Life in the pits: Experience Le Mans 24h up close and personal

[MUSIC] Aston Martin goes back right to the early 1950s when it started competing Le Mans and the famous victory in Le Mans in 1959 Since then there's been many class victories over the coming seasons and we feel quite honored members of the team to carry the history on. It's the biggest endurance race in the year. It's the one time and one season where all the top teams and all the top manufacturers come together. It's one of the most demanded circuits in the world and [INAUDIBLE] with performing at the level here and winning. And walking away with some silver and having a reliable run is everything to the manufacturers and also to the teams. It's the biggest GT field for a long, long time so we've got lots of competition. We've got Ford with a new model car, we've got Ferrari with a new model car, we've competed against Porsche, we've competed against Corvette, So as a brand and as Aston Martin racing we are in position where we can race against some of the strongest competition in the world. And our objective is to try to win every time we visit a track. You got 95 and 97 they are both the pro cars. 2016 So that's new for this year. For the first time we've raced [UNKNOWN] with that special car. And then we've got an [UNKNOWN] car of last year's spec, the one that was leading. [INAUDIBLE] To the end of the race. [UNKNOWN] and also [UNKNOWN]. So, four cars in total [UNKNOWN] keeps busy [UNKNOWN] entire race. So, the Vantage GTE that we're racing It's based on the [UNKNOWN] advantage, V8 engine in there. Built to the regulations, the current regulations, the aerodynamic package is new for 2016 and it's been optimized for, [UNKNOWN] effectively. Really low down force and low drag, just to try and make sure we have the, sort of the best [UNKNOWN] we possibly can. It's, of course from the outside it almost looks like a [UNKNOWN] car, but it's Completely different in a way. The brake's response [UNKNOWN] are not on a level [UNKNOWN]. These are really designed to last for [UNKNOWN] basically but the can be [UNKNOWN] So that is basically what you hope for and what the rounds you would probably be, and there's a perfect plan on how you run the race and the strategy, and that soon changes. By the first pit stop, things have changed on the circuit, and you're having to adapt. And we see what we can do, and hopefully we're still battling away, when it's at the checkered flag 24 hours later. [UNKNOWN] [MUSIC] This is my third time here. It's a strange feeling, it's like coming from your couch at home, walking into To the battle field so it's like really getting your mindset for getting into the car and putting all together and do no mistakes out there. We just wanna come right wether [UNKNOWN] big impact. Looks like it's gonna be mixed conditions to start so that's gonna be tricky. But other than that, just you have to keep the game and see where you are Sunday morning. The crew we've got is very good. We've been working with the car for the last few years so the guys know it very well in and out Hopefully we don't have any issues but we will make and do whatever we need to get the car to the finish line. [MUSIC] We're ten minutes away from the start and the race won't be delayed. What happens it starts under a safety car, they're at low speed until the safety car Sometimes on the track, its safe to run. Safety is everything in a [UNKNOWN] race, with [UNKNOWN] like this. So, sorry. [UNKNOWN] Yeah, so that's the organizer now just confirming, again, that's it's all about the safety car. Three, two one. The race will start now behind the safety car. The race has started. [SOUND] Back here in the gallery we engineers have a station for each car. And as you can see on the screens We've got a load of stations. We've got videos of all the pit boxes so we can see what the cars are doing, what the guys are doing, wether they are ready for each stop. We've got mainstage on the track and then we've got a load of timing data, you can see all of the competitors are doing, what all of the cars are doing. [INAUDIBLE] We have some of the data for an engine engineer so we can provide for them Power, so it's to help the engines, the gearbox. Okay they're all running correctly. Correct time, correct distance. [INAUDIBLE] what the drivers see. [NOISE] Safety cars. [UNKNOWN] around the track [UNKNOWN] before he crossed the line. [SOUND] There's Ricky, obviously got the heavy [UNKNOWN] before the start and then first, I'm not even sure how long but it felt like nearly an hour till the safety The beginning of the race and that was the right call. The spray was pretty bad. But when they went green it was a perfect time to get the race underway. And then yeah, the sun came down the track right quickly [UNKNOWN] and it seemed to be the right move at the right time and then just get [UNKNOWN]. Getting it out of the way. At this stage, we're still looking for a bit of pace. We're not exactly doing the lap times that the front guys are doing. But we're pretty sure as the the track [UNKNOWN] up we start to get a bit close to [UNKNOWN] there. But the main thing we're taking zero risks, any opportunity to make sure that we have a car ready That we run through the non pro course. [NOISE] It was so good to be back. [INAUDIBLE] go on with the race. That's a long week. That'll get started, just get into the rhythm. It was just amazing [INAUDIBLE]. So we got [INAUDIBLE] and it's moving on so we're still in there. [INAUDIBLE] [SOUND] [INAUDIBLE] get at the gate. We're about to add it to an online [UNKNOWN]. Afterwards we're coming on the [INAUDIBLE] target. Going to be the first [INAUDIBLE]. Then on [INAUDIBLE] gonna be a long night. [INAUDIBLE] rework the strategy. [BLANK_AUDIO] [MUSIC] [SOUND] [MUSIC] [SOUND] [MUSIC] [SOUND] [BLANK_AUDIO] [SOUND] [INAUDIBLE] [SOUND] [INAUDIBLE] Hold the top. Hold the [INAUDIBLE] [SOUND] [MUSIC] [INAUDIBLE] [SOUND] [BLANK_AUDIO] [UNKNOWN] car, push [UNKNOWN] put him into the gravel, which damaged the car. [UNKNOWN] fix the car and [UNKNOWN] great changes, bright and early [UNKNOWN] we just do it [UNKNOWN]. So, [UNKNOWN] knows [UNKNOWN] reset. So, it's [UNKNOWN] And [INAUDIBLE] get back to where we were. It's a big [UNKNOWN] and [UNKNOWN]. [SOUND] The most difficult thing was definitely the night. I struggled a little bit to get used to the Night vision thing. [INAUDIBLE] really nice to come out this morning and do some reps when it's daylight. That's ten times more easier and more comfortable to be out there with daylight. Five hours to go. Still holding positions, three hours to go. [INAUDIBLE] ride in the right direction [INAUDIBLE] just keep pushing up, see what happens next [music] The track is once agin much more slippery now as the ambience going up. There's a lot of debris on the circuit, that could easily be what we've just picked up, which could damage the car. [INAUDIBLE] until then we had no problems with the tires. They'd been running really well. The guys did a good job. Had a look around the car and make sure everything was okay for Nicky to come back out. So let's see what happens in these last few hours. [NOISE] [SOUND] [MUSIC] [NOISE] [FOREIGN] [MUSIC] Most sports can be really heart breaking. You think you're nearly off the line or think you've nearly won or you've nearly got a points score. And with minutes to go something mechanical fails or something goes wrong and that result is taken away from them. That happened four and half minutes from the end of the biggest race in the world. Must be devastating. No team deserves that, not after all the hard work and I commiserate with what happened today to them. We lost our [UNKNOWN] car which was in a variable position to lead. [INAUDIBLE] championship as well to a technical problem [INAUDIBLE] but our pro cars went on [INAUDIBLE] with [INAUDIBLE]. Leading the world during this championship, which is something you like to do midseason because Le Mans obviously is double points. So, we'll come away from here and go on to Germany. Just heading into the world championship by a healthy points margin. So that's massively positive for the team. One of our customer drivers Andrew Howard [INAUDIBLE] finish as well. So that's their [INAUDIBLE] to finish the event which must be rewarding for them. So overall we're not on the podium but we are leading the world championship and that does mean a lot of a major manufacturer. Most of the crew's been up for 36 hours. Something you saw through the night for a period of time so we'll pass off the two hours now and then we'll celebrate So you have to work harder and sometimes you have play hard, so [CROSSTALK] and we'll come back tomorrow [CROSSTALK]. Back to the UK [CROSSTALK] cars. This has been a big media milestone and I'm really happy as well. Everybody involved in the [CROSSTALK] next race we've got another opportunity to win. You got another opportunity Be on the podium. And the team has an opportunity to execute a brilliant event. [MUSIC]