RFM Front Page News

By Kate Shaw
Photos © eePhotography/Craig Elliott 2009
BRASELTON, Georgia (September 24, 2009) — Allan McNish is back in the ALMS, and we are happy to report he’s as fast as he ever was. And although besieged on every side, and with challenges from one of the most diverse field of P1 cars we have seen in some time, he’s clearly happy to be here too.

He won last years race after an inauspicious start, despite 28 lead changes among 6 cars; at Sebring he beat the Peugeot by less than a second, and he was fastest on the test day yesterday by 0.169 seconds. Despite these impressive truths, McNish is not ready to make any predictions about Saturday’s race.

“The track is still very green,” he said, “from all the rain we have had; and that makes the bumps worse, although it’s the same for everybody. If the rain holds off – and it has never rained [at Petit] on race day – the track will become much easier as it rubbers in.”

The Audi R15 they have brought this weekend, he said, is essentially the car they ran at Le Mans, with a few tweaks to suit it to the track. The main task has been to accustom themselves to the thousand and one events that go on during a race weekend. No doubt the rigorous training Audi provides its team, from top to bottom, will quickly take hold.

Although McNish has not been in the car for three months, he has not been idling about the garden. One of the most intriguing projects he is involved in is the Jim Russell Racing School “Future Drivers” program to identify North American drivers of promise and give the best ones a chance of development. “When Jim Russell opened his new facility in Sonoma,” he said, “he decided to go back to the original plan – to cultivate young drivers, not process them. That’s why he is using the F50 cars with F3 spec tires; so that the drivers will learn to handle cars like those they aspire to drive one day. And although it’s billed as a driving school, Jim Russell is not simply developing their driving skills, which are maybe 10% of the package; this program is designed to develop the well rounded package. That includes not only the driver’s speed, car control and mechanical knowledge, but also such off-track attributes as character, strategy, and physical/professional presentation before sponsors and the media.” Discovery Channel ran a competition for Star Mazda drivers similar to this, as a one-off; however, the Jim Russell Future Driver Search is considered an ongoing event. In 2010, two drivers will ultimately be chosen to receive a full year at the Jim Russell Racing School to further develop their skills and head them in the right direction, a process sadly lacking in North America at present, as compared to the system available in European racing.

“The reason for choosing two drivers,” explained McNish, “is that we feel the first place should go to the one who is the fastest. Maybe he is something of a diamond in the rough, with plenty of passion that needs direction; but it’s always easier to smooth out the rough edges of presentation and shape the character than it is to make a polished and well-integrated driver faster. So two drivers will be chosen over a four day program. There is no doubt that this program will be welcomed or that it is necessary. Just the other day I was at a public appearance here in Atlanta, and a young man stopped me and explained that he was active in karting and anxious to move up the career ladder, but he didn’t know what he ought to do next. And that was just one of many, I am sure, who can be candidates for such a program. Our plan is to add depth to the North American racing scene similar to what the drivers now have to seek in Europe.”

As for future plans, before he rushed away, McNish considered a query as to whether or not he had thought of apprenticing himself to The Stig (of Top Gear fame).

“How do you know,” he said with a wink as he headed for the next waiting interview, “that I’m not already The Stig?”

Tune in Saturday, keep an eye on Audi R15 TDI No. 2, and draw your own conclusions.