Page 23 - On the Prowl: The Definitive History of the Walkinshaw Jaguar Sports Car Team

ON THE PROWL
1989: Trouble on Three Fronts
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VFor the entirety of its existence, the Circuit de la Sarthe contained the
long unbroken straight known as Les Hunaudieres, shown here in 1973 as
a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 blasts along at close to 200 mph. The political games
being played by Balestre and FISA threatened to break the legendary
stretch of race track into three pieces. (Marc Le Beller)
◊ Did the political infighting between FISA and the ACO mean that sports
car racing fans had seen the last of Jaguar at Le Mans? John Egan was
clearly unimpressed, but he was also about to be eased out of Jaguar
following the arrival of Ford. If anything, the new owners were a bigger
threat to the racing programs than anything the governing bodies of
racing could cook up. (Martin Lee)
For years, the daunting Mulsanne Straight had formed the backbone
of the Le Mans myth. Drivers would recount stories of crossing the
grooves in the tarmac left by the heavy daily truck traffic, at speeds in
excess of 240 mph, the front wheels of their race cars tramlining into
those grooves, while they fought desperately to direct the car to their
chosen racing line. And if it was wet, as so often happened at Le Mans,
the battle was even more intense.„4 Without the Mulsanne, what would
Le Mans be?„5
With the full weight of Balestre and FISA bringing itself to bear, the
slicing up of the Mulsanne was a risk the ACO decided it had to take.
The reality was that for years the speeds on the Mulsanne had been
well above a level at which safety steps could be taken to improve
survivability for drivers in the event of a catastrophic failure. Maybe now
was the time to slow things down? If it meant being able to reach a final
agreement with FISA, and gain some safety back for the drivers, it might
end up being a good move. The ACO still wasn’t sure, and there was
plenty of furor and hand-wringing, much of it public.
To keep up pressure, the FISA president said he would “protect the
weekend of June 16th/17th” until the end of January, hinting that the
Le Mans 24 Hours could still go ahead, and could even be part of the
championship.
January 31st was also the deadline for teams to commit to the
championship by lodging an entry fee of around £12,000. Without a
commitment from FISA about whether Le Mans would be part of it, some
walked away, including Mazda, Aston Martin and the privateer Porsche
squad of Jochen Dauer. The rest rolled the dice, hoping for good news
following the deadline.
Five days later, Balestre indicated that all demands had been met
that would allow the 1990 Le Mans 24 Hours to go ahead as planned.
The Mulsanne would indeed be divided into three with the addition of
two chicanes (built on private land acquired by the ACO) but the question
of whether the race would be part of the 1990 championship was still
unresolved. It was seemingly of little concern to Balestre, who probably
felt that he had achieved what he wanted, a brutal display of power and
dominance, in spite of the widespread support for his adversary.
The whole affair had tarnished the reputation of sports car racing,
but even more so that of FISA and Balestre. Shortly before he left Jaguar,
John Egan made it clear that both the ugly infighting as well as the threat
to Le Mans had left the company reconsidering whether to commit to
the forthcoming new prototype sports car formula that was to become
mandatory from 1991.
“We are very worried about the state of the World Championship,”
he declared in February. “We are worried about the appalling relationship
between FISA and others involved in professional motor racing.” His
greatest concerns lay with Le Mans: “Le Mans is the heritage of the
motor industry, and it is mischievous for anyone to play games with it.
I can tell you, the World Championship is hollow without Le Mans. We
need assurance that the race has a secure future before we make any
decision about next year.”
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