The story of the LM
This is the story of the Callaway LM to the best of my knowledge. Thanx to Boris, Ernst, Joanne and many others. A friend of mine took the photo at LM pre-qualifying in May 1994. Note the young man with a lot of hair. He sure looks proud of his creation and he should be. Note in the photo, there truly is duct-tape holding the bonnet to the car. I always thought it was funny that the French called the LM the “moose” because of the nose. I don’t see it…..I see pure beauty….mike
Objective: Le Mans 1994
It was after a visit to the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in February 1994 that the team of Callaway Competition and Reeves Callaway decided to make the run at Le Mans. The reality that mandatory practice was merely 12 weeks away did not deter the crew and with soldier like precision, they prepared the car for test day.
The new Callaway SuperNatural GT2 LM 001/94 (known as “Frieda”) was fully fabricated from a bare convertible Corvette chassis and suspension components from Dick Guldstrand at the race shop in Germany. Long time Callaway designer Paul Deutschman sketched a carbon fiber/Kevlar body in a radical new aerodynamic shape and molded a full sized mock-up of the LM body. Lighting requirements for Le Mans were demanding, yet the design must not create more aerodynamic drag. Therefore, the retractable lighting system of the stock Corvette needed to be replaced. Included in the redesign of the Corvette’s nose was a functional air splitter that allowed an accurate diversion of air over the nose of the LM and underneath to manage down force at 190 miles per hour. To complete the management of air under the LM, a rear diffuser was mounted at 12 degrees that increased expelled air speed and increased down force. Complimenting the functional design, extractor panels were added to the side skirts of the LM for increased heat exchange.
The body was mounted on the redesigned combination factory/tube framed chassis. The power plant for the new LM is a highly modified Callaway SuperNatural engine assembled at the Callaway Advanced Technologies engine shop in Connecticut.
Starting with an aluminum block, NASCAR aluminum heads the engine masters at Callaway balanced and blueprinted a forged steel crank and pistons. Using roller rockers and a Callaway re-designed Bosch/ throttle body injection system the LM’s goal was to net over 450 reliable horsepower for 24 hours. The colors chosen for the Callaway LM was sliver representing Germany and blue representing the USA.
Without any time to test the Callaway LM the team departs Germany. On the 9th of May the transported rolled into the paddock of Le Mans, France and the Callaway Supernatural GT2 LM (001/94) rolled off the truck. As the story is told, the body panels of the LM were not even fully attached. One photo shows racing tape holding down the bonnet of the car as it sets for photos by the press. The team spent the night in the countryside putting the finishing touches on the car. Never the less, much to the amazement of the scrutineering officials, they were ready to broadcast American V8 thunder on the asphalt of Le Mans for the first time in 18 years.
The car is test driven by Boris Said III and reports that it feels smooth and solid. He states that it was the smoothest driving car he had ever raced. During LM testing Said is driving down the Mulsanne straight between 190-200 mph and “something breaks”. Later to find it was the front splitter. He thinks that he is going to “bite it”. They return to Germany and work 24/7 for a month to be ready for the return.
With passage by the scrutineers and conformation of the potential of the LM on test day, the crew returned to Germany to place final touches on the LM that cut 9 seconds off their practice times.
Ernst tells of him and Mike Zoner taking the car to Koeln for a meeting with GM execs including Dave Hill and the German GM Group. Reeves wanted to show the GM folks that the car was almost race ready. To keep on track for the race they had to burn the midnight oil for several nights. The crew at Callaway Competition worked a lot of overtime!
On return to Le Mans in June of 1994, American Boris Said III, whom had never seen or raced the hallowed grounds of Le Mans before test day, records a pole position and an 18th overall for the start of the 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans.
LM qualifying is unlike anywhere in the world, there are 2-two hour sessions. Your goal is to run the maximum number of laps in the time allotted. First session you sort the racecar. During the second session you run as hard as you can.
To most bystanders at the time this feat was most noteworthy; it was assumed there were no American production cars that could compete with the highly specialized GT races from Porsche and BMW. Likewise, who would bring a 30-year-old push rod design V8 engine to compete with the highly refined multi-overhead cammed and race-designed engines of Europe? Were the Americans really that crazy?
As the race began, driving for Team Callaway were American Boris Said III, French driver Michel Maisonneuve and German Frank Jelinski. During the race, Team Callaway driver Said maintained the class lead for four hours and reached as high as eighth overall. Brake problems plagued the team and time was lost in the pits for brake pad repair. Race reports suggested that in an effort to regain the time lost for repairs, fuel mileage calculations for re-fueling became distorted. This was not the case according to race team manager Ernst. Driver Maisonneuve did not have the radio connected and passed the “IN” sign three times. Despite repeated attempts to signal the driver because of a lack of radio communication the LM ran out of fuel on the course after 11 hours with Maisonneuve at the controls. After an hour the LM returns to the pits and frantic crew- members find Said and Ernst in the motor coach to take command of the car. Once on the track, Said signals that the car is fine and running fast. Unfortunately, the fatal blow occurred earlier when members of the Callaway team tried to refuel the LM on the track, this was against the sanctioning rules resulting in an early retirement for the team. Immensely disappointing at the time for Team Callaway, their dominance of the GT2 category and the reliability of the LM were most obvious to the GT community and eventually satisfying to Reeves Callaway. They were going to be ready for the next year.
