Martin Short; team manager

[Adam43]

He's a favourite at Le Mans in the short time he's been there. A true enthusiast (he was taking photos round his pits like we do for our little club racing car). See the couple of snaps attached from Friday.

He did seem to be missing the driving. He explained his reasons for devoting all his time to being the team boss, however he did seem to find the manager sidde a little boring during the race!

He'll be there next year, won't he?

[rdjones]

The Rollcentre garage was just above my Grandstand seat and for the last 2 hours of the race I could see Shorty pacing up and down. I think he so wanted to be the car and I have a feel we see him back in the car next year.

[cmk]

He comes across like a top bloke. The funny thing is there are a ton of owner-drivers who should step back to management and most of them never do. Martin, on the other hand, is pretty quick for an 'amateur' but yet he goes and sits on the pitwall!

[The Badger]

I feel he is a bit of a drama queen ..... useing the example of the "9/11 twin towers" to try to highlight a mistake that Mucke did on the "Rollcentre" car last year ..... a touch crass in my opinion .

[JimW]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I feel he is a bit of a drama queen ..... using the example of the "9/11 twin towers" to try to highlight a mistake that Mucke did on the "Rollcentre" car last year ..... a touch crass in my opinion.

Perhaps that's the flip side of utterly committed enthusiasts?

Regards

Jim

[Rollcentre]

Thank you for the mostly kind comments! It was at times frustrating, but also very satisfying to get the result, and entrust my drivers with the job. If the desire returns for me to do it, and I am lucky enough to be able to again be there, then I would drive again. That said, a long talk with Jacky Ickx, and why he stopped when he did was very revealing, and thought provoking.

As for Stefan M, Badger did not have the liberty of watching his actions in that race, from the pit wall, seeing Roman Dumas driven off the track twice (missed by the TV), and then attacking Joao.....rather the luxury no doubt of the TV footage. He did not see what I did, so to then sit in his armchair and use my colourful language to describe my emotion over the event as crass......well whatever. Can't please all the people all the time, and frankly mate, I dont care.

Gratified to see that some people prefer to comment on positives rather than dive in with the knife with negatives. Human nature I guess.

Stefan is a great guy, a great driver, and he has calmed down his style. We were, and are still friends......I gave him his first ever LMP drive.....and what a stunning driver he has turned out to be.......and now without the bully boy techniques used in DTM. Good lad.

On an interesting note, our little team spent the 4th least time in the pits according to the ACO, between a rook of Audis and Peugeots......which is fantastic.....even though we had to change a gear shift actuator and had a few extra stops for punctures etc. We just didnt have the pace sadly.....

Well done my lads and lasses. Bloody fantastic. First Brit team home again and in my opinion, first non factory or factory supported team.

I dont know if we will be there next year, the sponsorship prospects are tough with the present financial climate, so lets see. If anybody has a Lottery prize going begging let me know!

Thanks to all our supporters by the way. Bloody marvellous! And also Howard! You know who you are!

Martin Short.

[Piglet]

Well done Martin, you do us proud and we like the fact that you DO show emotion. I can still see you in tears on the Podium in Spa a good number of years ago!

Your guys did well, I still think you were robbed of a podium at LM last year, I hope the sponsorship comes together and we can cheer you on next year

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Rollcentre

colourful language to describe my emotion over the event as crass......well whatever. Can't please all the people all the time, and frankly mate, I dont care.

Obviously you dont know anybody who was inolved in the tragic incident (911) then Martin , I did , otherwise maybe you would not have used that term so freely mate !!!

[Rollcentre]

My view, is that you used mention of me as an excuse to stick the knife in over a long forgotten subject and comment. I think its more about you and your prejudices and support of Stefan, than my comment. Sorry for your friends. No apologies for my use of language. Mate?......sorry.....no.

My car handled like the Titanic at Le Mans.......aaaaargh!!!!!

Thankyou Piglet. Loveley. : )

[Adam43]

I must admit I was hoping for a Rollcentre reply Thanks.

If I win the lottery I may well contribute, although perhaps we can talk of a drive (bit of a step up from XJS and MGBs?). he he.

I hope we see you there again next year.

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by Rollcentre

Well done my lads and lasses. Bloody fantastic........

I dont know if we will be there next year, the sponsorship prospects are tough with the present financial climate, so lets see. If anybody has a Lottery prize going begging let me know!

Yep, another cracking performance. Regretted taking the ferry this year, meant I was unable to congratulate you personally (as has become traditional) at baggage reclaim at Stansted airport!

Anyway, belatedly, congratulations on not only conquering Le Mans once again, but for another faultless performance and fantastic overall placing. Well done to the whole team!

As far as sponsorship for next year is concerned, I'm sure everyone on Tenths very much hopes you can put the necessary funding in place. You'd be sadly missed were you to leave ACO regs racing. From my own (admittedly rather naive) perspective, I would consider Rollcentre Racing to have given their sponsors exceptional value over the last few years. I've got everything crossed for your continued presence in the Le Mans Series and at Le Mans.

[Rollcentre]

Thanks! I was on the Tours flight again with my family, also with Hugh and the Lola and Virgo boys. Shame you weren't there (again!) : )

I am sure my sponsors will do what they can for next year, and will appreciate your comments.

Cheers.

And looking forward to headlines in Asport...."Ashmore jumps from MGB to LMP" !

[knighty]

yes, well done rollcentre sterling effort over the years..........Martin - whats your thoughts on the gasoline engine regs?........currently there is shall we say the 5.5 Judd rules, then the 6.0 Aston V12 rules........now it looks like another set will be formulated for the 7.0 corvette motor........just interested to know a team owners perspective........apologies for going off subject

[AstonGeoff]

[quote=Rollcentre]
I dont know if we will be there next year, the sponsorship prospects are tough with the present financial climate, so lets see. If anybody has a Lottery prize going begging let me know!
quote]

Well, we had a whopping great £10 win whilst at LM, but I doubt that it will go far towards your 2009 budget!

We wish you every success in getting a replacement for Easty, LM & the LMS wouldn't be the same without you, your family and the team. I'm sure there is a company out there who will realise that sponsoring Rollcentre is good value for money!

[porsche91722]

Originally Posted by Rollcentre

My view, is that you used mention of me as an excuse to stick the knife in over a long forgotten subject and comment. I think its more about you and your prejudices and support of Stefan, than my comment. Sorry for your friends. No apologies for my use of language. Mate?......sorry.....no.

My car handled like the Titanic at Le Mans.......aaaaargh!!!!!

Thankyou Piglet. Loveley. : )

Watch out, he probably knows somebody who was on the Titanic, and will be offended by that comment now.....