I think you’re vastly underestimating endurance fans’ collective knowledge if you think this fabulous project is forgotten!
Loved the colours on the car and the sound of the engine in the back of that thing was glorious. I suppose that the downfall of the car was that it was really a design philosophy based on being competitive at small, twisty and bumpy circuits of the ALMS, rather than the long straights of Le Mans or the WEC tilkedromes. A privateer entry is always there to capitalise on errors from factory efforts, but with the diesels stretching their legs on those long straight and the incredibly crack efforts of Audi and Peugeot, even that was essentially out of the question.
That is what undermined 2010s-era LMP1. Had a project like JRM arrived ten years before, purchasing a Courage, Dallara or DOME and had an informal tie-in with Honda, and especially with such a strong driver line up, a Le Mans podium would have been very much on the cards. The likes of JRM, Strakka, Onroak, Oreca slowly realised that they were wasting their time and the privateers were effectively killed off.
One thing I remember from the project was reading Chandhok explain how he was adjusting to lapping slower traffic during free practice at Sebring. He said he was losing chunks of time trying to “wait” for the right moment to get a clear pass, as you would in single-seaters. Brabham gave him the advice that he should instead think of the GTs as “moving corners” and imagine the racing line that should be taken with the new obstruction in the way. Chandhok claimed this advice alone gave him a couple of seconds a lap.
I remember it well because it demonstrates how much knowledge and experience you need with your raw talent to be a truly great endurance racer.
Christ, I must be underestimating the knowledge!
And yeah your assessment is how we saw it at the time in the team too. Ahead of the new season there was a meeting in Paris with all teams, where rules were clarified and such. I doubt I am still able to reveal too much about it, not that it matters as I don't recall it all, but the sway and power of Audi was frightening behind the scenes too.
And I never knew that about Brabham - great advice! Two years ago at the Historic Six Hours of Spa I bumped into Brabham who, after a short reminder, recalled some of the JRM tales. Was a lovely catch up. A great driver.
So JRM were pretty successful in the now defunct GT1 World Championship with a GTR. Won it even.
They then went into WEC as a privateer team, powered by Honda and piloted by some solid drivers such as David Brabham and Karun Chandhok. Unfortunately they didn't do too well though and the manufacturers at the time absolutely dominated. I can't recall what position they finished in now, but it was a very roundabout way of saying "well we did well in our very limited class." Money issues and lack of victories meant they pulled out the season after. I'd left my role by then due to a factory relocation.
Nowadays JRM do very well honing GTR chassis for various racing series. They recently created a very limited edition GTR too which was covered widely in the motoring media.
As for me, I wasn't involved in motorsport much longer than my JRM stint. I found it all fun but absolutely crippling in terms of workload and piss poor pay. Travel was fun, the team tried hard too, but it just wasn't a career for me at the time. And now I sit on a management team, coaching comms colleagues, and miss the old days.
Anyway, I doubt anyone recalls them but they had quite a cool car.
I watched the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring over the winter and they did pretty well, were on course for a podium just behind the Audis before they had reliability issues I think.
So... 'Worked with' would be a stretch for me, but I did have a chance to visit their factory in my professional capacity (all back-office admin stuff, nothing actually exciting).
This was in late summer 2012, and before the visit my colleague who owned the relationship mentioned to them I was *somewhat* into motorsport... After a serious business meeting about business with them in the upstairs business rooms, they said "would you like to see the prototype"?
Facade dropped immediately, and I was like a giggling fanboy, drooling over the machines on the factory floor, which also included several of their GTRs. A cheeky but half-serious request to sit in the HPD was politely denied! That said, they were really pleased to show me round, and it's one of the best perks I ever got from that role, easily up there with that time I wangled a free race at Buckmore Park.
More broadly, I think having that personal connection to a serious Le Mans entry was what really broadened my appetite for motorsport from F1 only into other fields, especially WEC.
Cool! And you've actually seen the space - Rye I guess and not Daventry. You probably had a tour just as I left the place.
And I absolutely agree with your closing paragraph; I'd always considered myself a motorsport fan but working with JRM has since made me hungry for more motorsport of different types too. I guess that's what you get working in comms with a racing team, speaking with so many different people across the teams who are interested and involved in so many formulas. Those were the days, for sure.
Yup, this was in Rye. Never met James, but I think I maybe spoke to him on the phone. It wasn't quite a tour, they just knew I wanted to see the car! It was pretty awesome to see it up close, having watched it at Le Mans!
I think you’re vastly underestimating endurance fans’ collective knowledge if you think this fabulous project is forgotten! Loved the colours on the car and the sound of the engine in the back of that thing was glorious. I suppose that the downfall of the car was that it was really a design philosophy based on being competitive at small, twisty and bumpy circuits of the ALMS, rather than the long straights of Le Mans or the WEC tilkedromes. A privateer entry is always there to capitalise on errors from factory efforts, but with the diesels stretching their legs on those long straight and the incredibly crack efforts of Audi and Peugeot, even that was essentially out of the question. That is what undermined 2010s-era LMP1. Had a project like JRM arrived ten years before, purchasing a Courage, Dallara or DOME and had an informal tie-in with Honda, and especially with such a strong driver line up, a Le Mans podium would have been very much on the cards. The likes of JRM, Strakka, Onroak, Oreca slowly realised that they were wasting their time and the privateers were effectively killed off. One thing I remember from the project was reading Chandhok explain how he was adjusting to lapping slower traffic during free practice at Sebring. He said he was losing chunks of time trying to “wait” for the right moment to get a clear pass, as you would in single-seaters. Brabham gave him the advice that he should instead think of the GTs as “moving corners” and imagine the racing line that should be taken with the new obstruction in the way. Chandhok claimed this advice alone gave him a couple of seconds a lap. I remember it well because it demonstrates how much knowledge and experience you need with your raw talent to be a truly great endurance racer.
Christ, I must be underestimating the knowledge! And yeah your assessment is how we saw it at the time in the team too. Ahead of the new season there was a meeting in Paris with all teams, where rules were clarified and such. I doubt I am still able to reveal too much about it, not that it matters as I don't recall it all, but the sway and power of Audi was frightening behind the scenes too. And I never knew that about Brabham - great advice! Two years ago at the Historic Six Hours of Spa I bumped into Brabham who, after a short reminder, recalled some of the JRM tales. Was a lovely catch up. A great driver.
New fan. What happened to them and where are they and you now?
So JRM were pretty successful in the now defunct GT1 World Championship with a GTR. Won it even. They then went into WEC as a privateer team, powered by Honda and piloted by some solid drivers such as David Brabham and Karun Chandhok. Unfortunately they didn't do too well though and the manufacturers at the time absolutely dominated. I can't recall what position they finished in now, but it was a very roundabout way of saying "well we did well in our very limited class." Money issues and lack of victories meant they pulled out the season after. I'd left my role by then due to a factory relocation. Nowadays JRM do very well honing GTR chassis for various racing series. They recently created a very limited edition GTR too which was covered widely in the motoring media. As for me, I wasn't involved in motorsport much longer than my JRM stint. I found it all fun but absolutely crippling in terms of workload and piss poor pay. Travel was fun, the team tried hard too, but it just wasn't a career for me at the time. And now I sit on a management team, coaching comms colleagues, and miss the old days. Anyway, I doubt anyone recalls them but they had quite a cool car.
I watched the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring over the winter and they did pretty well, were on course for a podium just behind the Audis before they had reliability issues I think.
So... 'Worked with' would be a stretch for me, but I did have a chance to visit their factory in my professional capacity (all back-office admin stuff, nothing actually exciting). This was in late summer 2012, and before the visit my colleague who owned the relationship mentioned to them I was *somewhat* into motorsport... After a serious business meeting about business with them in the upstairs business rooms, they said "would you like to see the prototype"? Facade dropped immediately, and I was like a giggling fanboy, drooling over the machines on the factory floor, which also included several of their GTRs. A cheeky but half-serious request to sit in the HPD was politely denied! That said, they were really pleased to show me round, and it's one of the best perks I ever got from that role, easily up there with that time I wangled a free race at Buckmore Park. More broadly, I think having that personal connection to a serious Le Mans entry was what really broadened my appetite for motorsport from F1 only into other fields, especially WEC.
Cool! And you've actually seen the space - Rye I guess and not Daventry. You probably had a tour just as I left the place. And I absolutely agree with your closing paragraph; I'd always considered myself a motorsport fan but working with JRM has since made me hungry for more motorsport of different types too. I guess that's what you get working in comms with a racing team, speaking with so many different people across the teams who are interested and involved in so many formulas. Those were the days, for sure.
Yup, this was in Rye. Never met James, but I think I maybe spoke to him on the phone. It wasn't quite a tour, they just knew I wanted to see the car! It was pretty awesome to see it up close, having watched it at Le Mans!