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2011
MONZA

LE MANS 2005 - Fagersjo-El Suzuki No.12 - Andi Notman Race Report
Paul Young, Andi Notman and Gus Scott - 14th overall.

Riding alongside Australian Paul Young and Performance Bikes magazine road test journalist Gus Scott, Andi Notman finished the Le Mans 24 hour race in 14th position last weekend.
The trio were tipped for a great result riding the brand new Fagersjo-el.se Suzuki K5 in the super production class.

Practise for the event started Wednesday with a 90 minute free session. Both Andi and Paul having never ridden the Bugatti circuit of Lemans before used the old ’02 bike to learn the circuit.
Thursday saw the team working together to set the bike up to suit all three riders and the track, but was hampered a little by the wet conditions which unfortunately caught Gus out, falling exiting the fast 3rd gear chicane in the last sector of the track. Gus’s crash was partly due to one of the fundamental chassis problems the team were trying to dial out, this being the wheelbase to long.
Thursday night practise was a first for Paul and again all three riders got to grips with the conditions, Andi and Gus re-familiarising themselves with riding at night, although Andi had never ridden in the wet and dark despite having completed the Spa 24 hours and the Bol D’or 24 hour races.

Friday’s first qualifying was wet for all riders, so the team concentrated on banking a time then continuing the development of the machine ready for a hopeful dry second qualifying and race.
Second qualifying was still a little damp for Paul, using inters he posted a time which was 9th in his group.
Next was Andi, with a dry line right around the circuit now, Andi opted for full slick tyres and posted a time putting him 13th in his group but more importantly bringing the aggregate time for all three riders up from Paul’s damp time.
Lat to go was Gus, with the track almost dry, Gus made a respectable lap time, holding the 13th position going into the race the next day.

Saturday warm up saw Gus take another unfortunate tumble. High siding out of the first chicane, Gus landed on his head and wrist.
Not sure if to race as his wrist was swollen; Gus had just 30 minutes to decide. The bike suffered a burst fork seal and superficial damage.

Paul started the race at 3pm Saturday and it was quickly apparent that there was a problem, and after his first 1 hour stint he swapped with Andi and worked with Niklas Carlberg, team manager to have a resolve for the problems by the time Andi Pitted at the end of the second hour.
Those problems were development Pirelli front tyre’s given to test went off in a big way after just a handful of laps, and the 1 fork leg the mechanics had to swap was set very different to the one already in the bike.
At Andi’s pit stop a new front tyre was fitted and settings altered in the forks, Gus’s lap time’s showed an improvement straight away, and the riders set about regaining the deficit created in the first 2 hours.
The rest of the race saw the team suffer more than their share of bad luck, and every time the boys got near the top ten, another problem occurred.
Throughout the remainder of the race, the team suffered a flat tyre, 2 flat batteries, a gear linkage breaking, Andi’s leg injury from Assen flaring up, making mobility on the bike very painful, and Gus’ pulling out of the race at 6am due to his wrist being fractured after an x-ray the evening before.
Paul and Andi battled on, back to backing for the last nine hours, with Gus coming out at 10 am for one last stint, Needless to say Paul and Andi were grateful to Gus for lasting that long and persevering.

Not a great end result, but plenty of lessons learned for the team, who have never worked so hard due to the problems and having three accomplished riders on board.

Andi made it up to the British Eurosport booth at 10 am Sunday morning, which is always good for publicity and the sponsors.
Andi spent 45 minutes being interviewed and joining in on the commentary by Clive McNeil and his Phase One Manager Russell Benney.

Next Race for Andi is back with Phase one for round two of the world endurance championship at Albacete on May 20th.