Lessons Learned from Racing
Nobody asked me but . . .
The cheapest money GM spends every year is the budget for the two Corvettes racing in the ALMS. Don’t get me wrong. It costs GM millions (I hear upwards of $50 million) to compete in the ALMS, but compared to the hundreds of millions the company pisses away every day on a stock value that is in the dumpster, “paper” that is rated in the junk category by Wall Street, recalls, bloated executive salaries, poor quality, unfocused (I’m being kind here.) product and a myriad of other issues, racing is downright bargain basement cheap.
I’ll give you an example of what I mean. A few weeks ago I was at the ALMS race in Mid-Ohio. During the Saturday morning practice session one of the Aston Martin DBR9s that competes against the Corvettes was hustling down one of the fastest sections of Mid-Ohio real estate when a brake proportioning problem caused the car to suddenly swap ends.
The Aston driver, Pedro Lamy, exited the track on the outside of the turn where a bit of banking can launch a car. The car traveled perfectly backward as it flew off the track a distance of 142 feet at about three feet in the air. His flight—a track record for both altitude and duration for the Mid-Ohio track—was apropos for Ohio, the state that bills itself as First in Flight in honor of Orville and Wilbur Wright whose Dayton-based bicycle shop was the birthplace of the Wright Flyer.
Lamy was extremely lucky. Had the car been “flying” at even a slight yaw angle it would have rolled itself into a tight little ball of British aluminium (Yes, that is the correct spelling!) and carbon fiber as it landed in one of Mid-Ohio’s dreaded gravel pits. When the car landed, it bounced once and then slid into a tire wall at high speed.
Lamy was uninjured, but the Aston’s rear and under carriage were not as lucky. The wounded Aston was trucked back to the pits and unloaded. Immediately, a horde of Aston engineers and mechanics were all over the car, assessing damage, unbolting body panels and the various aero under trays and removing what looked to be a 100 pounds or so of Mid-Ohio grass and gravel. In less than three hours the car had to be ready for qualifying.
It was. With what seemed like practiced clockwork precision the damaged bits and pieces were repaired or replaced. It wasn’t perfect, but give full marks to the boys behind the wrenches and the boys behind the wheel, Lamy and co-driver Stephane Sarrazin, who put in a time only 0.184 seconds slower than their teammates for third on the GT1 grid.
This Astontatious digression now returns to Corvette and General Motors. If you want to win races, you have to be able to think on your feet, make instant decisions, fix things when the right parts aren’t available, overcome adversity at every turn, and not infrequently, forego food and sleep.
Of course it helps if you start with the right preparation, and if you’ve followed the success of the C5R and the C6R Corvettes, you know that Corvette Racing has competed in 69 races since the team's debut at Daytona on Feb. 5, 1999. As of May 21, 2006, the team has scored 48 victories and 33 1-2 finishes. Corvette Racing has won the ALMS manufacturers and team championships five consecutive years. Included in those 48 wins are an overall win in the 2001 Daytona 24-hour and four class wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It’s taken a great deal of blood, sweat and tears from the folks at Pratt &Miller and General Motors who design and build the cars. Plus great driving and great wrench and pit work and great timing and scoring to be that successful. “Team” and “work” would be an appropriate two-word descriptor that is usually written as “teamwork.”
So, GM, if you can build such fast, reliable race cars, why can’t you take what you’ve learned on the race track and apply these same lessons to the less-than-great production cars you are designing and building these days? Success on the race track is not equating to “wins” in the showroom. Ironically, some of your production car engineers are the very same folks who help design your winning race cars. Start populating every level of GM with these “won’t quit” engineers and executives and you’ll transform the organization overnight.
But my question to GM is this: Do you have the will to win?
The cheapest money GM spends every year is the budget for the two Corvettes racing in the ALMS. Don’t get me wrong. It costs GM millions (I hear upwards of $50 million) to compete in the ALMS, but compared to the hundreds of millions the company pisses away every day on a stock value that is in the dumpster, “paper” that is rated in the junk category by Wall Street, recalls, bloated executive salaries, poor quality, unfocused (I’m being kind here.) product and a myriad of other issues, racing is downright bargain basement cheap.
I’ll give you an example of what I mean. A few weeks ago I was at the ALMS race in Mid-Ohio. During the Saturday morning practice session one of the Aston Martin DBR9s that competes against the Corvettes was hustling down one of the fastest sections of Mid-Ohio real estate when a brake proportioning problem caused the car to suddenly swap ends.
The Aston driver, Pedro Lamy, exited the track on the outside of the turn where a bit of banking can launch a car. The car traveled perfectly backward as it flew off the track a distance of 142 feet at about three feet in the air. His flight—a track record for both altitude and duration for the Mid-Ohio track—was apropos for Ohio, the state that bills itself as First in Flight in honor of Orville and Wilbur Wright whose Dayton-based bicycle shop was the birthplace of the Wright Flyer.
Lamy was extremely lucky. Had the car been “flying” at even a slight yaw angle it would have rolled itself into a tight little ball of British aluminium (Yes, that is the correct spelling!) and carbon fiber as it landed in one of Mid-Ohio’s dreaded gravel pits. When the car landed, it bounced once and then slid into a tire wall at high speed.
Lamy was uninjured, but the Aston’s rear and under carriage were not as lucky. The wounded Aston was trucked back to the pits and unloaded. Immediately, a horde of Aston engineers and mechanics were all over the car, assessing damage, unbolting body panels and the various aero under trays and removing what looked to be a 100 pounds or so of Mid-Ohio grass and gravel. In less than three hours the car had to be ready for qualifying.
It was. With what seemed like practiced clockwork precision the damaged bits and pieces were repaired or replaced. It wasn’t perfect, but give full marks to the boys behind the wrenches and the boys behind the wheel, Lamy and co-driver Stephane Sarrazin, who put in a time only 0.184 seconds slower than their teammates for third on the GT1 grid.
This Astontatious digression now returns to Corvette and General Motors. If you want to win races, you have to be able to think on your feet, make instant decisions, fix things when the right parts aren’t available, overcome adversity at every turn, and not infrequently, forego food and sleep.
Of course it helps if you start with the right preparation, and if you’ve followed the success of the C5R and the C6R Corvettes, you know that Corvette Racing has competed in 69 races since the team's debut at Daytona on Feb. 5, 1999. As of May 21, 2006, the team has scored 48 victories and 33 1-2 finishes. Corvette Racing has won the ALMS manufacturers and team championships five consecutive years. Included in those 48 wins are an overall win in the 2001 Daytona 24-hour and four class wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It’s taken a great deal of blood, sweat and tears from the folks at Pratt &Miller and General Motors who design and build the cars. Plus great driving and great wrench and pit work and great timing and scoring to be that successful. “Team” and “work” would be an appropriate two-word descriptor that is usually written as “teamwork.”
So, GM, if you can build such fast, reliable race cars, why can’t you take what you’ve learned on the race track and apply these same lessons to the less-than-great production cars you are designing and building these days? Success on the race track is not equating to “wins” in the showroom. Ironically, some of your production car engineers are the very same folks who help design your winning race cars. Start populating every level of GM with these “won’t quit” engineers and executives and you’ll transform the organization overnight.
But my question to GM is this: Do you have the will to win?
posted by The Carmudgeon at
8:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home