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SRT Motorsports - SRT Viper GTS-R 24 Hours Of Le Mans Invitation Teleconference Transcript - Gilles And Kendall
SRT Motorsports today accepted an invitation from the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) to field two SRT Viper GTS-Rs in the LM GTE Pro class of the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, June 22-23, officially returning the Viper sports car to one of the most prestigious automobile endurance races in the world. Ralph Gilles and Tommy Kendall participated in a teleconference this afternoon to discuss the announcement.
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Ralph Gilles - President and CEO, Street and Racing Technology (SRT) Brand and Motorsports THIS WAS SOME GREAT NEWS THAT WE HEARD THIS MORNING IN RELATION TO SRT MOTORSPORTS RECEIVING THE INVITATIONS (TO FIELD TWO CARS IN THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS) AND WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR RACE TEAM. TELL US YOUR THOUGHTS AS YOU HEARD THE NEWS TODAY. "Well, in a way, it’s kind of coming full circle. I mean I joined the company and only a few years later in ’96, we went to Le Mans. I remember the buzz inside Chrysler at the time. Everyone was so excited to have this company, which was going through a great rebirth at the time, go to France and take on the world. Now, it’s a similar feeling - a lot of pride and a lot of excitement. But it’s not lost on us that this is a huge honor. This is not something that’s given very easily. You have to have some level of credibility and respect and I think it surprised us, actually, to get invited this year. We were prepared for it on the off-chance that it would happen. I think the car is ready and in world-class level in terms of racing configuration. We’re really excited about this; I can’t even put into words how humbled and, at the same time, stoked the expanded SRT team is.
"And for the brand, it’s still being born. I mean, this brand has been around for a while but this will be a great platform for the world to discover the SRT brand even more."
Tommy Kendall - Driver, SRT Viper GTS-R - SRT Motorsports WHAT WERE YOUR FEELINGS TODAY AS YOU HEARD THE NEWS FROM PARIS? "For me, there aren’t really a lot of things left on my unfinished business list in the road race world. Le Mans is one of them and I can’t say honestly that I would have gotten off the couch if this wasn’t a possibility. I think the podium at Le Mans is the greatest celebration in sports; when you watch that, I mean the emotion when they fly the countries’ flags, it’s amazing. I have friends that have been there (podium finish) but I have not. So, I have to say that’s a huge piece of my wanting to come back. You know we’ve all had fingers crossed. The heritage of Viper, they set a pretty high benchmark those years when they finished 1-2 three years in a row. Everyone had their head down; we’ve had a lot of ground to cover the last year but we got some encouragement at the end of last year with the pace of the car. We’ve been flat-out since then. Now this is a burst of energy and enthusiasm that will be unleashed because of this.
"Anyone who has not been to Le Mans, it’s one of the great events, not just in racing but in all of sports. The fact that it’s the 90th year kind of puts it in perspective. Most of the tracks here (in the United States) were built in the ‘50s. The fact they’ve been there that long, you can’t manufacturer heritage overnight. So to go and be a part of that, as Ralph said, is just a huge honor and it’s just a huge burst of energy for everyone involved."
Kendall: AS A DRIVER, WHAT DO YOU DO TO PREPARE TO RUN AN ENDURANCE RACE? "Largely, it’s physical. So, ever since I got the call the middle of last year, I was not really in driving shape. It’s easy to get motivated when you think about the long stints in the car, the heat and so forth. And you know, the whole sport has changed. With Daytona running just last weekend, we saw how sports car endurance races have evolved into sprint races. The days where you could have two drivers doing long stints are just not part of the equation. The drivers are part of the consumables, if you will, like brake pads and tires. They’re run to their max and then they’re changed out. It’s a lot of work just on overall fitness and then diet plays into that. You know, we saw it with some of the guys. Some people can’t eat normal food; they get upset stomachs and so forth. It’s really working hard on physical fitness and going from there. And the other part of that is, kind of for me, I do a lot of visualization for whatever I’m doing, whether it’s TV work or whatever. You just start putting your attention, your focus on that. You go to sleep at night and you’re thinking about the preparation and so forth. Le Mans, there’s so much surrounding it.
"The parade at Le Mans is cooler than almost any other race and that’s just the parade. So you start thinking about all that stuff and it just focuses you on what you have to do. You pop up in the morning thinking about that and that’s literally when I’m on the bike. When I’m doing stuff, I’ll be thinking about being in the car running at Le Mans in June."
Gilles: OBVIOUSLY WE’VE SEEN THE ENTRY LIST TODAY AND THERE’S QUITE A BIT OF COMPETITION IN GTE PRO, PARTICULARLY FROM A LOT OF EUROPEAN MANUFACTURERS THAT ARE COMPETING IN WEC. HOW DO YOU THINK THE VIPER WILL STAND UP AGAINST THAT? AND TALK ABOUT THE LOGISTICS EFFORT FOR BRINGING AN AMERICAN TEAM OVER TO FRANCE CONSIDERING 10 YEARS AGO THE PROGRAM WAS RUN BY ORECA, WHICH WAS FRENCH BASED. "Since the end of last season, we’ve been testing both virtually and we just had our first test a couple weeks ago (at Sebring) which Tommy was at. The car has made some great progress in terms of durability. We found some glitches in some electronics and little things like that but the durability of the car seems to be very good, which is obviously a huge bonus in endurance racing.
"In terms of logistics, you know, ironically, some of the old team is still around at Chrysler that did it back in the day. We’ve kept some ties, not necessarily with ORECA per se but some friends in Europe that have kept Viper alive in different classes of racing. We’re not starting on the back foot. We’re going to start working on it. Obviously we have four or five months to get this together but the least of my problems, I think, are logistics. It’s more making sure the team is a well-oiled machine by the time we get there."
HOW IMPORTANT WOULD IT BE TO START THE SEASON OFF WITH A GOOD RESULT AT SEBRING CONSIDERING SEBRING IS PROBABLY A GOOD TEST FOR SEBRING? "It’s hugely important. It’s more for the chemistry, I think Tommy could expand on that, the chemistry of the team. Last year at Petit Le Mans, we stretched the team a little bit. We saw just little mistakes, little things where the coordination was off. You know, the pit (work) can win or lose these kind of races. So it’s between the Riley group, ourselves and our engineers getting everyone calmed down and enjoying it. But you’ve got to start with a good, solid car and I think we have that in the GTS-R."
Kendall: WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST ABOUT BEING AT LE MANS? WHY HAVEN’T YOU GONE THERE BEFORE, EVEN AS A SPECTATOR? "Well, I have been there before, once as a driver in 2000. I ran a privateer Porsche with Brans Conrad and that was kind of a ramp-up to the factory program that never happened. It gave me a chance to see everything, how it went, and experience it once before I went back with the factory program.
"And then I went back in ’06. Ironically, it was part of a Viper test drive that we were doing for SPEED channel. I got to drive a Viper around Paris and down to Le Mans. I had one of the cooler stories ever filming that show. I ended up doing drifting around the traffic circle just under the Eiffel Tower, kind of bootleg style. We didn’t have the proper permits and all that. We were worried about even filming and these policemen came up and were so excited to see the Viper that they ended up kind of clearing it out and letting us do this. And the whole time I was doing it, I was like ‘We’re not supposed to be here.
"So I got to go see the race in ’06 and it’s just on another level in every regard. Like I said, for me, the motivation is to try to get up on that podium but the whole experience, every part of it, is special. From the driver’s parade, the schedule is unlike anything else we do and the history involved. I had dinner with Derek Bell talking about how they used to literally drive the cars after practice back to the hotel and on the off day, the mechanics worked on the cars. There’s so much history; I’m literally looking forward to it."
Gilles: LAST YEAR WAS A TEST AND TUNE FOR THIS YEAR. CAN YOU GET MORE SPECIFIC ON THE UPDATES TO THE CAR FOR THIS SEASON? "It’s been a number of things, simple things like dampers (shocks). We just had very, very little time last year before the first race so we spent a lot of time reviewing data over the winter and the virtual tools that we have are very, very good at kind of telling us where our shortfalls are. We kind of went to the test with a lot of theories and the theories proved out, so we’re ahead of where we thought we’d be at this point and time. But obviously, Tommy was in the car so he can tell you first hand the difference between what he left the season with and what he tested - without giving up everything, obviously (laughs)."
Kendall: "There’s so much to do. Like traction control, the fact that you have traction control, you could go to a racetrack and run all day every day for a week tuning nothing but that. Last year we were trying to move everything forward like air conditioning, which is not just for comfort but a basic part of regulations. You’re trying to optimize that. You’re trying to optimize, from the driver’s standpoint, comfort, ingress and egress from pit stops, and removing potential for errors and mistakes, how the team works together, how the equipment is setup. And this is what was cool like being at Daytona, the amount of effort needed to run 24 hours, whether it’s people that provide the food, the logistics of moving all the stuff there, it’s monumental. You can’t perfect any of it, virtually, but you’re trying to move every bit of it forward. The car and the speed of the car is only one piece of that, the way the team works together is equally important. And so, when you look at the bar some of the other teams have set, that’s why it’s hard to close that gap.
"The Riley guys are one of the main reasons I had so much optimism coming into this - Bob and Bill Riley. They just won their ninth consecutive Rolex 24 overall and so the fact that they’re the ones behind the Viper GTS-R, this is not their first rodeo. There are no shortcuts. But it’s not their first time doing it. The learning curve is, fortunately, a little bit steeper and as encouraged as we were leaving Petit, we’re even more encouraged now heading into Sebring. That will also help us move forward to Le Mans."
Gilles: COMMENT ON THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONING AND THE DIET FOR THE TEAM. ARE YOU WORKING WITH PROFESSIONALS ON THIS? DOES THIS APPLY NOT ONLY TO THE DRIVERS BUT FOR THE TEAM ITSELF? "Tommy said it best, I mean, Riley has been active in multiple forms of road racing for a while. A lot of our team consists of Riley. We’ve contracted that out mostly to Mr. Riley and his very, very accomplished team. He’s had to obviously bring onboard some new talent and I know he’s been putting them through a lot of rigor to make sure that they’re ready.
"In terms of our drivers, we’ve picked drivers that are naturally committed to that. I mean many of our drivers have very long experience road racing, since they were kids (laughs). Kuno (Wittmer) runs with a weight jacket in 90-degree temperatures to train. Everyone has their own style of training but to a man, including Tommy, they all take this seriously and all realize the opportunity they have. That’s the least of my concerns. I’m more worried about one little screw backing out at the wrong time and causing a part failure or something. It’s the Devil that you don’t know. In terms of preparation, we have a lot of confidence in Mr. Riley’s orders and our team managers."
Kendall: "To address it from a driver’s standpoint, each of us is sort of left to our own devices for that. That’s one thing with Bill, he kind of treats all of us as professionals. It’s open if you need something, they provide it but the drivers, you share what you use, supplement-wise, and if guys have upset stomachs there’s this type of sports drink that’s maybe more gentle in that regard. That’s one thing about racing, drivers from the other teams, once you figure something out, you guard that like a national security secret. But within the team, and that’s one of the cool things I think, the effort that was put into it and it wasn’t just lip service, having a group of drivers that worked well together. I couldn’t be more pleased with the group. People who spend time with race teams and drivers know that they’re kind of a special breed and a lot of fun. But the cast of characters that we have is endless entertainment but also really capable, focused and committed but coming at it from slightly different ways. The International makeup adds an interesting element. Marc Goossens is helping us with our French a little bit as is Kuno. He (Goossens) actually told us that french fries actually started in Belgium, so we’re trying to run that down. But whether they’re Belgium or French, I’m looking forward to indulging in those a little bit after the race in June."
Gilles: "And like Tommy said, if all else fails, drivers are consumable so we can replace him (laughs)."
Gilles: WILL THIS COMBINATION BE TOGETHER AT NOT JUST SEBRING BUT THE OTHER ALMS RACES LEADING UP TO LE MANS? "Obviously we have the long distance team and we have the regular team, so to speak, so we’ll outline that distinction at the first race."
IT TAKES A LITTLE ARMY TO MAKE A PROJECT LIKE THIS WORK. CAN YOU SHARE HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE OVER THERE? HOW SOON DO YOU GET THERE - MAY? "Not that early, I think probably about three weeks prior, I’m not sure. I’m not the right person to answer that; Mr. Riley would. But internally we have a tiny, a really, really small team, a handful of people that work on it here - key people in terms of engineering. And then on Riley’s side, we have upwards of 30-some people working on the program. We’re not sure if we’ll have to grow it. That’s actually the next steps. We’ll do what we have to do."
HOW PROUD ARE YOU TO HAVE A DRIVER FROM QUEBEC IN THE LINEUP? WHO WILL
FIELD THE FINAL DRIVER SPOT AT LE MANS? "Well first of all, we’ve been watching Kuno for a long time. Kuno is obviously from Montreal, very accomplished in French, English and German. He’s an international Wonderkid. Very talented, been watching him since his Acura days, his open-wheel days. He joined us when we were a very small team. We could only offer him the world challenge at the time, the world challenge series, working through woodhouse in the states. And his talent level was very interesting, so we wanted to kind of see him grow. It was a promise I made to him that if we ever went to the big boy racing, so to speak, that he’d be a part of the team. So very proud of what he’s done. He’s been a great advocate for the team. I think he will obviously connect us back to Quebec in a great way, so that’s exciting to have that connection to my hometown. But really, his talent is what made it possible. He’s just on that level now as a racer and he’s also a great guy. Tommy will vouch for his personality. That was also important, that all the drivers on the team act more like brothers than they do professional teammates. They’re really close.
"In terms of the last driver, we’re auditioning right now. We have some testing underway. We do have some candidates, to be honest with you. We have a few final candidates but the highest profile driver we have is Tommy. We’re not looking at any superstars so to speak. We’re excited to develop some young talent or some unknown talent as well."
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS YEAR AND HOW LONG DO YOU ENVISION IT WILL TAKE YOU TO BE ABLE TO COMPETE WITH CORVETTE? "Well that’s a good question. I don’t think it’s going to take us years to get caught up, so to speak. It was our backyard before it was theirs (laughs). I mean, we were there for a while and they joined in and we beat ‘em for a couple of years back in the day. It’s exciting. I think the same competition that happens on the street is going to happen on the track and I think there’s fans in both camps but in all honesty I’m very, very happy to see two great American teams battling it out showroom and track. That’s part of what it’s all about. I think it makes it that much more interesting. They’re happy we’re back.
"In terms of being competitive, I don’t know. I’m not going to be so arrogant to sit here and say ‘Yeah, we’re going to win races.’ We don’t get up in the morning to lose ‘em either. We’ve got the drivers, no doubt. We have the speed in terms of talent and the car has shown great moments where we were very close. But anything can happen. We don’t know where the teams are at until the first race. We don’t know what they’ve done themselves over the winter. On the other hand we think our Viper is the right format. It has a lot of attributes that make it an ideal GT car."
Kendall: "I’ll speak to that. Expectation I think were literally head down, trying to optimize every single piece we have. On one hand I think we have respect for the level of competition there but I think you can’t be in awe of it either. Ralph said it best - it was Viper’s backyard first. I think we’re going there gunning for the win. It reminds me sometimes when you see these big games, whether it’s the NBA Finals or the Super Bowl or so forth. You’ll have one team, whether it’s the Patriots or something and you’ll have another team and you’ve got to go in and just wipe the slate clean and focus on what you’re doing. The people involved, there’s no question and I’ve said this from the start, that there’s no question we’re going to get there, it’s just a matter of when. The talent is there and the experience is there. It’s kind of nice during the winter and testing by yourselves. You don’t know where you’re at and that’s tough but then it’s also good because you might be further ahead than you think but you just keep head down and you just keep tuning on every single piece of it. And that’s the great thing about it. Then you show up and you play the game. That’s the cool part about it.
"In the past, when I was younger, I didn’t appreciate or really enjoy some of the preparation. I was so focused on the result and now I actually like the process as much as the actual result. And the result, wherever it shakes out, is where it shakes out."
Gilles: WE’VE SEEN THE RESURGANCE OF GT FACTORY ENTIRES IN WBC. DOES A WBC PROGRAM INTEREST SRT AT ALL? WOULD THERE BE A CONSIDERATION FOR CUSTOMER VIPERS IN THE FUTURE? "Absolutely very intriguing, I’ll put it that way. Again, the Viper is basically a race car loosely disguised. We’re actually getting a lot of interest from private owners about that. We’re actually looking at it. We know how to do it, let’s just be honest with you. The car is just a hair’s breath away from being able. It’s just a matter of priorities right now. Our priorities have to be focused. Our team is very small. We don’t want them subdivided at this moment in time but we’re actually going to use these next four events leading to Le Mans to measure that exact question. Aspiring racers and private racers go to the events that we’ll be at and we’ll have those discussions and see what the market can bare. And we have some connections in Europe and Japan and all over the world that have already been talking about hey, are you going to go GT-3 racing and that type of thing.
"But the Viper is our focus right now, not looking at Sedans or anything like that in the near term. But yeah we’re open minded to it and it would fit like a glove for us in many ways."
ARE YOU OPEN-MINDED TO A WBC PROGRAM OR A CUSTOMER PROGRAM? "Customer program, no. We won’t be doing, I don’t see us expanding into a corporate backed type racing. We obviously could help in terms of technical development but you know the GTE level is so expensive and so consuming of resources that that’s our primary focus but we would support private efforts if need be. We could conceivably set up customer car programs in the future."
Kendall: "It is an experience of a lifetime to go to Le Mans. I would encourage people that have not, now is the time to go. They talk about the good ol’ days of sports car racing, in my mind these are the good old days. I’d like to extend an invite to everyone, even if you’re a Corvette fan, come on over and watch. It’s an experience you won’t forget."
PaddockTalk Perspective
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