Two weeks ago, the team's leading driver took part in two 3 hour long practise sessions.
We started the first session at 1400 and generally it was pretty smooth. Lap times were consistently around the 3:30 area and there was only a slight mistake caused by trying to run the tyres a little longer than was planned, all things which will ironed out ready for the race.
After the session we looked at the condition of the driver and conclude that he could easily complete a fourth hour.
To simulate the conditions of Le Mans, we waited 6 hours before starting the second session at 2100. Like before, we wanted to see how the driver performed during his second driver shift. The darkness was not really an issue and for the first half of the session everything was as smooth as before. After an hour and a half the driver started to report some level of fatigue, mainly mental. Concentration slipped slightly approaching two hours and a mistake was made at the Forza Chicane after the driver missed his braking point forcing him to quickly divert through the gaps in the tyre walls covering the main road.
After the 2 hour mark, the driver was starting to feel pain in his arms and general tiredness was setting in. Another error at Mulsanne damage the front of the car and repairs were required. Finally the session was completed and it was clear that our strategy of having a 4 hour stint through the middle of the night would be out of the question, at least for now.
The plan is now to correct some of the errors that were made, improve general fitness and practise three hour shifts until they become easy. Then, perhaps we may come back to the idea of having one driver in the car from midnight to 4am.
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