The Rollcentre Team Battle Through to Le Mans Glory - 20th June

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When the flag dropped at 5 o'clock on Saturday, Radical and Rollcentre knew they had a battle on. With only four hours of continuous running under its belt the SR9 was in for a baptism of fire.

Joao Barbosa led away for the Rollcentre team and was soon up to 11th from his starting slot of 14th. The Rollcentre team triple-stinted Joao and after his two hour plus run, the Radical was running 8th overall.

Stuart Moseley was up next and kept the pressure on the front runners. All around cars were having problems and accidents. Even the No7 Audi of Alan McNish spent several laps in its garage. For much of the first 3 or 4 hours, the SR9 was running an amazing first in class, ahead of the RML & Chamberlain-Synergy Lolas.

Team leader, Martin Short was next in the drivers seat and as the six hour mark came and went, the Rollcentre Radical was on a roll. But the Le Mans gremlins were about to hit the Radical as well. Martin noted the water temperature was on the rise and pitted with 110°C on the dial.

The Rollcentre Team leapt into action whilst a gloomy Shorty explained to Motors TV that he feared the worst. He shouldn’t have because his team fixed the leak and the SR9 was back on the road, albeit in 35th position.

No matter – there were 17 hours to go including a whole night of racing. Stuart was back in the car and on a mission.

A trouble free few hours saw the Team of Shorty, Stuart and Joao battle through the night. At the halfway stage of 5am Martin was back up to 16th overall and 4th in class, with the Binnie Motorsport Lola in his sight. 3rd in Class was on!

Joao was next in and soon 3rd was in the bag. Next on the list was the Miracle Motorsport Lola, some five laps up the road.

With 14½ hours gone, problem No 2 struck. The clutch gave up!

The extremely tired Rollcentre Team were called upon again to repair the ailing SR9. Off with the rear suspension and gearbox, out with the clutch and in with a new one. Not the work of a moment. Over two hours of graft later the Rollcentre Radical rolled out of the pit garage, Stuart Moseley on board and over six hours of running left. Over six hours to get off the bottom of the timesheet and to prove that the SR9 has the stamina to complete a 24 hour race.

By the 19 hour mark, Stuart was chasing the Barazi-Epsilon Courage. Any thought of cruising to the finish was dispelled. We had a race on with ex-Radical racer and Team Owner Juan Barazi, Radical test driver Michael Vergers and Neil Cunningham.

This battle ebbed and flowed with the cars being on the same lap for the last two hours. Needless to say the Rollcentre Team came out on top just 2 minutes ahead after 294 laps.

On the last lap the Audi’s slowed down to do a formation lap – and who tore up behind them for the photo call? Joao in the SR9. The perfect finish to a challenging race. 5th in Class and 20th overall.






A special thanks to:

From Radical:- Phil Abbott, Tim Greaves, Peter Elleray, Vincent Rassat

The drivers- Martin Short, Stuart Moseley and Joao Barbosa

The Rollcentre Racing Team

The Sponsors
Deutsche Bank X-Markets
Bruichladdich
Dunlop

And all the Radical Staff, Suppliers and Helpers. Roll on 2007.

  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
  • SR9 at Le Mans - 2006: Image
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