how much ballast each car in Q3 should carry. Then we also get to see who really is the quickest guy (or gal) over one lap!
Shad Alam
By email