KnightHawk's #30 MG Lola 675 LMP was retired in the eighth hour due to a spectacular fire that all but destroyed the team's only entry. The car's pilot at the time - Mel Hawkins - thankfully walked away unhurt.
 photo copyright © Rick Wilson / Maison Blanche While traveling the Mulsanne straights at high speed, Hawkins was stunned to see a huge bolt of flame shoot right past him - from inside the cockpit - on his left side. "I was on the straight, right between the first and second chicane, when all of a sudden a huge flame shot up the left side of the cockpit," said the suprisingly calm Hawkins. "I quickly looked in the rear-view mirror and saw huge flames coming at me from the back of the car. They came clear over my head - almost like an explosion - although I didn't feel or hear one. I never saw any smoke, or smelled any smoke - at all. I was probably about a quarter-mile past the first chicane, at a speed of about 150mph and all of a sudden it was just as if the car blew up! I pulled over as quickly as I could, and by the time I did get over there were absolutely no lights on in the car any longer. It was completely dark. I got out of the car as fast as I could, and as soon as I was out, with my feet on the ground I quickly tried to set off the on-board extinguishers. I couldn't see - couldn't find the button. At that point, I just got away from the car as fast as I could." The team quickly retired the effort and Team Manager Mike Johnson has yet to determine the actual cause of the fire. Preferring to wait until the car could be inspected more closely, Johnson offered no guess at this time. The car, rather than being returned to the KnightHawk paddock, by regulation will be stored in Park Fermé until the end of the race tomorrow afternoon. "I'd like to thank the corner workers for their fast response," added Hawkins. "By the time my feet first hit the ground, when getting out of the car, they were right there with fire extinguishers."  photo copyright © Rick Wilson / Maison Blanche The pace in the KnightHawk paddock reached a fevered pitch as the team and drivers took to the track for the first time since the Preliminary Practice session in May for the first qualifying run. The KnightHawk organization began preparation for this giant race over a year ago and all their work took shape over the last few days before the green flag dropped. Team owners and managers alike will likely tell all who will listen that there are about a million and one things that need to be done in order to prepare for a race of this magnitude. They'll also tell you that 50 or more of the things that need to be done - will not be completed - or simply forgotten. Long after the drivers and team owners have left the circuit for the day, and long after the team's PR man has scurried away for dinner with an all-important member of the media, the team manager and his crew of dedicated mechanics will still be working on the car. There is never enough time, they will be the first to tell you, to do everything that can be done to the car. Reaching a point where there's nothing left to do on a racecar is an impossibility. It will never happen. Ever. Long into the night mechanics will be sprawled under the car, or with fingers deep inside a gearbox, or changing a engine merely because it is five hundredths of a second off the pace. The KnightHawk crew is one of these dedicated crews. They'll work until dawn's early light - if you'll let them. KnightHawk's driving team for this year's endurance classic in their lightening fast rocket - the #30 KnightHawk MG Lola 675 LMP - consisted of the team's two principals and drivers - Mel Hawkins and Steve Knight - they will be joined by the well-regarded Duncan Dayton. Each of these drivers enjoy two careers; very successful business careers, and professional racing careers. Each have created and maintain a daily mental and physical exercise regimen that will keep them in "race shape" for the entire racing season, but when a 24-hour race comes along - this is something all together different. Each driver will modify his daily regimen to better prepare for a grueling 24-hour endurance event. Steve Knight, starting months before the race, will play, and replay, over and over again, a video tape of last year's race on monitors strategically placed in his workout room. Mel Hawkins will increase his daily training with his personal trainer to two hour sessions 5 to 6 days per week. Duncan Dayton will increase his time on the couch drinking beer and eating potato chips in order to spike his carb level and increase his fat reserves ... but seriously, Duncan is super-fit due to an intense combination of cardio and weight training that is far and above his normal daily regimen. Mel Hawkins: "I've been dreaming about racing here for as long as I can remember. I've spent countless hours daydreaming about the experience. The May Practice Session was merely foreplay to this week's activities. Starting today, I'll be making one of my dreams come true. How many men get the chance to do that. I'm a lucky man." Steve Knight: "No standard PR quotes this time . No - 'the engine has been blah, blah, blah, the crew has been working yada, yada, yada.' This race is too cool for that. That's not what you want to hear. Here's the deal - I can't wait to get in the car and get my hands on the wheel and put my foot on the pedal and head down this circuit. Do I like the wind racing past my helmet at 200+ mph? Darn right. Do I like instantaneous rocket-like acceleration when I gently tap on the pedal? You betcha. Do I enjoy the thrill and challenge of negotiating a corner at 120mph? Heck, yeah." Duncan Dayton: "I sure hope my 'couch-laying, beer-drinking, potato chip eating' strategy pays off. Granted, it's a new alternative system, but much more enjoyable than most normal workout strategies. But seriously, just like Steve and Mel, this is my first time racing at Le Mans. For a guy like me, who all his life has wanted to do nothing more than race cars, this is the pinnacle. The level of competition here is beyond extraordinary."  photo copyright © Rick Wilson / Maison Blanche |
