NEWS
26.09.10
Twitter Q & A with @hancock_sam
Twitter Q & A with @hancock_sam
Earlier this week I was preparing for a corporate Q&A appearance and wondered if people tire of hearing the same old answers to the same old questions. So I asked my Twitter followers what questions they would most like to hear the answers to and they kindly sent in some crackers. Here they are:
If you were given the chance to make changes to the rulebook, what would be your top five & why?
1. I think I’d mandate all LMP1 cars to be coupés and all LMP2’s open-cockpit so as to clearly differentiate the classes for the spectators because multi-class racing can be pretty complicated for a lot of fans. Sadly it may be cost-prohibitive because to build and maintain a coupé is hugely expensive. Wouldn’t it be cool though – the top cars in the top category, all sporting that iconic silhouette, so representative of sportscar racing and so loved by the fans. It’s important also that every area of the sport has a clear identity whether it be sportscars, F1, NASCAR etc. and I think this would help our side of the sport a lot in this respect.
2. With regard to the shorter races – Le Mans Series etc. – I’d schedule them so that they all started in daylight and finished in darkness, even if that meant racing on a Saturday. There’s always something so special about racing at night and all the races that do have this – e.g. Sebring, Le Mans, Petit Le Mans etc – have a fantastic ‘festival’ feel about them which the fans seem to love. Thanks to Le Mans, night racing is engrained in the DNA of sportscar racing, so it would make sense to embrace this.
3. I’d encourage cost-cutting measures that wouldn’t really have any have any direct effect on the fan experience. For example, standard components such as tubs, testing restrictions etc.
4. I’d look at adopting American-style safety car rules. The outcomes of too many races are affected by the way the safety car is used in European sportscar racing. I’m all for prioritising safety in the event of an accident, but second in line is ensuring that the sporting aspect is not artificially affected.
5. I’d implement an official evaluation process and, where necessary, a training programme that less experienced, less established drivers would have to pass before being allowed to race at the top level of sportscar racing. I think it’s fantastic that we have arguably the only sporting event in the world where an amateur driver can compete in a world-class event like Le Mans, in front of enormous crowds, against some of the very best and most famous drivers in the world; but I think that they must arrive adequately prepared for the opportunity which, sadly, is not always the case. Not only can this be very dangerous out on the track, but it can also undermine the caliber of the event to some onlookers. I train a lot of private clients through my Drivers Club and it’s incredible the level that they can get to with a serious coaching programme. They may officially be amateurs, but there are some so-called ‘pros’ who would do well to keep up.
If you had the choice of drivers to pick from in the Le Mans Series, who would be in your "dream team"?
I’ve often thought that I’d like to work with the most experienced, most successful drivers possible, so that I can learn from them and compare myself against them. But I’m starting to think that at the very top, there’s not a great deal of difference between the very best drivers. You’ve got to be so good, so professional, so able, to get to that level anyway, that most of the others have already been filtered out of the system. This year I’ve shared cars with both Darren Turner (at Le Mans) and Stefan Mucke (Silverstone 1000kms) and I tell you what, you could do a LOT worse than having those two alongside you. In fact, when you consider all the qualities you’d like in a team mate – speed, reliability, professional manner, easy to get along with, no ego, similar driving style, similar feedback about the car etc – those two have got it wrapped up. That would definitely be my dream team.
Sam Hignett (Jota Sport AMR Team Principle and former driver) once told me he preferred driving at night at Le Mans, would you agree?
Definitely. I absolutely love it. It’s got to be one of the most unique, incredible experiences anybody could have. It just seems so insane slicing through the darkness at 215mph on public roads, with the smell of bonfires and barbeques filtering into the cockpit, while fireworks and ferris wheels light up the night sky. My absolute favourite section though is the run from Mulsanne to Indianapolis at night. It’s quiet over there, no spectator enclosures and just absolute pitch blackness thanks to the surrounding woods which seems to absorb what little ambient lighting there may be. In those conditions, the sense of speed is heightened, your eyes get dazzled by the headlamps in your mirrors, the shot-lights and dash displays flicker like a computer game and you arrive at the apexes so fast that they seem to appear out of nowhere. It’s totally and utterly awesome.
Do you think the future is with diesel or petrol in LMS?
Hopefully either. If the rule changes coming in to effect next year balance the performance of the two technologies, the entire sport will benefit thanks to the increased competition at the top. I think that if the endurance advantages of diesel were allowed to over-run sportscar racing, it could seriously damage it. I think the interest for manufacturers and the intrigue for spectators, is in the diversity – so long as it doesn’t detract from the racing.
Sam, I'd like to know what on earth Aston are doing with that Toyota IQ thing?
Ha! I have no idea to be honest, I know very little about that programme. From what I see though they’re creating a little Aston Martin city car, similar in size to Smart cars. I understand that may sit uncomfortably to purist fans of the brand but, speaking as someone who lives in a city, I sure as hell wouldn’t mind one! I think that car manufacturers have to be visionary and have to move with the times, which means we’re likely to get an occasional shock. Eventually that wears off and suddenly it all makes sense. Look at the Aston Martin Rapide or Porsche Panamera – both concepts raised serious eyebrows at first, but both are huge successes. More to the point I believe that car makes have to conform to ever-more stringent emissions regs, meaning that if they want to produce high-powered sportscars, they need to balance that with emissions-efficiency elsewhere in their range. A necessary evil so to speak.
I'd like to know how to get up close to 009. Saw you at Silverstone and loved it!
Very very sadly, that particular 009 car has reached the end of it’s racing life – at least in the hands of the factory team. But I believe that Aston Martin Racing do behind-the-scenes factory tours for members of the public at their Prodrive facility in Banbury so maybe worth dropping them a line. On that note it’s a real shame to see the end of the current LMP1 regulations, from next year current LMP2-spec cars will effectively become LMP1 as part of an understandable speed and cost cutting drive by the ACO. But for us drivers – and for you fans – it’s really sad to think there’ll be no 650bhp, screaming V12 Aston engine pushing a beautiful coupé bodied thoroughbred around Le Mans anymore. The end of an era I reckon – am very pleased to have experienced it.
We know you’ve created The Drivers Club private driver coaching service, but would you set up & run your own team, say in GT4?
Funny you should ask because that’s kind of what I have done! In addition to my primary role as factory driver for Aston, I’m quite heavily involved with Jota Sport AMR, which is an official partner team to Aston Martin Racing. The Drivers Club is a subsidiary of Jota Sport which means we can train and groom drivers right from their initial track day experiences, right through to racing at Le Mans. If Jota gets a Le Mans entry next year for the GT2 car, one of our ‘pupils’, Simon Dolan, will be on the grid next year – just four years after his first ever trackday! I partnered Simon and two other Drivers Club members, Joe Twyman and Roger Wills recently in the Spa 24 Hours in an Aston GT4, and we won the class! Just goes to show what good training can do…;-)
Would you try your hand at presenting (tv/radio)?
Sure, why not? For now my focus is entirely on my driving, but there’s sufficient time in between to do other things, look at Anthony Davidson. I used to do a fair bit of TV work a few years ago as a pundit for a variety of Sky Sport racing programmes, and very nearly took a job presenting a motoring show on TV when I was out of a drive in early 2005. More recently I’ve started doing some co-commentary again for Eurosport, working alongside Martin Haven on the GP3 races. I really enjoy it but blimey it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on! Martin’s brilliant at it, a real pro.
Given the choice, which form of racing would you most like to do & for which team? Do you prefer sprint or endurance?
I think most drivers’ boyhood dream would have been to race in Formula 1 for Ferrari, it was certainly mine. But at that time I hadn’t really been exposed to Le Mans. I’d seen the cars and loved the look of them – Group C in particular (Rothmans Porsches, aagh yes….
– but I didn’t really know anything about the racing. When I eventually discovered Le Mans, I loved it instantly and have since grown to really admire and respect the depth of challenge that endurance racing offers. Also, being English, a brand like Aston Martin is arguably a cut above Ferrari in my mind anyway, so to be doing what I’m doing now, is about as good as it gets!
Thanks very much to @f1denver, @SankeysRTW, @rennywuk for sending in the questions.