This is it! The grand finale. The last race of the 2007 American Le Mans Series. Smells from smoking tires and glowing-red brakes fill the afternoon air of the undulating rolling hills of Monterey, California. LMP2 Acura ARX-01, GT2 Ferrari F430 GT, LMP2 Porsche GT3 RS Spyder, and GT1 Corvette C6.R burble thunderously as they brake and downshift in a packed formation to make turn four near the Yokohama foot-bridge at Laguna Seca raceway. In the middle of this pack is the mysteriously quiet Audi R10. The only thing I can hear from this engineering masterpiece is the whizzing noise of the cross-drilled carbon disc brake and occasionally the soft burble of the 650 hp 811 ft-lb V12 TDI engine.

Approaching the apex, the Spyder is leading at a very fast speed. The R10 is passing the GT cars and inching in on the inside. At the apex, the R10 is next to the Spyder half a car behind. Clearing the apex, the R10 turbocharged engine whirs softly and the car glides away from the pack at a very rapid acceleration. The soft diesel engine sound is quickly become inaudible as the rest of the cars are revving up to pick up speed on the short straight line before turn five.

Passing the yellow Bosch foot bridge, every car downshifts and brakes to enter the mini carousal turn. The lighter Spyder is braking really late as it tries to take over the lead from the outside. The R10 and the Spyder are next to each other only separated by a few inches of air space going through the banked turn. It is a neck-to-neck battle for the pole position during the Saturday American Le Mans Series qualifying session.

The Paddock

The paddock is hiving with activities too. Rows of truck trailers that have transformed into sophisticated portable car shops are packed in grid formation. A boxy plain trailer once unpacked becomes a car shop complete with the enclosing tent. This scene reminds me of the 18-wheeler Optimus Prime of the Transformer movie.

A metallic hospital-sterile drawer is next to each race car keeping the tools organized. The wide door on the trailer’s side provide a view into the transparent Plexiglas closets that store turbochargers, exhaust pipes, cylinder heads, pistons, gearboxes, struts, and many other parts. The mechanics have everything they need to rebuild a race car in a few hours. Every car nut is ogling and drooling over these impressive portable shops wishing they have similar setup at home.

While the ALMS teams are qualifying on the track, the IMSA GT3 and Speed World Challenge teams are busy working on their cars. They are taking the cars apart, checking and re-checking to make sure there is no room for errors in their car setup. Logistics teams are shuttling tires, engine parts, and body parts on golf-cart size transports. Kumho girls in red and black outfit and Mazda girls in black and orange outfit are greeting fans and giving out car posters. Racing officials are collecting fuel samples from the recently raced cars for analysis.

Champion Racing

Most people only see the cheering, the victory hugs, the high fives, the flashing cameras, the champagne, the glamorous models, and the winning drivers at the podium waving their giant trophies at the end of the race. Many fans don’t really see the back breaking efforts that the people behind the scene do to win the podium spots. These people are the backbone of the racing team. There are more than four dozen men and women who provide Capello, McNish, Rockenfeller, and Werner two reliable R10’s.

To the outsiders, they are the nameless faces in red Audi Sport uniform performing various mechanical tasks at the pit and the portable shops. But there is more. There are overseas logisticians who ensure that parts, oil, and fuel from Germany arrive on time. There are transporters who ensure that the multi-million dollars prototype cars get to the next race track in one piece. There are caterers who ensure that the whole team is well fed with nutritious meals to maintain their peak performance. There are mechanics, composite fabricators, telemetry engineers, engine specialists, tire engineers, and fuel engineers who keep the R10’s in ready-to-race condition.

They stay together at Best Western, often time sharing rooms. They see each other more than they see their families since they are on the road about 180 days a year. They spend their waking hours collaborating on various tasks. During the breaks, they joke with each other or have their quite moments; reflecting and recuperating. From time to time when the pressure is mounting, they rely on each other even more. No one wants to let down his peers. They do this out of passion, not out of desire to be famous. Common passion and unwavering determination keep this team together through the lows and the highs of the racing season.

There is never enough time to do anything. Between practice sessions, they take the cars apart; looking for areas for improvements, trying to shave a few more milliseconds from the lap time. They always put the cars back together just seconds before they have to tow the cars back to the pit for the next practice session. Yet, they do the tasks unhurriedly as they have done this thousand times. There is no fear in their eyes. They are not afraid of not doing enough because they have given their best. They are tired all right, but they radiate confidence and calmness.

Pit Scene

Earlier this morning during the practice session, Team-two telemetry engineer noticed that car two was losing oil pressure. It was not an alarming situation, but he informed the car-two crew chief. After a brief deliberation, the crew chief radioed Rockenfeller to bring the car in on the next lap. He also asked Rockenfeller to set his engine map program to safe mode. The safe mode lowers the rev limiter, shifts gear at lower RPM, and set many other engine program nuances to minimize the risk of low oil pressure. The crew chief instructed the team to prepare for tire change and refuel so they could skip the next scheduled pit stop.

Without wasting any seconds, as soon as the R10 came to complete stop before the lollipop man, seven team members jumped over the concrete barrier. Four of them carried four new tires to the four corners of the car and then they waited. One examined the car front end. Another person examined the car rear end. The fuel engineer plugged the large diameter fuel hose onto the R10. The fuel cap locking mechanism and the diameter of the fuel line are optimized to deliver as much fuel per second safely into the fuel tank. The fire man was on stand by nearby.

LeMans regulations require refueling to be completed before any other service can be performed on the car. Additionally, only 4 engineers are permitted to work concurrently on the car at any given instance. So, all of the tasks had to be staggered in such a way so the team would not get penalized by the eagle-eye pit judges.

As soon as the fuel line was detached from the car, the engineer with the air tank activated the built-in air jack on the R10. Without losing any seconds, the tire engineers removed the tires from the car. Two persons with laser temperature gauge measured the temperature of the disc brakes while the tires were off. Additionally, they checked the temperatures of the engine, fuel line, exhaust, and other examination points. Temperature information is very crucial data to deduce potential problems.

White thin smoke was coming out from the engine. Three-person team removed the carbon fiber engine cover within seconds. Two mechanics examined the engine for each side of the car. One quickly noticed that the oil cap was leaking oil. The leaked oil evaporated as it hit the hot cylinder head producing white smoke. He radioed the other team members. Two persons jumped over the barrier one with the special oil container and one with the new cap. The mechanic who has been watching the rear-end operation performed a visual check before he gave a hand signal to the three-person team to put the engine cover back on.

Immediately after the low oil pressure troubleshooting was completed, the tire engineers installed the new tires. The mechanic who inspected the front-end found a small crack on the lower left of the carbon fiber body shell. He radioed his team to replace the front shell. A three person team jumped over the concrete barrier to remove the front end cover. While another three person team was ready to install the new shell.
Team-two also decided to do a driver change during this pit stop. Werner jumped onto the car and helped Rockenfeller to unbuckle and climbed out of the cockpit. Quickly, as Werner settled into the cockpit, Rockenfeller helped Werner ensuring the five point seat belt was properly secured before he jumped onto the concrete barrier.

The telemetry engineer who identified the oil pressure issue rechecked his screen to make sure that the oil cap change and re-topping the oil fix the oil pressure issue. He confirmed that the oil pressure was back on optimal level to the crew chief. The lollipop man who was watching from the front-end performed a quick visual inspection before he gave a hand signal to drop the car down. As soon as the rubber hit the asphalt, Werner accelerated and left white smoke behind.

The strange thing of witnessing all of these activities was the fact that the whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion. No one was rushing. No one was yelling. No one was frantically waving arms. No one was crashing into each other. Everyone was performing his specific tasks with no hesitation in a very precise and calm manner. This total pit time came just over 1 minute! Sublime!

The Night before the Race

Immediately after the qualifying run, the two teams put the cars in the TV-show-ER like operating room; except without any emergency drama. Louis and Ron are pushing Car two into the mobile shop tent. Team one lifts the car and places the feather light weight construction over the aluminum frame; this way, the car is elevated at the waist level to make it comfortable for the mechanics to work on the car. Then, team one puts the warming blanket over the car one engine and disassembles the front end of the car.

There is a power line running from the ceiling of this operating room to the power socket on the car; it resembles an IV line in the sterile hospital operating room. This power line keeps the 14 on-board computers running while the car is being worked on. James, the data engineer for car two, connects his Dell laptop to the diagnostic port in the driver’s cockpit, while Hamilton and Jackie are putting ballast at strategic places around the car to simulate the driver’s weight and the removed parts’ weight.

Bobby and Tim, car one and car two crew chiefs are conversing. They are exchanging experiences from the recent track run. On the track they are competing with each other. But inside the pit and at the portable shop, they are sharing inspection discoveries and track experiences. Each anomaly is analyzed and diagnosed. The two teams are learning from each other.

The steering and suspension modifications being made on car one to improve the car’s cornering ability at Laguna Seca is communicated to team two. Justin, car one data engineer, is considering applying the experimental software upgrade applied on car two’s engine map program. This upgrade optimizes the fuel consumption during the uphill portion of the track, modifies the brake bias, and fine tunes the gearbox shifting to reduce wheel spins during exit acceleration at the corkscrew.

At dinner time, they all congregate at the dining tent just behind the portable shop. Salad, pasta, and fruits provide the fuel for the team to work through the night. Sophie and her catering crews are responsible for the nourishment intake of the whole Champion racing team. The ambiance is rather quiet. They are tired but at the same time they are determined to give their best to prepare the cars for tomorrow’s American Le Mans Series. Brad Kettler, the technical director, and Mike Peter, the race operation director, are making the rounds talking to each team member to ensure that any special need is taken care of.

They know tonight is going to be one of those nights when they have to burn the midnight oil. At 8 pm, they are still waiting for a few parts rushed ordered from Ingolstadt a day ago. Kaye, the overseas logistician, is on the phone with the special shipping company used by Audi. According to the people at Munich airport, the parts made it to the San Francisco bound Lufthansa Airbus 340-600 but they still could not locate the shipment. If the parts don’t get here by tonight, car one will not be able to run in the fittest condition at the ALMS tomorrow.

After dinner, the telemetry team goes into the gooseneck trailer next to the mobile shop. Inside this trailer are two rows of laptops. On the wall there are two 42” inch flat screen monitors. At the far end of the trailer, there is a room hosting a bank of servers that provide the IT backbone for this high tech operation. John, the system engineer, is in the server room, making adjustment to the wireless network. Looking at this scene before me, I imagine “24” Jack Bauer looking at the flat screen monitor intensely and giving order over his headset to his field Central Terrorism Unit team.

The flat screen monitors are showing the engine and car dynamic telemetry data below the front and rear video feeds from the on-board car cameras. The Laguna Seca track map is also presented on this multimedia screen and the car position on the track is shown by the red icon on the track map. It looks like Playstation 3 Gran Tourismo 4 video game. From time to time, they have to rerun the portion of recorded data in slow motion so they can get second-by-second reading of the sensor data as the car is going in and out of a hairpin turn.

The team is looking for any potential signs of problems based on the last run. They are also validating that the last changes on engine map programs and the steering and suspension settings are giving them the performance improvement they anticipated.

Because of the Audi winning streak, the racing regulator enforces restrictions on the R10 to make the race more competitive. With reduced fuel capacity, air restrictor, and ballast, the team has to continually search for the opportunities to squeeze more performance. In the night before the race, they are still determined to shave the last remaining possible milliseconds out of the lap times.

Toward the back of the four-trailer complex is the R10 body shop. A row of carbon fiber front-end and engine cover body shells are neatly stacked. Here, Laurent, Adam, and Raul are putting resin on the R10 cracked front body shell. They still have two more shells to refinish before they can go back to Best Western. This team has its own graphic artist, Phil, and painter, David, responsible for producing and installing the Audi R10 Motorsport decals on the body panels.

Just outside the body shop, drums of Shells diesel fuels are stacked and stored neatly. This fuel is specially prepared, packaged, and shipped from Global Fuel Solution, the Audi Motorsport supplier in Dusseldorf, Germany. Dane, the fuel technician, ensures that the R10s are using the highest quality grade oil and fuel.

The mobile shop is partitioned into two parts. The back end is not visible to the passer by because it hosts the sub assembly shop. Audi needs to protect the bleeding edge technologies from the industrial spies. The sub-assembly shop is where the transmission assemblies, cylinder heads, engine blocks, and fuel delivery systems are taken apart, inspected and reconditioned. Keith, Donovan, and Greg are diligently reconditioning various sub-assemblies of the R10s in the back room, while Mark, Rene, and Shawn are working on the cars alignment and suspension.

At 10 pm, the paddock is empty of fans, but the racing teams are still prepping the cars for the big day tomorrow. The missing parts finally arrive. At this rate, the Audi team hopes to finish the work at 3 am. Just outside the tent, Jacky is scrubbing the undercarriage panes of the R10s. Every single centimeter of the R10s is examined, cleaned, and calibrated.

This kind of teamwork is not the product of a winning team. It is the characteristics of a winning team. They are here not only to have a chance in winning the championship, but also because this is the way for them to be happy and feel accomplished. They are passionate in what they do and they always give their best. They are not worried about what the competitors are doing next door. Because, they know in their hearts that it is much more important to be part of a team where each member trust and rely on one another, and each of them is giving his best for the team. Then, winning is just a natural outcome of this kind of teamwork.

Minutes before the Race

The afternoon sun is beaming radiantly between the passing clouds. The pit is buzzing with activities. Spare tires, carbon fiber body shells, and Shells oil and fuel are being placed at strategic locations around the Audi pit for easy and fast access to minimize pit time. The telemetry team is ensuring the wireless connection to the cars. More than a dozen flat screen monitors are featuring camera feeds and telemetry data dashboards.

Each team is having a quick huddle to go over one last time the strategy they worked out last night to service the cars during the four hour race. The crew chiefs are going over the pit strategy the way the Captain of the Space Shuttle Endeavour is going through the final liftoff checklist with the ground command control and his shuttle crews. The number of planned pit stops, the tasks for each pit stop, refueling schedules, tire change schedules, driver schedules, and many other details are being mentally rehearsed by the team members.

Capello, McNish, Rockenfeller, Werner, and Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, the president of Audi AG Motorsport, are having causal and relaxing conversation with the pit crews. It is just another day at the pit for them. They have done this a thousand times and they are still enjoying every moment. Despite the late night preparation activities, they all look calm and confident. Every single person in the team does his function in a clock work manner. They work together in the manner of Swiss watch precision.

After the Race

The team doesn’t exert any energy on worrying whether they will win on each race or whether the Porsche team completes the pit stop sooner than they do. Their minds are focus on the tasks at hand. They enjoy what they do and they do their best. They give their passion, love, and dedication to each other and the cars at every single second of the race. Getting the first position is definitely satisfying but they do this not because of the glamour of winning but because they just love what they do. And this how they win the races.

After the last party light goes out and just before midnight, the team goes back to the portable shop. They go there not to continue the celebration. Instead, led by Rick and Jerome, the transportation logisticians, they meticulously organize the cars, the tools, and the spare parts such that, tomorrow, when they come back early, they can quickly prepare the cars for transport and they can pack their portable shop and pit in the similar way the Transformer Optimus Prime transforms itself back into an 18-wheeler truck.

While the truck drivers are transporting the cars, the shops, and the kitchen to the next raceway, the race drivers, the mechanics, the engineers, the technical leads, the management team, the caterers have just a few days off to relax and spend time with their families before they go back to do what they love.

This is it! The grand finale. The last race of the 2007 American Le Mans Series. Smells from smoking tires and glowing-red brakes fill the afternoon air of the undulating rolling hills of Monterey, California. LMP2 Acura ARX-01, GT2 Ferrari F430 GT, LMP2 Porsche GT3 RS Spyder, and GT1 Corvette C6.R burble thunderously as they brake and downshift in a packed formation to make turn four near the Yokohama foot-bridge at Laguna Seca raceway. In the middle of this pack is the mysteriously quiet Audi R10. The only thing I can hear from this engineering masterpiece is the whizzing noise of the cross-drilled carbon disc brake and occasionally the soft burble of the 650 hp 811 ft-lb V12 TDI engine.

Approaching the apex, the Spyder is leading at a very fast speed. The R10 is passing the GT cars and inching in on the inside. At the apex, the R10 is next to the Spyder half a car behind. Clearing the apex, the R10 turbocharged engine whirs softly and the car glides away from the pack at a very rapid acceleration. The soft diesel engine sound is quickly become inaudible as the rest of the cars are revving up to pick up speed on the short straight line before turn five.

Passing the yellow Bosch foot bridge, every car downshifts and brakes to enter the mini carousal turn. The lighter Spyder is braking really late as it tries to take over the lead from the outside. The R10 and the Spyder are next to each other only separated by a few inches of air space going through the banked turn. It is a neck-to-neck battle for the pole position during the Saturday American Le Mans Series qualifying session.

The Paddock

The paddock is hiving with activities too. Rows of truck trailers that have transformed into sophisticated portable car shops are packed in grid formation. A boxy plain trailer once unpacked becomes a car shop complete with the enclosing tent. This scene reminds me of the 18-wheeler Optimus Prime of the Transformer movie.

A metallic hospital-sterile drawer is next to each race car keeping the tools organized. The wide door on the trailer’s side provide a view into the transparent Plexiglas closets that store turbochargers, exhaust pipes, cylinder heads, pistons, gearboxes, struts, and many other parts. The mechanics have everything they need to rebuild a race car in a few hours. Every car nut is ogling and drooling over these impressive portable shops wishing they have similar setup at home.

While the ALMS teams are qualifying on the track, the IMSA GT3 and Speed World Challenge teams are busy working on their cars. They are taking the cars apart, checking and re-checking to make sure there is no room for errors in their car setup. Logistics teams are shuttling tires, engine parts, and body parts on golf-cart size transports. Kumho girls in red and black outfit and Mazda girls in black and orange outfit are greeting fans and giving out car posters. Racing officials are collecting fuel samples from the recently raced cars for analysis.

Champion Racing

Most people only see the cheering, the victory hugs, the high fives, the flashing cameras, the champagne, the glamorous models, and the winning drivers at the podium waving their giant trophies at the end of the race. Many fans don’t really see the back breaking efforts that the people behind the scene do to win the podium spots. These people are the backbone of the racing team. There are more than four dozen men and women who provide Capello, McNish, Rockenfeller, and Werner two reliable R10’s.

To the outsiders, they are the nameless faces in red Audi Sport uniform performing various mechanical tasks at the pit and the portable shops. But there is more. There are overseas logisticians who ensure that parts, oil, and fuel from Germany arrive on time. There are transporters who ensure that the multi-million dollars prototype cars get to the next race track in one piece. There are caterers who ensure that the whole team is well fed with nutritious meals to maintain their peak performance. There are mechanics, composite fabricators, telemetry engineers, engine specialists, tire engineers, and fuel engineers who keep the R10’s in ready-to-race condition.

They stay together at Best Western, often time sharing rooms. They see each other more than they see their families since they are on the road about 180 days a year. They spend their waking hours collaborating on various tasks. During the breaks, they joke with each other or have their quite moments; reflecting and recuperating. From time to time when the pressure is mounting, they rely on each other even more. No one wants to let down his peers. They do this out of passion, not out of desire to be famous. Common passion and unwavering determination keep this team together through the lows and the highs of the racing season.

There is never enough time to do anything. Between practice sessions, they take the cars apart; looking for areas for improvements, trying to shave a few more milliseconds from the lap time. They always put the cars back together just seconds before they have to tow the cars back to the pit for the next practice session. Yet, they do the tasks unhurriedly as they have done this thousand times. There is no fear in their eyes. They are not afraid of not doing enough because they have given their best. They are tired all right, but they radiate confidence and calmness.

Pit Scene

Earlier this morning during the practice session, Team-two telemetry engineer noticed that car two was losing oil pressure. It was not an alarming situation, but he informed the car-two crew chief. After a brief deliberation, the crew chief radioed Rockenfeller to bring the car in on the next lap. He also asked Rockenfeller to set his engine map program to safe mode. The safe mode lowers the rev limiter, shifts gear at lower RPM, and set many other engine program nuances to minimize the risk of low oil pressure. The crew chief instructed the team to prepare for tire change and refuel so they could skip the next scheduled pit stop.

Without wasting any seconds, as soon as the R10 came to complete stop before the lollipop man, seven team members jumped over the concrete barrier. Four of them carried four new tires to the four corners of the car and then they waited. One examined the car front end. Another person examined the car rear end. The fuel engineer plugged the large diameter fuel hose onto the R10. The fuel cap locking mechanism and the diameter of the fuel line are optimized to deliver as much fuel per second safely into the fuel tank. The fire man was on stand by nearby.

LeMans regulations require refueling to be completed before any other service can be performed on the car. Additionally, only 4 engineers are permitted to work concurrently on the car at any given instance. So, all of the tasks had to be staggered in such a way so the team would not get penalized by the eagle-eye pit judges.

As soon as the fuel line was detached from the car, the engineer with the air tank activated the built-in air jack on the R10. Without losing any seconds, the tire engineers removed the tires from the car. Two persons with laser temperature gauge measured the temperature of the disc brakes while the tires were off. Additionally, they checked the temperatures of the engine, fuel line, exhaust, and other examination points. Temperature information is very crucial data to deduce potential problems.

White thin smoke was coming out from the engine. Three-person team removed the carbon fiber engine cover within seconds. Two mechanics examined the engine for each side of the car. One quickly noticed that the oil cap was leaking oil. The leaked oil evaporated as it hit the hot cylinder head producing white smoke. He radioed the other team members. Two persons jumped over the barrier one with the special oil container and one with the new cap. The mechanic who has been watching the rear-end operation performed a visual check before he gave a hand signal to the three-person team to put the engine cover back on.

Immediately after the low oil pressure troubleshooting was completed, the tire engineers installed the new tires. The mechanic who inspected the front-end found a small crack on the lower left of the carbon fiber body shell. He radioed his team to replace the front shell. A three person team jumped over the concrete barrier to remove the front end cover. While another three person team was ready to install the new shell.
Team-two also decided to do a driver change during this pit stop. Werner jumped onto the car and helped Rockenfeller to unbuckle and climbed out of the cockpit. Quickly, as Werner settled into the cockpit, Rockenfeller helped Werner ensuring the five point seat belt was properly secured before he jumped onto the concrete barrier.

The telemetry engineer who identified the oil pressure issue rechecked his screen to make sure that the oil cap change and re-topping the oil fix the oil pressure issue. He confirmed that the oil pressure was back on optimal level to the crew chief. The lollipop man who was watching from the front-end performed a quick visual inspection before he gave a hand signal to drop the car down. As soon as the rubber hit the asphalt, Werner accelerated and left white smoke behind.

The strange thing of witnessing all of these activities was the fact that the whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion. No one was rushing. No one was yelling. No one was frantically waving arms. No one was crashing into each other. Everyone was performing his specific tasks with no hesitation in a very precise and calm manner. This total pit time came just over 1 minute! Sublime!

The Night before the Race

Immediately after the qualifying run, the two teams put the cars in the TV-show-ER like operating room; except without any emergency drama. Louis and Ron are pushing Car two into the mobile shop tent. Team one lifts the car and places the feather light weight construction over the aluminum frame; this way, the car is elevated at the waist level to make it comfortable for the mechanics to work on the car. Then, team one puts the warming blanket over the car one engine and disassembles the front end of the car.

There is a power line running from the ceiling of this operating room to the power socket on the car; it resembles an IV line in the sterile hospital operating room. This power line keeps the 14 on-board computers running while the car is being worked on. James, the data engineer for car two, connects his Dell laptop to the diagnostic port in the driver’s cockpit, while Hamilton and Jackie are putting ballast at strategic places around the car to simulate the driver’s weight and the removed parts’ weight.

Bobby and Tim, car one and car two crew chiefs are conversing. They are exchanging experiences from the recent track run. On the track they are competing with each other. But inside the pit and at the portable shop, they are sharing inspection discoveries and track experiences. Each anomaly is analyzed and diagnosed. The two teams are learning from each other.

The steering and suspension modifications being made on car one to improve the car’s cornering ability at Laguna Seca is communicated to team two. Justin, car one data engineer, is considering applying the experimental software upgrade applied on car two’s engine map program. This upgrade optimizes the fuel consumption during the uphill portion of the track, modifies the brake bias, and fine tunes the gearbox shifting to reduce wheel spins during exit acceleration at the corkscrew.

At dinner time, they all congregate at the dining tent just behind the portable shop. Salad, pasta, and fruits provide the fuel for the team to work through the night. Sophie and her catering crews are responsible for the nourishment intake of the whole Champion racing team. The ambiance is rather quiet. They are tired but at the same time they are determined to give their best to prepare the cars for tomorrow’s American Le Mans Series. Brad Kettler, the technical director, and Mike Peter, the race operation director, are making the rounds talking to each team member to ensure that any special need is taken care of.

They know tonight is going to be one of those nights when they have to burn the midnight oil. At 8 pm, they are still waiting for a few parts rushed ordered from Ingolstadt a day ago. Kaye, the overseas logistician, is on the phone with the special shipping company used by Audi. According to the people at Munich airport, the parts made it to the San Francisco bound Lufthansa Airbus 340-600 but they still could not locate the shipment. If the parts don’t get here by tonight, car one will not be able to run in the fittest condition at the ALMS tomorrow.

After dinner, the telemetry team goes into the gooseneck trailer next to the mobile shop. Inside this trailer are two rows of laptops. On the wall there are two 42” inch flat screen monitors. At the far end of the trailer, there is a room hosting a bank of servers that provide the IT backbone for this high tech operation. John, the system engineer, is in the server room, making adjustment to the wireless network. Looking at this scene before me, I imagine “24” Jack Bauer looking at the flat screen monitor intensely and giving order over his headset to his field Central Terrorism Unit team.

The flat screen monitors are showing the engine and car dynamic telemetry data below the front and rear video feeds from the on-board car cameras. The Laguna Seca track map is also presented on this multimedia screen and the car position on the track is shown by the red icon on the track map. It looks like Playstation 3 Gran Tourismo 4 video game. From time to time, they have to rerun the portion of recorded data in slow motion so they can get second-by-second reading of the sensor data as the car is going in and out of a hairpin turn.

The team is looking for any potential signs of problems based on the last run. They are also validating that the last changes on engine map programs and the steering and suspension settings are giving them the performance improvement they anticipated.

Because of the Audi winning streak, the racing regulator enforces restrictions on the R10 to make the race more competitive. With reduced fuel capacity, air restrictor, and ballast, the team has to continually search for the opportunities to squeeze more performance. In the night before the race, they are still determined to shave the last remaining possible milliseconds out of the lap times.

Toward the back of the four-trailer complex is the R10 body shop. A row of carbon fiber front-end and engine cover body shells are neatly stacked. Here, Laurent, Adam, and Raul are putting resin on the R10 cracked front body shell. They still have two more shells to refinish before they can go back to Best Western. This team has its own graphic artist, Phil, and painter, David, responsible for producing and installing the Audi R10 Motorsport decals on the body panels.

Just outside the body shop, drums of Shells diesel fuels are stacked and stored neatly. This fuel is specially prepared, packaged, and shipped from Global Fuel Solution, the Audi Motorsport supplier in Dusseldorf, Germany. Dane, the fuel technician, ensures that the R10s are using the highest quality grade oil and fuel.

The mobile shop is partitioned into two parts. The back end is not visible to the passer by because it hosts the sub assembly shop. Audi needs to protect the bleeding edge technologies from the industrial spies. The sub-assembly shop is where the transmission assemblies, cylinder heads, engine blocks, and fuel delivery systems are taken apart, inspected and reconditioned. Keith, Donovan, and Greg are diligently reconditioning various sub-assemblies of the R10s in the back room, while Mark, Rene, and Shawn are working on the cars alignment and suspension.

At 10 pm, the paddock is empty of fans, but the racing teams are still prepping the cars for the big day tomorrow. The missing parts finally arrive. At this rate, the Audi team hopes to finish the work at 3 am. Just outside the tent, Jacky is scrubbing the undercarriage panes of the R10s. Every single centimeter of the R10s is examined, cleaned, and calibrated.

This kind of teamwork is not the product of a winning team. It is the characteristics of a winning team. They are here not only to have a chance in winning the championship, but also because this is the way for them to be happy and feel accomplished. They are passionate in what they do and they always give their best. They are not worried about what the competitors are doing next door. Because, they know in their hearts that it is much more important to be part of a team where each member trust and rely on one another, and each of them is giving his best for the team. Then, winning is just a natural outcome of this kind of teamwork.

Minutes before the Race

The afternoon sun is beaming radiantly between the passing clouds. The pit is buzzing with activities. Spare tires, carbon fiber body shells, and Shells oil and fuel are being placed at strategic locations around the Audi pit for easy and fast access to minimize pit time. The telemetry team is ensuring the wireless connection to the cars. More than a dozen flat screen monitors are featuring camera feeds and telemetry data dashboards.

Each team is having a quick huddle to go over one last time the strategy they worked out last night to service the cars during the four hour race. The crew chiefs are going over the pit strategy the way the Captain of the Space Shuttle Endeavour is going through the final liftoff checklist with the ground command control and his shuttle crews. The number of planned pit stops, the tasks for each pit stop, refueling schedules, tire change schedules, driver schedules, and many other details are being mentally rehearsed by the team members.

Capello, McNish, Rockenfeller, Werner, and Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, the president of Audi AG Motorsport, are having causal and relaxing conversation with the pit crews. It is just another day at the pit for them. They have done this a thousand times and they are still enjoying every moment. Despite the late night preparation activities, they all look calm and confident. Every single person in the team does his function in a clock work manner. They work together in the manner of Swiss watch precision.

After the Race

The team doesn’t exert any energy on worrying whether they will win on each race or whether the Porsche team completes the pit stop sooner than they do. Their minds are focus on the tasks at hand. They enjoy what they do and they do their best. They give their passion, love, and dedication to each other and the cars at every single second of the race. Getting the first position is definitely satisfying but they do this not because of the glamour of winning but because they just love what they do. And this how they win the races.

After the last party light goes out and just before midnight, the team goes back to the portable shop. They go there not to continue the celebration. Instead, led by Rick and Jerome, the transportation logisticians, they meticulously organize the cars, the tools, and the spare parts such that, tomorrow, when they come back early, they can quickly prepare the cars for transport and they can pack their portable shop and pit in the similar way the Transformer Optimus Prime transforms itself back into an 18-wheeler truck.

While the truck drivers are transporting the cars, the shops, and the kitchen to the next raceway, the race drivers, the mechanics, the engineers, the technical leads, the management team, the caterers have just a few days off to relax and spend time with their families before they go back to do what they love.