Quote:
Originally Posted by DG624
Must be nice to be able to go to this track. I was there a long time ago to see Pedro Rodriquez drive a 512 Ferrari trying to catch the 917s. Very strange track with an amusement park and only one or two bathrooms. It looks much different now...even modern. I don't think watching these cars being driven by non racers is even close to watching the real race but still nice to see the cars.
|
There are many hired pro drivers who co-drive with the owners. We were all surpised at the competitive and aggressive nature of the racing in some priceless and irreplaceable cars. If you know euro classic racing you will may have heard of guys like Peter Hardman and Gary Pearson, who are seriously quick and co-drove 3 or 4 cars each, then there are names like Jan Lammers, Stephane Sarrazan, Jurgen Barth etc. If you dig into the detail, you find many of the "gentlemen" drivers have done a number of Le Mans 24 hour races in GT2s or GT3s even though they are names you have never heard of. This wasn't a procession, there was proper racing with period correct drifting and sliding and even some contact. Some of the owner drivers were a bit slow but some were also right up there with the pros - for example, Jurgen Barth took 2 class wins in the 936 while the owner managed a close second in class.
RB