Liz Halliday: woman on the move at Le Mans

FARNHAM, SURREY, United Kingdom (Retrospectively via telephone) – In the 75 years that Le Mans has been running as a 24 hour race, the best finish by a woman has been a fourth place by Frenchwoman Odette Siko in 1932. Californian Liz Halliday, the only woman to drive in the 75th running of the 24 Hours of Le Man version of the aims to change that. She wants to win it all.
Lofty goals – but then when you hear Liz talk about here two passions driving fast cars and riding big horses (she is also attempting to qualify to the US Olympic Equestrian team) – one gets the impression that she might just be the woman to break through.
Halliday, 29, a Californian who now lives in United Kingdom says, “I like a purpose-built car,” referring to the Courage LMP2 car that she drove this year at Le Mans.
“I like a fast car – the faster the better. I like the open cockpit and being out in the air it seems to give me a better feel for the car,” she said.
Halliday is the 49th woman to challenge the track at de Sarthe and to date, she has been a bit snake bit with only one finish. In 2005 the car gave out and she got a DNF or in the French of Le Mans, an abandonment.
Last year, saying that the team struggled would be like saying that President’s Bushs approval ratings have dipped a little in the past two years.
“I think that we had something like 42 pit stops with problems from lap two on. The team really deserved a podium for as hard as it worked – but you don’t get a podium for fourth place in your class and 19th overall,” Halliday said.

This year she left Team Modena, with whom she had driven for two racces this season in the Le Mans series, and wound up with the Noel Del Bello team driving a Courage chassis for Circuit de la Sarthe. Driving with Vitaly Petrov, of Russia, and Romain Ianetta of France, the team had high hopes entering the event.

In qualifying the team did not see a lap in dry weather which Liz noted was a bit of a disadvantage for them when it came to race day; Her lap times in qualifying were quite respectable -- though with a wet track the times really don't mean a great deal.

In the race the team led their class during the first 12 hours only to have a gearbox failure snuff any chances for a podium finish let alone a class victory.

Ms. Halliday understands the history of the race and Le Mans becomes a highlight of her season each year simply because of that history and because the track demands so much from each driver.

"You can not compare Le Mans to any other event in the world. The track is very long (nearly eight and a half miles long) and outside of the Nurburgring it has the longest straightaway in the world. And then there is the history -- each year I have been able to compete here I find myself at sometime during the week thinking about all that history and saying to myself 'Wow! I'm here.'"

However, the secret to winning at Le Mans sometimes goes beyond sheer talent. There is an old racing addage that goes "Cubic dollars beats cubic horsepower" -- and in the end, particularly for an endurance race like Le Mans a bigger budget equates to a greater chance for drivers to use their talents to earn success on the track.

"Audi and Porsche are spending tons of money -- so one of the keys is to find more sponsors to be able to complete on a more level playing field, Ms. Halliday noted. "More sponsors helps the entire team -- it gives us more track time during practice and it allows a better cushion if something breaks on the car," she said.

There is 75 years of history behind her; 49 women drivers -- some of them with great racing history (such as Lynn St. James (two starts, no finishes), Vanina Ickx (three starts, best finish of 16th) and Annie -Charlotte Verney (who with 10 starts has the most of any woman at Le Mans but only a sixth place finish in 1981 as her best), but possible in Liz Halliday the Circuit de la Sarthe has met its match.

Time will tell.