OAK Racing driver registration in detail

The OAK Racing Team kindly granted us the privilege of accompanying them throughout the process of administrative and technical scrutineering.  Matthieu Lahaye, driver of the 2012 LMP2 Morgan-Judd #24, was our guide for the administrative part, that is mostly concerned with drivers.

First the driver's competition license and medical certificate are inspected. The latter must be at least a B license obtained from the motor sport federation of their country of nationality or residence. The driver then signs a large version of the official poster and the guest book before proceeding to the inspection of equipment and clothing.

Lahaye donned his suit and showed his fireproof underwear, which must meet FIA standards. Then his HANS (Hand And Neck Support), which protects the neck in an accident, and his helmet to which a sticker is applied with a number. Each driver has his own number to identify his helmet. Drivers of the FIA World Endurance Championship retain the same number all year and must submit any new helmet for re-inspection during the season.

Then drivers step onto the scales wearing complete outfit and carrying their helmet: 70.6 kg for Lahaye. The driver's iweight is recorded because when the car passes onto the scales, the driver stays in the car. The regulatory minimum weight of the car does not include the weight of the driver: therefore the total weight of the car with the driver is taken, and the weight of the driver subtracted to check that the car meets the minimum weight requirement.

The last step in the administrative building is a visit to the mini photo studio for the official photo of the driver in combination with his helmet. We then moved on to another building for the final steps: Matthieu Lahaye verified that the information on his driver record was correct, followed by a visit to the table of the Drivers Club, which every driver may join, to be able to participate in the Grand Parade of Drivers. The French driver got the precious official invitation to participate in the parade on Friday in Le Mans city centre.

Administrative inspection was completed and we then passed on to technical scrutineering, but that's another story ... 

Photo : LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), PLACE DE LA REPUBLIQUE, 24 HEURES DU MANS, SUNDAY 10th JUNE 2012, SCRUTINEERING. Matthieu Lahaye, driver of OAK Racing, gave us a tour of the process.