Today, at 4:47pm, under a bright, sunny sky, accompanied by
a slight breeze, and before the shadows began their slow creep across the main
straight of the fabled speed palace, Mr. Alesi eased his FP Journe emblazoned
and Lotus powered racing machine from his pit box for the purpose of knocking
out phases 1 and 2 of his rookie orientation program. The previous day’s activities had consisted
of little more than shakedown laps, the goal of which had merely been to insure
that Jean’s racecar had been perfectly assembled. As we know, that mission was accomplished.
Jean’s return to the Speedway on this day sees him as a lone
rider. The racetrack is his alone. His observers are assembled. Arie Luyendyk, the master of the Brickyard
and its all-time king of speed, is on hand, placing his vast reservoir of
experience at the disposal of his veteran rookie charge. Another interested party makes an appearance,
that being Simona deSilvestro. She joins
Jean as the only other Lotus-runner for this edition of the Indianapolis 500,
and naturally, she is intrigued at the initial goings-on with that which shall
power her efforts as well. One would
imagine that she is also a fan of “the Jean,” though this was not confirmed.
It is clear that Jean’s upcoming laps (for all practical
purposes, his first real laps here) are eagerly anticipated by more than he and
his team, as evidenced by the size of the crowd that converges on the Lotus Fan
Force United pit. Racing legends tend to
have that effect, especially when they are attempting to add to their legend,
and even more so when the odds seem to be long.
Getting started, the plan is for him to run just a few
laps. Lap speeds in the high-190’s will
be sufficient. After that, he’ll be in
for fuel, some adjustments, and new tires on which he will head right back out
to commence the first phase of his ROP. As
the car re-enters pit lane, we can know that this part of the plan has been
executed. The team gets a nice surprise,
as they are informed that Jean had actually posted a single lap above 200mph,
and that this would count towards the completion of phase 1. Only 9 more laps needed, all to be posted with
an average speed between 200 and 205 mph, and phase 1 will be complete. After the aforementioned fuel, tires, and
adjustments have been applied to the vehicle, Jean’s return to the racetrack
sees him quickly post the 9 additional laps within the required range, thus
putting a swift end to the first phase of his rookie orientation program.
Following this, Jean confers at length with his engineer,
and the team is set to work in accordance with the directives now associated
with the feedback that Jean has provided.
There is no rush. Patience and
thorough preparation is going to be rewarded.
This team, consisting of a number of veterans, gives the rookie the
assurance that he is indeed in good hands.
It is decided that Jean is going to go ahead and complete phase 2 in a
single attempt, so fuel is topped off.
The engine is fired and away he goes.
For this phase, Jean must complete 15 laps with average speeds between
205 and 210 mph.
At 5:43pm, with just enough time left in the day to complete
the required laps, Jean returns to the track, takes two laps to work up to
speed, and on his third time around, posts a lap speed above 205 mph. The next 14 laps share the same story, as he
consistently gains speed (which is what the observers want to see), posting a
top speed just shy of 209 mph. Jean
achieved precisely what was required of him, and exactly what the team had asked
of him, posting his fastest laps on tires that were nearing the end of their
life cycle (over 30 laps). On the day,
Jean completed 39 laps, and is now merely 15 laps run in excess of 210 mph from
being fully licensed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 mile race.
Veritably leaping from his car, Jean offered high fives,
hugs, appreciative nods, smiles, and handshakes all around. With a pronounced bounce in his step, Jean,
having just experienced something drastically different from anything he had
ever experienced throughout the whole of his illustrious career, was
practically floating. Eyes wide,
sparkling exuberantly, like a kid in a candy store. Walking over to Arie, Jean was greeted with a
fist bump and “Fun, huh?” Jean’s reply: “Oh
yeah!”
By no means was the car perfect. By no means has he reached the limits of its
performance capability. Jean reported
that “the understeer was not insignificant,” and that he was unable to get the car
as close to the white line as he would have liked. As that was the limit of today’s problems,
today was a very good day. Later on, the
team’s manager, Ted Bitting, would congratulate the crew on what he described
as “nothing short of a miracle,” considering how the heretofore well-documented
week began.
Few could disagree with the assertion that all race fans
should applaud the efforts of this Lotus Fan Force United team. One could say that Jean is in heaven and all’s
right with the world.
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