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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">LE MANS</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">13/12/2000</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Pescarolo And Gache C60s</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">Action At The Bugatti Circuit</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/C60scuitLE%20.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2"> David Legangneux continues to follow progress with the Pescarolo Sport C60. He reports on Tuesday’s news, but begins with the Philippe Gache, SMG car.<BR> <BR> I had the pleasure of seeing the two Courage C60s in the pits. SMG's truck has been at the circuit since Friday, but I heard on Monday that an engine had broken after only 300 km. <BR> <BR> Correction: John Judd reports that “when the engine was fired up on Monday, the team found water in the oil system. As they were unable to find the source of the water leak, the engine was changed. No laps were completed.<BR> <BR> ”They fitted a fresh engine for the 2nd day (Tuesday), and I flew out to attend the test. The same problem happened with the fresh engine, water in the oil after the fire-up. We found that the chassis heat exchanger had failed internally, allowing water to get into the oil system. The faulty exchanger was changed and the test continued normally.<BR> <BR> ”The original engine has been returned to the UK and has been checked, with no faults found. Possibly the heat exchanger has corroded over the months since they last raced at the Nurburgring ELMS?”<BR> <BR> Thank you, John. David Legangneux continues: <BR> <BR> I was pleased to hear the sound of the Judd engine on the pit straight yesterday. The SMG's C60 has done more laps during the afternoon than Pesca's C60, and with a faster speed. I've talked with Philippe Gache. He said that the goal of this session was to restart the team for its second year with the Courage C60. The drivers were Philippe Gache and Yannick Shroeder. He could be a driver for the two races scheduled for this team next year, Monza & Le Mans. Philippe Gache wanted to test him. The crew will be the same for the two races.<BR> <BR> It was also the first laps of this car with Michelin tires, after using Pirelli in 2000. Philippe Gache has choosen the Michelin tires because "they are the best tires now and all the cars that were ahead of us on the starting grid were using Michelin". There will be an official partnership beetween Gache and Michelin next year.<BR> <BR> Yves Courage was here during all the afternoon (all the day I think) and has talked a lot with Philippe. The Bugatti track was chosen for this testing session to work with Yves. The next testing session for this team will be in January, at Valencia.<BR> <BR> This was the second day of shakedown for the green Pescarolo Courage C60, with 50 laps this day after 30 on Monday. But I've not seen the car a lot of times on the track during the afternoon. I've talked with Sébastien Bourdais, Henri and Jérôme Babarit to strike a balance of this shakedown. The team is pleased with their one and a half days on the track, despite some engine problems. There wasn't enough power, due to a pressure regulation problem with the turbochargers. The team will discover during the coming days why this happened. The track was far from ideal, but the driver is pleased with the car for a first shakedown.<BR> <BR> The Pescarolo Sport team will be at Barcelona in mid-January, from 15th to 19th <BR> <BR> I think that's all for this year of private testing here in Le Mans. I don't remember testing sessions on this circuit so late in the year. The last laps of Philippe Gache were nearly at night, far after the sunset (behind the grey clouds...).<BR> <BR> Link to David Legangneux’s website <A HREF="http://www.ifrance.com/lmspm/">link</A><BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>