Race - Hours 6-10

1:10 am - Unfortunately, we have had to retire the No. 80 Flying Lizard Porsche from the race due to a mechanical driveline failure that we cannot repair.

I'd like to thank all of you for joining us and for all of your support. We are disappointed, but at the same time very proud of what we accomplished so far in our time here at Le Mans.

We will see you all in a few weeks at Lime Rock!! *** Jen, Shane, and the entire Lizard crew ***

12:57 pm - Thomas Blam, our chief strategist, updated us that the crew has removed the gearbox and is working to see if they can fix the problem. By ACO regulations, we cannot change the transmission externals, but we can work on the internal components.

Radio is still live - but the crew have their radios off as they work on the car.


12:44 - the crew is working quickly in the garage to diagnose the problem. We hope to be able to update you soon.

12:30 - Johannes reported a gearbox problem - sixth gear was gone- and the crew called him in and immediately into the garage. I will update when I know more. He was in p 6 at the time

11:49 pm -Even with a lightning fast pit stop, Johannes is back one position, and Nic Jonsson in the No. 99 Ferrari moved into fifth. But it looks like the No. 99 pitted immediately after that, which will allow Johannes to move back into fifth on the next lap.

11:48 pm - Johannes pits for fuel only and water bottle. Johannes is double stinting, and they are double stinting the tires. No 40 is slow on track but the course is still green.


11:37 pm - Johannes has passed the No. 99 Ferarri and moved into P 5. He is the fastest Porsche on track right now.

11:15 pm - Whoops, sorry for the brief delay in blog updates. Johannes is now back in the car, and is in P 6. He is very close behind the No. 99 Ferrari in P 5 and is running a much faster pace. A prototype is slow on track with no lights - almost impossible to see.

10:38 pm - Seth reports a slight vibration in the car.

10:26 pm - Seth is now in P 6. Positions P 1 No. 97; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 93; P 4 No. 76; P 5. No 99; P 6. No 80.

10:24 pm - It's dark now here in Le Mans. Luckily the weather is still clear so the drivers will have to deal with the dark, but at least it is dry.

10:20 pm - unfortunately we missed our window - we were able to complete the repair but Seth did not get out in time to get ahead of the second pace car and the pits were closed. This will cost us at several positions.

10:14 pm - Seth did 2 more laps, and is now pitting, luckily still under yellow. The crew will put the rear wing on, and attempt to set it up. The goal is to get Seth out in front of the pace car.

10:05 pm- The crew did the first step on the replacement - removing the rear wing and a few other needed changes. They sent Seth back out under yellow so he would not lose any additional positions (with no rear wing at all) and will put the new wing on on the next stop.

10:00 pm The No. 9 Creation prototype is off course and we could get a yellow. That would be helpful for us as we replace the wing on Seth's upcoming pit stop. Looks like the safety car is out on course and going double yellow.

9:55 pm - on the pit stop it was easy for the crew to see the problem - the rear wing had collapsed on the uprights. With no rear wing, it's very difficult to steer and control the car. They did a driver change to Seth and fuel, and then sent Seth back out. The crew needed time to prepare the wing for the replacement. They hope to be ready for Seth to pit on the next lap and replace the wing. It's a shame because the No. 80 is in P2 at the moment. With just 2 minutes left before needing to call Seth in to pit, the crew asks team manager Eric Ingraham for one more lap to complete their prep.

9:46 pm - Joerg is reporting some issues - lock up in the front and also issues in the back. He's not sure what it is but the engineers decide to have him pit and have the crew pull wheels off check it while they change drivers.

9:33 - Joerg reports a strong vibration in the left rear. No other info yet.

9:27 - Joerg now in P 2.

9:16 - Joerg in P 4. Positions are: P 1 No. 97; P 2 No. 93; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 80. 9:06 - After the unplanned pit stop, Joerg is now P 4. Positions are: P 1 No. 97; P 2 No. 93; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 80.

9:00 - Joerg radios in that the passenger side door blew out. We don't know the reason. He was able to pit quickly and the crew replaced the door. Joerg radioed in that "it is much nicer in here now with the door."

Race - Hours 3-6

8:44 - Joeg now in P 2 behind P 1 leader No. 97 Ferrari. In P 3 is No. 87 Ferrari. Flying Lizard is the top Porsche in GT2. The track is completely dry now and the sun is shining for the first time in a week.

8:30 pm - Joerg pits for tires, fuel, and new drink bottle.

8:11 pm - Joerg, in P 5, set the fastest race lap, then beat his own fast time with a new fastest GT2 time of 4:04.619.

7:46 - Johannes, in P 5, pits for driver change to Joerg, tires and fuel.

7:23 pm - Johannes set the fastest GT2 race lap so far with a 4:06:085. He is still in P 6, still closing on the spyker which is in P 5.

7:14 pm - Johannes in P 6 after the No. 82 Panoz pitted. Positions: P 1 No. 97; P 2 No. 93; P 3 No. 76; P 4 No. 87; P 5 No. 86; P 6 No. 80.

7:03 pm - Johannes in P 7 on same lap as leader.

6:49 pm - The crew readies for a pit stop for fuel and to give Johannes a new water bottle. Stefan Pfeiffer has made the decision to double stint Johannes and possibly the tires. They will make the tire decision when he pits. It looks like they made the call for new tires so with a quick tire change, he is out again.

6:44 pm - Johannes P 6. He is closing on the Spyker in P 5- running four seconds faster per lap

6:36 pm - Johannes moves to P 7, as the No. 82 Panoz pits. No 5 prototype off course, after contact with teh No. 81 Panoz. He appears to be able to continue slowly into the pits.

6:22 pm CET - 3 and a half hours into the race - we are in P 8 with Johannes in the car. Seth pitted for driver change around 6 pm. This is Johannes' second stint. Your blogger is back after a brief cat nap in the trailer. Positions: P 1 No. 93 Porsche; P 2 No. 97 Ferrari; P 3 No. 76 Porsche; P 4 No. 86 Spyker; P 5 No. 87 Ferrari; P 6 No. 81 Porsche; P 7 No. 82 Panoz; P 8 No. 80.

The track is completely dry now and the skies appear to be clearing for the moment.

Race !!! - Hour 2 mark - 5 pm CET

5:21 pm - The No. 15 prototype is in the gravel. Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 3 Audi continues to try and repair the car on course. After about one hour working on it, he is back in the cockpit attempting to start the car.

5:18 pm - Joerg pits and driver change to Seth. Seth is out on rain tires. No. 73 Corvette is in the gravel trap.

5:10 pm - heavy rain on front straight. Joerg radios in that he has to pit for rain tires and Seth readies for driver change. We can see on the in car camera how hard it is raining. Joerg reports that he can do about 90K - and that may even be too fast.

5:09 pm - No. 2 Audi in the pits for what appears to be an unscheduled pit stop.

5:01 pm - No. 25 prototype is stopped on course.

5:00 pm - Joerg is in P 5 currently. Positions: P 1 No. 93 Porsche; P 2 No. 81 Panoz; P 3 No. 97 Ferrari; P 4 No. 76 Porsche; P 5 No. 80. No. 93 is one lap ahead of the lead group (including us)

Race!!!

4:42 pm - No. 64 Corvette stopped on course.

4:36 - Joerg is out again quickly.

4:34 - The crew will take advantage of the yellow to pit for fuel and tires.

4:33 - The No. 3 Audi appears to have impacted a wall with major rear body damage. Driver appears fine. Full course yellow.

4:27 pm - Joerg in P 5.

4:14 pm - Joerg radios in that it's very hard to see where it is wet and where it is dry on the track. Know that he's on slicks, he needs to use caution if the track is wet. Thomas Blam, our chief strategist comments that he believes that the IMSA Porsche is still on rain tires.
Positions: P 1 No. 87; P 2 No. 93 Porsche; P 3 No. 86; P 4 No. 76; P 5 No. 81 P 6 No. 80

4:11 pm - Joerg pits for tire change back to scrubbed slicks.

4:05 pm - Safety car on course but we don't yet know why. Joerg is out of the pits on rain tires. TV coverage shows that the No. 21 Radical prototype is limping back to the pits with some bodywork damage.

4:01 - Joerg back in P 2 now. P1 is still No. 76 IMSA Porsche. P 2 No. 80; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 97.
Joerg reports rain in Indianapolis but it is just sprinkling here. He reports that there will be standing water soon. I can see the tire engineers getting rain tires ready. Joerg is going to have to make the call if he can continue on slicks or if he needs to pit for rain tires. It is nearly impossible for drivers to go at speed on slicks in rain. Joerg makes the call to pit now for rain tires and nearly simultaneously it began to pour on the front straight.

3:51 - Joerg reports it is starting to rain lightly. We just saw the No. 87 Ferrari in the pits on the radio, although based on timing and scoring it doesn't appear that they did a driver changes.
After our pit stop, positions are: P 1 No. 76 Porsche; P 2 No. 97 Ferrari; P 3 No. 87 Ferrari; P 4 No. 93 Porsche; P 5 No. 81 Panoz. We are in P 8. Once all cars have done their first pit stops, we'll report positions again after things settle out.

3:48 - Joerg is out now for his first stint. Luckily still no rain.

3:41 pm - Thomas Blam, chief strategist calls Johannes into the pits. Joerg will get into the car for his first stint.

3:28 pm - Johannes in P2. Positions are: P. 1 No. 76 IMSA Porsche with Patrick Long; P 2 No. 80 Flying Lizard; P 3 No. 87 Ferrari; P 4 No. 97 Ferrari.

3:22 CET - No. 32 prototype spun on course but has continued. The No. 99 Krohn racing No. 99 Ferrari was in the gravel but is back underway. Johannes radioed in that 4th gear is sticking, requiring him to lift off the throttle to upshift to 5th gear. The transmissions in the Porsche are designed as a no-lift sequential shifter, so this will cost the No. 80 car time on every upshift.


3:08 CET - It looks like the No. 53 Lamborgini has stopped in the gravel and may be out of the race.

3:05 - Johannes moves to P3, moving past the No. 97 Ferrari. P 1 NO. 87 Ferrari; No. 76 IMSA Porsche P 2; No. 80 Flying Lizard P 3; No. 97 Risi Ferrari in P 4.

2:39 pm CET - 20 minutes to go before race start. The cars have done their recon laps and are on the grid ready for race start. The weather is still highly variable - it's unclear if it will rain or not - th eteam has elected to start on slick tires, not rain tires. Today's race will be clearly a strategists race as the team engineers and strategists try and outguess the weather.

Because the team has elected to start on slicks, instead of rain tires, if Johannes does the pace lap then decides that it it too wet to drive with slicks, he will pit on the pace lap for change to rain tires. So if you see him pit prior to race start it is for this reason.

Johannes is starting the race.

Reminder that team radio is live at www.lizardms.com/radio

Qualifying Explained, and Team Radio Communications

11:34 am CET - Good morning from Le Mans. The team has arrived after a relatively long night of sleep - average of 6 hours across the board for the crew, more for the drivers - and is going through final preparations for the race. Pre-race ceremonies start at 2pm today, and the green flag drops at 3pm.

We wanted to take a moment to explain the grid position for the car, it's been a bit busy, as Le Mans sometimes is! In a total of 8 hours of track time, spread over Wednesday and Thursday, weather played a huge role in disrupting everyone's best laid plan. Jörg set the team's fastest time in the combined practice/qualifying sessions (best time of the four sessions on Wednesday and Thursday was awarded pole position) in Wednesday's first session, which qualified the No. 80 in 4th position in the GT2 class with a 4:05.588. The No. 87 Ferrari of Scuderia Ecosse qualified on the pole with a 4:04.185, followed in 2nd position by the IMSA Performance Porsche of Patrick Long, then the No. 97 Risi Ferrari.

Qualifying position isn't hugely important at Le Mans - the team is in consensus that mistake-free pit stops are the way to gain the biggest advantage over competitors. The team has practiced pit stops repeatedly over the last week, and prides itself on reliably quick stops.

Radio Free Lizard has been resurrected after a minor incident involving sensitive radio equipment and 220 volt electrical infrastructure. We blew a few fuses, but as team data technician and electrical engineer Mike Menapace said, "We have the technology to rebuild it." Radio Free Lizard will be live with commentary by Jennifer and Shane from 3pm CET on for the duration of the race. Feel free to email questions or comments in either to jennifer@lizardms.com or shane@mahoneyandcompany.net .

Qualifying Session - Thursday Night

12:07 am CET - Good night - we are safely back in the garage and heading home for the night. Tomorrow (Friday) there are no track sessions. We will be heading to Le Mans for the driver parade at 6 pm. We'll be back with you on Saturday morning for morning warmup at 9 am.

11:05 pm CET - The No. 80, which has been out for only one lap tonight, is ready to go back on track. There is less than one hour left in the session. It has stopped raining for the moment and the Johannes is in the car. Stefan Pfeiffer radios the crew that Johannes will do one timed lap and then come in for a setup change. Keep in mind that lap times are in the high 4:40s - so the crew is working against a very tight timeframe to make the setup changes they want in this last hour.


9:43 - The session is over and we are back in the garage. We'll turn the radio back on at 10 when we head out again.

9:25 CET - The No. 80 is ready to go out. There are only five minutes left in the first of tonight's session, but the crew would like to run the car at least one lap for a shakedown to determine if there are any problems from the engine, gearbox and brake changes made earlier today. Chief engineer Stefan Pfeiffer radioed Johannes to take it easy on his lap - "just roll it around." If they find problems now, they have the 1 hour break between sessions to resolve it.

Each driver must do 3 laps in tonight's sessions. There is still one 2 hour session left to go.

The rain has really hampered everyone's plans and nearly eliminated setup time. Tonight is the last chance for teams to complete race setup. The only remaining track time is raceday warmup - a 45 minute session.

Troy Lee at Le Mans

Troy Lee, who designed the livery for the No. 80 for Le Mans, was able to join us here earlier this week.

It was his first trip to Le Mans. After checking out the front straight, and every transporter in the paddock, he went right to work.

First, he designed and produced his own custom scooter helmet, which he is modeling at left.

He also honed his vinyl application skills, applying decals to the spare bodywork. He's in pit lane here.

He also took advantage of the time to sketch some ideas for Johannes' 2008 helmet.

Thanks Troy for hanging out with us in Le Mans!

Le Mans Qualifying Session - Thursday Night

7:52pm CET - After some rain, we get more rain. As soon as the green flag flew, a torrent hit the front straight. The team will run tonight, but there's more to lose than gain in wet weather. Eric (team manager) has said that he expects only to run a few laps to install the motor, gearbox and race brakes, and the wet weather will do nothing for times tonight. The team looks highly likely to start the race in 4th position in P2, given Jörg's time from yesterday. Eric reports that the team didn't get what they considered to be a proper shot at a qualifying lap yesterday, so the team's time bodes well for race pace.

** Radio Free Lizard will go live as soon as we are on track - probably around 8 pm CET, which is 9 hours ahead of Pacific Time. Unfortunately, we are having some power problems with our broadcasting system so you will only hear the team radio, not our commentary. Hopefully we'll be back with you on raceday *** - Jen and Shane

7:30 pm CET - Rain, rain, rain. Good evening from a soggy, sloggy Le Mans. It's been a very wet day here - not the norm for this area for this time of year. Tonight is our second qualifying session prior to the race on Saturday. The No. 80 currently has the fourth fastest time in GT2, after last night's qualifying session. Tonight's session, which was scheduled to start at 7 pm, has been delayed by 30 minutes. The crew is finishing up some final work on the car and we expect to head out around 8 pm.

Today the crew changed engines, putting in the race engine, the race gearbox and race brakes. Tonight will be the time to shake those components down prior to the race.

Each driver is required to do 3 laps in tonight's session. Let's hope the rain lets up a bit.

It's a Wrap... Creating the Livery

Creating the custom livery was a group effort which spanned five months.

We started early this year, working with Troy Lee and his team to create the design. Once we had some design ideas, we were able to make the call if we should use vinyl or paint, or a combination. Because of the complexity of the design, we decided on vinyl, and hired Showtrax International to help us. We wanted to keep the car a secret, so we decided to prepare the car under cover of our Le Mans garage after the June test in time to unveil it at Scrutineering in Le Mans.

The vinyl was prepared in ShowTrax's UK studio by Lins, who created 4 complete sets of the car images on large sheets of vinyl.

Meanwhile, back at Le Mans, the crew began to dismantle the No. 80 Porsche, which had run in its 2007 ALMS livery at the June 3 Le Mans test day. They removed all of the existing vinyl, and sanded out bodywork to minimize chips and damage, which would show through the new vinyl.

The crew worked all week following the test to prepare the car for race week, then turned it over to Alistair Frary, Rob and Nick of ShowTrax.

The Showtrax crew focused for for 4 days to create the car and all of the requite spares - through the weekend to prepare the car for its unveiling at Scrutineering on Monday. We made it with 5 minutes to spare!

Below are Rob and Rick - well into the project. Each sheet of vinyl was cut into individual segments corresponding to each bodywork component - from the front hood to the rear decklid.

They then applied the final details - chrome detailing across the Lizard's body and face.

The car was then loaded on a flatbed truck and transported to downtown Le Mans for scrutineering. We kept it covered until Bruno Vandestick, the emcee of Scutineering, helped us unveil the car.

Monday and Tuesday to complete all of the spares. The final step was to apply the chrome details, then cover the key bodywork pieces with clear vinyl to protect it.

Troy Lee, who was hanging out with us for the week, put some finishing details on the car - working some chrome details, custom mirrors, and other details.

Creating the car was definitely a unique experience - a lot of work, but when we saw the reaction of the crowd at Scrutineering it was clear that it was worth it.

Thank you to everyone who made this possible - the Troy Lee Design crew, Showtrax, Steve Pattee, Bruce and Tamra at Crendo,

and of course all of the Lizards.

Several months of design work and planning

Le Mans Test Day

*** Thank you for joining us. Please check back on race week (starting June 11) for blog updates.
We'll be broadcasting team radio for all on track sessions during raceweek. See www.lizardms.com/radio.html for details *** Jen and the rest of the Lizards

5:52 pm - A red flag at the end of the session may end the session early for the teams. Johannes is in the pits waiting to hear if he can get back in line to take one more lap. No - it looks like they have put out the checker and the test day has come to an end. The Lizards have the third fastest time in GT2, one second behind the No. 76 IMSA Matmut Porsche which had the fastest time (Patrick Long), and five tenths behind the No. 93 Autorlando Porsche. The top three cars in today's sessions were all Porsches.

5:38 - Joerg is out and Johannes is in. Joerg came closer to Patrick's fast time in that last stint, with a 4:02.668. Johannes will now finish out the session - just 20 minutes left.

5:24 pm - Joerg is out again for his last stint. Patrick Long in the IMSA Matmut Porsche now has the fastest time of the session with a 4:01.598. Joerg's earlier time still stands as the second fastest.

4:55 - Red flag and the crew calls Johannes in to the pits.

4:30 - Johannes took another turn at the wheel, pushing for some fast laps. He pits for another change and stays in the car to do a few more laps.

3:30 pm - Seth's back in the car, after Joerg's stint. Joerg set the fastest time of the session just now - a 4:03:400, three tenths ahead of the next fastest car, the No. 93. Autorlando Porsche.

Listen to our team radio at www.lizardms.com/radio.html

2:20 pm CET - We are just about ready to head back out with Joerg in the car. The crew is putting the finishing touches on some suspension changes before the afternoon session.

We are breaking for lunch and we'll be back with you at 2 pm CET.

Joerg commented on his short stint this morning. " I was only able to do three timed laps this morning, but on the third, we were able to make one change. Then the red flag came out, and we put Seth back in the car. We still have a lot of work to do setup wise but I think the one change we made was in the right direction. " On the track changes, he added "It's quicker coming of Tetre Rouge- not a huge difference but a bit smoother. Arnage is a bit quicker on the exit. The concrete change going into the Porsche curves seems to have made it a bit bumpier."

12:32 -Green flag and Seth heads out. He will finish out the session - probably about 6 laps.
12:28 pm - The course is once again red and Joerg pits for driver change to Seth. Seth is sitting in the car on pit lane waiting for green flag. The team will run through the morning session until 1 pm, then take an hour break until this afternoon's session starts at 2 pm.

11:49 am - Joerg pitted for some changes. On reentry, he radios in that the No. 71 car is in the gravel trap.

11:36 am - Joerg is now in the Porsche. The engineers are ready to begin work on race setup and once Joerg is comfortable in the car, they will begin making changes to Joerg's feedback.

11:07 am - Seth radios in that there is a prototype off course in the gravel.

10:58 am - Still red to complete the cleanup from the earlier accident. Another source of info for English speaking fans for the test day is RAdio le Mans. Their primary website appears to be down, but you can listen in here for now:

http://www.t-shops.co.uk/Client/rlm/2006b/listen.html


10:27 am - A red flag but we don't have any detail yet. Seth radios in that it appears to be a prototype that impacted a wall. Significant damage and driver not yet out of the car.

Reminder - we are broadcasting our team radio communications all day today - listen in at www.lizardms.com/radio.html

10:15 am - Johannes brings the car in for a driver change to Seth. Johannes has the fastest GT2 time of the session so far. His take on "The improvements to the track are a step in the right direction - the Tetre Rouge area concrete is new and smooth, the exit of Arnage is wider and
repaved and they repaved from the Dunlop bridge onto the beginning of the Mulsanne straight. It was a good start for us. The car was good right out of the box - we wanted to make sure nothing was going to fall off of it on the first few laps but all went well. The starting setup was pretty good and now it's just tuning and refining and trying to get a good car for the race in 2 weeks."

10:00 am CET - Johannes reports that the dash panel cover in the cockpit is loose and calls in that he needs to pit. The crew decides to tape it down for now.

9:19 am CET - Johannes just left the pits for his first lap. Engineer Stefan Pfeiffer just reviewed this morning's schedule with the crew - Johannes will take one initial lap to do a quick shakedown and radio check at key corners on the track. Strategist Thomas Blam will call Johannes in after one lap, and then the crew will check tire temps. They will either move to softer tires at that point, or keep Johannes on hards for another lap or two. Once they have the right tires on the car and are at the right temp, Johannes will begin to go through his checklist of things to check on the car. They expect Johannes to drive for about one hour, then they will switch to Seth Neiman. If things go according to plan, they will work gradually to the point of starting race setup - with most of that work being done in the afternoon.




At Le Mans, we have the luxury of a permanent garage in which to work. The garages open into pit lane. Unlike the permanent road course tracks in the U.S., there is no pit wall here at Le Mans - just a white line. Our pit stall is just outside of our garage. The advantage of this type of setup is that if there are any problems, we have a complete working area just a few seconds from the pits. To bring the car into the pits, we use a special jack on which we can rotate the car and bring it direclty into the garage. At right are mechanics Albert Watkins and Roger Reis - performing their ritual pre-track dance, I think. Where the grate is is approximately the white line. During a pit stop, only four crew members are allowed "over the wall" to work on the car. And all crew members over the wall must wear full fire suits.





The weather in Le Mans is very pleasant - slightly overcast, mid-70s and a light breeze. Humidity is fairly high and there is a chance of rain tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will remain clear for the day. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous here - sunny, warm and clear.

Good Morning from Le Mans. We are getting ready to go on track at Le Mans for the first time this week. Today is the official test day - the one day we are able to test out the track, the cars and work on our race setup.
We will be broadcasting our radio transmission today - click on the link at www.lizardms.com/radio.html.

Our strategy this morning is to wait a bit before going out on track. We expect the track to be extremely dirty and full of debris. Because the 8-mile track consists of both dedicated track and public roads - it will take some time before the track is clean and at optimal driving conditions.

We expect the No. 80 to head out around 9:45 or so, and it will head out on hard tires. The first few hours today will be used to get the drivers acclimated to the track and to the car. We'll practice driver changes and working through the logistics of adjusting the seat from driver to driver.