24h Le Mans
Have you always dreamed of owning a car that competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans? Does it seem impossible? Perhaps not...Modern day or vintage cars are both for sale, at auction or otherwise. Short summer summary...
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The constructor Dallara, that developed a new prototype for the LMP900 class of the 2001 season, was approached by Chrysler who hoped to use the SP1 to win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in collaboration with Oreca. Alas, after only one season the American manufacturer decided to pull out, leaving Hugues de Chaunac - founder and President Oreca - no choice but to enter privately. During the offseason, the decision was made to swap the Mopar engine for a British Judd.
It proved to be a wise decision as the Dallara SP1 finished in fifth and sixth places at the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans, behind the infallible factory outfits of Audi and Bentley thanks to a flawless performance by two trios comprised of Olivier Beretta, Pedro Lamy and Eric Comas in the No. 15 car, and Stéphane Sarrazin, Franck Montagny and Nicolas Minassian in the No. 14 car.
The DO-004 chassis (DO for Dallara Oreca) did not compete in any other races in 2002 and stayed in the garage in 2003 before being sold in early 2004 to Martin Short, Rollcentre Racing owner and driver. Three races were on the program in 2004: the 12 Hours of Sebring with fifth place overall (Joao Barbosa, Rob Barff and Martin Short) and the 1,000km of Monza in the Le Mans Series, in preparation for the final race of the season, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Another fifth place rewarded the efforts of the team in Italy, but Le Mans would end in a retirement on Sunday morning after a suspension issue.
After having won in partnership with Nissan, Martin Short switched the Judd engine for a Nissan engine for the 2005 campaign that was to lead Rollcentre to success in the Le Mans Series, at Sebring and in La Sarthe. Unfortunately, neither reliability nor performance could be counted on, the best result having been a 15th place at Istanbul, last race of the 2005 season and final race for the DO-004 chassis.
The latter was repainted with Rollcentre Racing's colours at the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Judd V10 engine found its home again under the hood. The car will be put up for auction by the RM Auctions company (Lot 255) this weekend at the pageant in Pebble Beach, California with an estimated going price betweeen $300,000 and $400,000.
Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
