Le Mans countdown: Martin Brundle

"We had a good day, because the car was reliable, and it was quite fast, and it was a pleasure to be back on that track. I find that track thrilling and scary all at the same time, and always did. The car looks beautiful, and it's just a great story, Bentley to Le Mans, as I've said before. I've still got good speed, which is a relief, because it's a couple of years since I've driven, and you don't know. I'm 42 years old and you don't know until you go and do it if you can still brake at 150 metres from 200mph or not, and be in control when you actually arrive at the corner. But I really felt at the test day that I was driving as well as I can remember for a long time, which really surprised me. But I think it's because I've got no pressure, and I've got no career worries."



"I could have been in their F1 programme. I was offered any job I wanted. I could have done the testing, or I could have been sporting director or whatever, but I wasn't ready to move to Germany. If I don't have a contract next year I don't have a contract. I have no career path to worry about. If I drive for Bentley, it's for pleasure."



"It went on for several months, but I was right in the cut and thrust of trying to get that Silverstone deal sorted out. I was spending 10 hours a day in lawyers' offices! There was no way in a month of Sundays I was going to have time to drive at Le Mans. Finally I said OK, let me come round and have a look at the car. The factory is 30 minutes from my house, and I liked what I saw. I went to meet the board of Bentley, liked the people, liked the reasons they were going racing and how they were going racing, and I thought yes, I'll have a go at this, this looks good."



"It's been a very, very short programme. We're getting there, and we haven't been to a test yet where we didn't get within a few tenths of the works Audis. But we won't beat them on pace - it'll be a bizarre set of circumstances where we could beat them. But we should be there to pick up the pieces, with a bit of luck. Who knows? I think the car will have done 20 days on the track in total, and probably nearer 18, before we start the race. We're three months into our programme, and they're three years. Something could go wrong and we could even be humbled by some others with a lesser budget and less prestige, but we ain't too shabby."



"The engine is, although it's different because we're in the GTP class, so the installation and restrictors and the turbos are different. And it's a Bentley gearbox, from Xtrac, and a Bentley chassis."



"We just got the car set up, did some tyre development, checked the fuel consumption, checked the brake wear, stuck a set of softer race tyres on it, and put one in without too much difficulty, and went home. It was that kind of day. And every time I've been in that car, I've never ever pressed the starter button and not gone straight on the race track. It's amazing. You just press the button, and off you go."



"It's a risk, but I've got a closed topped car, although that can pose its own particular problems as well, sometimes. I'm aware of the risks. I drive for pleasure, and I balance the risks with the pleasure, which is probably incredibly selfish of me in terms of my family. Michele was unlucky, but then you always are. It's not for me to back out of a programme when I'm into it. The Dale Earnhardt thing hit me quite hard as well. There's an inevitability in the end, if you just keep going. I've crawled out of some fairly well documented shunts more or less intact. But the other day I was out biking up a hill, just messing round, but the traffic was coming and I felt more exposed on that than I do at Le Mans, I tell you now. Look at Bob Wollek, riding a bike into a race track. When your number's up, your number's up."



"It's always great to see. I'm told that getting a ferry ticket is bloody difficult. With MG there, and Johnny Herbert, it's going to be massive."