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The general prepares the campaign
Dale White, Team Manager, Petersen
Motorsports/White Lightning Racing
By
Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy Ulli Upietz and Noel Bradford
 TORONTO,
Canada (June 3, 2004) – A team manager’s preparation for the 24 Hours of
Le Mans falls somewhere between that of General Eisenhower preparing for
D-Day and your Mom preparing for the first visit of the summer to the
cottage. That is, it’s not a matter of just throwing a few things in the
back of your car and heading off down the road. For Dale White, Team
Manager of Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing, the planning and
preparation for the world’s greatest race began back in 2003, when the team
made its first foray in concert with Alex Job Racing – and when he and team
owner Mike Petersen decided that next time they’d go solo and bring
everybody along for the show. As I write these words (preparing to leave
for La Sarthe tomorrow), White is already on the ground in France with his
team, marshalling his forces and arranging their space, getting ready for
what will surely be an exciting and precise week ahead.
Kate
Shaw: How soon did you begin your preparations for the 2004 edition of
the 24 Hours du Mans? Did you wait until you had the invitation in hand, or
did you take a gamble and begin early?
Dale
White: Before the 2003 race when I had to decide which team members
could go and who had to stay behind. At that time Mike and I decided we
wanted to go in 2004 on our own and take the whole team. We gambled and made
plans early because the logistical plan had to be in place before Sebring.
KS:
How many people, roughly, will Petersen/White Lightning be taking to
France? Are they all members of your regular ALMS crew, or have you added
people for this one race? How many have never been to Le Mans before this
year?
DW:
We are taking 14 of our regular ALMS team. We have added Roland Kusmaul and
Henry Hsu (Porsche Motorsports) to assist with engineering, data and
technical direction. Six have never been to Le Mans before and are more
excited than ever. At the Pre-Test they were excited to be able to stand in
pit lane and say “I’m at
Le Mans”.
KS: Are your people going over in
stages, or will you all travel together? How will you all get there? Will
you be staying together or does everyone make his/her own arrangement?
DW: All but 4-5 arrived today,
June 3rd. They flew into
Paris
from all over the U.S. all arriving between 8-11am. We all took the TGV
train from CDG to
Le Mans
where we had two rental vans waiting. The rest of the team arrives on or
before Monday June 7th. We are staying at the Chateau de Bel Air
with Gilles Trahard again. We loved the Chateau during the Pre-Test!
KS: What is the most
time-consuming thing about preparing for a race of this magnitude? Is it the
packing? The unpacking? Who decides what to take?
DW: Certainly the team puts plenty
of hours into the race car, but I have been working hundreds of hours since
the end of January with only a few weekends off. Not only organizing
Le Mans
but the logistical plan for the ALMS season must be completely done before
we leave for Le Mans. The single most time consuming thing for me is the
accounting, paying bills and what I call “juggling money”. People might
think that spending money is fun but it is a lot of work.
KS: How much car preparation will
be done before you arrive in
France,
and how much must wait til you arrive? Is the 2004 car as good as you have
anticipated?
DW: After the Pre-Test we worked
in Weissach at the Porsche Motorsports facility for seven days preparing.
The crew worked very hard but there is always plenty of work to be done.
These guys would work on the car for the entire month of May if I let them.
As you know, “A race car is never done, it is just time to send it out on
the track”. We didn’t expect any problems with the RSR and with limited work
to the car it ran very well at the Pre-Test. Porsche has made many small
improvements to the car. I would call it “the next generation”.
 Honestly,
the team was a little shell shocked being at
Le Mans and feeling some pressure to do well, but did an
amazing job. The problem with the Pre-Test is that you work all week and
only get to go out on Sunday. The build-up to Sunday is amazing, a big part
of
Le Mans.
After the car did its first lap, though, it was business as usual. This
team has worked together for years and just does whatever it takes; the
drivers we have are smart team players looking at the goal of winning the
race and not about lap times on a test day. Everyone knows they are fast,
but we were there testing and gathering data so that we can come up with the
best setup for the race.
All day at the Pre-Test, other teams came
by asking what was wrong. I just said “don’t worry”. Why would you go out
every lap trying to make it your fastest lap, during testing? Although I
must admit that when Jörg ran the new track record with only five minutes
left in the day; I let out a yell when I clicked my stopwatch! It made it
all worth it!! Sascha is the same smart driver so when he joins us, we will
just keep doing what we started at the Pre-Test.
KS: Will the colour scheme of the
car be the same as the one entered in the ALMS, or are you making changes
for
Le Mans?
If there are changes, what will they be? (If you are telling at this time.)
DW: The graphics will be the usual
PMS/WLR livery we have used in the past. The only change we added beginning
at the Pre-Test was a neon yellow strip along the bottom of the rocker
panel. It really sets the car off and makes it even flashier -- which a race
car should be.
KS: What are you most looking
forward to about being back at
Le
Mans?
DW: Watching the crew before the
race will be enjoyable to me. The Pre-Test was good but when you add the
fans, the pit lane and grid are indescribable. That is when you realize what
Le Mans
is all about and that we are part of something very special. It will be like
watching kids on Christmas morning. They will be a little scared and a
little excited but when the green flag flies, they will be fine.
RFM Sports thank Dale White for this great preview look into the job of Team
Manager of the “team around the team” of Petersen Motorsports/White
Lightning Racing, and we’ll have much more for you as the week unfolds. Our
next installment will be a look at Scrutineering, which takes place on
Monday afternoon in the centre of the town. Check back often during the
week as we look deep inside this champion class GT team and their
preparation to run the most anticipated race in the calendar of the racing
world.
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