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Mike Nicks column: Le Mans.

Monday, 21st May 2007

It’s Sunday afternoon and Rossi has already had to relate his frustrating day to TV and radio. You’d expect him to be a bit tetchy, but this is Valentino Rossi: the street-fighter, the showman, the entertainer. "So, unfortunately we lose the bet," he begins...

"There was no chicane to slow riders before the famous Dunlop curve at Le Mans," Sarron said. "It was a 260kph (160mph) corner. If you got it wrong you hit the guard-rail. None of us could go through there absolutely flat-out. We all had to shut off just a fraction."

A highside would occur when the tyres slid, suddenly bit again, and lobbed the rider over the top of the bike. Sarron’s fingers, knarled and scarred like an arthritic octogenarian’s, are evidence of his countless landings.

"We never had things like back protectors and Kevlar protection," said Sarron. He laments the absence of corners like the old Dunlop test of pure balls. But he probably misses even more the several racing friends who died during his era.

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