{"id":40308,"date":"2014-07-07T19:46:10","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T18:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/issue_content\/not-shy-or-retiring\/"},"modified":"2019-07-20T12:26:58","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T11:26:58","slug":"not-shy-or-retiring","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/october-2010\/72\/not-shy-or-retiring\/","title":{"rendered":"Not shy – or retiring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emanuele Pirro loves being the showman and he loves his racing \u2013 which is why his \u2018early retirement\u2019 from sports cars didn\u2019t last long\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the back of the handmade Italian helmet is a red heart, above it a Christian cross. Below are the words \u2018Fosti con me nel pericolo e nella vittoria\u2019 (You will be with me in danger and victory). They are evocative words, forever associated with one of Italy\u2019s greatest racing heroes. \u201cWhen I was a kid I saw this book about Tazio Nuvolari and I was fascinated,\u201d says the man who owns the helmet. \u201cFrom that moment I was sure I wanted to be a racing driver.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man is Emanuele Pirro, former Grand Prix driver and \ufb01ve-times winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, the \ufb01rst man \u2013 along with Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen \u2013 to win the French classic in a diesel car. This is a man with a huge heart, a racer with a burning passion for the sport.<\/p>\n

At the end of 2008 Pirro said what nobody wanted to hear. He was retiring from top-line racing to be an ambassador for Audi. But nobody believed him. Much as he loves his young family, would the Italian have been satis\ufb01ed spending more time with his collection of ornamental frogs, perfecting his recipe for Saltimbocca alla Romana and walking in the Alps near his Monte Carlo home? Probably not.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I know,\u201d he grins. \u201cBut for some years Audi had been looking for younger drivers, planning for the future, yet Frank [Biela] and I kept on winning races. We had to cut the story short. Nothing is eternal; although I wasn\u2019t ready to retire, I was still competitive. But Audi offered me some races in the R8 GT3 car and I thought, OK, today they make this offer, tomorrow maybe they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he misjudged the moment; the passion for racing was still too strong. Leaving Audi, where he won everything there was to win, was a wrench. It simply didn\u2019t get better than the R8 and R10. Few believed he would stay away, but fewer could have predicted that he would return with a small, private team in a Lola-Judd with its \u2018old-fashioned\u2019 petrol engine.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year I wasn\u2019t a happy boy,\u201d he says. \u201cThe GT3 programme didn\u2019t go as planned, there wasn\u2019t enough development, not enough testing. This was disappointing because I was an Audi driver and I wanted the continuity. So that was that, but I am still contracted as an Audi ambassador. Then suddenly in the winter I got a call from Lord Drayson. He was running a sports car team with the Lola-Judd in America and he wanted me for the long races. Wow! Thank you very much, this was exciting, but I needed time to think. I had no plans to drive a prototype again \u2013 the downforce is so high nowadays, the feelings are extraordinary. Cars like the Audi are so fast, so demanding and sophisticated. The GT cars are nice, but the prototypes are a completely different world. You need to be \ufb01t.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does the Lola compare with the Audi?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised actually, because it\u2019s a prototype but it\u2019s a customer car, so it\u2019s built in a different way to the Audi \u2013 no exotic materials, and more cheaply made because they have to sell them. The car is nice and ef\ufb01cient, easy to drive fast, and the speed we had at Sebring surprised even the Lola people. OK, you don\u2019t get that extraordinary push I felt with the Audi diesel \u2013 that is something I will never forget. Now, with the Judd, there is more noise of course. Sometimes you don\u2019t need huge resources and technology to produce a good car, and the Lola is a good racing car. But if Audi were to build a petrol-engined car now, I still think they\u2019d be in a different league. Everybody blames the rules for the diesel cars always winning, but it\u2019s not so simple \u2013 big companies like Audi have so much power in their technology and resources that they\u2019d always be right there, whatever the engine. It may be unfair for privateers to race the works teams, but that\u2019s how it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pirro is clearly happy with his decision to return to the sport he loves. The grin is wide, the eyes are twinkling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow, yes! Immediately after that call from Lord Drayson I went down to my gym, without even thinking, and started some serious training. I was \ufb01t already, but the workouts were not so meticulous. Then I started thinking, this must be a sign that I want to do this. So I learnt some more about the car and saw this was a healthy team, a healthy car, so I said OK, I\u2019ll do three races \u2013 Sebring, Petit Le Mans and Le Mans. I knew I wanted it, but I wanted to make a professional decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, brief \u2018retirement\u2019 over, he headed for Florida without even testing the car. But this is the man who stepped out of the Audi R10 at Laguna Seca at the end of 2008 with tears in his eyes. The \ufb01re didn\u2019t need much rekindling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas really nice feeling, yes,\u201d he smiles, \u201cand I went to Sebring with an open mind. There were some question marks. Would I still be fast? I am older, you know. How good will the car be? But I had the desire. So I stepped into the car and after \ufb01ve laps I was doing a good time. In the race we fought with the Peugeots, got the second-fastest lap, and for the same enthusiasm,\u201d says Pirro. \u201cNot every driver is passionate, some are snobbish, a little cold, and these I do not admire. Formula 1 is sometimes like this and it wasn\u2019t the best part of my career, because when I went to Benetton in 1988 I was racing for BMW in European touring cars, racing Japanese Formula 3000, testing the McLaren for Honda, and living in Japan. I wasn\u2019t strong enough to realise it was all too much. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1988 I did 108 \ufb02ights. That\u2019s a \ufb02ight every 3.3 days. For sure that was a disadvantage at the start of my F1 career. But, you know, when they didn\u2019t want me any more I still had the touring cars and I was happy. I have no regrets. Some drivers have 15 years in F1 with mediocre results but with great glory and a lot of money. That\u2019s not for me. My success with Audi, my championships, my wins at Le Mans, that gave me so much pleasure, worth more than an F1 World Championship. I was winning races, and winning is what a driver wants to do. And hey, I\u2019m still here, 48 years old, and still loving my racing. Maybe I could have done better in F1, but I don\u2019t know\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

This may explain why Pirro is such big box of\ufb01ce at historic events like the Goodwood Revival, where he has twice won the RAC TT Celebration race. From Audi to Lola-Judd to E-type Jaguar \u2013 it\u2019s another world again, but still with the same passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cars of the 1960s and \u201970s are for me the most beautiful, and this was when I was dreaming of being a driver. So you are racing a piece of history and the racing is good. It started when I was offered a Ferrari 512 \u2013 what a beautiful car – and then people asked me to race their cars. Maybe because I don\u2019t spin or damage them, I don\u2019t know, but there are cars that I always dreamt about racing when I was a kid, so that\u2019s why I do it. At the Festival of Speed at Goodwood I drove a Matra\u2026 Fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Goodwood crowd adores Pirro. A racer and a showman, they love him for his laps of honour after the TT races.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all started with winning Le Mans when I stood up in the cockpit, with my arms in the air, and let the car coast over the line,\u201d he grins. \u201cThey didn\u2019t like it much and the ACO made a new regulation called \u2018Pirro\u2019s Law\u2019, which bans celebrations like that. Funny thing was, I was having a glass of wine with Daniel Poissenot of the ACO at Monterey and he told me he had to punish me, but inside he thought it was great and a fun thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, at the Goodwood TT, I was hanging right outside the E-type Jaguar on the lap of honour, helmet off, waving to the crowd all the way round and then leaping from the car as it rolled up to the line. It was so funny, because I was given a lecture by the stewards and they asked me \u2013 can you believe this \u2013 how rich was the car\u2019s owner Bernie Carl, and how much would he pay as a \ufb01ne? Yes, really. Anyway, they \ufb01ned him \u00a35000 and afterwards he told me he\u2019d sent a cheque for \u00a310,000 with a letter saying that he\u2019d doubled the \ufb01ne because next year, if Pirro won the race in his car, then he\u2019d do exactly the same victory lap celebration. He sent me a copy which I have kept and framed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every now and then you meet a man like Pirro. It\u2019s one of the perks of the job. And then you remember why you too caught the racing fever. Bravo Emanuele! Motor racing needs people like you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":741,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"tags":[167,229,73795,34710,35108,115462,35096,236,36856,249,34021,213,34533,115465],"issue_decade":[121600],"issue_year":[121601],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/40308"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issue_content"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/741"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/40308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237518,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/40308\/revisions\/237518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40308"},{"taxonomy":"issue_decade","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_decade?post=40308"},{"taxonomy":"issue_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_year?post=40308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}